25: Chapter 25: Violent Aesthetics at Their Max, the Heavy Armored Imperial Army Takes Shape in a Stunning Manner

Star Net Forum, Jiangcheng Senior High War Zone section.

The entire screen was filled with wailing.

Five hours had passed since the military issued [Blood Link].

The civilian gods who had received this trump card were experiencing unimaginable torture.

"Help! This damn formation is impossible to practice! My centaur subordinates have such low intelligence that they can't understand the circuit path for vitality sharing at all!"

"You've got it easy. I forced my goblin believers to form the formation, but the moment the link was established, one goblin broke its leg. The pain was shared among everyone, and all one hundred goblins ended up rolling on the ground—total wipeout!"

"This skill is a trap! The military is just using us as cannon fodder to buy time!"

A veteran god with a fairly high level replied below: "Don't expect these low-intelligence believers to figure it out on their own."

"You must consume divine power and personally step in to guide them, chewing up the formation's operating path and feeding it into their brains. It's a long, grinding process."

Lin Yuan looked at this reply, switched out of the interface, and connected to his own divine domain panel.

The screen lit up.

In the Wasteland basin, the Tyrant was crushing a goblin's sternum with a single punch, then forcibly infusing the Blood Link, completing a brutal near-death lesson.

Thousands of leaders followed suit, and the entire divine domain was filled with severed limbs and shrill roars.

The efficiency was extremely high, and it didn't require Lin Yuan to waste even a shred of energy.

Lin Yuan smiled and closed the forum.

The news that they would be landing in the Abyssal battlefield in reality had been confirmed.

The one-month timeframe was extremely tight.

Fifty thousand Obsidian Goblins, all of whom had reached the high Bronze stage, plus a Silver-level Tyrant.

Their physical strength and defense had been maxed out, but they were still missing the most important link.

Weapons.

If they fought Abyssal Monsters hand-to-hand, or used bone spears to stab at heavily armored Abyssal units, the casualty rate would skyrocket.

Lin Yuan opened the Pantheon Trading Network.

He typed into the search bar: [Standard Melee Weapon], [Heavy Shield], [Quantity: 50,000].

The page refreshed, and rows of metal goods appeared.

[Black Iron-grade Standard Steel Longsword: Unit price 200 points. Sold in batches of 100,000, includes maintenance oil.]

[Bronze-grade Enchanted Alloy Battle Axe: Unit price 1,500 points. Includes a weak armor-piercing effect.]

[Black Iron-grade Tower Shield: Unit price 300 points. Mixed with a small amount of Black Iron, sturdy and durable.]

Lin Yuan quickly did the math in his head.

For an army of fifty thousand, even if he only equipped them with the trashiest Black Iron-grade longswords and tower shields, one set would cost 500 points.

Fifty thousand sets would be a full 25 million faith points!

"I'm broke." Lin Yuan decisively closed the official store page.

Since the official channels were a dead end, he would have to take the back-alley route.

Lin Yuan once again took out the Purple Gold card and placed it against the terminal interface.

A virtual link was constructed, and his IP was hidden.

He didn't go to high-end places like the Dark Abyss Auction; instead, he entered the "Trash Black Market" section.

This place was filled with stolen goods of unknown origin, defective products, and scrapped military equipment retired from the front lines.

Lin Yuan's gaze swept quickly, locking onto a shop that specialized in reselling "battle-damaged trash from technology-based divine domains."

The shop owner's ID was "Scrap Metal King."

Lin Yuan opened the private message box and typed a message.

"Boss, how much for that batch of [Individual Powered Chainswords] and [Scrapped Alloy Heavy Shields] you have listed—the ones corroded and ruined by Abyssal acid?"

The reply came in seconds; the person seemed to be a seasoned veteran who lived online.

"Good eye, brother! That's stock retired from the 7th Star District's Heavy Mecha Corps."

"Even though the core engines are burnt out, the chains are jammed, and the shields have huge holes corroded into them, they're still made of high-strength alloy. You definitely won't lose money if you take them to be melted down and reforged."

"Selling by the ton. Ten thousand tons for 50,000 faith points. No bargaining, and you handle the shipping."

Lin Yuan looked at the screen and sneered.

Melt down and reforge?

Ordinary flames couldn't melt that kind of special alloy at all. If he really tried to reforge them, it would cost more faith points than buying new ones.

Lin Yuan switched to "frugal shopper" mode, his fingers flying across the virtual keyboard.

"Boss, let's be straight with each other. This batch of yours is covered in the acidic blood and radioactive residue of Abyssal Monsters."

"If someone else buys this and it pollutes their divine domain, the cost of just hiring a purification-type god to clean it up would be more than 50,000 points."

"I've got an old father at home with a shattered godhood who can only survive on swill and has a broken leg that I need to take care of. I really don't have much money on me."

"30,000 faith points, and I'll take the whole lot. Consider it me helping you clear out your inventory to make some space."

After the message was sent, the other side fell into a silence that lasted for two minutes.

Two minutes later, a message popped up.

"...Brother, I've been working the black market for so many years, and I've seen some lowballers, but this is the first time I've seen someone like you. You even brought out a broken-legged old dad—you're more ruthless than I am."

"40,000 points. I can't go any lower. This price is even worse than the cost of scrap metal; any lower and I'll lose the money I'm saving for my wife. If you agree, I'll ship it now."

"Deal." Lin Yuan transferred 40,000 faith points.

The contract was generated, and the coordinates were locked.

Lin Yuan exited the black market, and his consciousness descended once again into the Wasteland Divine Domain.

High above, a spatial rift suddenly tore open.

"Rumble!"

A dark mass of metal trash smashed down onto the scorched earth on the outskirts of the basin.

