Chapter 3940

The improvement of the "Old Hunter" title was quite significant. After Su Xiao ascended to the Absolute Tier, although he would still encounter rule-breakers, their numbers had clearly decreased. Correspondingly, the rule-breakers he encountered were becoming harder and harder to kill; some were simply unkillable—yes, I'm talking about you, Priest.

Therefore, obtaining "Hunter Gold Coins" by killing rule-breakers was very unstable. Now that the "Old Hunter" title had expanded its hunting scope to the Abyss-type, this was a different matter entirely. After Su Xiao ascended to the Absolute Tier, he had been locked in a death struggle with the Abyss-type.

Now was not the time to wear the Old Hunter title. He replaced the title with "Shadow of the Abyss" and then opened the newly appeared city list. The information for the base camp, Mu Yu City, was clear at a glance.

In general, this was a fortress city that was not large in area, had a small population, and had poor resources. The entire city was shrouded in high steel walls, and the buildings with their old metal style were, just like the local customs, so kind and simple—simple to the point of killing off 35 successive Lords.

Su Xiao didn't care whether these residents supported him or not. The key was that if these fierce Mu Yu City residents really attacked him in a group, and he wiped them all out, Mu Yu City would no longer count as a territory. Losing the territory would naturally mean losing his status as a Lord, and the Tree of the Void would definitely certify this.

He didn't believe that a small number of Mu Yu City residents could be fierce enough to kill off generation after generation of Lords. This must have been because a Lord from a long time ago was too cruel, casting a shadow over these Mu Yu City residents, leading them to attack in a group as soon as there was any sign of a Lord acting wrongly.

There must be leaders among these residents, as well as lower-level managers. The result was that Mu Yu City had two power systems: one was the Lord system, which had powerful war capabilities but needed the support of the residents; the other force was the resident leaders, who did not have powerful war capabilities but could nip a Lord in the bud. As long as there were no resources—that is, food—the Lord would have no way to develop the "Lord Core."

A Lord without a Demi-human legion under their command was no match for the leader faction, which also led to the fact that very few Lords of Mu Yu City lasted more than a month.

In previous years, there were still newly promoted Lords who wanted to come to the famous Mu Yu City to challenge themselves, but now there were absolutely no such Lords seeking death.

The relationship between the Lord and the commoners was that the Lord had methods to produce "food," but given the environmental conditions of the Lord Continent, no method could be separated from the labor of the commoners.

Su Xiao sat in front of the summoning array. He had already determined the approximate coordinates of the Silver Queen. She was not in the Eternal Light World, but in a world unknown to him. It seemed the Silver Queen had returned to her old home again. Last time she returned home, she was beaten half to death by her sister, who shared the same mother-queen. In a life-or-death situation, she could only return to the Eternal Light World to cling to Ji La's leg.

Although Ji La was a homebody who liked to eat potato chips when facing Su Xiao, when facing other Zerg, it was no longer a question of punching hard; it was about smashing the opponent's brains out.

Ji La was very angry. As for the consequences, there were actually no consequences for the time being. Without the summoning of the "War Lord" title, Ji La's Zerg could not leave the Eternal Light World. So, in the Zerg network, she greeted the Silver Queen's sister, roughly meaning: You are good, I have remembered you. When I can leave the Eternal Light World for a short time in the future, I will go find you and visit your Zerg nest.

The Silver Queen's sister, who sensed this message through the Zerg network, felt terrible. In the eyes of all Zerg, Ji La was a monster among monsters—so monstrous that they were prepared to drive Ji La out of the Zerg network. They had indeed done so before, but because they were terrified later, the elders invited this little ancestor back.

The rough meaning was: Little ancestor, we are all Zerg. One day in the future, when you can leave the Eternal Light World, please show mercy when you see other Zerg. Who could be your opponent? Just beating them up is enough. Don't drag this Zerg queen out to feed to Barbatos. We are all Zerg; have a little compassion.

Regarding the matter of dragging other queens out to feed to Barbatos, Ji La immediately denied it. This fully inherited Su Xiao's style: conditions can be agreed to, but this matter was not done by me; even if there is evidence, I won't admit it.

