Today is the day the Wave Nation reshapes its order, a day worthy of celebration, a day that should be joyful.
But Anderson's face is as black as an iron pot.
Clearly, they were the ones who contacted the Hearth first.
Clearly, it was he who visited the Hearth's office three times.
But why was he overtaken by the Sunset Nation in the blink of an eye?!
After the meeting, Anderson asked, "Is the news confirmed?"
His subordinate nodded, "Our people personally saw the strongmen from the Sunset Nation enter that building. It's not wrong!"
Currently, the Hearth's office in Wave City has not yet been established. The Snowfall City office remains the only contact point they know of.
The Super Combat Department has naturally stationed many people in Snowfall City.
But at most, they only dared to observe secretly. They wouldn't dare to intercept. Those from the Sunset Nation were all powerhouses, and they couldn't stop them even if they tried. Furthermore, preventing the Sunset Nation from contacting the Hearth was something they wouldn't dare to do.
They could only observe and then report back.
They originally thought this was just the first contact between the Sunset Nation and the Hearth, but they discovered that the Sunset Nation's trade cooperation talks were progressing a little too fast!
Damn it!
These were big orders. Without taking days or even weeks to consider, was it really okay to decide so hastily?
However, Anderson didn't know that the reason for the Sunset Nation's rapid cooperation progress was because...
With the Wave Nation's price list in hand, the quantity of potion sales, the bulk purchase price of awakening equipment, the cost of deploying the Sky Eye system throughout the entire territory, etc., were all clearly itemized.
The Sunset Nation and others had no objections with the same prices as the Wave Nation.
This price was not expensive at all. It was within their psychological expectations, especially when they heard that the Wave Nation had already installed and deployed the Sky Eye system. This money was even more essential to spend!
Spend it! This money must be spent!
And spend more than the Wave Nation to show their determination and attitude—everything here was already excellent value for money, so buying was the right choice.
The Sky Eye system could only be deployed territory-wide; it couldn't be bought any further? No problem, they would buy other things.
Potions, buy a few more boxes.
Training camp slots? What, the Wave Nation didn't purchase any? This is truly wonderful. Let's get ten slots first... No, make it thirty slots.
Thus,
The Sunset Nation bought thirty slots.
The Wave Nation gritted its teeth and bought twenty slots.
The Sunset Nation then added another twenty slots.
And on the other side, the White Bear Nation also bought fifty slots.
Since the Wave Nation couldn't increase its bid, Anderson immediately ordered, "Quick, quickly assist the Hearth personnel and establish the office in our Wave City as soon as possible."
He had originally planned to drag it out, but now, he wished he could have the Hearth powerhouses settle in within a day.
Otherwise,
What if the Hearth powerhouses didn't choose them and instead went to the Sunset Nation?
Powerhouses were limited!
…
Within the secret realm, when Little Huan informed him of the news, Fang You only felt... excellent!
"Competition brings pressure."
"For the future of Blue Star and humanity, please continue to compete."
The map of Blue Star unfolded before him.
In just a few days, the glaring blood-red spots on the map had increased significantly. The speed of clearing them was no match for the speed at which the strange phenomena were breeding.
The East Huang Nation's territory was the area with the fewest red dots.
There were very few red dots within cities. Outside cities, key areas like railways and power stations were guarded by investigators. There were also special forces teams that entered the forests from time to time to clear out clustered strange phenomena, preventing them from forming waves of strange phenomena that would surge towards nearby cities if their numbers became too large.
Even so, there were still 5 to 8 small waves on average each week.
A single small wave involved hundreds or thousands of strange phenomena, possibly including several extremely large strange phenomena, or even more.
A single wave could wipe out a city.
Its disastrous nature was far greater than the early Gate of Strange Phenomena.
But they were all contained in time.
Fan Anyuan, working in the Investigation Bureau, served as a bridge. The elites of the Hearth acted like firefighters, rushing everywhere, cooperating with the Investigation Bureau and the special forces to extinguish the waves of strange phenomena.
Sometimes, when the waves were relatively large, Xing Jinglei or Pei Hongjing would step in.
Yin Ling, Wang Chui, and Liu Shang were instructed to go out and extinguish the waves while also leveling up. Such great potential shouldn't be wasted before reaching the Fourth Awakening.
As a blacksmith, carrying a hammer to smash strange phenomena;
As a physician, healing strange phenomena back to life;
As a planter, clasping hands to summon the World of Wood... etc., these were all necessary and reasonable, right?
While they leveled up and extinguished waves of strange phenomena, they also brought a large amount of Fate Points, Strange Crystals, and Cultivation Cards to the organization.
The strange phenomena were becoming stronger, but the awakened individuals of the Huang Nation were also rapidly improving.
The domestic situation was currently very stable.
Abroad,
Fang You arranged for Sister An's leveling up in remote areas around the world, letting Sister An flatten everything in her path.
She could easily wipe out a wave of strange phenomena.
She could ride flying strange phenomena, flying rapidly across various countries, her Nether Domain enveloping her, making her undetectable by satellites.
She was the newly appointed top worker of the Hearth, a slayer of strange phenomena, and someone who used strange phenomena against strange phenomena.
However, compared to the countless strange phenomena worldwide, An Jianyōu's power alone was still insignificant.
"I remember Sister An cleared this area a few days ago, and now there are over a hundred strange phenomena. The speed is a bit too fast."
"The speed of clearing is not as fast as the speed of breeding."
"Moreover, this area is gradually becoming gray."
Gray spots appeared on the map, piece by piece.
Like scars that grew at the end of life's decay.
These were contamination zones.
"There are a total of 296 contamination zones, an increase of 45 from a few days ago."
