Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 231: The Black Iron Token

Hm?

Li Yue had just used some kind of precious item?

If that was the case, it was barely a wash — her internal injuries were healed, the mission's total difficulty didn't increase, but the Universal Gold Card absolutely could not go to her.

"Leon, come here — this Universal Gold Card goes to you."

Li Wei spoke quickly. Leon came trotting over with a beaming smile, practically glowing. 'Cousin — brother — you're really something. When you say you'll give something, you actually give it. A Universal Gold Card, just like that. If this were any other moment, I'd be down on my knees.'

Leon's gratitude was beyond words. Back in the title mission, it was Li Wei who'd helped him earn the Executioner title and complete its first enhancement. Now he was getting a second enhancement — nothing more to say. From here on, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Night Owl was the boss, and Li Wei was number two.

He took the Universal Gold Card and immediately used it to enhance his Executioner title. The value of that title was enormous — using it for anything else would be a waste.

With the Executioner title enhanced twice, and a three-star two-handed greatsword with a special property to match, he'd be complete.

Li Wei turned the last Universal Gold Card over in his hand, and Zhao Xuanxuan crossed his mind.

She honestly didn't have the qualifications to be a reserve candidate in a Pioneering branch. The Logistics Department she belonged to wouldn't be foolish enough to arrange that.But since she'd ended up in his branch, that meant Night Owl had placed her here.

Night Owl couldn't stop Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi from forcing their way in — but she could absolutely influence who filled the reserve slots.

So this arrangement had a purpose. People at that level always laid their groundwork in ways you couldn't see coming — seeds planted long before they were needed.

Maybe Zhao the Gambler was Night Owl's secret daughter. Should he take care of her?

Li Wei thought about it for a while and couldn't figure out what made Zhao Xuanxuan worth the investment. She seemed to have a Bow Crafter title? Not even a codename. She hadn't even developed her own combat rhythm. Giving her a Universal Gold Card would be like handing a middle schooler a Humvee — not particularly useful.

Save it for later.

A moment later, Li Wei used the Universal Gold Card — not to enhance any title, but to exchange it for a Black Iron Quality Clearance Token.

This was the Black Iron Token that could upgrade a three-star Profession Card to four-star.

But what Li Wei wanted wasn't the four-star upgrade — he wanted to break it down into two Bronze Quality Clearance Tokens, and then use those to synthesize two Two-Star attribute cards.

In any other situation or mission, this would be the behavior of someone burning money. Extremely inefficient.

Bronze Tokens could be farmed through small missions.

But Li Wei didn't have much development time right now. He'd been dropped straight into this Pioneering Mission. If he wanted to last until the end, his own strength had to be unquestionable.

Until he could upgrade his Farmer Card to four-star, he needed to build up his base attributes.

That way, when facing opponents as powerful as that five-star Ability User, he'd have more room to maneuver, more options to work with.

He'd already mapped it out: he needed a Two-Star Stamina Card to push Stamina to 300, and a Two-Star Agility Card to push Agility to 28. Add the boots' +2 and the title's +1, and his Agility would reach 31.

300 Stamina was the mana bar, the fuel tank, the battery capacity.

Maximum 31 Agility, maximum 29 Strength — that would give him far more room to breathe in combat.

Though speaking of which — he'd participated in killing a five-star Ability User this time, which was a genuinely difficult fight. And yet he hadn't received a corresponding title?

Earning titles seemed to follow strange rules. It appeared you had to solo-kill a boss and generate some kind of cascading impact to qualify.

Like the Bear Hunter title — killing the bear had a significant impact on the family at the time.

Like the Dog Butcher title — killing those dogs had a significant impact on the suffering farmers.

And so on.

This battle, while hugely significant for the natural humans, hadn't been a solo fight.

Li Wei then looked at Li Yue — who had been restored to her original appearance. Not bad at all. In terms of looks, she might even edge out Hathaway by half a point. And she had a distinctly Eastern aesthetic.

Which, by extension, suggested he himself was probably quite handsome.

"Little Sister, how are you feeling?"

Li Wei asked with what appeared to be genuine concern.

"Brother, I feel much better. Was that monster-like person an Ability User? So terrifying — thank goodness you were here." Li Yue looked shaken, and immediately wrapped her arm through his, the picture of a frightened little sister.

Shameless.

Li Wei was quiet for a moment, his expression carrying a hint of something melancholy. He looked toward the distant bunker. "The people in there are also unfortunate souls. Little Sister, I want to bring them back to the Scavenger Camp. What do you think?"

On the surface, it was a pointless question.

The mission notification had already given the directive, which meant the natural humans in the bunker had given up resistance. They weren't blind or stupid — they'd watched Li Wei's group take down the five-star Ability User with their own eyes. Wasn't that enough to say something?

