’This new intel is about my own battle. Only 420,000 goblins dead? Did that many really get away? Dammit. I lost nearly nine thousand men and used up a ton of supplies. This was a massive loss...’

Xue Shentian shook his head and sighed, but still gave the order to retreat.

The Order Officer relayed the command to the battlefield. The soldiers and generals, having fought bitterly through the night, began to return. They were covered in bloodstains, their faces etched with exhaustion.

The main camp was overflowing with the wounded. Only a fraction had received medical attention; the logistics and medical corps clearly couldn’t keep up. Many soldiers were simply sitting or even lying on the ground, trying to rest.

Lu Aqi received his orders and led the remnants of the Red Tiger Camp to handle the aftermath on the battlefield—burying the bodies of the fallen where they lay.

He cut a unique figure. While other generals wore proper General’s Helmets or hats, this Standard Fourth-Grade Cavalry General had an old, battered cooking pot stuck on his head, which looked utterly ridiculous.

Or rather, he was using the battered pot *as* a helmet.

It wasn’t by choice. This was his punishment from King Dongsheng: use the pot as a helmet. If the pot fell, his head would fall too.

Thus, in public, no matter how humiliated Lu Aqi felt, he dared not remove the pot from his head.

Just then, Lu Aqi glanced toward the small train, and his stomach rumbled loudly.

’Looks like they’re serving food over there. Who knows when we’ll get a hot meal... War is terrible work. Peace is so much better. I wonder if I’ll even make it out of this terrifying world alive...’

Lu Aqi muttered to himself. He deeply missed his old life, especially the simple pleasure of brewing a pot of Spirit Tea and savoring it at a leisurely pace.

"The Divine Being’s contingent is up ahead. It looks like they scavenged a lot of supplies. I wonder if they have any food... and if they might share some with us..."

The words of Red Tiger Camp’s Vice Commander, Lu Gang, snapped Lu Aqi back to reality. He turned and saw the convoy of armored vehicles and Jade Jiaolongs, along with the nine Flying Divine Monkeys soaring in the sky. His heart filled with awe.

In fact, the moment he saw the small train, Lu Aqi had suspected that the Divine King Shanhe had come to save the day. After seeing the Great Toad Mountain God, he was absolutely certain.

However, the battlefield had been too chaotic for him to find the time or opportunity to pay his respects. Now, seeing the Divine Being’s contingent, he quickly moved to the side and stood in a posture of deference.

A Jade Jiaolong, however, stopped right in front of Lu Aqi.

Seated on its back was none other than Wang Yi.

There was still some time before his Fantasy Avatar would dissipate, so Wang Yi still had the appearance of the "Monkey King." Lu Aqi clearly didn’t recognize him.

’The indigenous people of the Typhon World probably don’t recognize the Monkey King...’

Seeing Lu Aqi’s solemn face beneath the cooking pot, Wang Yi had to suppress a laugh. "Lord Lu, long time no see," he said.

"Hm?" The voice was like a lightning strike in Lu Aqi’s mind. He looked up at Wang Yi and asked uncertainly, "Are you... Lord Wang?"

"Indeed, it’s me," Wang Yi said with a smile. "My lord, why the cooking pot? Are you perhaps in need of a helmet?"

"Please, I don’t deserve to be called ’my lord’ by you. As for this pot...唉, it’s a long story. Let’s not get into it," Lu Aqi said with an awkward smile.

Wang Yi had a slight inkling as to the reason. After a moment’s thought, he took out a bag of Fasting Pills and handed it to Lu Aqi. "With such a large army on the move, provisions must be a problem. Could I trouble you, Lord Lu, to find your Prince? Just tell him that I have a business proposal involving Fasting Pills. If he’s interested, he can come meet me in my tent. As for what’s in this bag, please accept it as a small fee for your trouble."

"Rest assured, my lord, I will deliver the message!" Lu Aqi’s eyes lit up. He sensed an opportunity to distinguish himself.

After Wang Yi and his contingent departed, Lu Aqi opened the cloth pouch to take a look and was immediately overjoyed.

"It’s Fasting Pills!" Lu Aqi straightened the pseudo-Spiritual-Artifact pot on his head and declared loudly, "These are truly Life-Giving Divine Pills!"

He quickly swallowed one and felt a warmth spread through his stomach, completely dispelling his hunger.

A few moments later, the small train pulled up. A crowd of Wang Yi’s soldiers bustled about, noisily hauling and carrying supplies aboard.

During the latter half of last night’s battle, Wang Yi’s forces had taken control of the field. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to wipe out all the enemy Players, and a few had escaped. Still, looting the battlefield yielded a considerable amount of supplies, though it was mostly just food, steel, canned goods, cloth, and other daily necessities.

’If Players dropped all their personal items on death, that would be amazing. What a shame, the drop rate for personal items is just too low...’

Wang Yi shook his head. He had already tallied the loot. They had killed a total of 33 Players last night, but all they got from them were less than five thousand Gold Coins, two Green Blind Boxes, a Construction Drawing for a [Quarry], 6 Middle-Grade Chaos Crystal Stones, 16 fuel vouchers, and 2 redemption vouchers for Universal Cannon Shells. That was it.

They did, however, plunder a good amount of Lord Experience and Chaos Energy.

Right now, Wang Yi’s Chaos Energy was at 219,459, and his Lord Experience was at 118,960!

Of course, for Wang Yi, the greatest prize was still the Chaos Blind Boxes.

Counting the ones Xue Shentian had given him and those plundered from the battlefield, he now had a total of 10 Green Chaos Blind Boxes.