Ten thousand tons of battle-damaged military equipment.

A full fifty thousand scrapped powered chainswords, each over 1.5 meters long, and fifty thousand dilapidated, half-body alloy heavy shields.

The surfaces of these weapons were covered in green acid crystals.

Some of the sword blades were curled and broken, while some of the shields had bowl-sized holes corroded through them.

They smashed heavily into the ground, kicking up a cloud of ash.

The goblins in the basin heard the commotion and stopped what they were doing.

They grabbed their crude bone spears and rushed to the front of the mountain of trash.

A few goblins curiously picked up a chainsword, but the blade was too heavy, and the core was jammed.

In their hands, it was less useful than a sharpened thigh bone.

The goblins tossed the weapons back onto the ground in disgust, grunting with dissatisfaction.

Lin Yuan hovered in mid-air, having anticipated the goblins' reaction.

He opened his terminal, entered the regular store, and spent 2,000 faith points.

He bought two intact Black Iron-grade weapons.

[Black Iron-grade Powered Chainsword (Brand New)]

[Black Iron-grade Steel Tower Shield (Brand New)]

With a flash of light, a sword and a shield appeared in Lin Yuan's hands.

"Time to get to work."

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the sprawling mountain of trash below.

SSS-grade talent [Creation Extraction], fully activated!

Dark golden light erupted from Lin Yuan's consciousness, transforming into a hundred thousand fine chains of law that plunged into the metal ruins below.

"Strip!"

Lin Yuan shouted lowly.

The laws of the Wasteland roared.

The negative concepts of "scrapped," "rusted," and "jammed" attached to the fifty thousand pieces of waste equipment were forcibly seized by the dark golden chains.

Visible to the naked eye, the rust on the chainswords began to peel away.

The acid crystals clogging the gears turned into dust, and the edges of the corrosion pits on the heavy shields became smooth.

All the negative concepts were extracted, forming a pitch-black, foul-smelling orb of light, which Lin Yuan casually tossed into the River Styx.

The waters of the Styx churned violently, and their toxicity rose once more.

Immediately after, Lin Yuan shifted his focus.

The hundred thousand chains began to retract, piercing into the two brand-new Black Iron-grade weapons in his hands.

"Crack!"

The two new weapons shattered, turning into a cloud of iron filings.

Two silver-gray orbs of light containing traits floated in front of Lin Yuan.

[Notification: Law ignored, extraction successful!]

[Obtained Black Iron-grade concept trait: Frenzied Cutting.]

[Trait Effect: Bestowed upon chainsaw-type weapons, giving their internal gears the ability to operate perpetually, increasing cutting power by 10%.]

[Obtained Black Iron-grade concept trait: Sturdy Bulwark.]

[Trait Effect: Bestowed upon shield-type armor, significantly increasing its material density and allowing it to effectively cushion against blunt force strikes.]

"Bestow!"

Lin Yuan pushed his hands forward.

100,000 faith points evaporated from his account.

A massive amount of divine power transformed into a silver-gray downpour, raining down upon the fifty thousand chainswords and fifty thousand alloy heavy shields below.

This was the first time Lin Yuan had performed such a large-scale, group-based concept bestowal.

In an instant, his mental energy felt as if it had been forcibly drained by a pump.

A sharp pain, like being pierced by steel needles, shot through his head, and his vision began to blur.

His consciousness swayed violently in mid-air, barely able to maintain its form.

Cold sweat soaked the back of Lin Yuan's body in reality.

"Merge... damn you!" Lin Yuan gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay conscious.

The ground below erupted with a blinding metallic luster.

A miracle was unfolding on the Wasteland.

The once lifeless individual powered chainswords suddenly emitted a teeth-grinding sound of friction from their internal gears.

The "buzzing" roar of engines merged into one, echoing throughout the entire basin.

The chains of the fifty thousand chainswords began to spin, the saw teeth grinding against the air and throwing off brutal sparks.

The dilapidated alloy heavy shields also changed under the infusion of the trait's power.

The corroded holes remained, but the remaining metal became incredibly thick, and the surface took on an indestructible, dark luster.

Paired with those natural holes, it actually added a touch of ferocious, battle-damaged aesthetic.

"Tyrant," Lin Yuan's weak voice echoed across the divine domain.

The Tyrant in the center of the basin looked up.

It strode to the front of the mountain of trash, reached out, grabbed a two-meter-tall alloy heavy shield, and strapped it to its left arm.

With its right hand, it grabbed a roaring chainsword.

The heavy metallic texture fit perfectly against the bone armor on its body.

The Tyrant held the chainsword high.

"ROAR—!!"

The order was given.

Fifty thousand high-Bronze stage Abyssal Blood Obsidian Goblins let out a ground-shaking roar.

They threw away their bone spears and stones, surging toward the pile of weapons.

Each strong goblin, over two meters tall, hoisted a heavy, dilapidated tower shield in its left hand and gripped a frantically roaring individual chainsword in its right.

The pale white bone armor on their bodies and the Scarlet Link patterns faintly emerging on their chests.

Combined with the weapons in their hands, which possessed an aesthetic of modern industrial violence, they formed a deeply twisted visual impact.

This was a fully armed, fearless, heavy-armored legion, ready to detonate itself at any moment.

The roar of the chainswords shook away the ash in the sky.

The sound of shields slamming into the ground was uniform, like muffled thunder.

Lin Yuan hovered high in the sky, panting heavily as waves of dizziness from his overdrawn mental energy assaulted his brain.

But as he looked down at this army of fifty thousand, radiating a terrifying aura of slaughter, his eyes burned with nothing but fighting spirit.

"The Starry Sky-level sequence—I must take it."