Chapter 199: Chapter 199: I Just Love It When They Line Up to Deliver Benefits
"Fire Seeds aren’t the least bit scientific; they look like some kind of parasite."
"The apocalypse truly lives up to its name. You have to admit, it has its own brand of bizarre."
After further research, Qi Suian uncovered more issues. The Fire Seed acted as a protective layer against the wasteland’s radiation, but it also absorbed that very same radiation as a nutrient.
This was how it sustained such a vast ecosystem.
Of course, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something Qi Suian found rather odd.
But there was one problem: the absorbed radiation wasn’t entirely used to maintain the ecosystem. Only about ten percent was actually put to use.
The remaining ninety percent was held in reserve.
This made Qi Suian suspect that it was all part of some grand conspiracy by the Victory Clan from long ago.
The simplest explanation was that they were the ultimate beneficiaries.
Don’t just look for suspects; look for who reaped the final rewards.
Even now, this so-called Victory Clan still occupied twelve major Sanctuaries collectively known as the Edens of Triumph. They were the most powerful people on the entire planet.
If Qi Suian wasn’t going to suspect them, who else was there?
’There has to be some logic to it,’ he thought. ’After all, I haven’t found any other suspects.’
"A pity. The rest is locked. I can only research it up to Level 5; going any deeper will trigger the restrictions."
"Brute-forcing it will just cause it to self-destruct."
Qi Suian felt a sense of helplessness as he looked at the Level 5 Fire Seed - Rivet Knight in his hand.
It contained encryption technology that Qi Suian, at his current stage, could not crack.
If he had enough power or knowledge, he could have deciphered it. Unfortunately, his power wasn’t great enough to create an overwhelming advantage, and his knowledge was also lacking.
The Riveting Knight Sanctuary did have some research materials, but they paled in comparison to the Fire Seed itself. Much of the information was even riddled with errors and omissions.
Qi Suian had nearly been led astray by it.
"Looks like I either find a Level 1 Sanctuary and get a Level 1 Fire Seed directly, or I’ll just have to fight my way up, level by level."
Between the two, Qi Suian naturally preferred the latter.
The reason was simple: the Fire Seed Armor was just too powerful.
Even the Tai Sui God had struggled a bit against the lowest-tier Level 5 Fire Seed Armor.
If he went straight for what was ostensibly the highest-tier Level 1 Fire Seed Armor, he would have to rely on a combination of himself and his protagonist’s halo.
Even then, the chance of failure would be significant. The best method was to proceed methodically and carve a path forward.
In the process, he could also acquire a good deal of fuel.
Whether it was the pure-blood humans in the Sanctuaries or the Fire Seeds themselves, once they were of no more use, he could just toss them into the Melting Furnace for fuel.
Take the Level 5 Fire Seed - Rivet Knight in his hand, for example. Since its encryption prevented him from making any further research progress, the best fate it could hope for was to become fuel.
This encryption was part of the growth restrictions Qi Suian had identified earlier.
Actually, there was another solution: fight his way directly to the next level up, the Corpse Ghost General’s Sanctuary. He could then use the Corpse Ghost General’s Fire Seed to remove the restrictions on the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed.
The problem was, if he already had the Corpse Ghost General’s Fire Seed, what use would the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed be?
Perhaps there were indeed major differences between the two Fire Seeds—you could tell that much from their names—but to Qi Suian, they were fundamentally the same.
He had never cared about the so-called Fire Seed Armor; he only valued the Fire Seed itself.
[Alert: Individual approaching. Preliminary identification: pure-blood human.]
[In all likelihood, the connection between the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed and the Corpse Ghost General’s Fire Seed detailed in your research report can be confirmed.]
The AI’s alerts broke Qi Suian from his thoughts.
"Oh? Are you sure it’s people from the Corpse Ghost General’s Sanctuary?" Qi Suian asked.
[Affirmative. And even if they are not pure-blood humans from the Corpse Ghost General’s Sanctuary, you will still benefit from this encounter.]
"That’s true," Qi Suian said with a self-deprecating chuckle. "I can study multiple types of Fire Seeds, cross-reference them, and maybe I’ll come up with a way to crack the encryption."
’In truth, he had no confidence he could crack it at all.’
This was no simple task, after all. He was dealing with a powerful product left behind by an unknown civilization, a fusion of Extraordinary powers, technology, and more.
As a newly arrived Overseas Chinese, it would be more worrying if he actually felt confident he could handle it.
As for relying on his protagonist’s halo? That was an option, but even if it worked, it would take time.
Unless he killed the protagonist of this Wasteland World—that might shorten the process.
But... meeting a protagonist wasn’t so easy. And it wasn’t even guaranteed that one existed.
The most straightforward possibility was that the person from the Victory Clan who created this whole situation was the protagonist.
But that was ages ago. By now, their bones would have long turned to dust.
If he wanted to meet a protagonist, he’d have to rely on his own protagonist’s halo to draw one out. There was no other way.
Furthermore, identifying them would also be difficult.
After all, short of killing them or them revealing some protagonist-like traits, he had no way of knowing who was one.
The Treasure Map of the Lost could indirectly detect it, but only if the other person possessed a fated opportunity.
