Chapter 61: Apocalypse
Inside the top-floor command room of the fortress base camp.
Half of a World Core floated in midair, a φ-shaped semi-transparent coordinate enveloping it at the center, gradually sinking into it.
[Tip: Due to the incompleteness of the World Core, the World Coordinate is only 50% formed.]
[Because the World Coordinate is not 100% complete, the World Core of this world cannot be fused.]
[Your War Mission has been activated.]
[In this World Domination War, due to the initial invasion-style participation, to obtain the early-stage impartiality of the war, the Hunter will be unable to normally earn Reincarnation Paradise Merits.]
[Evaluating…]
[Evaluation complete. The income balance mechanism has been activated. Since the Hunter cannot earn merits by killing enemy Contractors, such deserved gains will all be consolidated into the rewards of the War Mission.]
[War Mission: Dark Haze (This mission has only one phase).]
Difficulty Level: Adaptive.
Mission Briefing: Obtain the Dark Haze.
Mission Duration: Until the end of this Domination War, or until the enemy seizes the World Core from you.
Mission Reward: Determined by final completion rate (During the execution of this mission, killing enemies, favorable battle progress, etc., will all increase the mission completion rate).
Mission Penalty: Forced Execution.
…
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao knew his earlier speculation had come true. This round of successful defense was not the end, but only the beginning.
What was the [Dark Haze]? Su Xiao had seen it in the briefing. The original [Black Rain] was like patches of black clouds in the sky, permanently hovering above.
This was one of the peak creations of the Second Era: Alchemical Civilization. When it floated in the sky as black clouds, the native inhabitants of this world regarded it as a natural climate phenomenon. These black clouds had existed for far too long.
By the Steam Era, the natives of this world began studying the black clouds in the sky. However, because their development path had little to do with Alchemy, and due to the vast gap in civilizational dimensions, they classified the black clouds as an unknown substance.
Though it was an unknown substance, it still needed a name. Initially, people called it Black Clouds. A group of scholars officially named these black clouds [Dark Haze].
That's right, this was the [Dark Haze]. Later, as the world developed into the Electrical Era and began modern warfare, producing airplanes, cannons, and eventually nuclear bombs, the war stopped after the first nuclear bomb test.
It wasn't voluntary. The radioactive dust from the nuclear explosion drifted into the sky, partially activating the [Dark Haze]. This caused the [Dark Haze] to fall as Black Rain, leading to mechanical pollution, which later evolved into the Vassals and Aberrant Beasts.
The appearance of the Pig-Headed Men was also due to the mechanical pollution caused by the [Dark Haze]. Otherwise, relying solely on the Vassals' biological hybridization techniques, they wouldn't have been able to cultivate the Pig-Headed Man race.
From a certain perspective, the Vassals and the Pig-Headed Men were 'close relatives.' What were the Vassals? The original Vassals were humans who, after suffering high-intensity mechanical pollution, had over 20% of their cells transformed into metallic cells, and the next generation born from them.
What were the Pig-Headed Men? The original Pig-Headed Men should have been called the Ancestral Half-Beasts.
They were beasts that, during the process of mechanical pollution, became confused and devoured humans. The mechanical pollution then caused a fusion phenomenon. Instead of transforming into metallic cells, they underwent cell and gene fusion, becoming Ancestral Half-Beasts.
At that time, countless beasts were driven mad by mechanical pollution. Humans, being the most numerous mammals, were devoured by these frenzied beasts—this was by no means a small probability event.
For some unknown reason, the Ancestral Half-Beasts failed to develop and went extinct, while the Vassals rose to power.
Many speculated that the Vassals used the Ancestral Half-Beasts for biological hybridization, thereby cultivating the Pig-Headed Men.
This wasn't a conspiracy theory. The Vassals later attempted to cultivate Dog-Men, Lizard-Men, Lion-Tiger-Men, and other humanoid creatures, all of which failed without exception due to genetic instability.
Rumors outside claimed that the Vassals' experiments were too extreme, causing all Ancestral Half-Beasts to die off, which was why no other humanoid races appeared.
Compared to those failures, the Pig-Headed Men were stable in all aspects, standing alongside Humans, Vassals, and Beastmen as the four major races.
It's worth noting that Ancestral Half-Beasts and Beastmen were not the same species. The former were humanoid, while the latter were intelligent supernatural beasts.
Where the [Dark Haze] was remained unknown. Su Xiao had been focused on developing his forces, concentrating on the World Core and the Vassal faction. The Vassal faction was his greatest threat; they could annihilate his side in a short time.
Even with his current development, Su Xiao still couldn't wage a full-scale war against the Vassals, unless the number of Wild Boar Warriors under his command exceeded 300,000, and the Evolution Nest completed its third upgrade, allowing the Wild Boar Warriors to master and use Solar Force.
The upper echelons of his faction were all properly arranged. Hausmann needed no worry, nor did the Head Chef. The only potential variable, the High Priestess, had just made her stance clear.
Su Xiao's attitude earlier was simple and direct: if the High Priestess wanted to lean toward divine authority, she would be made to disappear immediately.
No matter how much the Wild Boar Warriors worshipped the Sun, Su Xiao didn't care. The real problem was a high-ranking divine stick inciting them from within.
Currently, the philosophy of the Sun Fortress was: believe however you want, it's a personal choice. If faith values were quantified, the Wild Boar Warriors' faith was around 75 points, the Dwarf Pig-Men 40–50 points, the female Pig-Headed Men 10–20 points, and someone like the Head Chef might have 1–3 points at best.
