Chapter Ten: The Minotaur's Disguise

On this day, Wang Sheng finally delivered the minerals to the Boundless Forest, but the slow pace had frustrated him greatly. Having tasted speed before, the sluggish journey left him deeply vexed.

He had already received messages via pigeon post: the orcs had abandoned their vanguard and consolidated their forces, advancing in overwhelming numbers directly toward Saint Dragon City. Wherever they passed, they captured cities and strongholds, their momentum unprecedented. Any discerning observer could see that although the orcs advanced with a fearsome momentum, they had encountered no substantial resistance.

The orcs, with brains no bigger than almonds, failed to perceive the strange situation within the Saint Dragon Empire and mistakenly believed that humanity’s courage had been utterly broken.

Wang Sheng had long wished to communicate with Shen Yi, but since that day, Shen Yi had not taken the initiative to reach out, so he had no opportunity to win him over.

“Deputy Director Wang, you’ve worked hard these days,” said Long Er suddenly, who was driving a vulture war vehicle.

Wang Sheng was thrilled—finally, the commander had contacted him.

Shen Yi was busy constructing the human starport at the base; the starport was crucial for maintaining and building space warships. The urgency to build the airport stemmed from the importance of transport aircraft, as running back and forth with troops was too troublesome.

Upon hearing the alert tone, Wang Sheng hurried to the command hall, thinking, “Should I try to recreate cellphones from my previous life? It’s so inconvenient here. With technology and satellites, making a phone can’t be that hard.” Once this thought took root, it spiraled uncontrollably.

For now, the priority was to receive the materials Wang Sheng had brought.

“Commander, here are the materials you requested. Due to time constraints, I could only gather these,” Wang Sheng said.

“Old sir, don’t trouble yourself. Just leave the supplies here; no need to bring them inside,” Shen Yi replied. Just then, fifty machine gunners and ten engineers emerged from the woods.

Seeing the reinforcements arrive, Wang Sheng felt reassured.

He said, “Commander, about the promised lectures at the Advanced Magic Academy, when will you have time? Also, with the orc invasion underway, I hope you can lend your aid. This time, His Majesty intends to keep all the orcs within the Saint Dragon Empire. Your involvement would be a great boost. Of course, the reward will be generous—I will petition His Majesty on your behalf.” Wang Sheng did not know how many puppets the commander controlled, but he was certain the commander was human. If humans on East Avenue were doomed, the commander would not stand idly by.

“Alright, I’ll give you a hundred machine gunners,” Shen Yi said. As he spoke, a hundred machine gunners began marching out of the base. Recently, Shen Yi had gathered two hundred machine gunners, ten vulture war vehicles, fifty flamethrowers, and twenty battlefield medics.

He had also upgraded the armor by one level. All buildings and units received an additional layer of armor. The entire human base felt, to Shen Yi, like it had become “harder.”

After bidding farewell to Shen Yi, Wang Sheng set out with the hundred machine gunners, heading toward Saint Heart City for the decisive battle. The orcs, claiming an army of a million, were steadily closing in on Dragon City.

After Wang Sheng left, Shen Yi began converting energy. This time, he had brought a great deal of minerals. Initially, ten engineers transported the materials in multiple trips, but once the airport was completed, Shen Yi decisively built three transport planes that could ferry all the supplies back to the base in one trip.

Watching the steady increase of crystals and gas minerals, Shen Yi was overjoyed. So much money—because for him, wealth meant soldiers and the ability to research technology.

Shen Yi’s resource panel stabilized at fifty thousand crystals and four thousand gas minerals. Since Wang Sheng did not know exactly what minerals Shen Yi needed, he scavenged rare ores in Saint Heart City.

While Shen Yi pondered how to spend the funds, a message came from the Zerg base: “Commander, the Overlord wishes to upgrade the Zerg base, requiring two thousand crystals. Do you approve?” Since Yang Dianfeng had entered the Zerg base, Shen Yi had transferred management authority to her, bestowing upon her the title of Zerg Overlord.

