Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded

The moment Father Su'an mentioned the so-called Oasis Key, Lin Feng felt a sudden connection, recalling the golden emblem he had seen on Holy Spring Day.

He remembered it vividly because the Bishop had used it to open the water outlet valve at the rear of the Oasis warship.

It was a pure gold disc, though the interior was likely not gold, as that wouldn't provide sufficient hardness.

The surface was engraved with extremely complex patterns, with a well-shaped symbol at the center that seemed to possess a certain magic, drawing the eye.

This item held a very special symbolic meaning within the Holy Spring Church.

For example, the small church in Holy Spring Village had a silver emblem on its roof, and the formal church in the upper-class district of the Oasis warship also had a golden one.

However, neither was as exquisite and complex as the one held by the Bishop; if the latter served as a key, it must hold other secrets.

Hearing Lin Feng's inquiry, Father Su'an didn't intend to hide anything, as he would eventually entrust it to Lin Feng for safekeeping, and some points needed clarification:

"Indeed, the predecessor of the Oasis was a collection of various warship hulls sealed away from Old Earth, into which large turbine power systems were implanted to achieve global navigation."

"As for the key to control the warship's movement, it's actually a ship's rudder modified from the emblem. It simultaneously serves to activate the turbine power and control the warship's direction."

"Because unlocking requires verification through the complex patterns on the emblem, even if the Li family defeats us, they would still need to seize the Oasis Key to successfully take over the entire warship."

Lin Feng nodded. It seemed the emblem's importance was why the Bishop carried it at all times, even using it to open the drainage valve at the rear of the warship during the Holy Spring Gospel ceremony on Holy Spring Day.

Giving tens of thousands of wastelanders a hope for survival.

The shiny emblem flashed in his mind, and Lin Feng suddenly thought of something else:

"By the way, does that emblem contain Third-Stage Holy Spring energy? As a Second-Order Initial Stage evolver, and with a Heterogeneous Evolution path, I'm afraid I can't carry it around."

Father Su'an frowned slightly.

Long before the Oasis warship was exiled to the edge of the Scorching Sun Forbidden Zone, while still in Holy City, its ownership belonged to a Third-Order Bishop.

The emblem, as the Oasis Key, was also carried by that Bishop at the time.

Even if it hadn't been infused with Third-Order Holy Water, over the years, it would have inevitably been tainted with Third-Order aura.

This had no side effects for a Second-Order Priest; in fact, it was highly beneficial. But for those outside the Church, it was a mild form of pollution.

Since the Holy Spring Lord was also human, this radiation wouldn't cause physical mutations in other humans, but it would deeply affect their minds.

At best, it would cause delirium; at worst, schizophrenia, making them delusional and unable to distinguish reality from illusion.

Lin Feng would be a great help in the future, a right-hand man in the competition for the new Third-Order Bishop position, so he couldn't allow any problems to arise because of this Oasis Key.

Thinking of this, Father Su'an assured him:

Father Su'an nodded in agreement:

"Indeed, the Bishop has decided to hold three Second-Order duels and four First-Order evolver matches."

"Mainly because we happen to have four First-Order, Nineteenth-Level Combat High Priests. Their strength is almost unmatched within the First-Order. Even gun-wielding ability users can secure the final victory by leveraging the narrow space of the arena."

"The martial arts tournament will primarily adopt a point system. Each victory in the Second-Order matches will earn twenty points, while First-Order matches will naturally be worth less, only ten points per match."

"This totals one hundred points."

"If the final total scores are the same, the winner will be determined by the Second-Order match win ratio; the one with more wins will secure the final victory."

"This rule actually favors the Li family."

"Because their average combat power among Second-Order evolvers is far stronger than the Church's."

"Although the Church has several Second-Order Priests to maintain appearances, you also know that the lineage from Acolyte to Priest is all geared towards preaching and interpreting doctrines, equivalent to civil officials in a country."

"Of the Oasis Church's four Second-Order Priests and one Second-Order Upper Limit Acting Bishop, only Father Wan Hai has extensive combat experience, but he is responsible for the more important pilgrimage convoy security. The only other one with some experience is me."

"Back then, during my travels in the wastelands, I could easily take on three enemies at the Late First-Order level."

"But for the remaining two Priests, even after injecting Wasteland Wolf Originium evolution serum, their chances of winning in a one-on-one fight are less than thirty percent."

