Chapter 227: Unraveling Strategy

Li Zaishi, Third-Stage Mid-level, excels in group combat. Suspected to wield Elemental powers…

Dong Yefeng, Third-Stage Mid-level. An Agility expert who specializes in assassinations.

Wu Ru, Third-Stage Mid-level, is adept at fabricating illusions…

…

Scanning rapidly through portraits and personal profiles, Yenir flipped through a few pages before setting the files aside.

Everything in his sight was Third-Stage Mid-level material; there was no need to review the basic profiles.

After a quick glance, he dismissed this batch of Third-Stage Mid-level candidates.

If you’ve never heard the name, it’s worthless.

Noticing Yenir’s indifference toward the names on the list, Captain Ming Luo furrowed his brows and warned in a low voice:

“Yenir, I know you’re powerful. But you still need to be cautious around them.”

“We’ve clashed with these guys several times—even previous squads lost many Third-Stage Mid-level fighters to them.”

“They aren’t as safe and bountiful as our Battle Zone. Every Awakener on their side has fought fiercely, amassing extensive combat experience, especially against top-tier opponents!”

“Our former captain fell at the hands of Dong Yefeng. While he was entangled with a mutant, his enemy suddenly materialized behind him, causing Zhao Han’s death.”

A hint of sorrow flashed in Ming Luo’s eyes as he pointed to the documents beside Yenir.

Raising his eyebrows, Yenir nodded thoughtfully as he considered Ming Luo’s words.

A former captain? A struggle?

This ex-captain was likely of the Constitution Type—an essential link our squad sorely lacked. Dead? No wonder our team was misconfigured.

Appearing out of nowhere from behind, with lethal assassination skills… it certainly seemed troublesome.

After registering Dong Yefeng’s face, Yenir replied calmly:

“So you’re saying that many of our people have already died at their hands?”

“I find it odd that even though the Huaxia Battle Zone isn’t considered weak, our external operations have been lackluster. Especially in resource contests—whether seizing instances or gear—we’ve performed poorly.”

With that, Yenir cast a curious glance toward Ming Luo.

In his previous life, every nation was trapped within its own borders. He rarely engaged other Battle Zones; the few encounters were only against their strongest. Under ordinary circumstances, this was neither known nor cared about.

In truth, he had already been quite diplomatic.

The records revealed that the Huaxia Battle Zone performed not merely poorly, but disastrously…

Losing eight out of ten battles, they brought back scant resources while suffering heavy casualties.

At Yenir’s inquiry, the whole squad’s expressions darkened. After a long pause, Ming Luo spoke in a tone laden with complexity:

“It really is that bad…”

“And there are mainly two reasons.”

“First, other Battle Zones often band together to suppress us. Additionally, their overall resource demands are lower, and they can usually deploy their strongest fighters.”

“Unlike us. Although Huaxia Awakener numbers are high, most of our forces are scattered across different zones to protect the civilian population.”

“They don’t really mind if their own people perish—top-tier fighters can easily be redirected for external conquest.”

“Second, we joined Intercontinental Instances far too late…”

“Yenir, you should know that during the mid-apocalypse, most of our Huaxia Battle Zone’s forces were busy eradicating internal threats, barely engaging in these counter instances, and had no time for border affairs. Yet these resource nodes always appeared near the borders…”

“This left us with scant intelligence on various secret realms and instances—we had no real idea what they contained.”

“Fighting on foreign turf, we were naturally at a disadvantage.”

“Even if the nation later recognized the gravity of the situation and deployed Awakener forces en masse to capture these strategic resources…”

“But… it was too late…”

“As soon as we stepped in, they had already mustered enough to block us. Over the years, our situation has only deteriorated…”

Silently clenching his fists, Captain Ming Luo—a member of our special external operations unit—recalled past encounters with deep shame.

“And it’s not just that—the other nations have also reaped the benefits.”

In the heavy silence, the typically taciturn Zheng Cheng suddenly spoke up:

“Some of the resources produced by the instances are vital. When we can’t secure them, they sell them to us at exorbitant prices.”

“Yenir, do you know how much they charge us for a kilogram of Spirit Energy ore?”

Zheng Cheng gave a self-mocking smile as the lean middle-aged man gestured:

“Seven hundred kilograms of grain!”

“For the European and American Battle Zones, they only dare to charge one hundred—because those zones have multiple supply channels, while we rely solely on this!”

“In system evaluations, items worth seventy kilograms are sold to us at ten times the value! And yet, we have no choice but to buy!”

“For agricultural machinery, industrial production, national defense…”

“A significant portion of the food conserved in our Safe Zones from survivors is spent on this.”

“Moreover, in recent years they’ve even signaled coordinated border incursions. Now, they won’t even sell at a tenfold price—they plan to choke our industrial base, turning us into their feeding ground!”

“Currently, the price per kilogram has soared to 900! At that rate, all our food harvest would go straight to them.”

“Frankly, it’s like a trade war. We’re treated like dogs, toiling to exhaustion and starving, while they strangle our energy and force us to labor for them.”

“They can marshal the might of an entire nation to stop us, but we simply can’t match that!”

Listening to these revelations from his past, Yenir felt an unsettling chill deep within.

He had never known such matters—no wonder the Huaxia Battle Zone, despite years of peaceful development before the catastrophe, still left its lower-tier survivors in misery. Most food was bartered for strategic supplies, and rampant internal consumption led to annual starvation.

The situation was far grimmer than he had imagined.

It seemed that unless these adversaries were eliminated, his plans could never take shape. Without essential Spirit Energy resources, nothing could be built.

No wonder the Authorities in his previous life hesitated so long before abandoning the Safe Zones.

Every morsel of food acquired through hard trade was too precious to lose. One could say that every ‘brick’ of a new Safe Zone is stained with survivor blood.

With that thought, Yenir spoke coldly:

“Circle out the key personnel—list the one who has killed the most of our people.”

Huh!?

Inside the cabin, everyone froze at the murderous tone in Yenir’s voice.