Chapter 194. Demons and Monsters (18) 1 + X = Infinite Possibilities

     Ye Mo observed Pushkin’s emotions not to pry into his privacy, but mainly for the safety of the half-demon base. Without asking too much, she took the lead in entering negotiations.

     “I can help you save 900 endangered silver wolves. Of course, you will be responsible for searching for the wolves yourself and reporting the numbers within 10 days. Late submissions will not be accepted. Your fellow demons should have a unique communication signal, right?”

     “Your conditions?” Pushkin was not happy at all, because he sensed that the other party had almost figured out all his cards. Calm, rational, and very intelligent.

     Before his clan’s territory was destroyed, he had his own way of survival. However, in order to recruit his fellow clansmen, his schemes went too far, and inadvertently, he accelerated the clan’s demise.

     Within a radius of 50,000 kilometers, there would be no other silver wolf clans. Now, cooperating with Ye Mo was almost his only option to save his 1,000 silver wolf clansmen, which was the second main quest of this instance.

     As expected, Ye Mo quickly put forward two conditions: “First, the Silver Wolf Clan must help the Half-Demon Base search for half-demons and rescue more than 3,000 half-demons within 30 days, excluding half-demons that come to the base on their own and those that the base searches for on its own. Second, during the search and rescue process, all space beast pills belong to the Half-Demon Base, as well as 80 beast pills with other attributes.”

     “As expected of the Chief Survivor, you are really cruel.” Pushkin looked as if he’d just been punched. “Considering we’re all survivors, 3000 half-demons is really too difficult. The Silver Wolf clan isn’t entirely under my control.”

     “Is saving 1000 Silver Wolves difficult? Most of the Silver Wolves still alive are practically walking demon cores. How many demon clans in the forest are waiting to divide up these demon cores, take a guess.” Ye Mo didn’t back down, instead raising her chin slightly. “And my time is very precious.”

     “How many half-demons can Watson’s information be worth?” Pushkin had no choice but to reveal his last trump card.

     “Just information? 500.” Ye Mo’s expression didn’t show any surprise; she simply hadn’t known Pushkin’s trump card was related to Watson.

     “Could you perhaps… alright, 2500 it is, but please extend the time to 50 days. 30 days is too difficult; many Silver Wolves need to recuperate.” At this moment, Pushkin’s expression held five parts less cynicism and five parts more sincerity, his hands clasped together. “*Please.*”

     Ye Mo raised the corner of her mouth. “Alright.”

     “Your smile is truly beautiful, and I swear these words come straight from my heart,” sensing danger, Pushkin quickly changed the subject. “Watson’s clan is in a salt lake in the west. As a plant-based race, they can revive with even a little bit of water and have strong defenses. They rarely leave their base. I think the predicament Watson faces is that their clan is too safe, so safe that there are almost no fellow clan members to rescue.”

     Ye Mo seemed thoughtful.

     This was almost the common predicament faced by the top 15 survivors in this instance: either their survival was too difficult to save others, or leaving their homeland meant there were no fellow tribesmen left to rescue.

     Wang Xue was the same.

     Leaving the human base would mean her 80 rescued humans would be for naught, unless Ye Mo and the others could become strong enough to kidnap 80 people from the human base.

     …

     After leaving the illusion array, Pushkin immediately put on a face similar to the one when he came in. Using Ye Mo as an excuse, he openly took out a lot of “magical” good things and went to deal with the silver wolf tribe.

     Ye Mo returned to the base and organized a large collective meeting of the half-demons to inform them about saving the silver wolf tribe and collect opinions and suggestions.

     A half-demon asked, “Why save those wolves? They aren’t half-demons, and they’ve even killed half-demons before.”

     “To survive in this world,” Ye Mo said, unusually talkative. “Half-demons can’t be enemies with all races forever, or they will face destruction sooner or later. We need allies, and more importantly, we need to prove our ability and value in surviving.”

