ATIGIBTC Chapter 117.2

Yuan Zhiran didn’t use a loud voice, yet everyone could hear him. Some people vaguely noticed that although they appeared to be standing under the scorching sun, they didn’t actually feel the stifling heat. It seemed that this was due to the special structure of the turtle shell of the turtle-type mech they were in. High above them, hidden from sight, there was a faintly visible transparent cover. With this cover shielding them, they were spared the harshness of the outside environment, and for people who hadn’t enjoyed such comfortable sunbathing for a long time, this was a rare and pleasant experience.

Yuan Zhiran’s voice, just like himself, was outstanding. It drew everyone’s attention.

“So, Hope City has decided to obey the Divine Lord’s command and rescue this land. The land you are on will become the Divine Lord’s first trial ground. The Divine Lord will turn the land and environment you currently occupy into a holy land that the Nightmare Beast seeds will be completely unable to erode.”

“What did you say?” Just as Yuan Zhiran’s words fell, a voice full of shock came from the side. Not only the person who spoke out, but everyone who heard him showed an expression of utter astonishment.

“We will turn the entire stretch of land beneath your mobile cities, leaving not a single bit of empty space, into holy land that cannot be invaded by Nightmare Beast seeds.” Yuan Zhiran repeated himself. His voice was calm and light, as if he were casually discussing what to eat today.

“Why are you doing this?” Wasn’t this basically delivering to them exactly what they wanted?

Yet at this moment, Yuan Zhiran suddenly smiled. “Of course, we can do this. But perhaps you’re all thinking too simply. What we’re going to do isn’t just turning this whole piece of land into holy land. More importantly, we will drive out all your mobile cities that are surviving on this land!”

As soon as these words came out, the whole place was shocked. In that instant, everyone’s hearts were filled with anger.

“What nonsense are you spouting? You want us to leave?” Finally, someone spoke up in rebuttal. They thought these people were simply daydreaming!

“Of course we can. We have the ability to make any city vanish from this world without the slightest chance to resist. Doing so is even far easier than what once happened to Ao City.” At this moment, Yuan Zhiran was smiling. His face carried an air of uprightness, yet the words he spoke were exceedingly sinister.

He Fang’s face was expressionless as he adjusted himself into a half-idle state. In truth, he didn’t mean it exactly like that at all. But Zhu Yan had insisted he speak with a more severe tone, so they would understand the gravity of the situation and wouldn’t resort to excessive schemes and tricks to interfere.

“You’re just using force! You’re maliciously buying up our land… The apocalypse was built up bit by bit by everyone. We’ve maintained it till now with so much effort. And what are you? Crawled out from who knows where. How dare you try to snatch away the land we’ve worked so hard to protect!”

The other side was practically trembling with rage, and even He Fang felt a bit guilty. If one had to be honest, it was the major mobile cities that had worked hard to maintain the land that could still be inhabited today. Otherwise, with the Nightmare Beast seeds’ high rate of spread, how could there still be so much usable land left for everyone?

“I understand how you all feel. So when we say ‘drive you out’, it doesn’t truly mean it so absolutely, but rather…” Yuan Zhiran narrowed his eyes. His dazzling smile carried a hint of a venomous beauty, like a poisonous flower. “You have no way to keep the Nightmare Beast seeds from spreading forever. What’s more, there were traps like the former emperor of Ao City. What we want is to restore this world back to an age of peace and prosperity for everyone. We will transform the land into a holy land. All you have to do is pay a sufficient amount each year to keep standing on that holy land, and…”

What needed to be paid was, in fact, just rent. After learning about Gaia City and Pangu City, everyone had more or less guessed this already. Now hearing it only confirmed what they had suspected.

Seeing that everyone had fully taken in what he said, Yuan Zhiran continued, “The amount we require is the ‘tax’ of peacetime. It’s not that you must pay a huge sum outright, but rather a share of the capital you run on the holy land. And upon this vast and boundless holy land, you can freely choose where to establish your cities. The abundant treasures buried in the land, such as mineral veins, water sources, oil, or any other resources, will all belong entirely to you. Hope City will not interfere at all!”

He Fang nodded. His true goal all along was to make money and then expand the scope of his city. Now, although it was said that the holy land would be handed over for the mobile cities to use, this entire post-apocalyptic map still had vast areas that were completely covered by Nightmare Beast forests!

