Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded.

Chapter 257 The Victory of the Martial Arts Competition, the Value of the Steel Wolf Fang

As the referee for the martial arts competition, Xu Wanfeng was the person who understood the situation on the field best, apart from Father Su An and Li Hao.

She is also the third mid-stage second-tier evolver in Oasis Town.

As the president of the Oasis branch of the Hunter's Guild, her strength is naturally not to be underestimated.

Even though he couldn't compare to Li Hao, the head of the Li family, who was fully armed and piloting the Rock Horse Battle Armor, he was still a second-tier expert with extremely rich combat experience.

They were far superior to the ordinary clerical priests in the Holy Spring Church.

The latter only represents the church in spreading the faith, with stability maintenance and internal security as its main responsibilities, and combat capability is not the primary criterion.

This was also for the sake of the Oasis Church, which, despite having four resident priests, was still suppressed by the local powerful families.

Without the true protection of the Papacy and without the Knights Templar, the authority of the Oasis Church cannot be truly manifested.

However, this situation is very favorable to the Wilderness Hunter Guild, because their existence has become the best balancing force between the Oasis Church and local families.

As a result, anyone who wants to achieve something will need to win over the Wilderness Hunter Guild.

The guild's status and power naturally rose accordingly.

However, this situation of being able to benefit from both sides and having a three-way balance of power is also based on the guild's own strength.

Xu Wanfeng's abilities have naturally been tested and verified by all parties, making him qualified to be on the dinner table and become the third person in Oasis.

As a level 25 evolver in the mid-stage of the second tier, Xu Wanfeng's power armor is not a common, general-purpose armor, but a custom-made armor that has undergone extensive adjustments and modifications to perfectly match Xu Wanfeng.

The increase in power and speed it brings is more than 10% higher than that of armor of the same level, while the load it generates is also much lower than that of general-purpose armor.

Combined with Xu Wanfeng's own strength, and wearing custom armor, she was more than capable of holding her own against Li Hao, who was fully armed.

Although unable to defeat the opponent, it was able to slow down the Rock Horse Armor and disrupt and restrain its actions.

That's enough!

Because of Father Suan's immortal holy armor, the two sides attacked together, and even Li Hao could not guarantee that he would achieve final victory.

In addition, a new force has emerged: Lin Feng, a powerful gun-wielding ability user...

Unless absolutely necessary, the Li family must not break ties with the Wilderness Hunter Guild and push them toward the doomed Oasis Church.

So the moment Xu Wanfeng stepped into the arena and made his move, Rock Horse Armor, which had been kicked dozens of meters away by the opponent's signature whirlwind kick, immediately stopped attacking.

He raised his hands to signal a ceasefire.

Li Hao then removed his helmet, revealing his true face. He looked at the custom-made black armor standing side by side with him, as well as the Church's Undying Holy Armor, and said with a sinister expression:
"The competition is over, why continue to sabotage the Li family's weapons and equipment?"

Su An, inside the Undying Armor, did not reply. Taking advantage of the brief moment, he turned around to check on the situation of the church's high priest.

After consuming the evolved flesh inside the Rock Horse Armor, the latter recovered its strength and gradually completed its transformation by utilizing the abundant life essence within the evolved flesh.

This also gradually reduced the negative effects of the beast form.

After the Rock Horse Armor's killing and feeding desires were satisfied, the blood-red color in the Wild Wolf Warrior's eyes gradually faded, and he slowly regained his composure.

Meanwhile, the High Priest's own rationality returned to control this depleted, mutated second-tier body.

At this moment, his body was covered with mutated and deformed tissues, making him resemble a monster that was half-human and half-wolf.

If it weren't for the tattered Undying Armor, which still offered some concealment, their identities would probably have been completely exposed.

Once he regained his senses, he quickly understood the situation and reacted without Father Su An's prompting.

Ignoring the intense, needle-like pain emanating from its entire body, it wielded its five sharp claws and began to pull and tear at the deformed tissues covering its entire body.

These excessively bestial and distorted characteristics of the wasteland wolf organization were directly torn apart and eradicated.

Throughout the entire process, not a single sound was made.

Even Su An was moved by her unwavering will.

Faced with Li Hao's questioning, Xu Wanfeng simply pointed nonchalantly to the side, at the broken rock horse armor lying on the ground:
"According to the rules of the arena, there is no rule that allows members outside the arena to announce the surrender and acquittal of the contestants."

