Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded.

Chapter 304 Recovery, Evacuation, and the Li Family's Submission
After uttering his last words, Li Hao completely lost consciousness, and the last glimmer of light in his eyes gradually faded away.

The eyes are dull and the pupils are dilated.

However, his aura did not dissipate; it still released the intensity of a late-stage second-tier aura, and it became increasingly intense.

Standing beside this second-tier body, Lin Feng could vaguely feel the pressure emanating from the advanced offensive cells.

Like an ordinary wild animal in the jungle, how it feels when facing a tiger.

However, this tiger was nothing more than a paper tiger with only its shell, posing no threat whatsoever.

Because Li Hao's brain tissue had been damaged by greedy late-stage second-order cells, which were frantically devouring the nerve cells in his brain that were only at the mid-stage strength.

Even the eyeballs were now being stained with blood, and later the cells even invaded the surrounding tissues.

Lin Feng sighed. Li Hao's legendary experience made him a true hero of his generation. It was just a pity that he encountered the bishop, who had been plotting to seize power for hundreds of years. All his efforts over half a lifetime ultimately led to the promotion of Oasis Town.

From its original state of extreme poverty, it has developed into a medium-to-large-sized settlement.

What Lin Feng needs to do now is to successfully rescue Oasis Town from the devastating beast calamity and then smoothly upgrade it into one of the bishoprics of the Holy City.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng suppressed his emotions and bent down to pick up the shattered rock horse armor.

At this moment, the Rock Horse Armor and Li Hao's body were less than half the weight they were in when they were in their full form.

Chen Shanshan followed behind, keeping watch.

The two men, one after the other, quickly arrived at the boulder location two kilometers away, where they had previously carried out the sniping operation.

Chen Shanshan moved several late-stage Tier 1 wolf corpses from the ground to the weapon rack behind the chariot, and only took the evolution meat from the remaining early and mid-stage ones.

Lin Feng casually peeled off a complete set of late-stage wolf pelts to wrap Li Hao's remains inside the Rock Horse Armor.

After all, as time goes by, the late-stage second-tier cells inside will likely devour the flesh and blood of the Rock Horse Armor as well.

That would mean losing a complete set of Tier 2 mid-game armor for nothing!
Despite the fact that this level 26 armor is now completely destroyed, the internal biological tissue remains intact!

Provided with sufficient life-giving substances and a continuous supply of nutrients, tissue proliferation can quickly stimulate epidermal cells to secrete a new layer of dense ceramic armor.

Just like keratin in keratinocytes, the essence of ceramic armor is heavy metal elements plus silicon elements, mixed with biological proteins to form a biometal layer.

As a bio-engineered garment, its biggest advantage is its self-repair capability, unlike mechanical armor which can become inoperable due to wear and tear on its parts.

At the same time, it can also be upgraded and strengthened under the stimulation of life essence, improving performance and combat power.

For example, after Li Hao took the sublimation potion and the second-stage late-stage evolution agent, he upgraded his Rock Horse Armor from level 25 to level 26.

A level 26 Rock Horse Armor like this is more valuable than a level 26 Evolution Agent.

It also has the potential to be upgraded into a later-stage battle armor.

It can be exchanged for at least two Level 26 Rockhorn Evolution Agents.

Even if Lin Feng doesn't need it himself, he can use it to enhance the combat power of his subordinates and improve the strength of the caravan.

A second-tier early-stage Rock Horse Armor user, when paired with this mid-stage armor, possesses combat power comparable to a mid-stage evolved individual.

In this way, the safety of Lin Feng's forces can be guaranteed to a certain extent when he goes out on missions.

Placing Li Hao's remains inside the giant wolf's fur would also help alleviate the rampant expansion of his late-stage second-tier cells through the suppression of his natural enemy's bloodline.

Less than five minutes had passed by the time the two of them had quickly finished cleaning the chariot.

It's much faster than cleaning up the Rockhorn battlefield outside the Wild Rift.

After looting these resources, the two boarded their chariot, drove onto the smooth oasis road, and sped away, kicking up dust.

At this moment, four or five kilometers away, the Oasis warship at the head of Oasis Town had successfully repelled the pack of wasteland wolves that had launched the earlier attack.

Meanwhile, thousands of evolved wild wolves, at Wolf Ao's mournful howl, quickly retreated from the Oasis Avenue and instead hid in the wastelands on both sides.

After shrinking their territory, the wolf pack began hunting the wild people on the outskirts of Oasis Town, killing enhanced humans and absorbing their flesh and blood to recover their strength.

Although the nutritional value that enhanced wasteland dwellers can provide to evolved wasteland wolves in the early and mid-stages is very limited, the fact that they can absorb human blood and water in the resource-poor wasteland can bring great benefits.

This helps alleviate the soaring temperature inside the evolved wolf's body after launching its charge.

