Chapter 184: Draining the Pond to Catch All the Fish, Treating All Beings as Children

Facing Mao Xuan's inquiry, Xiao Jin, whose infection was worsening by the second, could no longer offer any reply.

A low growl rumbled in his throat, large patches of his eyes were covered in grayish-white, and his body was on the verge of being completely controlled by the Immortal Virus.

This put Mao Xuan in a difficult position.

Collecting Will Power depended on the intensity of the target's desire; curing the illness was not hard, but the trouble was that he might lose Sacrificial Power.

But upon further reflection, this was precisely the opportunity to test the acquisition intensity of Will Power.

Summoning the Mall panel, he entered a keyword, and a row of items appeared before his eyes.

Spending 300 points of Sacrificial Power, he purchased a Clarity Pill.

According to the analysis description, this was a medicinal pill capable of clearing negative status effects, sold at an exorbitant price.

At such a price, players usually could not bear to use it on themselves; it would be more convenient to just die and respawn in the Small Black Room.

But in order to acquire Will Power, Mao Xuan decided to buy it and give it a try.

Crouching down, he stuffed the pale blue pill into Xiao Jin's mouth; upon entering, the medicine automatically dissolved and slid down his throat.

Part of the medicinal liquid was absorbed by the oral mucosa.

At this moment, Xiao Jin's body was still trembling violently, blue veins bulging beneath his skin, while black-purple patterns spread across his surface like twisted vines.

Hoarse roars continuously erupted from the depths of his throat.

A few seconds later, a strange change occurred.

The arm Xiao Jin had been waving frantically slowly came to a halt, and his roars gradually turned into painful moans.

His eyes, which had already turned cloudy and grayish-white, slowly regained their clarity, the gray color on his eyeballs receding rapidly.

Immediately after, the black-purple patterns on his skin melted away quickly like ice and snow meeting heat, retreating at a speed visible to the naked eye back to his cheeks where the Immortal Virus had first made contact, until they vanished completely.

The skin, originally cracked and oozing black blood, gradually became smooth and flat, restoring its normal complexion.

His breathing shifted from rapid and chaotic to steady and orderly; his body stopped trembling, and he regained control over his limbs.

In merely a few seconds, all traces of the modification and destruction wrought by the Immortal Virus on his body disappeared entirely, as if they had never existed.

For the living beings of the Minor World, the Immortal Virus was a calamity for which no antidote could be created, but for players, it was nothing more than a negative status effect.

If one wanted to resolve it, there were plenty of methods.

High-quality spiritual resources needed to concoct an antidote could not be found in the Minor World, but the Mall had them in abundance.

After Xiao Jin's infection was cleared, Challenge Prompts continuously rang out in Mao Xuan's mind:

[Challenge Prompt: Gained Will Power +229 from Black Skin (if the target recalls this event while alive, there is a probability of continuing to acquire Will Power).]

[Challenge Prompt: Gained Will Power: 225 from Xiao Jin.]

[Challenge Prompt: Gained Will Power: 92 from A Shi.]

[Challenge Prompt: ...]

As the prompts continued to ring in his mind, a brilliant smile surfaced on Mao Xuan's Iron Face.

More importantly, he discovered that acquiring Will Power was a long-term business.

In the future, if these survivors recalled everything that happened today, imagining their emotions at the time and the suffocating despair they felt, the gratitude rising in their hearts would once again provide him with a certain amount of Will Power.

This meant that as long as these guys lived long enough, the output of Will Power could also last indefinitely.

Recalling the past generates Will Power.

What a rewarding business!

Yet, in the eyes of Black Skin and the others, the smile on Mao Xuan's Iron Face was that of a deity rejoicing after saving mortal beings from the dust.

It was evident that this deity greatly respected them, mere mortals.

Before offering aid, he had even asked Xiao Jin in detail whether he wished to continue living, respecting personal will and not obstructing even if one wanted to die.

"O God, can you save our leader?"

Just then, an anxious voice rang out.

Mao Xuan turned to look and saw that the speaker was a young warrior.

Following the direction of his pointing finger, an elderly warrior lay dead on the ground, his hand still firmly gripping a modified weapon even after death.

This request put Mao Xuan in a difficult position again.

Although he had the intention, he truly could not resurrect a dead life.

Players possessed the ability to resurrect infinitely, but this ability could not be provided to non-player targets.

Nor did the Mall sell any special items capable of resurrecting the dead.

One on the brink of death could be saved, but the truly dead were hard to retain.

