Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded.

Chapter 272 The Key to Winning Over, The Turning Point After Three Days of Holding Out

However, compared to Lin Feng's future achievements, Father Su An needs to consider the issue Lin Feng raised first.

If Oasis Town cannot receive support from the Holy City Bishopric, it will have to face alone a terrifying beast tide of tens of thousands of evolved wild wolves, reaching the level of destroying the town.

"You're right. If the Li family has a backup plan to block the bishopric forces coming to their aid, it would probably be one or two squads of Templar Knights."

"Given the size of the rebel army, there are only four or five second-tier evolved beings in total, with the strongest, Li Hao, being only at the mid-stage of the second tier. Therefore, they will most likely only send a small team."

"Then the countermeasures prepared by the Li family might actually be able to intercept this small team..."

At this point, Father Su An fell silent, and after pondering for a long time, slowly continued:

"Perhaps Li Hao shouldn't die so early. After all, with his strength, dealing with a second-tier early-stage clan chief-level wild wolf behemoth would be no problem for him."

"It can help alleviate a lot of the pressure on Oasis Town."

Lin Feng frowned slightly and shook his head:

"Impossible. He must die, and before he dies, we must squeeze every last drop of value out of him."

"The best course of action would be to sacrifice ourselves to severely injure the wolf clan leader, Wolf Ao, or to take the life of an early-stage wild wolf behemoth."

"Then we need to do everything we can to retrieve Li Hao's body and the level 25 Rock Horse Armor, as a means to restrain the Wolf Clan and as a bargaining chip in negotiations."

"Even if we can't take it back, we must try our best to destroy the Li family's second-tier body and the Rock Horse Armor, so that the wolf clan can't become stronger because of it."

"As for your suggestion to win over Li Hao, that can only be discussed with the entire Li family and the other two villages."

"There is no possibility of genuine cooperation between us and Li Hao. After all, we are mortal enemies who will fight to the death. He will not trust us, and we cannot entrust him with leading our people to guard the defense line."

“Since this guy has already gone all out and is going to war with the church, there is no room for maneuver.”

"Even if the two sides cooperated well and successfully repelled the Steppenwolves' attack, it would not wash away Li Hao's guilt of rebellion."

"Moreover, someone as selfish as him is willing to betray his entire family, which he has painstakingly built up over hundreds of years, for his own benefit. Who knows if he will choose to desert at the critical moment?"

“Abandon us and escape alone, or let your own people and the entire Oasis Town take the fall to hold back the Wild Wolf Clan’s attack and buy yourself time to escape.”

As he spoke, Lin Feng couldn't help but emphasize his words:

"Only when this guy dies will the rest of the Li family and the members of the other two villages be left leaderless. In the face of the life-or-death crisis of the beast tide, everyone will be in danger, and only then can they be better united."

"Because no one has the confidence or opportunity to escape from the jaws of a level 29 wolf behemoth, the only way is to hold the line and wait for rescue or a miracle."

"Moreover, utilizing Li Hao is already a plan confirmed by His Holiness the Bishop, and it will be implemented soon."

After listening to Lin Feng's analysis, Father Su An nodded, agreeing with his and the bishop's decision.

Li Hao, this unstable factor, obviously needs to be dealt with before the outbreak of a major battle.

Otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble he might cause.

However, the support from the Holy City Diocese is currently unable to arrive as scheduled, leaving Oasis Town with only its own strength to rely on.

Two thousand evolved beings fought against a pack of ten thousand wasteland wolves that had just reached the first stage of evolution.

Aside from having a certain advantage in the number of second-tier evolvers, the remaining first-tier evolvers, on average, need to face at least five wasteland wolves of the same or even higher evolutionary level at the same time.

Moreover, even though the Oasis Town has a numerical advantage in second-tier evolved beings, the Oasis Church only has Father Suan and Bishop Suan available to fight.

Li Mingquan of the Li family has already perished, and Li Hao is also about to face death. The remaining second-tier powerhouses are only the leaders of the two major villages, the guild leader Xu Wanfeng, and the last two, Han Tao and Lin Feng.

There are only six people in total.

The news of Chen Shanshan's advancement to the second tier is currently kept secret, and Lin Feng has no intention of revealing it. In addition, Chen Shanshan's abilities are more suited to one-on-one battles than to stepping onto a crowded and chaotic battlefield, so she is excluded for now.

The initial estimate suggests that there are four second-tier wild wolf behemoths among the Wild Wolf Clan.

The strongest wolf clan leader, Lang Ao, had already reached level 29, the upper limit of the second tier, over a thousand years ago.

Its ability to survive and remain operational for so long is due to its absorption of energy from the third-tier wolf king's body in the Wolf King's Tomb within the Fallen Wolf Valley.

