Translator: AnubisTL
"Recruitment?"
A flicker of confusion crossed Zhao Ritian's eyes. He stood frozen in place, silent for a moment, before murmuring, "Can I refuse this?"
"Of course you can," Scar Dog replied with a shrug. He chambered a shell in his shotgun with one hand, then grinned, tilting his head. "We'll always believe in freedom."
"..."
Zhao Ritian stared at the shotgun in Scar Dog's hand, his expression complex. After a pause, he rasped, "It would be an honor for Zhao Ritian to be recruited."
"That's certainly true."
"Come with me. Based on your innate ability, there are some things I need to discuss with you in detail."
Soon, five hours had passed in the blink of an eye.
Chen Jiang lay back in his chair, shielding his eyes from the sunlight with a leaf. Without turning his head, he casually asked, "How's your rest going?"
"Almost there," Li Hao replied from beside him, nodding earnestly. "I haven't fully recovered, but I'm still good enough to be of use."
"Mm-hmm."
"We'll see if we can find a way to increase the range of your innate ability later, or maybe boost your mental power."
"Oh, and if you see anything you need in the Altar Shop, let me know."
"You've contributed a lot this time, so you deserve your share."
"Yes."
A faint flicker of gratitude flashed in Li Hao's eyes. He nodded briefly, offering no further comment.
"Then let's set sail."
Chen Jiang casually plucked a leaf from his face, gazed at the distant volcano, and slowly rose to stretch. "This mechanical race city must have some unique characteristics," he mused. "Otherwise, it's impossible that alien race players would still be alive in the surrounding area."
The mechanical race requires vast quantities of merit points to unlock item crafting permissions and defensive technologies like anti-air fire grids and city-wide energy shields.
When the Ten Thousand Races Arena first began, the 18 cities immediately dispatched armies to sweep the surrounding areas, harvesting merit points from newly arrived alien race players who were still disoriented. Logically, no scattered ape-man race players or human players should remain alive in this region.
Since the situation defies logic, something must be amiss.
Of course, none of this particularly concerned Chen Jiang. The fate of the mechanical race city nestled within the volcano's crater was already sealed. Barring unforeseen circumstances, its destruction was inevitable.
A moment later, Zhao Ritian, huddled inside a nearby house, whispered nervously, his voice trembling slightly, "Brother Jiang, do we really have to be so direct? Shouldn't we come up with some kind of strategy? Isn't this a bit too risky?"
Just moments before...
Chen Jiang and his companions had passed through several gates of swirling white mist, appearing in a residential building within the mechanical race city in a way he couldn't comprehend.
When he realized this, his legs nearly buckled beneath him. What kind of joke is this? He and his small group had just wandered into the heart of the mechanical race city—a move practically tantamount to suicide.
This is way too dangerous!
Meanwhile, Chen Jiang leaned back on the sofa, legs crossed, one arm draped casually over the backrest, remote in hand. He idly flipped through channels on the television screen.
It had to be said: life for the mechanical race was far more comfortable than for humans.
The television programming consisted of entertainment shows, propaganda films glorifying the race's achievements, and basic explanations of the Ten Thousand Races Arena.
But the explanations were all superficial, lacking detail.
Chen Jiang had hoped to find comprehensive information on all the alien races—their physical characteristics, racial innate abilities, cultural practices, population sizes, and unique traits.
None of this was mentioned on the screen.
Clearly, the mechanical race was wary of information leaks. There was no doubt they possessed the most thorough understanding of the other alien race players, given that the Ten Thousand Races Altar required the heads of ninety-six alien race players to construct.
Yet Chen Jiang couldn't even identify all ninety-six races.
Chen Jiang leaned back on the sofa, casually flipping through TV channels to pass the time.
Zhao Ritian, visibly nervous, sat on the edge of the sofa, most of his buttocks hovering in the air.
In the center of the living room lay a young woman, the original owner of the apartment, sprawled in a pool of blood.
The two men were alone in the room.
Chen Jiang remained silent, and Zhao Ritian, unsure of what to say, could only continue sitting tensely on the sofa's edge.
After a while, roughly fifteen minutes, a phantom gate composed of white mist suddenly materialized in the middle of the living room.
Scar Dog and Li Hao strode through the gate.
"Brother Jiang, we've got something."
"This city... there's definitely something wrong with it."
Scar Dog sat down on the sofa with a serious expression. He pulled out a bottle of mineral water, drained it in one gulp, and then spoke. "First off, this city has massive stockpiles of living supplies and huge quantities of TNT."
"Yes, the same TNT item we used to blow up the insect race sky pit last time."
"The exact quantity is unknown."
"They filled eight entire warehouses, so we're talking at least several hundred thousand units."
"It looks like they were preparing to detonate the volcano at any moment, to make this dormant volcano erupt."
"Is that so?"
Chen Jiang frowned, pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "If they wanted to trigger an eruption, there are far simpler methods. There's no need to build an entire city inside the crater and then populate it with civilians. That makes no sense."
Scar Dog nodded in agreement.
"So I've made a bold hypothesis."
"The mechanical race is participating in the Ten Thousand Races Arena for the second time, and they would undoubtedly have prepared for various contingencies."
"Such as... their own annihilation."
"Therefore, these cities might be the mechanical race's Kindling Cities. When their defeat became inevitable, they preserved these mechanical race members to serve as kindling for their survival."
Chen Jiang frowned, lost in thought, and remained silent.
Zhao Ritian, standing nearby, hesitated before tentatively asking, "Um... you mentioned earlier that the mechanical race is participating in the Ten Thousand Races Arena for the second time?"
"Yeah," Scar Dog replied casually, glancing at Zhao Ritian. "What about it?"
"If that's the case, could it be possible that this place was prepared by the mechanical race for some future event?"
"Possible," Chen Jiang nodded calmly, then slowly rose to his feet. "But these matters are irrelevant to us for now."
"Let's go."
"Take everything from the warehouses."
"Then, prepare to send this city to Paradise."
"Understood."
Soon, Chen Jiang and his group arrived at the first warehouse—a supply depot for daily necessities.
Inside were various long-lasting, non-perishable food supplies and everyday essentials.
While there was plenty of food, most of it consisted of canned goods and a milky-white, viscous nutrient fluid.
There was very little rice or flour, staples commonly found on Blue Star.
(End of the Chapter)
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