Hindered by the fact that the Zerg elders had the ability to "cut off the network," and because Ji La, who had already fought to be invincible in the Eternal Light World, was quite bored, browsing the Zerg network was very interesting. After receiving a reply from Su Xiao asking about this matter, Ji La agreed to it.

Why did the Silver Queen's sister feel uneasy? It was because she could indeed press the Silver Queen to the ground and beat her, but facing Ji La... not to mention anything else, Barbatos alone could destroy her Zerg mother nest.

In addition, the Silver Queen's return home this time was not to become a queen or a hegemon. Previously, she had tried to repair her old home in order to have a chance to seal the Zerg Overlord, so she had blown up a world she controlled that was used to store world power, turning herself into an Origin Stone. If it weren't for her strong survival ability, struggling until Su Xiao obtained 【Origin Stone · Silver Queen】, she would have sent herself away that time.

The Silver Queen's return home this time was no longer about fighting for territory; she really wanted to restore this mother planet that had been almost completely destroyed by her. Was the Silver Queen no longer a cold and arrogant queen? Had she lost her edge? Yes. After witnessing the clash between the Demon Zerg and the World-Eater, the Silver Queen suddenly felt that the Zerg Overlord she had been pursuing with all her might was so fragile in front of these monsters. Even if she became the Zerg Overlord, so what?

The Silver Queen began to reflect on what it was she was pursuing. It was through this contemplation of life that she suddenly understood that what she had always been pursuing was just the Zerg larva that had once hidden in a Zerg nest less than a meter high, timidly peeking outside, watching the fragrance of flowers and grass, the dancing of insects and birds, and the herds of deer grazing on tender grass with cool morning dew.

At this moment, the Silver Queen knew what she had been longing for. She had just always been longing to walk out of the Zerg nest and bathe in nature. It was just that, as a Zerg mother, her instinctual nature was destined not to let her do this. Only by developing, growing, and defeating her own kind could she have a brief sense of security.

Because of this, the Silver Queen's goal changed to returning to her mother planet to build a Zerg nest and then gradually repair the environment destroyed by her. However, just after returning home, she was severely beaten by her former mortal enemy—that is, her own sister. In addition, the Zerg's view of family affection was so indifferent that it was almost non-existent, so this beating was particularly harsh.

Su Xiao placed a contract in the center of the summoning array and pressed one hand on it. The array started.

At the same time, in the sleeping palace of a mother nest, the Silver Queen suddenly opened her eyes. Around her were more than a dozen irritable elite combat Zerg. After sensing the summoning power, the Silver Queen felt impatient. She hated summoners, so she decisively terminated the pull of the summoning power.

But the next second, the Silver Queen found that something was wrong. If the normal summoning pull was a string that required the cooperation of the summoned to complete the summoning, then this time it was a chain firmly wrapped around her neck.

"Could it be..."

A person appeared in the Silver Queen's mind—that terrifying human who seemed to gently stroke her neck but would twist off her head the next instant if she refused his request.

"Wait, wait!"

Before the Silver Queen finished speaking, she was forcibly dragged into the summoning array. This familiar spatial fluctuation and the violent feeling of teleportation made her completely certain that the one summoning her was that human.

When the teleportation ended, the Silver Queen collapsed to the ground. Her slender index finger, with silver-patterned nails, trembled as she raised it to point at Su Xiao, saying with difficulty:

"You..."

Before she could say the rest, Baha interrupted: "Want to say hello? Yaha, Silver Queen, your cultivation has improved. Long time no see, changed from a cold queen to a lazy and elegant style?"

"You..."

"Want to say you're all good? Ahahaha, it is elegant. Boss, look at how excited the Silver Queen is; her fingers are trembling. If you ask me, this isn't too long since we last met. Do you miss my boss that much? Could it be, you~"

Baha's gradually blooming lewd smile made the Silver Queen's already unstable mentality crack on the spot.

"Sham... shameless..."

"You want to see us no matter what? Oh my, this is so mushy."

"Shut up!"

"Alright, then you negotiate with my boss."

Baha really shut up. However, Su Xiao had already made a move to draw his blade; negotiating with him was equivalent to physical negotiation.

The Silver Queen pondered for a moment. Compared to having that terrifying magic blade pressed against her neck, being angered half to death didn't seem like much.

