167: Chapter 167 Are you still in the newbie village?

Barton · Dwarf Race: Stop pinging him, he won't pay attention to you.

Li Wei · Human Race: Why?

Barton · Dwarf Race: Because you suck!

Li Wei · Human Race: What about you?

Barton · Dwarf Race: I suck too, but I have self-awareness, so I won't contact him!

Li Wei · Human Race: Do you guys think... could Xu Qin already be... dead?

Barton · Dwarf Race: Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Han Yu · Dwarf Race: Yeah, impossible right? Would that Floating City monster die?

Lord Lin Yi: But he hasn't made a peep for over a month. Either he is dead, or he went somewhere very far away.

Zhao Ming · Human Race: To be honest, I feel more uneasy when he does not show up.

Fang Che · Human Race: +1, when someone like this disappears for too long, they are mostly cooking up something big.

Li Wei · Human Race: @Xu Qin @Xu Qin @Xu Qin

Li Wei · Human Race: Is he really not here?

Wang Zheng · Undead Race: I do not think he is dead. His sub-city ruins are still operating; my scouts went to check, and the Troglodytes are still mining.

Zhang Yan · Undead Race: Then where is he?

Lord Lin Yi: Maybe he is building some secret weapon.

Xu Qin looked at the screen full of guesses and yawned.

Unexpectedly, after more than a month,

these people were still discussing him.

He figured that since he was in a different place now, he decided to reply with something to provoke them.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Here.

The chat channel went quiet for a few seconds before instantly bustling with activity.

Li Wei · Human Race: Holy shit! He is alive!

Barton · Dwarf Race: ??? He actually replied?

Barton · Dwarf Race: Wait, are you really here? @Xu Qin

Han Yu · Dwarf Race: Xu Qin, where did you go this past month?

Zhao Ming · Human Race: Scared the hell out of me, I thought you crashed.

Fang Che · Human Race: To be honest, we all started to relax when you did not show up, but the moment you came back, I got nervous again.

Xu Qin looked at these messages and could not help smiling with disdain.

"What the hell are you nervous about? I am a hundred thousand miles away from you guys now."

He lay on the bone throne and typed directly.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: I will tell you guys some news. I am not in my original world anymore.

The channel paused again, then started scrolling rapidly.

Lord Lin Yi: What do you mean?

Li Wei · Human Race: Not in the original world? Where did you go?

Han Yu · Dwarf Race: What are you talking about?

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Higher plane.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: After your territory reaches a certain level, you can pass through a portal and come to a larger space.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: After arriving here, you will acquire an initial landmass. Once the area exceeds a certain scale, it will trigger a plane ascension. I am currently a Level 1 Star Lord.

Wang Zheng · Undead Race: What is a Star Lord?

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Simply put, it is the next stage.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: The goal of this stage is to constantly expand your territory, annex other Star Lords, and eventually build a complete planet.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Once built and cleared, that planet belongs to you.

Messages in the channel paused once more.

After a dozen seconds, someone finally spoke.

Lord Lin Yi: ...Are you serious?

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Do you think I have the leisure time to make up stories?

Barton · Dwarf Race: Wait, you are saying clearing the game means building a planet? What happens after clearing it? Can we go back to Earth?

Xu Qin · Undead Race: I do not know. I only know that after clearing it, you become a "Supreme Star Lord" and possess endless life.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Of course, I think this might just be bullshit as well.

Zhao Ming · Human Race: Endless life...

Fang Che · Human Race: What about us? How can we reach your stage?

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Figure out how to develop first. When you reach the upper limit, you will naturally find a way to get in. Of course, it is best to have high-tier troops when you come.

Xu Qin · Undead Race: The difficulty over here is still relatively high.

Li Wei · Human Race: Then what is your current land area?

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Over five hundred, just starting out.

Li Wei · Human Race: 500 square kilometers?!!

Li Wei · Human Race: Good grief, I have to pant for half a day just running thirty kilometers to mine now.

Han Yu · Dwarf Race: Same here.

Barton · Dwarf Race: That is outrageous!

Lord Lin Yi: This gap is a bit too big.

Barton · Dwarf Race: Are you sure it is just a bit?

Lord Lin Yi: It is just separated by a galaxy, nothing much.

The atmosphere in the channel noticeably turned serious.

Because everyone realized that they had not even left the beginner village yet.

Zhang Yan · Undead Race: So you are saying the world we are staying in right now is only the first stage?

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Yes.

Zhang Yan · Undead Race: Then if we stay here all along...

Xu Qin · Undead Race: Then just stay here, it is pretty nice over there too.

At this moment, the direction of the conversation in the channel inexplicably changed.

Chen Mo · Human Race: ...So we have no way to go home, is that it?

Chen Mo · Human Race: I mean, back to Earth. Can we never go back?

Lord Lin Yi: It was probably impossible to go back right from the start. It is just that now... there is not even any hope left.

Zhao Ming · Human Race: No, why the hell should this be? I am fucking just an ordinary person, I do not want to be any lord, I just want to go home.

Fang Che · Human Race: Old Zhao, calm down.

Zhao Ming · Human Race: Calm my ass! It has been almost a year! My family must be worried sick.

Li Wei · Human Race: ...

The channel instantly quieted down.

No one sent any more messages.

Xu Qin understood these people's feelings.

However, he did not feel distressed at all.

Because he did not want to go back in the first place.

Although this world was dangerous, it was interesting enough.

"If I had to choose a way to die, I would rather die over here." Xu Qin muttered to himself.

Closing the channel, Xu Qin opened the battle records of the previous two Star Lord Hegemony Battles.

Winning those two battles was actually quite perilous; he suffered quite a few losses in the early stages and did not have that momentum of rolling over everything like in the lower planes.

Then, where did the problem lie?

It should be in the movement speed of the ground troops.

Every time a fight broke out, the enemy rushed in from the border, and the ground forces had to take the brunt head-on. A batch of them was bound to become cannon fodder.

However, if the tunnels were dense enough, those cannon-fodder skeletal soldiers could emerge directly from underground in time.

At that time, they would press against the enemy's rear. Even if they were killed and triggered a self-detonation, they could convert casualties into damage.

This way, it would not only disrupt the opponent's rhythm, but also create an opportunity for the main army to launch a surprise attack on the enemy's base camp.

Xu Qin opened the command panel and found Tian Ming's avatar.

"Tian Ming, how is the progress of the tunnels right now?"

"Reporting to Master, the central underground preparation depot has connected six main trunk passages, which can separately support the east, south, west, north, and two diagonal directions."

"Branch passages are currently being excavated, and the estimated completion time is sixty-two hours."

"A bit faster."

"Yes."

After saying that, Xu Qin walked towards the Watchtower with his hands behind his back.