“Approved. And tell them the human base is an ally—do not attack it,” Shen Yi replied generously.

Returning to the command hall, Shen Yi asked, “Can the human base manufacture communication devices now? Something called a cellphone. If possible.”

“Yes, Commander. What style do you need?” The officer then listened as Shen Yi explained the cellphone’s design and functions in detail.

Ten minutes later, Shen Yi held the first version of the “Starry Sky 0.1” cellphone. It felt excellent in hand, made from an unknown material that was flexible enough to bend into a bracelet for easy carrying. It featured DNA recognition linked to the owner; if the owner died or lost the device, an automatic sensing system would trigger a self-destruct mechanism. The explosion was mild, essentially a self-destruction safeguard.

Beyond the functions Shen Yi described, several additional features were added. Twirling the phone effortlessly, he thought, “Here, pigeon post is too inconvenient. With this, it’s like watching a continuous stream of money flow in.” He then ordered the researchers to begin mass production.

The cellphone could be manufactured using crystal minerals and consumed about the same energy as a raptor used in a day—very cheap, and solar-powered to boot. Truly a marvel of technology.

Meanwhile, Wang Sheng was on his way back. Looking at the hundred machine gunners forming a formation behind the vulture war vehicle, he heard them chanting, “121.121.1234.” He had no idea what it meant.

Yet, it seemed to carry some sort of power. Despite bringing a thousand elite soldiers, who had been marching steadily, hearing the machine gunners’ chant caused them to stagger and lose all their momentum.

Wang Sheng thought, “This isn’t magic, right? I don’t sense any magical fluctuations!” He was utterly baffled.

He had never seen them in combat; none carried weapons—each only held a piece of iron. Villagers had said the iron piece could shoot hidden weapons, but Wang Sheng had never seen it, so he was unsure how effective it was.

Passing through a stretch of grassland, he spotted a herd of three to four hundred cattle in the distance.

“Brother Bull, do you think there could be a human village in such a remote place? Humans usually settle on flat land. My stomach’s already growling. If we can’t find food, let’s return the way we came. Military rations may be awful, but at least they fill the belly,” said a dog-headed orc behind the bull-headed one, holding his head high.

“What do you know? Is your brain bigger than mine? Are you stronger than me?” the bull-headed orc replied, shaking the big axe in his hand and glaring at the dog-headed one with his bovine eyes.

The dog-headed orc swallowed nervously and shook his head, “Brother Bull, I’m certainly not smarter than you. Everyone knows in our orc tribe, you have the highest IQ—no other species has a bigger brain than you.” After speaking, he felt the saliva he had just swallowed rise back up. He dared not say more and lowered his head, clutching his bow as they marched on.

After a while, passing through waist-high grass, the dog-headed orc said, “Brother Bull, I think I smell humans. It’s in that direction. If we pass through this grass, we should see them.”

“Let’s hurry,” the bull-headed orc’s eyes gleamed.

Both parties spotted each other, but Wang Sheng’s side was on the flat road, while the orcs were concealed in the grass. The tall grass hid their bodies, revealing only a mass of bovine heads. Wang Sheng assumed it was someone’s herd grazing, thinking, “This must be a wealthy household to let so many cattle out at once. Can they even watch over them?”

“Brother Bull, Brother Bull, is that humans? I want to see too,” the dog-headed orc said, stretching out his hands and looking pitifully at the bull-headed orc.

Turning to the dog-headed orc who wanted a hug, the bull-headed orc shuddered with disgust. “How can there be such a disgusting creature in this world? By the orc gods above, I want to cleave him in two!”

He kicked the dog-headed orc flying and glared with his bull eyes. “Ahead is a thousand-strong human soldier squad, staggering as they walk—they’re probably not regular troops. Men, let’s kill! Human food is delicious.” With that, he let out an excited “Moo!”

Wang Sheng sat inside the vulture war vehicle, bored. Hearing the bull’s call, he turned to look at the herd. Suddenly, the cattle sped up and charged toward them. Wang Sheng was bewildered—what was going on? Had they been startled?

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