Chapter 148: Purely for the Sake of Beauty

Each of the four squads was assigned over a thousand members, heading toward the east, south, west, and north respectively to begin their training.

In addition, the native races of the Great City, along with those brought by Lin Mu, also joined the training.

Their weapons and armor were all replaced with those prepared by Lin Mu.

Days passed by, and their combat strength gradually took shape.

Of course, the main fighting force still relied on the war machines; close-quarter combat opportunities remained rare.

Three days before the Battle of the Great City.

“From today onwards, you will be divided into eleven squads. Each squad will consist of 100 vehicles for the convoy members, and non-convoy members will form their own squads. You four will each lead one squad, and the remaining seven squad leaders can volunteer or compete for the positions.”

The newcomers felt a surge of excitement—becoming a squad leader would surely come with better treatment.

Though their current lives were already good, who wouldn’t want better?

Lin Mu’s lips curled into a slight smile. “The opportunity is yours; cherish it well. Korodo, you and the other clan leaders, come with me.”

He didn’t need to personally worry about the convoy, but these individuals required his attention.

After all, the matter of the Great City’s lordship weighed heavily on his mind.

Had he known this earlier, he certainly wouldn’t have attacked the Great City.

That move had cost him half a year of freedom.

Of course, even without this incident, he would have stayed here for half a year to a year.

But the meaning was different.

Entering a conference room, Lin Mu gazed at the people before him, feeling a headache coming on.

Were there really this many melee fighters?

“How many ranged fighters do you have?”

“Less than one percent.”

Not even one percent!

Each race had around two thousand members; there were fifteen races in total.

With thirty thousand people, fewer than three hundred were ranged fighters. Was this a joke?

“Enough about that. Tell me, how do you fight in the Great City battlefield?”

An elder cleared his throat. “The Great City Battle is simple. On the first day, it’s an individual fight—each city sends one representative. The victor wins that day. On the second day, it’s a free-for-all; three representatives per city. On the third day, it’s a legion battle with five thousand participants from each city.”

Lin Mu stroked his chin. “So, that means my war machines can’t be used?”

The people’s cheeks twitched; if his machines could be deployed, it wouldn’t even be a contest.

The elder pondered. “They probably can’t. We’ve been involved for a long time and haven’t seen such large machinery. That’s not to say the other side doesn’t have them; we’ll only know when we enter the battlefield.”

The cat-eared clan leader spoke up. “No, they definitely have them. The Fire City’s techno-goblin race has war machines. You’ve forgotten that.”

Hearing this, everyone recalled that indeed, there was such a thing.

War machines—wasn’t that what belonged to Lin Mu?

“What kind of war machines are you talking about?”

The elder recalled. “Similar to yours, but theirs are strangely shaped and much smaller. However, they carry many weapons, and in direct combat, we stand no chance against them. But their machines probably can’t match yours, at least in terms of weapons and ammunition.”

Hearing this, it seemed the war machines were unusable in the Great City Battle—truly a pity.

Lin Mu had equipped tens of thousands of laser cannons, tens of thousands of laser guns—armed to the teeth.

He had even prepared plenty of grenades.

Of course, the grenades were made by several chemists in the squad.

“So, entering the battlefield only requires over five thousand people?”

“To be precise, only five thousand and four,” the elder replied. “The extra four are to ensure that if you lose people in the first two rounds, you still have five thousand for the final battle.”

Quite a strict requirement.

Lin Mu rubbed his chin. It seemed the newcomers couldn’t participate; their combat experience was too lacking.

The five-thousand-strong team battle was better suited for these races, who possessed formidable individual strength.

Wait a minute!

Lin Mu looked at everyone. “If I win the first two rounds, doesn’t that mean I win directly and don’t need the third?”

Several representatives shook their heads. “The Great City Battle isn’t counted that way. The final winner is the city with survivors at the end.”

Lin Mu frowned. “Then what’s the point of the first two rounds?”

A female clan leader shrugged. “Maybe it’s just for show, nothing more. Even if you lose the first two rounds, you can still win the last. The final round is the most brutal—there’s no champion or runner-up. It’s a matter of life and death.”

“Exactly. The final round determines the sole victor by wiping out all other races. There’s no concept of surrender.”

In short, four Great Cities send twenty thousand people in, and surviving five hundred is already a tremendous victory.

The elder hesitated, then said again.

“There’s one more thing I’m unsure about. There are only four Great Cities, but large cities occasionally apply to become Great Cities. So we might face large cities again.”

“If only five thousand are required, it means only Great Cities participate. But if ten thousand are needed, it means large cities are involved.”

“And fighting large cities means five thousand versus ten thousand.”

The elder looked worried, as it had been nearly thirty years since the last large city applied to become a Great City.

It might happen this time.

“Didn’t you say there were only four Great Cities?”

“Great Cities defeated by large cities are demoted, while large cities are promoted to Great Cities.”

Lin Mu was stunned, quickly opening the map.

Sure enough, the other three Great Cities weren’t centrally located in the region, and even the city he was in was somewhat offset.

“In short, this place is a grand playground—a playground for the gods to watch. What we can do is survive these games. Besides the Great City Battle, other cities also engage in wars, though more frequently, every four years.”

Lin Mu nodded; he had long suspected this, but had no proof.

What he didn’t know was that he had already been deemed a bug disrupting the game’s normal progress by the higher powers.

The two administrators wanted him to hurry to the Mysterious City and stop causing trouble down here.

Once Lin Mu went up, he would stay put.

After all, the word ‘home’ was very tempting.

Lin Mu nodded. “I understand. I will arrange two plans next. But in both plans, your races will still be the main force.”