"I want a Heart of Nature. It must be effective in a Tier 9 world, a Heart of Nature that allows the natural environment to gradually heal. This is the reward I want. It doesn't matter if you can't take it out immediately; you can give it to me in the future, but you cannot break your promise."

The Silver Queen chose to name her price directly.

"Oh? You agree to cooperate just like that? We haven't even said what we want you to help with."

Hearing Baha's words, the Silver Queen didn't look at it but stared at Su Xiao, saying: "Do I... have a choice?"

Baha said: "Of course you do, Silver Queen. In your heart, are we the kind of people who would force you to cooperate?"

Hearing Baha's words, the Silver Queen was clearly stunned for a moment. This made her a bit unconfident. She said suspiciously: "Isn't it?"

"Definitely not. Look at what you're saying. If you don't agree, we'll just teleport you back, using the upgraded version of the Law-Extinguishing Teleportation Array that my boss just developed not long ago."

Baha emphasized the words "just developed not long ago," "upgraded version," and "Law-Extinguishing Teleportation Array," which made the Silver Queen's back feel chilly.

Seeing this, Su Xiao poured a cup of elemental fine wine and handed it to the Silver Queen. He also picked up a cup himself and said:

"I will not force you to cooperate with me."

"I am volunteering!"

The Silver Queen's tone suddenly became categorical. Apparently, she was moved by the power of the upgraded Law-Extinguishing Teleportation Array... cough~, moved by friendship.

"Since I've already boarded this pirate ship, tell me, where is this?"

The Silver Queen's sitting posture became elegant. One elbow rested on the armrest of the crystal chair, and she took a light sip of the fine wine, a slight smile appearing on her face.

"Lord Continent, a world certified by the Paradise faction. You probably haven't heard of it."

"Cough, cough cough cough~"

The Silver Queen choked. She stared at Baha and asked: "Where is this?"

"Lord Continent, what's wrong?"

"Send me back. Just use the Law-Extinguishing Teleportation Array."

The Silver Queen made a move to get up, with the attitude of someone running away by taxi overnight. However, before she could stand up, her shoulder was pressed down by the long blade in its scabbard. Under the effect of the scabbard, she could only sit down obediently.

Seeing the Silver Queen's attitude, Baha deliberately asked with one eye big and one eye small: "So, you know the Lord Continent?"

"I know."

"Tell me about it."

"Using your Paradise's terminology: if our Zerg's war capability is 7, with 10 being the full score—excluding your daughter Ji La—if we are 7, the Lords are between 9 and 10. This vast world, second only to the Transcendence Realm, is the territory of the Scarlet Lord. He is the Supreme Lord here, the master of the endless Demi-human legion. Zerg are biological, war organisms, but the Demi-human legion is a pure weapon."

When the Silver Queen said this, there was lingering fear in the depths of her eyes. Apparently, she had clashed with a certain Lord during her peak period.

"Are the Lords that strong?"

Baha tried to continue fishing for information. The Silver Queen didn't hide it and said directly: "The Lords have a peak biological product called the "Lord Core." This is also one of the peak creations of the Great Lords of the Eternal Light World."

Hearing this, Baha's expression became solemn. The Great Lords of the Eternal Light World were powerful existences who were war profiteers even when facing the Sun God Clan and the Ancient Dragons during the First Era—one of the three major transcendences of the First Era.

"Bai Ye, forgive my bluntness. I am very happy that you think so highly of me, believing that I have the ability to fight the Lords to the death. Cooperating with you, although the process... is hard to describe in a word, I was indeed one of the winners last time. But facing the Lords, my Zerg are no match."

"No, you can."

"I... I can't."

"You can."

"I..."

The Silver Queen was just about to emphasize again when she found that Su Xiao's right hand was already pressed on the end of the hilt. She forced a smile and said: "Then I, I can."

The Silver Queen's eyes were helpless. She felt she couldn't do it, but the Law-Extinguisher opposite was almost holding a blade to her neck, telling her she could. There was no such way to encourage people.

"Alright, let's just assume I can. But where are we going to build the Zerg nest? And one more thing, the combat Zerg genes I have in stock are less than one percent as strong as your daughter's. By the way, why don't you let your daughter give me a combat Zerg gene? I don't expect the Demon Flame Dragon, but the Demon Beast would do."

