The Shapeshifter Collective Invaded by Vines

Of course, that was a joke. The environments on both sides were completely incomparable.

Comparing the environments of Kazdel and Siergrag was like comparing an estuary hunter's physical fitness to that of a battlefield superhuman.

The former would be down after taking two bullets at most, while the latter could take a full burst from a heavy machine gun, breathe a few times, and be completely healed.

Those two games simply couldn't be compared. It was even impossible to tell which side was the fantasy world.

"Quite a haul this time, but it seems I've stayed a little too long."

Huang Cao muttered to himself. From helping the new nobles succeed in their coup to managing his new territory, he seemed to have spent several months abroad.

Handling official documents every day had nearly numbed him. He badly needed the comfort of a beautiful girl.

Of course, no matter how fragrant the wildflowers outside might be, Huang Cao would only fertilize the flowers in his own garden.

"Time to pack up. I should head back."

Early the next morning, Huang Cao decided to build the first castle on his territory in Victoria, while also preparing to receive the newly arrived Sarkaz.

After nearly a month of searching by Theresia, she had finally found several thousand healthy men and women in Kazdel who were not infected with Originium Infection.

Why had it taken a month? It was because that vast country truly had more than just those few thousand people.

First of all, the number of people in Kazdel who had not contracted Originium Infection was genuinely tiny.

More precisely, there were very few adults who had not contracted Originium Infection. On top of that, official decrees traveled slowly, which was why it had taken a month.

Because newly born Sarkaz had not immediately contracted Originium Infection under Theresia's deliberate protection after the war ended.

However, those people had not yet reached working age, so it was naturally impossible to send them all out.

Thus, to gather this group, Theresia had gone to extraordinary lengths, nearly running her legs off.

These Sarkaz, sent abroad with the mission of revitalizing Kazdel, had come to the Victorian border without hesitation.

There were actually even more people coming later, probably another ten or twenty thousand.

"Theresia probably hasn't become the Philosopher King yet, or at least not the complete Philosopher King. I hope some of the experiences she has before then can give her a little lesson."

"As a politician who seeks benefits for her country, the first thing she has to learn is shamelessness—to pursue benefits for her people regardless of everything else. At least for now, this woman seems rather interesting."

Silver Ash in the story hadn't had much dignity when he was just starting out, either. Drinking until he vomited while entertaining guests had been commonplace for him.

Kazdel was no longer the great empire that had dominated the entire continent in its ancestors' time. It was a small country now, at most a small country with slightly high military strength.

The schemers of other nations would not put down their butcher knives just because Theresia was a white lotus.

Being politically naive truly meant being stupid.

Then the Sarkaz who had been sent over were dispatched by someone to build castles and work on infrastructure—in other words, to perform hard labor.

Talarians had the exact same physical abilities as ordinary Felines. Their strength was simply inferior to that of the other races.

Huang Cao had no idea how the Victorians recognized that the Felines before them were Talarians. After all, the appearances of the two races were almost identical, with no real difference at all.

At least, he couldn't tell them apart with his naked eyes.

But it didn't matter. In his eyes, whoever could haul cement was a good person.

Come on! Contribute your surplus value to me!

"Very good. Work hard here and don't fight. Carry one stone and you'll get five silver coins. If you do well, earning one gold coin a day won't be a problem."

"The stones in the east are almost finished being cut. All of you go east, carry the cut stones over here, and stack them up like building blocks."

"Stay safe. Put on your hard hats. Don't complain that they're troublesome or block your vision. If you end up completely paralyzed, don't blame me."

As Huang Cao toured his territory, he sighed emotionally. The Sarkaz really did have excellent physical abilities.

Since the Talarian cat people were too weak to carry large stones, dozens of them had to take turns whenever they moved stones, which was truly exhausting.

Only five Sarkaz were needed to carry most of the stone's weight.

Terra already had train technology, and it had even developed quite well, but it had not been widely popularized.

Even in the future, let alone now, Terra's trains would not be very widespread.

After a Catastrophe, nothing would be left, and the tracks couldn't be relaid.

High-speed Battleships were convenient, but it wasn't as if everything could be transported by battleship.

Although operating his own battleship was very cheap, and it could repair itself when damaged, it still somehow felt a little extravagant.

As for battleship engineers... Huang Cao stated that the spirit of the High-speed Battleship could repair itself.

"How should I build a train? It definitely won't work aboveground. If a Catastrophe strikes along the way, the passengers will have to stand there and get blasted by the wind."

After thinking it over, trains really ought to be built underground.

Come to think of it, was an underground train called a subway or a train?

Digging tunnels was undoubtedly an extremely difficult construction project for some countries.

But as a plant, Huang Cao declared that digging underground was his specialty. Digging a tunnel underground was no problem at all.

The important thing was how to lay the tracks. Digging a hole was easy, but creating a passageway that trains could use was not.

The composition of underground rock was especially complicated. He couldn't just lay tracks carelessly. What if it collapsed?

Thus, faced with the complex underground terrain, Huang Cao decided to use Abundance Technology once again.

Why should he lay traditional tracks? Why not simply let the trains run on plant branches?

Who said plants couldn't grow tracks? That was insulting nature's creation!

Huang Cao acted as soon as he thought of it. After nearly half a day, he finally cultivated a seed. Once planted, it would continue growing in a single direction, and the stalks it produced would take the shape of tracks.

Once fully formed, it would automatically absorb nearby minerals to strengthen the hardness of its leaves, while also clinging firmly to the ground.

