107: Chapter 107 The Fifth Underground Level

Coastal City's Northern Defense Line.

Continuous overcast rain made this Shura Field even more muddy and unbearable.

The roar of guns and cannons still thundered in the distance, never ceasing.

In a dilapidated trench at the westernmost end of the defense line.

Black Tiger A-Fu leaned tiredly against a sandbag covered in sludge.

Ten consecutive days of high-intensity meat-grinder warfare had left even these energetic players feeling a deep psychological exhaustion.

Beside him, only seventy-eight players remained, covered in blood and with tattered armor.

The other brothers had all died in battle over these few days, returning to Basement Level Three to wait out their respawn timers.

"Boss."

The player Hunger Tycoon leaned over, spitting out a mouthful of muddy water.

"The number of Orks these past few days is wrong. Not only are there more of them, but even their equipment has been upgraded."

Hunger Tycoon's brow was locked in a frown, his eyes carrying a hint of worry.

"Killa Kans have already appeared on the other side, along with speed freaks on broken motorcycles. If things keep going this way, and heavy mechs or Gorkanauts start showing up later, there's no way we can hold this crappy trench."

A Fu didn't take the bait, instead turning to ask, "The stuff I told you guys to gather, has it all been converted into money?"

"It's been converted for a while now."

Hunger Tycoon pulled a heavy cloth bag from his chest, filled with Imperial coins stamped with the Double-Headed Eagle emblem.

He stuffed the bag into A Fu's hands.

A Fu tossed the bag in his hand and grinned.

"The leave request I sent to the General and the Political Commissar was approved; I can head back to Shelter once. When the time comes, I'll dump all this money into the recycler to exchange for Core Points and distribute it all to everyone based on their contribution!"

"Awesome! That's exactly what we were waiting to hear!" The surrounding players' spirits were instantly lifted.

Just then.

A thin figure wearing old, grey leather clothes ran from the other end of the trench, stepping through ankle-deep mud.

It was Bailey, that female gang member from Shahe Town.

After these ten-plus days of baptism by fire, Bailey had become gaunt, her cheeks deeply sunken.

After all, she was just a mortal; she wouldn't dare eat that green Ork meat with excessive radiation like the players did, even if it killed her.

Furthermore, in such a meat-grinder battlefield, not dying was the greatest stroke of luck—though, of course, A Fu's protection played no small part in that.

"A Fu."

Bailey walked up to him, a hint of pleading in her eyes.

"I heard you can take a shuttle back tomorrow. Could I trouble you to do something for me?"

A Fu looked up at this strong woman who had gritted her teeth and persevered through the flames of war, then nodded.

"No problem. Speak."

"Thank you!"

Bailey breathed a sigh of relief.

She carefully pulled a tattered cloth bundle, warmed by her body heat, from an inner pocket close to her skin.

Upon opening it, inside was a collection of miscellaneous copper coins and a few crumpled banknotes.

This was her entire fortune, saved up by scavenging on the battlefield at the risk of her life.

Bailey handed the bundle to A Fu.

"Please, when you pass through Shahe Town, give this money to a gang leader. His name is Governor Jia Mei; you... should have heard of him before."

A Fu's outstretched hand paused in mid-air.

He looked at Bailey and didn't take the bundle.

"Can I ask why?"

Bailey's expression became somewhat complex. She lowered her head, avoiding A Fu's gaze, but still bit her lip and spoke.

"He's my cousin and the leader of the Shahe Town People's Armed Forces. Right now, in order to feed the commoners at the bottom, they must be having a very hard time... they will really need this money."

After A Fu heard this, he suddenly laughed out loud.

"But what if I said they don't need this money at all now?"

Bailey's movements instantly froze.

She looked at the man before her.

Although A Fu had stayed at the front line without leaving, Bailey knew that the soldiers under him would occasionally depart.

It was normal for them to receive news from afar.

But what did 'not needing this money' mean? Had something happened to the rebel army? Were they wiped out by the nobles?!

Bailey's face instantly turned deathly pale, her voice trembling.

"Why?"

Black Tiger A-Fu stopped smiling and delivered the news in a calm tone.

