Chapter 168: The crazy little brat who had run away from home
Cheng Qisheng sifted through the hazy memories of her believers and figured out why they had gathered here.
Oh! It had started as a group activity organized by the Little Blue Sea guild.
Song Xi, the guild leader of the Little Blue Sea, had brought along the vice guild leaders Wang Moning and Shen Jinyang, as well as a large number of guild members, to form a Moon Silk Star legion.
They weren’t doing anything special. They simply set out from the Broken River Desert, picked a direction, and kept moving forward.
If they encountered a mutant beast, they fought it. If they didn’t, they went looking for one. Whenever they came across a settlement inhabited by locals, they would specifically ask to stay there for a while, then inquire about where they could find any particularly terrifying mutant beasts.
And it wasn’t just the Little Blue Sea guild doing this. In fact, many of the Blue Sea residents who had left the Broken River Wasteland operated in much the same way.
The mutant beasts of Moon Silk Star had nuclear crystals in their heads, after all. Naturally, the Blue Sea residents would hunt those mutant beasts whenever they got the chance.
But the Little Blue Sea guild differed from the other guilds in one respect: they had Cheng Anjing, the Mind Domain Commander.
Cheng Anjing had kept her old habit. At twelve o’clock, she would activate her [Mind Domain] ability, allowing the Blue Sea residents in the surrounding area to connect their thoughts and enter a group chat.
That was when Song Xi discovered that Moon Silk Star really was a fascinating planet.
Guilds like theirs, traveling under the banner of a legion, had a very peculiar experience whenever they reached an inhabited area.
The moment people saw them, they would run.
Every medium- and small-sized faction would either steer clear of them or take the initiative to approach them in a friendly manner. Once they heard that the group was affiliated with the [Company], they would sometimes even bring over gifts or something.
But the Blue Sea residents who were confident enough in their own strength, or simply preferred traveling in small groups, had a completely different experience.
They were! Always! Getting! Robbed!
Sometimes it was a local minor faction. Sometimes it was an unfriendly town. And sometimes, it was simply another passing merchant caravan, legion, or territorial army.
It seemed that the various factions on Moon Silk Star simply couldn’t stand seeing a small group traveling on the road.
The moment they spotted one, they just had to go over and provoke them.
In most cases, these teams traveling alone or in groups of just a few people could deal with the situation themselves.
After all, they had only been permitted by Blue Sea to travel in small groups because their combat strength had already reached a certain level.
When Blue Sea residents found themselves being robbed under circumstances like these, they generally regarded it as a windfall from heaven.
They didn’t like picking fights with others, nor did they enjoy bullying the weak. But if someone came to their doorstep carrying a whole pile of weapons or supplies and practically handed them over, the Blue Sea residents would naturally accept them with delight.
There were times, however, when they encountered situations they couldn’t handle.
For example, a medium-sized faction or a passing legion might have overwhelming numbers and a large stockpile of weapons. Even a Blue Sea resident with considerable combat strength couldn’t withstand that kind of firepower.
At times like this, Cheng Qisheng would usually help call in reinforcements, summoning nearby Blue Sea residents to lend a hand.
But the scattered Blue Sea residents around the Little Blue Sea guild had basically never reached the point where they needed the great Creator God to issue a divine oracle and summon reinforcements for them.
Because they had [Mind Domain].
Any Blue Sea resident who needed help could simply send out a distress call through [Mind Domain].
The Little Blue Sea guild and the other scattered residents nearby would immediately head for the rescue site under Cheng Anjing’s command.
And then everyone discovered something:
These medium-sized factions were loaded!!
Some of these factions were local powers, while others were simply passing through. But regardless of who they were, they all carried large quantities of Moon Silk Star weapons and supplies, along with plenty of nuclear crystals.
Once they were taken down, even after everyone split the spoils, each person could still get quite a substantial share.
The more they fought, the richer they got!
The Little Blue Sea guild had originally been diligently searching for mutant beasts and fighting mutant beasts. But faced with such massive hauls, they promptly revised their career plans.
Using the power of [Mind Domain], Song Xi began specifically taking on jobs as the Little Blue Sea’s hired backup.
She didn’t just accept requests from other residents. She would even send some guild members out as bait.
Whenever some faction took the bait and tried to rob them, they would immediately find themselves facing the full force of the Little Blue Sea guild, together with every powerful Blue Sea resident in the surrounding area.
This time was no different.
Several members of the Little Blue Sea guild had been sent out, and when they reached this area, they were ambushed and pursued by a local faction.
The guild had deliberately selected members who were exceptionally good at running away. As they fled, they simultaneously broadcast their coordinates through [Mind Domain], and the Little Blue Sea guild immediately came charging over, practically bouncing with excitement.
They were just about to start the fight when they discovered that the local faction had gotten into a battle with another faction.
As for why the two sides had started fighting, the Little Blue Sea guild had no idea, and neither did the guild members who had served as bait.
They had long since made themselves scarce and hadn’t seen what happened afterward.
But this was great!
Someone else was conveniently wearing down the enemy’s forces for them.
