In the apocalypse, I hoarded goods and handed over my storage space to the government.

(big chapter)

Ye Xiao turned off the screen on his wrist terminal.

He filled in the "Brother Knife" nickname on the leaderboard himself.

The team name "Kunlun One Knife" was also chosen by him.

That's so tacky.

But topping the global list is eye-catching and domineering enough.

Ye Xiao stood up, then flicked his wrist, and the Tang sword was precisely sheathed.

In the past few days, Mo Yun has been keeping an eye on things at the Awakeners headquarters, Bai Lu has been conducting mind control experiments on mutated creatures in the basement, and Su Ran has been spending all her time in the combat hall looking at the global sand table.

Of the four, only Ye Xiao became a complete "idle".

Ye Xiao watched the video of the battle in Paris a few days ago more than a dozen times.

Su Ran, Mo Yun, and Bai Lu, the three of them, took down a flock of more than 10,000 corpse vultures and killed nearly 30 third-tier monsters in the five million corpse horde!

The absurd efficiency of the killing made even the proud and arrogant Ye Xiao feel his heart tighten.

If we don't give it our all, we'll really fall far behind our teammates.

"The rest of you guys are busy, so I'll take care of dominating the rankings," Ye Xiao muttered to himself.

Several dull sounds of bones cracking came from the street corner.

Not long after, Zhu Jingye emerged from behind the pile of abandoned vehicles, carrying a blood-dripping crystal energy battle knife.

His second-tier exoskeleton was covered in dark brown blood.

He raised his hand to wipe the blood off his mask and spoke confidently.

"Brother Ye, it's all cleared out. More than three hundred zombies, not a single one was missed, all gone!"

"Well done. Pack up the crystal cores you just mined."

Ye Xiao stood up, brushed the dust off his trousers, and said, "Let's go to our next destination."

Before he could finish speaking, Ye Xiao's left wrist tactical terminal emitted a rapid buzzing sound.

"Is that Brother Su calling?"

Ye Xiao felt a little strange, as there shouldn't be anything important at this time.

He raised his hand and pressed the answer button, and Su Ran's virtual projection instantly popped up above the terminal.

The background is a holographic combat sand table of the Kunlun base.

"Old Ye, did you enjoy the killing?" Su Ran asked bluntly.

"It's alright, I just warmed up my muscles."

Ye Xiao grinned and pointed to the massive corpse of the raging lion behind him.

"We just slayed the twelfth Tier 3 mutant. Have you seen the rankings? You've really made our Kunlun base proud, haven't you?"

"I saw it, well done. But there's a job now that most teams can't handle, you'll have to go and take it."

Su Ran went straight to the point, without any pleasantries.

"Professor Zhang Qian has encountered a bottleneck in his research on the mental manipulation of mutated organisms. The existing second-tier mutated beast test subjects are not mentally strong enough, and he needs third-tier mutated organisms in his live specimens."

"A third-order living organism?"

Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow, his eyes instantly sharpening.

The difficulty of killing a Tier 3 beast is vastly different from capturing one alive.

The alienated creatures have no sense of pain and no fear.

To capture him alive means to completely disable his ability to move without killing him.

Many killing techniques are difficult to execute, but if they are overly waterproofed, a slight mishap can lead to a desperate counterattack.

"That's right."

Su Ran said seriously, "It must be a living body; a dead body is useless."

"Leave it to me, give me the coordinates." Ye Xiao didn't waste any words.

Su Ran swiped her finger across the screen.

A 3D terrain map was pushed to Ye Xiao's terminal.

"The target is an abandoned industrial area, fifty kilometers away from your current location."

Su Ran pointed to the large red dot on the topographic map and explained.

"The garrison discovered a Tier 3 'Steelback Ape' there. It has extremely strong defense and immense strength."

The garrison fired two crystal energy cannon shots, but it didn't die and ran into the factory area. Old Ye, go and capture that Tier 3 Steelback Ape alive for me.

"Take them alive..."

Ye Xiao reached for the hilt of the sword at his waist, a smile playing on his lips.

"This task is time-consuming and laborious, how are the points calculated?"

"I'll give you three thousand points," Su Ran replied.

"Deal! Have the transport plane prepare the cages and wait for me." Ye Xiao laughed, a laugh of unparalleled arrogance.

Since Su Ran launched the "King Slaying Plan," the entire Great Xia war machine has completely changed its operating mode.

Previously, large armies were deployed to suppress the mutated creatures, using heavy firepower to overwhelm them.

It's been changed now.

The cannon fodder will be handed over to regular troops and foreign auxiliary troops.

Those toughest challenges were all singled out and displayed on the points leaderboard.

With over 10,000 awakened individuals worldwide, new teams register every day, while other teams are permanently removed from the leaderboard.

Survival of the fittest, it's cruel to the extreme.

But the effect was immediate.

North America, Europe, South Asia... those Tier 3 mutants that once gave armored divisions a major headache are being eliminated one by one by these awakened individuals who are obsessed with points.

……

Su Ran disconnected the communication from the wrist terminal and turned her gaze back to the holographic combat sand table in front of her.

