Whether fancy accommodations or glorious ones, there was no place better than home.
No matter how good Freedom City was, it was not as familiar or intimate as the basin in front of Iron Rock Mountain!
Su Mo abruptly relaxed his vigilance completely and felt the dizziness caused by the double depletion of body and spirit.
He soldiered on until he fully entered the edge of the territory, then stumbled as he removed all his disguises.
With a flash of purple light, the swift road lizard template disappeared, revealing Su Mo’s demigod form first.
With a flicker of faint white light, the demigod form also began to fade away quickly, finally revealing Su Mo’s original appearance.
Based on previous transformation experiences, the second form would not affect the body of the first form.
Then again, perhaps it was because he had overexerted himself, but this time, even after fully transforming back, indescribable waves of depletion kept assaulting him!
Fortunately, Moore was not sleeping up on the watchtower; he was scrutinizing the surroundings with sharp eyes.
The moment Su Mo appeared in his field of vision, he exclaimed in surprise and delight.
Then, leaving two people to stand on guard, Moore rushed down with the remaining 8 people as if a fire had been lit under his rear.
“Master, Master, you’re finally back! I was about to die of anxiety if you hadn’t returned!
“We were all about to go and look for you!”
Quickly supporting Su Mo, who was on the verge of falling, Moore kept complaining, but his body responded quickly.
With a brush of his bear paw and great familiarity, Moore touched the canteen containing the second-generation psychic energy water that hung from the leather buckle around his waist. He directed the canteen to Su Mo’s dry, cracked lips.
Gulp…
Gulp…
Su Mo had been in a state of full vigilance and alertness for more than 7 hours consecutively. Internally, his body was already like parched soil and was in urgent need of massive quantities of nutrients.
This psychic energy water was just like timely rain in spring after a drought.
Gently sprinkled on the cracks in the earth, it would irrigate the inner depletion!
With just 300 milliliters of water, the burning sensation of depletion in Su Mo’s body instantly dissipated by 70%.
At 500 milliliters, apart from still feeling a little tired and exhausted, the feeling of overexerted potential had completely disappeared.
However, after seeing that there was still some psychic energy water at the bottom of the canteen, Su Mo did not conserve it and simply drank it all in one go.
“It’s wonderful; it feels so good to be home!”
He put down the water bottle, patted Moore on the shoulder, and looked at the 8 militiamen, who looked respectful but excited.
The feeling of being a lone warrior instantly vanished from Su Mo’s heart.
In its place was…
Endless pride!
‘What’s the big deal about Freedom City having so many people—there are many people in my basin as well! Plus, our cohesion is nothing that one could possibly imagine. As long as we have some time, no matter if it’s city guards or top 10 exchanges, they’ll all be just paper tigers. One jab and they’ll fall apart!’
“Master, where on earth did you go? Big sister didn’t even tell me, it almost made Moore die of anxiety!”
Seeing that Su Mo was in a daze again, Moore extended his hairy bear paw and waved it in front of Su Mo’s eyes.
This cute gesture made Su Mo laugh all of a sudden.
The scene was also starting to become far more light-hearted instead of the initial serious atmosphere.
“Oh, I went to a good place, good enough to obtain some excellent luck for the basin.
“As for the specific location, it’s a secret that can’t be revealed!”
He patted Moore on the shoulder, watching the latter pouting to indicate that he was unhappy.
The corners of Su Mo’s mouth quivered with amusement. Fully at ease, he went to the newly-constructed watchtower.
Upon getting closer, Su Mo discovered that, unlike ordinary watchtowers, this watchtower on the border of the basin was not a traditional wooden structure, but a standard steel frame.
Recalling his instructions before leaving, after seeing the frame, Su Mo had a vague guess, but he still climbed the stairs to the top of the watchtower.
“Greetings, Shelter Leader!”
The militiamen who were still on duty at the top of the watchtower were no strangers. They were Chen Kai and Su Yuan, who had guarded the entrance to Iron Rock Mountain previously.
Once they knew the direction that Su Mo had departed from, almost all the people sent here by the basin were elites.
Right now, when they saw Su Mo coming up, both of them stood up straight with shining eyes, calling out their greeting loudly.
“Very good, this is an excellent display of spirit. You’re the face of our basin, so you must guard this place properly.