’Ten blind boxes! I’ve never been this wealthy before. I wonder how many good things I’ll get! Let’s do this! It’s time to go wild!’

Wang Yi was practically buzzing with excitement. Seizing the quiet moment, he found an empty train car, performed a very serious and proper good-luck ritual, and then gleefully began to open his boxes.

From the first Green Blind Box, out of five options, Wang Yi chose the [+3 Iron Smeltery Construction Drawings]. According to the description, the Iron Smeltery was similar to the Lumberyard. It occupied a very small area and was purely a resource-generating building that would automatically produce virtual "Refined Iron" every day once built.

The base version of the Iron Smeltery could be upgraded to Lv. 6, producing a maximum of 12 units of Refined Iron per day. Wang Yi’s +3 version could boost production to 36 units, and as a bonus, it would also grant one physical unit of [Xuan Iron] daily.

From the second Green Blind Box, Wang Yi chose the [+5 Low-Level Chaos Crystal Stone]. Using it granted him 64,000 Chaos Energy.

From the third Green Blind Box, Wang Yi chose the [+6 Piano Loom].

The Piano Loom was exactly what it sounded like: a weaving loom shaped like a piano. The device itself was some kind of black-box technology. The original version had only two material compartments—one for the warp and one for the weft—which could hold weaving materials like cotton, hemp, leather, or silk. You could then weave cloth simply by playing the piano. No one knew how it worked, but the better the performance, the higher the quality of the resulting fabric.

After being enhanced to +6, the number of material compartments jumped to 16. Furthermore, there were no restrictions on the materials—you could even load steel into it. The process was the same: play the piano to weave. The better you played, the higher the quality of the fabric, which was now divided into 16 grades. Playing could also automatically add patterns to the cloth.

This [Piano Loom] had a lot of potential for experimentation, but unfortunately, Wang Yi couldn’t play the piano. He decided that when he had some free time, he would place the loom in its own train car and let the Heaven and Earth Defects or the artistically-inclined Beastman Lady have a go at it.

From the fourth blind box, Wang Yi got a [+9 Wine Gourd].

This one was a total bust. The [Wine Gourd] was an item for holding wine. The original could hold two units of wine, but the +9 enhanced version could hold 1,024 units.

As a result, the Wine Gourd became enormous, taller than a man, but it was still just a big container with no other functions.

The fifth blind box had 10 options. The +10 enhanced item was a nail clipper, so Wang Yi ultimately chose the [+7 Low-Level Chaos Crystal Stone]. Using it granted him 256,000 Chaos Energy.

From the sixth blind box, Wang Yi picked another [+5 Low-Grade Chaos Crystal Stone], adding another 64,000 Chaos Energy to his total.

The seventh blind box presented nine options. Feeling a surge of luck, Wang Yi chose the [+9 Superman Outfit].

He had been expecting a powerful item similar to [Prototype No. 1]. ’A +9 enhanced Superman Outfit has to come with at least some kind of Superpower, right?’ he thought.

What he got was 512 Superman Outfits, all with the mandatory red-trunks-on-the-outside design. Aside from being durable and very stretchy, they had no other abilities.

No matter how he looked at them, Wang Yi thought the Superman Outfits were hideous. The only decent part was the matching cloak.

’What garbage...’

He sighed, deciding that when he had a spare moment, he’d show the Superman Outfits to his soldiers and see if anyone was willing to wear one.

He continued opening boxes. From the eighth, Wang Yi got a [+5 Lord Experience Book], which gave him 16,000 Lord Experience upon use.

The ninth box yielded a [+6 Large Money Pouch], but it only contained 1,920 Gold Coins.

For the last blind box, Wang Yi performed an additional nine respectful bows with clasped hands before opening it.

==== 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

DING! One Box, Many Openings Talent activated. Opening the current Chaos Blind Box. Calculating 7 opening results for you.

DING! Box Opening Enhancement Talent activated, applying item Enhancements.

1. Lord Experience Book (Green, Enhanced +1)

2. Goddess Calendar (White, Enhanced +2)

3. Chaos Egg (White, Enhanced +3)

4. Cactus (White, Enhanced +4)

5. Low-Level Chaos Crystal Stone (Green, Enhanced +5)

6. Green Light Tower Construction Drawings (Green, Enhanced +6)

7. Green Double Coupon (Green, Enhanced +7)

====

’Huh, another Lord Experience Book, but it’s only a Green +1. What’s a Green Double Coupon? Should I pick the coupon, the Green Light Tower Construction Drawings, or the +5 Enhanced Low-Level Chaos Crystal Stone?’

Wang Yi glanced at his status panel. His Chaos Energy was already at 603,459. Getting another +5 Enhanced Chaos Crystal Stone would be a great boost.

In the end, however, Wang Yi decided to take a gamble.

’Alright, let’s see what this +7 Enhanced [Green Double Coupon] can really do!’

After Wang Yi responded to the system, the option window vanished. A scroll glowing with green light appeared before him. Golden light flashed over it seven times in quick succession. In the end, its appearance hadn’t changed much, but its name had become [Super Green Double Coupon]!

[Super Green Double Coupon: Special item. Binds on pickup. Untradeable. Consumable. When used while opening a Green Blind Box, it triggers a super-double effect, granting 128 times the rewards.]

’Super-double! One hundred and twenty-eight times the rewards! My multi-choice and enhancement talents, plus this super-double... I’m going to skyrocket!’

A thrill shot through Wang Yi. Suddenly, saving up ten million Chaos Energy didn’t seem so difficult after all!