The Silver Queen's eyes lit up, but Su Xiao's next words made her gaze confused.

"The combat power of the Zerg you cultivate is not important."

"Combat power is not important? Then what is important?!"

"Meat quality."

"Huh?"

The Silver Queen was completely dumbfounded. Of course, she didn't expect that Su Xiao was now a Lord and possessed a "Lord Halo" and a "Lord Core."

The effect of the "Lord Halo" was similar to the previous version of the "War Lord" title. It couldn't be upgraded for the time being and required "Concentrated Soul," for which there was no way to obtain it for now. And the "Lord Core" used for spawning troops required "Food."

Su Xiao never just followed the paths suggested by the hints. There were two ways to manufacture "food" in this world: commoner planting and catalysis. The so-called planting was to plant a living plant called the "Sucker" onto "Rotten Soil."

And "Rotten Soil" was soil buried with massive amounts of enemy legion corpses or decaying beast herds. Through special catalysis, this piece of soil would rot while carrying turbid life energy. By relying on the living plant called the "Sucker," this turbid life force would be absorbed and filtered. The branches of the "Sucker" would grow gelatinous life-characteristic substances, which was the "food" needed by the "Lord Core" of this world.

The other method, catalysis, was to convert and qualitatively change energy with similar characteristics into life energy. For example, wood-type energy promotes vegetation, vegetation characteristics convert into flesh and blood, and flesh and blood mutate into life. Without the medium of plants/animals, this could be done quickly directly through the spell factory. Once there was life energy, the subsequent steps were much the same as planting the "Sucker."

Lords needed "food," and commoners needed shelter. The Lord Continent was vast, it was true, but the entire western region of the Lord Continent was occupied by decaying beast herds. The number of decaying beast herds was endless, and this was the main fertilizer for producing "food."

The north was the territory of the undead and dead souls, and the south was the dark spreading area. Daring to explore it would result in being torn apart by the dark creatures inside. The central and eastern parts were the territories occupied by the Lords.

Among the decaying beast herds, the undead, and the dark creatures, the one that posed the greatest threat to the commoners of all races was definitely the decaying beast herds. Logically speaking, with the powerful war capabilities of the Lords, they had the ability to fight to the death to wipe out the decaying beast herds. The key was, if they really did that, relying on the commoners to provide war energy, how long could they exist after wiping out the decaying beast herds?

It was precisely because of the occasional intrusion of the decaying beast herds that one could see how fierce the folk customs of Mu Yu City were. In the absence of a Lord, it had continued to exist for so many years.

Su Xiao's plan was that now that he had the status of a Lord, he should make good use of it. And with the Demon Zerg, playing the "Lord Game" from scratch with other teams was simply too clumsy.

The so-called "food" was nothing more than flesh and blood containing a large amount of life energy. Based on the "food" manufacturing method of this world, the life energy contained in each unit of "food" only reached 2.6 Niela (Niela: an alchemical unit, usually used to summarize the content of life energy or backflow energy in each standard unit).

Since the "food" of this world was man-made, Su Xiao had the confidence to manufacture better ones. Don't forget, the "Bio-energy Crystal" used by the Demon Zerg was one of the higher-level life energies. The "Lord Core" was not unable to digest this energy; it was just that the systems of the two were different, which would cause the "Lord Core" to have indigestion.

The life energy content of each unit of "Bio-energy Crystal" was 320 Niela. The purpose of summoning the Silver Queen here was already very obvious. The Silver Queen didn't need to spawn combat Zerg; she needed to use her mother nest gene bank to create a Zerg that could be cultivated rapidly, had a stable flesh and blood structure, and contained a large amount of life energy in its flesh and blood. Even, in order to reduce costs, this Zerg unit didn't need to add consciousness seeds.

This saved a lot of Bio-energy Crystal expenses. You must know that for every Zerg cultivated, 30% of its cultivation cost was used to convert into consciousness seeds, thereby ensuring that the Zerg could work independently after becoming an adult or fight according to mental instructions.