[Announcement (Void Tree): The war zone blockade has been lifted.]
The war zone blockade was opened, meaning Contractors from Apocalypse Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, and Watchful Paradise could all return to Vassal territory.
So, what would Sacred Hymn, Orlandi, and the others do? The answer was, they would immediately seek out the [Watchtower], [Vassal Alliance], and [Aurora Council]—the three major Vassal forces—and tell them that, in the borderlands outside their territory, hundreds of thousands of Pig-Headed Men had gathered, forming a major power.
The high-ranking members of the three Vassal forces might not fully believe it, but they would definitely send scouts to the borderlands.
If Su Xiao hadn't developed much yet, he might have had a chance to evade this wave of reconnaissance. Unfortunately, his Sun Fortress already had a population of over 200,000.
The Vassals were different from Contractors. They were more familiar with the borderlands. Even if the Sun Fortress moved, once the Vassal scouts arrived, they would immediately notice that the large mineral vein in the borderlands—previously left mostly unmined due to Aberrant Beast harassment—showed signs of renewed extraction. Everything would be exposed.
Su Xiao was certain that the Vassal scouts would head straight for this large mineral vein.
It was like if someone's house was robbed, they wouldn't immediately run to their neighbor's place to check if he lost any money or if there was someone under his bed or in his closet.
Once the Vassals discovered that the Sun Fortress was built on Pig-Headed Men as its core fighting force, they would be locked in a life-or-death struggle. Everything the Vassals had obtained and now possessed was built on their oppression of the Pig-Headed Men. This was their foundation.
If they realized that the foundation beneath their feet could threaten them, and that the Pig-Headed Men would no longer work for them for free or even sacrifice their lives willingly, they would immediately erupt in hysterical rage, revealing their ugly side, and mobilize forces at a speed and scale that would shock the outside world to destroy the Sun Fortress.
The legendary fighter Oink had already shamed the Vassals to that extent. Now, the rise of the Sun Fortress meant over 170,000 Wild Boar Warriors inheriting Oink's spirit of resistance. The Vassals absolutely couldn't tolerate it.
Su Xiao was certain that war was inevitable. But that was fine—it meant he didn't need to search for the [Dark Haze].
A person's energy was limited. Su Xiao wouldn't search for the [Dark Haze], nor would he stop the enemy from searching. On the contrary, it was better if the enemy found it.
The existing half of the World Core was in Su Xiao's hands. The [Dark Haze] was used to 'fill' this World Core, making it complete.
Even if Gold Count, Sacred Hymn, and Orlandi found the [Dark Haze], it would be useless. They would then have to seize the World Core from Su Xiao. Only [World Core] + [Dark Haze] would make them the final victor.
Su Xiao could skip searching for the [Dark Haze], but Gold Count, Sacred Hymn, and Orlandi had to find it.
If Su Xiao found the [Dark Haze], the other side would lose. The defeat penalties for Apocalypse Paradise and Holy Light Paradise wouldn't be death, but they would still be severe. For Watchful Paradise, there was a high probability of forced execution.
From the moment Su Xiao entered this world, he had obtained no information about the [Dark Haze]. Moreover, through the World Contact Platform, he learned that Gold Count hadn't come to the war zone.
What could exempt Gold Count from coming to the war zone, bypassing the triggered execution? It must be related to the [Dark Haze]. Apart from that, Su Xiao couldn't think of any other possibility. Gold Count had been searching for this thing in advance.
With no intelligence advantage on his side, Su Xiao didn't believe he could surpass Gold Count in finding the [Dark Haze]. The enemy had repeatedly carried a team of dead weight and still won. Such an opponent would definitely be troublesome.
Su Xiao simply gave up searching. Let the enemy find it. He would focus on development. Once he knocked down all enemies, the [Dark Haze] would naturally be within reach.
It was like dealing with Fei Shi before. Back then, he cooperated with Molei and others. In fact, the core mission of entering the Shadi Emperor World was to unite with Battle Angels, Executioners, and Punishment Knights (Rangers) from other Paradises to eliminate Fei Shi.
Others coordinated and prepared, even investigating how many grains of rice Fei Shi ate per meal.
After entering the world, Su Xiao temporarily forgot about that, fought fiercely with the Peruvian Dwarf Kingdom, and when Fei Shi arrived, welcomed him with hundreds of thousands of beast cavalry. The scene was particularly lively, and Fei Shi was deeply moved.
Experience proved that sometimes all the fancy tricks were useless. Accumulate strength, then crush the enemy. Who had the leisure to outwit them when they could just beat them to death?
Currently, Su Xiao had 173,260 Wild Boar Warriors under his command. The good news was that after three days of saving, he had 5,861 units of Living Ore. This fortune needed to be spent quickly before the Vassals reacted.
Just as Su Xiao was about to contact Kaisa, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Tip: The Battle Angel (Reserve) Imprint has been fully analyzed. Due to the irreversible process of analysis, this Imprint has dropped half a rank, becoming an Apocalypse Paradise Contractor Imprint.]
[This Imprint is being sealed…]
[This Imprint has been sealed into a Title form.]
[You have obtained a Special Title: Apocalypse (This Title has no star rating).]
[This Title can be equipped, but its effect is pending activation. It requires killing an Apocalypse Paradise Contractor in a specific environment to activate this Title.]
[This Title cannot be refined, cannot be decomposed, and can be temporarily transferred.]