Li Ziyu gifted Mumu a "cell phone" with a distinct Undead vibe, and in return, Mumu gave him a miniature Totem Pole about half an arm’s length. It was painted with his Tribe’s totem in colored dyes. Li Ziyu couldn’t quite make out what the totem was supposed to be, but there was no denying its artistic flair.

As a Totem Pole, even a miniature one, it carried a trace of the Ancestors’ presence. Anyone possessing such a Totem Pole would be acknowledged by other Minotaur Tribes—not necessarily as a friend, but at least not as an enemy.

After bidding Mumu farewell, Li Ziyu brought the Totem Pole back to the Mobile Fortress and continued his hunt through the wilderness.

After setting the Totem Pole in its place, Li Ziyu’s gaze fell upon the corpses of the Demonized Minotaurs. He counted twelve bodies in total. He hadn’t thought much of it when he first brought them back, but now, with time to examine them closely, he could truly appreciate how powerful these creatures had been.

Their physiques were far more robust than those of normal Minotaurs like Mumu and his kin. They were bulkier, taller, and covered in eerie markings. Li Ziyu poked one of the Demonized Minotaurs; its muscles were rock-hard.

’I wonder what surprises these guys have in store, what materials I’ll get from them.’ His heart filled with anticipation, he issued the decomposition command to the system.

[Decomposed Demonized Minotaur +1. Obtained Demonized Skeleton x2, Mutated Soul Energy x60, Dark Magic Energy Rune (Fragment) x1.]

...

Whoa. It had yielded three materials he had never seen before. Li Ziyu’s eyes widened as he opened the materials’ description pages.

[Demonized Skeleton: The bones of a creature that was oversaturated with Magic Energy. The skeleton itself contains a certain amount of Magic Energy. This stuff is pretty dangerous.]

[Mutated Soul Energy: Soul Energy that has been corrupted by Magic Energy. It’s all grimy. Don’t even think about trying to use this as normal Soul Energy.]

[Dark Magic Energy Rune (Fragment): Collect 10 fragments for a surprise!]

After reading the descriptions, the corner of Li Ziyu’s mouth twitched. ’Is it just me, or is the system getting sassier and less reliable by the day?’

’Including snarky comments in the item descriptions... That’s really something else.’

The Demonized Minotaur corpses were quickly decomposed, and a system notification sounded in Li Ziyu’s mind, announcing that he had unlocked two new structures: the Alien Tomb and the Tattoo Workshop.

These were also hidden structures. If Li Ziyu hadn’t encountered any Demonized Creatures, he likely would have never unlocked them. ’The system sure has a lot of hidden content,’ he thought.

Li Ziyu skimmed the descriptions for the two structures. One was for recruiting special Skeleton Undead, the other for Enchantment. Building them required a significant amount of Skeletons, and he didn’t have enough materials on hand. For now, he could only put the idea aside.

He couldn’t construct the new buildings, but he could assemble the Dark Magic Energy Rune. According to the system, 10 fragments would yield the so-called "surprise." Since he had enough materials, Li Ziyu chose to use the fragments.

The 10 Dark Magic Energy Rune fragments fused, forming a complete rune pattern. The system displayed its name: "Basic Dark Magic Energy Rune."

Even though he had assembled the Basic Dark Magic Energy Rune, he couldn’t use it yet. The item had to be placed in a Tattoo Workshop to be effective; otherwise, it was useless.

[Basic Dark Magic Energy Rune: Wields the Power of Darkness and can be used for Enchantment. Please do not discard this rune carelessly. Its contamination level is quite high.]

Another sassy description. Li Ziyu figured he was getting used to it.

After the battle to defend the Minotaurs and the great Undead Minotaur social that followed, Li Ziyu didn’t have much time left to hunt. The night was drawing to a close.

His haul from the hunt was certainly smaller than usual, but he had obtained new materials and unlocked new structures. It wasn’t a total loss, so Li Ziyu didn’t dwell on it.

Just before sunrise, Li Ziyu halted the Mobile Fortress. Overnight, the Warrior Training Camp, Big Bone Wheel, and Little Bone Wheel he had started constructing were all complete.

He installed the wheels first, which raised the Mobile Fortress’s height considerably. Only then did Li Ziyu turn his expectant gaze toward the Warrior Training Camp.

It was a semi-open structure, reminiscent of the gladiator training grounds from the ancient history of his previous life. The floor was paved with Stone Slabs, the roof was covered with Beast Hides, and the entire place exuded a savage, brutalist style.

The Warrior Training Camp functioned as a specialization facility, allowing ordinary Skeleton Undead to become Basic Skeleton Warriors. All it required was equipping a Skeleton Undead with a Small Bone Saber and a Small Round Shield (Bone Shield), then spending 100 Soul Energy.

Li Ziyu gritted his teeth and decided to upgrade ten of them to Basic Skeleton Warriors to see how they’d perform. After he spent 1,000 Soul Energy, ten Skeleton Undead—one hand gripping a Bone Saber, the other a Round Shield—dutifully marched into the Warrior Training Camp. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The Soul Energy cost to turn a Skeleton Undead into a Skeleton Warrior was used for imparting knowledge and reinforcement. In theory, Skeleton Undead could gradually evolve into Skeleton Warriors on their own, but the time required for such a transformation was anyone’s guess. The Warrior Training Camp simply accelerated this process, allowing for rapid growth.

Once all that was taken care of, the first ray of dawn pierced the Darkness. Li Ziyu stood at a window, gazing toward the horizon with a sigh. ’I wonder when I’ll have enough resources to live freely in the sunlight.’

As he watched the sun slowly rise, the Mobile Fortress fell silent, gradually sinking beneath the ground and entering Hibernation Mode.

Perhaps it was the excitement from dealing with the Minotaurs and Skeleton Warriors, but Li Ziyu didn’t feel tired. He opened the chat channel and began scrolling through the messages.

The moment he opened the chat channel, he was stunned by the rapidly scrolling log. ’Whoa, why is it so busy?’

’What did I miss?’

[Chat Channel]

[ThereAreMonsters]: Welcome to the group, newbies!

[GoldInTheDesert]: Welcome to the Otherworld! Congrats, you’ve... trans... mi... grated!

...

[WhatHappened]: Where is this? Who are you people?

[FroggyBug]: Holy shit, you guys aren’t gonna believe this, but I think I transmigrated.

[HouseWreckingHusky]: Help, I want to go home! My husky can’t be left alone, or he’ll tear the house apart!

...

’This is...’

Li Ziyu kept scrolling through the chat log. At first, he was just confused, but the more he read, the deeper his frown became. ’Something’s not right. Something’s very wrong.’ The topics and reactions of many of the chatters were bizarre. It was just like how everyone had acted when they first arrived in this world. Plus, there were many names he didn’t recognize.

He refused to believe they were all just lurkers who had been silent until now. ’What a joke,’ he thought. ’All the lurkers suddenly decide to come out of the woodwork on the same day, chatting like they’ve lost their minds?’

Faced with this situation, Li Ziyu could only come to one conclusion: they were new.

Newcomers who had just transmigrated to this world!

’But why?’

’Didn’t our group already transmigrate? Why would a new batch of people arrive several days later?’

’I need to ask someone.’

There weren’t many people he was on speaking terms with, but Conscience Merchant was one of them. ’As a Merchant, he should be well-informed,’ Li Ziyu reasoned. ’He probably knows what’s going on.’

Li Ziyu closed the main chat channel and opened a private message window with Conscience Merchant.