Looking at the dirty faces, the expectation flickering in their eyes made Mao Xuan feel immense pressure.

From their gazes, he could tell that if he could fulfill this wish, he would definitely earn a huge sum of Will Power.

But while his heart was willing, his power was insufficient.

None of the ten Will Power unlocking skills from the Sixth Generation Prayer possessed characteristics related to resurrection.

Perhaps only in the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, or even the Tenth Generation Ultimate Origin that the Player Legion would accommodate in the future would there be characteristics capable of reshaping a target's life and causing them to resurrect on the spot.

As for when a Fate Soul possessing resurrection characteristics would be accommodated, no one could predict.

Facing the request, Mao Xuan shook his head:

"My abilities are limited; I can heal the wounded, but I cannot resurrect the dead."

Upon hearing these words, the eyes of all the survivors dimmed.

After sweeping his gaze around the circle, Mao Xuan asked:

"Whatever needs you have now, you may state them, and I will do my best to satisfy them."

Hearing Mao Xuan say he could satisfy their needs, the eyes of all the survivors lit up once more.

Standing beside him, Black Skin hesitated for a moment before speaking first:

"God, if possible, we hope to have a safe place to reside."

"No problem."

"God, we want food to fill our bellies."

"No problem."

"God, we want clean water."

"No problem."

Facing these requests, Mao Xuan agreed to each one, and with a wave of his hand, a pile of canned food appeared on the ground.

Next, he planned to find a new residence for these survivors; the fortress beneath their feet was dark, damp, and filled with various musty smells in the air, simply not a place for humans to stay.

Finding a residence for the survivors and providing water and food were all methods for him to acquire Will Power.

Distributing the canned food and watching the survivors eat voraciously, Challenge Prompts rang out in Mao Xuan's mind once again.

Will Power increased in a very easy manner.

Once all the survivors were full, Mao Xuan gained another 1,359 points of Will Power.

It was foreseeable that every time he provided food in the future, he would gain Will Power revenue.

But after many times, the Will Power provided by a full meal would obviously follow a downward curve.

After all, once accustomed, the original longing would become a daily habit.

They would no longer feel that eating their fill was something that brought happiness.

But Mao Xuan did not consider how to solve this problem for now; he only wanted to make a huge profit first.

As a player, he always drained the pond to catch all the fish.

He only wanted to unlock the first two skills of the Prayer Fate Soul.

As for the third Prayer skill, it required 300,000 Will Power to unlock, which definitely could not be gathered in a short while.

Sweeping his gaze over the smiles on the survivors' faces, Mao Xuan also smiled very happily.

After all the survivors finished their meal, he led the remaining hundred-plus survivors out of the fortress shelter.

It was evident that for many survivors, this was the first time leaving the fortress shelter, and they felt extremely curious about everything in the outside world.

"Do not touch the filthy blood on the ground; stay close to me."

As for where to go next, Mao Xuan had no good ideas.

He planned to first look around the city ruins to see if there was a suitable environment that could be turned into a shelter; if none could be found, he would then consider leaving the city or returning to the fortress shelter.

Walking along the dilapidated streets, the apocalyptic haze hung like a massive lead slab heavily over the city sky, keeping the view perpetually dim.

Mao Xuan walked at the very front of the group, his shoes stepping on ground covered in shattered glass, emitting a "crunching" sound.

Behind him were the dragging footsteps of the survivors, sounding exceptionally clear in this dead silence.

Although the city beneath their feet had been abandoned for a long time, one could still see that it had once been prosperous.

Now, however, only broken walls and shattered tiles remained.

The doors and windows of shops along the street were all broken, whitened signboards hung crookedly, creaking as the wind blew.

In the distance, skyscrapers were riddled with holes, and abandoned vehicles were parked haphazardly by the roadside, their surfaces covered in dust and rust.

From time to time, remnants of dried blood appeared on the ground, and a pungent smell permeated the air.

It was a mixture of rotting stench, gunpowder smoke, and the scorched scent of burning.

Mao Xuan did not feel anything unusual, but for the survivors behind him, every breath felt as though their lungs were being burned, followed by uncontrollable, violent coughing.

Unlike Mao Xuan, the survivors displayed expressions of extreme tension as they advanced.

Especially when seeing the remains of the dead by the roadside, fear would still surface in their eyes.

What surprised Mao Xuan, however, was that during the exploration, prompts regarding Will Power gains also appeared in his mind.

Evidently, in the hearts of many survivors, stepping out of the fortress shelter to take a look outside was also no small wish.

