Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 232: The Migration of the Natural Humans

The suggestion the old natural human had made sounded reasonable at first glance.

Li Wei was even tempted for a moment. If he hadn't had the All-Heavens Lord Alliance as his backing — if he'd simply been transported to this world — the underground base would have been his first choice, no question.

But right now, the underground base wasn't suitable as a territory.

A territory needed to expand outward in all directions. Gentle, steady expansion — did he not understand that?

And second: Li Wei had already activated the Pioneering Card at the ruined town. If he actually relocated the camp, all kinds of complications might arise. For instance — he had the Dictator BUFF precisely because he owned a camp. Switch camps abruptly and see what happens. His Family Contribution might reset to zero.

Either way, not worth thinking about.

"I understand your point, but my Scavenger Camp can develop just as well. We don't have much time — I'll give you three days to pack up, and then we need to move immediately. I can't guarantee that more Ability Users aren't already on their way."

That last line was highly effective. The natural humans' expressions shifted immediately. In the battle just now, they'd gone from over a hundred people down to forty-six — and the fight had nearly exhausted every last round of ammunition they had. A few dozen more Ability Users and they'd be dead for certain.

"Please don't worry, Mr. Li Wei. We don't need three days. We can be ready today. We leave immediately."

Now that was more like it.Of course, Li Wei still waved Li Yue over from a distance, asking her to accompany the natural humans into the bunker under the guise of helping them pack — in reality, to assess what supplies could be scavenged and taken. That kind of thing was more her expertise than his.

Soon, Leon and Zhao Xuanxuan arrived pushing a wheelbarrow with the two wounded natural humans. At the sight of this, the remaining natural humans relaxed further — because Ability Users would never bother treating the wounded. They had their own straightforward way of "splitting" natural humans.

The natural humans moved quickly. In under an hour, they were packed. They had three electric buses, loaded to the brim with supplies — food alone amounted to over ten tons.

"Brother, the deepest part of this underground base has a small nuclear power plant, so electricity was never an issue. There's even a small munitions factory, plus farmland and livestock facilities. In a way, this really is an excellent doomsday survival base. Unfortunately, the annual radiation storm changes things at the atomic level — including propellants and raw materials. So ammunition can't be manufactured, and the munitions factory is useless."

"Also, I think the small nuclear power plant deep inside is probably about to be hit by a radiation storm. When that happens, this seemingly safe underground base will become the most dangerous place imaginable. These natural humans understand that too — they were just trying to negotiate."

"But their food stockpile is genuinely substantial. Enough to feed a hundred people for a year. That solves our food shortage."

"And their warehouse also has five hundred tons of specialty cement and various steel materials — all prepared fifteen years ago. We can bring it all back and use it for camp construction."

Li Yue had gone down and come back up with a clear picture of everything. She was far more thorough than Li Wei would have been.

"So can those electric buses operate in the outside environment? I noticed they're also bringing heavy machine guns and sniper rifles — do the bullets still work?"

Li Wei was both delighted and curious.

"Under normal conditions, yes. But one hit from a radiation storm and they're immediately ruined — unless they're stored dozens of meters underground with airtight blast doors for protection, or sealed in specialized protective cases. So that's something to keep a close eye on. As for these natural humans — once a radiation storm hits them, they'll slowly begin to mutate. Six months at most before they become Ability Users. Brother, what's your plan for that?"

Li Yue asked with a look of genuine concern.

"I don't have a better idea right now." Li Wei was honest. He still had one Two-Star Blood Resistance Potion and twenty One-Star Blood Resistance Potions — but that was a drop in the bucket. His only hope was that the main base would eventually send a scholar-type player like Hathaway to solve the problem.

Either way, that could be figured out over time. He wasn't in a hurry, and she shouldn't think she could use this to pressure him.

Li Yue dropped the subject.