     “Whether it’s combat skills, weapon crafting, alchemy, mechanical diagrams, or talisman scrolls, and perhaps other things in the near future, plus the ever-essential true strength, these are what your future survival depends on. Study hard and improve every day.”

     Ye Mo transferred some modified mechanical devices, which had been deleted from the survivor app, to the largest base room. In front of everyone in the base, she began crafting specialized attack-shooting hidden weapons and defensive armor designed specifically for the Silver Wolf clan.

     For the enemies the Silver Wolf clan had faced so far, Ye Mo added a small trap to the shooting-type hidden weapons: the mental toxin of the Taro spirit.

     There were also some unique toxins or other medicinal agents from plant and animal half-demons. Ye Mo used these more directly on the weapons of her own base’s half-demons, especially ranged weapons like bows, crossbows, guns, and bullets.

     If Watson were here, such poison attacks could truly become a course of study.

     While Ye Mo broadly taught, there were specific half-demons responsible for recording the entire process for their future learning and for the new half-demons to study.

     …

    Approximately 10 hours later, Pushkin brought news of a group of fleeing Silver Wolf tribesmen.  

     Ye Mo and a support team left the illusion formation, handing the shooting-type hidden weapons and defensive armor to Pushkin.  

     There was no time to waste—saving the demons was urgent.  

     Under the astonished gazes of the other forest spirit and demons, the half-demon base and the Silver Wolf tribe officially joined forces for the first time.  

     At first, the Silver Wolf tribe looked down on Ye Mo’s half-demon support team. It was only out of respect for Ye Mo that they refrained from openly expressing doubt or disdain.  

     Yet, in just half a day, Ye Mo and her team had completely changed their perception.  

     First, whenever they encountered half-demons in distress along the way, Ye Mo would have her support team rescue them before notifying other teams from the base.

     They relied on hidden spatial stations in the forest and ultra-low-frequency sound waves, something only the half-demon support team knew about.  

     In contrast, the Silver Wolf tribe communicated through scent, howls, and primitive markings among their own kind, but these methods had distance limitations. They grew curious about how the half-demons contacted with each other.  

     Of course, aside from Pushkin, none of them dared to pry into this secret.  

     Pushkin suspected that Ye Mo had launched an artificial satellite and that the metal cube served as some kind of signal receiver. Ye Mo gave him a complicated look in response.  

     She barely had enough time as it was, and there was no way she could have built something like that.  

   【Main Quest 2: Rescue your fellow Half-demons (1003/10000). 】

     The half-demon base had surpassed a thousand members? With 1/10th of the mission complete, this was undoubtedly good news.

     ……

     Secondly, when they encountered enemies they had faced before in the forest, the Silver Wolves saw a fire-type half-demon in the support team spit out a ball of fire. The disc-like object on his neck would display a screen.

     Because the vast majority of half-demons were still learning to read, the disc would also emit a voice:

   【Black Bear Spirit

     Attributes: Dual Earth and Fire.

     Biological Characteristics: Commonly inhabits forests, small groups (under 100) of burrowing creatures, irritable and prone to howling…

     Weaknesses: Eyes, lower abdomen, mouth.

     Kill Records: Checking…】

     Pushkin: “System??!”

     “Far from it, there’s still much room for improvement.” Ye Mo had only deciphered part of the mystery behind the Survivor app’s game interface, which was linked to mental power.

     For example, by engraving the defensive armor’s attribute data with a mental imprint and adding a touch of illusionary mental energy, the supernatural beings of this world could now see its functions and stat values.  

     There was one prerequisite: the knowledge had to originate from Ye Mo’s own memories. By extension, the mastermind behind the Survivor app must have been an incredibly powerful, godlike entity.  

     While these mental imprints were useless to Ye Mo herself, they were perfect for teaching. Young half-demons like the little stone golem and the tiny mermaid could even use the mechanism arrays to test their own basic physical attributes, allowing them to progress with clear direction in the early stages.  