It didn't even need to be repaired manually. Once formed, any damage to its body would activate its self-repair abilities, saving even the labor costs of maintenance.

83

Chapter 83: The Shapeshifter Collective Invaded by Vines

Since tracks could be solved with Abundance Plants, could the entire tunnel be handled the same way?

Wrapping plants around the tunnel's walls could prevent it from collapsing. This would require even less work than the tracks.

After all, they only needed to be hard and flexible enough. With this construction method, even an earthquake couldn't bring down the tunnel. And if it really did happen, they could just treat it as the passengers riding a roller coaster.

"But now that I think about it, since I can dig holes so quickly, why can't I quietly dig this tunnel into other countries?"

They would be blowing up the world together with all the other nations sooner or later anyway, so he might as well prepare now.

When war broke out in the future, wouldn't sneaking around behind them and attacking their rear let him end things faster?

Besides, there was no need to send people to guard these tunnels. Adding a few offensive organs to the plants would be enough to scare off a large number of people.

"You're trying to cause trouble on my territory? Hand it over!"

Huang Cao decided to get started as soon as he returned to Eden. In any case, there was already more than enough population for now.

Talarians were also migrating toward the vicinity of his territory in an endless stream. Judging by the speed at which news traveled, he should soon be able to gather a population of one million.

Over the years, Huang Cao had also nurtured several talents in Eden. They possessed a certain ability to manage territories, and they had all taken seeds as well.

But... now.

It seemed that some particularly interesting people had slipped into his territory.

Two nights before he was due to return to Eden, Huang Cao took advantage of the darkness to arrive at a desolate wilderness.

Following the scent drifting through the air, he kicked open the door to a certain Sarkaz worker's room.

What was surprising was that the originally burly Sarkaz suddenly drew in all four limbs, making itself look like a child.

"Shapeshifter, are you asleep?"

"I think I am."

"Come out for a walk. Aren't you tired of working all day?"

"If you can give me a raise, I probably won't be."

The Sarkaz that had been hoisted up changed shape like a slime, finally becoming a young woman with pale green hair.

Huang Cao felt that the Shapeshifter was female at this moment. After all, whether in figure or face, she was much softer than when they had first met.

Especially the small swell of her chest, which was on par with Warfarin's. That alone was enough to easily determine her gender.

Of course, if the Shapeshifter had a greatsword hidden on her body, that would be another matter.

The Shapeshifter was exactly what her name suggested.

However, for this Immortal, strictly speaking, she didn't have any special name.

There were simply too many names to remember. Based on her own characteristics, she had decided to call herself only the Shapeshifter.

Whether male or female, the Shapeshifter could transform at will, both externally and internally. There were many Shapeshifters, but they seemed to possess a collective consciousness.

The collective consciousness of the Shapeshifter Collective could disperse into countless individual consciousnesses, or recombine into a single whole.

"Did Theresia recruit you to work here?"

Huang Cao asked.

After all, he had heard about the Shapeshifter Collective's history of taking under-the-table jobs. He was only joking when he asked.

Although working illegally in other countries was merely one part of experiencing life for the Shapeshifter.

After experiencing everything there was to experience, she would probably want to experience death next.

"Of course I wanted to, but unfortunately, Theresia said it would damage the relationship between Kazdel and The Speaker, so I could only sneak in."

"Whenever I hear the words 'The Speaker,' I get especially curious. When did Victoria get a Speaker? So it was you... Of course it could only be you."

"So what do you want to do? Report me, or..."

Huang Cao teased.

The Shapeshifter Collective naturally had no intention of reporting anyone. Theresia was only her Demon King in name and couldn't directly order her in reality. Even cooperating and paying up was merely for the sake of watching the fun.

In a word, the Shapeshifter was a gathering of people who lived for amusement.

After living so long, she had seen through everything. At present, she lived only for fun.

The beautiful green-haired girl slowly raised her neck, studying Huang Cao before her with great interest.

Then, as if she had thought of something fun, she clapped her hands. Two more slime-like things suddenly bounced into existence at the doorway.

Huang Cao looked at her as well, waiting expectantly for her to put on a show.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Shapeshifter Collective had taken him for entertainment. Otherwise, they wouldn't have followed him all the way to Victoria.

"The workload in your territory isn't light. Even I'm a little tired, so I want to experience a different kind of pleasure."

The Shapeshifter's form flickered, instantly transforming into Warfarin's appearance.

Just as Huang Cao began to wonder what she was doing, a pair of smooth, jade-like hands suddenly settled on his shoulders.

When he turned around, he found "Theresia" and "Lamian" standing behind him, their hands stroking his back.

He glanced at them from the corner of his eye and instantly noticed that when the moonlight shone on them, they looked exceptionally pale.

Put plainly, the two behind him weren't wearing any clothes.

"Show other people a little respect."

Huang Cao cast a curious glance, then immediately turned his gaze forward again.

They're beautiful, and I like looking. It's just that Lamian isn't quite accurate—she's a little smaller than she should be.

"Are we beautiful? As long as you nod tonight, we'll all be yours."

The three women present spoke at the same time, their voices utterly seductive, as though they had been possessed by succubi.

Unfortunately, Huang Cao remained unmoved, because he knew they were only watching him for their own amusement.

If he actually showed interest, these three beauties might turn into three burly men and give him a massive visual shock.

The Shapeshifter froze for a moment, then "Warfarin" instantly returned to her original form as a green-haired girl.

"Or do you want this body of mine?"

As the Shapeshifter spoke, she lifted the clothes from her body, then continued teasing him relentlessly.