168: Chapter 168 Queuing

On the other side.

Inside the sub-channels of the various human alliances, the atmosphere was oppressive and heavy.

The few messages sent by Xu Qin completely shattered everyone's understanding.

Lord Lin Yi · Human: "I'll share a judgment: the low-tier planes won't hold out for much longer."

Barton · Dwarf Race: "Why?"

Lord Lin Yi · Human: "Resources, of course. Iron ore has already become scarce in my area, and just last week, three conflicts broke out within the alliance to fight for a mineral vein."

Irene · Elf Race: "It's the same over on my side. The timber zone was marked by two neighboring lords at the same time, almost starting a war."

Lord Lin Yi · Human: "Things like this will only happen more and more in the future. Once later-stage troops are researched, resource demands will double, but the total amount remains the same. If everyone fights for them together, it'll inevitably descend into chaos sooner or later."

Lord Lin Yi · Human: "This pattern is simply forcing everyone to head toward the high-tier planes."

Fang Che · Human: "So you mean to say that going to the high-tier planes is a must?"

Lord Lin Yi · Human: "Perhaps."

Chen Mo · Human: "As for Xu Qin's words, do you guys really believe them?"

Chen Mo · Human: "What if he's just bragging? Who has actually seen a high-tier plane with their own eyes?"

Fang Che · Human: "Then let me ask you, what does he stand to gain by lying to us?"

Chen Mo · Human: "Hard to say. Maybe he hopes we'll go and throw our lives away so he can seize the chance to expand, who knows."

Everyone in the channel felt a wave of speechlessness.

Barton · Dwarf Race: "I don't think it's to that extent. His ruins are still operating over there, scouts went to check, and the Troglodytes are still mining. He isn't here himself, and the Floating City left long ago."

Han Yu · Dwarf Race: "Right, that sounds consistent with his style."

Li Wei · Human: "How about this then, we push someone forward to scout the high-tier planes?"

Fang Che · Human: "Push who?"

Li Wei · Human: "You guys tell me."

When this sentence was sent out, not a single person picked it up.

Li Wei · Human: "In any case, it has to be someone who can command respect, otherwise..."

Everyone stopped sending messages.

They all understood Li Wei's meaning.

To push someone out meant everyone would have to pool their strength to support him.

Giving priority to resources and troop sources,

helping him develop rapidly to the point where he could enter the high-tier planes.

But why should it be him instead of me?

An alliance was an alliance, and selfishness was selfishness; these two things were separate.

The topic in the channel drifted once more from electing a person back to resource allocation.

Then, before they had said much, they parted on bad terms and exited the channel.

They each sat in their territories, looking at their command panel.

Relying on the alliance path simply won't work.

Quite a few people opened the human communication channel once more, found Xu Qin's name, and began to ponder their next steps.

That same night,

Xu Qin was standing on the Watchtower, watching the heroes below the Combat Readiness Platform farm the Mineral Vein Guardian.

Longgu led the Python Emperor's group of monsters, while Tian Ming coordinated the skeleton soldiers to clean up the spoils of war.

Just at that moment...

Beep!

Dozens of private chat window applications popped up within the chat interface.

Xu Qin clicked to check...

Hiss...

Good grief!

Forty-seven private chat requests?

And they were all humans, with even a few unfamiliar races mixed in among them.

The contents were much of the same; some said they wanted to cooperate, while others expressed a willingness to provide resources.

In short, these people beat around the bush, but the core meaning was just one:

"Big Bro, can you cover me?"

Xu Qin couldn't help laughing out loud.

"These people are clever."

He dragged the windows to the left, lined them up in a row, and began going through them one by one.

Those with no obvious value were closed.

Those with unpopular races but weak forces were kept for observation.

After all, special troops might serve a special purpose.

After screening for over ten minutes, twenty-one remained.

Xu Qin looked at this list and stroked his chin in thought.

