45: Chapter 45 The Spirit of the Royal Court

It seemed that Wang Ting's presence had conquered the twenty members of the Guard Team, but upon closer inspection, rather than his aura making them willing to work with Wang Ting, it was his strength that was truly the real reason the Guard Team members were willing to follow him.

The rules in the apocalyptic world would never become outdated; supremacy of strength was truly the law of the jungle.

Although Zhao Kun and Fan Da were strong, they were both second-limit-breaking warriors, and they might obtain extraordinary potions to embark on the path of transcendence.

But right now, Wang Ting was already an extraordinary being.

Even though his physical performance seemed to still fall a bit short of an extraordinary being, his special ability to control plants was similar to the legendary "Gardener" path transcendents.

The "Gardener" path was a notoriously famous transcendent path within the Wasteland Tieling region.

This path was led and developed by Jumu City, and its advanced transcendent potion was already quite mature—the "Plant Controller" potion. If Wang Ting had the opportunity to defect to Jumu City and accept their recruitment, he might truly have a chance to climb step by step.

Everyone subconsciously thought he was a Gardener, and naturally trusted him even more in their hearts, believing that following Wang Ting they could survive.

After everyone gradually calmed down, Wang Ting had them disperse first, returning to their respective posts to prepare for the upcoming task of reclaiming the forest.

Turning around, Wang Ting kept Feng Bo, Ren Chuan, Dong Hu, and Xiang Nan behind.

Seeing that Wang Ting had kept them behind alone, the four could not help feeling a bit uneasy with awkward expressions on their faces, not knowing if Wang Ting wanted to settle accounts after the fact or had something to say to them.

"Boss, you know me. This is for the good of the team."

Xiang Nan weakly raised his hand and revealed an awkward smile.

Feng Bo, Dong Hu, and Ren Chuan were relatively experienced and mature. Although they didn't speak, they had pretty much the same meaning in their hearts.

Accomplishing great things required prompt and decisive action, and for certain matters, they really had to step forward.

Feng Bo said in a deep voice, "Captain, I came up with the idea, and this matter crossed the line..."

A team could not have a second voice. As veteran members of the Guard Team with rich experience, Feng Bo, Dong Hu, and Ren Chuan understood this principle deeply.

Therefore, ever since Wang Ting exposed his powerful strength, it had pierced the window paper regarding the two voices already existing between the Outpost Camp and Scarecrow Town, meaning this problem had to be solved by someone.

Their mistake was not in doing this thing, but in not believing that Wang Ting could subdue all the members of the Guard Team on his own.

"Stop just standing there. Pull a chair over and sit down, let's talk about the next plan."

When Wang Ting said this, the four of them finally breathed a sigh of relief, dragged the chairs that had been moved aside all the way back, and sat down around the table.

"The Thorn Vine Beast was killed by me, but there are still many Parasitic Fungus Vines in the forest. If we don't kill them, we have no way to gather wood. I will personally lead people to deal with the remaining Parasitic Fungus Vines in the woods. Old Feng will be my second-in-command and take charge of things over there."

Feng Bo immediately agreed: "After we killed more than 100 of them, even if there are still Parasitic Fungus Vines left in the woods, the quantity shouldn't be very large, since it's just a small woods after all. What I'm more worried about is the surrounding environment. Without a safe environment, it will be hard for us to transport the wood back."

"At that time, you will lead people to reconnoiter."

Wang Ting did not dwell deeply on this issue. He knew that Feng Bo could handle this matter well, and mentioning it here was just to remind himself.

"Old Dong will be responsible for the Outpost Camp and the Vine Town stronghold. The stronghold here needs to be made higher, especially the wall facing the town direction. The speed of the camp's earthen wall needs to be accelerated, and once the earthen wall is rammed to a certain degree, I have a way to reinforce it."

"Leave the camp side to me, but if work starts on both sides at the same time, I will need sufficient manpower on my end."

There were actually only 50 residents in the entire camp, which were the so-called laborers. But when Dong Hu also requested manpower, everyone already frowned slightly.

Ren Chuan, who was in charge of supplies and logistics, directly quit doing it: "There are only 50 laborers in total. Just taking care of logistics and material organization already takes up 5 people, leaving only 45 who can work. Logging requires workers, building the stronghold walls also requires workers, and building the camp's earthen walls requires even more workers. These 50 people are completely not enough, unless you want to drag all the work out and make it very slow."

Fifty people were already quite a lot, but placed here at the Outpost Camp, they were completely far from enough.

Neither Wang Ting nor Zhao Kun had expected Wang Ting to have such achievements in development, so that the construction speed of the entire camp advanced simultaneously, resulting in a huge demand for manpower.

Wang Ting pondered for a moment, then said: "Didn't we say earlier that we were going to take extraordinary materials back to the town to exchange for parts like engines and batteries? Because of the exploration of the forest land, we didn't go, so we might as well just do it all together this time."

Ren Chuan was slightly stunned, a trace of realization showing on his face: "You mean, ask the Shelter for help?"

"Correct." Wang Ting nodded. "According to the submission ratio for harvesting 39 extraordinary materials, we need to hand over 28 to the Shelter. The remaining extraordinary materials are currently 19, leaving a gap of 9. Then we will send this item back together."

