Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 259: Contribution Overflow

Back at the underground base, Li Wei had used Thomas and Leon — two scrappy fighters — to nearly take down a five-star Ability User.

Two months of cultivation later, the once-scrappy Zhao Xuanxuan had earned a Destiny Title.

Leon had been quietly tempering himself at the stone mine every day, hair disheveled and face grimy, looking like a beggar — yet by now, every movement he made carried a steadiness that surpassed his former self.

The changes in Thomas, Leon, and Zhao Xuanxuan essentially confirmed that Li Wei's strategy had worked. He genuinely could rely on the three of them to go head-to-head with Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi.

With the Freemen added to those three, the situation was now stable.

But the most important factor in all of this was still Li Wei himself.

When Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi had first arrived in that opening month, they'd used their herb-gathering and foraging trips as cover to scout the area within fifty kilometers of camp, essentially mapping all nearby mutant creatures and resource points.

In a sense, they'd genuinely not been worried about Li Wei pulling anything surprising — the mutant creatures in the area were limited, and no amount of effort should have pushed the difficulty past 180%.

And yet Li Wei had gone out alone, ventured beyond the fifty-kilometer radius, found a new mutant creature, and actually killed it. By the standards of five-star veterans like them, his strength still wasn't much — but objectively, it was already impressive.

The seven of them ate dinner in quiet companionship. In the bright lamplight, the scene was genuinely warm — after all, they were family, bones connected by sinew no matter how many fractures lay between them.Even Aunties Ellen and Jenny, waiting nearby, found themselves unexpectedly moved.

As the night deepened outside, Li Wei set down his chopsticks — and the Month-End Summary began.

Everyone waited in silence for a few seconds. A faint grey mist rolled in, as if they'd stepped into another dimension.

Then, line by line, notifications surfaced without a sound.

["This was a month of steady development, unity of purpose, and the first glimmer of dawn. Under the leadership of Head of Household Li Wei, through the efforts of all members, the Level 3 Scavenger Camp has entered a bright, stable, and confident new era."]

["This month, hunger seems to have become a distant memory. Sufficient, abundant, high-quality food has filled every camp member's heart with contentment. Inside the camp, a reliable electricity supply means nights are no longer dark. Running water — both hot and cold — means washing is no longer a struggle. Organized, scientific division of labor has made camp operations smoother than ever."]

["Coal mining has resolved the camp's fuel concerns. Steam-powered electricity generation has, for the first time, made power supply a non-issue. The heating boiler and the elevator have greatly lifted morale. The outer wall under construction radiates a sense of security — it seems everyone here has a bright future ahead."]

["Large quantities of supplies continued to be transported back to camp this month. The family's fixed assets are steadily growing. Confident smiles, cheerful songs, the laughter of children — all of it speaks to the Scavenger Camp's promising future and powerful development potential."]

["This month, the maximum earnable Family Contribution cap reached 19,000 points. As of now, 16,000 points have been earned (including all members' additional earnings, but not counting Monthly Main Task rewards)."]

["This month, the Scavenger Camp led by Head of Household Li Wei earned a total of 96 Pioneering Points. Cumulative total: 336 points. Current ranking on the Pioneering Scoreboard: 4th place."]

["Head of Household Li Wei led by example this month and arranged all work effectively. He has earned an additional 10% Clearance Evaluation bonus. Cumulative total: 33%. He has also earned 2,000 Contribution points, of which 1,500 came from Freemen. Cumulative total: 9,000 points. Family real-time total Contribution: 18,000 points."]

["Family Member Li Yue completed her captain-level Monthly Main Task this month. She earned 500 Contribution points. Cumulative total: 3,050 points. Family real-time total Contribution: 18,500 points."]

["Family Member Liang Yuzhi completed her captain-level Monthly Main Task this month. She earned 500 Contribution points. Cumulative total: 3,000 points. Family real-time total Contribution: 19,000 points."]

["Family Member Leon completed his vice-captain Monthly Main Task this month. He earned 300 Contribution points — but as the total Contribution cap has been reached, this cannot be added. His cumulative total remains 1,200 points."]

["Family Member Thomas completed his vice-captain Monthly Main Task this month. He earned 300 Contribution points — but as the total Contribution cap has been reached, this cannot be added. Cumulative total: 1,000 points."]

["Official Camp Member Zhang Jinjun completed his Monthly Main Task this month. He earned 200 points — but this cannot be added. Cumulative total: 750 points."]

["Official Camp Member Zhao Xuanxuan completed her Monthly Main Task this month. She earned 200 points — but this cannot be added. Cumulative total: 1,000 points."]

["Warning (1st occurrence): Family members have contributed diligent labor but have been unable to receive proportional rewards. This violates the most basic principles of humanistic care, and indicates a problem with the camp's internal management and operations. If this occurs three times in total, a public impeachment will be triggered. The Head of Household must spend 5,000 Contribution points to waive this public impeachment."]

