After dealing with the Zhengqi Alliance, Qin Shilei returned to Great Xia once more.
He stored the 1.5 million fully prepared evolutionary beings within the cave-heaven and blessed-land.
With the addition of forty to fifty Platinum-tier experts and two hundred high-ranking Gold-tier experts from the Zhengqi Alliance, territorial expansion could now proceed on multiple fronts simultaneously.
Under the efforts of the two hundred-strong army, the entire Republic of Baal was scoured within three days.
The vast majority of the insects became casualties.
Massive amounts of crystal cores and other resources entered the spatial rings of various evolutionary beings and the treasury of the Qin An Royal Manor.
Qin Shilei thus obtained three purple items and a Nine-Coil Spirit Ginseng.
The Nine-Coil Spirit Ginseng could be consumed directly to improve cultivation or refined into pills.
Qin Shilei did not understand alchemy, nor did he wish to consume it for now, so he planted it in the medicinal garden of the cave-heaven and blessed-land.
Huangfu Feng stepped forward and reported, "Reporting to King Qin An, two cities with walls were discovered in Baal. Would you like to meet them?"
Qin Shilei said indifferently, "Alright, I'll meet them."
Soon, they arrived at the city called Bastie.
As they flew to the gate of the City Lord's mansion, a line of respectful survivors was already standing below.
City Lord Mellen stepped forward, bowed, and saluted, "Greetings, King Qin An. May King Qin An live forever!"
Qin Shilei nodded, "Hello, City Lord Mellen."
He was then led into the City Lord's mansion by his host.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries in the conference room, Mellen directly stated, "King Qin An, I intend to become your subordinate force. What are your requirements?"
Qin Shilei did not reply directly but gestured for Wen Zhiyuan to respond.
"As long as you become a subordinate force of our Qin An Royal Manor, we will dispatch peerless experts to help you resist external enemies should you encounter an insurmountable foe.
Of course, as a subordinate force, you will also have to pay a small price. First, you must hand over twenty percent of your income in crystal cores to the Qin An Royal Manor; second, you must help organize survivors to produce some basic necessities, for which you will receive some compensation."
These points had all been discussed by the members of the Qin An Royal Manor.
If a powerful alien beast were to attack Mellen, the Qin An Royal Manor would naturally be willing to send experts to assist.
This was because powerful alien beasts also meant enviable spoils of war.
Of course, all of this was premised on ensuring the safety of the Qin An Royal Manor itself.
As for the second point, as time passed, many daily necessities became scarce. Qin Shilei wished for these labor-intensive tasks to be handled by outsiders.
Upon hearing these conditions, Mellen hesitated.
"This, the crystal cores earned by our City Lord's mansion are extremely scarce, I'm afraid they won't catch King Qin An's eye."
"What is the monthly income of your City Lord's mansion?" Wen Zhiyuan asked with a frown.
Mellen extended a finger.
Wen Zhiyuan asked with some dissatisfaction, "One hundred thousand crystal cores?"
Mellen said somewhat sheepishly, "It's a little over ten thousand."
Wen Zhiyuan was about to sarcastically accuse him of deceiving them when Qin Shilei stopped him.
"Let's go. Since they are unwilling, why should we force them?"
With that, he got up and walked out.
Wen Zhiyuan and the others glared fiercely at Mellen and then got up to follow.
"King Qin An, please do not be offended. Because our overall strength is too low, we cannot earn many crystal cores. How about I contribute fifty percent of my monthly income in crystal cores?"
Mellen also got up and chased after them, shouting somewhat theatrically.
However, he was quickly stopped by the people from the Qin An Royal Manor.
"Go back and cherish your crystal cores, we at the Qin An Royal Manor are not interested!"
At this point, Qin Shilei and Wen Zhiyuan had already flown more than ten kilometers.
"King Qin An, shall we directly eliminate that Mellen and have our people take over as city lord?" Wen Zhiyuan suggested.