Wang Ting placed the extraordinary core Vine Wood Eye on the desktop. Feng Bo frowned, but disagreed with his approach: "Captain, this extraordinary core was obtained by you single-handedly killing an elite individual like the Thorn Vine Beast. According to the Shelter's rules, this is your personal loot and is not within the proportion that needs to be handed over."

If the Thorn Vine Beast had been besieged and killed using the squad's firepower, then it would naturally be considered the squad's loot. After all, having mobilized a large amount of the Shelter's resources, it naturally required handing over the corresponding proportion.

But the problem was that they all saw the scene of Wang Ting killing the Thorn Vine Beast. There was neither squad cooperation nor the use of excessive Shelter resources; it was completely him soloing the Thorn Vine Beast by virtue of his hard strength.

"Twenty-eight is twenty-eight; this is the agreement between Boss Zhao and me. Since the extraordinary materials are short in number, this will be used to make up for it. Moreover, the price of an extraordinary core is much more expensive than extraordinary materials, so I want another 100 people, and their energy blocks need to be supplied by the Shelter."

This was Wang Ting's condition. While an extraordinary core was certainly important, it was still just a core.

Wang Ting would not risk fusing with an extraordinary core to seek extraordinary power; this core only had transactional value to him here.

Compared to Boss Zhao, Wang Ting's desire for extraordinary power was far less heavy; he believed more in the golden finger of the "Monster Collector".

Since it was already opened, if he still only relied on the power of transcendent beings, wouldn't that mean he opened it for nothing?

Wang Ting made the final decision. Although Feng Bo and the others felt it was a pity for Wang Ting, things would not change because of that.

"I will handle this matter well. I'm afraid 100 people might still not be enough; I'll strive to get a few more people."

"Actually, if you want sufficient labor, quite a few refugees gather in Wild Dog Valley. Besides that place, there are also good choices inside the black market."

Xiang Nan hesitated a bit, but still voiced his suggestion, except that this suggestion was not quite appropriate.

The trading channel of the black market was actually slave trading.

On the wasteland, even Shelters could barely secure themselves from day to day. Some survivors wandering on the wasteland for various reasons might very well be captured by slave-catching teams on their way to the next Shelter or asylum city for refuge, becoming slaves for sale.

Some Shelters or wasteland bandits would even break through small Shelters to capture residents and sell them off as slaves.

As for Wild Dog Valley, that place was a settlement where refugees lived on the wasteland, and homeless survivors often gathered there as a temporary foothold.

Some of them might look for surrounding small Shelters to seek asylum, while others would continue braving the scorching sun and parched land, advancing in the direction of Jumu City.

When some Shelters felt that their own personnel were insufficient, they would often choose to walk out of the Shelter, going to Wild Dog Valley and similar temporary settlements to recruit survivors.

When Wang Ting was wandering on the wasteland back then, following that old man, he had also had a brief stay there.

Calling it a settlement, it was actually just a relatively shady place suitable for resting.

Some places might be slightly better with a bit of water source around; other places were actually no different from the wasteland. If there really was a difference, it was probably that the gathered survivors were more likely to attract the 'ferocious dogs' searching for prey in the wasteland.

Wang Ting only pondered for a moment, then shook his head and refused: "Borrow people from the Shelter first. The Outpost Camp cannot accommodate more people for the time being, so there is no need to abandon the near and seek the far. Boss Zhao and the others will agree."

...

[Successfully survived for a day, beginning to calculate today's monster points]

...

[Low-level anomaly Thorn Vine Beast + 5 monster points]

[Total monster points 17 points]

At midnight, when the prompt tone for the daily settlement sounded, Wang Ting also saw that the settlement number of monster points represented by the Thorn Vine Beast was 5 points.

Nowadays, Wang Ting had already recorded seven anomaly monsters, and could accumulate 17 monster points every day. This speed was already very fast.

"If everything goes smoothly, half a month's time will be enough for me to redeem the Wall of Thousand Vines. The speed is actually about the same as Dong Hu's progress in building the city wall."

Wang Ting needed to redeem many things, but the priority of the Wall of Thousand Vines was the highest. Only by establishing a stable camp could he focus more on exploring Vine Town.

He certainly didn't want to be a powerful savage drinking blood and eating raw meat, but rather to live better in the apocalyptic world while bringing more people along to survive. Therefore, he had to build a Shelter with complete logistics and thorough production.

First set a small target; even if it didn't have the scale of Modu from his past life, it had to at least look like a small town.

After determining the Wall of Thousand Vines as the top choice, his primary task was to enhance his personal strength.

He repeatedly viewed the available redeemable items of different anomalies, and gradually formed ideas in his heart.

"First redeem the Vine Beast Body, and then redeem skills like Earth Vine Spike and Parasitic Seed. My strength should have a considerable boost, which will just make up for my shortcomings."

Although Feng Bo and the others all thought Wang Ting was a transcendent being, Wang Ting still had a scale in his own heart.

It was true that he possessed extraordinary power, but his physical fitness was only slightly stronger than a second-limit-breaking one, and there was still a gap compared to the transcendent physique they mentioned.

Therefore, the powerful trait of the Vine Beast Body was imperative. A strong body was the foundation, and powerful skills were the means; only in this way could one become an all-rounded warrior.

"Two hundred for the Vine Beast Body, two hundred for the Earth Vine Spike, one hundred and fifty for the Parasitic Seed, plus two hundred monsters for the Wall of Thousand Vines, I need at least seven hundred and fifty monster points. One and a half months' time is still something I can afford to wait for."