Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland.

Chapter 504: Building a Line of Defense (Combined Chapter)
"strangeness……"

Lu Meng looked at the faction relationships on the panel.

Those faction names that are tinted red, this color symbolizes negative favorability.

Negative relationships also start from neutrality and are divided into: neutrality, disgust, rejection, hostility, and blood feud.

When it reaches the "disgust" level, this force will basically not look at you favorably, and when it reaches the "rejection" level, they will prohibit you from approaching or entering their sphere of influence.

As for the "blood feud" level, it is easier to understand.

That would be a life-and-death relationship. If it was a full negative 1000, they would not stop until they had completely wiped you out from this continent... To be honest, it's very difficult to provoke them to this extent.

This basically only occurs between forces that are hostile to each other based on fanatical beliefs and ideas, such as the Holy Kingdom's attitude towards the extermination of mechanical life.

Lu Meng ignored the ordinary small forces.

He noticed that in the column for the [Holy Empire], the faction's favorability had suddenly dropped rapidly not long ago. Although it was already at the level of hostility, it was now one step closer to blood feud.

It seems something happened.

Or maybe they got some information.

Lu Meng was not surprised by this.

Because when he unlocked the B-level permissions and the faction relationships were displayed on the panel, he noticed that the enemy of the Holy Kingdom, the Wave Ninjas, had already reached the level of "respect" towards him.

According to Lu Meng's estimation.

When he first left the hub station, the other party was at most "friendly" to him.

After all, although the Flotsam Ninjas at the hub station are weak, the strength of the entire Flotsam Ninjas cannot be underestimated. Their leader, Mor, was a war-level at the time, and a rare war-level master of stealth.

She has reached the pinnacle of skills such as assassination, stealth, lock picking, and sleight of hand, which are "not to be seen in the light" - of course, it is precisely because of this that she was able to lead the Wandering Ninjas under siege by the Holy Nation.

Such a force.

Their headquarters might have had a favorable impression of Lu Meng at that time, but it was unlikely that they took him seriously.

However, today the relationship has changed.

It seems that over the years, the transaction between Lu Meng and Lei Bo and the secrets of the Holy Kingdom revealed by them have helped the Wandering Ninjas a lot.

So even though no one knows Lu Meng's strength, his invisible reputation within the Wave Ninja Group is constantly rising... This can be said to be extremely rare.

Another force that has recently reached a "respected" relationship is the [Shak Kingdom].

This change occurred after the grain caravan and envoys from the swamp arrived in Scone.

Just as Bayan had promised.

He'll gain the friendship of the Shaqs.

Not to mention that Lu Meng’s achievements far exceeded their expectations.

The larger the force, the more difficult it is to change the relationship, but the more significant the effect.

For a big country like the Shek Kingdom.

If you can reach "respect", you can almost be considered an ally. Even if you can't get whatever you want, at this level, it is difficult for the enemy to betray you by tempting you with material things.

However, based on the traditional culture of the Shak people.

There is another condition that can gain their respect, and that is strength. Only warriors with strong strength are qualified to gain such respect.

"It seems that Bayan has finally revealed my identity as the 'Nameless Person'." Lu Meng thought, "Otherwise, ordinary interactions would probably not have caused such a big reaction."

At this point, Lu Meng no longer needs to conceal the identity of the Nameless Man to avoid possible selection by the Avengers.

On the one hand, the authorities have been continuously cracking down on him during this period, and on the other hand, the title of the Nameless One has finally become famous in the Shek Kingdom. I'm afraid he himself has begun to have fans among the Shek people.

This can be said to be the general trend.

Bayan also contributed to this.

Because Lu Meng became the king of the swamp, the chief advisor further re-evaluated his value, and the friendship originally promised was not just on a personal level, but an expectation of establishing long-term and close cooperation between the two forces.

Of course, based on Lu Meng's understanding of the hornless man, he probably has his own little ideas - he can use the nameless man's human identity to strike a blow against the arrogant traditional forces in the country.

Don't you usually look down on "flat-skinned people"? But it turns out that they have accomplished what you cannot.

Be ashamed.

The Shek people are indeed guys who value honor, and those five people who oppose the new policy will probably be much more restrained.

