Chapter Sixteen: Harvest

The defeat came crashing down like a landslide; the orcs, broken in spirit, were slaughtered. Wobiao led his personal guard in a breakout from the encirclement, and the human army achieved a decisive and overwhelming victory. They did not pursue the remaining ten thousand or so fleeing, disorganized orcs.

The Great Xia army, having completed its mission, returned along the original route, leaving the Holy Dragon Kingdom’s forces to clear the battlefield. All human casualties were given proper burials. The corpses of three to four hundred thousand orcs lay strewn across the entire field, and over two hundred thousand orc prisoners were captured. This was arguably humanity’s most glorious military achievement in nearly a century.

Another day passed. A transport plane flew toward the ravaged battlefield. Its cargo bay doors opened, and over a hundred engineers began converting crystal energy. Calculating at ten crystals per orc, Shen Yi conservatively estimated he could obtain more than three million crystal minerals. Excited, he longed to produce engineers en masse, but the current crystal reserves were insufficient; he could only wait until this batch of engineers finished absorbing the energy and returned.

Each engineer could carry back a maximum of five hundred crystal minerals per trip, so a hundred engineers would bring back fifty thousand crystals before needing to return.

Wang Sheng could never have imagined that this seemingly trivial event would bring Shen Yi such immense profits.

This brilliant victory also successfully intimidated the various races, deterring them from rash actions.

On a bright and sunny afternoon, Shen Yi happily fulfilled a promise he had made long ago by meeting a young boy from a remote village.

Fearing that he might not be able to defeat him, Shen Yi used android technology to create a duplicate of himself to receive the boy.

In his heart, Shen Yi thought, “When will I become strong? Waiting online, quite urgently.”

The boy’s name was Fei Qian. Upon seeing the massive human base, he was ecstatic. The rotating missile towers and the row of silent Vulture armored vehicles thrilled him so much that his cheeks flushed red.

Silver-white powered armor machine gunners stood lined up on both sides. Finally, Fei Qian saw the commander standing in the center, smiling at him. His designated master immediately stepped forward without a word and performed a deep kowtow. “Master, please accept your disciple’s respectful bow.”

Seated in the command hall, Shen Yi felt somewhat helpless. “Should I accept him or not? If I do, where would I put him?”

After a moment’s thought, he said, “Get up and speak.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Do you want to be a warrior or a mage? This answer is very important, so think carefully.” Shen Yi mused: if he wanted to learn magic, he’d have to wait for the Divine Race base; if he wanted to be a warrior, he could learn mech operation—though operating doesn’t necessarily mean understanding the principle.

“I want to learn how to create puppets. Master, I want to be as strong as you,” Fei Qian said with a serious expression.

“Creating puppets relies on external power, but forging iron requires a strong body. So what you need to learn first is to train your own body well. Go back for now; in a few days, I’ll give you the Physical Training Manual. The machine gunners in the fortress will teach you how to operate puppets. Just find any puppet to practice with; they’ll teach you. Go now, train hard,” Shen Yi said earnestly.

“Yes, Master.” Fei Qian kowtowed again, then returned to the fortress under the escort of the machine gunners, determined not to disappoint his master’s expectations.

Shen Yi wiped the sweat from his brow. “Being a master isn’t easy at all. Finally got him off my back.”

---

“System, this world is so dangerous. Are you telling me I have to stay in the base and not go out? I’m so weak that I can’t even beat a child!” Shen Yi complained helplessly.

Ding: “Host, you can have researchers study life sciences to enhance your physique, and also use Zerg studies to improve your evolutionary abilities!”

“Why didn’t you say this earlier?”

“You didn’t ask!”

“This is the first time I’ve found you so impressive.”

“That’s just how awesome I am.”

“I’m in a good mood, so I won’t argue!”

“You can’t argue.”

“I, I, I...” Shen Yi stammered for a while but couldn’t come up with a retort. After a moment, he thought, “You’re amazing. You’re amazing.”

Ten minutes later, Shen Yi held a small green vial containing the researchers’ latest achievement. “Is this the potion to get stronger? Looks awful.”

He called over an android soldier. “You drink it.”

Without hesitation, the soldier opened the bottle and drank it down, even licking the bottle afterward.