He could directly clear out Nightmare Beast forests, and then his city’s NPCs could develop within the areas that used to be Nightmare Beast forests, coexisting without interfering with the mobile cities run by the wild NPCs. Meanwhile, he could get money from these people’s hands!

Moreover, since all these resources were declared to belong entirely to the mobile cities, then for the sake of their cities’ development, they would surely work hard, work hard, and work even harder. As the ones collecting taxes, they would naturally establish themselves as a “ruling nation”, just sitting there and collecting money!

“Now I will issue to everyone a tax calculation table for the use of the holy land. Please look it over carefully and thoroughly.” Yuan Zhiran’s smile was warm as he watched the terminals in everyone’s hands light up with the document. He continued, “Hope City’s goal is to achieve world peace. Our City Lord, Lord He Fang, has always been a lover of peace. For the sake of peace, of course, we must have sufficient military power to uphold that peace.”

“You keep saying ‘peace’ with every breath, yet now you want to use force to drive us out?!” someone nearby spoke out mockingly.

“Yes. For the sake of peace, we must remove the radicals. In other words, if a mobile city accepts our holy land and agrees to pay the tax, it will gain the right to freely build its city on the holy land, as well as the protection of Hope City.” Yuan Zhiran slowly revealed a smile. “Hope City will not allow anyone to stir up trouble on the holy land. We will use our military force to assist every ‘friendly city’.”

This one sentence instantly landed like a bomb thrown into deep water, exploding in everyone’s ears with an unimaginable roar.

If one analyzed it carefully, agreeing to Hope City’s terms meant they could settle down stably on the land without having to fear the Nightmare Beast seeds anymore. They could plant and develop freely. On top of that, on lands rich with resources, they could also mine those resources. And judging by what had happened with Gaia City and Pangu City, once a city became a holy land, it could open up trade routes. Those days when they had to exhaust themselves just to scrape together a few resources would be completely over.

They would even gain the protection of a powerful military force!

Just how powerful was Hope City? When they saw Ao City, everyone had already braced themselves mentally, but once they laid eyes on the turtle-type mech, they understood the true gap even more clearly. And after that came the military parade.

This parade was not just a simple parade. Hope City wanted to show them its most powerful weapons.

Here, they would thoroughly assess Hope City’s strength and make their considerations and decisions.

“How can we be sure that Hope City will really help us? If we’re attacked and suffer heavy losses, how can Hope City guarantee to support us quickly?” Someone finally found their voice and raised this doubt.

“This question, perhaps after this parade, you will understand.” Yuan Zhirang gave a deep bow to the upper echelons of the mobile cities. “I trust that once you have watched this parade, you will understand that Hope City will absolutely honor its contracts with you all. After all, if Hope City truly wished to overthrow your cities, it would be effortless.”

As soon as these words left his mouth, the people around him instantly bristled with anger.

No one wanted to hear that, in another’s eyes, their city was so easily crushed. Among them were many rulers of dominant mobile cities, upper-level figures from mobile city alliances, and plenty whose cities possessed powerful mechs of their own.

But no one dared to speak up. Because right now, staring at the mech beneath them, which had completely surpassed the limits of their imagination, they were faced with a blow that shattered their sense of scale.

He Fang looked at the twisted expressions on everyone’s faces. He knew full well that Yuan Zhiran’s way of speaking was infuriating. Yuan Zhiran himself knew he was being infuriating.

But every word was taught by Zhu Yan. Zhu Yan’s way of doing things seemed designed precisely to show what “truly infuriating” looked like.

They had to show they were willing to offer benefits, yet at the same time flaunt the arrogance of a great city. Yuan Zhiran disliked it, but he was following Zhu Yan’s script word for word.

He Fang knew that these wild, high-quality NPCs were surely racking their brains now.

At first, He Fang’s plan was to bury Nightmare Beast Seed Defense Devices in each city’s preferred areas. But Zhu Yan suggested they might as well directly turn the entire currently visible map into the holy land.

Then, let these mobile cities, for the sake of securing more land, generate internal conflicts among themselves.

