Translator: AnubisTL
Silence hung heavy over the crowd.
An immense gathering of human players, a sea of heads bound with white cloth and tear-streaked faces, bowed deeply toward the ruins of Kindling City.
This was likely the largest memorial service in human history.
Many present had never even known the human players who perished in the disaster.
They were strangers, with no familial or personal connection to the victims.
Yet grief still weighed on their hearts, anger still burned in their chests, and a suffocating sense of injustice lingered, demanding release.
After an immeasurable stretch of time, Chen Jiang slowly straightened, his gaze fixed on the ruins of Kindling City. "Rest in peace," he said quietly. "The human race will prevail."
The second-generation human guardian took a deep breath, his eyes rimmed with red, and raised his fist, shouting in a low voice, "Rebuild!"
In the next instant—
The ruins of Kindling City seemed to come alive. Enveloped in a blinding white light, the wreckage began to reconstruct itself at an astonishing pace. In less than half a minute, the city had been reborn.
The towering city walls stood once again in the wilderness, restored to their former glory.
Not a trace of blood stained the walls, yet everyone knew that within this city lay the flesh and blood of nearly four million humans.
"I did my best," the second-generation human guardian murmured, his eyes slightly reddened as he gazed at the city before him. He took a deep breath, turned to the assembled human players behind him, and declared, "Enter the city!"
Everything needed rebuilding.
Many tasks lay ahead.
First, they had to reconstruct the energy shield and restore all operational procedures. Countless issues demanded immediate attention. It was clear that this would place immense pressure on the second-generation human guardian.
But someone had to stand in this position.
If the second generation fell, there would be a third.
And if the third fell, there would be countless generations to follow.
Meanwhile, Chen Jiang and his group had already used the phantom gate to reach the original site of the world tree. They quickly located the world tree, which they had abandoned in mid-air.
In their haste to reach Kindling City, they had opted to travel through the phantom gate rather than use the world tree, whose speed was too slow.
Thus, they had temporarily left it behind.
"How should I put it?"
Scar Dog lay on the ground, his head pillowed on his arms, and sighed deeply before speaking. "It's truly heartbreaking. If Brother Jiang..."
"If Brother Jiang... what? What if he... you know?" Li Hao leaned in curiously.
Scar Dog shot Li Hao a speechless look before finally saying, "Then I'll destroy this world."
"That sounds a bit edgy, like the kind of stuff I used to post on QQ Space when I was younger," Li Hao remarked.
"What exactly makes you so arrogant in front of me?!"
Scar Dog exhaled slowly, a sinister grin spreading across his face as he cracked his knuckles. "Looks like my long absence has made you forget my strength."
"Come on, today I'll scratch that itch of yours!"
"Wait, wait! I was wrong! I take it back!" Li Hao feigned terror and bolted away, shouting as he fled.
Zhao Ritian, perched on his slime, followed alongside the pair, gleefully fanning the flames. "Go get him! What are you waiting for? You can't just let him get away with that! If it were me, I'd never stand for it!"
Wang Defa wasn't here; he was at the original site of the world tree, battling mutated beasts. The mutated beast fabricator was there, so he had no choice.
"What a pity," Chen Jiang murmured, leaning on his cane with one hand as he stood at the edge of the world tree, gazing at the distant white clouds.
The distance to the mechanical race city they had just destroyed was too great.
Without using light gates or phantom gates, it would take an impossibly long time for the world tree to reach it at its current speed.
There was no choice but to abandon the pursuit.
Though regrettable, there was nothing else they could do.
He then turned his attention to the fusion point shop, where he purchased the "Simple Camera" for 380,000 fusion points, leaving him with 2,740,000 fusion points remaining.
His gaze lingered on the item he had long since chosen.
The turret currently had a critical vulnerability: while it was physically sturdy, it couldn't withstand truly powerful attacks. His absolute defense protected him, but not the turret itself.
This meant that if the turret were destroyed, all the one-star items he had painstakingly used to enhance it would be lost.
