Chapter 94: Gold Coin
The battle at Steel City had subsided, with key locations like the city walls and artillery towers now occupied by their own forces.
There were quite a few corpses from both sides within the city, but they weren't difficult to handle. The enemy's remains had mostly been burned, and they could be buried in a pit near Steel City.
As for the corpses of their own Wild Boar Warriors and War Boar mounts, there was little need for extensive processing. They all contained Solar Force within their bodies. As long as they were placed in areas exposed to direct sunlight, after about 3 to 5 hours, their remains would transform into a mixture of ash and sparks due to the Solar Force, drifting upward into the sky.
In the eyes of the Wild Boar Warriors and Dwarf Boar-men, this was a sacred event, the most acceptable outcome.
Don't assume that the Wild Boar Warriors and Dwarf Boar-men were merely fanatics who only knew how to worship the sun. The Sun Faith was not something so simplistic.
Regarding the origin of the Sun Faith, one must of course mention the Sun God Clan. Within this system, they had established the most brilliant civilization.
The Sun God Clan and the Ancient Dragon Faction were generations-long enemies, evenly matched in terms of strength, resource depth, and cultural heritage.
For instance, their final battlefield, the "Ancient Dragon Kingdom: Eberath," if that world were certified by the Void Tree, Su Xiao estimated it would be a Ninth Rank peak-tier world.
From this, one could imagine the glory that the civilizations of the Sun and the Ancient Dragon had once achieved.
The Sun Faith that Su Xiao had the Wild Boar Warriors and Dwarf Boar-men obtain was inherited from the Sun God Clan.
Although the Pig-heads had no civilization of their own, they had inherited the cultural depth of the Sun system. This was why the Wild Boar Warriors and Dwarf Boar-men could develop subjective consciousness in a short time, understanding to stand up and resist—because they had seen a larger world.
It was also for this reason that the Dwarf Boar-men could construct buildings different from the local style; these were the scenes they vaguely glimpsed during their transformation within the Evolution Nest.
The breathtaking architecture, the grand sculptures, the spiral staircases that seemed to climb to the sky—these images were unforgettable to them.
Thus, Su Xiao never worried about the expansion of the Sun Fortress. He actually had no interest in building a faction; creating the Sun Legion was merely a means to defeat the enemy.
Although Su Xiao had little interest in developing a faction, he was very interested in having more Pig-heads believe in the Sun, as it involved his profits. The Faith Force: Sun was very precious.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao felt that the gods who tricked so many people into believing in them were essentially doing the same thing he was—all to obtain Faith Force. Say what you will, but it was genuinely a good thing.
Sitting on the roof of a small building by the street, Su Xiao looked down at the female officer of the Vassal Clan.
"Your name?"
"Wenna."
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna spoke. Dressed in her officer uniform, she had a unique aura.
"Do you have faith?"
Su Xiao's tone became much friendlier. Hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna frowned slightly and said, "We Vassal Clan don't believe in gods."
"That's not a good habit. Why not believe in the Sun?"
Su Xiao pointed to the sun in the sky.
"Alright."
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna immediately complied. She wasn't stupid; as a captive, she naturally went along with the enemy.
"You there."
Su Xiao casually called over a Wild Boar Cavalryman. The cavalryman, with a solemn expression, urged his mount forward and bowed his head to Su Xiao in respect.
Seeing the Wild Boar Knight approach, Su Xiao pointed to Lieutenant Colonel Wenna and said, "Teach her to praise the Sun."
"Yes."
The Wild Boar Knight raised both arms high in a gesture of embracing the sun. Lieutenant Colonel Wenna was a bit stunned but quickly imitated the action.
Seeing this, Su Xiao was somewhat satisfied. He sensed the "Sun Ring" in his hand. After about ten seconds, his brow furrowed. The "Sun Ring" hadn't received any Faith Force from Lieutenant Colonel Wenna. Whether she was devout or not didn't matter to Su Xiao, but if she couldn't contribute Faith Force, that was a problem.
"Be more devout."
"Huh?"