If they were still in the Fallen Wolf Valley, Wolf Ao's combat power at level 39 would be enough to rival that of a level 30 third-tier king.

Even now, even after leaving the Valley of Fallen Wolves and no longer able to rely on the Wolf King's radiation energy to maintain his peak condition, he is still much stronger than an ordinary second-tier powerhouse.

Moreover, when the other party left Meteor Valley, they must have already decided to attack Oasis Town and would definitely have made thorough preparations.

Currently, in Oasis Town, only the Bishop, also a level 29 being, is at the same evolution level as Wolf Ao.

However, their condition and combat strength are completely incomparable.

Even if Bishop Zhang Hui, relying on the little high-level holy spring water he had left, managed to stimulate the last bit of life force in his body, he could at best only be on par with Lang Ao.

Not to mention that before this, the bishop had to exhaust his life force to fight Li Hao in a fierce battle, ensuring that the opponent died in the midst of the attack from the church and the wolf clan.

Thinking of this, both Lin Feng and Father Su An fell silent.

Before my eyes, molten metal was bubbling and churning, revealing a layer of impurities.

At this moment, Lin Feng thought of the Salvation Army's defection.

If we add another one, a level 29 evolver at the peak of their second-tier limit...

With the combined attack of the bishop, they might be able to contain and repel the greatest threat to the oasis: Wolf Ao, the wolf chieftain.

Lin Feng then proposed this countermeasure.

Father Suan nodded:
"Bai Ye, the leader of the Salvation Army, has been famous for a long time and possesses a very rare spatial ability. Judging from her current ranking on the Hunter's Guild's Heavenly Ranking, she has probably already comprehended the power of spatial origin."

"If we can persuade her to assist us, even if we cannot obtain support from the Holy City Diocese in the short term, we can still hold our own against the Wasteland Wolves."

"But the prerequisite is that we have to find a way to persuade the Salvation Army to give up cooperating with the Wasteland Wolves and instead join us."

As Father Suan spoke, he poured the molten molten metal from the clay container into a mold next to him to cool.

Sparks flew everywhere.

The molten metal, fully infused with the steel fangs, has a bright silvery-white hue, unlike the normal orange-red molten iron.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes, looking at the molten steel wolf tooth alloy filling the mold, and replied:
"The Salvation Army's original goal was to plunder a portion of the rockhorse breeding industry in Farm Village, which was owned by the Li family." "Now that the Steppenwolves have attacked, they may have promised this condition, using coercion and enticement to get the Salvation Army to participate in the massacre of Oasis Town."

"The Wasteland Wolves wanted to wipe out the entire Oasis Town, but the Salvation Army only wanted to target Farm Village. The two sides' actions are fundamentally different."

“Farm Village is merely an asset of the Li family. Even if the Salvation Army destroys it and takes away most of the aquaculture industry, it will only be a minor loss for the Holy Spring Cult. At most, it will add another bounty to the Salvation Army’s status as a wanderer.”

"But if the entire Oasis Town is attacked, especially the Oasis warship, which represents the Oasis Church of the Holy Spring, the consequences will be completely different."

"The complete annihilation of a medium-to-large settlement and the disappearance of a town-level unit of full scale will definitely be investigated by the Holy City. Even if Bai Ye becomes a third-tier king, he will not escape the Holy City's punishment and revenge."

"And there is no possibility of reconciliation between the two sides."

"This is the fundamental difference between the Salvation Army and the Wasteland Wolves in terms of their objectives. If we want to win over the Salvation Army, we must grasp this point."

"After all, we can't offer much in terms of tangible benefits or extra compensation right now."

Father Su An nodded, he was aware of this as well, and while the rough blank in front of him cooled down, he added:

"In addition to that, there is the most crucial point: we must convince the Salvation Army that Oasis Town has the strength to withstand the invasion of the Wasteland Wolves."

"Otherwise, even if they don't want to get involved, they will be controlled by the Wasteland Wolves and forced to take action."

Lin Feng hummed in agreement. This was also one of the questions he had been pondering: how to truly win over the Salvation Army. Father Su An had already revealed the key:
"So the current problem is whether Oasis Town can withstand the attack pressure from the Wasteland Wolves, at least it has to be able to hold off the previous beast tides."

"Given the current armament status of the Oasis warships and the firepower reserves of the five villages beneath the Oasis, they can probably withstand at most three waves. After that, the defensive lines in the four directions will definitely have weaknesses and be breached by the Wasteland Wolves."

"Defense alone is definitely not enough to stop the spread."

"Because the Wilderness Wolves hold the initiative, they can decide when to start a war, leaving us with no choice but to cower and passively take the beating..."

