Chapter 22: Chapter 21: Discovering a Tribe

The sun set in the west, its last rays fading. Night was about to fall upon the Wasteland again as Li Ziyu awoke from his slumber.

After tidying up and eating a meal, Li Ziyu couldn’t help feeling a bit wistful. ’In my past life, everyone said staying up late was bad for your health, and I was trying so hard to get into the habit of sleeping and waking early. I never expected that after transmigrating, I’d practically become a nocturnal creature.’ In the end, it all came down to one word... poverty.

But life goes on, no matter how poor you are. ’Calculating the time, it should be about ready. I wonder how many Skeletons Conscience Merchant has collected.’

Thinking about the food he acquired last night, Li Ziyu perked up. ’I’m a big client now!’

’First things first, I’ll trade with Conscience Merchant. I don’t just need to trade for Skeletons; I need to get some Stone, too. Of course, the price for Stone can’t be the 35 units of food that Conscience Merchant quoted. If it’s that high, I’d be better off just finding A Large Iron Hammer.’

[Private Chat]

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: Rise and shine! Time to pee!

Conscience Merchant: Dear, it’s just gotten dark.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: How many Skeletons do you have on hand?

Conscience Merchant: To round it off, I can give you 300.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: Tsk, tsk. Only 300 in a whole day?

Conscience Merchant: Dear, how about I go dig up someone’s ancestral grave tomorrow? I could probably get you a few more then.

Don’t Want to Get a Driver’s License: Forget it, 300 will have to do. It’s a bit on the low side, but even a mosquito is still meat.

Conscience Merchant: ...

’What a big talker. You didn’t sound like this back when it was 100 Skeletons.’ Thinking this, the Lord of Gopher City realized, ’The Undead City Lord must have really gotten his hands on a lot of resources!’

The Lord of Gopher City began to scheme.

Sticking to the previous price, 600 units of meat were exchanged for 300 Skeletons. After a round of haggling, Li Ziyu also traded for 100 units of Stone at a rate of 10 units of meat per unit of Stone. Adding the wood he had gathered from the small forest earlier, he had finally collected all the materials needed to build the Warrior Training Camp.

He had obtained over 2,000 units of meat last night. After exchanging for materials, well over half of it was gone in an instant. Li Ziyu decided to save the rest for later use.

As for Conscience Merchant, after receiving 1,600 units of meat, his attitude changed completely. He ended the private chat by shouting, "You’re always welcome, my good sir!"

With the materials ready, Li Ziyu immediately chose to build the Warrior Training Camp.

Not only did this building have many requirements, but it also had a large footprint, taking up a full 20 units of space. The Level 1 Mobile Fortress only had a total of 100 units of construction area. Including the previous Weapon Workshop, Armor Workshop, and Skeleton Engine, nearly forty percent of the area was now used up. The once-spacious Mobile Fortress was starting to feel a bit crowded.

Construction wasn’t instantaneous; it would take some time. Naturally, Li Ziyu wasn’t going to just wait around. He chose to build four Big Bone Wheels and two Little Bone Wheels, using up most of the Skeletons he had on hand.

With the remaining Skeletons, Li Ziyu chose to craft 100 Small Round Shields and summoned 50 Skeleton Undead to expand his troops. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

’Building new structures and strengthening the Undead is important, but numbers are just as crucial. Without sufficient numbers, the Skeleton Undead are still too weak.’

Summoning the Undead was convenient and fast. One by one, Skeletons ignited with Soul Fire, climbed up from the ground, bowed to Li Ziyu, and then, just like their comrades, merged into the fortress, becoming part of its walls.

Crafting the Shields also took some time. Li Ziyu couldn’t be bothered to manage it, letting the Undead handle the distribution themselves.

As the Shields were distributed into the hands of the Skeleton Undead, the fortress’s outer walls also changed. They were now studded with Round Shields, which actually increased its Defense Power.

The last ray of sunlight vanished from the horizon, and night fell completely. Tonight’s hunt had begun. The Mobile Fortress let out a series of CLANKING sounds as it drove out into the wilderness.

Perhaps because of last night’s huge haul, prey was very scarce tonight. After driving for several hours, his gains were meager. Li Ziyu couldn’t help but worry. ’This won’t do.’

Standing at a window and gazing out by the Moonlight, he saw not a single herd of wild buffalo, let alone a pack of wolves. After his previous experiences, Li Ziyu really didn’t care much for the occasional random prey.

Just as he was feeling that tonight’s harvest would surely be a bust, a Skeleton Undead finally arrived with intelligence.

"Tribe spotted."

"Go around... wait, what’s the situation?"

There were quite a few Tribes of Natives on the Wasteland. You never knew what Race they belonged to; some were friendly, while others were ferocious. Approaching a Tribe was risky, a fact often mentioned in the chat channels.

Normally, Li Ziyu would choose to go around a Tribe and avoid getting close. After all, they were Skeleton Undead. Who would see a vast army of Skeletons marching toward them and think their intentions were friendly?

The Skeletons had always faithfully carried out their orders. When encountering a Tribe, most of the time they wouldn’t even report it, simply detouring around it. But today, one had come back to alert him, which meant there was something going on. They must have discovered something, or they wouldn’t have bothered.

"Specifics unclear. Suspected combat in progress."

"Combat in progress?"

Li Ziyu froze for a moment, then his eyes widened. ’Such a good thing can happen?’

Combat meant casualties, and casualties meant corpses. Corpses could provide Skeletons. Since tonight’s hunt was going poorly anyway, he might as well go over and see if he could pick up some scraps. Even if he only managed to get some Skeletons, it would still be a profit.

After a moment’s thought, he decided to go and check out the situation.

Li Ziyu wasn’t surprised by combat between Tribes. This was the Wasteland, after all, where might makes right. It was far from peaceful between the Tribes; fighting was normal.

As for the reasons, there were too many to count. ’Surely no one thinks the various Races live in peace without any hatred between them, right? Ancestral feuds are everywhere.’ It was perfectly normal for a conflict sparked by an ancestral feud to escalate into a war of Annihilation between two Tribes.

Someone in the chat channel once said they had stumbled upon a war of Annihilation between two large Tribes locked in an ancestral feud. The result was mutual destruction, allowing him to swoop in and clean up. The haul was incredible; all the resources from both Tribes fell into his hands.

Besides ancestral feuds, there were plenty of other reasons: issues over water sources, territory, or even prey wandering into another’s domain could all trigger battles between Tribes.

Whatever the reason, now that a Tribe war had started, there was an opportunity to profit, and Li Ziyu wasn’t about to miss it.

The Mobile Fortress began to turn, heading toward the location the Undead had scouted.

The closer they got, the more clearly the Undead could feel it: the fading of life, the Annihilation of souls. All of it confirmed that a Tribe war was indeed taking place ahead.

Before, they were too far away. They had sensed it but couldn’t be certain. Now that they were much closer, it was crystal clear.

Li Ziyu didn’t charge in rashly. Instead, he had the fortress stop at a safe distance and sent out the Undead. The situation over there was still unclear. He didn’t know which two Tribes were fighting. Rushing in blindly could easily lead to trouble. It was better to be cautious and let the Undead scout things out first.

Dozens of Undead detached from the Mobile Fortress and silently advanced on the battlefield from all directions in five-man squads.