Tomorrow's triple update will be on time, no delays, no early finishes... Please cast your recommendation votes! (∩_∩) ... Not far away, perched on the very top of a tall tree, sat a man dressed in black. He was stocky with closely cropped hair, clutching a black sniper rifle, a trace of surprise flickering in his eyes. "He actually dodged it; his reaction speed is quite fast."

He watched Ye Chen slip into the thicket, paused for a moment, then gently set the sniper rifle down on the treetop, intending to retrieve it after the fight. With a sudden movement, he leaped down from the tree.

A sniper rifle, if it fails to hit the target with the first shot, loses its purpose. If he couldn't hit Ye Chen when the latter was completely unaware, it would be far harder to strike now that he was alert.

After descending, the man in black casually walked toward the jungle where Ye Chen was hiding, a smile playing on his lips. "I know you're in there. Come out."

Beneath the foliage, Ye Chen noticed the man in black carried no visible firearm and a coldness entered his eyes. He stood up, pushed aside the weeds, and stepped out, looking at the man coldly. "Who are you?"

Given the opponent's skill level, he wouldn't resort to assassination just to devour Ye Chen's physical body. That level of stealth alone was enough to ambush Level 30 monsters, hence the question.

The man in black took a closer look at Ye Chen, slightly surprised that the young man actually obeyed and emerged docilely from the bushes. He smiled faintly. "You must be Ye Chen, the one who killed the two Camp Commanders?"

Ye Chen frowned, guessing some things, and asked, "Were you sent by Yun Shaojing to assassinate me?"

"Correct." The man in black grinned broadly. "They all call me General Bloodwind."

A murderous aura flashed in Ye Chen's eyes. "Scheming against me time and again—do they really think a clay figurine has no temper?!" Even a clay bodhisattva has its breaking point, and Ye Chen was far from being a clay figure; he was a veritable God of Slaughter!

"I ask you!" Ye Chen lifted his head, staring icily at General Bloodwind. "How did you find me?"

General Bloodwind arched an eyebrow. "Watch your tone! Otherwise, I won't mind killing you and then feeding you to the dogs! A creature like an ant, how long do you think you can keep hopping? Young Master Yun's power is unfathomable; everything is under his control. To track your movements, he merely needed to notify the Information Department, and they could trace you through the General's Command Token."

Ye Chen frowned, realizing he had forgotten that detail. The General's Command Token wasn't just an ordinary badge; through it, the Base City could monitor the location of all Generals to prevent them from engaging in activities against the city's interests. Only a few Commanders knew this secret; Generals without background were completely unaware.

This wasn't entirely Ye Chen's fault. In his previous life, he served as a General for less than a year before leaving the Base City to wander alone for seven or eight years. That long a stretch was enough time to forget things one didn't frequently interact with. Hearing the man in black's words, he had assumed the opponent had used some incredibly subtle method to track him this far without detection, never considering the General's Command Token.

"Boy, I'll give you two choices," General Bloodwind looked down at Ye Chen condescendingly. "Either kill yourself, or I will do it!"

How familiar those words sounded...

Ye Chen’s expression was somewhat strange. In the past, these were the very words he used to say to others. To have them directed at him now felt surreal. He shook his head slightly. "Then make your move!"

General Bloodwind glanced at him, then slowly reached behind his back to retrieve a large saber wrapped in white cloth strips. He began unwrapping the cloth piece by piece. Moments later, a pile of white strips lay on the ground, and the massive saber was revealed to Ye Chen's sight.

It was an entirely black great saber, about three feet long (one meter), four fingers wide, with a slightly upturned tip. Numerous scratch marks scarred its surface, testifying to the many powerful monsters it had fought.

Ye Chen looked at the scratches, noting that beneath the outer layer of black paint, there was a glint of gold. His eyebrow twitched. "A Golden Saber?"

A hint of pride shone in General Bloodwind's eyes. "Indeed. This saber is forged from gold mixed with other metals, custom-made by the Production Department. It can even cut through the hide of a Level 30 monster to kill it!"

Although there are countless species of living things, categorized into phylum, class, order, etc., monsters generally fall into two broad types: Scaled/Armored or Fleshy/Pelted.

In terms of defense...

The Scaled/Armored types are significantly stronger, but they tend to be slightly slower. (This applies to most monsters.)

After the apocalypse, paper currency and gold were heavily devalued. Since the emergence of Ji-Hua (Base Energy/Essence), it directly replaced gold and paper money, becoming the future 'medium of exchange'!

Currently, paper currency is completely worthless, equivalent to trash!