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna, still holding the praise-the-sun pose, was utterly confused. She wanted to say that a forced melon wasn't sweet, but fearing for her life, she began to imagine how devout she was in believing in the Sun.
A faint fluctuation appeared from the "Sun Ring" in Su Xiao's hand, and a very weak stream of Faith Force entered it. Its quantity, even if accumulated for ten years, wouldn't match what a single Wild Boar Knight contributed in a day in terms of Faith Force: Sun.
A forced melon might not be sweet, but it could still quench thirst. Besides, Su Xiao wasn't planning to eat it; he just wanted to see if he could twist it off.
"How far into the future can you see? Is it a pointing line, a branching line, or a prophecy?"
Su Xiao was very interested in Lieutenant Colonel Wenna. The "pointing line" he mentioned was like in *Final Destination*, where the protagonist could directly see their own death scene.
A "branching line" meant seeing countless possibilities and choosing the correct course of action from among them.
Su Xiao would be lying if he said he wasn't tempted by such a regret-pill-like ability. He had never expected to possess a power like Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's.
Everyone had limited energy; trying to master everything would only lead to being a jack of all trades. But not choosing to master it didn't mean he couldn't covet such an ability.
Su Xiao was permanently stationed in the Evil Faction, dealing with all sorts of shady characters. In the previous world, there were Wood and Zuiyasi; before that, Kingsley; and even earlier, the Kodo School, the Divine Father from the Demon Spirit Star, and so on. They had all cooperated, but were these people easy to get along with?
The answer was a resounding no. Take Wood and Zuiyasi, for example. One represented the Devil Clan, bringing out the terrifying Abyssal Jar to shake off its entanglement.
The other was sent by the Underworld God with the qualification to participate in the Doom Star. He himself had Ancient God System abilities, his wife was a follower of an Ancient God, his mother-in-law was an Ancient God's proxy, and his father-in-law was an Ancient God scholar.
As for Kingsley, he seemed to cooperate fully with Su Xiao in the end, working together from inside and out to defeat the Ultimate Insect. But never think that Kingsley was a righteous good person.
This guy had groomed the World Child of that world into his own son, and the artificial World Child, the White-Haired Youth, had previously sought to obtain the dangerous object "Black Emperor," among many other things.
Why were these people willing to cooperate with Su Xiao? First, because Su Xiao was strong; second, because they all feared him. Only when both sides were on equal footing could cooperation be possible.
As the saying goes, "He who walks by the river will eventually get his feet wet." Su Xiao's current idea was whether he could extract some of the predictive ability from Lieutenant Colonel Wenna.
For example, having Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's ability contaminate a gold coin, giving it a certain degree of fortune-telling capability.
If it landed heads, it meant the situation was good; if tails, it meant the journey was perilous, possibly even fatal.
Having a sense of certainty versus facing a completely unknown path were two entirely different feelings. Thinking of this, Su Xiao took an item from his storage space:
[Fate Gold Ingot]
Origin: fate/staynight
Quality: Special
Type: Material/Consumable/Currency
Effect: If used directly, temporarily increases Luck Attribute by 3 points for 5 natural days.
Rating: None
Description: Obtained with a certain probability from opening a chest dropped by killing a World Child.
...
Su Xiao gently rubbed the square gold ingot in his hand, then looked at Lieutenant Colonel Wenna. A plan formed in his mind. He took a bottle of potion from his storage space and tossed it to her, saying, "Drink it."
"Is this... poison?"
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna caught the potion and, without much hesitation, pulled out the cork.
"No, it's brewed with the power of faith. It will strengthen your will."
"Hmph~"
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna gave a noncommittal smile and drank the potion. She didn't believe a single word Su Xiao said.
As the potion entered her stomach, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna immediately felt a pleasant warmth inside, as if she had drunk warm water. But the heat from the warm water lingered, gradually spreading throughout her body. It felt like soaking in a hot spring, every pore opening up, a cozy warmth enveloping her. It was incredibly comfortable.
