Jian Xingyi was certain of one thing: the system never exaggerated. After all, it was an AI.

So if the system said it could turn the tide of battle, then it could turn the tide of battle.

Jian Xingyi ran through the scenario in his mind, still unsure exactly what it entailed, but he… wanted to give it a try.

The prerequisite was having enough SSRs, but he already had a decent variety of SRs. He figured he could probably gather enough by trading with the rest of the guild later.

Probably…

Jian Xingyi replanted the plants and joined everyone else in digging trenches and building fences. As they worked into the evening, he received private messages from Houyi and Wu Yun.

“Both sides found it!”

Jian Xingyi was somewhat surprised—first, because he hadn’t expected them to find it, and second, because it was earlier than he’d estimated. It seemed they’d rushed up without stopping and found it without encountering any obstacles.

Jian Xingyi asked them about it, and they said the clues like “the tallest tree” and “the statue” were just too obvious.

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, they really were obvious, but without the clues, everyone would probably never have found them.

It seemed that if he ever needed to collect this item again, he’d still have to rely on the clues.

Jian Xingyi first went to the snow-capped mountain to retrieve the item, stopping by to check on them along the way.

“Things aren’t looking good… only half of our defensive wall remains,” Wu Yun sighed.

【It’s Really Cold】 had ranked in the top three on the server-wide damage leaderboard during the last zombie wave, so the difficulty was naturally insane. Fortunately, merging with the other two guilds had eased the burden, but it still left everyone scrambling.

Jian Xingyi then teleported to 【I Can’t Hear】, and the guild granted temporary Guild Administrator status to Lone Wolf and Akita so they could teleport together.

“We didn’t merge, so we’re barely hanging on… We’ve already lost a third of our walls, and we can’t afford to repair them—it’s too expensive,” Hou Yi said, frowning. “Plus, we lost two guild members. I hope there are no more casualties tomorrow or during the final battle.”

As a top-ten guild, 【I Can’t Hear】’s attacks weren’t as absurdly difficult as Grapevine Peak or It’s Really Cold, but it was still trickier than the average guild.

Times were tough for everyone.

After obtaining items from both sides, Jian Xingyi headed down with Lone Wolf and Akita. Apart from Shanhai, no one else had the confidence to simply choose a cliff and plunge straight down into the underground, so they chose to use a path on Flag-Raising Mountain to descend slowly.

By the time they arrived, it was already midnight; the guild was likely already battling the zombie horde by now.

Jian Xingyi sat behind Lone Wolf on his motorcycle, his hands gripping the handlebars. Only now, with this contrast, did he realize just how recklessly Shanhai usually drove.

The descent went smoothly, and Jian Xingyi encountered the Thousand-Eyed Monster on the wooden boat without incident.

Perhaps because they’d traded many times before, the Thousand-Eyed Monster was actually friendlier and more enthusiastic than before, even greeting Jian Xingyi with its wet, slimy tentacles.

Lone Wolf scratched his head. “Ew, that’s gross.”

Splash!

The next moment, Lone Wolf got a faceful of water; caught off guard, he even choked on a few mouthfuls.

Lone Wolf: “………”

Akita: “Hahahahahaha, serves you right.”

Jian Xingyi couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.

All along the way, Lone Wolf and Akita had been bickering at every opportunity. Akita, with a sly grin, loved to provoke Lone Wolf with a half-hearted, infuriating tone—commonly known as “dog-ass.” Meanwhile, whenever something happened, Lone Wolf would proudly show off to Akita like a little kid.

In the past, Jian Xingyi might have felt a twinge of envy; after all, no matter how used to being alone he was, he’d occasionally fantasize about what it would be like to have family by his side.

But now…

Jian Xingyi chuckled softly.

Jian Xingyi tossed the two eyeballs onto the water’s surface nearby. The Thousand-Eyed Monster swam over with a gurgling sound and, with a “whoosh,” swept the eyeballs away with its tentacles.

【Player 【Xinghe】 has completed 【Thousand-Eyed Monster】’s wish x3, progress 30%, received reward: dawn coins x6666, Special Item 【Eye of the Otherworld】 x2】

Yay!

Jian Xingyi successfully obtained the items and quickly opened the synthesis machine in the backend.

