Chapter 245: In a Way, This World’s Apocalypse is Perfect for Me

Information about the survivors wasn’t too hard to find.

The reason was simple: the fourth batch of survivors hadn’t been scattered when they arrived.

It seemed an entire city from some other world had been teleported over, complete with its buildings, facilities, and people.

It was located right in the central battlefield on the border between the Xuan Empire and the Eternal United States.

They were blindsided at first, but once they grasped the situation, they immediately launched a counterattack and actually carved out a territory for themselves from the central battlefield.

However, they also paid an extremely high price.

They lost one-third of their population, and after establishing a foothold... they began an all-out war.

That’s right, they were fighting.

Qi Suian didn’t know the specific details. The rainforest he was in before was part of the Eternal United States’ territory, and a relatively central region at that.

So he wasn’t very clear on the situation.

But there was one thing he understood: this group of survivors wasn’t here just to survive.

They were unbelievably good fighters.

’But on second thought, they really are just trying to survive in a doomsday.’

’War has already dragged them into a vortex. Even if they defeat the Xuan Empire and the Eternal United States, war will break out among the survivors themselves.’

’The doomsday they have to fight has never been the natives of the Sacred Artifact World, but the terrifying influence of the Sacred Artifacts themselves.’

The natives, too, were mired in the wars from the *Apocalypse*.

’A lone wolf like me can still pull away. As long as I don’t get involved with any factions, I won’t be swept up in it.’

’But this time, three million survivors from the same city, all possessing Extraordinary power, were directly judged as a single faction.’

’They couldn’t hide even if they wanted to, not to mention they landed in the middle of a central battlefield.’

Qi Suian suspected that the ability to teleport an entire city this time was likely related to the special item he had turned in: Hero’s Skeleton Fragment from the Radiation Wasteland.

’Of course, it’s also possible they’ve hooked up with the Era of Lords, leading to a more refined survivor selection mechanism.’

"But then again, did they have to put them so far away from me?" Qi Suian grumbled.

’The Doomsday game must have been afraid I’d cause trouble again, so it threw me into the northern heartland of the Eternal United States while the survivors are in the south.’

There were three ways to reach them: either cross the entire Eternal United States or cross the entire Xuan Empire.

Or, he could skirt the edge and follow the battle lines between the two nations.

It was utterly absurd.

As for the technology of the two nations... well, how should he put it? They’d put all their points into warfare, and everything else was basically not worth looking at.

Fortunately, with Sacred Artifacts to boost productivity and war to distract from internal conflicts, their societies were warped, but their problems were mostly external. They had almost no internal strife.

So, apart from being good at fighting, they had no other merits.

That’s right, absolutely no other merits. If this Doomsday World didn’t have magical, rule-like things such as Sacred Artifacts, both nations would have collapsed long ago.

But without the Sacred Artifacts, they wouldn’t have such a terrible war either.

The very thing that guaranteed their continued existence was also the root of all their calamities. The irony was palpable.

"Looks like I won’t be able to go find the survivors anytime soon," Qi Suian sighed.

Fly there? ’Too naive. Sacred Artifacts with anti-air and no-fly abilities... never mind one in every village, every single town has one.’

The Tai Sui God couldn’t fly at all.

To what extent were Sacred Artifacts rampant? Basically, every household had one to three of them.

However, the quality of these Sacred Artifacts was rather low. They seemed to be secondary Sacred Artifacts, like offshoots or derivatives split from other ones.

As for how they were split? That was simple, too: you use a Sacred Artifact.

Even though they were only secondary Sacred Artifacts, they were still recognized by the Doomsday game and had corresponding stat panels.

Qi Suian had seen them; the lowest were D-rank items and equipment.

’The Xuan Empire and the Eternal United States probably have quite a few SSS-rank Sacred Artifacts. Those are the real trump cards.’

As for the *Book of Disease Poems* that Qi Suian once held, it was likely an exception. After all, its origin was too absurd, tracing directly back to the Destructive Sacred Object, the *Apocalypse*.

That’s why its quality was low, but its effects were not. It just required the right environment to be used; otherwise, it would be better to just spread its contents in an enemy nation.

Qi Suian suspected the contents carried such a powerful curse because they were likely mixed with parts of the plague from the *Apocalypse*.

’Therefore, the power didn’t lie in the *Book of Disease Poems* itself, but in the content recorded within it by the Mad Poet.’

’This led to the theory that while its quality was A-rank, it could potentially become SSS-rank once fully assembled.’

"It’s just a shame these secondary Sacred Artifacts don’t have much fuel value. Pathetically little, in fact," Qi Suian sighed.

When he was leaving the rainforest, he ran into a security check because of the Tai Sui God.

Then, because he had no identification and lacked common knowledge about the Eternal United States, they saw through his cover and realized he wasn’t a citizen.

And if he wasn’t from the Eternal United States, he must be one of the Xuan Empire People.

What followed was an attack on Qi Suian.

How could Qi Suian tolerate that? He transformed directly into the King of the Western Regions, reaping a good number of secondary Sacred Artifacts, some intelligence, and a mountain of insults.

All he could say was that under the influence of war, he wouldn’t say everyone was a diehard, but 99.9 out of 100 people had backbones so stiff it made Qi Suian’s skin crawl.