A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna emerged from this pleasant sensation. When she opened her eyes, she felt as if the world had changed. The fear and worry of being captured had mostly faded. At that moment, she felt that even if ten thousand enemies stood before her, she wouldn't be afraid. This willpower, which seemed to require years of cultivation to improve, filled her with joy.
"Even if you try to bribe me like this, I won't betray the Alliance. But... thank you for the recruitment."
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's tone softened considerably. Hearing this, Su Xiao said nothing. Was he trying to recruit her? Of course not. In his plan, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's experience wouldn't be pleasant. If she couldn't hold up mentally, the creation of the [Fate Gold Coin] would fail.
"I'll need your help later, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna."
Hearing Su Xiao say this, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's heart tightened. She realized the enemy was being too kind to her, which inexplicably made her panic.
Su Xiao headed toward the control room of Steel City, located in the central underground passage.
Half an hour later, a massive metal door in front of Su Xiao slowly opened. This was a building over ten meters tall, with an outer wall of dark gray metal. Inside, there were no rooms, only a network of metal veins and pipelines.
This was the core of Steel City, or rather, the Steel Fortress. Su Xiao stopped before a giant metal heart, over seven meters tall, beating rhythmically, and placed his hand on it.
The fortress was alive, but its consciousness was vague, lacking subjective thought. What Su Xiao needed to do now was to have the Steel Fortress consume the spare metal reserves to repair the surrounding steel walls.
The main gate of Steel City needed to be repositioned. It currently faced the Borderlands; after modification, the main wall would face the Vassal Clan side.
As dusk fell, Steel City had a completely new look. The surrounding dark brown steel walls were repaired, and the buildings within were orderly. These buildings weren't entirely metal; their outer walls seemed to be a rock-like regenerated material.
Emerging from the main control room, Su Xiao ordered Hausmann to relocate the Dwarf Boar-men and female Pig-heads from the original base camp to Steel City, where there were ready-made dwellings.
Their side had 130,000 Dwarf Boar-men. Subsequent detailed construction wouldn't be a big problem. Compared to living in the mountain space, the living environment in Steel City was four or five levels better.
Since the original base camp wasn't far from Steel City, by around eight or nine in the evening, the city gradually became lively. Especially when Chef Moti announced dinner at ten o'clock, the scene became even more bustling.
In an unremarkable two-story building, Su Xiao wasn't pursuing simplicity; rather, living in too luxurious a building might attract long-range heavy artillery fire.
Candlelight illuminated the living room. The reason for not using electric lights was to avoid interfering with the ritual.
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna, completely naked, lay on a platform formed by intertwined black metal tree roots. A clean white blanket covered her. Two tear tracks ran from the corners of her eyes into her hair.
"You... will... die a miserable death."
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna turned her head, moving her eyes and speaking indistinctly—the only things she could do now.
"Let's make a deal. If you can hold out until the end, I'll let you go."
Su Xiao sat in a recliner nearby, holding a book on Alchemy. He wasn't particularly skilled in crafting items, far less than in potions and bombs.
"I won't believe you again."
Tears streaming, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna stubbornly turned her head. In reality, she hadn't suffered any physical pain or humiliation. She had just been "dying" repeatedly.
From afternoon until now, after lying on the platform made of intertwined metal tree roots, her predictive ability had gone out of control. She kept foreseeing her own deaths—crushed by a heavy hammer, beheaded by a blade, falling from ten thousand meters...
Actually, saying she hadn't suffered any physical harm wasn't entirely accurate. Her chest had been cut open once.
Under her own gaze, Su Xiao had pulled out her heart slightly, implanted a gold coin into it, and then healed her. What left Lieutenant Colonel Wenna unsure whether to be angry or grateful was that even the scar on her chest was removed.
Since then, she had endured various deaths in her visions until now. At this point, she could barely distinguish whether this was reality or a vision.
"Stay yourself. Hold out until midnight tonight."
Hearing Su Xiao's words, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's eyes showed undisguised excitement. Weakly, she asked, "After midnight, will all this end?"
"No, after midnight, you'll get used to it."
"You..."
Suddenly, the book in Su Xiao's hand turned into thousands of pages, slicing Lieutenant Colonel Wenna into pieces. Blood and flesh flew everywhere.