"The psychological pressure and physical exhaustion on both sides are several times greater. In addition, the Oasis Town's current reserves of supplies other than weapons are simply not enough to withstand a siege that lasts for several days."

"So to break this deadlock, while boosting morale and gaining the Salvation Army's trust, we must become more proactive..."

"For example, forming a Tier 2 elite squad to take the initiative and hunt down a Tier 2 early-stage wild wolf behemoth."

"Ideally, we could also bring back its corpse to boost morale and utilize this second-tier body to enhance the overall strength of the oasis."

"At the same time, it also lets the Salvation Army know that even after the Oasis Town suffered some losses due to the arena battles and internal strife, it can still easily deal with the Wild Wolf Beast and the threat from the Wild Wolf Clan."

Upon hearing Lin Feng's solution, Father Su An's eyes lit up.

This proposal is feasible, but also very dangerous. If the Wilderness Wolf Clan discovers it, they may be attacked by a group of giant Wilderness Wolves.

It would be best to wait until the second-tier wild wolf behemoths have dispersed before taking action, and then use human equipment and battlefield awareness to launch a surprise attack first.

As for manpower arrangements, Father Suan, being the only capable person in the church at that time, would certainly lead the team personally.

The other candidates included President Xu of the Wilderness Hunting Guild, as well as the leaders of Dawn Village and Motorbike Village.

There are a total of four second-tier evolved beings.

But that's not safe enough. It would be best if Lin Feng, who is a gun-wielding ability user, also went along to provide support and firepower from the rear.

Unfortunately, the Oasis Church is short-handed, and the bishopric of the Holy City has been suppressing the development of Oasis Town for hundreds of years, refusing to provide high-grade holy spring water.

Otherwise, Your Excellency would have already cultivated a qualified successor and, taking advantage of the scale developed in Oasis Town, promoted him to a true third-order bishop.

At this moment, Father Su An suddenly remembered that, in addition to himself and the two on the Oasis warship, there was a fourth second-level priest designated by the Oasis Church.

That is, the priests responsible for the safety of the pilgrimage caravan.

The priest named Wan Hai, a mid-stage second-tier priest, was older than Father Su An. Because he had spent many years wandering the wasteland, he had more combat experience than Su An.

It can be said to be a class that can be transformed into a combatant among priests.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent him to escort pilgrimage caravans, a job he did for decades.

In reality, Father Wan Hai was a formal priest from the Holy City Diocese, and like Father Su An, he did not have a background in the Oasis Church.

So what they have in common is that he was also an undercover agent sent by the bishopric to monitor and collect information on the development of Oasis Town, and he was mainly under the command of the Holy City.

He also kept an eye on Father Suan, ensuring that neither of them would betray the diocese.

What Wan Hai didn't know was that Father Suan, who seemed to have been "expelled" by the bishop and sent to Holy Spring Village, had already become the bishop's successor, even though he couldn't access the power center of the Oasis Supreme Council.

And at the last moment, he entrusted the important task of entrusting the future of Oasis Town to Father Suan.

The reason Su An thought of Father Wan Hai at this moment was because of the other party's duties.

The pilgrimage convoy returned to Oasis Town three days later on Holy Spring Day, carrying a truckload of supplies.

This has always been the case, but this time it's different.

According to the plan, before the pilgrimage convoy arrived, the Templar squad sent by the diocese should have already quelled the Oasis rebellion and read out the Storm Saint's decree to officially take over Oasis Town.

The supplies escorted by the pilgrimage caravan will inevitably change from fresh water and daily necessities for various villages to tools for the bishopric to control the oasis.

That is, a new batch of church members.

It includes a system of deacons responsible for management, as well as a system of combat priests who provide protection.

This would replace the personnel originally assigned by the Oasis Bishop, allowing the bishopric to have complete and thorough control over the Oasis.

Besides the personnel, the vehicle must have also contained a large amount of food and weapons to arm church members in order to suppress the resistance of local forces in the oasis.

This means that the pilgrimage caravan led by Father Wan Hai will soon possess the fighting power of at least one large village in the oasis.

Moreover, they would appear from the periphery of the encirclement, which in a sense meant they were the diocese's rescue force.

As long as Father Wan Hai organizes an attack, the Wilderness Wolf Clan will definitely be shaken.

This is the key to Oasis Town's survival.

Seize the precious opportunity to ambush the pilgrimage convoy from both inside and outside when it arrives at the oasis three days later!
Thinking of this, Father Su An immediately informed Lin Feng of the news:

"The pilgrimage convoy will arrive at the oasis on schedule. If we can hold out for three days, things will turn around!"

(End of this chapter)