In other words, as long as the Silver Queen's Zerg nest took shape, she wasn't spawning troops; she was spawning food. And the large amount of food obtained would first be used to upgrade the "Lord Core," upgrading it from E-level to SSS. After that, it was still not about spawning troops. Anyway, since this matter was already not done like a human, then don't be a human to the limit. Besides the level, the "Lord Core" also had a talent tree.

Supplying enough "food" to the "Lord Core," under the certification of the Tree of the Void, could obtain talent points, thereby upgrading the various passive abilities on the "Lord Core" talent tree. What Su Xiao wanted was to max out this talent tree, and only then would it be time to spawn troops.

This concept had one biggest problem: where to get the "Bio-energy Crystal" needed for the Silver Queen's development and troop spawning? The answer was the Eternal Light World. As the guardian of the Eternal Light World, the excess world power of the Eternal Light World would be absorbed by her mother nest. That was how the Tree of the Void certified it back then.

These world powers would be converted into "Bio-energy Crystals" by the Demon Zerg mother nest, and they were the purest, top-tier "Bio-energy Crystals" that were incomparable.

Ji La had already accumulated a massive amount of "Bio-energy Crystals" there. Just waiting for Su Xiao's message, she would use the Law-Extinguishing Teleportation Array he left behind to teleport them to Su Xiao in batches. May I ask, would the Tree of the Void interfere? The answer was no. In the judgment, Ji La was Su Xiao's permanent summon; this was assistance from a permanent summon.

Even if there was really some interference, it wouldn't be a direct interruption or prevention. It would most likely be a deduction of the Tree of the Void's reputation. As the saying goes, as long as the Tree of the Void's reputation is low enough, one is invincible in this kind of punishment.

A more intuitive metaphor is that if this round of clash is compared to upgrading everything with gold coins, then Hao Chou, Teride, Cain, Priest, and others were currently developing their opening or had long been prepared and already had a large sum of gold coins in their hands. Su Xiao's above behavior belonged to cheating. He opened a cheat that was almost infinite gold coins. A few days after the opening, he was ready to max out the level and talent tree of the "Lord Core."

As for where the Zerg nest base camp was located, naturally it couldn't be on the surface. Building it around this secret shelter was quite good. It not only hid the mother nest underground but also allowed this shelter with the "Skill Upgrade Chamber" to be wrapped in more safety.

And, once the mother nest was built, it could cultivate a large number of worker scorpions, letting them build a sufficiently large space thousands of meters underground, or even deeper, to facilitate the hiding of their own legion's combat power when the Lord Core spawned troops later.

The Silver Queen raised her hand, and the pendant on her neck dissolved, turning into a stream of life energy. She released the throbbing embryo egg in her hand. After the embryo egg absorbed the life energy, its size grew wildly. Soon, the first worker scorpion was born. The starting point of the mother nest began from a worker scorpion.

The worker scorpion ran out of the secret shelter, which was tens of square meters in size. After digging in the surrounding soil, it decided to build the mother nest above the shelter. In this way, as the mother nest expanded downward, it would wrap the shelter below inside it.

Su Xiao hadn't forgotten that there was still a leader faction in this Mu Yu City. For this faction, his response method was very simple. What the Zerg were best at was cultivation and accelerating growth. Among the genes collected by the Silver Queen, there were four types: "Arc-horned Water Buffalo," "Grey-maned Wild Boar," "Ink-feather Crest," and "Silver-scaled Pig Fish."

These four types of animals, which originated from the natural ecological chain in different worlds, were the ones with the best meat quality that the Silver Queen had tasted, so she naturally kept their genes. In fact, the above four types were essentially beef, pork, poultry, and fish.

Although the Zerg nest used catalysis to produce these, the problem was that they were catalyzed by outrageous energy like "Bio-energy Crystals," so the meat quality and nutrition were unquestionable. In addition, this was cultivating ordinary individuals without consciousness, so the cost was even lower.

Furthermore, in the diet of the commoners of Mu Yu City, coarse grains occupied the majority, and even wild vegetables were rare. In order to have a means of self-protection, a small number of residents chose to eat the "food" of the Lord Core directly, resulting in a very short lifespan.

After completing the production of meat, the subsequent work of slaughtering, decomposing, and transporting was the responsibility of the worker scorpions. And cultivating a worker scorpion only required a very small amount of "Bio-energy Crystal."

