The Jinghai Olympic Stadium had once been a monument of national pride.
Now, it was a fortress built on hunger and desperation.
Ten-meter concrete walls wrapped around the stadium like a crude exoskeleton, reinforced with scavenged metal sheets and rust-flecked barbed wire. Watchtowers hunched over the perimeter, each armed with machine guns that had seen more sleepless nights than the soldiers operating them. Searchlights swept the cracked avenues, their beams jittery from the shaky hands guiding them.
Inside the fort, life had thinned to the bare minimum.
Soldiers leaned on their rifles like old men, faces pale, eyes sunken. Their uniforms hung loose, belts tightened to hide weight loss. Even from outside the gates, Su Chen could tell—they hadn't had a proper meal in days.
The Great Expansion had swallowed their supply lines whole. Jinghai's once endless farmlands now lay buried under wild new jungles, and the grain silos had been overrun by mutated wildlife.
So when the Black Behemoth rolled toward their main gate, thunderous engine splitting the quiet, the soldiers reacted like cornered wolves.
"Halt! Unidentified vehicle, stop immediately!"
The loudspeaker crackled.
A Type-96 tank rotated its turret toward them with a slow, threatening groan.
More than twenty rifles snapped into position. The soldiers' fear was palpable.
Inside the cabin, Jiang Rou's fingers tightened around the wheel until her knuckles whitened.
"Boss… they look one sneeze away from opening fire."
Su Chen didn't even glance up from the window.
"They're starving," he murmured. "Starving men are dangerous—"
He tapped the dashboard intercom.
"—but starving men are also very easy to negotiate with."
He pressed the button.
"I am a traveling merchant. I request a meeting with your Commander."
For half a second, there was silence.
Then a soldier barked a bitter laugh.
"Merchant? Are you kidding me? Turn back or we shoot!"
Su Chen exhaled through his nose, the sound halfway between annoyance and boredom.
"Diplomacy is dead."
He pushed open the roof hatch.
---
[Purple Cloud Wings — Deploy]
Feathers of violet light unfurled behind him as he rose into the air.
The reaction was immediate.
"Mutant! Fire!"
Bullets screamed upward.
Ping. Ping. Ping.
The rounds hit his golden-sheened skin and bounced off like cheap toys. Su Chen didn't even flinch; he looked mildly irritated, as if someone had pelted him with rice grains.
"Stop tickling me," he said, voice amplified by the subtle compulsion of [Siren's Song].
It carried a cold authority that made the soldiers' fingers freeze on their triggers.
"I said: bring me your Commander."
As if pulled by invisible strings, the soldiers stopped firing.
Then the gates groaned open.
And she walked out.
---
Colonel Lin Que
She moved with the sharp precision of a blade drawn from its sheath—tall, posture straight despite visible exhaustion, her dark green uniform clinging tightly to a body trained for war. Her hair, cut into a clean bob, framed eyes that were cold, alert, and dangerously intelligent.
On her back rested an anti-materiel sniper rifle almost as tall as she was. She carried it like an accessory.
The system flickered.
[Target Identified: Lin Que]
[Rank: Colonel]
[Level: 10 – Elite]
[Talent: Metal Storm (S-Rank)]
[Status: Malnourished / Resolute]
Her gaze swept Su Chen with the clinical evaluation of someone who had executed threats before breakfast.
"You invaded my airspace," she said. Her voice was hoarse from hunger but steady. "Give me one reason not to vaporize you with a missile."
Su Chen descended until he floated just above eye level.
"Because I have something you need more than ammo."
He snapped his fingers.
---
[Infinite Storage — Dump]
Thud.
Another thud.
Then a third—louder, wet, heavy.
Giant Iron-Shell Crab legs—still steaming—hit the concrete.
Barrels of clean water followed.
Crates of canned beef slid across the ground.
An avalanche of food.
The smell rolled across the gate like a warm wave—rich, meaty, spiced.
Stomachs growled in a chorus. A soldier's knees buckled. Even Lin Que's steel mask cracked momentarily.
Her eyes flicked to the pile, then back to Su Chen.
"…Food."
"Five tons of cooked Tier-2 monster meat," Su Chen said casually. "High-nutrient. Enough to feed your whole base for a week. Enough to keep them alive."