All his efforts had been for naught, his combat power instantly plummeting to zero.
To prevent such a catastrophe, the items in the fusion point shop offered a perfect solution to these hidden vulnerabilities.
First item:
[Item Name]: Two-Star Item Insurance Token
[Item Star]: Three-Star Item
[Item Effect]: You can insure your two-star items. When a two-star item is destroyed, use this token to perfectly restore it.
[Item Description]: Insure your beloved two-star items now!
[Item Price]: 10,000 fusion points
This three-star item was the cheapest of its kind in the fusion point shop, with only 50 available.
Without hesitation, he purchased all 50 Two-Star Item Insurance Tokens, leaving none behind, spending a total of 500,000 fusion points.
To date, no one else had ever purchased this item.
After all, it was quite a niche product.
Despite being a three-star item, its effect was laughably useless—it only provided insurance for two-star items. But the real question was: which two-star item could possibly be worth 10,000 fusion points?
With that kind of price, wouldn't it be more cost-effective to just buy several more two-star items?
How much could a single two-star item possibly cost? Why would anyone spend 10,000 fusion points just to insure it?
Almost everyone would think the same thing.
Except for Chen Jiang.
Yes, no matter how much Chen Jiang enhanced his turret, it remained a two-star item. For him, spending just 10,000 fusion points to give his turret strong insurance—ensuring it wouldn't be destroyed—was a bargain.
Even if it were destroyed, it could be restored.
This was undoubtedly the most worthwhile purchase he could make.
If the quantity weren't limited, he would have bought hundreds of them to keep his turret in a state of absolute defense forever.
But fifty should be enough.
After all, the turret itself was already quite durable.
Next, the second item:
[Item Name]: Firearm Cooling Token
[Item Star: Two-Star Item]
[Item Effect: Rapidly cools down an overheated gun barrel, allowing it to continue firing.]
[Item Description: The Durex of the gun world—choose it to make your firearm last longer.]
[Item Price: 1000 Fusion Points.]
His [Giant Super Annihilation Bomb] was undeniably powerful, but it had a major drawback: after use, the barrel would overheat to its limit, rendering it unusable. The [Firearm Cooling Token] could rapidly dissipate this heat.
Theoretically, with sufficient manual dexterity, he could even fire the [Giant Super Annihilation Bomb] like ordinary ammunition, unleashing a continuous barrage of the devastating projectiles onto his enemies' heads at an absurdly high rate of fire!
Using an unconventional weapon in a conventional manner would be a terrifying prospect.
To illustrate:
Imagine you have an AK-47, and your enemy also has an AK-47.
Your AK-47 fires standard 7.62mm rounds.
The enemy's AK-47 was firing nuclear warheads.
Both sides had the same rate of fire.
Well, that's roughly the idea. This is what happens when you treat unconventional weapons as if they were conventional ones.
They were on completely different levels.
The fusion point shop only had 500 of these items in total.
Without much hesitation, Chen Jiang waved his hand and bought all 500 Firearm Cooling Tokens, spending a total of 500,000 fusion points.
Next, he turned his attention to the third item.
This one was for himself.
[Item Name]: Rule-Ignoring Token
[Item Star]: Three-Star Item
[Item Effect]: When you face a Rule Kill, this token will automatically activate, allowing you to ignore the rule and become immune to the Rule Kill.
[Item Description]: The only thing that can counter a rule is another rule.
[Item Price]: 200,000 fusion points.
The Fusion Shop only had two of these tokens for sale. He bought both—one for himself and one for Scar Dog.
What exactly is a Rule Kill?
Essentially, some players have an innate ability: if you call out their name and they turn around, they die.
It sounds absurd, but that's the nature of rule talents.
Whether it's a rule talent or a rule item, they often possess abilities that are fundamentally impossible to defend against. Even with their limitations, the sheer power of rule talents and rule items remains undeniable.
In such situations, there's no way to evade them.
Absolute defense is useless.
Absolute defense only protects against physical damage. Rule Kills, however, bypass such defenses entirely.