But Li Wei had an ulterior meaning. The subtext was: 'Which side are you on? What are you planning?'

Because Li Yue had just stolen a kill, saved two natural humans, and was now officially a Family Member. From here on, she could do almost anything without restriction.

So Li Wei needed to know: were you here to cooperate, or to compete with me for Head of Household?

I'm sitting on over seven thousand Contribution points right now — an overwhelming lead, with Thomas and Leon backing me up. Are you going to fight me, or do you have something else in mind? Say it now and we can talk.

But Li Yue played dumb, pretending not to catch the subtext at all. She just smiled faintly. "Of course I'll do whatever Brother says."

Fine. Then I won't ask.

Li Wei lightly patted the back of her hand — signaling her to stop acting like a little girl. How old are you? Watch yourself. Your brother has real business to attend to.

"Thomas, I'm lending you this shield for now."

Li Wei pulled the Three-Star Refined Steel Tower Shield from his Resource Card. It was a blank, no-property piece of equipment — but given its weight and material, it was the finest blank gear available. Fifty kilograms, refined steel construction, requiring at least 30 Strength to use — perfectly suited to Thomas's City Builder title.

"Understood."

A flash of pleasure crossed Thomas's eyes, but he said nothing more. It was a loan, not a gift. A three-star blank piece of equipment — worth about 150 gold at most.

But if it were enhanced with a Universal Gold Card, the value would jump to 1,200 gold — possibly 1,500 on the market.

Thomas quickly glanced at Li Yue and roughly understood. As long as he continued to perform at critical moments, Li Wei probably wouldn't mind allocating another Universal Gold Card to him eventually. Though that still felt like a long shot.

"Thomas, cover me — we're going to check out the bunker. Little Sister, stay here and provide ranged support. Leon, go meet up with Zhao Xuanxuan and bring those two wounded natural humans over. We need to show some goodwill."

Li Wei gave the orders. Everyone moved out accordingly. Thomas raised the Refined Steel Tower Shield and walked slowly ahead. Li Wei followed behind, heading toward the bunker.

They'd barely covered half the distance when the alloy blast door opened on its own. Dozens of natural humans walked out, faces carrying a mix of anxiety and fragile hope.

They'd been holding out in this bunker for over a decade — from a peak population of over a thousand, down to this handful. They'd repelled wave after wave of Ability Users and mutated creatures, but each victory had brought them no closer to hope.

Until today. Something different had happened. Li Wei's group didn't look much different from Ability Users on the surface — but what if this was hope?

After a brief discussion, they chose to hand their fate to the unknown.

Because they had no other choice left.

Thomas stopped and watched every natural human with alert eyes — though he was genuinely curious. In this world, natural humans were a rarity. How had they blocked out the magical radiation? What had they been eating for over a decade? They didn't look malnourished.

Aside from pale skin, there were even infants and children among them. They were, in truth, completely normal people — except that only twelve men remained.

"Everyone, don't be afraid. We're not Ability Users. We're natural humans, just like you — though perhaps a little unusual. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that we won't force you to become Ability Users. We respect your wishes. On one condition: that you're willing to come with us to our camp."

"Now — who among you is the leader, or can you choose one? I need you to reach a consensus as quickly as possible. Beyond that, I can answer some of your questions."

Li Wei spoke clearly and logically. That alone was enough. Ability Users might look normal on the surface, but they always let something slip — a moment of erratic behavior that gave them away.

Sure enough, the natural humans visibly relaxed. After years of dealing with Ability Users, they'd developed their own way of telling the difference.

An older man — perhaps sixty — stepped forward and asked carefully: "May I ask your name, and what organization you belong to? Can you tell us what the outside world is like? We've been cut off from the outside for fifteen years."

"My name is Li Wei. I don't currently belong to any organization. I've been building a Scavenger Camp with my family, friends, classmates, and colleagues — about sixty kilometers from here. Our situation right now: a five-story building for shelter, a concrete perimeter wall, and a few plots of farmland. It sounds modest, but I'm confident I can protect the camp."

"As for the outside world — I'm afraid the situation isn't encouraging."

Li Wei gave a brief, honest answer. His basic principle with these natural humans was straightforward dealing. But if they proved difficult, he'd have to use leverage.

"Mr. Li Wei, may I make a bold suggestion? We greatly respect your combat capability and that of your team — but we're less convinced by your Scavenger Camp. Given that, why not move here instead?"

"In terms of defense — as you've seen, we have a two-meter-thick alloy blast door, densely distributed firing ports, and the entire mountain is solid rock. We have a spacious underground base capable of sustaining fifteen hundred people, hydroponic farmland, mushroom greenhouses, and a poultry breeding facility. This place meets all our daily needs. We even have airtight blast doors that can protect against mutant radiation storms. Honestly, if we could only synthesize and produce ammunition, we could hold this underground base until we died of old age."