The Otherworld Container requires Wolf Fang, Ironware, and the Eye of the Otherworld. He already had the Wolf Fang; the Iron Cavalry Guild had given him plenty of it earlier, so he could simply use it to craft Ironware.

After the synthesis was complete, Jian Xingyi was overjoyed.

Now that the Wolf Fang was gone, Jian Xingyi noticed that the slot in the synthesis station—which had originally been reserved for the Wolf Fang—had changed to 【Any Beast King Part】.

He still had one Eye of the Otherworld left, which meant that if he wanted to synthesize another Otherworld Container in the future, he would have to keep saving up these River Monster eyes and hunt down more “Beast Kings.”

But defeating the Beast Kings wouldn’t be easy; he’d likely need to gain their approval to obtain the so-called body parts.

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, it seems these Transdimensional Containers are all designed for special creatures found on the map, such as River Monsters and Graveyard Wolves.

But…

Jian Xingyi glanced at the Lone Wolf wiping its face and thought to himself that these special creatures all possessed a strong sense of spirit.

I wonder what the mechanism behind this is?

After obtaining the transdimensional container, Jian Xingyi and the others set their next destination for the Fire God’s Belly dungeon deep within the Earth’s core.

“Nectar of the Gods II” is an S-rank dungeon, which is why everyone was reluctant to let Jian Xingyi go alone—after all, they’d have to traverse the Earth’s core and fend off several waves of followers within the dungeon to reach their destination.

Akita and Lone Wolf flanked Jian Xingyi on either side as they moved forward; along the way, numerous beasts and zombies appeared to attack them.

Jian Xingyi said in puzzlement, “Strange… I didn’t notice so many monsters when I came to the Earth’s Core a few times before.”

Akita replied coolly, “Because back then, Shanhai was with you.”

Huh?

Is there such a difference?

Akita chuckled. “These beasts have a bit of intuition. Sensing Shanhai’s presence, they wouldn’t dare come out to provoke him! The ones that do appear are either low-level monsters incapable of sensing danger—those are instantly wiped out by Shanhai the moment they show a shadow, so you probably didn’t even notice them—or high-level bosses, like the Dodo beasts that chased you earlier. But those kinds of bosses aren’t common on this map.”

“I see…” Jian Xingyi stared blankly.

So that’s how it is. No wonder.

Lone Wolf grumbled, “You’re ridiculous. You’ve been spoiled by Shanhai to the point where you don’t even know what’s going on in the map anymore!”

After all, Jian Xingyi had previously only farmed in the Homeworld and its surroundings. When he went out alone, he stuck to low-level maps like Peace Mountain, while Shanhai always led him through the high-level ones, so he really didn’t have a clear grasp of the situation.

Once the three of them entered the dungeon, Jian Xingyi heard the system notification: since he had cleared the dungeon multiple times, he was no longer eligible for the Wish Reward and could only receive some basic dawn coins.

But Lone Wolf and Akita could!

Although the two were constantly bickering, they had 100% synergy, achieving a 1+1>2 effect. With Jian Xingyi’s item support, they successfully covered him as he broke out of the followers’ encirclement, so in this instance, it was actually Jian Xingyi who led the two to the source of the lava. After tossing the container in, he blew it up in one go to clear the dungeon.

【Player 【Xinghe】 has cleared the Lava Volcano – Fire God’s Belly: Core of the Earth dungeon for the second time — 【Nectar of the Gods II】! Rewards: dawn coins x66,666, Battle Exchange Vouchers x2.】

Jian Xingyi immediately fed the vouchers into his rifle.

6,600/10,000

It still seems far off, but in reality… it really is far off! But it’s okay—maybe it’ll increase significantly after this zombie tide?

By the time the three returned to the guild, the fourth day’s zombie tide had already ended, and it was even daylight.

Jian Xingyi checked the time—it was just past ten in the morning.

The three glanced around the guild’s surroundings and froze.

The walls… where were they?

Jian Xingyi stared at the empty perimeter, completely bewildered.

Shanhai had been standing guard by the door; upon seeing Jian Xingyi, he immediately strode forward to meet him.

Shanhai seemed to want to hug him, but then thought that since it had only been a day, acting too excited might upset Jian Xingyi, so he stopped his hand mid-air.

Jian Xingyi chuckled softly and wrapped his arms around Shanhai’s waist.