["Head of Household Li Wei will continue his tenure. The Leader BUFF remains in effect — however, if a public impeachment is triggered, even if he chooses to waive it, this Leader BUFF will be permanently removed, as if the spell has been broken."]

["For continuing tenure: Prestige +10. Cumulative total: 290 points."]

—

Well. What had to come had come.

Fourth place — actually a drop in ranking. Li Wei wasn't surprised. He hadn't sent a team to occupy the resource point to the south, which meant that even though he'd pushed the Pioneering Side Mission's extra difficulty to 180%, killing the mutant cabbage had earned him zero Pioneering Points.

Otherwise, he might have climbed as high as second place this month.

But he couldn't just chase rankings — he had to develop the camp itself. A hundred kilometers was too far to occupy a resource point with no support.

This month, Li Wei was already pulling back from the northern underground base. Consolidating strength and reinforcing the camp was the priority.

As for the Family Contribution total — it had finally, inevitably, overflowed.

The main cause was Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi's complete annihilation of the Ability User squad the Flame Duke had sent, which had caused Contribution to spike wildly.

Fortunately, Li Wei had prepared for this. Over the past few days, he'd had Thomas and Zhao Xuanxuan take on quick, high-impact tasks inside the camp — Thomas helping Javier build Warehouse No. 4, Zhao Xuanxuan helping weld the heating boiler, the elevator, and install the steam generator set. These extra tasks generated Contribution immediately, like drawing a paycheck.

Essentially, having inside information and exploiting the system in advance.

Of course, this also meant Li Wei was giving away Contribution that would otherwise have gone to him. But it was worth it — both Thomas and Zhao Xuanxuan had crossed the 1,000-point threshold, officially becoming Family Elders, immune to impeachment going forward.

Though, now that Li Yue had reached an agreement with him, she probably wouldn't cause trouble anyway.

While Li Wei was still thinking, a strange gust of wind swept in — fierce and violent, carrying with it a faint smell of blood and rot, like some kind of omen.

Surely not. Was the game already building atmosphere for the radiation storm two months away?

In the wind, a nearly disintegrated scrap of paper drifted down. It was barely holding together, the text on it blurred and fading, some characters already gone entirely.

Li Wei snatched the crumbling paper before it fell apart. The moment he touched it, a strange chill shot through his fingers — half his arm went numb as if frozen. Startled, he quickly switched to the Rat Slayer title.

He looked again. The rankings still showed fourteen entries — it seemed everyone had been developing steadily this month.

The specific rankings were:

1st: Zhao Kewu — 358 points. Far ahead of the pack.

2nd: Socrates — 352 points. Still untouchably high.

3rd: Witch Hathaway — 340 points. She'd overtaken Li Wei this month, though that was understandable.

Li Wei in 4th: 336 points. Solid, unremarkable.

5th: Knight Ron — 335 points. Closing in fast.

6th: Scar Glenn — 332 points. Also surging.

7th: Little John — 285 points. A notable jump this month — he must have finally cracked open a natural person camp. Nothing else explained it.

8th: 275 points. Also climbing fast — probably the same reason.

9th through 14th: Roughly between 260 and 230 points. Everyone still had a future.

A minute later, Li Wei suddenly felt a sharp sting in the fingers holding the paper — as if the scrap had turned into a creature and bitten him.

He yanked his hand back in pain. The tattered paper burst into flame — and in the fire, a pair of strange eyes stared back at him.

What was that?

Li Wei blinked. When he looked again, there was nothing — only his index finger, steadily welling with blood.

The next second, a line of text surfaced — dark, eerie, as if soaked in blood.

["Because the extra mission difficulty of your Pioneering Branch has been raised to 180%, you have been cursed. When the radiation storm sweeps this world, your Scavenger Camp will have a certain probability of being targeted by a special Magic Zombie. Prepare accordingly."]

As expected.

Li Wei wasn't particularly worried. He was playing on maximum difficulty — full power, all systems go. With two powerhouses on his side, what was there to fear?

Next came the Plot Kill phase. Zhang Jinjun had already mentally prepared himself to be sacrificed — nobody loved him, nobody needed him. Well, he'd accepted his fate.

But he waited. And waited. Several minutes passed in complete silence. No one launched a Plot Kill against him. He glanced carefully at Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi — one was focused on filing her nails, the other was staring off into space. This... this was the sun rising in the west.

Were they really one big happy family after all?

Of course not — that was impossible. Those two were clearly planning to trigger the public impeachment against Li Wei.

Ha. Well, that would be entertaining. He'd come on this Pioneering Mission as a last-minute substitute, done nothing but hard labor, gotten none of the benefits — at least he could enjoy the show.

Ten minutes passed in a flash. No Plot Kill was launched. That meant it was time for the Family Meeting.