“The next two days, in particular, you must scrutinize this area like a hawk. Don’t let any creatures in, no matter what.
“Not even if the person is an acquaintance!”
The Demon clan was a wily, difficult enemy.
Now that he had discovered his opponent’s techniques, Su Mo did not specifically say what creatures had to be guarded against.
However, Chen Kai and Su Yuan were both extremely clever, and they both nodded in understanding.
After that, Su Mo stood at the watchtower for a while to make sure that no one had followed him back. He finally relaxed his guard slightly and went down the stairs onto level ground again.
The worst-case scenario had not happened.
He did not know how much information Alec had forced out of the mercenaries, or how many people he had told. Judging from the current situation, however, everyone had not yet linked Harl and Su Mo together.
Even if someone guessed that there might be some interaction between the two since Harl’s personality had changed so much and he had become so cocky, they would never tumble to the fact that Su Mo had decoded the guarding mark of the Demon clan and infiltrated the interior of Freedom City on his own.
‘The people from the top 10 exchanges and the city guards most likely already know about the existence of the basin, but they haven’t done anything yet. I’m afraid they guessed that Harl went to the basin to ask for “new blood”.
‘Indeed, as far as the Demon clan is concerned, there’s no specific information on the current strength of the basin. If they rush over to invade, everything will be fine if they’re not discovered.
‘Once they’ve been found out, though, it means that there’ll be naturally one less beneficial partner who can cooperate with them, and they will gain another insane enemy just like the Light Empire.
‘This is not in line with their interests, nor is it in line with the Demon clan’s way of doing things! Making a fortune in silence, taking advantage of templates, invading the enemy’s territory, and nibbling away at the internal economy like locusts are what they like to do the most!’
As he walked, Su Mo had already guessed the thoughts of the people in Freedom City, and the truth was exactly what he had imagined.
Inside Freedom City, after Turner opened the gate of the exchange early like yesterday, the guards still kindly came over to help maintain order.
Between conversations, they were courteous and complimentary to the point of being slightly fawning.
In terms of work, they tried their best to make things more convenient for the exchange, even if they did not hesitate to offend some “local tyrants” who came to trade.
On the other side, people from the top 10 exchanges did not throw any stumbling blocks in the way of supplies acquisition from the Fire Exchange.
For a single entity, the list of supplies gained from 200,000 contribution points was quite desirable.
Yet when it was evenly divided among 10 entities, it could only be considered a very small, scattered amount.
Therefore, when Turner personally came to the door, the people in these exchanges basically displayed their goodwill as much as possible through a 10% discount.
Before Su Mo played his “trump card”, these people were still afraid of him.
However after Su Mo revealed a little bit about who was backing him behind the scenes, in a sense, his departure was a significant facilitator in making the scene harmonious.
Of course, Su Mo was now in the basin and unaware of these changes.
He waited until 9 o’clock in the morning and made sure that no one was really pursuing him. Then he took Moore along and embarked on the long road back to the Underground Shelter.
This was different from how he had been hurrying along in the Demon clan territory.
Now that he was on his way back to the shelter, Su Mo could feel his whole body rejoicing with every step he took.
It was like the sleepless nights he experienced every time before returning home when he was in college.
Amazingly enough, the present Su Mo also experienced some of that anticipation.
After eating Freedom City’s bland yet salty gruel, the big white steamed buns of the basin, its savory pickles, and fragrant white congee evoked such nostalgia.
He had slept on the creaky, hard plank beds in Freedom City. In the Underground Shelter, there were three layers of mattresses, and the bed was extremely soft. The corners of his mouth curved up in a smile as he thought about it.
More important, however, was the seemingly simple “freedom” that everyone was pursuing!
In the basin, Su Mo no longer had to worry about saying the wrong thing or talking in his sleep, exposing the basin and causing disaster.
He also did not need to worry about a storm of conspiracy brewing against him where he could not see it, neither did he have to be concerned about every move that he made and whether he had made a misstep!
“Hey, Master, what are you laughing at, you didn’t… go to look for Sister Zhong, did you?”
Moore exclaimed loudly as if he had discovered some secret.
Then he hurriedly covered his mouth, as if denying that he had said anything.
“Hah, you silly bear, what are you thinking?