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's eyes snapped open, gasping for air. Everything just now had been her vision. She turned her head and saw Su Xiao sitting in the recliner nearby, holding a book.
"Another vision of me? How did I kill you this time?"
Su Xiao put down the book.
"A book."
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna replied, then turned her head. The next second, she saw a giant standing outside the window—a giant with a dog's head.
Lieutenant Colonel Wenna turned her head again, and all she saw were "Blue Elves." She sighed. This feeling was strikingly similar to when she was a child and ate poisonous mushrooms.
In reality, Su Xiao leaned back in the recliner. Beside him, Lieutenant Colonel Wenna was asleep, snoring evenly. A faint golden light emanated from her chest. The [Fate Gold Coin] was gaining spirituality.
This was an unexpected gain. Although Su Xiao wasn't sure if it would succeed, even a thirty percent chance was worth trying.
Currently, the battle situation between their side and the Vassal Clan was heavily in their favor, given the long-prepared trump card.
At this stage, the Vassal Clan's border forces had been pushed back. Now, because the capital of the Sentinels, "Freedom City," was too close to the border, the Vassal Clan's next concentrated defensive point would definitely be Freedom City.
Su Xiao planned to attack Freedom City tomorrow morning. Further behind was "Loyash," the Judgment Court's city, which had stronger defenses than expected. Fortunately, the 20,000 light cavalry sent earlier had retreated in time when things looked bad.
This was the most frustrating part for the Vassal Clan: Su Xiao's forces were all cavalry. The only non-cavalry member, Su Xiao himself, had temporarily become a Dragon Knight.
To attack the Vassal Clan, Su Xiao couldn't just charge forward recklessly. He had to advance steadily: first break the Sentinels' capital "Freedom City," then the Judgment Court's "Loyash," and finally the Vassal Alliance's stronghold "Kravob Ring City."
Reaching "Kravob Ring City" would mean occupying two-thirds of the Vassal Clan's territory. But this wouldn't help him obtain [Dark Haze].
If the situation developed to that point, after the Vassal Clan was defeated, the humans behind them would also be terrified, feeling no joy at the Vassal Clan's suffering because a more terrifying enemy had appeared.
At that point, Su Xiao could coerce the Vassal Clan and humans to dig three feet into their occupied territories.
Don't forget, the Void Tree was currently sealing this continent. No participant could leave. Under these circumstances, coupled with the hostility of humans and the Vassal Clan, and Su Xiao's ability to sense the location of [Dark Haze] through the half World Core in his hand—
If Gold Count was on their side's territory, the Sun Legion would intercept him. If he was on the remaining territory of the Vassal Clan and humans, Su Xiao would force them to intercept him.
If he was on the Beast Clan's territory, the Beast Clan had almost been beaten into submission by Su Xiao before. If Su Xiao applied pressure, those intelligent Aberrant Beasts would definitely red-eyed surround Gold Count.
Beyond this, by then, the Sun Legion under Su Xiao's command could enter any faction's territory without provoking or invading, and that faction would pretend not to see it.
This meant Su Xiao could lead hundreds of thousands of Wild Boar Knights to surround Gold Count. Just thinking about this was despairing.
This was Su Xiao's method of dealing with Gold Count. Since the latter could lead a group of pits alone, Su Xiao would make him have no place to stay. On the entire continent, even the beasts would become his enemies.
Through some not-quite-rule-abiding methods, Su Xiao had determined the remaining certification time of the Void Tree for this event: 7 days.
Gold Count knew he had no chance of winning, but the old man had backbone. He wasn't ready to admit defeat; he would continue to stall, enduring the penalties to help Apocalypse Paradise reclaim this world.
This world had previously been certified by Apocalypse Paradise. If it ended in a draw now, even if Su Xiao held half the World Core, the final result would be that Apocalypse Paradise and Reincarnation Paradise each occupied half of the world, waiting for the next World War.
Keeping half was better than losing everything. In fact, Apocalypse Paradise's resource wealth was partly due to people like Gold Count.