"As far as I can see, the contestant sent by your Li family, Village Chief Li Mingquan, has shown no sign of conceding defeat..."

"Both sides were engaged in combat throughout the entire process, and neither side fell to the ground or left the border."

"Furthermore, the Church's attack on the Rock Horse Armor was entirely within reasonable bounds."

"Before the competition ends, any form of attack is within the rules, let alone destroying just a piece of armor containing a weapon..."

After being rebuffed by Xu Wanfeng, Li Hao, unable to find a reason, then steered the conversation to the wolf warrior behind the three of them, who was "removing his fur and skin".

Or rather, it should be the church's high priest who has been freed from his beast form and is covered in mutated tissue.

Li Hao, his expression indignant, angrily rebuked:
"Even if his actions with the Rock Horse Armor didn't overstep any boundaries, surely his current status as a participant in the competition isn't without its problems?"

"It was agreed before this competition that all participants would be registered at the same time, and no changes could be made after registration."

"As the referee, Chairman Xu, could you tell me now who are the people who participated in the first round of the second-tier competition, according to the list of personnel the church submitted to you?"

Xu Wanfeng frowned slightly and replied:
"He is an ordinary church monk at the early stage of the second rank."

"His strength is only at the early stage of the second tier, with a level 20 evolution."

Li Hao revealed a cold smile, pointing behind the crowd to the high priest who had torn himself into a bloody mess:
"Then take a look for yourselves. Is this a monk that the Church can send? Is he a priest, or some other outsider?"

"How come the fight was going so well, and suddenly he grew a body covered in tangled hair and turned into a hideous monster that was neither human nor ghost?"

"If the church does not clarify his identity, or whether he was actually someone who registered before the competition, does that mean the church manipulated the selection of his representative?"

"They found this monster at the last minute to replace the original contestant?"

"I demand that the contestants' identities be verified to ensure the process is correct!"

Xu Wanfeng frowned and looked back in the direction Li Hao pointed, just as he had said.

Even if the high priest reacted decisively, his physical injuries couldn't heal instantly, and his bloodied appearance made him look incredibly ferocious...

The surface of the Steppenwolf mutated tissue is not so easy to clean. It has become part of the Steppenwolf warrior's body. In addition to enduring the pain, some deeply rooted tissues have already contaminated the gene samples of the surrounding cells.

Even if it self-repairs and returns to its original state, it will still retain traces of its previous distortion.

Just like some wounds that keep growing the same scars, making it impossible to completely remove them.

The High Priest's current state was far from normal; compared to his previous half-human, half-wolf monster form, his current blood-red appearance was even more terrifying. Xu Wanfeng couldn't make a hasty decision.

After all, she needed to maintain a facade of neutrality. Even if she inwardly favored the weaker Holy Spring Church, she couldn't openly and blatantly protect them.

So I decided to ask Li Hao about his intentions first:

"What do you want? Right now, the church's contestants are seriously injured and need to rest for a while before they can undergo identity verification..."

Li Hao continued to sneer and spoke directly:

"If there's a problem with their identities, the church using outsiders in a duel clearly violates the rules of the competition. They should automatically be declared the losers, and we should be the ones who won this match!"

Only in this way can Li Mingquan's death and the destruction of the bio-magic armor not result in a complete loss.

Winning the first match means the Li family has gained the upper hand, and Li Hao hasn't even officially participated yet, so his current condition is excellent...

The Li family has essentially secured victory, so other families that are still observing, including Dawn Village, even Father Han Tao who is currently wavering, and the Hunting Wilderness Guild, will all side with the Li family.

The situation will be completely reversed.

However, Xu Wanfeng would not agree to such blatant favoritism, nor would the church.

Therefore, Xu Wanfeng settled for second best and said:
"Even if there are problems, the match is over, the Li family's representative has failed, and according to the result, it should be a draw."

"Each gets five points, or none at all."

Li Hao narrowed his eyes. This result wasn't unacceptable; after all, he could easily win one of the next two matches, as long as he didn't let the Church gain the upper hand...

If the score is tied, a tiebreaker will definitely be played.

Even if the rebel side has more second-tier evolved beings, they can still send out experienced second-tier powerhouses.

For example, the leader of Motorbike Village, a rock horse warrior supported by Li Hao, is also a force to be reckoned with, at least far stronger than Li Mingquan, who is all bark and no bite.

Despite this, Li Hao outwardly refused to back down and continued to insist that the Li family would win.

Just then, Father Su An, who had been silent until now, spoke from within the Undying Holy Armor:
"Since the Li family head wants to verify his identity, let's verify it together!"

