’As expected of hidden architecture. None of them are ordinary.’

’Whether it’s the Alien Tomb or the Tattoo Workshop, the things they produce are quite dangerous compared to the Undead Fortress’s own standard buildings.’

’Normal Undead Architecture produces relatively docile and easily controllable units, like Skeleton Undead or Skeleton Warriors, which Li Ziyu can command at will. But the output from hidden architecture is different. Whether it’s the Dark Skeleton or this new Enchanted Bone Saber, neither is easy to control. I’ll have to be more careful in the future.’

’If I can’t use this kind of power properly, the first one to be destroyed probably won’t be the enemy, but me.’

The Dark Skeleton, having finally retrieved its skull and put it back in place, turned around, muttering and cursing. Just then, it spotted the Enchanted Bone Saber lying on the ground. Its Soul Fire flared twice. It glanced in Li Ziyu’s direction, then back at the Bone Saber, then at Li Ziyu again, before suddenly lunging for the Enchanted Bone Saber.

’Shit!’

’Let go of that saber!’

Seeing the Dark Skeleton’s behavior, Li Ziyu knew this was bad. The moment it lunged, he understood what was happening. Ignoring his own weakness, he hurriedly strode forward.

The Dark Skeleton was ultimately a hair faster than Li Ziyu, snatching up the Enchanted Bone Saber first. But the thing is, Li Ziyu wasn’t aiming for the Enchanted Bone Saber—he was aiming for the Dark Skeleton’s skull!

The Dark Skeleton had barely picked up the saber, not even having a moment to feel smug, when Li Ziyu’s slap arrived, landing squarely on its skull.

SWISH—CLACK, clatter clatter clatter... 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The skull fell to the ground and rolled away. The Dark Skeleton’s headless body spun around twice in place, seemingly dazed. Its hand went limp, and the Bone Saber clattered to the floor.

The headless Skeleton fumbled around with its hands, searching for its head. Li Ziyu pinched the Bone Saber between two fingers, quickly tossed it into his system inventory, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Ziyu glanced over and saw the Dark Skeleton’s skull, its jaw clacking open and shut as it cursed. He couldn’t help but feel a little smug. ’Heh, little punk, you didn’t see that coming, did you? It was a feint. You thought I was after the Bone Saber, but I was actually aiming for your face.’

’Trying to outsmart me? You must be joking!’

A system notification indicated a new message. Li Ziyu averted his gaze and opened the chat interface.

[Private Message]

Conscience Merchant: I found the information on the Ratman. Sending it to you now.

Conscience Merchant: I’m heading to your coordinates to meet up. Wait for me, brother!

Below the messages was a link to a forum post.

Li Ziyu raised an eyebrow and snorted. ’As expected of a Merchant, so pragmatic.’ When he had been fighting the Headhunter Race and the outcome was still uncertain, this guy had been cursing and swearing he wouldn’t go to the new resource point. But as soon as he won, the guy was immediately on his way, calling him "brother" this and "brother" that.

’Then again, the Otherworld is too dangerous. It’s better to be a realist and live more freely than to survive on vague hopes for the future.’ Thinking this, he let it go.

He reached out and clicked the link Conscience Merchant had sent. It led to an informational post. These kinds of posts were popular on the forums and were very useful. The one Conscience Merchant had sent was specifically an introduction to the Desert Ratman.

The post gave a rough introduction to the Desert Ratman. After reading it carefully, Li Ziyu finally understood what they were all about.

The Desert Ratman weren’t a single race as one might imagine, but rather a conglomeration of many types of Ratman. The Ratman Race had once been a small, physically weak race with low combat effectiveness, living in remote corners of the world. Later, some event seemed to have occurred that caused the various different clans of the Ratman Race to unite, forming the Ratman United Tribe. Only then did they begin their path to dominance.

After countless battles, the Ratman United Tribe finally established a firm foothold in the Central Zone of the Wasteland and renamed themselves the Desert Ratman.

They built a massive city on the surface, which was relatively open and welcomed all races. But beneath this city lay the true home of the Desert Ratman.

According to the post’s introduction, the Desert Ratman Race would dig massive tunnels underground, connecting a series of caves, like a giant network.

The total population of the Desert Ratman was unknown, but the original poster speculated that there were definitely tens of millions of them. After all, these creatures had an extremely high reproductive rate and were likely the most numerous race in the central Wasteland.

Because they were a united power, the Desert Ratman were jointly controlled by many powerful clans, each with its own specialty. As a whole, the Ratman focused on developing ranged combat technology.

That’s right, technology!

The reason the Desert Ratman could dominate the Central Zone was because of their research and development into technology. Things like Plague, viruses, Bomb Droppers, jezails, and Heavy Crossbows were all the Ratman’s specialty. Often, their enemies would suffer heavy casualties before even reaching their battle lines.

’Damn, fighting the Desert Ratman is almost like a modern battlefield. They bring out the big guns right away. "Truth lies within the range of the cannons," huh? No wonder these guys dared to be the first to attack Mobile Fortresses. They really do have the ability to destroy them, especially when facing City Lords who have just transmigrated.’

’The Natives of this world are no joke. If I want to dominate a piece of the Otherworld with my Undead Race, I’ll have to work even harder,’ Li Ziyu lamented internally.

How many Undead did he even have? A few thousand at the very most, not even ten thousand. And the Ratman? They numbered in the tens of millions. His handful of Undead wasn’t even a fraction of their numbers.

The Ratman had already targeted Transmigrators, which made them enemies. They would have to face each other sooner or later. Li Ziyu just hoped it would be later, giving him more time to develop.

...

Dawn broke, and the first ray of sunlight burst forth from the horizon like Holy Light.

The Undead Mobile Fortress, which had been traveling all night, slowly came to a halt. With a series of CLANKING sounds, the buildings retracted underground, entering Hibernation Mode.

To conserve Soul Energy, the Mobile Fortress had been moving at a low speed of 50 kilometers per hour. After traveling all night, it was still a long way from the new treasure location. It would probably take a few more days to arrive.

A few hours later, the sky was bright. The Minotaur and Liu Xingxing awoke from their sleep to greet the new day.

After the events of last night, Liu Xingxing felt his own lack of strength keenly. Even though he was clinging to a powerful backer, he was still in danger at times. He had to find a way to increase his own power.

He got up early and snuck out in his Treasure-Hunting Catman Mobile Fortress. He didn’t dare go far, just slowly circled the Undead Fortress, looking for scattered resources. Every little bit helped; it was better than doing nothing. He’d just slowly gather resources. If he came across any weak Wild Beasts, he would also try to "restock."

The Headhunter Race’s attack didn’t have much of an impact on the Minotaur. As Natives of the Wasteland, they had seen this sort of thing before and weren’t particularly alarmed. They went about their lives as usual. In fact, last night’s battle had actually boosted their confidence in the Undead Race.

’They can even defeat the Headhunter Race, doesn’t that prove how powerful they are? The Undead Race is our Ally now, so their strength is definitely a good thing!’

Everything seemed to be as usual. It was another peaceful day.