Chapter 505: Island and Discovery, Preparation for the Bloodline Tracing Ritual Begins |
"Leader, we've cleared out the entire Freedom Tower. All ordinary Infected have been killed, and all leader-class Infected have been captured and contained. On B1, we're building the 'Bronze Arena.' It should be completed in three days."
The Alpha handed Yu Yuan a design blueprint.
"Once the 'Bronze Arena' is finished, our Seedling Program can begin."
"At that time, the Pioneering Group will hold internal trials. Those who meet the standard may challenge the leader-class Infected."
Yu Yuan glanced over the selection plan and thought for a moment.
"Okay, the plan is fairly thorough, but soldiers' protective measures must be solid to avoid unnecessary losses. The challengers' selection process can't be lax or ambiguous. Set rewards for success and punishments for failure so soldiers won't recklessly rush challenges."
The Alpha and Veteran exchanged a look and nodded slightly.
"Good. I'll refine the rules later..."
"Leader, we've finished exploring the whole Freedom Tower and gathered all the supplies.
We also checked the other offices and laboratories you mentioned and did find some decent medicines and items, but we didn't find any of the equipment boxes or weapon boxes."
Accompanied by the three of them, Yu Yuan inspected the remaining floors.
After checking, there were no neurotoxic gas pipes in the ceiling on any floor, and certainly no escape pods.
All of this meant one thing.
The Freedom Tower Yu Yuan had seen before was essentially a map altered by the Wasteland Battle Royale, vastly different from reality.
Naturally, there wouldn't be as many Epic, Legendary, or Rare Artifact items anymore.
Yu Yuan wasn't disappointed; this had been within his expectations.
"No problem. What about the situation beyond the Freedom Tower?"
"Yesterday Shadow found an exit from the tower. It leads to an island. From the high floors of the Freedom Tower you can see a dark patch on the sea in the distance, like a continental shelf. This island might not be too far from the mainland."
"Apart from this building, there are a few other similar towers scattered across the island, but they're not close by. Also, we found this..."
The Alpha picked up a USB drive and plugged it into the computer. A folder appeared, filled with densely packed surgical videos.
When a video began to play, Yu Yuan sensed something was wrong.
"This is... an organ transplant operation?"
On screen, a young man's heart had just been removed.
On the other side of the operation table, an older person's chest was opened and the heart removed.
Then came trimming, transplanting, suturing, and closing the chest...
At the end of the procedure, the young man's heart had been transplanted into the older man's body.
Below the video were the two subjects' information and physiological data.
That was just one transplant operation.
And the videos in this folder were far more than just a few dozen.
"This USB was found in the hospital on the eighth floor. Judging by the evidence, that hospital appears to be a place dedicated to performing organ transplants for wealthy clients.
The organ donors are various kinds of young people — students, debtors, people whose finances collapsed..."
Yu Yuan's brow twitched.
Obviously, this island was a place designed to cater to wealthy people's indulgence and to provide such services.
Once he understood that, a smile appeared at the corner of Yu Yuan's mouth.
"In that case, this island's value might be even higher. It's not just this tower; the other buildings likely contain good things as well."
"Yes. Shadow is currently exploring the island, and we're preparing for combat. Taking this island won't take long."
After thinking for a moment at the Alpha's words, Yu Yuan took out a ticket from the Rabbit Ring.
— [Return Ticket]
Quality: Rare Artifact
Rare Item Leaderboard: Rank 4967
Functions:
① This ticket can be bound to a civilization world (requires fusion with civilization shards) to form an exclusive return ticket for that civilization world. You can set three Return Teleport Points (changeable).
② For every 50,000 survival points spent, a return ticket (secondary ticket) can be generated. Civilization members can tear the ticket to instantly teleport back to a Return Teleport Point or near the holder of the Return Ticket.
(Note: This teleportation cannot cross world barriers. After binding to a civilization world, only members of that civilization can trigger teleportation by tearing the ticket.)
——————
This was an item he'd gotten a long time ago, and it was suitable to use in exploring this world.
He spent 500,000 survival points to generate ten Return Tickets (secondary tickets) and handed them to the Alpha.
He also set this tower as a Return Teleport Point.
"Give these tickets to Shadow and the others. If they encounter unavoidable danger, tearing the ticket will bring them back here immediately."
The Alpha accepted the tickets with a grave expression.
He knew the value of those ten tickets too well — they could save a life in a pinch.
That greatly reduced the risk for Shadow and the rest while exploring.
Next, Yu Yuan quickly checked the spoils collected from the Freedom Tower.
They were mostly Excellent and Rare-tier items, with a few being Epic.
Night and day, it was worlds apart from the time he had participated in the Wasteland Battle Royale.
Yu Yuan wasn't picky; many of the items could be useful inside their civilization.
He didn't dawdle. He immediately instructed the Alpha and Carmen to coordinate.
Items that could boost soldiers' strength would be added to the Military Merits exchange system; Carmen would handle the rest of the distribution and processing.
Then Yu Yuan reviewed the Pioneering Group's member progress.
After so many days fighting the Infected, with the Pioneering Group rotating through training, the proportion of Elite Recruits had reached 62%, and the proportion of soldiers who had obtained the Veteran identity template had reached 37%.
Rock was the first to obtain the Hunter identity template.
He gained: Firepower +45, Defense +35, Carrying Capacity +120%, Neural Reaction Speed +80%, Willpower +5, Environment Adaptation +150%.
It was a meteoric rise.
Although Rock hadn't yet been injected with the Genetic Modification Serum, his current physique and combat power were already not inferior to a Bronze-tier gene-modified person.
Rock's enhancement increased all soldiers' expectations for acquiring high-level identity templates.
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Wasteland Calendar, Day 81, early morning.
Johnck Zoo, Ritual Hall.
Yu Yuan looked at the ritual circle drawn on the Altar of Life.
A few kinds of materials with mysterious effects had already been placed at different positions of the ceremony circle.
"Leader, everything is ready..." Mona checked the time.
"There is 1 hour and 12 minutes left. That's the best window for the Bloodline Tracing Ritual. The vampire bloodline will be at its most active then."
Yu Yuan thought for a moment and asked,
"The upstream vampire we summoned — it will appear on the Altar of Life, correct?"
"Correct. The Bloodline Tracing summoning consumes all of the vampire's blood. That is why a vampire must be sacrificed — it serves as the summoning vessel.
When I used my talent to construct the Altar of Life, it triggered a prepaid-cost effect. Unless I pay off the last prepaid cost, I can't prepay again for another ritual."
"That doesn't matter. After all, it's only a Bronze-tier vampire!"
After final confirmation, the Canary's Cage appeared in Yu Yuan's hand.
Under his control it rapidly expanded.
Soon, the cage's base overlapped the Altar of Life, the cage door opened, and the whole Altar of Life was enveloped.
Yu Yuan showed a look of determination, his heart somewhat excited.
After planning for so long and preparing so much, it was finally time to begin tracing the vampire bloodline.