77: Chapter 77 The Undead Capitalist!

Underground.

Inside a giant cavern of twenty thousand square meters.

Xu Qin stood in the very center, looking around.

He pointed to a vast, empty area on the eastern side of the Underground Space.

"Tian Ming."

"Have the Troglodytes dig pits here."

"Dig six large pits in a circle. Each pit should be fifteen meters long, fifteen meters wide, and ten meters deep."

"Polish the inner walls until smooth, and bevel the edges into a slope."

Xu Qin used a Sand Jackal war spear to draw a sketch on the ground.

"Space the pits twenty meters apart. Build firing platforms above the pits. A height of three meters is enough."

Tian Ming's soul fire flickered.

"Master, are six pits enough?"

"It will do for now."

Xu Qin stood up, hands on his hips, and said,

"We can expand further once the troops' strength improves a bit more."

"Understood."

Tian Ming turned and issued the order.

2,530 plus 20 Undead Troglodytes began working simultaneously.

Their digging speed was much faster than before they were strengthened.

The pits extended downward at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just fifteen minutes.

Six standardized large pits were neatly arranged on the eastern side of the Underground Space.

Xu Qin walked to the edge of a pit and peered down.

Ten meters deep, smooth walls, flat bottom.

"Very good."

Xu Qin turned around and opened his inventory.

Orange icons were neatly arranged.

A large number of remains were still stored in the treasury.

He first took out 10 sets, walked to the first pit, and threw them down.

Bang!

The ten orange Mineral Vein Guardian remains crashed onto the bottom of the pit, scattering shell fragments everywhere.

Resurrection countdown: 8 minutes 32 seconds.

Xu Qin noted the time and turned to walk toward the Ranged Troops.

"Tian Ming, have all Ranged Troops move to the firing platform at Pit One and enter combat readiness."

"Once the Guardians in Pit One revive, kill them immediately."

"After killing them... leave ten sets of remains at the bottom of the pit."

"Have the Troglodytes move all the extra hundred sets to the treasury."

"Understood." Tian Ming turned to set up the formation.

Xu Qin checked the time on the command panel.

Then he walked to the second pit and threw in another 10 sets of remains.

Then he walked to the third pit, 10 sets.

...

"This way, the resurrection can cycle."

After tossing remains into the sixth pit, Xu Qin muttered to himself,

"Even if multiple pits revive at the same time, there is no need to worry about them jumping out."

"With the army's current combat power, they won't be able to make a splash."

Perfect.

Just as he was calculating, a notification popped up on the command panel.

Pit One, countdown reached zero.

Boom!

Orange light erupted from the bottom of the pit.

Ten Mineral Vein Guardians reconstructed from the shattered remains, their limbs just barely touching the ground...

"Attack!" Tian Ming waved his staff.

Hum!

1,970 Ranged Troops opened fire.

A barrage of orange and white light poured into the pit.

-57! -57! -57! -39! -39! -39! ...

The ten Guardians didn't even manage to stand steady.

Two volleys.

Ten seconds.

Completely wiped out.

[Combat Settlement!]

[Kill Target: Mineral Vein Guardian x 10]

[Talent 'War Gift Level 10' triggered! ...]

At the bottom of the pit, the ten sets of remains turned into one hundred and ten.

Tian Ming immediately issued an order.

The Troglodytes entered the bottom of the pit from the reserved slope passage on the side and quickly transported them.

Leave ten sets.

Move out one hundred sets.

The one hundred sets of remains were carried out of the pit by the Troglodytes and sent along the transport passage to the Floating City treasury.

Xu Qin stood at the entrance of the treasury, watching the Troglodytes stack the orange remains inside.

He opened the treasury interface.

[Mineral Vein Guardian remains x 100]

Resurrection countdown paused.

"Good!"

Xu Qin clenched his fist.

Like the inventory, the treasury could also pause the resurrection countdown.

This meant he could hoard remains indefinitely, and decompose them whenever he wanted without worrying about overflowing storage.

He quickly returned to the Underground Space.

Tian Ming had already led the Ranged Troops to the front of Pit Two.

The countdown had 50 seconds remaining.

Xu Qin crossed his arms in front of his chest, watching the countdown tick down.

Boom!

In Pit Two, orange light exploded.

Ten Guardians revived.

"Attack!"

The same process.

The same result.

Ten seconds, completely wiped out.

Remains moved out, ten left, one hundred sent.

Tian Ming led the troops to move to Pit Three.

Xu Qin started timing.

From the time Pit One was finished to the time Pit Three revived, the interval was exactly three minutes.

The Ranged Troops spent less than a minute moving.

In other words, between every two pits, the troops had two minutes of pure waiting time.

Xu Qin frowned slightly at the sight and rubbed his chin in thought.

It seems he had still underestimated the combat power of his troops.

"The problem lies in the 'waiting'. The Ranged Troops have two minutes of free time per round."

What if he increased the number of pits from six to ten?

Ten pits, with remains dropped at three-minute intervals.

This way, after the Ranged Troops finished killing in one pit and moved to the next, the next pit would revive just in time.

This would achieve zero waiting time.

Undead Capitalist Xu Qin decided to continue expanding.

"Tian Ming."

"Present."

"Dig four more pits. Same specifications. Place them side-by-side next to the existing six."

"Understood."

The Troglodytes began working.

Ten minutes later, four new pits were completed.

Xu Qin threw 10 sets of remains into pits seven through ten, one by one.

"Perfect."

At this moment, the countdown for Pit Three reached zero.

Boom!

"Attack."

Tian Ming waved his staff, and arrows and bullets rained down like rain.

A minute later, the remains were moved out.

The troops moved to Pit Four.

Moved out.

Moved.

...

Pit Six.

"Attack."

...

Pit Seven.

Xu Qin stood on the command platform, watching Tian Ming lead the Ranged Troops, shuttling back and forth between the ten pits.

Although it was still a bit far from '100,000 per day'.

But that was based on the premise that the troops could kill the Guardians instantly.

In actual operation, the time spent on troop combat and the Troglodytes' transport both required time.

However...

Xu Qin was not worried about this.

"Once the cooldowns for the heroes and troops end, I will strengthen them for another round. The Ranged Troops' killing speed will be even faster."

"By then, I can compress the interval to even within a minute."

"In that case, I can dig a few more pits..."

He took out his war spear and squatted on the ground to calculate.

If the killing speed were compressed to 10 seconds per pit, then ten pits would be far from enough.

He would need twenty, or even thirty pits, to keep the Ranged Troops from stopping completely.

But that was a matter for the future.

The current production capacity was completely sufficient.

"And this is just one production line."

Xu Qin stood up and looked toward the undeveloped area on the western side of the Underground Space.

Twenty thousand square meters.

He had only used a small part on the eastern side.

"Once the Bull and Blade Guard troops are also fully strengthened, I can start a second line, a third line."

"By then... the melee units can also rush in to fight, which will further increase efficiency."

At this point, Xu Qin stood up.

He didn't continue calculating.

Because if he continued to calculate, the numbers would seem too outrageous.

He came to the treasury, watching the Troglodytes continuously sending remains into it.

Before the first hour was even over, there were already over 1,400 sets of remains in the treasury.

Xu Qin walked to the Forging Area, took out the previous batch of remains stored in the treasury, and stuffed them into the decomposition furnace.

Boom!

Orange flames devoured everything.

Ding!

[Decomposition Complete!]

[Obtained: source crystal essence x 1400]

Xu Qin looked at this number, the corners of his mouth curling up.

"It really has to be the Undead."

"They are both free, and they can work 24/7."