“I went to…the Demon clan!”
Unlike before, there was no one around at this time, and Su Mo did not plan on keeping the secret from Moore.
If he wanted to make the Fire Exchange bigger and stronger in Freedom City, it was definitely not enough to rely on Turner and these traitorous mercenaries.
Although the former was extremely loyal, he was too honest. It was easy for him to run into big trouble on the trading market and ruin all their foundations.
The latter, even when restrained by the mark, could not do any harm to the exchange and Su Mo. However, like ventilated walls, sooner or later something would leak out.
It was entirely possible for news to reach the ears of countless people anytime, even if it was something as insignificant as what Su Mo had just eaten.
Therefore, some people from the basin had to pay them a visit and there had to be at least 10 people.
These people needed to be proficient in economics, and they also had to possess definite scheming abilities to use unscrupulous means in the business field to take a gamble.
Only in this manner could the current situation in Freedom City be completely revitalized.
Furthermore, Moore was naturally a first-class thug.
In fact, up until now, Su Mo’s strength was still increasing at a frightening rate, and Moore’s strength had not decreased at all either.
When sparring on weekdays, the two appeared to be evenly matched.
In reality, Su Mo did not resort to his dirty tricks and some of his ultimate moves, while Moore also restrained his terrifying power which was close to a ton.
With large quantities of psychic energy water, an unlimited food supply, plus Oreo’s guidance from time to time, the innocent Moore had already reached adulthood, awakening most of the lightning bear’s powers and abilities.
In actual face-to-face combat, even if the demigod state of the second mode was turned on, even Su Mo was not certain he could take on Moore without injury or without resorting to underhand tricks.
If Moore went to Freedom City, Su Mo was fully confident that even the Demon clan members who had loaded a Level 6 template might not necessarily be able to deal with Moore. Furthermore, if Moore found an opportunity to do so, he would slaughter them immediately!
The way home was nearly 100 kilometers.
Su Mo was in no hurry. Essentially, after walking 20 to 30 kilometers, he would take a break to talk about what he had seen and heard of the Demon clan.
Moore, who was initially full of curiosity and eagerness, gradually became serious.
“What a miraculous ability. They can actually load templates and transform into various forms. In Moore’s memory, this ability is only available to the mysterious Thousand Phantom Bird clan. Furthermore, their transformation is merely a change of shape; it can’t be used for fighting at all. But if this is the case, if we can copy Moore’s template and load it for the villagers, then the combat power of our territory will skyrocket!”
In the first two sentences, Moore was still marginally ruminating on the power of the Demon clan’s extraordinary ability.
By the last sentence, however, his powerful brain circuitry made him quickly lose his ideas for in-depth research, so he made suggestions cheerfully instead.
With regard to this, Su Mo stood up and shook his head helplessly.
“If possible, I would like to print some Oreo templates.
“However, your strength is already at Level 6 on their end. To collect your information, we need a Level 6 collecting device. The price is 300,000 contribution points, but there’s no market for it. However, this is not a big problem. We can also use psychic energy water to nurture ordinary collecting devices, it’s just a matter of time. The most difficult thing is… the mark!”
Moore was taken aback. “The mark? You must have a mark to transform?”
Su Mo nodded slowly.
Immediately, he took off the special bag that he had purchased to preserve imprinted flesh. Opening it, he took out a piece of flesh.
It was different from Harl’s mark, which would immediately dissipate when exposed to the air.
The marks placed in this bag not only showed no signs of dissipating at all, but their radiance was even brighter now with the nourishment from the energy within the bag.
Now that the sun was shining on it, the light radiating from Alec’s stone imprint had turned into a bluish-purple that was very close to a true purple.
It meant that as long as one spent some contribution points, one could upgrade to the purple rare level and gain the ability to load Level 5 templates.
The marks on the flesh of the other three minions remained a slightly darker green and still looked vibrant.
“Hey, is this the mark—why does it smell so good!
“Master, Moore… Can Moore eat this mark?”
Moore pointed at Alec’s stone mark. It was like when he had seen the energy fruit for the first time; he had started drooling.
This time, it was Su Mo’s turn to be stunned.
“Eat it? You can eat this too?”
Compared with the flesh marks, Alec’s stone mark appeared to be more difficult to consume. In one’s hand, it was basically no different from ordinary stones.