"Brother, there are actually a lot of valuable things in this underground base. It would be a shame to just abandon it. I think while we still have time this month, we could use the electric buses to make multiple trips and move as much as possible. What do you think?"

"Sure. You've studied more than I have and know more than I do, Little Sister — why don't I leave this in your hands? I'll have Leon and Little Zhang work with you, and you can recruit a few healthy young people from the natural humans to help. The natural humans will need to work at the camp going forward — we can't just feed them for free."

Li Wei smiled and agreed. He knew perfectly well how important it was to strip this underground base — it might even be the key to upgrading the Scavenger Camp to Level 4. He'd have been uneasy leaving it to anyone else.

Li Yue's injuries were fully healed. She could handle this independently. Having her in charge was ideal.

Of course, this task would also generate a new Monthly Main Task with additional rewards.

The more supplies Li Yue extracted from the base, and the faster she did it, the higher the reward — logical. She might even rack up five hundred Contribution points before the month ended. Especially now that she was a Family Member — she might even be promoted to Family Elder by month's end.

But that Contribution was just a handling fee, a transport fee. It didn't include the value of the supplies themselves — that was the real prize, and it had already been distributed.

Li Wei's 7,525 Contribution points crushed everyone. Absolutely dominant.

The harder Li Yue worked going forward, the better it was for the overall situation. He couldn't ask for more.

Of course, Li Wei could also guess that Li Yue was probably hoping to use this opportunity to kill a few more four-star mutated creatures or Ability Users on the side. That was all extra income for her.

"Understood, Brother. I won't let you down. I'll station myself here until the transport is complete."

Li Yue smiled sweetly, confident and bright, and walked off to commandeer one of the electric buses. She recruited eight healthy natural humans — men and women — from the forty-eight, and kept the two wounded sniper naturals behind as well.

Then, as expected, Li Yue used a Life Elixir to restore the two snipers to seventy or eighty percent health. These were people with limited individual combat power but rich battle experience and strong credibility among the group — exactly the kind of asset worth keeping.

[Family Member Li Yue has triggered a Captain-level Monthly Main Task. As Head of Household, you have issued the order for Li Yue to garrison this underground base for the month, responsible for dismantling and transporting usable supplies, maintaining the safety of the route, and ensuring the safety of all natural humans participating in the work. Any losses will be her full responsibility. At the Month-End Summary, she will receive 500 base Contribution points.]

[Note: if other Family Members or Camp Members participate in this Monthly Main Task later in the month, they will receive corresponding base rewards based on their contributions — but they must follow Li Yue's command and direction, unless the Head of Household directly intervenes.]

Li Wei didn't linger. He called Thomas, Leon, and Zhao Xuanxuan onto the other two electric buses. They needed to escort the remaining natural humans back to the Scavenger Camp — and repair the road along the way.

That was the more important task, and one of the reasons Li Wei couldn't personally oversee the supply extraction.

Also, returning to the Scavenger Camp meant immediately settling all the natural humans — and that required him as Head of Household to be present. Many decisions simply couldn't be made without him.

That was also why he'd arranged for Leon and Zhang Jinjun to be in Li Yue's supply extraction team.

The benefits wouldn't all go to Li Yue alone.

Zhang Jinjun might be won over or manipulated — but Leon effectively represented Li Wei, and could serve as a check on the operation.

"Hmmm—"

The electric buses let out a faint hum and set off down the mountain road, carrying two buses full of people and a large load of supplies.

Behind them, Li Yue had already begun directing the remaining natural humans to collect the bodies of the fallen for cremation. They couldn't be left to be stolen and "split."

The All-Heavens Lord Alliance couldn't save them — but at least this much could be done properly.

Inside the bus, some natural humans wept quietly, tears running down their faces, eyes vacant yet carrying a fragile thread of hope.

Children old enough to understand stared in wide-eyed fear, huddled silently in corners, not even daring to meet Li Wei's gaze.

Only the infants still babbling their first sounds were unafraid.