Not to mention that Mu Yu City only had 50,000 commoners, even if there were 5 million or 50 million, Su Xiao had a way to make them change from a situation of not having enough to eat to eating three meals a day, and with different dishes every time.

Mu Yu City had rain all year round, coupled with the "Rotten Soil Area" in the neighboring territory, causing the accumulated water on the ground to be turbid and even toxic. Even after the natural filtration of the earth, the groundwater was still very unstable. While the taste was strange, it was also slightly toxic.

Strange taste + slightly toxic didn't matter, as long as there was sufficient groundwater. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had learned many technologies of the Bana Little People, and the water purification device was one of the major items. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang had learned it very seriously at that time, just waiting for a certain time to enter a mission world, and after the storage space was sealed, it would assemble a water purification device with the waste it could find and become the MVP once.

However, this opportunity never appeared. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang was a bit frustrated before, wanting to show off in front of Su Xiao, but ended up learning it in vain.

Facts proved that no knowledge would be learned in vain. This time it was Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's turn to play. This Wang Star person was drawing a design drawing. It was prepared to manufacture a water purification device with a daily filtration capacity that could supply 300,000 to 450,000 people, and the drinking safety level would reach A+. S-level was unnecessary; that was pursuing luxury, and various trace elements needed to be added inside.

In addition, when Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang came, it also discovered that the large steam device located in the center of the city was very old and would be scrapped after working for a few more years. Moreover, the steam transmission power was particularly unstable. The city center was so hot that one wanted to soak in ice water, while the city edge area was as cold as a refrigerator's fresh-keeping area. This steam device needed to be renovated + modified, and an intelligent temperature control device needed to be added.

Su Xiao was not prepared to fight the leader faction of this city head-on. Sufficient food, clean fresh water, and warm shelter—as long as he provided these, and basically provided them for free, as long as the leader faction didn't want to experience the simple folk customs of Mu Yu City, they wouldn't be enemies with Su Xiao. No, the leader faction was definitely not a group of people with a strong desire for power. Most of them consumed the "food" of the Lord Core, losing their lifespan to obtain strength in order to protect Mu Yu City.

Under such circumstances, a city lord like Su Xiao came, and the situation that appeared was that they would be particularly worried about what would happen to Su Xiao.

The problem was that the other part of Su Xiao's plan this time was to challenge the legion under any Lord by himself. This risk was not low, but in order to max out the "Green Shadow King," it was still very necessary. The "Law-Extinguishing Talent · Shadow Hunting" could not be triggered by the legion under his command.

The situation that would occur at that time would most likely be that Fanny and a group of leader faction high-level officials would be so worried that their hair would turn white. The former was: My super thigh captain is going to challenge the enemy legion alone, what should I do? The latter was: Our city lord is going to challenge the enemy legion alone, what should I do? Especially urgent.

And at this moment, in a two-story building in the South City of Mu Yu City, it was pouring rain outside. The lights in the hall here were dim, and the insufficient power supply caused the dim yellow lights to go out occasionally for a few seconds.

The few people present were dressed differently. The leader was a woman with braided hair, a scar on the lower right side of her cheek, and facial details that were difficult to see clearly. She sat on the sofa wearing a coat. A flash of lightning streaked across, making her dark red pupils even more ferocious.

"Leader, another Lord has come. Should we just take action..."

The strong man with a cigar between his fingertips and erosion patterns all over his face spoke.

"No need to rush. Let's see what kind of Lord he is. After all, we can't hold on for too long. There must always be someone who can guard this city flooded by heavy rain and sewage."

The female leader spoke, raising her hand to extinguish the smoke at her fingertips. It could be seen that the skeleton of her exposed forearm was not large, and coupled with the overdraft of her body, she was a bit thin. But as a leader, she couldn't show weakness, so she naturally compensated in terms of clothing.

"Then we don't pay attention?"

The tall and thin one-eyed man standing behind the sofa spoke.

"No, we go... to calculate against him. Mu Yu City really needs a kind Lord."

The female leader got up from the single sofa and walked out, followed by the other key members. What she didn't know yet was that the Lord who came this time could be said to be very "kind," very... complicatedly kind?