With such a vast expanse of the holy land now available, land could be completely privatized. This meant all kinds of development that were once unthinkable would become possible.

They’d want to seize the best land, pick the most fertile soil, lay claim to forests, water sources, prime locations, resources, mineral deposits, and gold. Resources they once didn’t even dare dream about were now within easy reach. Who wouldn’t be tempted?

This would directly shift the people’s unified resolve to resist Hope City into internal strife among themselves!

Perhaps right now they were still thinking about resisting Hope City, but once they witnessed Hope City’s military parade, they’d clearly understand the vast gulf between their strength and Hope City’s.

No one would dare stand against Hope City.

But they could fight among themselves.

Hope City would always remain “neutral”, “peaceful”, merely providing the holy land.

This was the perfect way to achieve He Fang’s goal bloodlessly!

Ever since He Fang had seen several major battles Hope City had taken part in, he had come to a deep understanding: his city’s NPCs, when dealing with wild NPCs, were instinctively ruthless, slaughtering them like they weren’t even human.

This was not what He Fang wanted to see.

But if it was war between mobile cities, though there would be losses, compared to wars involving Hope City, that would be nothing.

So after thinking it over again and again, He Fang realized the best way was still to let them fight each other.

As long as they used the reason of “protecting friendly cities” and temporarily stayed on the sidelines, then, afterward, acted according to the “friendly cities’” requests to protect them, their stance would remain simple and clear.

— We are Hope City, a city that yearns for peace.

— We protect our friendly cities.

Nothing more.

In that way, no matter how dirty the deeds done, there would always be the “friendly cities” to take the blame. The good reputation of their peaceful city would never be denied by anyone.

He Fang lifted his eyes and glanced at the various mobile city leaders, each wearing a different expression. The corners of his mouth curved slightly.

Although it was still very early, he could already see the day when “Ruins Without Restart” would be completely cleared by him.

Once the condition of world peace was achieved and the mobile cities began rapidly developing and opening up for full trade, money would flow to him endlessly.

Then he could open up even more Nightmare Beast Forests to welcome his high-quality NPCs!

He could practically create the entire world!

He Fang thought about how he had stumbled and hesitated from the very beginning to reach this point, and now, finally, at this moment, he saw the dawn of hope.

He Fang leaned half on his hand. His seat was positioned quite high, so it felt just like watching students take an exam in a classroom. Every little move those “students” made was laid bare before him.

Behind each mobile city leader stood one man and one woman, the main city’s NPCs. He’d never really paid special attention to them before, but looking now, he suddenly sensed something odd.

Why did each of his main city’s NPCs look so stiff?

Even though they were made with the same “Ruins Without Restart” algorithm, each wild NPC looked so vivid and real. Yet his main city’s NPCs instead seemed like robots. Was it because their stats were too high?

He Fang didn’t quite understand.

He Fang shifted his gaze slightly and looked at Yuan Zhiran standing by his side. Yuan Zhiran was watching everyone, and his eyes seemed to be constantly observing something. At least he still had expressions.

He secretly glanced at the other NPCs standing beside him. Although they had small expressions too, they still didn’t seem as lively as the wild NPCs.

Was it because of the occasion? Or something else?

He Fang thought it over carefully. Lately, he’d felt more and more that his NPCs looked rather strange.

The place chosen for the military parade was in a rather desolate area. They had come to a place quite far from any water source, surrounded by wild, overgrown weeds, with few trees. It was said this spot had once been a rest site for a large mobile city. Mobile cities usually stayed in one place for a while to plant, replenish, and gather resources, so now the area looked quite barren.

Around them were some small hills, not very large, and nothing particularly special or worth paying attention to.

This was the place He Fang had finally decided on. Before making the final choice, he’d opened the entire system map to make sure no mobile cities would pass by.

After confirming it on the system map, He Fang finally spoke up. This was the first time he’d spoken since the meeting had begun. The moment he opened his mouth, everyone’s attention fell on him. He Fang lowered his eyes slightly, deliberately making himself seem deep and inscrutable, and even lowered his voice.

“Begin the parade.”

And off to the side, when the main city NPCs saw He Fang like this, they all quietly shifted their gazes away, feeling that if they kept watching, they wouldn’t be able to keep their serious expressions in check.

—Their creator was just too cute!

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