"The Church's ordinary power armor is far inferior to the Rock Horse Armor produced by the Li family. The latter has more power, runs more persistently, and our armor only wins in terms of being cheap and plentiful, relying on quantity to win."

"But in a one-on-one arena battle, Rock Horse warriors are much stronger than us."

"So in this Second-Order evolver arena, even if the Li family loses the advantage in numbers, they have a great chance of winning the Second-Order battles."

"Winning all three matches would give them the top score of sixty points, securing a stable victory."

"If they only lose one match, then winning just one match in the First-Order arena would also secure their victory."

"So for them, they still have a significant advantage."

"If you are willing to stand up for this, then the method of competing in the arena will definitely be accepted by the Li family."

Lin Feng frowned slightly. Su'an was right; even with the martial arts tournament, the Church's advantage was still small, only retreating from a certain-death situation to a level where there was still a glimmer of hope.

And now, Father Su'an, in order to protect Oasis Town and inherit Bishop Zhang Hui's will, had to return to the Holy City Bishopric to compete for the next official Oasis Bishop.

Then, he certainly couldn't inject Wasteland Wolf Originium and become a heterogeneous evolved being.

Without the enhancement of the Wasteland Wolf characteristics, it would be even more difficult for a Second-Order Priest to defeat a Second-Order heterogeneous evolver.

The Heterogeneous Evolution path only had a faster evolution speed in the First-Order, because Originium was easier to obtain, but when it came to the Second-Order, another advantage would appear, which was the blessing of two special abilities.

One was the original ability, and the other was the Heterogeneous characteristic brought about by the fusion of the Heterogeneous gene.

For example, the Rock Horn Horse's defensive ability and amazing endurance allowed Rock Horse Armor to be worn for combat.

And Wasteland Wolf path evolvers could grow sharp fangs and teeth, as well as hard claws, and could also transform into werewolves, except that they would lose their minds in this state.

According to the gene interoperability, they could also use the Tier 2 body of the Wasteland Wolf to create Wasteland Wolf armor, leveraging the immortal characteristic of Tier 2 cells' infinite replication.

Unfortunately, the Tier 2 chieftain-level Wasteland Wolves are not so easy to hunt down at the moment.

Lin Feng now has a chance to try, but even if he obtains a fresh Tier 2 Wasteland Wolf corpse, there won't be enough time to make it into a bio-armor in the short term.

In his normal state, Priest Su'an can at most suppress a Tier 2 early-stage alien evolver, but he would have no power to fight back against Li Hao, who is at the Tier 2 mid-stage.

In this way, they may face a complete defeat in all three matches, at most winning one if they're lucky.

But this still leaves the Church as the weaker side.

The Li family, with a best-of-three advantage, holds the upper hand.

Lin Feng worried that the Church would not be able to win, and that he, caught in the middle, would be forced to turn against the Li family and a group of Tier 2 evolvers for Priest Su'an's plan.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng immediately voiced his concerns:

"Is the Church trying to delay, or does it really have the confidence to win? From the current perspective, the hope of winning is not high, especially since you can't use the Wasteland Wolf source to modify."

"If it's just delaying, waiting for people from the Holy City to arrive, the Li family may very well fight to the death."

"After all, once the Templar Knights arrive, they won't even have the possibility of escape, and only by hijacking the oasis warship will they have a chance of survival."

Hearing this, Priest Su'an sighed softly.

A faint sadness appeared in his eyes again.

After taking a deep breath, he said in a low voice:

"Since Bishop Zhanghui has proposed this method, he naturally has the confidence to win."

"The Tier 2 Wasteland Wolf source is very precious, so rest assured, it won't be wasted."

After saying that, Priest Su'an changed the subject:

"Alright, let's settle this matter first. When the time comes, there will be a portion of the Wasteland Wolf source evolution agent left over, so we'll leave it for Su Yueyue."

Lin Feng stared at Priest Su'an, thoughtfully.

Gradually, he understood the deeper meaning in the other party's words.

Since the Tier 2 Wasteland Wolf source will not be wasted, then the two portions he gave, plus the one that Zheng Yanying's team collected at the time.

Three portions of the source correspond to three Tier 2 evolvers.

Su'an doesn't participate, then there is only one possible user.

That is Bishop Zhanghui.

And for him to enter the game in his twilight years, to ensure the Church's victory, he will inevitably have to pay a great price, which for his already aging Tier 2 body, is to burn his last life force.