"Professor Zhang Qian wants a live specimen; Old Ye should handle that. It should be a safe bet."

Su Ran leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingers on the table with a crisp sound.

Capturing a third-tier mutated creature alive is far more difficult than killing it.

However, Su Ran trusted his brother's methods.

"Not enough, one isn't enough."

The mind control experiment on Bai Lu's side has reached a critical point.

The only entities that can truly verify mental suppression, consciousness implantation, or even group control chains are living beings of level three or higher!

Especially the mother nest.

The Jin Mao Tower, that fleshy ball, is entering a period of instability.

According to past patterns, when a large-scale ascension wave arrives, the mother nest has a very high probability of undergoing a transformation.

From third to fourth order.

That's a window.

Su Ran doesn't like gambling.

In his past life, he had lost too many bets.

"We can't let Lao Ye be the only one charging ahead."

He turned around and pushed open the main hall door of the Global Awakeners Headquarters.

It's busier inside than it was six hours ago.

On the big screen, red dots were densely packed around the globe.

Each red dot represents a mutated creature of level three or higher.

The operators' seats were all occupied by different sections.

The entire hall was like a war machine running at its limit.

Mo Yun stood in front of the central control console, a high-frequency communicator hanging from his ear.

After the initial chaos, once everything in the system was back on track, he finally had a rare moment of peace and quiet.

"Old Mo, add a new entry."

Su Ran strode closer, interrupting Mo Yun's brief moment of leisure.

"Singleize the mission 'Capture a Tier 3 Mutated Creature Alive' and place it at the very top of the bounty list, then broadcast it immediately across all channels worldwide!"

"Tell the people below that the integral for live samples will be calculated as double the integral for submitting crystal nuclei of the same level."

Mo Yun paused, looking surprised.

"Capture alive? Double the reward?"

"right."

Su Ran nodded, her gaze cold and sharp.

"Starting from level three, with no restrictions on type. Vital signs must be guaranteed; limb loss is acceptable, but brain tissue cannot be severely damaged. Points are calculated at double the amount of crystal cores submitted."

Mo Yun did not immediately carry it out.

He looked at Su Ran.

"Brother Su, now that the Awakened teams have tasted the early advantages, they're all blinded by greed. Double points will make many teams take risks."

"I know."

"Capturing alive is much harder than killing. The team is just starting out, and some people are getting carried away by the points."

"Then let's raise the bar."

Su Ran continued, "Set the squad point requirements. If there aren't enough squads, capture missions won't be available. Only missions that pass the operator's assessment can be accepted."

Mo Yun nodded and began to revise the rules.

"Okay, I'll make the arrangements now."

On the right side of the large screen, the taskbar refreshes.

[New special mission type added: Tier 3 live capture.]

[Base points: Doubled for corresponding kill missions.]

[Requirements: The target must maintain basic vital functions, and its brain structure must not be damaged.]

[Permission: Teams with a team score of 3000 or higher can apply, subject to operator review.]

After the task was assigned, Mo Yun turned around, pulled a paper report from the pile of documents next to him, and handed it to Su Ran.

"Brother Su, there's something else. Captain Lin Feng came looking for you three hours ago, but seeing you were in the operations room conference room, he didn't go in to disturb you and left this message here."

"Raymond Lam?"

Su Ran took the report, glanced at the cover, and asked, "Something happened with Sharp Sword?"

"Nothing happened."

A sharp glint flashed in Mo Yun's eyes. "He wants to talk to you about the future development of the Crystal Core Special Forces."

Su Ran narrowed her eyes.

"Tell me more specifically."

"Captain Lin Feng believes that the current hunting points system at the Awakened Headquarters should not be open only to Awakened."

Su Ran opened the document, which was filled with Lin Feng's tactical analysis.

The original intention behind establishing the Sharp Sword Special Forces was to have these elite soldiers, equipped with the most advanced exoskeletons, infiltrate behind the zombie horde to carry out decapitation strikes.

However, with the rapid expansion of the Awakened Headquarters, those Awakened with bizarre abilities began to take over high-risk hunting missions.

Although the Sharp Sword Special Forces maintain a special operations approach, in actual combat deployments, they are more often deployed to support large-scale troop advances, becoming high-level fire support units.

"The full rollout of the Awakened system has indeed, to some extent, deprived ordinary soldiers of the core path to acquiring the latest weapons," Su Ran said in a low voice.

"Lin Feng's men, in terms of tactical skills and combat experience alone, far surpass most of the wild awakened individuals registered on the platform."

Mo Yun nodded in deep agreement.

"Now all the high-level crystal cores and cutting-edge equipment are being allocated to the superpowered teams, while they can only receive a fixed quota issued by the military. It's normal for Lin Feng to feel disappointed."

Su Ran looked up at the central screen and said, "Cut Lin Feng's communication lines."

The screen flashed, and a half-body image of Lin Feng wearing full tactical protective gear popped up.

The background was noisy, indicating that he was at a testing ground for a new weapon.

"Advisor Su!"

Lin Feng stood at attention and gave a standard military salute.

"Old Lin, I've read the report you left for Mo Yun."

