170: Chapter 170: Primitive Accumulation

On the other side.

In the southeast, within a bustling commercial port city named "Golden Toad City."

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao pushed up the black-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose.

Looking at the magnificent mansion before her and the golden light screen that appeared, the corners of her eyes twitched twice.

[Current Identity: Lord of the Gold-Devouring Den · Insatiable Desires · Wealthy Great Treasurer]

[Identity Effect: Automatically refreshes and attracts wealthy merchants of various races to enter the chamber of commerce daily. In the treasury scene, your Divine Power recovery speed is increased by 300%, but your greed value increases by 50%, making you highly prone to malicious intent over wealth.]

[Warning: If the chamber of commerce is destroyed, it will shake the faith of your followers and damage your Divine Fire!]

This Rubik's Cube has a mental illness.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao gave a fair evaluation in her heart.

This kind of label, with its strong bad taste and negative mental interference, was clearly designed to mess with people's minds.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the surge of greed in her heart.

Reason once again took the high ground.

As the vice monitor who ranked second on the freshman exam leaderboard with a total score of 18,900 points,

the identity she was assigned was the very top of the third tier: a powerful merchant.

She started with control over a medium-sized city, plus a massive amount of initial funds.

She could freely hire wandering mercenaries within the Rubiks Cube World, or purchase Materials for summoning arrays of her followers through trade.

The setup was very luxurious.

But Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao couldn't smile at all.

She was too smart.

Precisely because she was smart, she deduced a fact.

With her 18,900 points, she got the top-tier setup of the third tier.

Then Lin Yuan, with his 26,500 points, had absolutely stepped into the second tier.

General.

Controlling a large-scale city, possessing multiple exclusive summoning arrays.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao closed her eyes, analyzing the pros and cons.

That guy Lin Yuan's combat strength, judging by his academic credits this time, was obviously incredibly powerful.

Once Lin Yuan safely passed the early stage, utilized the resource advantages of a general, and summoned his Divine Realm followers,

and the snowball started rolling, no one in the entire Rubik's Cube space would be able to stop his steamroll.

It would be impossible to fight.

Fighting alone would only lead to a dead end.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao opened her eyes, a flash of decisiveness passing through them.

They had to form an Alliance.

And they had to form a coalition strong enough to counter him before Lin Yuan's army of followers took shape.

She didn't contact Bai Ye, Cheng E, or the other troublemakers ranked in the top five.

Those people were naturally proud and submitted to no one.

It was impossible for them to submit to anyone in the starting phase and follow her command.

What she needed were the weak.

The prototype of an Alliance often starts with the weak huddling together for warmth. After expanding their advantage, they can use the momentum to force the strong to join.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao set off immediately.

Using the chamber of commerce's teleportation array, she quickly moved through several small towns surrounding Golden Toad City.

A few hours later.

Outside an abandoned ancient post station.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao stopped in her tracks.

On the open ground ahead, a bonfire was burning.

Three figures were gathered around the bonfire, roasting a Platinum Rank Golden-Bristled Boar.

The aroma of meat filled the air.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao recognized these three.

Zhao Kuo, who had awakened the [Swamp Lord] Divine Realm, was slightly plump.

Sun Ying, who had awakened the [Shadow Walker] Divine Realm, was lean and capable.

Zhou Yan, who had awakened the [Rock Fiend] Divine Realm, was tall and sturdy.

The rankings of these three in High-Risk Class 3 were in the lower-middle tier.

After half a month of plane-plundering warfare, their points barely broke seven thousand.

According to the rules of the Rubik's Cube, these three were in all probability assigned to the fourth tier: commoners or bandits.

With no fixed territory and scarce resources,

they were the perfect targets to win over.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao adjusted her luxurious brocade robe and stepped forward.

"What a coincidence, classmates."

A gentle smile hung on Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's face.

The three people by the fire looked up.

Zhao Kuo tore off a greasy boar leg, took a big bite, and spoke indistinctly:

"Oh, isn't this the vice monitor? What a coincidence, running into you like this."

Sun Ying was playing with a pitch-black dagger in his hand, the blade flipping between his fingertips so fast that even its afterimages were blurry.

He looked up, glanced at Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao, nodded, and then lowered his head to continue playing with his knife.

Zhou Yan smiled honestly and added a handful of firewood to the bonfire.

The attitude of the three was relaxed, with no guard up, but also no hostility.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao was somewhat surprised.

The people of Starry Sky University's High-Risk Class 3 were all natural-born killers.

