232: Chapter 232 Tasted the Sweetness

"Holy crap!" The captain suddenly saw a zombie crawling up, took big strides over, and plunged his knife into the zombie's eye. Then he pulled the knife out and kicked it off the city wall.

"Two more people over here!"

He constantly ran back and forth on the city wall, patching up holes in the defense.

A thousand against 300,000, the disparity was unusually vast.

However, the Holy Envoys were constantly gauging the situation. When they felt the situation was dire, they immediately slowed down the intensity of the attack. When they felt the people on top had caught their breath, they increased the intensity of the attack again.

In short, the goal was to make them feel pressure while still allowing them to hold their ground.

The battle continued until almost dawn before the zombies hastily retreated.

After several hours of attack, nearly 100,000 zombies had died.

However, 50,000 of those zombies had already been secretly decomposed by the Micro Queen Bees. The remaining 50,000 zombies were considered a small benefit for the Settlement.

Letting them experience the benefits of hunting zombies would make them work with more vigor.

Even with just these 50,000 zombies, they spent an entire day cleaning up. It wasn't until almost nightfall that all the crystalss were extracted.

50,000 crystalss equaled 5 million points, which was a considerable sum for the current Settlement.

"These... these are all crystalss!" Mayor Xu walked to the city gate tower, looking at the large pile of crystalss below the city, his eyes shining brightly.

"This battle was exhilarating!" Mayor Xu was very satisfied.

With the protection of the Combat Suits, there were no casualties, only a very few individuals had twisted arms or legs, which would heal after a few days of rest.

Under circumstances of zero casualties, acquiring 50,000 crystalss, how could Mayor Xu not be happy?

"Pass down the order: every team member who participated in the battle will be rewarded 500 points! Every team member responsible for logistics will be rewarded 100 points." Mayor Xu waved his hand.

Upon hearing this news, the Soldiers erupted in cheers that shook the mountains and seas.

A few hundred points was not a small amount.

1 crystals was equivalent to 100 points. If used to purchase daily necessities, it could buy quite a lot of things.

But this small amount of points wasn't enough to make everyone so excited.

There were two reasons for everyone's excitement: on one hand, they had never fought such a great victory before. In the past, when zombies attacked, they mostly focused on evading. Eliminating zombies rarely happened. Killing one or two was already a great feat. But last night alone, they took down over 50,000 zombies, which was unprecedented.

In reality, it was 100,000, with 50,000 secretly withheld by the Chamber of Commerce. It couldn't really be called 'secretly,' as the Settlement's ability to acquire 50,000 was actually a gift from Oriental Chen. So, it couldn't be said that the Chamber of Commerce took advantage. If it weren't for the long-term plan of encouraging the Settlement's people to actively gather crystalss, they wouldn't have even gotten this small share. Oriental Chen could have cleaned it all up in minutes.

The other reason for everyone's excitement was that this was the first time they had received a reward after completing a task. Before, it was just hard labor; if they completed a task, being able to eat was already good enough. If you didn't want to work, you could leave; there were plenty of people who did. In this world, Security Team members were the most sought-after, and the barrier to entry was low. Who wasn't desperately trying to get this job? Not for the salary, but just to be able to look after their families and avoid being bullied.

100 points was not a small amount. One catty of pork was only 5 points, and one catty of flour was 2 points. These 100 points could do so much; it was enough for a family's food for a week.

Mayor Xu had no use for these crystal cores; what he wanted was points.

So he quickly sent someone to invite the Huatong Chamber of Commerce. The staff were on-site, counting and boxing. After counting, they reported the number to Mayor Xu.

"5.03 million points!" Mayor Xu beamed when he saw this number.

After deducting the reward points, he estimated he could still keep around 4 million. The price of one Combat Suit was 20,000 points, so 4 million points was equivalent to 200 Combat Suits. If this happened a few more times, what would the Settlement develop into?

This victory ignited Mayor Xu's long-buried ambition.

The situation in other Settlements was largely similar.

Many Settlements had not purchased Combat Suits in advance, but fortunately, after the Mercenary Guild opened, they could be rented.

Since they hadn't undergone prior training, it took some time to adapt, which affected their combat effectiveness at first. However, with the "special care" of the Holy Envoys, all of them eventually got through without incident.

After tasting the initial sweetness, these 20 cooperating Settlements all began to have ideas.

With crystalss, they had everything, including weapons, ammunition, equipment, and supplies.

With these, many things became conceivable.

Other Settlements that had not yet cooperated were all envious upon seeing this result, some even weeping bitterly, regretting their past decisions.

One step late, always late.

Seeing other Settlements already eating meat, while their own couldn't even supply gruel, this feeling was unusually difficult to bear.

"Why didn't I run faster back then?"

"Why did I hesitate for that moment?"

"I really want to slap myself a few times!"

Everyone had these thoughts.

But they could only feel sour; there was no other way.

They could only roll up their sleeves, preparing to get a spot in the next batch.