Not long after, they once again encountered wandering Immortal Zombies.

Upon spotting them, five Immortal Zombies clustered together rushed forward with extreme speed.

The accompanying survivors all turned their gazes toward Mao Xuan.

As the Immortal Zombies drew nearer, the survivors unconsciously held their breath.

Just then, Mao Xuan threw a punch.

After activating the Gang Qi trait, a fist shadow manifested from crimson energy swept across; the five Immortal Zombies were shattered mid-sprint into five clumps of black mist, from which five clumps of blood mist invisible to the survivors were stripped, merging into his body upon contact.

Prompts for Will Power gains and Sacrificial Power gains rang in his mind; Mao Xuan led the survivor squad to continue their journey.

After traveling some distance, the route was filled with scenes of dilapidation.

Walking at the very front of the column, Mao Xuan summoned the Minor World chat channel and sent an inquiry:

"Does any brother know where we can establish a safe shelter?"

"Has the poster above found survivors? Share a few with me, I beg you; I've been exploring for so long yet have harvested nothing."

"Of course you build the shelter yourself; materials can be bought at the Exchange. If you lack hands-on ability, what kind of Savior are you? Let me take over!"

"Let the survivors do the work themselves; they all have hands and feet. You only need to protect their safety."

Many players in the Regional Chat Channel offered suggestions.

What was certain was that the chosen residence had to be near a water source; only then could the survivors survive long-term.

Secondly, it was best to have arable land for farming.

Regarding this, Mao Xuan also questioned the group of survivors.

But they were all born inside the Fortress Shelter and knew very little about the external environment.

In the areas of this dilapidated city they had explored, they knew even less than he, an outsider.

Arriving at the entrance of a ruined shop, Mao Xuan glanced inside; the shelves were toppled over, trash was scattered everywhere, and it had long been looted clean.

Glancing at the faucet at the entrance slowly dripping black liquid, Mao Xuan shook his head inwardly.

The rivers encountered along the way were all filthy; the water sources within the city were simply unusable.

He asked the survivors how they had previously solved their drinking water problem.

Black Skin answered that the interior of the fortress possessed a water circulation system.

It collected water sources through four methods.

First, a large rainwater collection device connected to a filtration system for storage was set up in the open area atop the fortress.

Second, there was an underground water source beneath the fortress; drilling equipment had been used to establish a small well, and after installing a water pump, water was extracted into the fortress for filtration and treatment.

But the well had basically been abandoned; the stagnant groundwater underground had been nearly pumped dry.

The third method was wastewater recycling.

Domestic wastewater generated within the fortress, such as urine, was recycled and processed through a sewage treatment system to make it usable again.

The final method was collecting condensed water; utilizing the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the fortress, the ventilation system collected water vapor condensing into liquid water, which could be directly consumed after purification.

As for food acquisition, it was mainly obtained through a type of small animal with extremely strong reproductive capabilities; consuming them provided protein.

To Mao Xuan's ears, this seemed like a type of insect similar to a cockroach.

Occasionally, they would also venture out to explore, searching for various types of supplies and tools.

After listening to Black Skin's account, Mao Xuan could not help but sigh in his heart.

Although they were merely NPCs in the game, these humanoid lives of the Minor World were faring too miserably.

If he were a survivor, rather than struggling for survival in such a harsh environment, he would prefer to go to the Lord of Bliss's Palace of Joy to enjoy himself once, then happily end his life's journey.

However, given the survivors' physical constitution, the Lord of Benefits would probably be too lazy to even open the door.

After all, the entertainment venues the Lord of Benefits operated in the Monster World did not serve the weak... nor did they serve players, because players would only go inside to sweep away vice and crack down on crime.

Walking through the ruin scenes, Mao Xuan began to consider what step to take next.

If he truly could not find a suitable living environment, he could only return to the Fortress Shelter and improve the survivors' living conditions through renovation.

In this aspect, he had to seek help from the omnipotent forum players; after all, troublesome matters like building shelters were something he truly did not know how to do.

Just then, Mao Xuan suddenly stopped.

He raised his head to look ahead.

A huge black snake head protruded from the corner of the ruins ahead, slowly slithering forward.

This was a giant snake nearly thirty meters long; its eyes were like two balls of burning cold flame, its pupils narrow and long as blades, radiating endless ferocity.

As it moved, its body appeared as massive as a mountain range, winding forth; every scale seemed forged from hellish lava, incredibly fierce and hideous.

