A Bountiful Harvest

To anyone else, this wealth was there for the taking, but to Li Ziran, it was a hot potato.

Years of crawling and scrambling across the Wasteland had taught him that value and profit were always two sides of the same coin.

The greater the profit, the fiercer the scramble.

Although Li Ziran had no idea what value he possessed, the Cannon Corps Commander had made his move.

No one gave charity for no reason. Once the other party's offer exceeded the limits of what one could bear, it might become a giant pie large enough to stuff you to death.

Under normal circumstances, Li Ziran would have refused without hesitation.

But things were different now. The instant "five percent" was mentioned, he sensed the ill will in Karen's eyes.

The Cannon Corps Commander was watching him. Karen was watching him. The other creatures in the cavern were watching him as well. It was terrifying—his decision seemed capable of determining whether a slave corps lived or died.

It was ridiculous.

Yet he did not shrink back or refuse. He merely gave a brilliant smile. "Commander, you must be joking!"

He had left himself room to advance or retreat.

But the Cannon Corps Commander was in no mood for jokes. His solemn gaze swept across everyone before finally landing on Karen, who stood close at hand. "Commander Karen, surely you have no objections?"

Li Ziran looked at Karen. The dissatisfaction on his face had long vanished, replaced by his usual composure.

For an instant, Li Ziran felt as though the Karen who controlled everything had returned.

"Of course I have no objections. You are the commander of an advanced slave corps, so naturally, you take the lead in dividing the profits," Karen said with a calm smile.

The burly Cannon Corps Commander turned to Li Ziran. The sternness on his face had vanished, replaced by a spring-breeze smile. "Now you have no worries, right? Li, you're outstanding. Your abilities are fully worth five percent. This is only the beginning. In the future, you'll definitely become an overnight sensation in the Giant Cannon Slave Corps!"

Li Ziran smiled awkwardly. He had not even climbed down from the man's nose yet.

The other party had not left him even a sliver of room to refuse. It seemed that if he disagreed, the man could squeeze him into mush at any moment.

"Five percent?" Li Ziran could not agree so casually. He deliberately raised his voice. "Commander, how much exactly is that? You have to let me see the harvest first. Like before—if the Corpse Dragon can't even catch a single Crocodile Warrior, wouldn't I be taking a huge loss?"

Everyone burst into laughter, mocking Li Ziran for being short-sighted. Everyone knew that once you latched onto an advanced slave corps, it would be hard not to get rich.

Taking advantage of their laughter, Li Ziran quietly struggled, trying to escape the Cannon Corps Commander's hold.

Who would have thought that the Cannon Corps Commander's trunk would suddenly curl, tossing Li Ziran directly onto his ear? He laughed heartily. "Come on, let me show you the Corpse Dragon's power. By then, even if I drove you away, you wouldn't leave."

Ignoring Karen's expression entirely, he raised his long trunk high and let out a piercing cry.

Receiving the signal, the necromancer atop the Corpse Dragon drove his wand directly into the Corpse Dragon's brow.

Whoosh!

A foul wind rose from underground, and the Corpse Dragon, which had been still for so long, suddenly began flapping its wings.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Gusts of wind hammered against everyone's faces like iron nails. Li Ziran instinctively ducked into the Cannon Corps Commander's ear and peered through the fur as the mountain-sized Corpse Dragon rapidly rose into the air.

Boom!

The rock overhead shattered, and blazing light poured down like mercury.

The long darkness made Li Ziran close his eyes instinctively. When he opened them again, he discovered that the Corpse Dragon had already escaped the underground space, becoming a massive black speck in the sky.

A succession of giant cannon blasts rang by his ears, as though he had returned to the moment he had first arrived at the giant cannon camp.

"Hold on tight!"

The Cannon Corps Commander gave a warning, then strode toward the front of the camp, reaching the foremost line in the blink of an eye.

The Fire Elephants on both sides were desperately gathering fire elements and turning them into cannon fire. By the flashes of the explosions, the shape of the colossal creatures in the lake could already be seen clearly.

They were not much smaller than giant elephants, clad in thick armor and wielding scimitars as they crawled through the mud.

There was no lake left before them. The former swamp had been reduced to shallow pools of water.

The Wasteland was swallowing the swamp faster than Li Ziran had imagined. In just one day, it had nearly evaporated all the surface water from the swamp.

This swamp would not last another half day.

With the mud exposed, the Crocodile Warriors had lost their hiding places and could no longer use the lake to evade the cannon bombardment.

Thus, they had no choice but to charge head-on. If this continued until the place became part of the Wasteland, only collective annihilation awaited them.

They were fighting with their backs to the water, their bulky bodies crashing toward the camp.

After every sweep of a scimitar came a streak of blood. Amid the bloodlight, the Crocodile Warriors hacked madly, while their enormous steel-whip tails lashed about wildly.

