Chapter 526: Benefit

Seeing the saying "Koreans don't deceive Koreans," he also realized the other party was indeed one of his own.

Li Enzhi felt much warmer in his heart.

Although it was strange how there could be Koreans inside Long'an Base who could steal equipment,

but he couldn't worry about all that anymore.

Like a gambler who's lost his shirt at the table, his mind was filled with the thought of capturing this person upon their return to the territory.

"Mr. President, we've run out of spirit energy fruit—what do we do?"

After bringing out the Bagua mirror, the entire military high command couldn't help but feel a twitch in their hearts.

Although this item isn't strong in attributes, its effect is extremely special and very useful in many situations.

After hearing his subordinate's words, Li Enzhi somewhat unsteadily leaned on the conference table and stood up.

"Then let's post the news on the war zone channel."

"Raise donations of spirit energy fruit..."

"Have the Minister of National Defense step forward personally."

"I believe my people will be willing to contribute for the country..."

After drafting a simple announcement, as the nominal supreme leader of the war zone, Li Enzhi solemnly opened the war zone channel:

"Fellow citizens, survivors of the Greater Korean War Zone..."

"I am Minister of National Defense Pu Jin yan."

"Here, I must ask my fellow Greater Korean citizens to contribute their strength for the nation..."

The war zone trembled.

The final seventy million survivors stared in shock as the minister suddenly appeared in the chat channel.

"Minister, are you asking us?"

"Has the nation reached a moment of peril?"

Amid the huge population base, there are still many survivors who care about the nation.

After the minister promised that anyone who donates spirit energy fruit will be recorded in history as a hero of Greater Korea,

Three fruits were quickly gathered.

Upon seeing the fruit handed over by the minister, Li Enzhi instantly aged considerably.

He felt both moved and humiliated.

The nominal ruler of Greater Korea actually had to beg the populace for supplies.

How absurd.

But there was no choice; he simply couldn't accept the unthinkable truth welling up inside him.

It didn't matter anymore.

Anyway, if he could tolerate having troops stationed, asking the people for a bit of supplies was nothing.

It's just hateful how those conglomerates refuse to produce even a bit of material.

He took a deep breath.

After eagerly gathering the last of the supplies and completing the trade, the other side's message soon came through.

Everyone was tense, and the entire meeting room fell silent.

"What did the other side say!?"

"How do we break the seal?"

"Also, when will he return to our war zone so we can mobilize troops and Awakened Ones to intercept him in advance!"

Three questions in a row.

The Awakened One in charge of communications looked pale at the several big shots, unable to speak for a long time.

Seeing the communicator's expression, the Minister of National Defense's heart suddenly panicked; he couldn't help shaking the person and shouting:

"Speak!"

"What did the other side say!!"

In his rage.

The communications officer stammered, relaying the received message:

"The other side said..."

"Just find another epic-tier weapon, tape it together with a pistol, and that'll do..."

"Damn!!!!!"

"Bang!!"

In shock and anger, the minister flung his pistol to the ground like a madman.

The other side's reply was clearly mocking.

Shattered all over the ground.

Originally made from a toy pistol, the equipment instantly shattered to pieces.

On the ice-cold conference hall floor, the pistol scattered into a spray of parts, as if mocking their foolishness.

"Burp"

On the sofa, Lin An contentedly let out a satisfied burp.

Some were happy, some were worried.

And they naturally were the happy side.

A table full of spirit energy fruit, plus equipment scattered across the floor, many of the blue‑glinting props lit up the entire meeting room.

"Captain Lin, this fruit tastes like yellow peach!"

Xiong Hanzi bared his teeth and grinned, like a bear gnawing a stick, he finished off a spirit energy fruit in just a few bites.

The aura was rich, almost tangible, the spirit energy overflowing in the meeting room.

Even just taking a breath of air made one feel mentally refreshed a hundredfold.

"Ding, Strength +1, additionally gain Stamina +10%"

"Ding, Agility +1, additionally gain Burst Speed +10%"

"Ding, Constitution +1, gain Underwater Breathing..."

Listening to the system's prompts ringing frequently, Lin An's ears were practically about to develop calluses.