Tie Ge's model had already been verified,

having vassals develop desperately in the low-tier planes,

raising high-quality troops to hand over regularly,

while he was responsible for converting them into undead on his end.

A single Tie Ge could send two to three hundred War Rhinos a month.

What if there were twenty "Tie Ge"s?

Moreover, the initial races of these human lords varied widely.

Some chose lizards, some chose treants, some even chose goblins, or even the Zerg.

In short, not a single one of those who survived the newbie period was weak.

And what was the core advantage of his Undead Race?

Of course it was that the skeletons of any race could be used.

"It seems my pig farm needs an expansion plan," Xu Qin muttered to himself.

He clicked open the first marked private chat window.

[Sender: Zhou Ze · Bloodhoof Tribe]

[Hello Xu Qin, my Bloodhoof cow troops have developed to Tier 3, and currently I have seven hundred core high-tier troops. But several surrounding alliances have started to show hostility toward me. I need a backing, I wonder if I can join you. You name the conditions.]

Xu Qin wasn't in a hurry to reply, but instead clicked the second one.

[Sender: Su Yao · Lizard Race]

[Big Bro Xu Qin, I am Su Yao. We haven't spoken before. My main force of Iron-Spine Lizardmen Warriors is over four thousand three hundred, Tier 2. Resources have been tight recently, and I want to cooperate with you. I can regularly provide you with troop sources in exchange for resources and protection.]

Yo?

Xu Qin raised an eyebrow.

This Su Yao knew how things worked.

It seemed she hadn't dealt little with the Undead Race and knew what the Undead Race needed.

Xu Qin nodded, but still wasn't in a hurry to reply.

He continued to click open the third one.

[Sender: Fang Che · Human]

[Xu Qin, I won't beat around the bush either. I have the human special troop Fire Mages, totaling two thousand five hundred people, Tier 3. If you want them, I can send five hundred every month. I only ask that you arrange a safe place for me, is that okay?]

Fang Che?

It was him?

Regarding Fang Che, Xu Qin still had some impression of him.

This person had always been quite active in the channel, and his head was clear too.

He hadn't expected that he would actually come to submit as well.

But two thousand five hundred Fire Mages, and they were Tier 3 troops.

This number wasn't small at all.

Xu Qin thought about it and began replying one by one:

[We can cooperate. But the requirement is to hand over 30% of your total troop volume to me every month, with a quality no lower than Tier 2. In exchange, I will provide you with resource supplies and secure territorial guarantees. Send me the location of your territory, and I will evaluate it.]

The message was sent out, and the other side replied almost instantly.

[Zhou Ze · Bloodhoof Tribe: Deal.]

[Su Yao · Lizard Race: No problem!]

[Fang Che · Human: Alright. I'll send the location right now.]

Xu Qin watched the replies pop in one by one and couldn't help laughing out loud.

These people were clever enough to know to board the bus early.

To put it bluntly, if they continued to stay in the low-tier planes, resources would sooner or later not be enough.

The so-called alliance was actually a community of interests,

but once interests couldn't be reasonably distributed, infighting would break out sooner or later.

Rather than passively waiting for death, it was better to find a new backing sooner.

And he, Xu Qin, happened to be the most suitable backing.

They didn't need to come to the high-tier planes to throw their lives away.

They just needed to stay quietly in place and act as his breeding farm.

Out of the twenty-one private chat targets, he finally picked fourteen to reply to.

The remaining seven either had troops that were too weak and lacked characteristics,

or their races duplicated existing ones, so there was no need for them temporarily.

After replying to the last message, Xu Qin closed the communication panel.

In this way, one of his major hidden troubles could be resolved.

Because his sources of troops were extremely mixed, a unified combat power could not be formed.

If these types of troops joined, then pure troop legions could be forged one by one.

"In the future, Tie Ge will be in charge of the alien legions, while on the human side... we can't let them band together; we have to make them vie for favor."