Naturally, they were more than happy to sit back and reap the benefits as the third party.
Song Xi was happily calculating just how large this local faction was, and whether they had a large stockpile of nuclear crystals and weapons. She was already figuring out which direction they should charge from later to surround them from behind.
She was happily planning away when, suddenly, she received a divine oracle.
And it wasn’t just her.
Every Blue Sea resident lying in hiding, silently waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, received the divine oracle as well.
The “tigers” that had been poised to pounce immediately changed their expressions. They respectfully lowered their heads, their voices carrying a hint of excitement.
“Yes, my God.”
—
Gong Changming, the lord of Nightgreen Oasis, sat atop a domesticated mutant beast, staring sternly into the distance.
Two months ago, she had already sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere on Moon Silk Star.
The three major companies had been making frequent moves, gradually squeezing the living space of lords like her. At the same time, they had become increasingly greedy, exploiting Moon Silk Star’s various resources layer after layer, far more ruthlessly than before.
The factions that depended on the [Company] had also grown increasingly brazen.
And now, even the caravans belonging to Nightgreen Oasis were being intercepted and robbed of their goods whenever they passed through this area.
They had signed a peace agreement back then, after all.
Now that something like this had happened, Gong Changming, as the lord, naturally had to come and demand an explanation.
She had brought plenty of people with her and was fully prepared to break off all pretense of peace.
But what she hadn’t realized was that the enemy had deliberately intercepted and slaughtered Nightgreen Oasis’s caravans in order to force Gong Changming to show herself, so they could kill her and seize Nightgreen Oasis.
The moment Gong Changming mobilized her forces, another army had already circled around to attack Nightgreen Oasis from behind.
With its lord away and a large number of troops taken with her, the forces left behind to defend Nightgreen Oasis wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
At this point, Gong Changming only wanted to break free and return to reinforce her headquarters, but the enemy had made thorough preparations.
They had far too many troops and mutants. They had definitely hired outside reinforcements.
Gong Changming had no doubt that the [Company] was behind this.
Something had definitely happened within the [Company] recently. They were accelerating their efforts to squeeze wealth out of Moon Silk Star, and a medium-to-large New Human faction like Nightgreen Oasis was nothing more than a juicy piece of meat in [the Company’s] eyes.
Something must have happened.
But she had no time to think about it now.
She and her army were locked in a fierce battle in this area.
Gong Changming gritted her teeth, continued issuing orders, and personally joined the fight.
But when she suddenly heard shouts coming from all directions and watched wave after wave of people who were obviously extremely formidable charge onto the battlefield, even Gong Changming—who had never been one to resign herself to fate—felt her heart sink.
How did the enemy still have reinforcements?
This was bad.
Originally, she had been confident that she could break free before nightfall and return to reinforce Nightgreen Oasis.
But now, looking at the at least ten thousand new enemies…
Her entire army was going to be—
Huh??
Why had these newly arrived people started attacking the enemy?
Gong Changming was completely baffled, but her spirits immediately lifted.
Reinforcements?
But not the enemy’s.
They were hers?
Never mind where these reinforcements had come from. Just look at the way they fought—
Why were they so ferocious and utterly unrestrained?
They were terrifyingly strong.
Where had these heavenly soldiers suddenly come from?
Wang Moning, relying on her extraordinary sensory abilities, was practically cutting through every obstacle in her path, charging straight through the battlefield as though she were conquering one checkpoint after another.
From Gong Changming’s perspective, it was as if Wang Moning had eyes in the back of her head. She smoothly dodged every stray attack and projectile along the way, even finding the time to do a backflip while shooting and killing an enemy soldier.
When Wang Moning reached the area near Gong Changming, the lord’s personal guards immediately became vigilant and stepped in front of her.
Gong Changming motioned for them to stand down.
“Let her through.”
She didn’t think this was some sort of scheme to assassinate the enemy commander on the battlefield. If these tens of thousands of people were truly enemies, there was no need for any schemes at all. They could simply fight them head-on.
Wang Moning reached her and confirmed,
“Are you Gong Cheng’s mother?”
Gong Changming had already considered all sorts of possible origins for these people and prepared various responses in her head. But when she suddenly heard the name of her youngest son—the crazy little brat who had run away from home—she froze for a moment.
She even wondered if she’d heard incorrectly.
“What?”
Wang Moning repeated herself.
“Is Gong Cheng your son?”
Gong Changming: “…”
She hadn’t heard wrong.
They really were talking about Gong Cheng.
“Yes. Gong Cheng is my son.”
Wang Moning nodded.
Then she turned around and shouted,
“Confirmed! They’re on our side!”
There was actually no need to shout. With explosions and gunfire raging across the battlefield, no one else could hear her anyway.
But that didn’t matter.
She had really only shouted it for Gong Changming to hear.
Cheng Anjing had already received the information and was broadcasting it through [Mind Domain].
For a moment, the eyes of all the Blue Sea residents who had just joined the battlefield lit up.
‘Our side?’
Then they could really cut loose and fight, right?
Across the battlefield, tens of thousands of voices erupted in unison.
“Woohoo!!!”