She had thought that approaching this group would meet with intense rejection or even attacks.

Such a peaceful start made her breathe a sigh of relief.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao walked to the side of the bonfire, keeping a safe social distance.

"Since we've run into each other, I'll speak frankly," Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao said, pushing up her glasses, her tone sincere.

"I got the top-tier identity of the third tier, control over Golden Toad City. I have resources and channels in my hands."

"But I deduce that Lin Yuan got the identity of a general in the second tier."

"You all know Lin Yuan's strength. Once he develops, all of us will have to die in this sandbox, and a large amount of academic credits will be deducted."

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao looked at the three of them and extended an olive branch.

"Join my Alliance. We will share resources and fight Lin Yuan together."

"Once it's done, we will split the profits of Golden Toad City equally."

She believed her words were flawless, appealing to both reason and self-interest.

These three bandits didn't even have a territory.

Faced with such a godsend, they would surely be moved.

To her surprise,

after listening, the three of them didn't even bother to think.

Zhao Kuo swallowed the boar meat in his mouth and waved his hand casually. "There's no need, Vice Monitor. Lin Yuan got first place in points, so it's only right for him to get the general identity."

"That old geezer Instructor Wen Muxue clearly just didn't want to teach class, so she deliberately threw us in here to torment us."

"There are no shady dealings here. He won first place fair and square, so we are completely fine with him being the class monitor."

Sun Ying stopped the spinning dagger in his hand and said in a raspy voice, "If we can't beat him, we can't beat him. If we lose this time, we can just win it back in the next assessment."

Zhou Yan chimed in, "Exactly. Why would we go fight Lin Yuan? Do we have a death wish?"

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao was stunned.

She had completely failed to anticipate this kind of response.

"You guys..." Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao frowned slightly, "Are you really content to be at the bottom of this space?"

"Having your academic credits deducted will have a significant impact on your future development, won't it?"

"Vice Monitor, don't try to convince us anymore." Zhao Kuo patted his round belly, lay down on the ground, and looked at the sky.

"For the past half-month, we fought tooth and nail in the foreign planes. Our nerves were strained every single day, for fear of losing our lives if we made one wrong move."

"Our Divine Realms indeed focus on slaughter and madness."

"But even gods have emotions. We can't just fight, compete, and kill every single day, right?"

Zhao Kuo yawned.

"This Rubiks Cube World is pretty good. No Abyss Monster, no Foreign Lords..."

"We can just take this chance to experience a virtual game we usually don't have time to play."

"Roleplaying, experiencing the local customs of ancient human society, and relaxing—isn't that great?"

Sun Ying sneered and took over the conversation.

His words were blunt and harsh: "Vice Monitor, we are all smart people, so let's speak openly."

"We know our strength ranks in the lower-middle tier of the class. Even if we form an Alliance with you and defeat Lin Yuan, how much of the pie can we actually get?"

Sun Ying pointed at Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao, then pointed at himself.

"The positions of monitor and vice monitor definitely belong to top Prodigies like you. The various committee roles won't fall to us either."

"In that case, why on earth should we act as your lapdogs?"

Sun Ying's gaze turned sharp.

"Rather than being cannon fodder for you, we might as well not offend Lin Yuan."

"His strength is right there, and we aren't close to him, so we don't know what kind of person he is."

"What if he's narrow-minded and petty? If we mess with him now, what if he targets us once we get out?"

"The losses would outweigh the gains. It's completely not cost-effective. Not worth it."

Zhou Yan nodded heavily in agreement.

The three had absolutely no fighting spirit, making their desire to slough off completely clear.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao stood in place, outwardly calm and maintaining a warm smile.

But deep in her heart, Killing Intent had already surfaced!

She understood.

It wasn't that these people had no ambition, but rather that they were too calculating.

After weighing the pros and cons, they realized that following her wouldn't bring enough benefits and would carry too many risks, so they decisively chose to lie flat.

If most of the lower-middle tier students in the class shared this mindset,

then her plan to raise a coalition force in this Rubiks Cube World to defeat Lin Yuan was declared bankrupt before it even began.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao was unwilling to sit and wait for death while watching Lin Yuan snowball.

Since the soft approach didn't work,

then she would use force.

"Since you three classmates want to rest, I won't disturb you. I wish you a pleasant game."

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao bowed slightly and turned to leave.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuo and the other two also let down their guard, turning back to deal with the roasted boar.

At the exact moment the three turned their heads,

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao moved.

Her gentle disguise fell away, revealing the ruthless Killing Intent hidden beneath her harmless face.