Lin Que's jaw tightened with the struggle between pride and responsibility.
"…What do you want?"
"Data."
He dropped to the ground.
"Access to your Satellite Command Center. I want the map of the new Jinghai."
Her expression hardened instantly.
"That information is top secret."
Su Chen shrugged toward the crab legs.
"Is it more important than your soldiers' lives?"
Silence.
Then her shoulders sank, just slightly.
"Deal."
---
Inside the Fortress
The stadium interior had become a refugee hive.
Tents filled the corridors.
Civilians huddled together like frightened animals.
Children cried quietly while soldiers in ragged uniforms tried to maintain order.
Lin Que led them through winding hallways toward the Ops Room.
Saeko walked silently beside Su Chen, steps sharp and measured.
Saya followed behind, eyes sparkling like she'd been dropped inside a military candy store.
The Ops Room was cramped and hot, filled with exhausted officers and half-broken equipment. A massive digital map covered one wall, flickering occasionally.
Lin Que typed in her clearance code.
"This is everything we have left," she admitted. "The satellites are decaying. But we mapped the new Jinghai Province as best we could."
Su Chen stepped forward.
The map was massive. Jinghai wasn't a city anymore—it was the size of Australia.
And it was alive.
New continents.
Black zones of unknown terrain.
Dozens of red energy readings.
Su Chen laid his hand on the server rack.
---
[Talent: Machine Interface — Activated]
[Copying Military Database…]
[Decryption…]
[Download Complete]
The entire dataset poured into his mind. Saya's laptop chimed as it synced automatically.
Resource zones.
Monster nests.
Dungeon gates.
And one more.
A glowing golden signal deep in the ocean.
[Unknown Signal — Divine Class]
Su Chen's eyes narrowed.
"…Interesting."
"The food?" Lin Que asked quietly.
"Already delivered."
He turned to leave—then stopped.
Rows of DF-12 tactical missiles lined the wall beside him, each under a tarp.
He walked toward them.
"I'm taking these too."
Lin Que stiffened.
"That was not part of our agreement! These are our last line of defense!"
"I'm not taking them," Su Chen corrected.
He touched the first missile.
[Copied: DF-12 Missile]
Then another.
[Copied: C4 Explosive Crate]
Lin Que's voice cracked slightly.
"What—what are you doing? You're just touching them!"
"Blessing them," Su Chen deadpanned.
She stared in total confusion.
He stepped past her.
"Colonel Lin."
She tensed.
"A Tier-4 beast tide is forming in the north. It will reach you in three days."
Her face drained of color.
"That's… impossible."
"It's already moving," Su Chen said. "Prepare accordingly."
He offered her a small, glowing crystal.
"A communication crystal. Call me if you want to survive."
She hesitated—but took it.
"What's the price?"
Su Chen leaned close, eyes sharp.
"Next time… the price is you."
Lin Que inhaled sharply.
But she didn't look away.
"I belong to the state," she whispered.
Su Chen smirked.
"The state no longer exists. Only the strong."
He walked out without waiting for her reply.
---
Inside the Black Behemoth
By the time they left the fortress, the sun had dipped low, casting the ruined skyline in shades of red and dying gold.
Saya's fingers danced across her laptop.
"I found it."
Su Chen raised an eyebrow.
"The signal?"
Saya zoomed in.
"A massive concentration of Spirit Qi beneath the City Botanical Gardens. It's not a simple mine… it's a stabilized Dimensional Rift."
Su Chen's heart thumped once, hard.
A spirit stone mine meant—
His Indestructible Diamond Body could advance.
His dungeon core could run indefinitely.
Magitek production could begin.
But Saya zoomed again.
"There's another signal. A distress beacon. 'Laboratory 7'."
Jiang Rou leaned forward.
"A secret government lab. Rumor was… cloning, psychic tests… weird stuff."
Su Chen's eyes sharpened.
Psychics?
Clones?
Possible new talents?
Waifus?
"New plan," he said.
"We hit the lab first."
He looked to Saeko.
"Up for cutting through whatever they left behind?"
Saeko's lips curved into a slow, hungry smile.
"Always."