Chapter 3339: Reinforcements and Choices

The night wind blew as the open-top armored vehicle sped across the wilderness. Behind it, a behemoth moved forward on mechanical tentacles; though it didn't appear fast, its stride was massive.

Su Xiao had abandoned the mine he was currently excavating, ordering the Doomsday Fortress to retract its ground piles and enter mobile mode. Although it would consume quite a bit of Active Ore, it was worth it.

First, the scale of that mine was small, and it was estimated that over eighty percent had already been extracted. With the current number of Pig-headed Men in the Doomsday Fortress, the resources would be exhausted before long.

Su Xiao needs a large-scale mineral vein, but the problem is that such veins have already been occupied by the three major factions. Of course, there are exceptions; there are two large mineral veins in the "Border Region" that are currently in an unmined state.

The so-called "Borderlands" was the junction between the territories of the Kindred and the Alienated Beasts. The terrain here consisted mostly of towering mountain ranges, and within these mountains lay a valley. It was like a wide passage connecting the territories of the Alienated Beasts and the Kindred, separating the two.

Among the three major Kindred factions, the "Kindred Alliance" had more than once intended to hold this place with a T2-level fortress. After holding it for several months, they retreated in disgrace, leaving behind even the large mine that was less than 4% excavated.

When Su Xiao saw this terrain on the map, he had the feeling that "Heaven is finally on my side for once." This terrain was simply too good. For others, this was an extremely terrible mining site; while mining, one had to fend off harassment from Alienated Beasts, which would inevitably cause casualties. The compensation paid to the families of the deceased would be an astronomical figure. But for Su Xiao, this was the exclusive location for a base camp.

Below was Active Ore that could be mined at will. To the west, it connected to the Kindred territory, allowing for trade to replenish supplies and the number of Pig-headed Men. To the east, it connected to the territory of the Alienated Beasts—this was the most brilliant point.

To outsiders, this was a place easily hammered by Alienated Beasts, but that was exactly what Su Xiao wanted. If Pig-headed Men wanted to become warriors, the only way was to experience cruel combat. This situation was simply perfect.

Su Xiao had decided that as soon as he finished buying the necessary items from the "Neutral Fortress City," he would immediately move to the Borderlands and develop there.

Su Xiao, sitting in the passenger seat, closed his eyes for a nap. Just then, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.

【Prompt: Main Quest · First Ring (Activated).】

【Main Quest: Expansion (First Ring).】

Difficulty Level: Lv. 70～???

Quest Information: Expand combat power at the fastest speed and destroy a T1-level fortress.

Quest Deadline: 8 days.

Quest Reward: Tree-born Page ×1, Space-Time Power (100 ounces), 4 Real Attribute Points.

Quest Penalty: None.

Prompt: This quest can be abandoned. Abandoning it will result in immediate departure from this world.

Prompt: Once the second ring of the main quest is triggered, the quest penalty will default to forced execution.

……

Seeing the quest content, Su Xiao already had a rough guess in his heart. In all likelihood, the final ring of the quest would be to compete for ownership of this world, or to seize some important item.

Reincarnation Paradise would not issue a quest with a certain death. Su Xiao estimated that the final ring of the quest in this world would be comprehensively judged based on his current strength plus the external combat power he had mastered.

If he hadn't mastered any external power, it would likely be to compete for an important item. If he had mastered powerful external power, such as the Wolf Cavalry Legion, the final ring of the quest would very likely be to compete for ownership of this world, hammering the contractors of the other three paradises until they lost control of their bowels.

The gains brought by these two types of final quests would definitely be worlds apart, which also confirmed the saying: the greater the ability, the more resources one can take.

However, compared to these, when Su Xiao saw the reward for the first ring of the quest, he found it particularly familiar. Wasn't this the ticket he used to enter this world?

This quest could be abandoned, which was also a choice. If he abandoned it, he wouldn't get the ticket back, and returning to Reincarnation Paradise without gaining anything would be the safest choice.

If he completed the first ring of the main quest, it would be equivalent to agreeing to participate in this world contention war. As a benefit of participating, he could get his ticket back first.

After all, for a life-risking event like a world contention war, making the contractor/hunter pay for their own ticket clearly didn't conform to the principle of "risk and reward are equal."

Su Xiao had confirmed that Pig-headed Men had development potential. Previously, when he was on the Alliance Star, he led Alliance soldiers to attack the Western Continent. Under the blessing of the War Lord, those Alliance soldiers developed a characteristic: they could advance from ordinary soldiers to veterans after experiencing cruel combat and tempering.