Divine Spell: [Silver Thread Execution].

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao flicked her ten fingers in rapid succession.

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Dozens of fine silver nano-threads burst forth from her fingertips.

These threads were nearly invisible in the air, with a cutting force strong enough to slice through the protective divine light of a Fifth-Turn Demigod.

The threads wove into a net, casting down over the three people by the campfire.

An ambush!

"You're courting death!"

Sun Ying reacted the fastest.

As a deity of the Shadow system, his perception of Killing Intent was the sharpest among the three.

The black dagger in his hand slashed out.

Divine Art: [Shadow Blade Storm].

The black blade aura formed a whirlwind, colliding with the nano-threads.

The jarring sound of metal friction rang through the post station.

Sparks flew everywhere, and the campfire was scattered by the airflow.

Zhao Kuo reacted a split second slower, but the power of Law within his body had already automatically protected its master.

Divine Art: [Mud Trap Imprisonment].

With Zhao Kuo as the center, the ground within a radius of one kilometer liquefied, turning into a dark yellow quagmire.

At the same time, the gravity in this area surged a hundredfold.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao felt her body sink, her legs trapped in the quagmire, and her movement speed plummeted.

Zhou Yan let out a roar.

His body swelled against the wind, instantly transforming into a ten-meter-tall Rock Demon.

His entire body was covered in indestructible Granite Divine Rock armor.

Divine Art: [Earth Pulse].

Zhou Yan clenched his fists together and smashed them heavily onto the ground.

Earth-yellow shockwaves swept along the ground, rushing toward Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao in a fan shape.

This was a battle between deities.

Even though their Divine Domain channels were sealed and they could not summon dependents.

They themselves were still Demigods who controlled the Law.

Every gesture was a collision of rules capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's expression remained unchanged.

She specialized in [Mechanical Plague], which leaned towards group attacks, infiltration, and assimilation.

Her individual combat power was at the bottom among those of the same rank.

Her Physical Body strength was not even as good as an ordinary Fifth-Turn Demigod.

Facing the joint counterattack of three Fifth-Turn Demigods, trying to tank it would certainly mean death.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao formed seals with her hands.

Divine Art: [Rust Bee Swarm].

From beneath her wide brocade robe, thousands of mechanical insects the size of fingernails flew out.

These insects were dark red all over, with injection needles at their tails.

The swarm buzzed, meeting Zhou Yan's shockwaves and Sun Ying's blade aura.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The shockwaves shattered hundreds of mechanical insects.

Sun Ying's blade aura cut through the swarm's formation.

But the remaining insects, like maggots on a bone, swarmed toward the three.

"Get lost!"

Zhou Yan swung his rock arm, swatting at the insects on his body.

The insects' needles pierced his rock armor, injecting an unknown liquid.

The Granite Divine Rock armor began to hiss, rapidly rusting and flaking off.

Zhao Kuo manipulated the quagmire, whipping up mud to try and drown the swarm.

Sun Ying directly escaped into the shadows.

The next second.

Sun Ying appeared behind Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao.

"Vice Monitor, your Physical Body is too weak."

Sun Ying's voice was cold and bone-chilling.

The black dagger, carrying the Law of Shadow of Annihilation, stabbed straight at Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's back.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao had no time to dodge; the gravity quagmire had restricted her movement.

Puchi.

The dagger pierced into Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's left shoulder, passing all the way through.

Black blood splattered.

The power of annihilation followed the wound into her body, destroying her vitality.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao let out a muffled groan, her face turning pale.

Enduring the intense pain, she threw an elbow backward with her right hand, smashing toward Sun Ying.

Having succeeded with the strike, Sun Ying took the opportunity to withdraw his blade and retreat, melting back into the shadows and giving Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao no chance to counterattack.

Just then, Zhou Yan, enduring the corrosion of the swarm, strode across the quagmire and rushed in front of Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao.

"Die!"

Zhou Yan's rock fist, as large as a millstone and containing the force of ten thousand jun, smashed toward Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's head.

A ruthless look flashed in Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's eyes.

She did not retreat, nor could she.

She raised her uninjured right hand and opened her palm.

A light blue force field composed of hexagonal energy shields appeared.

Bang!

The heavy rock fist smashed into the energy force field.

The force field flickered incessantly, failing to hold for even half a second before shattering.

The aftermath of the fist force slammed heavily into Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's abdomen.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao screamed, flying backward, and spat out a large mouthful of blood in mid-air.

Her abdomen caved in, and several ribs were broken.

Two shocking bloody holes appeared on her body.

