Safe City Ch.171.2

Chapter 171.2: Assistance of a New Human Faction

Why did it feel like these high-tier city lords were even more miserly than city lords like them who had only just reached Tier 5 or 6?

Weren’t they supposed to be so extravagant that they could casually spend ten billion nuclear crystals on the Truth Stone?

And considering that a human had managed to frighten an octopus city lord when it was young, the image of humans in their civilization probably wasn’t very flattering either. They were probably regarded as some kind of little monsters that ate “zhang” or something.

Even though Cheng Qisheng had been overseeing a planet for tens of billions of years and had witnessed countless bizarre things, learning this still gave her the strange feeling that her entire worldview had been scrubbed clean.

So, did that mean that the intelligent beings of all the civilizations in the universe were actually monsters in someone else’s world?

Novelists really were a fascinating profession.

Cheng Qisheng once again began multitasking with her mental power.

She was becoming increasingly proficient at using her mental power on Blue Star. She could now lie sprawled on the sofa while her mental power operated a computer independently.

One stream of mental power searched the internet for various novels, purchased them, and displayed them in front of Aether so that she could bring them back to Blue Sea Safe City.

Another stream continued examining the octopus city lord’s Book of Answers.

And another stream was still gently rubbing the Truth Stone’s head.

A large portion of her mental power also scattered outward, following believers who had left the city and monitoring their safety.

Some of Cheng Qisheng’s mental power remained inside Blue Sea Safe City.

Another portion was in Nightgreen Oasis.

Nightgreen Oasis was quite literally a greenland.

Vast stretches of poisonous grassland known on Moon Silk Star as “Green Night Grass” covered the entire region.

Houses were scattered across the grassland, forming a medium-sized city.

Up ahead, someone was sprinkling some kind of white liquid over the grass. Wherever the liquid landed, the lush green Green Night Grass instantly turned yellow.

“This is one of the ways we protect ourselves.”

Gong Changming led Song Xi and the others from behind. Only after the Green Night Grass had turned yellow did she gesture for them to follow her into the city.

She explained, “Green Night Grass is both poisonous and radioactive, but its radiation range is very small. It only affects you when you’re close to it. Only the secret medicine of the Gong family can temporarily wither it, so we planted it across our entire territory to prevent powerful mutated beasts and other factions from entering. For more than a hundred years, our family has relied on Green Night Grass to gradually build Nightgreen Oasis into what it is today.”

Song Xi nodded calmly, maintaining the bearing expected of a guild leader.

Vice Guild Leader Wang Moning and Shen Jinyang didn’t need to maintain such a serious demeanor. Following behind Song Xi, they curiously examined the Green Night Grass whose leaves had turned yellow.

They automatically interpreted the stuff as a “Moon Silk Star version of a protective shield.”

They wondered whether it could be planted in ordinary soil. If so, it might prove useful in other worlds as well.

Shen Jinyang asked, “If your territory is protected by Green Night Grass, how were those people still able to break in?”

“Prolonged exposure to this radiation won’t kill you immediately. Instead, you’ll experience severe pain. If you’re in contact with it for more than three hours, you’ll probably die about seven years later. Perhaps the faction behind them decided that the wealth Nightgreen Oasis had accumulated over a century was worth more than the lives of seven thousand soldiers.”

Gong Changming led them into the city.

Surprisingly, the city itself looked little different from one in a peaceful society.

If not for the tattered clothes people wore, and the fact that there wasn’t a single fat person to be seen—everyone was tall and thin because food wasn’t exactly plentiful—it could have passed for a completely normal city.

The people of Nightgreen Oasis watched these strangers with curiosity and wariness. But since their lord had brought them back, no one showed any signs of rejection despite their caution.

It was clear that as the lord of the territory, Gong Changming enjoyed tremendous prestige in Nightgreen Oasis.

Her eldest daughter hurried out to greet them.

“Mother.”

Gong Changming waved a hand.

“The battle is over. You did well. You held our most important city. Have the steward prepare a lavish banquet. I want to entertain our guests.”

Gong Changming’s eldest daughter, Gong Sheng, looked at the Blue Sea people who were still lining up behind them and continuously entering the city.