Its thirty-meter-long body slithered through the ruins, crushing broken walls and shattered bricks; gravel and metal emitted cracking sounds under its crushing weight; its movements seemed slow yet carried an unstoppable sense of oppression, as if the entire city was suffocating under its shadow.

The snake's head raised high at this moment, looking down upon these ruins, and at this moment discovered Mao Xuan and the others.

A low hiss emanated from deep within its throat, a sound like thunder that made the surrounding air tremble; the wind in the ruins seemed to stop flowing, leaving only that huge black body slowly approaching, carrying an overbearing aura capable of destroying everything.

Seeing such a terrifying creature, the survivors following behind Mao Xuan all turned pale.

Indescribable fear surged into their hearts.

The moment they were locked onto by the giant snake's vertical pupils, they smelled a strong scent of death.

The heavy sense of oppression made them feel nearly suffocated.

Roar!

The giant snake opened its mouth and roared at them; a gale carrying gravel howled forth.

The great snake twisted its body and suddenly accelerated its movement speed.

To the survivors' eyes, the giant snake was like a black mountain range moving rapidly; wherever it passed, gravel flew and walls collapsed.

Boom!

A building dozens of meters high was whipped by the giant snake's tail into dancing debris; its thick body wound through the ruins, accelerating, easily overturning and crushing abandoned vehicles and obstacles along the way; buildings that were once sturdy were like fragile toys before the giant snake.

Facing the oppression of the attacking giant snake, Mao Xuan took no action whatsoever.

This made the survivors behind him even more tense, constantly shouting in their hearts, hoping their deity would act quickly.

At this critical moment, the giant snake's massive head suddenly halted three meters in front of Mao Xuan; a trace of pleading appeared in its cold vertical pupils:

"Brother, can you share a few? I beg you."

"No, go find your own."

"Brother, which guild are you from?" the giant snake immediately asked.

"Great Dragon City."

"Good, I'm leaving."

Hearing Mao Xuan announce his affiliation, realizing this was not a guild he could afford to provoke, the Monster Stream player sighed in a very human-like manner, then turned and left, whipping its tail to shatter a leaning towering building.

Seeing the giant snake actually speak human language, the survivors following behind Mao Xuan all widened their eyes.

Clearly, they could not understand everything happening before them.

Mao Xuan offered no explanation, leading the survivors to continue their departure.

From afar, roars emitted by Monster Stream players came from time to time, like an apocalyptic giant beast running rampant and unchecked through the city ruins.

The truth was indeed so; apart from their own players, this Minor World possessed no combat power capable of fighting it.

Calling it an invincible giant beast would not be an exaggeration.

Continuing the exploration, pausing occasionally to eat a meal, Mao Xuan still failed to find a suitable living environment.

Whether to leave the city or return to the Fortress Shelter for renovation, he ultimately decided to return to the Fortress Shelter, while contacting guild friends to find a player skilled in shelter design to renovate and rectify the Fortress Shelter, providing the survivors with a better living environment.

By the time they returned to the Fortress Shelter, the sky had already darkened.

At the entrance, the remains of the Immortal Zombies were reduced to withered bones glowing with green light.

The moment he killed them, these Immortal Zombies had been drained of energy and fed back into his body, leaving behind only bone remnants devoid of spiritual energy.

After settling the survivors, Mao Xuan was just about to summon the Guild Chat Channel.

When he heard a friend's voice ring out in his mind:

"Old Mao, take a look at this post (Forum Post Link)."

Puzzled, Mao Xuan immediately opened the post, discovering it was a concept proposed by a Strategy Party player.

This player stated that he was helping a group of survivors in an apocalyptic world; prior to this, these survivors had obtained survival supplies by plundering other survivor teams.

They were also known as: Plunderers.

Contact with this group of Plunderers had given this player an idea.

He stated that endlessly helping survivors was akin to draining the pond to catch all the fish, because the survivors' demands would rise on an upward curve as they were satisfied.

Therefore, there needed to be a batch of players standing on the Plunderer faction's side.

Forming a factional relationship of confrontation between Plunderers and Survivors, with players providing resource support to both factions respectively.

Doing this would allow for a continuous output of Will Power gains.

But this plan was too evil; whether to proceed depended on the suggestions of the forum players.

After all, this plan could not be executed by a single person or a small team; it required the cooperation of all players entering the Apocalyptic Minor World to unfold.

The post concluded by initiating a vote:

Vote 1: Drain the pond to catch all the fish, jointly build a prosperous age.

Vote 2: The Minor World becomes an exquisite chessboard, the common people are like pieces driven at will.

(End of Chapter)