Therefore, he naturally couldn’t get much intelligence.

But now that he had this information, Qi Suian... didn’t plan on hiding anymore.

There was no need. Neither country was his choice.

He only belonged to the violator faction...?

"Holy shit, don’t tell me I’ve been dragged into the war too," Qi Suian suddenly realized.

’Wars are definitely divided by faction. I was thrown into the rainforest all by myself... surely I haven’t been defaulted into my own faction, have I?’

’I just didn’t realize it myself. It was only after killing so many people this time and reviewing the events that it finally dawned on me.’

"’Killing is one of the keynotes of war.’"

"’So my actions essentially fit the bill.’"

"’It makes sense. After all, a ’violator’ is an illegal identity derived from ’survivor’."

"’So I can’t escape it either.’"

"’And I was wondering why it was so easy this time, just throwing me into a rainforest with no other dangers.’"

"’Turns out, it’s because I was assigned to my own separate faction, so it didn’t matter where I was.’"

Qi Suian’s expression wasn’t pretty. He had always thought he was unaffected by the war; looking back, he’d been quite naive.

"’Since I can’t hide, I’ll just kill my way through.’"

"’Zombie army... I’m not falling into that trap.’"

"’With my current stats, I wouldn’t be able to sustain it.’"

"’It’s not necessary. In fact, with the Tai Sui God’s flexibility, I can reap even greater benefits.’" Qi Suian planned to play to his strengths.

The drawback of zombies was obvious: he couldn’t control that many. The uncontrolled ones were just empty shells that wouldn’t take any action.

[Perhaps you should look at the evolution energy gained from the Sacred Artifacts this time. The income is very strange.]

The AI suddenly presented Qi Suian with a report.

At first glance, Qi Suian saw no difference, but after a closer look, his expression changed.

"This... is a percentage?" Qi Suian discovered a commonality.

A D-rank Sacred Artifact provided 0.001% evolution energy, while a C-rank provided 0.02%.

Within each quality rank, every Sacred Artifact provided an identical amount of evolution energy.

"So you’re saying, if I get five thousand C-rank Sacred Artifacts, the Tai Sui God can gain 3 armor points and complete an evolution?"

"Then wouldn’t higher-quality Sacred Artifacts have an even stronger effect?" Qi Suian couldn’t help but gasp. "Terrifying indeed!"

[Yes, but this effect is most likely limited to the Sacred Artifact World.]

[Therefore, we hope you will acquire as many Sacred Artifacts as possible.]

"Five thousand pieces... not that hard to collect." Qi Suian knew that an ordinary family had at least one to three D-rank Sacred Artifacts.

The place he’d hit before was just a town, not a very prosperous one.

A wealthy family could basically own one C-rank Sacred Artifact.

But because it was just a town, there weren’t any B-rank Sacred Artifacts.

’Of course, there might have been some, I just didn’t find them.’

"If we calculate based on the pattern, a B-rank should provide 0.3%, and an A-rank 4%?"

"’Any higher... let’s not even think about it.’"

"’There probably aren’t many S-rank or higher Sacred Artifacts anyway.’"

"’A-rank should be the mainstream item for the top brass.’"

Hadn’t he seen that even the *Book of Disease Poems*, with its extraordinary origin, was only A-rank?

[Perhaps everything below A-rank are all derivative, secondary Sacred Artifacts.]

[Only those that reach A-rank are true Sacred Artifacts. S-rank and above are ’puzzle’ Sacred Artifacts that need to be assembled through compatible combinations.]

The AI offered its speculation.

Qi Suian was extremely interested in the AI’s theory.

"You mean, aside from the Destructive Sacred Objects, all other Sacred Artifacts are actually A-rank? The ranks below are derivative secondary ones, and the ranks above are compatible puzzle pieces?"

"’In essence, only these A-rank Sacred Artifacts are the true foundation.’"

"’Whether it’s secondary artifacts or puzzle artifacts, you need the foundational ones to get anything else.’"

[Yes. Otherwise, with such a terrifying number of Sacred Artifacts, the world would not be this peaceful.]

[What you need are the foundational A-rank Sacred Artifacts, just like the *Book of Disease Poems* you obtained.]

"I’ll have to find a way to verify your theory." Qi Suian rubbed his chin. He had to admit, the AI had given him a pleasant surprise with the limited information it had.

But that was only if the theory proved correct.

This would mean that secondary Sacred Artifacts had no future, and only foundational Sacred Artifacts could be used to form more powerful puzzle Sacred Artifacts.

"’Just like the Sacred Artifact in the hands of that covert team from the Xuan Empire. It must have been a foundational A-rank Sacred Artifact; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been worth teleporting back.’"

"’The Sacred Artifacts owned by civilians in the towns of the Eternal United States have no corresponding anti-loss security measures.’"

"’Because they’re not valuable and can be mass-produced, it doesn’t matter,’" Qi Suian perceived the difference.

[Yes. The difference in treatment means that there is a difference in status between Sacred Artifacts.]

[Furthermore, we can confirm one thing: while the effects and power of secondary Sacred Artifacts are weaker, their side effects and costs are also next to none.]