Perhaps the future they faced wouldn't carry this kind of suffering and loss.

Perhaps — if this Scavenger Camp truly became Li Wei's territory one day.

Adai circled five hundred meters overhead, maintaining a five-kilometer radius, ready to detect any potential threat before it arrived.

Thomas and Leon sat on top of the buses, watching the surroundings with sharp eyes. Their condition had been fully restored.

Zhao Xuanxuan was chatting quietly with a few of the natural human women, fascinated by them — as if she were looking at aliens. Which, in a sense, they were.

Li Wei sat with his eyes closed, replaying the battle in his mind, reviewing every detail.

After this fight, beyond the Contribution he'd earned, he'd also gained a substantial amount of hunting experience — the total was now approaching twenty thousand points.

That was interesting. It seemed every kill in combat generated hunting experience.

So what about players who didn't have a Hunter Card? What kind of experience did combat kills give them?

That was a detail Li Wei had overlooked for a long time. Zhao Xuanxuan, for instance, didn't have a Hunter Card.

Thinking this, he glanced at her — and she immediately came trotting over like an eager puppy. "Li Wei, are you tired? Want me to give you a massage?"

"Thank you, but no."

Li Wei smiled, then had a sudden thought. These natural humans would become the territory's Freemen from now on — so were they NPCs, story natives, or would they become something equivalent to players?

That was an important distinction.

For instance, would using a Conspiracy Card in front of these natural humans and saying something forbidden trigger a violation?

With that thought, he signaled Zhao Xuanxuan. She understood immediately, glanced uneasily at the natural humans sharing the bus, and activated a One-Star Conspiracy Card.

Nothing happened.

The faint gray mist of the Conspiracy Card settled over the entire bus — meaning the natural humans on board would hear their conversation just the same. So Li Wei asked the question he'd just been thinking about.

Zhao Xuanxuan didn't answer. Instead, she looked in surprise at the natural humans, who were equally surprised, confused, and mildly frightened.

"Why wasn't there a violation?" She was baffled too.

"Because from now on, they're on the same boat as us. Our violations are defined in relation to high-level Ability Users created by radiation, and higher-level magical radiation storms. These are natural humans — and they're about to become Freemen of our territory. So whatever they hear or see won't cause any consequences."

"In a sense, we can even select suitable individuals from among them, give them Profession Cards, send them into Rookie Missions for training, or have them serve the territory directly."

"And honestly, that's also the best solution to the inevitable mutation from magical radiation. We don't have enough Blood Resistance Potions to go around, and we can't just feed them indefinitely — they need to work. So having a Profession Card, and at minimum raising their Life attribute to Level 1 Awakening, is very necessary."

Leon suddenly dropped down from the roof of the bus, casually activating a Two-Star Conspiracy Card to replace Zhao Xuanxuan's one-star. A bit stingy, that.

"As for your question, brother — that's just common knowledge. Without a Warrior Card, combat kill experience defaults to the nearest equivalent, or if there's no close match, the highest Destiny Grid. If you activate a Cavalry Card in the future, kills in combat will generate Cavalry experience. Without a Cavalry Card, it falls to the Hunter or Butcher Card as the nearest equivalent. Without those either, it goes to whichever Profession Card has the highest Destiny Grid."

As he spoke, Leon reached over and handed Li Wei a stack of ten One-Star Profession Cards. The reason One-Star Profession Cards generated by experience could be sold as currency in the All-Heavens Lord Alliance — at a stable market price of five gold coins each — was precisely because territory Freemen needed them. Some of the more exceptional ones might be sent into Rookie Missions for trials, but most simply served as territory Freemen.

Right — they weren't NPCs, but they were more useful than NPCs.

From a certain angle, their status was now the same as Li Wei and the other players — all members of the All-Heavens Lord Alliance.

When it came to guaranteeing basic rights, you could always trust the All-Heavens Lord Alliance. They left no loopholes to exploit.