Chapter 3362

Su Xiao observed the "Evolution Nest" for a while longer. It looked very stable for the time being. Although this organ occupied over 90% of the fortress's second floor, it was well worth it.

Returning to the command center on the top floor, Su Xiao summoned four of his trusted aides—Hausman, Steel Tooth, and other wild boar men—and assigned them tasks one by one.

This was Su Xiao's third day in the Border Area. After the Doomsday Fortress was promoted to T3 rank, its active ore production reached 100 units per day. For small and medium-sized factions, this was a huge sum, but for Su Xiao, it was far from enough.

He had to promote the fortress to T1 or even T0 rank as quickly as possible. Only then could he increase the size of the Evolution Nest to accelerate the speed of troop production.

The current Evolution Nest could accommodate a maximum of 500 soldier units at a time. It took 3.5 hours to evolve one batch of boar-headed men. Working non-stop all day, it could convert 3,428 boar-headed men.

Estimating the conversion rate of warriors at around 80%, he could convert over 2,700 wild boar warriors per day.

Su Xiao needed 300,000 soldier-type units under his command to trigger all five buffs of the War Lord title. To summon Ancient War Beasts via the War Lord title, he needed at least 400,000 soldier-type units.

Simply maximizing the War Lord title was not enough to become the final victor. Su Xiao's move to use boar-headed men as his combat force would inevitably enrage the Kin Faction; this was striking at the foundation of the opposition.

The three major Kin Faction powers—the "Kin Alliance," "Sentry Tower," and "Aurora Council"—each had armies. Conservatively estimated, each of the three powers possessed at least a million troops.

This number was not an exaggeration. The Kin and the Human race had fought a protracted war. Currently, the Human race was huddled in the borderlands as the defeated party, but both sides still possessed formidable military strength.

It wasn't that they didn't want to fight; they were both holding back their ultimate moves, desperately developing and accumulating troops.

Under these circumstances, the three major Kin powers not only each possessed over a million troops, but among their military, the soldiers and officers who had participated in the war against the Human race had not yet retired, and more critically, they were in their prime.

The soldiers were fierce, and the officer corps was filled with talent. Currently, in the Kin camp, over 85% of the officers had been on the battlefield, and some generals had literally crawled out of piles of corpses.

The interior of the Kin camp was a study in extremes: the military was terrifyingly strong, yet the officials were habitually corrupt, and the Judgment Office was a foul mess.

Su Xiao did not act rashly precisely because he was wary of the Kin camp's military power. If he didn't accumulate a foundation, he would be wiped out by the Doomsday Fortress by nightfall if he started a war in the morning.

Starting a war required capital. At the current rate of producing 2,700 wild boar warriors a day, he would only have the qualifications to wage war against the Kin camp in at least half a year. Note: only the qualifications, not necessarily the ability to win.

To increase troop production, upgrading the fortress was a must; it was a different kind of barracks.

Upgrading the fortress from T3 to T2 required at least 260 units of active ore. By mining alone, it would take less than 3 days to save up this resource.

As the saying goes, one cannot get rich without a windfall, and a horse cannot get fat without night grass. Su Xiao was in dire need of a windfall right now.

Where to get this windfall? Su Xiao had long been prepared for this, or rather, he and Caesar had prepared it together.

To get this windfall, he had to take a trip to Free City, but before that, he had to stabilize the Doomsday Fortress completely.

Su Xiao had Hausman gather the boar-headed men in batches. A total of 3,655 boar-headed men were divided into eight batches to enter the "Evolution Nest," promoting from the level-2 troop type of boar-headed men to the level-3 troop type of wild boar warriors, who could immediately enter the battlefield.

Once these wild boar warriors completed their transformation, he would have the 2,638 boar-headed laborers evolve into dwarf boar men to improve mining efficiency.

Although there were tens of thousands of Moon Apostle's summons mining, that was ultimately an unstable output. Once the current disguised identity had issues, or if they went to war with the Apocalypse Paradise side prematurely, Moon Apostle and Morey would immediately run away, not daring to stay for even a moment. The executions of Apocalypse Paradise were no joke.

Having it oneself is better than having others do it. Evolving a large number of dwarf boar men would make mineral income very stable. Even in the most difficult times in the future, this income would not be cut off.

Su Xiao ordered Hausman and Steel Tooth to be responsible for supervising and managing the evolution of the boar-headed men.

Su Xiao took Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang and Baja and walked out of the room. Just as he exited, he saw Dorothy standing by the door, wearing black gloves on both hands and music headphones on her head, swaying her body slightly to the rhythm of the music.

Recently, besides going out hunting with the wild boar men, Dorothy basically had nothing to do. The head chef of the back kitchen, Ms. Moti, had complained multiple times that Dorothy often snuck into the kitchen to steal food.

As an educated female boar-headed person with excellent culinary skills, Ms. Moti had been conscientious and responsible since becoming the head chef, managing the kitchen for hundreds of people in an orderly fashion.

Upon learning of this, Su Xiao didn't pay much attention, only asking Baja to investigate. He initially thought Dorothy might have brought back some alien beast cubs and was raising them in her single dormitory on the third floor of the fortress, which was why she was stealing food from the kitchen.

Later, after Baja's investigation, it turned out that wasn't the case. Dorothy was stealing food from the kitchen because she was hungry—hungry to the point of discomfort.

This behavior was baffling. After realizing she couldn't hide it, Dorothy stammered out the truth.

