Chapter 3124

I can be deputy commander.

Su Xiao sat back down, which truly stiffened everyone's expressions; according to procedure, shouldn't one first decline a bit? This was too direct, rather sudden.

"Cough, Commander Bai Ye, regarding the formation of the temporary alliance, my personal opinion is not to rush it; a decision before tonight will do, but before that, all sides can prepare; this afternoon, we will mobilize all systems, and at 9 p. m. make the final decision—whether to fight or to delay; if we fight, by midnight we must deploy all forces, for this is a war between continents, and if we act, the earlier we seize the initiative, the better."

The old man with a hooked nose was very steady; although the commanders had been chosen and troops were ready to be drawn immediately, whether the temporary alliance would truly be established remained to be considered; he needed to learn the full details through his own channels, weigh the pros and cons, and then decide whether to establish and join the temporary alliance.

Other parties shared the same attitude, including the Eclipse Organization; they were not youths and would not launch a full-scale war against the West Continent merely due to a momentary surge of hot blood.

Su Xiao had also anticipated this outcome; the good news now was that, with the assistance of Kinsley and Kinsley's nephew, Dean Vik, among others, things were progressing smoothly.

If all went well, according to the current pace, we could depart tomorrow morning and reach the West Continent in three days; in that case, upon arriving at the West Continent, the remaining time for the second stage of the main quest would be about two days.

Two full days— for Su Xiao, as long as nothing unexpected happened, that would be enough; he considered it a clean pull if he didn't make the Taytu civilization defecate.

After offering a bouquet of flowers to Kinsley's portrait, Su Xiao left the memorial gathering, when something quite interesting happened: Kinsley's wife actually wanted to entrust her child to the care of the Agency's headquarters, to become a member of the Agency in the future.

What a clever choice; if Kinsley truly died, the Eclipse Organization would select a new leader, and the new leader would care for the former leader's orphan, with strong initial protection, but over the years, this protection would gradually weaken.

Kinsley had many enemies; once, during the protection period a few years later, if the Eclipse Organization suffered severe losses, the force protecting this mother and child would inevitably weaken, and then, that would be their death date.

Placing them in foster care at the Agency headquarters is different; no matter what, they are Agency members, and to attack them at the Agency headquarters is to slap the face of the entire containment institution.

"Kinsley is now the Supreme Commander; no one dares move his wife and children."

"What?"

Kinsley's wife did not understand Su Xiao's meaning, and Su Xiao did not explain, turning and walking toward the outside of the hall.

Returning to the Agency headquarters, Su Xiao issued an order: all supernatural beings within the Agency, even if running at full speed, must return to the Agency headquarters by 5 a. m. tomorrow.

As for him having resigned from the position of Legion Commander of the Agency, just treat it as a joke; this was done to facilitate becoming commander, intentionally letting those in power grasp a certain level of leverage; without this leverage, he could not possibly become commander of the temporary alliance.

In the Legion Commander's office, Lie Chao stood by the window, feeling as if she had lived in vain in the Land of Gods; there, whoever could fight was the leader, but now, the situation was very complicated.

"You... why are you so skilled?"

"Huh?"

Bahah looked at Lie Chao, not understanding what she was saying.

"It's nothing..."

Lie Chao began to ponder deeply, her brain cells almost burning, as she wondered whether she had been schemed against by Su Xiao; after thinking for a long time, she still could not figure it out, so she could only temporarily give up thinking.

When night fell, all major newspapers broke precedent, urgently printing evening editions, reporting the alliance's officially announced message, which consisted of just four characters: 'Suspend maritime transport.'

Upon hearing this news, maritime trade merchants nearly exploded on the spot; some simply cursed bitterly, a simple analogy being: 'Do you have a grudge against maritime transport? Stopping twice within half a month.'

As the saying goes, the shorter the alliance's official information, the bigger the matter; some merchants began hoarding grain, salt, and daily necessities, then all vanished into thin air— indeed, without even a warning, they directly disappeared from the human world.

War with the West Continent is imminent; at this time, hoarding grain and the like is just stirring up the brains of several major powers, and of course there will be no good outcome; if one wants to profit from war, one should first prepare a coffin.

