Battle Preparations

At General Chen's words, he smiled knowingly.

"Just as General Chen said before, I don't want to be treated as a war machine." Xingtian's tone was neither particularly emotional nor completely devoid of feeling. "There are still many things I don't understand, but I'm constantly learning. I hope you'll treat me as an ordinary 'person.'"

"Although my physical structure and behavioral logic differ from yours, I believe that one day we'll understand each other and become true friends."

Yu Xiao could feel the atmosphere in the entire conference hall ease the moment Xingtian finished speaking.

No one argued over who had the right to claim Xingtian anymore.

"If there are no objections, I'll take it that everyone respects Xingtian's own decision." Yuan Zhen spoke at the right moment. "Then I hereby declare that Xingtian will remain under the Xuanse Cangqiong Legion of the Watchman Alliance and operate as a mobile mecha unit. Furthermore, given the special nature of Xingtian's independent operation, he will also serve as his own Tieyu, with all the rights and obligations of a Tieyu."

Only when Yuan Zhen had finished speaking did Yu Xiao finally relax.

He had temporarily defused the crisis surrounding his identity and had established his place in the Watchman Alliance.

Of course, establishing his place didn't mean everyone's attitude would immediately change. Yu Xiao would still need to work hard over a long period of time to overcome the barriers between them.

"Now that we've resolved the issue with Xingtian, we should draw up a battle plan for the Fourth Defense Line Archipelago."

Three hours later.

A black transport ship cut through the dreamlike clouds in the azure sky, like a giant whale swimming through the ocean.

It was now 11:26 a.m., and less than twenty-four hours remained before the next operation began.

The transport ship would reach the Xuanse Cangqiong base in another hour. Meanwhile, Xingtian was browsing the Evolution System's shop.

After this large-scale joint operation, Yu Xiao had accumulated as many as 46,000 evolution points available to spend. Killing the Level 3 monsters in the horde had earned him 16,000 points, killing the Level 4 monster Thunderclap on his own had earned him 20,000, and damaging a part of the unknown giant beast had earned him 10,000.

The reward Yu Xiao was most interested in was the one for "damaging a part of the unknown giant beast."

The unknown giant beast clearly referred to the creature that had failed to crawl out of the wormhole. Yu Xiao just hadn't expected that damaging one of its tentacles would directly earn him evolution points.

But the system's wording and this special reward mechanism also proved something else.

That giant beast wasn't dead.

Even though Yu Xiao had used every means at his disposal at the time, that one axe strike still hadn't been enough to kill it!

Combining this with Xingtian's earlier fight against Thunderclap, Yu Xiao roughly assessed his current strength.

"I can crush Level 3 monsters with ease, and I have a chance against a single Level 4 monster, but I can't face several Level 4 monsters at once—or anything of a higher level." Yu Xiao muttered to himself in his mental space as he browsed the shop.

The monster horde in the Fourth Defense Line Archipelago contained a large number of Level 4 monsters. Although this was a joint operation, Yu Xiao didn't want to leave his life in his teammates' hands.

So he decided to prepare for the worst and assume he might have to face several Level 4 monsters at once by himself.

"I've already got a lot of equipment modules on my frame, but they've increased its weight. The chemical missiles and energy corrosion cannon overlap in function, and neither can do much damage to Level 4 monsters..." After hesitating for a moment, Yu Xiao decided to move the two modules into storage and buy something new from the shop.

[Item Name: Dragon-Riding Guerrilla Turret Set]

[Item Description: A set of heavy turrets mounted around the power core, consisting of eight heavy machine guns arranged in two rows of four. Special ammunition belts give ordinary metal bullets armor-piercing properties, allowing them to inflict effective damage on Level 4 monsters.]

[Note: The Dragon-Riding Guerrilla Turret Set is mounted on a circular track, allowing it to rotate freely through 360 degrees horizontally, but its vertical range of motion is very limited. Adjust the frame's posture to ensure you can hit your target.]

[Price: 15000]

Buy!

It gave bullets armor-piercing properties at no cost, and it was powerful enough to deal effective damage to Level 4 monsters. It was practically the best value for money!

After all, these were machine guns. Their rate of fire and ammunition capacity were far beyond those of large-caliber energy weapons.

And weren't large-caliber energy weapons made to deal with Level 4 monsters with their stronger defenses?

Yu Xiao added it to his cart without hesitation.

"The other two equipment modules are the Giant Pincer thermal cannon and the Scorpion Tail combination greatsword. Xingtian specializes in close combat now. When he's wielding his axe, he has no time to use the thermal cannon, and besides, it doesn't work well against Level 4 monsters. The Scorpion Tail sword is convenient to use, and the toughness of giant-strength metal should be enough to withstand a Level 4 monster's strength..." Yu Xiao decided to remove the Giant Pincer thermal cannon but keep the Scorpion Tail sword.

However, removing the thermal cannon meant Xingtian would have no other close-combat option besides his giant axe, so he had to find a replacement.

[Item Name: Assault Impact Gauntlets]

[Item Description: Oversized gauntlets made of pure giant-strength metal, fitted with a special energy converter on the back. It can store the power core's waste energy and convert it with one hundred percent efficiency.]

[Note: The Assault Impact Gauntlets have two modes: Absorption and Release. In Absorption mode, they can absorb fifty percent of the kinetic energy from physical attacks they block and store it in the energy converter. In Release mode, every attack delivers an additional energy shock, whose power depends on the amount of energy stored.]

[Price: 15000]

Buy!

The gauntlets could even work in tandem with Xingtian's black armor, allowing the energy absorbed by the armor to be stored in the gauntlets as well!

"I've picked out equipment for both close- and long-range combat. I need to optimize the frame's performance too."

[Item Name: Lingyue Elastic Muscle Units]

[Item Description: A specialized bionic muscle module that weighs very little and changes shape as pressure increases or decreases. It can withstand an external force up to one hundred times its own weight.]

[Note: Lingyue Elastic Muscle Units are highly extensible and malleable. They can help the frame's bones withstand most external impacts and allow the mecha to perform many wide-ranging movements.]

[Price: 12000]

Buy!

A close-combat mecha like Xingtian needed to balance strength and agility. Just installing this module would reduce the frame's weight by another thousand tons and allow Xingtian to make even more unpredictable moves!

By the time Yu Xiao finished picking out the equipment he wanted, the transport ship had also reached the skies above Xuanse Cangqiong.

[Exchange successful. Thank you for your purchase. The system will complete delivery within ten minutes.]