Seriously injured.

Fighting three alone, even with an ambush, Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao had paid a painful price.

She crashed into the ruins a dozen meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Overestimating yourself."

Sun Ying emerged from the shadows, shaking the blood off his dagger.

Zhao Kuo dispelled the quagmire and walked over, panting heavily.

Zhou Yan shook his arm, which was pitted and scarred from corrosion, his eyes fierce.

"Vice Monitor, you were the one who started it."

"Killing you in this space will at most leave you with mental trauma and cost you some academic credits when we get out. Don't blame us."

The three formed a triangular formation, closing in on Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao in the ruins.

Preparing to deliver the final blow.

In the ruins.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao lay in a pool of blood.

Her breathing was rapid, and blood continued to pour from the wounds on her left shoulder and abdomen, staining her luxurious brocade robe red.

But her consciousness was clearer than ever before.

She watched the three approaching, a strange smile curling the corners of her lips.

She laughed.

"Do you really think my [Rust Bee Swarm] was just for corroding your defenses?"

The three paused.

Suddenly.

Zhou Yan let out a scream, his rock body trembling.

The earth-yellow light of Law was covered by a layer of black silver.

"My Divine Fire! Something has burrowed inside!"

Zhou Yan clutched his chest, his body crashing to the ground, rolling in pain.

Zhao Kuo and Sun Ying's expressions changed drastically.

They hurriedly looked inward at their Sea of Consciousness.

The next second, their expressions became even uglier than the dead.

Deep within their Divine Fire, at some unknown point, a wisp of silver data stream had appeared.

This data stream was copying and spreading, attempting to tamper with the core logic of their Divine Fire.

Exclusive Divine Art: [Mechanical Plague · Assimilation].

This was an exclusive Divine Art that Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao had deduced by combining the characteristics of her own Divine Domain.

The [Rust Bee Swarm] was just a carrier.

The real killer move was the nano-mechanical virus hidden in the swarm's venom.

As long as even a trace touched them, the virus would follow the fluctuations of the Law and directly lock onto the enemy's Divine Fire.

"Ah!!!"

Zhao Kuo clutched his head, howling.

Large patches of metal began to appear on the surface of his slightly chubby body.

His flesh and blood were transforming into machinery.

Sun Ying had the strongest willpower.

He desperately mobilized the Divine Fire within his body, trying to resist the mechanical virus.

But the characteristic of the Mechanical Plague was irreversible assimilation.

The more he circulated his Divine Power, the faster the virus spread.

"Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao... you crazy woman..."

Sun Ying gritted his teeth, staring fixedly at Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao in the ruins.

He wanted to rush over and perish together, but his legs had completely metalized, stiffening in place, unable to move.

In just three minutes.

The screaming subsided.

Outside the ancient post station, tranquility returned.

Zhao Kuo, Sun Ying, and Zhou Yan stood quietly in place.

The coarse linen clothes on their bodies had already been burst open.

The exposed skin had all turned into silver-black metal with a cold luster.

In their eyes, human emotions had vanished, replaced by two beams of red light.

Mechanical Puppets.

Fifth-Turn Demigod-level Mechanical Puppets.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao struggled to sit up from the pool of blood.

She panted heavily, took out a few Advanced recovery potions, and gulped them all down.

The bleeding from her wounds stopped, and her broken ribs began to heal slowly.

She looked at the three Mechanical Puppets standing straight in front of her, the ambition in her eyes no longer able to be concealed.

"With this initial accumulation..."

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and sneered.

"If the people I encounter later don't agree to form an Alliance."

"It will be much easier for me to force them to agree."

Her individual combat power was indeed weak.

But with three fearless Demigod Mechanical Puppets as meat shields and damage dealers.

Her [Mechanical Plague] could unleash two hundred percent of its power.

The snowball could start rolling now.

Lin Yuan, we shall see.

Just as Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao was about to give the order for the three Mechanical Puppets to escort her back to Golden Toad City to heal.

Her movements froze.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao turned her head abruptly, staring at a dense forest on the right side of the post station.

There, the space rippled slightly.

Someone was watching from the side!

And they had watched the entire process of her exhausting all her trump cards.

Vice Monitor Chu Xiaoxiao's heart sank, and she shouted sharply: "Who's there! Come out!"

The red light in the eyes of the three Mechanical Puppets flared, and they turned their heads in unison, locking onto the direction of the dense forest.

Divine Power surged within their mechanical bodies, ready to launch a devastating attack at any moment.

Deep in the dense forest, there was silence.