At 11 p. m. that night, Su Xiao received news from all sides: the temporary alliance was established, and its full name was: Southern Alliance·Eastern Alliance and the Containment Institution with the Eclipse Organization's Joint Emergency Response, Mutual Aid, and War Alliance.

Reading this ridiculous name, Su Xiao had to focus slightly, otherwise he could not even tell what nonsense this was.

This name was no different from the pig-teammate feeling of the previous alliance council; the pig-teammate feeling hit him in the face, a more complexly structured pig-teammate was born, this was not individual stupidity, but a chemical reaction produced when a group of old timers with differing ideas gathered together.

Of course, there would be no appearance of Su Xiao and Kinsley two gods dragging everyone into pits; when the temporary alliance's fleet went to sea, they would be outside, and military orders would not be binding.

As long as the temporary alliance was established, even if it meant a thirty-thousand-character name, Su Xiao wouldn't care; moreover, this name was also reasonable, as all sides had contributed greatly, who wouldn't want to leave a brilliant stroke in history, to be revered by posterity?

At midnight that night, all steel warships received mobilization orders; the stockpiled shells of these years could finally be put to use; these crystal-mixed blue-fire-powder-made shells were very powerful, and as long as firepower was concentrated, clearing the ground was sufficient.

A total of 172 steel warships were on standby, actually there were more, but those four old fogeys would not spill the beans; they could not possibly deploy all steel warships, after all, they had to consider more gains and losses.

The use of steel warships was not merely for war; in peacetime, these warships were used to transport rare materials from various islands to the South and East Continents; this approach had high cost but was safe, and even if attacked by supernatural sea beasts, steel warships could counterattack and repel the enemy; one could say, building steel warships was a profit-without-loss venture, if not for the limited availability of high-strength metal, the number of steel warships would be greater.

Of 175 steel warships, only 135 could deploy artillery fire; the others were outdated models, seaworthy without issue, mainly used for transporting personnel.

The military's soldiers were still being mobilized, and the supernatural beings of the Agency and the Eclipse Organization were also rushing to gather at Gaman City at the fastest speed.

At 4 a. m. in the late night, Su Xiao, wearing Am, and Lie Chao headed for the port, having prearranged the time, departure at 6 a. m.; as for Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Bahah, they still had some things to do, and would likely meet up in the morning.

Su Xiao walked along the nighttime port; wherever he looked, there were soldiers and various cargo boxes, inside which were either dry rations or shells, as well as firearms powered by blue-fire powder.

This time, the formed legion differed from the past; previously, cold weapons were the main armament, but this time firearms were the primary weapons; Su Xiao had obtained blue-fire powder from within this world, which actually was not gunpowder, but a mineral with supernatural properties, only after later processing was it named gunpowder.

The initial sun rose from the horizon; Su Xiao had just prepared to take a badge from Lie Chao's hand to pin on his collar, when he received a notification.

Su Xiao did not take the badge; although not wearing it meant he was not nominally recognized as the temporary alliance commander, and thus could not use the Warlord title to grant buffs to soldiers and supernatural beings, it was not yet the time.

This plan had too great an impact; Su Xiao worried about triggering an announcement like that of the Void Tree; even if he wanted to wear the badge and become the true alliance commander, he had to wait until after completing a certain matter.

Buzz!

The leading steel warship sounded its whistle; there were 19 steel warships on the pier, while the other steel warships would have to wait until after going out to sea to rendezvous in 'Seweiqi Bay' at noon ten minutes, before they could reach that place.

Even so, the sight of 19 steel warships setting sail was also very stirring; many people came to the dock to see them off, nominally to send them off, but actually just civilians coming to watch the spectacle, many with red eyes from crying; among them, some had husbands who were alliance soldiers, some had beloved sons who were soldiers.

Outside the window, the sea breeze blew gently, occasionally one could still hear the cries of seabirds; Su Xiao, in the upper cabin of the steel warship, drew the formation diagram, then waited; when the time reached nine o'clock, he reversely activated this spatial formation diagram.

Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Bahah appeared, one bumping into the ceiling, the other into the wall.

The task Su Xiao had previously assigned to Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Bahah was very simple: go to the containment storage of the Agency headquarters, steal the liquid of the Death Holy Grail; as the saying goes, a thief in the house is hard to guard against, and moreover, the one covering for these two house thieves was still Su Xiao, in his former role as Legion Commander of the Agency.

