Chapter 117: Please Do Not Consume Without Contribution

Chapter 117: Please Do Not Freeload

Just as Li Hongshen began firing his cannons, inside the Central Overlord University of the Prime World, the very handsome Teacher Wang sat once again in his rather luxurious office. He opened his eyes.

A trace of confusion and bewilderment flickered in his gaze.

"Did I forget something? Strange, I have this lingering feeling of unease in my conscience. Oh well, I shall calculate it."

With that, he straightened his back in his office chair and began to perform calculations in the void with his hands. Suddenly, Teacher Wang was enveloped in a massive algorithmic matrix. Various laws swirled within it, and formulas glowing with gold and silver light emerged throughout the structure.

Soon, the matrix began to flicker with scenes of the future—various possibilities, some colliding, some merging—but in the end, they all dissipated into golden-red specks of light in the void.

As the images faded, the algorithmic matrix surrounding Teacher Wang gradually slowed, eventually ceasing its operations and dissolving into energy that merged back into his body.

When Teacher Wang lifted his head again, he found that the confusion in his mind had not diminished in the slightest. His conscience still felt troubled, as if something were missing.

"Strange, strange, how bizarre. Why do I feel this unease, as if I have done something wrong to someone? Let me review my memory."

The next moment, Teacher Wang’s form became slightly translucent. He floated into mid-air, yet another version of Teacher Wang remained seated in his chair, eyes tightly shut.

The translucent Teacher Wang reached out a finger, touched the temple of his physical body, and dragged out a thin, silvery-white thread. He clapped his hands over the thread and then pulled them apart.

The thread transformed into a series of images, much like a video timeline in an editing program. Teacher Wang began to scroll through the footage, moving forward and backward, playing it at high speed.

Finally, he stopped at the scene where he had parted ways with Li Hongshen.

"Ah, I remember now. I forgot to tell that kid that using a Tier 3 altar blueprint for promotion also attracts beast swarms. When the floating island is connected to the intake city, it is automatically covered by a grand array, preventing the leakage of pheromones. So, he hadn't triggered a beast tide before. But now that his floating island has detached from the intake city, the pheromones must be releasing automatically. He is likely being besieged by beasts right now."

"Oh dear, and an island that has just detached like that shouldn't be capable of free navigation; control permissions are only handed over once it reaches the designated location. That means he has almost no way to stop along the way, and the route of his rapid ascent will surely attract many beast swarms with those pheromones. This..."

Teacher Wang appeared quite anxious. His translucent form paced back and forth in the office several times. He counted on his fingers for a long while before suddenly stopping. A faint smile appeared on his face.

"I have thought of how to explain it later. Yes, that’s it—this is a test I set for him. If he cannot even pass this, how could he be my disciple? Yes, that is exactly what I will say."

"Besides, he freeloaded so much technology from me; it would be inexcusable if he couldn't even pass this. However, if he is truly swept out of the Great Wilderness, it doesn't matter. Let him learn a lesson—freeloading is not a good habit. Everything comes with a price."

"Phew, I don’t feel uneasy anymore. That sense of guilt is gone. How wonderful."

***

Meanwhile, in the endless Great Wilderness, Li Hongshen had no idea how Teacher Wang was faring, but he knew for certain that he himself was not doing well at all.

He had fired dozens of rounds—everything that could be shot had been shot—and his ammunition reserves were already running dangerously low. Yet, the persistent swarms of ferocious birds outside simply came in wave after wave, each larger and fiercer than the last.

They had been fighting for three days and three nights straight. Li Hongshen, along with his generals and soldiers, had swapped shifts repeatedly. The city’s air defense alarms had rung incessantly; it was truly non-stop day and night. Now, every time Li Hongshen heard the alarm, his heart would twitch.

Li Hongshen hadn't slept a wink in these three days. His nerves were stretched to the breaking point, and he looked like a panda. He had large, dark circles under his eyes, his complexion was ghastly pale, and his hair was greasy and standing on end.

Even so, Li Hongshen remained at his post, ready at any moment to climb the city walls and cast a few bolts of lightning.

As for Shaman Ma, being an elderly man, he certainly lacked the stamina of a young man like Li Hongshen. He was already exhausted, and Li Hongshen had forcibly ordered him home to rest and recuperate.

Currently, all the residents of Li Hongshen’s territory had been mobilized to produce arrows, mostly using materials found on-site. They stripped the bones from the slaughtered birds to make bone arrows, polished them simply, attached the birds' own feathers, and transported them to the walls for the soldiers to use.

By now, the soldiers on the walls had lost count of how many arrows they had fired. Some even had their fingers sliced open by the bowstrings. However, with such high-intensity shooting, their accuracy had improved significantly. Li Hongshen even recalled a song from his previous life, humming it to himself as he fired:

"We are all sharpshooters, every arrow eliminates a savage bird..."

"We are all Hong City soldiers..."

"On that high wall, there are countless good fighters..."

"No food, no arrows, the birds deliver them themselves..."

Beyond leading the charge, Li Hongshen had also lowered the power of the protective barrier above the city, allowing the more powerful beasts to shatter the shield and enter New Hong City.

However, these birds that breached the shield caused no real chaos; they were immediately swarmed and beaten to death by the Storm Eagles that had been lying in wait, becoming resources for Li Hongshen’s territory.

As for the shells, Li Hongshen stopped pursuing extreme power and began making do with iron-encased stones. He would dip stone spheres into molten iron, pull them out, and quickly carve shamanic scripts onto them while they were still hot.

While these projectiles couldn't match the speed and power of spirit-gold shells, they were cheap and easy to produce. It was something Shaman Ma had come up with under immense pressure on the second day of the defense—truly proving the saying that if you push a person to the edge, they can do anything.

Fortunately, the electromagnetic railgun was not picky; it used electromagnetic propulsion technology and cared little for the quality of the ammunition.

Even with these simple shells, Li Hongshen dared not use the railgun frequently. He kept it for deterring Tier 3 remnants, preventing them from going crazy and launching suicidal charges.

In this high-intensity battle, Li Hongshen and his soldiers endured for seven full days and nights. By the morning of the eighth day, the dense swarms of birds in the sky had finally vanished, and the floating island finally ceased its movement.