"I remember Chairman Xu just mentioned that the contestant sent by the Li family should be Li Mingquan, the grandson of the Li family head and one of the Oasis administrators, or Village Chief Li, right?"

"Our fighters were merely attacking the Rock Horse Armor to eliminate the threat it posed. Li Mingquan inside the armor should still be breathing at this moment..."

"Why don't Patriarch Li himself step forward, open the Rock Horse Armor on the ground, and let everyone see if Li Mingquan is really inside this Rock Horse Armor?"

Upon hearing Li Mingquan's name, Li Hao's expression visibly changed, but he quickly regained his cold smile.
"The Rock Horse Armor can only be wielded by Rock Horse warriors, and during the battle just now, the armor only emitted an aura of the early second tier..."

"This is enough to prove that the person piloting the battle armor is a second-stage early-stage Rock Horse Warrior."

“Li Mingquan was inside. The spectators outside the ring saw him enter the arena wearing his armor before the match.”

"You're just looking for trouble!"

Father Su An ignored Li Hao and turned to look at Xu Wanfeng beside him.

The latter raised an eyebrow and quickly used the donkey to descend the slope:
“Father Su An is right. Even if the Li family head wants to verify the identities of the church personnel, the church still needs to check the interior of this Rock Horse armor to see if it is being piloted by Li Mingquan.”

"This is fair to both of us."

"So let's wait for both sides to rest and recover from their injuries, and then have a face-to-face confrontation an hour later."

"Even if Li Mingquan is seriously injured, unconscious, or dead, his body as a second-tier being will always remain."

"Everyone, please stay here and wait until you've recovered."

At this point, Li Hao's expression shifted dramatically, becoming unpredictable.

If what Xu Wanfeng said is true, then the Li family will definitely slip up and expose the existence of the biological magic armor.

It should be noted that armor capable of devouring its controller is a taboo area in biological research, and this project has always been strictly prohibited by the Church.

Because a biochemical catastrophe had already occurred during the Dark Ages of the Old Calendar, which almost swept through all major settlements.

The source of this is some large forces that have conducted unscrupulous research on evolutionary cells and gene radiation. Through various human experiments and the cultivation of biological implants, they are attempting to use technology to master a higher level of evolutionary power.

Stealing the genetic power of a third-tier king.

As for the cost, a large number of ordinary enhanced humans were infected, and even low-level evolved beings were contaminated and turned into mutated monsters.

The current influx of refugees in the wasteland is a remnant of that biohazard, a scourge that has lingered for millennia.

In fact, this ban is not entirely exempt, since there is quite a bit of relevant research within the church.

However, the church is a top-tier power, so its research has corresponding leak prevention measures and a complete system of regulations to ensure timely disinfection and cleanup even if a pollution leak occurs.

It will not lead to the spread of a biological plague.

However, if some ordinary first-rate forces, or even small, insignificant settlements, were to engage in this practice, it would likely not only bring annihilation to the settlements but also affect other nearby forces.

If the existence of the biological magic armor is exposed now, the Li family will inevitably face questioning.

Although this matter has already been rumored among the rebel leaders.

Because in the previous late-stage Tier 1 martial arts competition, a participating Rock Horse Warrior was tragically devoured by the Demon Armor.

But since everyone is in the same boat right now, and the Li family still has a chance to win, they won't make a fuss about it.

But if it's completely exposed...

The Li family either has to expose their close relationship with Life Farm, or admit it and become the target of everyone's attacks.

Neither of these outcomes is acceptable to Li Hao.

Once the Life Farm is exposed, the other party will abandon Li Hao in order to protect themselves. Even if they eventually seize the Oasis Warship, without anyone to come and meet them, they will still not escape the Church's pursuit.

With this in mind, Li Hao, caught in a dilemma, finally gave up arguing and verifying his identity, and admitted the result of the first match, with the Oasis Church winning its first victory.

As both sides retreated with their competitors, the crew in the command and control room of the Oasis warship ten kilometers behind also breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes slightly, reflecting on the intense battle just now, and the friction between Father Su An and Li Hao...

He realized the value of high-quality steel wolf fangs and alloy wolf bones in arena combat.

These Tier 2 biological materials have irreplaceable value in breaking through the Rock Horse Armor's defenses and defeating Rock Horse Warriors!
He still possessed some level 26 steel wolf fangs, enough to pose a fatal threat to Li Hao!

(End of this chapter)