She had had an astonishing appetite since childhood. When she was wandering in Free City, she had been fired over 30 times because of her appetite. Later, she discovered that even if she didn't eat her fill, she wouldn't starve to death, so she just endured it to avoid being looked at with strange eyes by others.

After coming to the fortress, Dorothy had to go out to fight, so she became even hungrier. Every meal she ate was equivalent to 2.5 times the appetite of a prime wild boar man. In her own words, to maintain a lady's etiquette, she hadn't even eaten her fill.

Hearing this, Baja couldn't help but speak up at the time: "You, a lady? Etiquette? Before you speak, spit out the bubblegum in your mouth first."

Last night, Su Xiao summoned head chef Ms. Moti and had her arrange for someone to deliver a late-night snack to the command center. Afterward, he summoned Dorothy and told her to eat her fill. He didn't believe a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl could eat that much.

An hour later, after Dorothy had eaten 80% of Amu's appetite, Su Xiao realized the matter wasn't simple. This damn thing was a bottomless pit; her appetite was on the same level as Amu's.

At this moment, Dorothy, leaning against the wall by the door, was closing her eyes and swaying her waist slightly to the music in her headphones, completely unaware that Su Xiao, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baja were forming a semi-circle watching her.

"Hey!"

Baja's shout startled Dorothy, making her shiver.

"What... what is it?"

"Are you bored lately?"

Baja looked Dorothy up and down and spoke.

"Yeah."

"I'll find you something to do. I forgot to tell you before, you have a peer."

"A peer?"

"Yes, an existence that is a Devourer just like Boiling Red."

When Baja said this, the smile on its face became increasingly unscrupulous.

"What does that have to do with me? A peer is a peer, so be it."

Dorothy had an indifferent expression, still not realizing the severity of the situation.

"Well, that's true, but the host of the Devourer 'Dark Sun' is named Xin Yuge."

Hearing Baja say the name Xin Yuge, Dorothy didn't react for the first few seconds, but the surname "Xin" brought a flood of memories to her mind.

The Xin Clan was a hunter family and also an assassin family. They were famous for their formidable combat power. At their peak, the clan only had a few dozen people, most of whom were strong. Several successive clan leaders had strength that could rank in the top five of their respective eras.

The current leader of the Xin Clan was even more powerful. If one were to exclude the comparison of faction scale, that old man was known as one of the three strongest people in this world.

Dorothy had a blood feud with the Xin Clan. This matter had to start with her father, Li Xiniwei. Her father had once found a lover, and that lover was a member of the Xin Clan.

Members of the Xin Clan were certainly not to be trifled with. Knowing that Li Xiniwei was already married, she immediately rushed to Free City, killed Li Xiniwei's wife, and intended to kidnap the young Dorothy to become the legitimate wife.

Later, the matter blew up. The Xin Clan couldn't afford to lose face, so they prepared to dispose of both Li Xiniwei and Dorothy. Afterward, Li Xiniwei's backer, the Aurora Council, stepped in, and the matter was finally settled.

In Su Xiao's view, there was a suspicious point in this matter. Although the Aurora Council stepped in, it was just a gesture. It felt more like they were putting the matter aside for now, and once the heat died down, the Aurora Council would send Li Xiniwei and Dorothy's corpses to the Xin Clan.

Compared to the Xin Clan, famous for their strength and assassinations, Li Xiniwei, who was just a small official at the time, was nothing to the Aurora Council. The best use for him was to be a sacrificial pawn to sell a favor to the Xin Clan, making future cooperation easier.

Li Xiniwei and Dorothy survived under these circumstances, and that scandal of the Xin Clan seemed to have been turned over.

"Xin Yuge... what does he have to do with the woman who killed my mother?"

Dorothy, who was always carefree, lowered her eyelids at this moment, and the music headphones on her head were also pulled off.

"Let me recall... oh, I remember now. Xin Yuge is a blood relative of that woman."

Baja's figure disappeared and then reappeared. In its claws, there was an extra pendant. After opening the flip cover of the pendant, a circular photo was revealed inside. The photo showed a woman smiling gently; it was Dorothy's late mother.

"Your husband was fooling around outside, finding a lover you couldn't afford to offend. Your mother was truly unlucky to be killed because of this. Dorothy, are you just going to let this matter go?"

Baja raised its eagle claw. Dorothy snatched the pendant from Baja's claw. Wisps of steam drifted from her body. Boiling Red had two main characteristics: boiling and blood. Clearly, Dorothy was developing toward the "Boiling System."

"Dorothy, are you afraid? Don't you dare go seek revenge on the Xin Clan?"

"Of course I'm not afraid, but the leader of the Xin Clan is too strong. The current me is no match for that old man. I need to become stronger. The leader of the Xin Clan is that woman's backer, I must..."

"You must my ass. Don't you have a backer?"

Baja felt both amused and exasperated.

"This..."

Dorothy was too embarrassed to say it. She only knew that Su Xiao, Amu, and Baja were stronger than her. As for exactly how strong, she estimated they probably couldn't reach the level of the Xin Clan leader, otherwise, there would be no need to come to the Border Area to develop.

Blood energy, ice, and chaotic space permeated around Dorothy. She instinctively retreated but backed against the wall. At this moment, Dorothy sincerely felt that her backer was so strong!

Su Xiao stepped toward the lower level of the fortress. Dorothy, having regained her senses, hurriedly followed.

Did Su Xiao let Dorothy take the initiative to provoke the Xin Clan? And then add another enemy? Of course not. The situation here was much more complex than it appeared on the surface.

As long as this game began, regardless of the process, two people would win. These two people were Su Xiao and the leader of the Xin Clan.