Crocodile Warriors!

The apex creatures of the swamp, capable of refining Crocodile Battle Qi suited to themselves from the Elemental Tide.

That sudden flash of red was Crocodile Battle Qi, a force capable of piercing straight through the Fire Elephants' thick defenses.

Under their wave-after-wave assault, the frontline positions had already been seized, and an endless stream of Crocodile Warriors surged forward from behind.

It was Li Ziran's first time witnessing such a bloody battle. It was sacrifice without regard for death. In the blink of an eye, dozens of Crocodile Warriors had died, buying only a tiny step forward.

Brutal!

Li Ziran could already foresee the doom of these hulking creatures.

They were kings of the swamp, but on the Wasteland, their thick armor and massive tails made them extremely clumsy.

Even so, they had occupied the camp's perimeter. It had to be admitted that Crocodile Warriors were absolutely a top-tier melee race. They were worth one gold coin each.

After stabilizing their position, the Crocodile Warriors began attacking the high ground of the Giant Cannon Slave Corps, their sharp scimitars slaughtering every Fire Elephant along the way.

Their charging momentum was unstoppable!

Li Ziran looked at the Cannon Corps Commander. The man was not the least bit panicked; instead, his eyes held a trace of mockery.

A familiar foul stench appeared, coming from the highest point of the lake.

The Corpse Dragon flapped its bare wings and crashed into the very center of the Crocodile Warriors like a meteor.

Bang!

Blood and flesh flew everywhere.

The sudden upheaval threw the Crocodile Warriors into disarray, and they began fleeing from the gigantic monster.

But fleeing was futile. Every step the Corpse Dragon took turned an entire swath of Crocodile Warriors into meat paste.

Compared to the mountain-sized Corpse Dragon, the Crocodile Warriors were ants.

But soon, golden light bloomed from the Crocodile Warriors' bodies. Crocodile Battle Qi, carrying tricky arcs, stabbed into the Corpse Dragon's legs.

Pfft!

Black blood sprayed out. Just as everyone thought the Corpse Dragon had been severely wounded, the enormous creature paid it no heed. It opened its long, pointed jaws and swallowed the Crocodile Warrior who had attacked it in one bite.

Watching from afar, Li Ziran gave a bitter smile. This was the advantage of the undead.

They had no nerves or brains and felt no pain at all. To severely wound the Corpse Dragon, one could only target the necromancer controlling it.

Unfortunately, he was sitting atop the Corpse Dragon's head.

Clearly, these Crocodile Warriors did not understand battle strategy. They frantically circulated their Crocodile Battle Qi and attacked with all their might, completely like moths flying into a flame.

The Corpse Dragon's fighting style was simple and brutal. It opened its mouth, pecked lightly like a chick eating rice, then swallowed its prey into its belly.

"Alright, time to take a look at the harvest!" The Cannon Corps Commander smiled and strode into another underground chamber.

This place was not as large as the previous one, but it was brighter and packed with all kinds of machinery.

At that moment, the various parts inside the machines were whirring, with gears and magical crystals layered together to form a golden door.

The light spun rapidly like a vortex, continuously spitting out completely unconscious Crocodile Warriors.

This time, they had not been crushed into candy balls. Their basic forms had been preserved.

Clearly, the necromancer had already grasped some of the proper measure of the Black Nightmare's Fang.

As soon as these Crocodile Warriors landed, conveyor belts carried them away. Fishman laborers waiting on either side tied them up with ropes and tossed them straight into sacks.

After standing there for only a moment, the underground cavern was already piled high with sacks.

A bountiful harvest!

Li Ziran had never seen such a grand operation. Crocodile Warriors were quoted at one gold coin each on the market, and there were at least a hundred before his eyes. This was the earning power of an advanced slave corps.

Li Ziran was tempted by the five percent share. The greed in his heart told him that as long as he spoke up, he could receive at least five Crocodile Warriors from this haul.

But at that moment, old Karen's reminder rang in his ears. "The laws of survival tell us that sometimes, don't try to be clever."

In an instant, he calmed down. The true great enemy had yet to appear.

"How many?" The Giant Cannon Corps Commander seemed to deliberately want Li Ziran to understand.

"Reporting, Commander, three hundred and seventy-two. The Corpse Dragon is still capturing them, and we have completely sealed off the Crocodile Warriors' retreat route." A Fishman who looked like a leader answered excitedly from afar.

"Oh, speed it up. Try to finish off these fellows by tonight. I'm already getting impatient to see Medusa's tender little belly!" The Cannon Corps Commander's ears twitched a few times as he laughed. "Li, I'll save the first little Medusa girl for you. From now on, in my Cannon Slave Corps, I'll make sure you live high on the hog!"