No matter how many miners there were, without worlds to mine, it was meaningless.
As for the Molei type, if she were to fight a World War or become a leader, she would be a dud. But if she were to hunt Violators, she would be extremely serious.
Yueshitu was another kind of talent. If she could develop while hiding, she would be a team-fight god, a super thigh for Apocalypse Paradise's Contractors. But if caught midway, she would immediately run away and go into seclusion.
Although the seven-day limit was tight, Su Xiao didn't advance recklessly. Without a stable rear, rushing forward would ultimately lead to bad results.
Moreover, this seven-day limit wasn't fixed. In the Void Tree's balancing mechanism, Gold Count's deliberate hiding and delay in fighting represented the entire Apocalypse Paradise side's reluctance to engage.
This meant that under the Void Tree's certification, every historic victory Su Xiao's side won would increase the certification time for this World War.
One side was reluctant, while the other actively pushed the World War progress. How the Void Tree would certify was entirely predictable.
Originally, the certification for this World War had 5 days left. After Su Xiao captured Steel City, it became 7 days.
A good piece of news was that Su Xiao's planned Sun Citizens were feasible. Earlier, after the Dwarf Boar-men and female Pig-heads arrived at Steel City, Su Xiao opened the Sun Fortress and had all the female Pig-heads enter the "Evolution Nest" for transformation.
The result was a very low mortality rate, though not zero. The consumption and time were more ideal than expected.
Transforming a female Pig-head into a Sun Citizen didn't give her power; it only gave her body a small amount of Solar Force—over 50 points was enough. This allowed her to resonate with Sun Faith.
The 160,000 female Pig-heads who had been handling various logistics were all transformed into Sun Citizens. Their appearances changed somewhat, and they began contributing Solar Force.
Another thing: previously, in their fortress, the Wild Boar Warriors' attitude toward the female Pig-heads was neither cold nor warm, lacking the attraction between male and female.
But after the female Pig-heads were transformed into Sun Citizens, they really tempted the bachelor Wild Boar Warriors, rekindling the attraction between the sexes.
These Sun Citizens, about 2 to 3 of them together, produced Faith Force equivalent to one Wild Boar Knight. This showed that while Faith Force production was somewhat related to strength, devotion was more important.
Su Xiao couldn't develop millions of Wild Boar Knights—that was a pipe dream. But he could definitely develop millions, or even more, Sun Citizens.
Having only warriors wasn't enough; a large population base was needed. This way, the enemy faction would fear from the bottom of their hearts.
With this thought, Su Xiao tapped his finger on Lieutenant Colonel Wenna's brow. Confirming there were no issues, he picked up a communicator and dialed a frequently used frequency.
The call connected, but the other side remained silent.
"Her·Kandivy, there was a bit of an accident today."
"What accident?"
Her·Kandivy's voice was low, clearly in a bad mood.
"I originally planned to attack the humans, but when crossing the border, your Steel Fortress garrison stopped me. As you saw, a large-scale brawl broke out between us. My people accidentally drove off the Steel Fortress garrison."
Su Xiao's words made Her·Kandivy on the other end fall silent.
Her·Kandivy's thought was: first, a melee of hundreds of thousands wasn't called a brawl; second, that line "my people accidentally drove off the Steel Fortress garrison"—was that even human speech?
"Bai Ye, are you saying everything today was a misunderstanding?"
"You could put it that way. Your army's discipline needs improvement."
"You..."
Her·Kandivy almost blurted out a hometown slang.
"Bai Ye, since you say it's a misunderstanding, shouldn't you withdraw from Steel City?"
"Hmm, logically speaking, yes. But I didn't expect the Vassal Clan's troops to be so weak, so I've decided not to attack the humans and instead beat you up."
Hearing this, Her·Kandivy choked with anger.
"You contacted me tonight just to raise my blood pressure?"
"Of course not. I originally had 140,000 Vassal Clan soldiers. After I ordered 70,000 killed, 70,000 remain. Let's discuss the issue of these 70,000 Vassal Clan soldiers."