     Had she not been thrust into such a world, Ye Mo would never have had this sudden inspiration to dismantle and study the Survivor app. Back then:

    【Survivor Ye Mo detected breaking through the mental threshold, Mental Attribute +1.】×8

   【Congratulations to survivor Ye Mo for completing hidden task, all attributes +12, free attribute points +9.】

     As it turned out, while the mental recovery potions were consumed at an alarming rate, the direction of research was indeed correct—the Survivor app even seemed to encourage such puzzle-solving behavior.

     For now, this technology was only applied to newborn half-demon fledglings. The prototypes used by the First Support Team were still crude experiments, far from matching the sophistication of the Survivor app.  

     Ye Mo replied, “It’s just an ever-expanding encyclopedia of knowledge, nothing more.” Yet inheritable written language was sometimes indispensable—precisely why she had developed this system in the first place.  

     Pushkin shrugged and joked, “At this rate, soon the whole world—no, the entire multiverse—will be speaking Mandarin.”

     Knowledge archive or not, the half-demons’ teamwork left the Silver Wolf tribe in awe. In truth, their tactics relied on simple scientific or Five-Elements principles: water extinguishing fire, fire conducting electricity, wind fueling flames…  .

     1 + X = Infinite possibilities.

     During the two small-scale fights along the way, Ye Mo didn’t take action. The half-demons relied on themselves and their teammates in front of the other spirits and monsters, proving their worth.

     They earned the respect they deserved.

     In this world, the vast majority of spirits and monsters are quite simple-minded, and the Silver Wolves were no exception. With Pushkin acting as a bridge, the teams became more friendly with each other.

     Occasionally hearing the half-demons promote their values made the Silver Wolves increasingly believe Pushkin’s nonsense, and Ye Mo couldn’t help but cringe inwardly.  

     ….

     Before long, they encountered a group of over a hundred silver wolf demons in distress, being pursued by more than two hundred space monkey demons. The battlefield was littered with a considerable number of severely wounded or dead silver wolf demons.  

     In truth, when it came to close combat, most monkey demons weren’t necessarily a match for the majority of the silver wolf tribe. However, the monkey demons treated short-distance space teleportation as effortlessly as drinking water, granting them extreme agility. Combined with their burst of speed, they were exceptionally skilled at harassing their enemies.  

     “Go!”  

     With those words, Ye Mo vanished from sight in front of the demons. The silver wolf tribe charged into battle, while the half-demons split into two teams—one engaging in close combat, the other providing ranged support.  

     The space monkey horde showed no fear, chattering and laughing boisterously. Not only did they resemble Earth’s monkeys in appearance, but their mischievous personalities were also similar—except for their colors and sizes.  

     However, they soon realized something was wrong.  

     Those strange protective armors rendered some of their attacks useless, and irregularly thrown projectile struck their bodies, causing momentary dizziness that left them exposed.  

     Most importantly, sometimes, even when they clearly saw an enemy and lunged to attack, the enemy would dissolve like a reflection in water and vanish. Instead, they would find themselves crashing straight into the enemy’s weapons.  

     “Squeak squeak squeak!”

     “Awoo! Awoo!”

     “There’s illusion magic.”

     After losing some of their numbers, they warned each other and began to focus their attacks entirely on the injured and weaker enemies.

     This was certainly effective and caused Ye Mo considerable trouble; after all, one person’s mental power was limited:

【Survivor Ye Mo detected breaking through the mental threshold, Mental Attribute +1.】×3.

     The stalemate didn’t last long.

     Ye Mo chose to temporarily retreat, instructing the half-demon leader and Pushkin to fight defensively, prioritizing the protection of the weak. They listened.

     The monkey demons seemed to have gained the upper hand, they thought so too, becoming smug and continuing their chase like they did at the beginning, with a nasty edge.

     However, they hadn’t yet realized that while the enemy was fighting defensively, they weren’t actually fleeing. They were all circling within a certain range, and it wasn’t clear who was leading whom on a chase.