It is very likely that after completing the duel with Li Hao, he will directly burn out and die.

And after Su'an explained all this, he got up and walked to the window, looking up at the church behind him, his expression complex.

Seeing that he had said everything, Lin Feng also got up to take his leave, left the village office, and came to Holy Spring Village.

Walking through it again, Lin Feng noticed that in a dormitory car on the right side, many small heads popped out by the window, including Su Yueyue's figure.

As well as a few of her little followers.

Lao Huang's son, Huang Xinming, was also among them.

Most of the children of the permanent residents of the Fifth Village stayed in Holy Spring Village. Their parents were also clear that in the upcoming chaos, as strengtheners, they could barely protect themselves, let alone children without the power to even truss a chicken.

Rather than taking them back to the Fifth Village, it would be better to leave them in Holy Spring Village, where there might still be a glimmer of hope.

Lin Feng waved to Su Yueyue and the others, smiled, and signaled them to rest assured.

Then he looked to the other side behind him.

The location of the two level 19 Combat High Priests.

They were secretly sent to this place, and it is not known whether they have already secretly fought with the Li family and other rebels.

Lin Feng nodded slightly and shook his head, leaving Holy Spring Village.

By the time he returned to his fleet outside the village gate, more than an hour had passed, and it was already the night of the ninth day.

Tomorrow will be the tenth day.

And there are still four days until the next Holy Spring Day.

At this time, the Oasis Town had also passed the Mount Tai ruins.

It should have arrived at the ruins of Jining City.

There are still two hundred kilometers to the location of the Zhumadian Temple, and one hundred kilometers five days later, which is outside the regional scope of Luzhou, there will be a fork in the road.

Originally, the Oasis Avenue went all the way west, and the branching path went southwest, towards the Church's Temple…

The place where the Lord of the Holy Spring sleeps.

And that fork in the road is also the dividing line of the Temple's shrouded area. Entering the southwest path will grant the support of the Templar Knights, solving the troubles of the Li family and others.

Therefore, the martial arts competition will be completed quickly within these five days.

A total of seven matches, presumably tomorrow morning, the Oasis Church will negotiate with the Li family.

Lin Feng thought about it and decided to get some sleep first.

He would replenish his energy before stepping forward as the middle referee, and at the same time board the oasis warship to observe the peak duel between Tier 2 evolvers.

Thinking of this, Lin Feng immediately called over the current core members of the team, mainly Chen Shanshan, A'Lian, and Ma Chenfeng, who was also in the late stage of Tier 1.

As well as the three daughters of Ding Yi, who were in the mid-stage of Tier 1.

Inside the Wolf Armor War Chariot, Lin Feng informed everyone of the Church's arrangements, mainly that there would be no fierce battles, which made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, if a fight really broke out, the casualties would definitely be very serious. Even if the team had powerful firepower and Lin Feng in charge, deaths and injuries would still be unavoidable.

It's just that there would be fewer compared to other forces.

If the dispute between the two factions could be resolved in a more peaceful and gentle way, it would undoubtedly be much better.

Especially after the team had already sold off a large amount of arms and frantically scoured everything.

After Lin Feng finished explaining, he instructed Liu Qian and A'Ming to continue producing a large number of grenades, mainly Liu Qian, to work harder next. Level 14 or even Level 15 evolved meat would be continuously supplied to ensure that two hundred empowered grenades could be produced before the day after tomorrow.

To earn one last profit from the arms trade.

After completing all this, Lin Feng announced a rest, and everyone conserved their energy.

And just as he was about to go to sleep, a reminder suddenly popped up in front of him:

「Armored War Wolf Transporter lv22, Orange Quality」

「Basic Attributes: Defense 300; Damage 200; Durability 10/10; Maximum speed 50km/h; Upgraded to the host's evolution level limit」

「Additional Attributes: Super Payload; Long-distance Transportation; Wolf Head Impact; Wolf Bone Iron Armor」

「Super Payload: Possesses an extreme payload of thousands of tons;」

「Long-distance Transportation: Equipped with a five-ton high-density battery, providing continuous power for twelve hours, supporting long-distance transportation;」

「Wolf Head Impact: After integrating the wolf skull, the huge payload brings high impact damage, increasing the damage from the original 100 points to 200 points;」

「Wolf Bone Iron Armor: After integrating a large amount of wolf bones and wolf skin, the defense is additionally increased by 100 points」

「Evaluation: …」