"You... slaughtered 70,000 captured Vassal Clan soldiers? Bai Ye, is this something that has already happened, or are you planning to do it?"
Her·Kandivy's voice was icy to the extreme.
"It's ongoing. I heard your people used factory meat grinders to grind up over 70,000 Pig-heads tonight to appease the public. This is my return gift."
Hearing this, Her·Kandivy's momentum faltered. He said slowly, "That was something done by subordinates. Why take it out on those soldiers?"
"Her·Kandivy, have you ever been to the grasslands during the dry season? During the dry season, even beasts don't hunt near water sources—except crocodiles. Her·Kandivy, are you a crocodile?"
"No."
"Good. Since you're not a crocodile, there are rules to follow, right?"
"Yes."
"After a city is captured, would you rather see captured civilians inside or piles of bones?"
"Civilians."
"Very well. Let's make a deal. How many Pig-heads can I exchange for the 70,000 captured Vassal Clan soldiers?"
"Can't it be 140,000?"
Her·Kandivy sighed as he said this.
"It could have been during the day. Now, no."
"Understood. The officials who orchestrated the grinding of Pig-heads today will be dealt with."
This was Her·Kandivy's compromise, and he had no choice. Su Xiao's methods were more decisive than the Vassal Clan had anticipated.
"Oh? Is that so? Then the captured Vassal Clan soldiers on my side might increase to 80,000."
"I will urgently enact a law forbidding the killing of Pig-heads, with murder charges for violators."
"Congratulations. The captured Vassal Clan soldiers on my side have increased to 100,000."
Hearing this, Her·Kandivy wanted to propose more conditions to save more soldiers. Unlike politicians, Her·Kandivy was the Alliance Marshal, with deeper ties to his troops.
"Don't say anymore. The rest are already gone."
"If I had contacted you earlier... Huh, forget it. Bai Ye, I, Gladstone Her·Kandivy, will do my utmost to take your head, to honor the spirits of those warriors."
"Then do your best."
"Alright."
Su Xiao and Her·Kandivy hung up almost simultaneously.
Su Xiao executed a large number of captives to prevent the Vassal Clan from slaughtering all the Pig-heads, cutting off his source of soldiers and Sun Citizens.
This was something Su Xiao would never allow, as it affected his fundamental profit from obtaining large amounts of Faith Force.
If Her·Kandivy hadn't backed down just now, Su Xiao would have killed every single captive and would have found a way to drop a [Blazing Sun: Apollo] on "Kravob Ring City" to show them what true ferocity was.
When facing a tough enemy, one must be even more ruthless, killing until they fear. Otherwise, mercy toward the enemy would become their own nightmare.
After handling the urgent matters, Su Xiao leaned back in the recliner, hearing Bubu Wang's snoring beside him.
Checking the notification log, Su Xiao was puzzled. The Void Tree had previously indicated the opening of the Title Shop, but so far, there was no movement.
Su Xiao had already discovered that the best way to reap benefits was to continuously attack the Vassal Clan. As the dominant power of this world, attacking them yielded rewards.
For example, after breaking through the border and capturing Steel City, Su Xiao had received four types of rewards: [Victory Badge ×3], [Adventure Group Honor Certificate], and the Title Shop exchange permission raised to Lv.7, among others.
He wasn't disappointed about not unlocking the exchange permission for Eight-Star Titles. Instead, he felt lucky.
He estimated that, given the number of Soul Coins he held, whether he could afford even one Eight-Star Title was uncertain.
No, there was over a ninety percent chance he couldn't afford it.
The most frustrating thing in the world was being able to see something but not afford it. After finally obtaining Lv.8 exchange permission, only to find his Soul Coins insufficient—just thinking about that scenario was unpleasant.
Just as Su Xiao was thinking this, a Void Tree notification appeared.
[Notification (Void Tree): Due to your exchange level being raised to Lv.7, the Title Shop will open for you personally for 5 minutes.]
[Notification (Void Tree): When you exchange for your first Seven-Star Title, the price will be reduced by 99%. This reward is consumed after completing one discounted exchange.]
[The Title Shop has opened. You may exchange for the following titles.]