After the Pig-headed Men received the bonus from the War Lord, Su Xiao discovered that a large portion of them also awakened similar abilities.

While maintaining the War Lord bonus, Pig-headed Men had a certain probability of transforming into Boar-men during a desperate battle. This was a phenomenon of bloodline awakening and atavism. The specific attributes of Boar-men were still unknown.

Under normal circumstances, Pig-headed Men didn't have this transformation ability; it required the stimulation provided by the War Lord's bonus state to appear.

Out of 10 Pig-headed Men, about 7 to 8 would have this potential for advancement under the War Lord's bonus. The remaining 2 to 3 were naturally not cut out for it, but their mining ability was generally 3 to 4 levels higher. Letting them mine was fine; their work efficiency was high.

With a rough plan in mind, Su Xiao leaned back in the passenger seat and continued to nap. At 3:00 AM, Bubu Wang bumped into a tree while dozing off. At 6:30 AM, Su Xiao saw the Neutral Fortress in the distance.

The entire fortress city didn't look much different from a normal city. Many people said that the three T0-level fortress cities could no longer be retracted and moved because they were too massive. Whether this was true or false remained unknown.

The armored vehicle stopped at the southwest checkpoint of the Neutral Fortress City. This place was not only guarded by Kindred soldiers but also had heavy artillery-grade weapons. Dark green thick cloth covered them, making it impossible to see the model of these heavy artillery-grade weapons, whether they were biological or energy-based.

After Li Xiniwei showed the transit permit and quietly stuffed a piece of Active Ore into the pocket of a Kindred guard, the checkpoint let them pass, even though the scanner at the waist of one of the Kindred guards shrieked, and an electronic judgment warrant regarding Su Xiao popped up on the screen.

The Kindred soldier extinguished the cigarette at his fingertips and turned off the scanner hanging at his waist. An Active Ore flew over; he skillfully caught it, glanced at the quality of the ore, took out his lighter, and pressed it against the scanner. Electric arcs flashed, and the scanner's records were cleared.

"A few... distinguished guests, welcome to Freedom City."

The Kindred soldier, who had relit a cigarette, was all smiles. Li Xiniwei smiled and winked at him, and the open-top armored vehicle started.

Entering the streets of the Neutral Fortress City, Su Xiao found that the style here had a bit of a cyberpunk feel. This was a unique scene brought about by the explosion of biological-side technology.

The signs on both sides of the street are hung in a chaotic mess; some look full of a sense of technology, while others are dilapidated wooden boards.

A few passersby walked past, one of whom had a mechanical arm, but their clothing was slightly worn, indicating that mechanical prosthetics were not expensive things here.

The entire city was filled with crime and passion, human mechanical modification (mechanical prosthetics), colorful neon billboards that hadn't been turned off on the street, high-tech weapons that could be bought everywhere, the unruly gazes of pedestrians, and steam leaking from wall pipes—this was the Neutral Fortress City, also known as Freedom City.

Boom!

An explosion sounded. Lie Chao instinctively thought it was an enemy attack, but discovered it was a sound coming from a shop not far away.

Inside that shop, a group of young people with unique hairstyles and colorful hair were laughing loudly, and one of them was holding a "Heavy-Draw · M17S · Phonon Blast Grenade."

To Su Xiao, this thing was equivalent to a firecracker with a bit more kick. In this world, as long as it wasn't a biological weapon, it was fine. If one encountered a biological weapon, one must be cautious.

Su Xiao decided to go buy 【Cataclysm Solution · Type V】 first. Just then, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.

【Prompt: Hunter has arrived at the Neutral Fortress City (Freedom City).】

【Detected that your fortress has taken initial shape.】

【Detected that the difficulty of this quest for the Hunter is extremely high, and the quest difficulty comes from the World Contention War.】

【Judging...】

【Hunter is the only combatant on your side for this event.】

【Reincarnation Paradise will grant the Hunter one of the following reinforcements.】

1. Self-combat power reinforcement (improve comprehensive combat power, until leaving this world).

2. Personnel assistance.

3. Material reinforcement (give resources that can immediately improve combat power, permanent improvement).

【Warning: If you accept this reinforcement, the quest penalty for Main Quest · First Ring will be changed to forced execution!】

【You have chosen personnel assistance. You need to choose from the following categories.】

1. Employee.

2. Some Qiyuezhe.

3. Arbiter.

4. Hunter.

【You have chosen Arbiter for reinforcement. Yes/No to specify the Arbiter, or choose randomly.】

【You have specified Arbiter for reinforcement.】

【Arbiter · Nicholas Caesar will enter this world in 34 minutes and 52 seconds.】