His strength began to rise, and the air currents in the whole room started to become chaotic.

"Hmm, it seems the increase in speed is too fast."

Feeling the power inside his body almost about to explode, his mental energy was so abundant he felt he could fight ten battles.

Lin An smiled satisfiedly, the feeling of getting stronger was truly awesome.

Especially getting stronger for free.

Using the same method, he also sold the two Huaxia war zone forces that had directly bid, together offering Epic Tier Equipment.

Although the trade price wasn't as high as what the Great Korean War Zone offered, he still exchanged for 24 spirit energy fruits, plus 5 blue equipment, and a large amount of mutant materials.

Just the spirit energy fruits alone amounted to a total of 40.

It could be called an overnight fortune.

After eating 27 spirit energy fruits in a row, his overall attributes increased by about 5 points.

Had he not discovered that after the 28th fruit his attributes could no longer increase, Lin An wouldn't mind eating a few more.

It's a bit regrettable.

Seeing his naked equipment attribute panel break through 32.4 in overall attributes, he couldn't help but sigh.

Too strong...

Even without testing, Lin An could feel how terrifying the power contained within his body was.

Especially his highest will attribute, which directly broke through to 35 points.

Only 5 points shy of the system's required limit of 40 points.

It's a shame; eating more spirit energy fruits is useless now.

Unless he eats a tier-3 fruit, of the same grade as the Manchineel Flower...

That thing is something you can encounter but cannot seek...

The remaining fruits, Lin An plans to let the team members digest them slowly.

Anyway, he has no use for them himself, so it's perfect for giving the members a boost in strength.

Eating more would just be wasteful.

He isn't that stingy.

Like during the New Year, Mo Ling, who had been outside leading flesh-and-blood puppets to hunt mutants, upon hearing that many spirit energy fruits remained, directly had AnXia bring her back.

Seeing the table full of fruits, the little girl couldn't help but give Xiong Hanzi a sideways glance.

All the tasty ones were polished off by Zhang Tie!

So big, yet he loves sweets so much!

Sheepishly laughing, Zhang Tie sucked down a jelly-like fruit in one gulp, then sneakily sidled up to Lin An:

"Captain Lin, we still haven't screwed over three factions, have we?"

"How about it, when should we make a move?"

Lin An glanced at the eager Zhang Tie; on the other side, Gao Tian and Jing Tian even pricked up their ears, not even bothering to eat the fruit.

"Yeah, Captain Lin. What should we do next!!"

Lin An saw everyone with the expression of having tasted success, eager to empty the other three war zones, and couldn't help but chuckle:

"It's very simple."

"Just have the Great Korean War Zone help us front the scheme against them."

"Later, Wen Ya will contact the Great Korean War Zone and tell them."

"As long as they deliberately leak that they want to sell their war zone's original Epic Tier Weapon, we'll say we bought one, but the original item was duplicated, so we're preparing to trade it for some supplies to 'recover blood'."

"Then have the Great Korean War Zone promote how useful the Epic Tier Weapon is, to lure the other three war zones into taking the bait."

"After success, we'll give them a share... uh, no, half of the spirit energy fruits, or some food."

"That way, they'll help us screw over the other side."

"It also prevents the three war zones from suspecting where so many Epic Tier Weapons came from."

Gao Tian was stunned after hearing it, then nodded frantically.

Jing Tian, however, was somewhat hesitant:

"Brother Lin, the Great Korean War Zone was just deceived by us. They couldn't possibly be willing to believe us again..."

Lin An smiled lightly and replied offhand:

"You're overestimating their bottom line."

"After being deceived, the greatest comfort isn't having someone give guidance, but seeing others also fall for it..."

"That at least can 'prove' that the stupidity isn't just our own."

"Moreover, war zones inherently have competition between them."

"These three war zones have been hostile to each other even before the apocalypse; the Great Korean War Zone would be glad to see these three meet the same fate."

Chu An, who had been sitting aside constantly calculating data, suddenly raised his head and interjected:

"Among survivors, the greatest malice often comes from their own kind."

Between war zones, only interests can be spoken of.

Lin An is right.

As expected.

Under our proposal, the Korean war zone will likely screw the Japanese war zone to death before giving up...