Moreover, through a chain of understanding in Freedom City, Su Mo knew a lot of secrets about marks.
If the owner of the mark died normally, as long as it was outside the territory, the mark could not be preserved, no matter where they had died.
Even if a special container was used, the mark would still dissipate extremely rapidly.
If it were in the territory, one could use a special container that sold for up to 3000 points to preserve it.
The preserved mark would then be brought back to Freedom City and handed over to a specific institution.
One could extract the contribution points in the mark based on a standard 50% and put them into one’s own account.
Of course, before the contribution points were extracted, the institution would conduct a qualification check.
If it was found that the person who came to conduct the exchange had deliberately carried out murder or harmed someone in the same clan to obtain the mark, there would not be direct punishment. However, the mark would be confiscated, which was equivalent to a fruitless trip.
Additionally, there was no other way to use the mark, and it was regarded as a “dead object” in the hands of ordinary Demon clan members.
Now, Su Mo had heard that Moore could actually use this object as a ration.
Even if he was very liberal about accepting things, he could not help but be stunned into immobility.
“Moore felt a peculiar energy in it, a bit… a bit like…”
“Authority?”
“Yes, the power of authority!”
Staring at the stone with shining eyes, Moore continued to murmur, “Moore can feel that as long as you eat this stone mark, you can also have some similar powers.”
According to the system’s pricing, for ownership of a transformation mark, even the most basic decoded mode required 6,900 points.
For it to be foolproof without any flaws, one would need 21,900 points!
This was a lot of points, considering that 10 people would need to be transported to Freedom City.
Su Mo regarded it as a long, drawn-out battle and did not expect to have everyone in place any time soon.
Yet now, after seeing Moore like this and repeatedly confirming that he could indeed absorb this mark, Su Mo gritted his teeth, stored the mark back in the bag, and accelerated his pace.
The best place to consume the mark was not in the wild.
The safest place was to have all the instruments standing by with a full set of guarantees, and it was safer to have Oreo waiting there beside Moore.
If Moore truly was able to absorb this thing and find the corresponding absorption conditions, that would mean…
That the combat power of the basin would be unprecedentedly terrifying.
Every villager would get a mark, as well as… peculiar templates!
“This is truly an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Come, let’s hurry back quickly.
“If you can really absorb this mark… it will be the dawning of a new era of hope for us!”
They were only 40 kilometers away from the shelter. After getting such good news, Su Mo’s waist was no longer sore, his legs no longer felt exhausted, and he was full of energy again.
It only took less than 40 minutes.
When they crossed the familiar high slope of the basin, Su Mo looked at the scene in front of him. Although he was mentally prepared, he could not contain his expression and began laughing loudly.
As he had expected, the previously vast, flat plains of Iron Rock Mountain that one could race horses on had now vanished.
Instead, there stood four sturdy prefabricated houses that were exactly the same as in the design blueprints.
Each building consisted of dozens of small houses, each about 30 meters long and 50 meters wide, and painted in bright red to represent the rising sun!
In an extremely ceremonial touch, the villagers had also specially built a wall 150 centimeters high that encircled the entire village.
There was also a gate with a fence at the only entrance, directly in front of the prefabricated houses.
The inside of the village had also been leveled.
It had become a village path paved with gravel and looked extremely ‘aesthetic’.
In around three days, with sufficient materials, the development of the basin had turned out to be much more expansive than Su Mo’s most ambitious idea previously!
‘That’s great. I’ve made the right move! A sense of belonging is the most important thing in this apocalyptic wasteland. When everyone fights for themselves, the efficiency is difficult to measure in numbers!’
Oreo rushed out of the shelter with Su Chan after picking up on a familiar scent.
The villagers who saw Su Mo at the entrance of the village looked astonished and cheered loudly, causing the entire village to shake.
For a time, Su Mo finally could not suppress the feelings that surged up in his heart and clenched his fists tightly.
Compared with Freedom City, the current Hope Village was dilapidated.
The strength of the villagers was also so weak that it was pitiful.
Yet, after having experienced the difference between the rotten smell of Freedom City and this entirely different new lease of life, Su Mo was able to glimpse the future from it with just a glance!
The future would be…
The super era when everyone in the basin would be like dragons!