"This is a remote and desolate place with nothing much here. Why waste manpower on it?" Qin Shilei shook his head, indicating they should ignore him.
"This Mellen is too ungrateful, actually wanting to exchange a mere two thousand crystal cores for our protection," Wen Zhiyuan said indignantly.
Many of the current alien beasts or zombies were Bronze, even Silver-tier, and the crystal cores within them were Tier 2 or Tier 3.
Ten thousand Tier 3 crystal cores were equivalent to nearly two hundred thousand Tier 1 crystal cores.
Mellen's City Lord's mansion's monthly income was far more than one hundred thousand crystal cores.
His claiming poverty meant he was unwilling to pay the price.
Qin Shilei did not wish to discuss Mellen further and instead said, "Zhiyuan, you can represent the Qin An Royal Manor to the other city. I have something urgent to attend to, so I will leave first."
With that, he accelerated and flew into the distance.
While Wen Zhiyuan and a few others headed to the other city in Baal, Mellen returned to the hall with his subordinates.
"City Lord, didn't we initially decide to become a subordinate force of the Qin An Royal Manor? Why did you suddenly change your mind?"
A dark-skinned young man, Mellen's subordinate, asked in confusion.
"At first, I thought we could exchange our protection by just offering a small tribute. I didn't expect them to have such an insatiable appetite, wanting not only our crystal cores but also wanting our people to become cheap laborers. How would we have time to kill alien beasts and improve our own strength then? Tell me, could I agree?"
Mellen explained logically.
"It's still City Lord you who has considered this thoroughly." The subordinate continued, "But will this anger King Qin An, and will they secretly send people to exterminate our City Lord's mansion?"
Mellen said with great certainty, "He didn't get angry just now, which also means he won't resort to underhanded tactics in the future. You can all relax."
The young man was still worried, "Without the protection of the Qin An Royal Manor, what if powerful alien beasts appear in the future?"
"Jinx." Mellen glared at him impatiently. "The people of the Qin An Royal Manor have already eliminated most of the insects in Baal. How could powerful alien beasts appear in the near future?
As for the stronger alien races that will attack in three years, everyone will die together. Why should we live humbly under King Qin An's shadow now?
It's better to be a ruler of a territory and enjoy ourselves to the fullest."
Upon hearing this, everyone felt it made sense and unanimously agreed, "It's still City Lord who thinks things through. Tonight, I must find a few women to accompany me."
Mellen, believing he had calculated everything perfectly, was unaware that a life-and-death crisis was rapidly approaching him.
Qin Shilei, riding his Golden Winged Thunder Roc, quickly arrived at the border of the Southern Yue Kingdom.
Tens of thousands of evolutionary beings from the Qin An Royal Manor were marching forward below.
However, their speed was also somewhat insufficient.
Because the vast majority of them were only Silver-tier and could not fly, they could only travel by truck.
As the battlefield continued to expand, Qin Shilei could no longer frequently use the cave-heaven and blessed-land to transport the two million expeditionary evolutionary beings.
Mu Ziping, standing beside him, suddenly spoke, "Now there is a problem that needs to be reported to Your Majesty. After nearly half a year of use, the fuel for the trucks is almost depleted. Should we first go and find a batch of oil?"
Qin Shilei felt a little embarrassed, "Since I learned to fly, I haven't thought about the issue of oil. I was indeed a bit lacking in consideration.
Send some members of the Night Watch to scout for areas where large amounts of oil are stored. Compile the information and give it to me, and I will retrieve that oil again then."
"Alright!" Mu Ziping had just replied when he noticed his communication talisman vibrate.
After a brief exchange with the other party, he looked up and smiled at Qin Shilei, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Wen Zhiyuan has just sent some good news. Another city in Baal has agreed to become our subordinate force."
Qin Shilei smiled, "This is also good news. You go and arrange for the Night Watch members to look for oil first."