But correspondingly, they would probably also develop a sense of competition or even hostility towards him, an unknown person - just like towards the sword master Acker.

Does this count as being used as a gun?

Fortunately, Lu Meng was not afraid.

What's more, the more Bayan builds momentum, the more benefits he can get... This is a tacit understanding between them.

What really made Lu Meng feel a little strange was.

The relationship between the [United Cities] and the [Merchant Guild] towards him.

——That’s right, the levels of these two forces are equal. They are both the highest-level forces. They do not contain or belong to each other, but they are inseparable.

The Merchant Guild is like the blood vessels and nerves of the United Cities, wrapping up the loose connections between the city-states, but it is also like a parasite entrenched in them, radiating their influence to the entire continent with the Empire as the center.

in this process.

They might even do something that would harm the interests of the United City itself.

They have roots but no borders.

Lu Meng saw that the relationship between him and the United Cities had declined sharply, especially the Southern United City - perhaps the result of the fight for the intelligent core had been reported back.

The evidence is the relationship between [City of Colons] and him.

In a flash, we arrived at "Blood Vengeance".

It seems that the overlord Grace there is also very angry.

Having lost something as precious as the intelligent core, and even years of research and interpretation results being wasted...it would be strange if one could remain calm.

However, Lu Meng had made preparations before leaving.

Shadowman led the swamp ninjas to block the southern wetlands with all their strength. Even if the city of Coronce wanted to do something, they could not compare with those professionals.

But Grace's change in attitude affected the entire South Union City.

The End of the Wandering Land, Kaiton City, and the Mine Town...

The southern part of the empire has "rejected" him.

This does have some impact on Lu Meng's future.

Now that he wanted to gain a foothold in Shem, whether he continued to expand or set out to explore, he would inevitably have to deal with their territory.

The relationship between the Northern United City and Lu Meng has not changed much. From the beginning, it has been neutral, minus 124... It is impossible for these nobles to have any good feelings towards the peasants in their eyes.

The reason why it has not yet fallen to the level of "disgust".

Just because they are too lazy to care.

Who is Lu Meng? Never heard of him.

but……

[Faction Relations: Merchant Guild 0 (Neutral)]

“Neutral…” Lu Meng’s eyes shrank.

are you kidding me?

He could be said to have personally destroyed the Merchant Guild's plan to control the swamp, killed Yamudu, and later dealt with a second-level franchise caravan, and secretly fought with anti-slavery forces...

That’s it, or “neutral”?
Is it still possible to reconcile?

If it weren't for the fact that everything else on the panel was normal, Lu Meng would have suspected that there was a bug.

Even if nothing happened, the skinners under Lu Meng were engaged in smuggling business and were direct competitors with the Merchant Guild in this area.

There is no way the relationship between them can be positive.

In fact, Lu Meng saw it with his own eyes.

Just during this period of time.

The Merchant Guild's attitude towards him changed from "disgust" which was about to turn into "hostility" to "neutral" and finally locked.

Something must have happened during this time.

Lu Meng would not be so naive as to completely believe the level of faction relations just because the panel told him.

If you want to interpret it.

Perhaps there was some powerful factor that prompted the Merchant Guild to abandon its ordinary and spontaneous hostility towards Lu Meng.

So that they appear to be harmonious on the surface.

It can't be a gesture of goodwill.

It's more like worrying about alerting the enemy.

Just like under the calm water, who knows what kind of predator is hiding. When he tears off his disguise, he must want to get much more than he gives away...

Lu Meng retracted the panel.

there is always a solution to a problem.

As long as my plan goes on, no matter who or what their intentions are...

Just smash it.

In front of him, someone opened the curtain.

Rotten Town, Stone Town, Mud Town, Skin Town...

Except for the Water Tribe in the southern wetlands, which was too far away and had to guard against the city of Colons, representatives from the entire swamp were present.

"Red King." They all saluted.

At this moment, this ordinary fur tent, because of the presence of them and Lu Meng, has become as high-end as the iron dome.

"Thank you for coming all the way here, everyone has worked hard..."

Lu Meng encouraged him.

On this side of the swamp, most of the people who came were not armed.

