Wasteland Hideout: Upgrading from the Sewers

Chapter 238: Subterranean Bat-Men and Godslayers, the Increasingly Dangerous Mutated Giant Rats

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

Xiao Wu's eyes were bloodshot as he vented his fury.

"That damn bastard! Who dared to launch an invasion against the Yu Yuan Shelter before I could!"

"Impossible! I calculated the end time of the Yu Yuan Shelter's 【Ceasefire Token】 very clearly. How could someone have beaten me to it?"

"Could it be one of those guys in the top hundred of the Leaderboard? Or is it the effect of some Rare Artifact?"

As his rage subsided, Xiao Wu's emotions gradually calmed, and he began to think about his next move.

The Yu Yuan Shelter had already been reported to his elder sister. Now that someone else had gotten there first, it was troublesome.

Xiao Wu's gaze was fixed on the name 【Yu Yuan Shelter】 displayed on the Virtual Light Screen.

"I hope you're not that fragile! You must wait for me. Becoming my Descendant is your best destiny."

Just then, a humanoid figure without eyes approached from behind Xiao Wu and knelt directly on the ground."Great Lord of Blood, the Blood Slave Guard is ready and awaits the baptism of your Blood Will."

Xiao Wu turned and walked past the fluorescent moss and glowing mushrooms spread on the floor, exiting the shelter.

This was a massive mining pit, with mine tunnels surrounding it.

In reality, this was only the outskirts of the subterranean gloom region.

Xiao Wu's shelter was located within one of these mine tunnels. As he left the shelter, he arrived at a rocky platform.

Below the platform, dozens of Blood Slaves were already waiting.

These Blood Slaves also lacked eyes. Their faces only had mouths, nostrils, and a pair of bat-like ears.

Their arms were long, almost reaching their knees, and their fingers were also slender, tipped with sharp claws.

These were the unique lifeforms of the 【Subterranean Gloom Civilization】 Xiao Wu belonged to—Subterranean Bat-People.

But now, they all shared only one identity: Xiao Wu's Blood Slaves.

Behind them was a giant lizard bound by chains, roughly over twenty meters long, its body covered in hard scales.

Three Blood Slaves stood on the lizard's back, each holding a chain. The other end of the chains was deeply embedded in the lizard's skull.

Whenever this Subterranean Stone Lizard struggled, the Blood Slaves would yank their chains, firmly controlling it.

As Xiao Wu walked out of the shelter and onto the rocky platform,

All the Blood Slaves prostrated themselves, even the three on the Subterranean Stone Lizard were no exception.

"We pay homage to the Great Lord of Blood."

Xiao Wu looked down at the Blood Slaves and the giant Subterranean Stone Lizard.

He nodded in satisfaction.

These were the Blood Slave Guard he had developed so far, and his greatest trump card.

Originally, there had been over a hundred Subterranean Bat-People Blood Slaves.

But significant losses were incurred during the capture of this Subterranean Stone Lizard.

In Xiao Wu's view, however, it was well worth it.

He looked at the Subterranean Stone Lizard as if it were a treasure.

To capture Yu Yuan, Xiao Wu was willing to spend his capital.

"Yu Yuan, you must wait for me..."

——————————

Stag Shelter.

This was a massive cave. Tie Xiong sat before a grill, vigorously devouring the food in his hand.

Tie Xiong tossed the bone he had gnawed a few times, still covered in large chunks of meat, into the air.

A hunting dog, nearly two meters long with sleek black fur, leaped high, catching the bone mid-air and began gnawing on it.

Under the terrifying bite force of this hound, the hard bone crumbled like a crispy rice cracker, easily swallowed.

Tie Xiong clapped his hands and looked at the private chat message displayed on his Virtual Light Screen.

【Hive Shelter: Stag, the few of us have backed off! That Yu Yuan clearly has a big shot backing him. Are you sure you can successfully invade?】

【Stag Shelter: I've decided to join the Wolf Clan. They align with my Title Path. The condition for joining is to kill three players ranked higher than myself. I've had my eye on Yu Yuan for a long time; I'm determined to get him.】

【Hive Shelter: Wolf Clan? No wonder your ranking shot up so much. Then you should advance to the next tier soon too...】

【Stag Shelter: Yeah, I must find a way to advance to the Bronze tier within a year at most. This is also a test from the Wolf Clan. Actually, you guys could join too.】

【Hive Shelter: We... we'll think about it. Heard the Wolf Clan and the Blood Clan are really at odds lately...】

Closing the chat window, Stag (Tie Xiong) fell into thought.

He then muttered to himself.

"Relying only on plundering downwards will never allow for rapid development. Only plundering upwards is the true path. It's a pity you all fail to understand this!"

Checking the time, Tie Xiong stood up and began putting on his gear.

"Finally unlocked the 【God Slayer】 Title Path. Yu Yuan... perfect for sharpening this title!"

"Black Slayer, let's go!" At Tie Xiong's call, the black-furred hunting dog immediately leaped to his side.

In a flash of light and shadow, they disappeared from within the shelter.

————————————

Inside the Yu Yuan Shelter.

With only a few minutes left before the invasion war began,

A red dot appeared at the very edge of the Combat Detector's scanning range, cautiously probing inward.

Yu Yuan looked at the red dot on the Combat Detector, his brow furrowed tightly.

Because... he realized something was off.

On the Combat Detector, that red dot representing a high-energy/threat entity was flickering on and off, extremely unstable.

This was a situation that had never occurred before.

Watching the red dot that appeared one moment and vanished the next, Yu Yuan's mind raced.

"That red dot's location is already within the detection range, so it's not entering and exiting the zone. It's more like the Combat Detector's detection of its spirituality is fluctuating, like an unstable signal reception..."

Recalling all the information about the mutant rat, Yu Yuan quickly guessed the reason.

The mutant rat's Concealment effect was getting stronger!

Earlier, when Mona mentioned the Giant Mutant Rat, she said the Aurora Animal Assistance Association was finding it increasingly difficult to track it.

It seemed that was true. Its Concealment ability was now starting to affect even the Combat Detector.

A fierce glint flashed in Yu Yuan's eyes.

"This slippery bastard has been evading capture all this time. Now that it's finally shown up, I must kill it."

"Since the last ambush, this thing has clearly become more cautious and cunning. The only reason it's showing up again now is likely due to a significant increase in its strength. Hmm~~~ I can't scare it off!"

After some thought, Yu Yuan decided the safest method was to feign weakness, luring this behemoth into the Pit Trap.

Just as Yu Yuan finalized his plan to kill the Giant Mutant Rat, the countdown for the invasion war finally ended.

【Ding... Player ID...】