Chapter 2005 - 1998: Giant City Mission
"Do humans have any allies or sworn enemies?" Zhang Menglong pondered this question.
It sounded like humans occupied a middle ground in this world. Since they had survived until now, it was certainly not a coincidence; they must have some allies.
Of course, Zhang Menglong was also quite aware of humanity’s inherent flaws. Humans were not a peace-loving race, so they must have some mortal enemies as well.
"Actually, humans have maintained relatively decent relations with the entire world," Ying Zheng said, "Currently, humans have a total of 238 allies. Together, we are strong enough to stand up to some of the powerful races."
"But as you know, being allies means having a common interest, and this kind of relationship isn’t very stable; it could collapse at any moment." Ying Zheng, having navigated both military and political arenas, was adept at playing the game of intrigue and deceit.
"What about sworn enemies?"
"Equally many," Ying Zheng shook his head helplessly, "However, overall, while it’s not too difficult for humans to survive here, expanding and reaching a certain level is hard!"
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, the Great City of Aiville is currently the base camp of our human race. There are currently around 5,000 survival bases like ours, and the total human population is only several tens of millions."
"It’s really not a lot," Zhang Menglong said; this population is even less than that of some metropolises on Earth today.
"There’s not much we can do," Ying Zheng said, "Although overall the human Gift isn’t considered strong, quite a few have reached the level of Ultimate Lifeform, but few have the courage to open that door."
"Yeah," Zhang Menglong remembered those superpower sect masters in the God Race world; when they touched that door, they had second thoughts. He might have been the first person from the God Race world to come here!
In a world where there are tens of millions of Dao Realm Martial Artists, only Zhang Menglong came here. You can imagine how low this ratio is. Many worlds don’t even have Life Forms that can reach the level of Ultimate Life Form; without Dao Realm, they don’t even qualify as cannon fodder here.
"We surely have quite a few strong individuals among humans, right?"
"Yes," Ying Zheng replied, "Our human tribe has over a hundred Dao Realm limit powerhouses. If they advance one step further, they might be able to touch that Supreme realm, which some call the Creation realm, others call the Ultimate Lifeform."
"Over a hundred people..." Zhang Menglong wasn’t surprised by this number. In the God Race world, no one had reached this realm yet. Having over a hundred people is already more than he imagined.
"It is those people who lead our entire human tribe to thrive here, and they have also established their own survival bases," Ying Zheng suddenly laughed, "But even their survival bases aren’t as prosperous as our Yan Huang City."
"Oh, there’s one thing you should be mentally prepared for," Ying Zheng said, "The once-in-a-millennium Myriad Tribes War is about to begin, and you’ve come at just the right time."
"Oh? How exciting?" Zhang Menglong, upon hearing this news, not only didn’t feel pressured but even got a bit excited.
He was still worried about finding a stage to let Yan Huang civilization shine, and now this opportunity has come so quickly?
"Exciting?" Ying Zheng smirked wryly, "I heard the last leader of this survival base say that during the last Myriad Tribes War, humans suffered heavy losses. We provoked a race called the God of Thought Race, and the human population shrunk by 30%! And it happened!"
"Shrunk by 30%? Doesn’t that mean tens of millions died?"
"If I told you that all this was done by only a few hundred people, would you still find this exciting?" Ying Zheng said, "It was only because humans offended a strong individual of the God of Thought Race during a mission treasure dispute that he slaughtered 23 million from the Human Race!"
Recalling this number, Ying Zheng felt a bit vindictive. During the Seven Kingdoms’ contest, slaughter was his forte, but now humans were being slaughtered here like chickens.
"God of Thought Race, huh? I’ve taken note of them." Zhang Menglong made a mental note of this race’s name.
"Don’t underestimate them. The God of Thought Race numbers over 50 billion, and they naturally have a high brain capacity. There are over a million Dao Realm limit powerhouses among them!"
"So many?" Zhang Menglong was quite surprised. According to Ying Zheng’s previous description, many race populations don’t even reach a million, yet they have so many at the Dao Realm limit level.
"But don’t underestimate the smaller races," Ying Zheng said, "Some have small populations but are incredibly powerful. For example, the Modan Race has only a few thousand here, but every single one of them is at the Dao Realm limit, and their combat strength is terrifying."
"It seems this multitude of races is quite fascinating." Zhang Menglong was becoming increasingly intrigued.
"Not only that, but some races might not be powerful in combat, yet possess strange and peculiar abilities, making them sometimes even more troublesome than pure combat races."
While Zhang Menglong and Ying Zheng were getting engrossed in their conversation, the person in charge of regulations in Yan Huang City suddenly rushed out of his guild building, clutching a crystal sphere glowing with red light.
"Hmm? Would he approach us on his own?" Zhang Menglong was very surprised because that person had never initiated a conversation with them. He thought he was just a simple merchant NPC.
"He would, but only under one circumstance: when the Giant City issues a task!" Ying Zheng said, "Being affiliated with the Great City of Aiville, the city occasionally issues some tasks to all survival bases, and the rewards are often quite generous, though the difficulty is quite high."
"Have you undertaken any missions before?" Zhang Menglong asked.
"A few times. In the over hundred years I’ve been here, there have been thousands of tasks, almost one every month. Of course, whether to take them or not is our own business. These are not mandatory tasks, so we don’t have to pay much attention to them."
"Hmm? Why not? Why not do the tasks if they exist?"
"The tasks here are never easy. I’ve taken over a dozen, succeeded only once, and those failed attempts were near-death experiences. It was practically a battle to the death, although the two Supreme Crystals I got were the reward."
"It seems the rewards are quite substantial," Zhang Menglong said, "Even completing the Magic Beast Egg collection task only gives 8 million Supreme Coins."
"If you’re interested, you can certainly give it a try, but it’s best to see what the task is first before..." Ying Zheng was halfway through speaking when he suddenly wore a wry smile, as Zhang Menglong had already taken the light sphere from the rule-enforcing person.
"Brother Ying Zheng, what’s wrong?"
"Nothing..." Ying Zheng sighed, "I haven’t told you yet; taking the sphere means accepting the task, and if you accept a task and don’t execute it, the consequences are quite terrifying."
"What consequences?" Zhang Menglong asked curiously.
"You’ll have a mark of the regulations of this world on you, and if someone kills you, they’re guaranteed to get a Supreme Crystal from your body!"