Su Ran cut to the chase, asking, "You want to bring in someone with the 'Sharp Sword' to dominate the points leaderboard?"

"yes!"

Raymond Lam has a very loud voice, which exudes a competitive spirit.

"Advisor Su, the Sharp Sword team members are not Awakened, but after being equipped with crystal core exoskeletons and crystal energy weapons, they have the ability to hunt down Tier 3 targets."

He paused, then continued, "We're not here to steal Awakened's resources. We want a clear path to advancement."

"Go on," Su Ran said.

"Now, Awakened individuals can kill Tier 3 enemies, hand over crystal cores to earn points, exchange them for extracts, equipment, and a spot in the Academy of Sciences for enhancement."

Lin Feng raised his hand and pointed to the training ground behind him.

"My soldiers can kill too. But after they kill, the crystal cores go to the war zone, the equipment is distributed, and their credit goes into the collective archives."

"They don't complain."

"But I'll ask on their behalf."

Lin Feng stared at the camera.

"Can't ordinary people, risking their lives to keep up with evolution, also have a visible stepping stone?"

In the main hall, several operators nearby stopped what they were doing.

No one spoke.

Su Ran looked at Lin Feng.

This is a very sharp question.

It's not asking for resources.

It is asking about order.

After the Awakeners' headquarters was established, the world's top resources began to be directed towards the Awakeners.

That's right.

Because they are key to fighting high-level monsters.

But if only the awakened can climb up, then the war machine of Great Xia will inevitably crack sooner or later.

Su Ran spoke.

How do you plan to connect?

Lin Feng was clearly prepared.

"First, Sharp Sword registers as a squad and does not participate in the individual Awakener rankings, but only in the Special Forces rankings."

"Second, mission points are settled by team, crystal cores are submitted to headquarters, and points are used to exchange for exoskeleton upgrades, crystal energy weapons, and healing resources."

"Third, the Sharp Sword Squad and the Awakened Squad are allowed to jointly undertake missions. Points are split according to the proportion of contribution."

"You want ordinary people and awakened individuals to cooperate with each other," Su Ran continued.

"That's right."

Lin Feng nodded. "In this apocalyptic catastrophe, ordinary people are not cannon fodder, and sharp swords are not just background figures. We need to sharpen our blades together."

Su Ran smiled.

"Old Lin, you've got your eye on the King-Slaying Plan, haven't you?"

Lin Feng's face remained expressionless.

"Advisor Su, didn't you and General Zhang establish the Sharp Sword organization precisely for this day?"

In short, that hit the nail on the head.

"I approve of your proposal and agree with this plan."

Looking at Lin Feng's resolute face in the image, Su Ran spoke up.

"From now on, all members of the Sharp Sword Special Forces will be connected to the bounty terminal at the Awakeners Headquarters. The mutated creatures you hunt will also be counted as points according to the standard."

Lin Feng's spirits lifted. "Thank you, Advisor Su!"

"Your report gave me a new perspective."

Su Ran tapped the table. "Since we're going to grant more permissions, let's make the plate bigger."

Lin Feng and Mo Yun beside him listened attentively.

"With just your few hundred or thousand men, you wouldn't even make a ripple on a global battlefield."

Su Ran turned around and pointed to the huge holographic globe behind her.

"This system of hunting for points can be further expanded."

"Brother Su..."

Mo Yun astutely caught Su Ran's thoughts: "You want to involve the militia as well?"

"That's right."

Su Ran's gaze was sharp.

"Those survivors who have struggled to survive in the wasteland, as long as they are ruthless and fearless, have basically used up all the points they have earned to buy crystal core exoskeletons and crystal energy weapons, and can sign up to participate in this system."

"Whether now or in the future, the number of awakened individuals will always be small."

Tens of thousands of awakened beings scattered across the wastelands of the world are simply not enough.

And the number of mutated creatures at the third tier will only increase, with fourth and fifth tiers to follow in the future.

He paused for a moment, his tone becoming extremely serious.

"We must recognize a reality. There are absolutely only a very small number of people who can truly move mountains and overturn seas and rival gods with their supernatural abilities."

The vast majority of awakened individuals, throughout their lives, merely take one small step forward on the path of being a "human being."

Su Ran looked at Lin Feng on the screen again.

"A single crystal energy sniper bullet with a large enough caliber can still penetrate the skull of a third-tier mutated beast. An ordinary person equipped with top-tier gear can also slay a god."

"Advisor Su, the Sharp Sword Special Forces were originally intended to be the first touchstone."

Lin Feng nodded emphatically on the other end of the communicator, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit.

"The mixed formation of special forces and superpowered squads will also be piloted simultaneously."

"Whether you're a dragon or a worm, the leaderboard will tell."

After saying that, Su Ran cut off the communication.

He turned to look at Mo Yun, "The announcement has been drafted and will be sent to all major war zones around the world and all recorded survivor camps."

Tell everyone that the Great Xia's armory is open to all mankind.

"If you want the latest crystal-powered weapons and want to survive in this wasteland, trade monster heads for them."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

Mo Yun rapidly typed on the keyboard, sending lines of instructions across the world via fiber optic cables.