Otherwise, they could meet face-to-face and not even realize it.
"How many, and where are they?" Qi Suian stretched his limbs. After some hesitation, he decided against throwing the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed into the Melting Furnace for now, instead placing it into his Subspace Pocket.
The Tai Sui God needed fuel, true, but there was no rush. He wanted to get a second Fire Seed for comparison. If this one truly proved useless, it wouldn’t be too late to turn it into fuel then.
’What if I need it for something later and I’ve already burned it?’ he thought. ’Then I’d have to waste time wiping out another Sanctuary just to get a Fire Seed. What a pain.’
[Warning: The Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed is exhibiting instability. Suspected incompatibility with the Subspace Pocket environment, possibly due to conflicting spatial parameters.]
[Recommend immediate removal to prevent unknown consequences.]
Hearing this, Qi Suian immediately took it out without hesitation and tossed it into a compartment within the Tai Sui God where it wouldn’t impede movement.
He suspected the Fire Seed’s inherent nature as a "place of refuge" was conflicting with the Subspace Pocket.
’They’re both spatial items, after all,’ he mused. ’This is like putting a Storage Ring inside a bag of holding.’
Thankfully, the Subspace Pocket was stable enough that it didn’t cause any major issues. Once removed, the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed stabilized.
Fire Seeds possessed self-recovery and repair capabilities, though they weren’t particularly strong.
If the damage was too extensive, it couldn’t repair itself and required manual intervention.
Unlike Qi Suian, other pure-blood humans would never keep it in its Fire Seed state, choosing instead to deploy it as either a Sanctuary or Fire Seed Armor.
In its Fire Seed form, aside from being portable, it had no other function. At most, the small flame within the crystal could provide some light, serving as a makeshift lamp.
However, its effectiveness as a light source was pathetic. Being just a small flame, its range was tiny.
[Total squad size: seven... ]
Once Qi Suian had dealt with the Rivet Knight’s Fire Seed, the AI provided the requested intelligence.
[Comprehensive analysis: Pure-blood human strength is standard. However, their combat armor is significantly superior to that from the Riveting Knight Sanctuary.]
[Capturing them alive will not be an issue for you.]
[Proceeding, you can use the "lure the snake from its hole" strategy to gain entry into their Sanctuary.]
The AI’s plan was simple: use them as bait to get the Sanctuary to open its doors, then Qi Suian would waltz right in.
If no one opened the door, the Tai Sui God couldn’t get in without resorting to its Floating Cannons.
But he was worried that using the Floating Cannons would damage the Fire Seed. Having weapons that were too powerful was its own kind of headache.
"Let’s stick to the old plan, then. The pure-blood humans really aren’t very vigilant about this sort of thing."
"Besides, I’m in no hurry to get to their Sanctuary. If they’re from the Corpse Bone General’s Level 4 Sanctuary, I’ll need to study them for a bit."
"I need to see if the modifications they have are qualitatively different from those of the Level 5 Rivet Knight Sanctuary."
In Qi Suian’s mind, the personnel from the Riveting Knight Sanctuary were like a first-tier advancement, while a higher-level Sanctuary might have people who had undergone a second-tier advancement.
Due to the lack of communication between Sanctuaries, secrets like these were easily monopolized.
Just look at the mutants in Black Heart Town; they only had a hazy understanding of life inside the Sanctuaries. The information gap between Sanctuaries of different, stricter classes was even wider.
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"Up ahead is the Riveting Knight Sanctuary. We suspect mutants from the Steel Brotherhood are involved, so be on your guard." Ramsey, who had been tasked by Grand Elder Seth of the Corpse Ghost General’s Sanctuary to lead this reconnaissance mission, warned his six team members in a grave tone.
His six team members were all Warriors, but four of them were grandsons of the Elders.
It wouldn’t be unfair to say they were just here to pad their résumés. They had some combat ability, to be sure, but he couldn’t command them with a completely free hand.
They were his squadmates for now, but once they returned from the mission, they would be well out of his league.
Therefore, he could only do his best to warn them and fulfill his own duty as their leader.
Seeing Ramsey’s serious expression, the six squad members didn’t take him lightly.
They had all heard of the Steel Brotherhood’s reputation. Even if they’d never witnessed their brutality firsthand, they had heard the stories of entire Sanctuaries being wiped out.
"Yes, Captain!" the six replied in unison.
Ramsey breathed an inward sigh of relief. ’At least none of them are idiots,’ he thought.
Then, he opened his mouth to give a morale-boosting speech.
But just as he parted his lips, a sharp pain suddenly lanced through the back of his head.
In that instant, he knew something was terribly wrong.
But before he could react, his consciousness vanished.
The remaining six squad members only saw a black shadow flash past, striking their captain, Ramsey, on the head.
Ramsey collapsed, falling forward like a board. It was impossible to tell if he was dead or alive.
Fortunately, they didn’t panic. This wasn’t their first mission, nor was it their first time being attacked.
In the past, whenever they left the Sanctuary to explore, they would inevitably be attacked by mutant Scavengers.
This time, however, was different. They were experienced, yes, but their enemy was faster.
Before they could make another move, they all lost consciousness and were captured.
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