“Mother, how many guests are we entertaining?”

Normally, banquets on Moon Silk Star were reserved for the upper echelons of a faction. But these people had appeared out of nowhere. Gong Sheng tried to distinguish the leaders from the others by their bearing, the differences in status they displayed, their complexions, and their clothing.

But she couldn’t tell.

She simply couldn’t tell.

Every single one of them was tall and sturdy, with healthy, rosy complexions, and there were no obvious differences in status between them. They looked almost as though everyone were equal.

Even Gong Changming couldn’t tell them apart. She looked toward Song Xi.

Song Xi answered, “Ten thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine.”

She couldn’t count exactly how many Blue Sea people there were either, but that didn’t matter. She could simply ask the people in Cheng Anjing’s [Mind Domain Group Chat] how many members were present.

Gong Sheng’s eyes widened slightly, but she quickly regained control of her expression.

“Of course, esteemed guests. I’ll make the arrangements immediately.”

These more than ten thousand reinforcements had not only rescued her mother, but had also returned with her to Nightgreen Oasis and helped the entire territory defeat the invaders.

A banquet for more than ten thousand people was nothing compared to the help they had given them.

Though the chefs at the lord’s residence might be getting a massive headache.

Gong Sheng went off to make the arrangements while Gong Changming continued entertaining the group.

The lord’s residence obviously couldn’t accommodate more than ten thousand people, so only the upper management of the Little Blue Sea Guild and a few Blue Sea residents who wanted to join in on the excitement followed them inside.

The rest of the Blue Sea residents simply began resting in the streets.

They were good at fighting. As for this sort of refined conversation… most Blue Sea residents could handle it too, but since someone else had already stepped up, they were more than happy to take it easy.

Once they entered the lord’s residence, Song Xi got straight to the point.

“Lord Gong, your son, Gong Cheng, is already one of our people in [Ota]. He asked us to help you, which is why we came to your rescue.”

—In reality, that wasn’t the case at all. Gong Cheng still had no idea that Nightgreen Oasis had been attacked.

Technically speaking, Gong Cheng already bore a loyalty imprint, and one that had been burned into him extremely deeply.

Even if his family members died, it wouldn’t affect his loyalty to Blue Sea in the slightest. He would still work tirelessly for Cheng Qisheng.

But under normal circumstances, Cheng Qisheng would still do her best to ensure the safety of her believers’ families.

Even if those family members did not share her faith, they would still be settled in the outer city of Blue Sea Safe City.

Just like now, Blue Sea had no intention of revealing its identity in Nightgreen Oasis and was still operating under the identity of [Ota]. Even so, they would still help their believer’s family.

Song Xi stated Blue Sea’s objective.

“We’re about to begin a war. Gong Cheng is our employee, and as the family of an employee, you will also receive protection from [Ota]. If possible, we hope you’ll participate in the battle. If Nightgreen Oasis doesn’t want to fight, we’d also be willing to relocate you to a safe place.”

Gong Changming gave her answer almost immediately.

“I understand. Nightgreen Oasis will join the battle. We will follow [Ota]’s orders.”

Song Xi, who had already prepared a whole speech in her head to persuade them, stalled for a moment.

That easy?

Had they already heard of [Ota]?

“You’ve heard of [Ota]?”

“No.” Gong Changming answered honestly. “I’m a New Human, and I don’t know much about the [Companies]. But I do know that all three major [Companies] have gradually started making moves. Even a secluded place like Nightgreen Oasis has been affected. Moon Silk Star is definitely going to become even more chaotic from here on out.”

Gong Changming wasn’t particularly wise.

Even though she was already considered long-lived among the New Humans of Moon Silk Star, she had actually only lived for thirty-five years.

And for most of those thirty-five years, she had been constantly fighting. She’d had neither the opportunity nor the time to accumulate much wisdom.

Gong Changming’s life experience had taught her one thing: no matter what you did, all you needed to look at was the result.

Old Humans often said that New Humans were like beasts. But people like Gong Changming had survived these difficult hundred years precisely because they relied on a beast-like way of thinking to survive from one generation to the next.