So when Lin Feng arrived at Oasis Town, the Oasis warships and members of various villages had already begun cleaning up the battlefield.

This battle was only the initial contact, and with the support of Lin Feng, the various forces in Oasis Town had ample ammunition. Therefore, the first wave of attacks from the wolf army did not cause significant damage to Oasis Town.

On the contrary, all the villages made gains. Even the fifth village, which had the worst conditions, killed thirty or forty evolved wild wolves under the leadership of the Wilderness Hunting Guild.

The number of other kills ranged from dozens to hundreds, enough for the evolved beings on all sides to eat and drink their fill and recover their strength.

Regarding weapons and ammunition, apart from Lin Feng's convoy, the other villages, including the Oasis warship, cannot get supplies and will only run out as the fighting continues.

This also means that as the Wasteland Wolves launch wave after wave of attacks, the defensive pressure on all sides will gradually increase, and they may eventually have to engage in close combat.

A fierce hand-to-hand battle ensued.

While Lin Feng was pondering, he suddenly saw a group of people emerge from the left side of the Oasis warship.

They drove two armored vehicles away from the village's outpost and slowly stopped in front of Lin Feng.

Three members then got out of the car; all were late-stage Tier 1 beings and belonged to the higher-ups of Farm Village and the Li family.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes slightly. He had seen the leader before, outside the arena. He was the person who had accompanied Li Hao in the Li family camp during the intermission.

It's probably the trusted assistant that Li Hao mentioned to him before he died.

The latter stopped beside the chariot, looked up and saw a broken rock horse armor among the pile of giant wolf corpses behind the chariot, as well as Li Hao's corpse wrapped in wolf skin.

The former head of the Li family and leader of the farm village is now emaciated and withered, his skin and bones completely devoured by the late-stage cells in his body.

All that remained was a tattered human skin, wrapped around the rapidly multiplying advanced flesh and blood inside.

Such an ending is truly regrettable.

However, the assistant seemed to have anticipated this outcome. A hint of sadness flashed in his eyes, but he quickly composed himself, expressionless, and approached Lin Feng in the passenger seat, bowing respectfully as he said:
"Greetings, Lord Lin."

"My name is Zhao Mingsheng. I am the personal assistant of the family head, Li Hao, and also the acting village chief of Nongzhuang Village, as well as the acting head of the Li family."

"As for the arrangements afterward, Chief Li had already instructed me before the competition began. On behalf of Farm Village and the Li family, I will fully cooperate with your arrangements."

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes. Li Hao was unaware of the attack by the Wilderness Wolf Clan beforehand.

But he still prepared a contingency plan for his failure.

Entrusting the future of the Li family to him was clearly an attempt to leverage the Rockhorn evolution path to win over someone who could continue to protect the Li family. Moreover, according to the agreement, even if the Holy City did not take over Oasis Town, Farm Village and the other two villages would still need a new leader to maintain their semi-independent status.

Only in this way can the interests of all parties be met.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Oasis Church, Lin Feng, who suddenly rose to prominence, is just like Li Hao hundreds of years ago.

He succeeded Li Hao and continued to manage the rockhorse industry for the Oasis Church until a new leader took over hundreds of years later.

As expected, Li Hao was very clear about his own position and understood that this rebellion would be his only chance to break free from his fate.

But Lin Feng clearly didn't want to follow that old path, and besides, things had already come to this point, so there was no chance for him to stay any longer.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng looked at the two people behind Zhao Mingsheng. They were not young, and their faces were full of worry with deep lines. They also looked somewhat similar to Li Hao and Li Mingquan.

Seeing this, Zhao Mingsheng immediately introduced:
"These two are second-generation descendants of the Li family, Li Litian and Li Lihe, who are respectively responsible for managing the rockhorse industry and internal family affairs."

"They are also willing to follow Chief Lin's orders."

Lin Feng nodded, and then told the three remaining high-ranking members of the Li family about Li Hao's last words and the future fate of Oasis Town.

However, the secret revealed at the end was omitted.

The three men turned pale when they heard that the Holy City would take over the Oasis and that everyone would become believers.

Being a follower of the Church is not a good title. It's a euphemism used by the Holy Spring Church to describe them. In reality, in the eyes of other medium and large-sized powers, humans directly supervised by the Church are actually slaves of the Church.

They were no different from slaves, especially in various industries. They were even worse than slaves. The church leadership did not regard church slaves as human beings, but as a group of renewable machines.

Only by exploiting them to the point of life and death can the value of the religious slaves be completely squeezed out.

In other words, even if the permanent residents of Oasis Town and the surrounding wasteland inhabitants survive the town-destroying beast calamity launched by the Wasteland Wolf Clan, they will face endless suffering that is worse than death.

Work without stopping until you breathe your last.

However, a late-stage Tier 1 Evolver already possesses a certain status and position. Although they will not be reduced to a low-level religious slave, their life is certainly much worse than their current comfortable life.

