Chapter 3125: Chapter Forty-Nine: Meeting Gift

As announcements for the Void Tree appeared one after another, Su Xiao, who had just finished voting, felt regretful—he had wanted to try the hunting mode, but the other contractors disagreed.

The World Contact Platform was unusually lively, with messages scrolling so fast they were hard to read.

The overall content split into two extremes: at this moment, contractors in the Western Continent were all wearing confused expressions; some hid in sparsely populated areas of the Western Continent, gaining benefits by killing primitive humans parasitized by threadworms, while others had joined the Tayatext Civilization, a faction that is joinable but with high difficulty.

These contractors in the Western Continent were now in an extremely volatile state—since the alliance and the Western Continent had gone to war, to them it was a disaster from out of nowhere, and their region was about to be upgraded to 'Purgatory Difficulty'.

These contractors had been brewing a bellyful of curses, but chose to hold them in, as the cost of speaking them out was too high; they were also unsure whether Su Xiao was the type to hold grudges.

Compared to those contractors on the Western Continent, those stationed in Nanlu·Jiaman City and Youke City were almost ready to set off fireworks in celebration.

Earlier, the Black Rose had exposed a fact: Su Xiao was the legion commander of the Agency. Upon hearing this, contractors near Jiaman City and Youke City fell silent—someone had become a boss-level unit right at the start, what should they do? Waiting online, extremely anxious.

This is the power of the eight-star title 【Heaven-Plundering Shocking Waves】—though it does not directly boost combat power, it allows one, under certain risks, to gain a very high status early in the world.

Do not think the side effects of 【Heaven-Plundering Shocking Waves】 are minor—being hostile to the Child of the World can sometimes be extremely dangerous, for example, when encountering the Nameless Captain, a Child of the World.

When the Nameless Captain fought Su Xiao earlier, it was after completing his mission, at his peak, and he could even go toe-to-toe with the Fallen Divine Spirit·Ogths in a 1v1.

The cost of besieging the Fallen Divine Spirit·Ogths remains vivid in Su Xiao's memory—over a hundred seventh-rank contractors died, more than a thousand elite pirates, and the cursed souls of the Misfortune were nearly wiped out.

From this, one can imagine how strong the Nameless Captain was at his peak—ordinary Children of the World are not frightening, but those of evil factions are, as they wield worldly power, act without restraint, and will stop at nothing to complete their mission, even burning themselves to ashes, using any available force, no matter its kind.

This is the risk of entering the world while wearing 【Heaven-Plundering Shocking Waves】—of course, the reward is also very rich.

With Su Xiao, the Agency's legion commander, present, contractors near Jiaman City and Youke City dared not act rashly—not because they feared Su Xiao, but because they worried he would bring a large group of transcendent beings to deal with them.

Now that they learned Su Xiao had already left, the contractors in Jiaman City and Youke City were overjoyed—to quote the Black Rose: 'You finally left.'

But it can only be said that these people are happy too soon, for a big pit awaits them—if they join any of the four major powers: the Eastern Alliance, Southern Alliance, Containment Institution, or Eclipse Organization, they will immediately gain high status upon joining, then be conscripted to the front lines.

The process is: join → get promoted → get promoted → get promoted → get conscripted → refuse → get surrounded and knocked unconscious → wake up → find oneself on a front line with shells flying everywhere → dazed.

Su Xiao currently had no mood to deal with these matters; he surveyed the furnishings around him—the furnishings of this top cabin were brand new, having just been repaired not long ago.

Dong dong dong.

The knocking sound came, and after Am opened the door, he found Major Gewei standing outside—last time Su Xiao went to the Western Continent, he had taken Major Gewei's iron warship.

As an iron-blooded officer, Major Gewei outside the door wanted to speak but hesitated, ultimately just greeting him and walking away—his purpose was to tactfully tell Su Xiao not to blow up the top cabin of the iron warship again this time.

Su Xiao sat before a metal table, took out a large amount of materials from his private room, and began crafting a reduced-version Apollo—soon, a chilling fluctuation emanated from within the top cabin.

On the deck, Major Gewei, who was conducting pre-battle mobilization, froze in expression, his gaze turning toward the top cabin, and he said: "That guy."

"Here."

"I give you two a tough task—24-hour rotating guard on that lifeboat."

"Yes!"

Major Gewei pondered for a moment, walked into the middle cabin, and shortly after emerged carrying a bedroll, saying it was to bunk with the soldiers and set an example for them.

Inside the top cabin, several large fireballs floated above Su Xiao; as they were compressed by spiritual power, these golden fireballs gradually shrank, eventually becoming fist-sized gelatinous objects—four reduced-version Apollos were now complete.

One Apollo landed in Su Xiao's hand—inside it, many impurities were visible, and its detonation time was unstable, ranging from 3 to 16 seconds.

Do not think this means the Apollo's detonation time has achieved a breakthrough—if it detonated in 3 seconds, this Apollo's power would be weaker, and in normal combat, it might very well explode in one's own hand.

This reduced-version Apollo is meant for clearing areas—activate it and just throw it, using quantity to make up for lack of power.

There are many materials; Su Xiao picked up a batch—this time he had so much material that he wanted to try making liquid Apollo, and if successful, it would be a significant breakthrough in Apollo production.

Half an hour later.

Boom.

A metal can was thrown out of the top cabin, breaking through a shockwave and exploding above the sea surface.

Thud!

