Chapter 2: Chapter 1: The Whole Army Attacks

The sun set, and night fell.

A full moon hung high in the sky, like a single, sallow eye staring down at the Wasteland.

The seemingly flat, solid ground of the Wasteland suddenly trembled, as if something were about to emerge from below. With a rumbling sound, stones and soil were thrown aside as a ghastly white structure slowly rose from the ground.

It was a fortress built from grim white bones, exuding an aura of terror.

[Friendly Reminder: Hibernation Mode has been disabled.]

"Nnngh~~~"

As the system’s prompt sounded, Li Ziyu stretched, sat up, and rolled his neck. The double bed of white bone he had been lying on made a CLICK-CLACK-CLACK sound, reassembling itself into an ergonomic bone chair.

With his awakening, the Skeleton Fortress and the Undead within it stirred to life. A Skeleton Undead struggled free from a wall, bringing over a washbasin made from the skull of a Wild Beast.

Li Ziyu splashed his face with water. The icy chill jolted him awake, instantly dispelling his drowsiness. He took the fruit and beast meat offered by a nearby Undead and began to eat ravenously.

As he ate, he pulled up his system interface.

[Mobile Fortress]

[Level] Level 1 (Area: 100 units)

[Building] Castle Main Tower (Fortress)

[Race] Undead System - Skeleton Race

[Trait] Skeleton Architecture (Some buildings can transform into Skeleton Undead during combat), Hibernation Mode (The fortress can burrow underground)

[Speed] 30 km/h

’Nothing’s changed.’

Li Ziyu sighed to himself as he continued to eat.

Three days ago, he had transmigrated into this world, becoming the City Lord of this Undead Race Mobile Fortress.

Based on the system prompts and what he had gathered, he hadn’t come to this world alone. It was a massive, group transmigration event. He had no idea how many people had been brought over, but every one of them had become the City Lord of a Mobile Fortress, each belonging to a different race.

The very moment a Transmigrator became a City Lord, their life was bound to their Mobile Fortress.

If the fortress was destroyed, the City Lord’s life would end. But as long as the fortress endured, so too would the City Lord—a strange sort of immortality.

In order to survive, every City Lord had to strive to develop their fortress. This world was far from the peaceful one he had left behind; it was fraught with danger. Never mind the local Natives, but the Monsters and Giant Beasts that roamed the land were not to be trifled with.

After spending his first day digesting and analyzing the information, Li Ziyu felt that becoming an Undead City Lord was a huge advantage.

Compared to other races, the advantages of the Undead Race were quite apparent.

First was loyalty. All races in the Undead System started with incredibly high loyalty. As long as the City Lord didn’t do anything suicidally stupid, betrayal was almost unheard of. This was especially true for his Skeleton Undead Race, whose loyalty was literally infinite; rebellion was impossible.

Second was upkeep. Other races required vast amounts of food. If supplies ran short, loyalty would plummet, leading to unrest and rebellion. But Skeleton Undead didn’t eat. As their City Lord, he didn’t have to worry about food in the slightest.

In the entire Skeleton Undead Fortress, the only one who had to worry about food—the only one who would go hungry—was him, the City Lord.

The advantages were obvious, but so were the disadvantages. Their early-game combat power was weak. One couldn’t expect a pile of bones to possess the fighting strength of Giant Dragons, Behemoths, Angels, or Demons.

Based on his experience playing real-time strategy games in his past life, the Skeleton Undead Race relied on zerg tactics, using sheer numbers to compensate for their lack of strength. Unfortunately, he didn’t have many Skeletons in the early stages.

In other words, the great Lord Li Ziyu, owner of the Skeleton Undead Mobile Fortress, couldn’t even dream of attacking other Mobile Fortresses. Even facing a single Fierce Beast would result in heavy losses. He could only bully the lowly Wild Beasts.

A Skeleton Undead shambled before Li Ziyu. The Soul Fire in its eye sockets pulsed erratically as it transmitted a message.

"Traces of Desert Wolves have been discovered ahead."

’Desert Wolves?’

Li Ziyu, who had been eating with his head bowed, froze. He looked up, a hint of joy in his eyes, and forcefully swallowed the chunk of meat still in his mouth.

’Finally, some prey!’

He had appeared in a Wasteland, a region with scarce resources. Even though the fortress had been constantly moving since his arrival, he had encountered very few living things. The number of Wild Beasts he’d managed to hunt could be counted on one hand.

No prey meant no bones, which meant the number of his Skeleton Undead grew at a snail’s pace. This was not a good sign.

Li Ziyu had played countless real-time strategy games and knew the critical importance of an early advantage. Get a head start, and you’ll stay ahead; fall behind once, and you’ll always be playing catch-up.

He didn’t for a second believe that the Transmigrators would coexist peacefully. Future threats would undoubtedly include other Transmigrators—in fact, they would likely be the *greatest* threat. He had to ensure his own pace of development was fast enough.

If it had been a powerful Monster, Li Ziyu would have had no choice but to avoid it. But Desert Wolves were just Wild Beasts, about the size of large dogs—exactly the kind of target he could afford to bully.

"What are you waiting for? Full speed ahead! Charge! Let’s take down those Desert Wolves!"

The command instantly spread to every corner of the Castle Main Tower. In that moment, the Mobile Fortress came alive, entering a state of total frenzy.

Giant Bone Wheels ground against the Wasteland floor, making a deafening CRUNCH. The Castle Main Tower lit up with countless specks of blue fire—the Soul Fires of the Skeleton Undead. Their jaws gaped and snapped with excitement. If they had possessed vocal cords, their howls would have been endless.

The Mobile Fortress began to accelerate, reaching its top speed!

Li Ziyu moved to a window. By the light of the moon, he saw figures ahead—a dozen or so yellowish-brown creatures with long, slender bodies like dachshunds.

Prey!

He desperately wanted to charge over and kill all dozen or so Desert Wolves, turning them into more Skeleton Undead. But unfortunately, the Mobile Fortress’s top speed was a measly 30 km/h. It was slower than a damn electric scooter.

The grinding sound of the Bone Wheels alerted the Desert Wolves. They looked toward the noise in alarm and quickly spotted the Mobile Fortress charging at them.

’Don’t run, don’t run, whatever you do, don’t run!’

Standing by the window, Li Ziyu could see the Desert Wolves tense up, looking as if they were about to turn and bolt. He couldn’t help but clench his fists and mutter to himself.

’If the Desert Wolves run, it’ll be a real pain to chase them down. They’re still wolves, after all, regardless of what they look like. They’re faster than my Mobile Fortress!’

The Mobile Fortress drew nearer, and the Desert Wolves grew more wary. They arched their backs, their fur bristling. They bared their teeth and let out low growls, seemingly trying to intimidate the fortress into retreating.

To Li Ziyu’s delight, although the Desert Wolves were tense, they didn’t actually turn and run.

’Yes, yes, that’s it! Just a little closer!’

Just as he was celebrating, the unexpected happened.

The largest Desert Wolf in the pack suddenly threw its head back and let out a howl filled with excitement, then led the charge toward the Mobile Fortress.

’What’s with this turn of events?’

Li Ziyu was dumbfounded as he watched the wolf pack charge him.

’It’s a good thing you’re not running away, but why are you charging me? This happiness is all too sudden!’

’What’s there to even think about? All forces, attack!’

With a grand wave of his hand, Li Ziyu gave the signal to attack.