Moreover, as the masterminds behind the rebellion, even though the Oasis Bishop has promised to forgive and forget, his successor will certainly harbor resentment towards the Li family...

Those Li family members who remain at that time, even those of noble status who are evolved beings, will probably not fare much better.

Fortunately, before his death, Li Hao used his remaining rationality to choose a good path for the Li family.

That means catching Lin Feng's winning bandwagon, escaping Oasis Town, and heading to the Holy City to seek development.

Although they lack official status and cannot infiltrate the large, safe residential areas, they can at least secure a place in the second-tier gang districts.

In addition, the Li family's investments in the Holy City over the years have provided enough assets to support the daily needs of a second-tier early-stage evolver.

When the time comes, as long as the most talented offspring is selected, promoted to the second rank, and succeeded as the head of the family, he will naturally continue to protect the entire family.

Thinking of this, Zhao Mingsheng quickly recovered from his brief moment of fear and hurriedly replied:
"We will follow the instructions of the Li family head and look to Chief Lin for guidance. We will select a group of the most skilled members and the most promising horses for you."

"In addition, we hope you can relax the restrictions. The Li family and the farm village have a large population of more than 3,000 people. We hope that Chief Lin will be magnanimous and save more members from their suffering."

Lin Feng frowned slightly. This was no simple request, after all, the bishop had only agreed to take away 30% of the survivors.

Although this is a broad concept, Lin Feng certainly won't push his luck.

For example, if 10,000 people are saved, 3,000 of their spots can be filled by Evolvers, or the entire farm village and the Li family members can be taken away.

Doing so is tantamount to uprooting the rock horn horse breeding industry in Oasis Town. Even if Shuguang Village and Jiche Village still exist, without the raw material supply from Nongzhuang Village, these two villages, as downstream processing industries, will no longer have much development capacity.

Therefore, according to His Holiness the bishop, people should be selected from the rescued survivors based on their composition and attributes.

Survivors from other villages who have been rescued cannot be used to increase the number of places available in the farm village.

Of the three thousand people in Nongzhuang Village, Lin Feng could only take three hundred with him, no matter how hard he tried.

While this has had some impact on the industry as a whole, it hasn't been crippling. With just a little support from the Holy City, it can quickly recover.

For Lin Feng, this scale is already the limit he can handle. If there were any more, he wouldn't be able to take over and integrate them in a short time.

If subordinate forces are out of control, they can become a cancer or a time bomb, eroding the entire organization's combat power, just like the local families in Oasis Town.

Given Lin Feng's current strength and core members, he can only accept a maximum of a thousand newcomers, and it would be best not to accept any family members like the Li family.

After all, with blood ties as a bond, it's easy for them to form cliques and threaten Lin Feng's management and rule.

However, Zhao Mingsheng is a rare talent right now, so Lin Feng decided to wait for the right offer and squeeze every last drop of wealth out of the Li family.

"This matter is a bit difficult. After all, the conditions that His Holiness the Bishop promised me beforehand were that he could only take away some of the survivors from all sides to expand his forces."

"Nongzhuang Village only has one rock horn horse industry."

"If too many people from the Li family are brought along, it will definitely affect the progress of industrial development and its transition to a stable cycle."

Zhao Mingsheng immediately understood Lin Feng's meaning and, after a brief moment of thought, quickly offered a solution:

"In fact, in the rock horn horse breeding industry, only about 20 or 30 people in Nongzhuang Village have mastered the core technology. The rest can carry out daily management, but they are all dispensable and can be quickly replaced."

"So by taking away these few dozen people, we can train a breeding team of hundreds of people in less than a month to be responsible for the breeding of hundreds of wildebeest."

“As long as Chief Lin is willing to give up the other spots, I will ensure that every one of them leaves this place with you.”

"You don't need to worry about us keeping secrets. The Li family also has access to the core technology for breeding rock breeds."

"Moreover, the key to aquaculture lies in a large, stable, and cheap supply of water. After going to the Holy City, the Li family has not had the strength to rebuild this industry in the last hundred years."

"There will be no conflict of interest with you."

"In addition, we will also repair this damaged Rock Horse Armor, so you won't have to wait until you get to the Holy City to spend a lot of money to have it repaired by the Life Farm."

Hearing Zhao Mingsheng's reply, Lin Feng nodded:

"As for the armor repair, just have someone bring the materials directly to my camp. Send the core personnel here to train apprentices in advance."

"Besides that, I can only give you a maximum of 150 places."

"Okay, that's it."

"Next, like the other two villages, Nongzhuang Village will also receive artillery shell supplies, and half of the spoils of war will be handed over."

After saying that, without waiting for Zhao Mingsheng's reply, Lin Feng waved his hand, and Chen Shanshan immediately stepped on the gas and sped off towards Shengquan Village across Oasis Avenue.

(End of this chapter)