Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“No snatching, no snatching. Everyone will have food.” The pushcart moved along the streets of the City of Hope and stopped at the corner. The swarm of people who had been waiting for a long time dashed forward.
“Line up! There’s enough for everyone. Don’t snatch; those who steal can forget about eating tonight!” roared the person in the security uniform.
Clang! Standing beside him was a steely-cold Iron Knight that resembled a concrete and steel construction. The armor of the Iron Knight exuded a cold light, and the powerful aura took people’s breath away.
The knight raised the cold spear in his hand, and the spear radiated with cold light. Ding! It made a clear sound on the ground.
“Careful, this road was just paved. You could have made a large dent,” yelled the imperial guard in a security uniform.
The Iron Knight looked down at the big hole that had been created by his spear. His face was covered by his thick iron helmet, so one couldn’t read his expression, but he slightly lifted his right hand, which was holding the spear.
Fearful of authorities, the people who wanted food eventually chose to line up. Although many of them were monster trainers, not everyone was a battle monster trainer.
This monster, similar to the Iron Knight, was called the White Armored Guard, and it was a beast newly being used by the military. As reported in the news and newspapers, it was mass-produced by the Southern Sky Group, which the military ordered them from.
Last week, 300 Lord-tier flaming brown bulls had moved south from the north, causing many losses and destroying a large number of newly built buildings. The military then sent a squad of a thousand White Armored Guards to destroy the flaming brown bulls. That fight laid the foundation for the military’s prestige and made a name for the White Armored Guards.
The White Armored Guards were the latest product from the Southern Sky Group’s laboratory and had evolved from a monster called the Giant Jawed Beetle.
Of course, to the outside world, many researchers in the laboratory were the ones who claimed to have developed it, when in fact, this monster was a product of Gao Peng’s free time.
When studying the monster’s attributes, Gao Peng had noticed that one of the Giant-Jawed Beetle’s evolutionary tracks was the Short-Jawed Guardian Monster, which eventually evolved into the White Armored Guard, a monster shaped like a human. There weren’t many human-shaped monsters, which was why Gao Peng was interested in it.
When Gao Peng was idle, he would stay in the laboratory to experiment and attempt to cultivate and evolve the monsters that other people had captured.
If they evolved into good-looking creatures that could fight well, it would be possible to breed them on a large scale and sell them to other forces, just like White Armored Guards.
Fighting power was secondary. The key was looking good! Being good-looking made up for a hundred flaws.
It was worth mentioning that the marketing department of the Southern Sky Group had done market research. Monster A had superior performance, loyalty, bravery, and stronger fighting power. It had no shortcomings compared to monsters of the same kind, except for its relatively ordinary appearance. Monster B was lazy, arrogant and occasionally short-tempered, plus its fighting power was weaker than that of Monster A, but it was good-looking.
This was in reality, not a game; when faced with danger, a good-looking person was of no use. No matter how handsome one was, that trait wouldn’t offer protection. Therefore, most people chose Monster A.
After two rounds of evolution, the White Armored Guards looked highly powerful, like knights in heavy armor during the Middle Ages. When it entered combat mode, the armor could expand, and rich gold would emit from the armor, so it appeared as though its whole body was covered with golden light, dazzling.
They looked very mature and stable, in line with the government’s appearance. At least, that was what the purchasers in the government said at that point in time.
The Southern Sky Group had unconsciously become the largest monster trafficking group in the Black Fog World. Ji Hanwu had resigned from the position that the government wanted to bestow upon him; all the senior managers in the Southern Sky Group had also left the government. However, the influence and status of the Southern Sky Group weren’t affected.
One reason was that Emperor Gao was undeniably the strongest man on Earth Star, and the other reason was that Emperor Ji was the second strongest man on Earth Star. The truth could be distorted by holding it with one’s fist.
Although it wasn’t that much of an exaggeration, Gao Peng wasn’t the kind of person who inflated his minor achievements. But his indifference didn’t mean that others didn’t care. Now, even when Gao Peng randomly spoke in his sleep, many would speculate and ponder uneasily over it for a long time.
When Gao Peng accidentally farted at dinner, others would worry about whether Emperor Gao had a stomachache or intestinal discomfort and if it would lead to a bad mood, which could lead him to be unhappy with anyone and… who was that unlucky person going to be?
Gao Peng had started to cultivate monsters behind closed doors since his last return. He had gradually grown to enjoy the sense of accomplishment that came with creating a new monster. The Southern Sky Group was equipped with several rare monsters that weren’t available for sale. Only the lower-level monsters were sold to the mass market.
The great powers that had existed before the Cataclysm had also used this method to eliminate unwanted old weapons. Money had been needed to develop and manufacture new weapons, and researchers would need their wages too, right?
Where would the costs and profits come from? Of course, the “small countries” that needed these items.
By using their money to feed the seller’s own army, and concurrently arming allies with outdated equipment that they didn’t want, it was a win-win situation! They were happy, and the seller was happy, so everyone was happy.
The Southern Sky Group and the government had signed a large number of orders and various equal cooperation treaties. Because of the geographical environment, the three major human communities were distributed all around the Black Fog World, with the City of Hope being the fastest recovering and developing group, and also the fastest to grow in terms of strength; this was also due to the help of the Southern Sky Group.
There were three spatial rifts leading to the Black Fog World, located respectively in Yuzhou in Huaxia, Lusaka in Africa, and the Yinyang Region. In fact, the spatial rift of the Earth’s stars not only led to the Black Fog World, but also the other worlds that faced the sea, but because Gao Peng was at the Southern Sky Group, most people chose to stay in the Black Fog World.
Of course, some powers wanted to escape the influence of the Huaxia Region and deliberately avoided the Dark Fog World. They hoped to takeover other worlds. Going beyond Huaxia, beyond the Southern Sky Group, beyond Gao Peng!
…
The closed doors of the laboratory opened slowly. Dressed in a white coat, Gao Peng brushed lint off his outfit. He was followed by an expressionless Goldie. Goldie was frowning like a bald man without emotion.
Behind Goldie stood a six-and-a-half-foot-tall pink and white fox with a human face. Though the human-faced fox had a face that was clearly the shape of an animal, it gave one a strange feeling. It was as if it wasn’t a fox, but rather a beautiful woman.