“Silly, if you want to hug me, just do it.”

Akita and Lone Wolf winced at the sight, turning their heads to look at the sky.

“The stars…”

After a moment, Jian Xingyi stepped back from Shanhai’s embrace, sighed, and looked around. “What happened to the walls?”

How… could they all be gone?

Before returning, Jian Xingyi had imagined many possibilities—the worst-case scenario being that most of the walls were gone, riddled with holes, and the best-case scenario being that most of them had been preserved.

But Jian Xingyi never imagined that the surroundings would be nothing but rubble, with not a single… trace left!!

After Jian Xingyi returned, Bai Jie called a meeting.

Inside the office, Heiye shook his head sadly. “We did our best.”

In fact, before Jian Xingyi returned, most of the group—including Shanhai—had been injured; they’d just used medicine, so it wasn’t visible now.

Bai Jie briefly explained the situation to Jian Xingyi. In short, there were simply too many Godfathers. Using their intelligence and advantages, they led the giants and zombies to destroy the walls from all directions.

Rather than eating people, the zombies’ primary goal was to destroy the walls.

“That’s a bit terrifying,” Bai Jie sighed. “It’s as if they possess human-like cunning—knowing to destroy the walls on the fourth day to pave the way for the fifth.”

“Or maybe we’re overthinking it; perhaps it’s simply a system setting. After all, this is a fortress battle, so it makes sense for the zombies to prioritize attacking the walls.”

But either way… It’s destroyed.

Jian Xingyi asked, “What’s the situation on the other three sides?”

Bai Jie replied, “A third of the back wall remains, and half of the left and right sides.”

The situation isn’t much better.

Bai Jie sighed with a headache. “Morale is a bit low right now, but don’t worry—we’ll get it back in shape before the final battle.”

Everyone had worked so hard for so long, pouring their heart and soul into the walls that held out for four days, only to be rendered useless in the final battle—naturally, it was heartbreaking.

But even more heartbreaking than that was… On the fifth day, even the exceptionally strong Grapevine Peak might only manage to barely scrape through; it was unclear how many guild buildings and members would remain.

If even Grapevine Peak couldn’t guarantee victory in this battle, what hope did the other guilds have?

Jian Xingyi thought of the situations facing the other two guilds; the survival rate of their walls didn’t look promising either.

“Perhaps…” Jian Xingyi said, “On the fifth day, why don’t we try not using the walls?”

“Huh?”

Jian Xingyi explained, “We’ll pour our resources into the other three walls, reinforce them, and at least prevent all four sides from falling.”

If all four sides fall, there’s truly no hope—the guild would instantly turn into a sieve.

Jian Xingyi said, “But for the front gate, I have a plan. First is the lava. Second… I can’t be certain, but I might have something better than an SSR. Third…”

Jian Xingyi pulled out the Spirit Battle Talisman. “This is one of my trump cards.”

It is a combat force and army unique to the Savior.

Jian Xingyi had been holding back from using it these past few days precisely because the Heroic Spirit Battle Talisman has a cooldown period. His current talisman level is 2; once summoned, the Heroic Spirits can only last for three hours. After three hours, the next summoning won’t be possible until next week.

“This talisman can summon 300 grunt Heroic Spirits to fight for us.” Jian Xingyi took a deep breath and said, “Let’s be decisive. Secure the other three gates with walls and dense vegetation. As for the front gate, we’ll dig a trench to let the lava become our new wall, and then have the spirits assist us! Though I’m not sure how effective the spirits will be—after all, I’ve never used them against a zombie horde before—but at least… we can give it a try.”

Bai Jie and everyone else stared at Jian Xingyi in stunned silence.

Before Jian Xingyi returned, everyone’s spirits had been somewhat low.

But Jian Xingyi’s tone was too calm and gentle, and he explained the solution to everyone in a methodical manner. There was no anxiety or self-aggrandizement in his eyes, only serious contemplation.

Bai Jie nodded solemnly. “Alright, I trust you.”

To be honest, abandoning the front gate’s walls was risky and reckless, but since the one who proposed it was the farming expert Xinghe, and the plan would be executed by the strongest unit—Grapevine Peak—

“At worst, we’ll just fight them to the death!” Cola laughed. “No problem, we can win!”