There used to be many gangs in the swamp, but now Lu Meng's family is the only one in power. Most of the original big leaders were killed or injured, and the previous situation is no longer there.

Those members of their gang who were still willing to continue working would be recruited into the new army and trained by Kang Lai.

The others, whether they went back home to farm or entered new departments, were assigned different positions based on their specialties.

Lu Meng will not rule the swamp by previous practices.

This time, it was the "Engineering Department" that supported Shandi.

The construction industry talents of various towns have been integrated, and they are now gathered together, no longer having the situation of each having its own advantages but being independent of each other in the past.

Of course, there were other armed forces coming to escort them.

A crossbow troop trained by Cang Cui.

And the Skeleton Group, Tora the Fearless.

For those who are eager to hone themselves in battle, the swamp seems too peaceful at the moment.

Coming to the land of Shan is a good opportunity to open up a new battlefield.

and also……

Seto blinked at the side.

For her, this was a really long journey.

Not to mention a little princess.

Even most of the warriors in the kingdom do not have such rich experience.

Seto was also quite interested in the customs of the wandering tribes in Shan.

She recalled the legends before the founding of the Shek nation.

Their living conditions were very similar at that time. If Kral had not appeared out of nowhere, the Shek Kingdom would probably be in the current state of the Land of Shin.

Such associations made the little princess excited.

The legend of Kraal exists only in poetry and fantasy.

Is it going to reappear on this land?

However, Lu Meng has more important things to worry about now.

"You all know the basic situation. The beaked beast disaster is coming." He said, "This vast plain is the natural hunting ground of those 'giraffes'."

Once encountered.

There is nowhere to hide and no way to escape.

The only way to fight for a chance of survival is to confront the enemy head-on.

"In fact, I suspect that even if the wandering tribes have already migrated on a large scale, they may still be caught up by the herd of beaked beasts. The endurance and speed of these animals are beyond human imagination... and we have to stop them here."

On the plains, crossbow troops have no shooting angle advantage.

Once caught up, they would be slaughtered by the beaked beast.

Although the warriors of the Skeleton Corps are fearless and brave, Lu Meng will not send them to die.

"So..." Lu Meng looked at the people in the engineering department, "We need to build a line of defense here, a fortification that can protect us and kill the enemy at the same time."

"You seem like someone who can appreciate a good wall." The leader of the engineering department adjusted his thick single-sided glasses. "This is exactly why we are here."

Warman is also a talent in Shark Village.

But he is a worker bee, and the construction impulse rooted in his genes seems to have deviated a little when he left the factory, causing him to focus all his interest on the "city wall".

It is said that when Woman was still in the hive, the hive prince in charge neglected to supervise for a while. When he reacted, he found that this worker bee had built circles of walls outside the hive village, which looked like a maze. People inside could not get out and people outside could not get in. It was almost misunderstood as a new type of natural disaster...

Such a strong self-personality also caused Warman to break the consciousness connection with the tribe, causing him to be expelled from the hive and become a wandering beeman, also known as the "Wall-lover" outside.

Although this wall lover's talent and interest are focused on the city walls, if he were asked to build a small house he would not even want to add a roof, saying that it would affect the beauty of the wall...but this quirk is just right for the current situation.

"However, Your Majesty the Red King." Wurman was very excited that he finally had an employer who appreciated his "talent". He pushed his glasses again and asked, "How long will it take you?"

With Warman's engineering skills, in the past, no matter what construction period the employer gave, the construction team he led could often complete it ahead of schedule - provided that the wall was repaired.

Wurman asked deliberately.

In fact, he also wanted to show off in front of the Red King.

However, Lu Meng pondered for a moment.

Then, he said something that even Warman felt a surge of pressure on.

"Two weeks... No, one week," he said. "We only have one week at most."

"Based on the intelligence shared by the White Eyebrow Clan and the speed at which the Bone Burial Wolf, the prelude to the beast disaster, is advancing, a Beaked Beast will arrive here in a week at most."

"Don't think about retreating. Our speed cannot catch up with their pursuit speed."

"And if we fail to build a line of defense strong enough to resist the beaked beasts within a week, our soldiers and your engineering team members will be exposed to the long necks and steel teeth of those beasts."

(End of this chapter)