The extraction of the liquid went smoothly; afterward, Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Bahah headed straight for Youke City, where they signed a contract with the National Football Team; the three brothers of the National Football Team were still a bit nervous, only signing the contract drafted by Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang, taking it as psychological comfort.

After signing the contract, Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Bahah handed over the liquid of the Death Holy Grail to the National Football Team, then returned to the Youke City office, and through the initial teleportation array there, awaited Su Xiao to guide them via the formation diagram from the other side, so they could meet at sea.

In the upper cabin of the steel warship, Su Xiao sat on the sofa, checking the situation on the contact platform; he had not participated in the bidding for the liquid of the Death Holy Grail, because the Fairy was the biggest buyer, spending lavishly, but the other party did not consider the liquid of the Death Holy Grail particularly favorable, willing to pay a high price but absolutely not acting as a fool.

Su Xiao did not think the Fairy was foolish, so he merely observed; he still had many things to do on his end, such as, before reaching the West Continent, manufacturing a large quantity of reduced-version Apollos; this kind of Apollo, compared to ordinary Apollo, had weaker power, but the advantage was that the materials were not his own expense, and manufacturing more would not cause him distress.

Even more wonderful was that Bahah could use this thing, with at most Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang added, lying on Bahah's back as a bombardment specialist; this meant that Su Xiao could, through Apollo's slaying of enemies, obtain great benefits.

The bidding on the world contact platform was soon completed; in the end, the Fairy had already spent 18,200 soul coins to acquire the liquid of the Death Holy Grail; whether any problem occurred during the transaction depended on the side of the National Football Team three brothers, as the one-tenth commission was not easy to obtain.

The National Football Team three brothers displayed full lasciviousness; they divided the liquid of the Death Holy Grail into 100 portions, each portion 182 soul coins, using temporary summoned objects to substitute for a little bit of their transaction with the Fairy.

Upon learning of the National Football Team three brothers' lascivious operation, Su Xiao felt much relieved; he picked up the badge from the table, placed it on his collar, and sure enough, the moment he wore this badge, the announcement appeared.

【Announcement (Void Tree): The pattern of this world has undergone a major change.】

【Announcement (Void Tree): The Southern Continent, Eastern Continent, Containment Institution, and Eclipse Organization will go to war with the Taytu Civilization.】

【The forces of this war are two sides, with the instigator being: the Temporary Alliance (full name: Southern Alliance·Eastern Alliance and the Containment Institution with the Eclipse Organization's Joint Emergency Response, Mutual Aid, and War Alliance).】

【Temporary Alliance Total Combat Power as follows.】

【Commander-in-Chief (nominal title): Kinsley.】

【Deputy Commander (actual authority position): Kukulin Bai Ye (this is a Hunter!)】

【Warning: Kukulin Bai Ye is not a native of this world, this is a Hunter from the Reincarnation Paradise!】

【Number of Ironclad Warships: 175 vessels (near-modern warships, shell power equivalent to 6~8th tier, determined by density).】

【Transport Vessels: 106 ships (some are civilian conscriptions).】

【Subsequent Supply Ships: 32 ships.】

【Total Soldier Count: 287,000 personnel (initial deployed force, subsequent reinforcements to be continuously transported via Eclipse Organization's unique spatial technology).】

【Total Supernatural Beings: 11,519 personnel.】

【Announcement (Void Tree): The continent where the Tayate Civilization resides will soon be changed to an Ultra-High-Danger Zone! Contractors within this world must carefully consider before deciding whether to proceed to this area.】

【Announcement (Void Tree): The characteristics of this world are about to change.】

【Announcement (Void Tree): Due to the impending change in world characteristics, danger levels in certain regions will significantly increase. Considering the overall combat strength intensity among contractors, a tiered gap has emerged. Whether the World Source Ranking will activate Hunting Mode will be decided by all contractors voting via the World Contact Platform, after which a final decision will be made.】

【Announcement (Void Tree): Voting completed, with over 99% of contractors agreeing to prohibit the activation of Hunting Mode.】

【Announcement (Void Tree): It is estimated that in 67 hours, this world will be changed into a War World!】