"Because just the day before yesterday, the High Tower of Shahe Town was breached. All those nobles and black market merchants who oppressed you have been eliminated."

A Fu watched Bailey's pupils, which were constantly dilating from shock.

"Now, including your cousin Governor Jia Mei, they are the new masters of Shahe Town."

*Thud.*

The cloth bundle in Bailey's hand dropped into the mud, copper coins scattering everywhere.

She stood with her mouth open in disbelief, her mind a complete blank. "Really?... You're not lying to me?"

"Why would I lie to you? Do I look that bored?" A Fu shrugged.

Bailey's face, which had been numb for so long due to war and hunger, suddenly broke into a smile.

She laughed so happily that her shoulders shook violently, warm tears washing through the grime on her face and streaming down continuously.

...

Fire Seed Shelter, Main Control Room No. 1.

Lin Li leaned back in his computer chair, browsing the battle reports sent by the Legion Commander as usual.

Some members of the Scourge Legion were stationed in Shahe Town, helping Governor Jia Mei's rebel army rebuild their homes and restore order while frantically absorbing the labor force there.

The Galactic Empire Stormtroopers, on the other hand, had shamelessly begged several seeds of Jinkela No. 1 and four translucent Brave Cow eggs from Lin Li.

Ikun had solemnly guaranteed that he would establish the wasteland's largest modern ecological farm at the Depression base.

As for the Brotherhood of Steel in the northwest.

Legion Commander Flame Fist mentioned in his report that although they still went out to fight Orks every day, the number of Orks near the mountain pass had recently seen a precipitous drop.

A large number of Ork tribes seemed to have received some higher-level summons, abandoning their territories and migrating eastward on a massive scale.

Given that Flame Fist usually loved to boast, if he said it was serious in his report, the actual situation was definitely even more exaggerated.

"The main Ork force is migrating east?"

Lin Li's brow furrowed, and he immediately pulled up the map coordinates for Coastal City to the east.

"The pressure on Coastal City's defense line is likely going to increase exponentially."

And the front-line report Black Tiger A-Fu had just sent back accurately confirmed this point.

Killa Kans and heavy units had already begun appearing on the front lines; the Defense Force's line was likely about to be put to the test.

Just as Lin Li was wondering if that bunch of Defense Force soldiers with their crappy guns could withstand this wave of Ork WAAAGH! frenzy.

The computer monitor in the main control room suddenly flashed with a brilliant green light!

A massive prompt window popped up:

[Ding! Main Quest: Spark of Humanity (Reach a population of 50,000), Completed!]

[Quest Reward: All system permissions for Fire Seed Shelter Basement Level Five (B5) unlocked! Gained 50,000 Core Points!]

Before Lin Li could even cheer.

Immediately following that, another flash of light appeared, and the main quest refreshed.

[New Main Quest: Hope of Resurgence!]

[Quest Description: Bring all major human factions on the Fringe World—Outpost Planet 586—under the banner of Shelter!]

[Quest Hint: Coastal City in the East, Red Lake Town in the South, Tieling Town in the West.]

[Quest Reward: All permissions for Shelter Basement Level Six (B6) unlocked! Gained absolute ownership of the starship—[Sea Breeze No. 9 Luxury Yacht]!]

Lin Li jumped straight out of his chair!

"Fifty thousand points! Holy crap! How the hell am I supposed to spend all that!"

Lin Li was so excited he was rubbing his hands together, but when he carefully read the new main quest, he couldn't help but freeze.

Lin Li stroked his chin.

"Reclaiming all the major human factions on the entire planet... that's no simple task. But looking at the quest hints, I only need to reclaim these three regions."

But he was immediately captivated by the quest rewards.

"Level Six permissions... and the usage rights to a yacht?"

"Wait, what's up with the yacht?!" Lin Li keenly caught the keyword.

In the cruel universe of Warhammer, just looking at a name like 'Sea Breeze No. 9 Luxury Yacht'—which was filled with the hedonistic vibes of a peaceful era—it was definitely a genuine relic of the Golden Age!

In this world, as long as something was related to the ancient Golden Men, even if it was just a vacuuming robot, it definitely wouldn't be bad!

