Chapter 1 Journey's Start

The Kyushu cherry blossom base. Zhao Wenqi, a cigarette dangling from his lips, sat with his legs crossed, watching the tightly shut gate.

He chuckled. "What's this? Only a few days, and they already dare to skip paying protection fees?"

"Boss, this guy's got rebellious thoughts. If we don't teach him a lesson for refusing to open the gate today, he'll ambush our men on the road tomorrow!"

"That's right, boss. We absolutely can't let this go."

Inside the gate, Shimada gritted his teeth, his canines almost breaking. These Long country people were too much! Even if they were collecting protection fees, there was no way it could be like this!

They came every day, demanding sixth-tier crystal cores each time. No matter how many survivors there were, they couldn't withstand this kind of drain.

"This can't continue. We have to find an opportunity as soon as possible."

He turned his head and glanced at the middle-aged man kneeling to the side, raising his hand to snap the man's neck.

"Sayuri, tell those six squad leaders to come to my room. Tell them I have secret matters to discuss with them."

"Yes."

A voice echoed from the dark shadows.

Shimada retrieved the middle-aged man's crystal core, opened his mouth, and swallowed it, savoring the energy flowing through his limbs, that full, warm, and satisfying sensation.

A smile crept onto the corner of his mouth, becoming increasingly sinister.

"It's better for this crystal core to be mine than given to those Long country people. Maybe I'll have a fighting chance."

A cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he laughed loudly as he slowly walked away.

...

"Boss, are those little devils inside going crazy? Why is he laughing so creepily?"

"It's nothing. That's not important for now."

'Are we just going to wait here, then? Why don't we just attack directly? Ever since I got my powers, I haven't really had a proper fight.'

The burly man smiled obsequiously, constantly uttering words of encouragement.

"Shut up!"

"Yes."

A fanatical look appeared in Zhao Wenqi's eyes. Then, to the shock of his subordinates, countless Zerg emerged from underground. Especially the Leviathan pups; although it was illogical for them to burrow underground, it was even more illogical for them to emerge so quickly.

The entire ground was trembling constantly.

Zhao Wenqi's subordinates hadn't joined the Zerg network; he'd merely left a parasite as a backdoor to control their lives at any time.

"Roar!"

Countless pups emerged from underground, roaring towards the western sky.

However, Shimada, focused on advancing, didn't notice this. After all, these monsters had been roaring for more than just a day or two, and as for earthquakes, that was a piece of cake in the small Sakura territory.

"Empress."

Zhao Wenqi knelt on one knee, lowering his head, watching the Overlord pup descending to the ground. Actually, it was still a distance from the ground.

Lin Mo, holding Little Xue, walked down the stairs formed by the Creep pups. However, it was really strange for the little loli to be domineeringly holding the shy girl.

Especially, why was this little loli walking pigeon-toed!

Although Zhao Wenqi's subordinates hadn't joined the Zerg network, their desire to submit from the bottom of their hearts almost instantly made them kneel on one knee.

Lin Mo pretended to be aloof, his gaze calmly sweeping over everyone before finally settling on the leader, Zhao Wenqi.

After Zhao Wenqi reported the gains of the past few days, Lin Mo nodded in satisfaction.

He accepted the six crystal cores.

The harvest was pretty good, but it probably wasn't enough to hurt their vitality. After all, there were only three Sakura survivor bases left on this small island. Oh, now there was only the one in front of them.

The pups, seeing their Empress only caring about talking to the two-legged beasts in front of them and completely ignoring them, became anxious and itchy. These damned two-legged beasts! Setting them up! They must be set up!

Hmph!

Lin Mo finished instructing Zhao Wenqi before disappearing, and only after Zhao Wenqi led his subordinates to board the Overlord pup did he smile and wave.

Everything was completed in a flash, but in the eyes of the pups, it was different. This was the Empress's test!!

The first one to reach the Empress would get the Empress's hug!!!

Muscles tensed, and all the surrounding comrades instantly turned into enemies! Damn it, why were there so many competitors!

Bang—

Well, the last Sakura survivor base collapsed. Fortunately, Lin Mo hadn't successfully leveled up; otherwise, this violent tremor would have definitely shaken open the buttons. Just look at Little Xue beside him; it was hilarious, her little hands couldn't cover the holy light at all.

Rich and generous!

"Alright, Leviathan pup number one is moving! It's activated its innate skill, Charge! It's getting closer! It's in first place."

"Wait! What's that on its head! It's a Lurker, Old Six! A sneak attack, no martial ethics!"

"Wait a minute, what is the Ravager pup doing! Ground Spike! What, is that allowed! Referee, does this count as cheating!"

Lin Mo was helpless. Originally in low spirits, his mood was suddenly warmed up by this commotion. He glanced at Kaka, who was wiggling his little tentacles while acting as both commentator and referee.

He stepped in front of Kaka and flicked him on the forehead.

"Ouch, that hurts."

"What are you doing! Kaka! I really want to strangle you!"

"Ahem, Empress, is your mood any better?"

"Hmph, not bad, thanks to Little Xue."

Little Xue, desperately trying to hide her presence, wished she could burrow underground. Damn it, what was this outfit? Why was it so fragile! kuAiδugg

Clearing his throat, Lin Mo came to the remains of the front gate. Well, this gate was quite sturdy; the walls had all collapsed, but the gate remained standing firmly in place.

Knock knock knock—

"Open up, plumber."

Kaka: ...

Good news, the Empress's mood has recovered; bad news, the Empress seems to be having another episode.

The little Sakura people, who had been scared half to death long ago, naturally didn't dare to approach Lin Mo's direction. They were numb. So what if they were fighting? What kind of skill was it to destroy the house at the start!

"Huh, no one's here?"

"Ahem! FBI! ..."

Bang!

At his Empress's signal, the Lurker pup kicked open the gate with a sickle, and smoke filled the air. It really did have that feeling.

It was just a pity that there were no black farm tools behind them; the skin color wasn't quite right.

Wait a minute! Farm tools! Lin Mo remembered that the Zerg had a high aptitude for planting. Now it seemed like Sun Hongzhi and the others suddenly had employment opportunities. Little tentacles temporarily acting as whips, it was very reasonable, keh keh keh.

As Lin Mo continued to explore, the scene inside gradually became clear. It was all rubble. The pups had indeed made too much commotion.

...

"Chief, what do you want me for..."

Pfft—

Thud—

Clean and neat, Shimada put away the strange bone knife in his hand and calmly dug out the crystal core to swallow. As his subordinates died more and more, Shimada had become numb, and the pleasure of power had made him sink.