Though he hadn't encountered this specific scenario yet, he decided to buy the tokens preemptively.
Since ancient times, people have always built stone houses to shelter from hungry wolves, rather than waiting for the wolves to arrive before starting construction.
Unfortunately, the fusion point shop only had two tokens available.
This purchase cost him 400,000 fusion points!
It was an additional layer of security for himself and Scar Dog.
At least now they wouldn't have to worry about dying randomly from some bizarre Rule Kill—that would truly be infuriating.
With 1,340,000 fusion points remaining, it was clear these points were remarkably durable. Despite buying so many items, he still had over a million left.
He then called over Scar Dog and the others.
"What's up, Brother Jiang?" Scar Dog asked, slightly out of breath, rolling up his sleeves and planting his hands on his hips. "I was just teaching Li Hao a lesson. He needs to learn who's boss around here!"
"I bought some items for you guys," Chen Jiang said casually, shaking his head. "Just some self-defense gear to keep you from dying in some unexpected situation."
"Zhao Ritian, here, this is for you."
"For me?" Zhao Ritian's eyes flashed with surprise as he looked at Chen Jiang in disbelief. He then accepted the item with trembling hands, his voice filled with excitement. "Thank you, Brother Jiang! Thank you!"
He genuinely hadn't expected to receive anything.
Though he hated to admit it, his contribution to the squad was undeniably the smallest.
Brother Jiang was the team's firepower backbone, while Li Hao's map manifestation served as the squad's sole source of information.
Scar Dog's phantom gate had proven invaluable countless times, especially when paired with Brother Jiang's turret, allowing the turret to unleash devastating bombardments without restraint.
Even Wang Defa provided Brother Jiang with a steady stream of items daily!
Only Zhao Ritian seemed unremarkable. His slime innate ability offered little benefit to the team, except occasionally when Scar Dog needed it as a power source for his perpetual motion machine.
Beyond that, he felt largely useless. As for combat prowess, that was even more absurd. His slime would be reduced to ash by Brother Jiang's artillery fire, leaving not even a trace.
In this situation, if Scar Dog hadn't frequently sought him out for chats, Zhao Ritian might have withdrawn completely. Yet Brother Jiang had even bought him a self-defense item.
To be honest, he was genuinely shocked and deeply moved.
After all, if he were the boss, he doubted he would have spent precious fusion points on a self-defense item for such a peripheral teammate.
"Thank you, Brother Jiang! Thank you so much!" Zhao Ritian stammered, his voice trembling with emotion as he gazed at the item Brother Jiang had handed him.
[Item Name]: Tianyu Ring
[Item Star]: Three-Star Item
[Item Effect]: In times of crisis, the Tianyu Ring will generate an energy shield to protect you. You can infuse the ring with lifeforms to power the shield.
[Item Description]: The Tianyu Ring safeguards you in perilous situations.
"Your slime's lifespan is quite short, isn't it? When its life is about to end, you can infuse it into the Tianyu Ring. This will continuously provide the ring with an energy source, making it a useful defensive item."
Chen Jiang shook his head casually. "In most situations, this item should be sufficient to protect you. The more lifeforms you infuse into it, the stronger the energy shield becomes."
This item had cost him 180,000 fusion points.
It was essentially a defensive item for Zhao Ritian.
He then turned to Li Hao, who was standing nearby, and tossed an item into his arms. "This one's for you."
Chen Jiang had purchased defensive items for everyone in the squad, including Wang Defa, to maximize their safety and ensure the team's integrity in the face of danger.
After all, each member of the squad played an irreplaceable role.
Whether it was Li Hao or Wang Defa, each contributed their unique skills to the team.
Even Zhao Ritian...
"Hmm?"
Chen Jiang suddenly frowned, pondering. What exactly was Zhao Ritian's purpose? How had this guy even joined the squad in the first place?
He quickly realized.
"...Ah, he provides the power source for most of our perpetual motion machine projects."
(End of the Chapter)
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