Let alone a starship capable of interstellar travel!

"A long-term big fish. But I won't worry about that for now."

Lin Li suppressed his excitement.

"First, let's go see what good stuff is hidden on the newly unlocked Basement Level Five!"

Lin Li strode out of the main control room and entered the main elevator.

He pressed the newly lit button for the [B5] floor.

The elevator emitted a low hydraulic roar, rapidly descending deep into the ground.

After a moment, the elevator came to a halt, and the heavy alloy doors slid open to either side.

What met his eyes was a massive underground space that could be described as magnificent.

This floor was divided into spacious, open-plan rooms without any doors installed.

Lin Li walked into the nearest room.

Rows of uniform hibernation incubation pods emitted a faint blue light.

Lin Li did a rough estimate; this single room alone held exactly one thousand incubation pods!

And from what Lin Li could see, there were twenty such rooms in total!

That meant this floor directly provided twenty thousand brand-new player login slots!

"This production capacity is simply invincible." Lin Li nodded with satisfaction, hands behind his back like a king inspecting his domain as he went through the rooms one by one.

As he walked, Lin Li suddenly stopped in front of one incubation pod.

"Huh?"

Lin Li thought he had seen wrong and quickly leaned closer to the pod door.

Through the transparent bulletproof glass, he saw that soaking in the nutrient solution was actually the body of an Ork!

However, this Ork's physique was a size smaller than those out in the wilderness, and its muscle lines were more in line with human aesthetic structures.

"They can even clone Orks for players to use?!"

Lin Li sucked in a breath of cold air, but then, the memory of Stone Man Hong's miraculous gene-editing methods from earlier today flashed through his mind, and he was instantly at ease.

Human technology from the Golden Age could even craft cows capable of photosynthesis; hand-crafting a genetic Ork by imitating the Old Ones' creations didn't seem like an impossibility.

After looking at this Ork clone, Lin Li continued further in.

As expected, the types of clones on this level were varied and numerous.

In addition to normal humans, there were many bodies with obvious xenos characteristics and beast-like organs.

Lin Li even saw a demi-human clone with a dog's head in an incubation pod in a corner!

"A Kobold? Good grief!"

Lin Li couldn't help but laugh out loud. "If that Crocodileman Lü Bu draws this, it'll make for a perfect love-hate CP pair."

He continued exploring deep into the B5 level.

Beyond those twenty thousand incubation pods, at the end of the floor, Lin Li also saw two enormous heavy industrial machines.

Lin Li recognized them at a glance.

Weren't these things just super-sized versions of the Material Recycler and Matter Constructor from Room No. 3 on Basement Level One?!

These two behemoth machines were each over twenty meters long and ten meters wide, with very simple surfaces, looking like two giant iron crates.

"A constructor this big..."

Lin Li touched the machine's cold metal casing, a thought flashing through his mind.

"Could I have 73 draw up a blueprint later and have this thing hand-craft an atomic bomb for me?"

"I can have those STEM guys like Ming Shen and Ikun try it out later!"

Right next to these two machines.

Lin Li saw a heavy blast door at least ten meters wide.

Opening the door, he found that behind it was a wide, sloping tunnel that actually connected directly to that ultra-large logistics passage on the B4 level leading to the surface!

Lin Li nodded with satisfaction.

This design was too logical; once large vehicles were built, they could be driven straight to the surface through the passage, a perfect logistics loop.

With the addition of twenty thousand new players as fresh blood, Shelter's absolute combat power would explode geometrically.

Furthermore, these two upgraded large machines would surely be able to produce even more heavy military equipment.

The base's productivity and tech tree were finally about to undergo a true qualitative change!

Inspection complete.

Lin Li returned to Main Control Room No. 1 on the B1 level via the elevator, feeling content.

He sat down at the computer, looking at the massive balance of exactly fifty thousand Core Points in his account.

Lin Li rubbed his hands together and blew a breath into his palms, his eyes flashing with the fanatical light of a gambler.

"Next up is the tense and exciting gacha phase."

Lin Li decisively clicked the [Advanced Blind Box Draw] button that had been greyed out for a long time.