Shen Yi thought, “Couldn’t you be a little less disgusting?”

As Shen Yi watched, the soldier began to change. Already a sturdy figure, he grew larger, muscles bulging, his eyes fierce as if enduring intense pain. When the effects subsided, Shen Yi looked at the humanoid beast before him and was speechless. He thought, “Good thing I didn’t drink it myself; otherwise, I’d probably end up like this guy!”

“System, damn you! If I turn into that, won’t I be mistaken for a beast and killed on sight when I go out?”

Ding: “Nothing comes free. Want good stuff without paying? Wishful thinking.”

Shen Yi suddenly remembered: “How could I forget? The researcher’s inspiration is linked to crystal and gas mines!”

Waving his hand, he spent ten thousand crystals on research. Shen Yi was still collecting orc corpses, so money wasn’t tight. Ten minutes later, he had another green vial in hand. Shen Yi hesitated: could he drink this? That was ten thousand crystals—worth two hundred machine gunners. Could he just drink it?

This time, he didn’t have anyone else test it. He bit the bullet, closed his eyes, and swallowed the potion. The imagined agony never came; instead, a wave of comfort spread throughout his body, as if every cell was joyfully awakening. Moans issued from the command hall for several minutes. Slowly opening his eyes, Shen Yi felt the world was much clearer, and his mind worked faster.

Looking at his now more delicate palm, he curled his fist slightly and felt power—an invincible force, a pleasure he had never known before.

His eyes gleamed with excitement. “According to this world’s system, what level am I now?”

---

The base’s electronic synthetic voice responded, “Based on current known information, the commander is at Physical Training Level 2 and Mental Power Level 2. Since there has been no systematic study, True Qi and Magic cannot be rated. However, due to the commander’s improved aptitude, learning ability is very fast.”

Deciding to test himself, Shen Yi summoned a flamethrower soldier and threw a punch. There was a sharp “crack” as his fist struck the soldier’s powered armor. The scene froze on Shen Yi in a bow stance, fist imprinted on the armor, a breeze stirring his long, uncut hair. His handsome face and focused gaze exuded the aura of a peerless expert.

After a few seconds, Shen Yi struck a pose and said, “Please cooperate!”

The android inside the flamethrower soldier replied, “Understood!”

Then, with a loud roar, the soldier fell backward stiffly, crashing down with a cloud of dust.

Shen Yi twitched at the corner of his mouth, then withdrew his fist and stood upright, palms facing downward, slowly moving as he exhaled. With a confident stride, he returned to the base hall.

Flamethrower soldier? He’s dead—killed by me. Such poor acting; he should just lie there all day!

---

As Shen Yi gathered more and more crystal minerals, he began producing troops frantically. The barracks and heavy factories flickered with lights nonstop. With technological advancement, they could now manufacture tanks and Ghost Operatives.

Tanks had two modes: normal and siege. Siege mode required upgrades to unlock.

The Ghost Operatives possessed tremendous stamina and endurance, could become invisible, had extremely long range, were equipped with lock-on rounds, and could immobilize an enemy unit for a certain period. The fusion strike required the base to upgrade the nuclear missile capability to deploy a nuclear strike at long range, making them a formidable force.

Amid his excitement at daily troop production, Shen Yi received an unexpected visitor.

Following the emperor’s orders, Moonshade entered the Boundless Forest, concealed his presence, and began exploring. The first thing he saw was a battlefield fortress patrolled by machine gunners and flamethrower soldiers, resembling a great iron beast crouching on the earth—an astonishing sight.

As he ventured further, Moonshade deeply sensed the puppet master’s power. Compared to the “human base” before him, the earlier battlefield fortress was like a mere younger brother. Everywhere were densely packed machine gunners and other puppets, neatly arrayed Vulture armored vehicles, and massive siege tanks that dazzled Moonshade’s eyes.

He thought, “This puppet master commands such an imposing force. He cannot be isolated or insignificant. He must have greater ambitions. I must hurry back and report to His Majesty.”

Before Moonshade could act, a booming synthetic voice sounded: “Since you’re here, won’t you stay for a cup of tea before you leave? If word gets out, they might think I don’t know how to entertain guests!”