Like the sun falling onto the sea, furious waves surged and violently slapped against the side of the iron warship.

Looking now at the iron warship where Su Xiao was, the soldiers were all lying prone on the deck—some wearing only big underpants, rushing out of the cabin with guns, their eyes still dotted with sleep, gazing blankly—enemy attack? War started? Where is the enemy?

Major Gewei on the deck smiled, clicked shut his pocket watch, entered the lower cabin, and shortly after emerged carrying a bedroll, which he placed into the lifeboat—he would stay there now, not because he feared death, but because he did not want to be blown up by his own side.

That noon, Su Xiao's iron warship arrived at 'Seviqi Bay', anchored in the designated sea zone—gazing out, dozens of iron warships were already anchored on the sea surface.

At two in the afternoon, a total of 175 iron warships had gathered here; the entire fleet was divided into four parts—the vanguard consisted of 12 speed-famous iron warships, including the Nudi, K76, and Fearless Vanguard.

The second echelon iron warships were all famed for heavy firepower—for example, the Angry Cannon, Fourth Regiment Ship, and Giant Hand.

The third echelon consisted of 106 transport ships, as lightly armed as possible, carrying only soldiers to keep pace with the iron warships; positioned here to avoid enemy attacks, these transports were nearly shielded by the 175 iron warships.

The iron warships at the rear were famed for transport capacity, loaded with large quantities of shells, fuel, sulfur coal, etc.

Further back were 32 supply ships—the supply troops felt bitter, utterly unable to keep up with the main fleet, desperately chasing from behind.

In total: 175 iron warships, 106 transport ships, 32 supply ships—these vessels had only one target: the Western Continent.

Inside the top cabin, Su Xiao moved his neck—crafting reduced-version Apollos was no easy task; he had started at past nine in the morning, and now it was evening five, having produced 56 reduced-version Apollos.

Su Xiao picked up a glass tube from the workbench—it was about 10 centimeters long and 3 centimeters thick, filled with golden solution.

The liquid Apollo Su Xiao wanted to make, after several trials, had been successfully prototyped, though many aspects still needed improvement.

Sometimes in the mission world, he encounters a situation where, after meeting someone, killing them directly would cause significant loss because the person still has value—in such cases, injecting alchemical poison is the best choice.

99.9% of enemies do not understand alchemical poison—its unknown nature brings strong fear, but also breeds luck-based hope, as they believe they can cure it via an 'antidote' and remove the alchemical toxin.

If Apollo were modified—reduced in power, made liquid under normal conditions, with compatibility and stability—then injected into enemies needing control, they would dare not act rashly; detox? What if it suddenly exploded in place? This would be a stronger, more intuitive deterrent.

Moreover, liquid Apollo has greater malleability—if 【Blazing Sun's Wrath·Apollo】 could be turned into liquid, upon activation Su Xiao could shape it into something like a 'Blazing Sun Spear·Apollo', using its high heat after activation to pierce enemy defenses, then dispel the shape and let the liquid Apollo surge into the enemy's body for internal explosion.

This inspiration came from the intracranial high heat during his fight with the Moon God, and the internal combustion explosion of the Blood God.

Thus, Su Xiao could use 【Blazing Sun's Wrath·Apollo】 in battle, using the enemy's body as a blast buffer to avoid self-harm when it explodes.

These are still just ideas—turning reduced-version Apollo into liquid is no easy feat; liquidizing normal Apollo is harder, and 【Blazing Sun's Wrath·Apollo】 is even harder—for an alchemy master, this is a nightmare-level challenge.

The more Su Xiao looked at the liquid Apollo in his hand, the more satisfied he became—but for some reason, he felt faint heat on his fingertips, and flames appeared in the golden liquid inside the glass tube.

Seeing this, Su Xiao tossed the glass tube toward Bah, then continued making Apollos—Bah opened a spatial vortex with calm expression, let the tube fly in, then smoothly closed it.

Time passed quickly during the voyage—with abundant materials, Su Xiao, while crafting reduced-version Apollos, kept trying; he still had some unfinished business when Major Gewei knocked on the door—the fleet had sailed three days, and now was less than 90 nautical miles from the Western Continent.

Upon hearing this, Su Xiao stopped crafting reduced-version Apollos—he had made a total of 239 reduced-version Apollos; though their power could not match normal Apollos, their blast radius was only 1200 meters in diameter, but quantity made up for quality.

Su Xiao let Bahar bring these Apollos over, then took the map from the side to look at it. This is a rough map of the Western Continent. Through this map, only the general shape of the Western Continent can be seen; the specific terrain is very vague.

The entire Western Continent is an irregular oval in shape, with a total area roughly equivalent to 10 to 15 times the size of Gamman City. According to records, the original area of the Western Continent was not this small. For some unknown reason, the coastline of this continent has gradually sunk, being slowly devoured by the surrounding ocean. To this day, it has shrunk to its current size.

Su Xiao suspects this is very likely the consequence of Emperor Tayatu's abuse of the Abyssal Hole. The unfortunate ones are not only his subjects, but also the continent he rules, which is also being gradually eroded by the ocean.

Calculating by the main gun range of ironclad warships, if only firing in one direction, the land-clearing effect on the Western Continent would not be as good as imagined. However, if firing while circling the Western Continent, the area that the artillery can clear would be quite ideal.

Su Xiao made up his mind: first, bombard the Western Continent for five hours while circling it, and present Emperor Tayatu with a "greeting gift".