"Among these, there are 19 intermediate contamination zones and 1 high-level contamination zone."
Intermediate contamination zones not only had more severe erosion but also a much wider range of influence than primary ones, covering an area the size of a small town.
In such areas, as long as they were not cleaned for a while, strange phenomena would wander around.
As for high-level contamination zones, it was as if Blue Star had been breached, and it was constantly leaking.
These areas of contaminated erosion continued to spread.
Disaster was everywhere.
The entire Blue Star was like a leaky ship with holes everywhere. Plugging one hole would create two more, and it would never stop. Sinking was only a matter of time.
"In at most two months, Blue Star will enter the Gray Fog Tide stage, and many more strange phenomena and cultists will be able to enter Blue Star."
"Before that, the core strength of Blue Star must be strengthened, and concentrated groups of strange phenomena must be removed as much as possible, and hidden cults must be eradicated to maintain the entire Blue Star in a relatively stable condition."
This was preparation for building the Blue Star defense circle later.
If forces were withdrawn to protect only a few areas, this would be much easier to achieve and was the approach of most native powers in the world.
Escape and hide!
Avoid the waves of strange phenomena and cults... In fact, cults did not deliberately target native powers; they disdained them.
Their sole objective was to develop followers, spread divine light, and erode the world.
As for native powers? As long as they didn't interfere, the cults wouldn't bother with them. The Red Moon ritual was not targeted at the Sunset Nation or the Wave Nation; it was simply because they needed it.
They needed a sufficient population for blood sacrifice, so they chose these two world-class metropolises.
They would not target them, but they would ignore them even more.
But even if the cults didn't target them, he, the Hearth, wanted to target them!
Not a single cultist should be left alive!
And the accumulation of Strange Crystals and various materials!
Fang You opened his panel.
"Fate Points: 3633"
"Strange Crystals: 13w+"
The large reserve of Strange Crystals came from transactions with the East Huang, Wave, Sunset, and White Bear Nations.
This was much faster than slowly grinding monsters and completing missions.
Oh, of course, there was also the mining of the Hearth's own Strange Crystal mines. The difference between having a mine and not having one was quite significant.
Besides being used to upgrade the various buildings of the 'Hearth Base', training grounds, planting areas, medical rooms, etc., and for daily manufacturing and potion consumption, most of the Strange Crystals were saved.
Not much was consumed.
Although 130,000 Strange Crystals seemed like a lot, it was still a drop in the bucket compared to future plans!
"The ritual for the Fifth Awakening alone requires over a thousand Strange Crystals. Ten people would be over ten thousand, and the Sixth Awakening is unknown, estimated to be several thousand."
"More importantly, it's the construction of the miracle building 'Dawn Lighthouse'."
"Blueprint: Dawn Lighthouse"
"Construction Cost:"
"Condensing Building Seed: 50,000 Strange Crystals, 500 Fate Points"
"Materials: Everlasting Brilliance Stone (Gold), Dawn Fire (Purple) x3, Void Brilliance Ore (Purple) x3, Six-Star Cataclysm-level Strange Phenomenon Core Remnant (Purple) x3, ..."
In total, it required 1 Gold-grade material, 15 Purple-grade materials, 25 Blue-grade materials, and the remaining Green-grade materials, basic materials, and Brightwood lumber required a lot.
There was still a significant shortfall.
And the Dawn Lighthouse was not built just once; many were needed, at least ten.
That would be 500,000 Strange Crystals.
"The building seed for the Mist Dispelling Bonfire only requires 1,000 Strange Crystals, but the Dawn Lighthouse requires 50,000. As expected, it's a key building."
"And Strange Crystals are the easiest to obtain."
"I wonder if the Everlasting Brilliance Stone can be purchased from the Oasis faction?"
He actually knew the location of the Everlasting Brilliance Stone; the blank clue could reveal it.
However, the clue pointed to the depths of the Strange Realm. With a terrifying existence watching, rashly venturing into the deep areas was not a wise move.
Perhaps he would really be ambushed, or even the Blood Emperor himself would ambush him.
"However, there are still two months left. It's urgent, but not extremely urgent."
"My ancient Hearth has only been established for three months."
The plan was to increase strength and gradually lay out the groundwork.
…
The Strange Realm,
The Unknown Land, a majestic figure clad in armor sat high on a throne, his eyes reflecting the scenes on Blue Star.
"Blue Star."
"On the surface, it seems unremarkable."
He whispered.
Within the Blood Empire, several non-human realm awakened individuals had already entered Blue Star.
They were his descendants, his generals.
Through the connection of bloodline and mysterious contract, the Blood Emperor could also see Blue Star. If necessary, he could even descend at a great cost.
—Using his own blood descendants as vessels.
However, how could he descend again?
There was no need!
He mused.
"Blue Star's specialty has not yet been discovered, but it can only be in three directions."
"There is a powerful Oasis faction supporting it from behind the scenes."
"Or, it has obtained the ruins or relics of a certain ancient faction."
"Or, it possesses a source of mystery."
But regardless of the situation, Blue Star's end would be to be devoured.
In this process, he gently gave it a push.
That was enough.
Once Blue Star was devoured, everything would be revealed.
And this time would not be too long.
Time and the general trend were always on their side.
…
"Ding!"
"Notification: Fate Apostle 'Liu Shang' has advanced to Fourth Awakening."
"Notification: Fate Apostle 'Wang Chui' has advanced to Fourth Awakening."
"Notification: Fate Apostle 'An Jianyōu' meets the conditions for Fifth Awakening."
"Notification: 'Savior of Fate' has advanced to Fifth Awakening."
Time and the general trend could be held in one's own hands.