Chapter 139: What Is Reputation Worth?

Lin Mu shook his head as he looked down at the five people on the ground.

"001, get them onto the vehicle."

"Understood, Master."

Deprived of their leaders, the skeletons nearby began moving erratically; some marched toward the distant city, while others wandered off in different directions. Lin Mu then took 001 to several other areas. Half an hour later, twenty more people were added to his vehicle—all of them the masterminds behind the recent chaos. As for the skeletons left behind, it no longer mattered.

"Captain, should we be concerned about the skeletons that wandered off?"

"Don't worry about them, as long as they don't come near us."

They were just skeletons; it made no difference if they were ignored. He had already cleared the undead from his immediate vicinity, and the fate of other regions was of no concern to him.

"Um..." A woman in the back raised her hand cautiously.

Lin Mu glanced back. "Speak."

"My necromancy is different from theirs," the brown-haired woman said weakly.

Lin Mu scanned the room, looking slightly surprised. "Everyone here is either an old man or an old woman. How did someone as young as you end up among them?"

"I'm not that young, I'm thirty-three," she replied, meeting his gaze.

"You said your magic is different? How so?"

An old man nearby quickly interjected, "Lucia's necromancy has mutated. The creatures she summons are infused with mana. Furthermore, every day, the undead she summons will themselves summon another wave of undead, and these too carry that same magic. If you don't do something about it, this place will be overrun by the undead very soon."

An old woman added quickly, "Our summons are temporary and vanish when their time is up, but hers don't. Especially given the environment here—the air is saturated with necromantic energy—it's possible those skeletons might mutate further."

Lin Mu’s mouth twitched. "Is your magic really that ridiculous?"

Lucia nodded eagerly. "It really is. Besides, among my recent summons, there weren't just ordinary skeletons, but headless knights as well. I suggest you deal with this, or this world might turn into a realm of the dead."

Although she was a necromancer, she had no desire to turn her own world into an undead wasteland. She knew all too well how the undead could alter the environment.

Lin Mu waved his hand dismissively. "That has nothing to do with me, as long as it doesn't affect the area I'm in."

"But they will change the environment! Everything here will be destroyed!"

Lin Mu gestured to 001. "Take them to the third floor first."

"Understood, Master."

Lucia stopped arguing. Once some time had passed, he would naturally understand what she meant.

Arriving on the third floor, where Lin Mu had made some minor modifications to create small, individual cells, 001 said, "You will stay here. Unless you are called, you are to remain on this level." With that, 001 departed.

Once 001 was gone, the group breathed a sigh of relief.

"What exactly is that woman? Why didn't the curse I cast on her work?"

"Are you stupid? That thing doesn't even have a soul; what good is a curse?" the old man said, sounding exasperated.

"But what do we do now? My final skill was 'Undead Calamity,' summoning over two hundred thousand undead. Even after being struck, forty or fifty thousand must have survived," Lucia said, her face full of worry.

"Child, remember that we are necromancers; this situation is normal. Besides, this isn't our world. Even if something happens, it's none of our business," an old woman comforted her.

...

A week later, Lin Mu stared blankly at his monitor.

"Damn it! That woman was actually telling the truth."

"Captain, something is wrong. There are skeletons and those headless things everywhere outside..."

"Captain, the villages near us have already been occupied by the undead."

"Captain..."

Lin Mu picked up the radio. "I know what's going on. Just be careful. Try not to leave the vehicle, and use the laser weapons to target their heads."

Over the course of a week, the undead creatures in the vicinity had spread uncontrollably. In every direction, their numbers were staggering—at least a million. Lin Mu gritted his teeth; that woman was absolutely absurd. And these undead continued to spread outward; in a month, they might reach the tens of millions.

It was outrageous! Truly outrageous!

However, this worked in his favor. These undead acted as a protective barrier; anyone who wanted to get close would have to pay a price. Furthermore, he could potentially use these necromancers to launch attacks on other cities later. He just wondered how long these people would last here.

Time flew by, and Lin Mu spent six full months in that city. He hadn't made any changes to it; after all, it was only a medium-sized city. If he were going to make changes, it would be to a main city.

His war machine lifted off, slowly drifting away. Anna watched the screen. "Your captain hasn't changed at all. He still strips everything bare. Tell me, he already has so many resources, why does he keep hoarding more?"

"Maybe he's just being cautious? What if he runs out later?"

Anna’s mouth twitched. With the way their captain operated, she doubted he would ever run out of supplies. A single raid on a city was enough to fill his stores to the brim.

Anna was right; that was exactly what Lin Mu was thinking. With these twenty necromancers in tow, he no longer intended to linger in medium or large cities. He planned to hunt for a main city, though finding one was proving to be a bit of a hassle. He had to admit, the scale of this place was massive.

"Report, town detected!"

"Report! A medium-sized city found!"

They landed, raided the city, spent two days emptying every warehouse, and then continued on their way. The people who had escaped looked at the departing mechanical monstrosity in bewilderment.

"Weren't they here to conquer the city? Why are they leaving?"

"I'm not sure. They seem different from the others."

"Wait, do you think our survival..."

A year passed. A legend about "sky bandits" spread throughout the world. Lin Mu didn't know how it started, but the rumors had taken root. His reputation, however, was not particularly good.

Lin Mu didn't care in the slightest. As long as he had resources, what did a reputation matter? In just one year, he had raided dozens of medium-sized cities, and he had more supplies than he could count.

"Captain, the people below shut down their defensive arrays the moment they saw us. Shall we go down?"

Lin Mu’s mouth twitched. Raiding had lost all its sense of accomplishment.