Whether [Ota] had come to help her because of her good-for-nothing youngest son or not, the result was the same.

Nightgreen Oasis had survived because of them.

“I don’t trust the [Companies], but I trust my own eyes more. Without your help, Nightgreen Oasis might very well have ceased to exist today. [Ota] saved us. That’s a fact.”

Gong Changming took a deep breath.

She hadn’t even asked them to prove that her youngest son had joined [Ota].

What was there to prove?

If it weren’t for these people helping them, she and her people would already be dead.

She made her promise.

“No matter who you go to war with, Nightgreen Oasis will be [Ota]’s most valiant vanguard.”

Cheng Qisheng stood up from the sofa and stretched her body.

Good.

Blue Sea now had the support of one [Company], as well as the assistance of a New Human faction.

Now, all that remained was to see what the other Safe Cities would do.

…

The Safe Cities had spent a long time discussing whether they should “align themselves with” one of the [Companies] and use the company’s strength to attack the other [Companies].

More specifically, they were discussing which [Company] to align themselves with.

Each of the four companies had its own strengths and weaknesses. Every city lord had their own opinion, and once they voiced it, each felt that the [Company] they had chosen was the most suitable one.

They debated back and forth.

Half a month had already passed since Nightgreen Oasis entered intensive military training, and they still hadn’t reached a decision.

[Ota] and [Zipa] had also been continuously discussing tactics and how to deal with [Zephyr].

[Zipa] thought [Ota] was simply being meticulous and cautious.

But in reality, Blue Sea was just buying time.

The combination of Blue Sea + a local [Company] + a medium-to-large New Human faction + a large number of Safe Cities meant that even if [Zephyr] had been pretending to be weak while secretly biding its time, it was still absolutely doomed.

So Blue Sea was waiting for the city lords to make their decision.

If the city lords chose another company, Blue Sea would act under the name of [Ota] and strike as quickly as possible, doing everything it could to eliminate [Zephyr] in the shortest time possible.

Once [Ota] emerged victorious, the city lords would probably change their minds.

If the city lords directly chose [Ota], then there was nothing more to say. As things stood, with this level of additional combat strength, [Zephyr] was bound to be finished.

In reality, Blue Sea could handle this on its own.

But Cheng Qisheng’s appetite was enormous.

She didn’t just want [Zephyr]’s Heaven’s Punishment. She wanted the other two companies’ Heaven’s Punishments as well.

Under these circumstances, having reinforcements was obviously better than having none.

Moreover, Cheng Qisheng didn’t want her “fellow companies” to choose another [Company] and end up standing on the opposite side from her.

But the cautious city lords had been discussing the matter for so long without reaching a conclusion.

The main problem was that everyone already knew what the [Companies] were like.

The city lords were worried too.

They were afraid that while they were trying to make use of the [Companies], the [Companies] might turn around and slaughter them once they had served their purpose.

No matter which one they chose, it didn’t feel particularly safe.

But if the city lords joined forces on their own, they didn’t trust one another enough to do that either.

After weighing everything, it still seemed that “aligning themselves with” a Safe City and sitting back to reap the benefits was the safest option.

Just as Cheng Qisheng was running out of patience and was about to step in herself to guide the discussion—or simply have Coriander help by acting as a plant—the Greenroot City Lord, who had never received even a single nuclear crystal from her but seemed to have been born to be her plant, put forward another suggestion.

[Greenroot Safe City: Seriously, if we can’t decide, why don’t we just pool some nuclear crystals and have the Truth Stone choose for us?]

[Greenroot Safe City: The Truth Stone only tells the truth anyway. Why don’t we have it choose among the four major companies and tell us which “company” is most likely to accept us, cooperate with us, and least likely to turn around and betray us?]

Cheng Qisheng was slowly drinking some water when she saw the Greenroot City Lord’s message.

She nearly choked.

Then she burst out laughing.

From this day onward, she announced, Blue Sea would unilaterally regard the Greenroot City Lord as a friend.

Ask the Truth Stone which of the four major companies—including [Ota]—was the safest one to choose?

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

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