However, gold and silver still retained some utility; they could be melted down to forge melee weapons. After all, humans didn't grow claws or sharp fangs like monsters, and without a good weapon in close combat, combat effectiveness would drop sharply.

Gold resists corrosion and possesses excellent malleability. When alloyed with other metals, it can create quite decent melee weaponry.

Ye Chen couldn't help but think of his Blood-Red Warblade, that relic weapon capable of slicing through the skin of an 800-level monster—impossibly sharp. He wondered what metal it was made from and how many times it had been compressed during its forging.

The denser the metal, the harder it is.

General Bloodwind held the saber single-handedly, staring coldly at Ye Chen. Suddenly, his feet moved, and he lunged forward. A hundred meters felt like a single foot. He crossed the distance in one stride, bringing the gold blade sweeping in a fierce gust of wind, aiming a horizontal slash right at Ye Chen's head. He hissed, "Do you know why everyone calls me General Bloodwind? Because when I strike, it's like the wind, and when I strike, there must be blood!"

Ye Chen threw his head back, narrowly avoiding the strike. His toe tapped the ground, and his body slid backward a dozen meters close to the earth. His palm moved, and the silver ring on his index finger dissolved into a flash of light. Under the power of the runes, it reassembled itself into a Blood-Red Warblade, its savage silhouette like an enraged tiger!

Ye Chen, gripping the warblade, sneered. He took one step, instantly appearing before General Bloodwind. Without any flourish, the Blood-Red Warblade descended in a crushing strike aimed at the head, carrying the force of an axe splitting the heavens—immensely powerful!

General Bloodwind was startled when he saw the Blood-Red Warblade suddenly appear in Ye Chen's hand. What shocked him even more was the weapon's imposing and fierce design!

With no time to process, seeing the blade wind rushing towards him, he could only raise his Golden Saber to block.

Slash!

A flash of crimson light. Ye Chen halted his steps, then smoothly pulled the saber back a few paces, looking coldly at General Bloodwind. The general remained frozen in his blocking posture, rigid as stone.

A faint breeze stirred the fallen leaves...

CRASH!

The Golden Saber snapped cleanly in half. The severed tip clattered onto the ground, embedding itself slightly. Then, blood began to snake down General Bloodwind's forehead like earthworms. With a thud, his body split down the middle, spilling blood, viscera, and other organs onto the ground.

One-hit kill!

Ye Chen flicked the Blood-Red Warblade. The clinging blood dripped off like autumn rain before vanishing, the weapon reforming into the ring on his index finger. He cast a look of faint contempt at the corpse of General Bloodwind.

What good was 'striking like the wind, demanding blood' when faced with absolute power? It was all trash!

Turning, he walked toward the Blood Tang Grass, plucked a sprig, smelled it to confirm its scent, and tucked it into his clothes. He then moved to General Bloodwind's body and searched him, finding two types of cards, similar to bank cards. On the lower left corner of one, there was a character for "Commerce" (), encircled by a dragon motif, signifying the Commerce Department of the Huaxia Base City!

On the other, the dragon motif encircled a character for "Military" ()!

A Military Merits Card!

Each card recorded personal information. With such a card, one could visit any branch of the Information Department to withdraw military merits or purchase weapons. Typically, only Generals were issued these. When Ye Chen was a soldier, he could withdraw merits to buy two handguns simply by appearing in person for photographic verification; a close match was enough to confirm his identity.

But Generals held vast amounts of military merits, so simple facial matching wasn't secure enough. Hence, these specialized merit cards were issued!

"I didn't expect you to carry both your Military and Commerce cards," Ye Chen was quite pleased. The Commerce Card was equivalent to a bank card, issued only to those whose deposits reached a certain threshold. Ordinary soldiers were not entitled to cards for storing a few hundred grams of Ji-Hua.

After all, making purchases by constantly carrying raw Ji-Hua would be inconvenient, especially for Generals who bought extremely expensive items.

Within the Base City, departments like Commerce, Production, and Information employed tens of thousands of people. Even allocating a small fraction of staff could easily manufacture these items.

Equipment?

Missions could be issued to the army, and people would immediately search everywhere for military merit.

Technicians?

There was no shortage of skilled personnel.

With both these resources readily available, the Base City's development speed was astonishingly rapid.

After searching for a while, Ye Chen did not find the General's Command Token on Bloodwind's body. This made him even more satisfied. If the Information Department later investigated and found he had met Bloodwind before his death, it would be suspicious. The General likely thought the same way, which is why he hadn't brought the token out, unknowingly doing Ye Chen a small favor.

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