Chapter 39: Welcome to the New World, I am Lord Su Mu!
"It actually went through."
Su Mu looked at the screen in front of him with a sense of disbelief.
The screen had already begun counting down: 36, 37, 38, 39...
40 minutes later, the portal of light will open, and 10,001 new citizens will arrive in the Lord's territory. Please prepare to receive them.
Reception location: 30 meters in front of the Holy Altar of Light.
"I am truly a child of fortune. Haha, I should go and check on my new subjects."
Su Mu quickly opened the wooden chest beside him, took out a well-fitted suit to change into, and glanced at himself in a bronze mirror.
A black slim-fit suit, a pair of tinted brown glasses, and a large golden treasured sword strapped to his back.
Hmm, not bad at all. He was starting to give off the vibe of a male protagonist.
Satisfied with his look, Su Mu quickened his pace toward the Holy Altar of Light. Naturally, his left and right guardians—the little divine dragon and the skeleton warrior—followed closely behind him.
...
10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds...
Watching the numbers jump steadily on the holographic eye, Su Mu's heart raced along with them.
Finally, humans were entering his territory; finally, he would be able to converse with actual human beings.
Heaven knows how Su Mu had survived the past ten days in the dark world.
Apart from occasionally muttering to the little divine dragon and Blade Slash, he had absolutely no one to talk to.
Su Mu swore that no matter who stepped through the portal this time—whether it was a heinous criminal or some sort of cyborg—he would treat them as his own people and give them a fresh start in life.
5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds...
Boom!
Suddenly, a dazzling portal of light appeared before Su Mu's eyes, and a powerful gust of wind whipped his clothes into a frenzy. The white light was so intense that Su Mu had to shield his eyes with his hand.
When the blinding white light finally dissipated, Su Mu discovered a group of bizarre creatures standing before him. Some had skin as white as milk, marked with golden filigree patterns. Their demeanor was noble and elegant, and their eyes were a sky-blue—purer than the finest sapphires in the world.
Others had reddish-brown skin, and some were even covered in scales from head to toe. Their eyes resembled those of demons, glowing with an evil, crimson light, and tiny horns protruded from their heads.
Still others resembled Easterners, except their skin was covered in intricate colored patterns all over, making them look like hardened gangsters plastered in tattoos.
These individuals were male and female, mostly in their early twenties, standing neatly in square formations before Su Mu like newly manufactured robots.
They all wore identical white robes, and their gazes were cold and icy. Even Su Mu, who was accustomed to fields of slaughter, felt a chill run down his spine being stared at by such a group of monsters.
"What a bunch of demons and freaks."
Su Mu was utterly shocked.
He had once imagined that the empire might send him a batch of criminals too notorious for prison, or cloned cyborgs with short lifespans but high efficiency, or something of the sort.
Never in his wildest dreams had he expected the empire to send him a batch of actual monsters.
"Holographic Eye!"
Su Mu had no choice but to activate the holographic eye to inspect the mutations of these monsters.
[Species: Demon-Human Hybrid]
[Combat Power: 56,000]
[Combat Rank: Platinum 5]
[Defense: 70,000 points]
[Flaw: Unstable bloodline; highly prone to self-detonation or violent rampages]
...
[Species: Angel-Human Hybrid]
[Combat Power: 76,000]
[Combat Rank: Platinum 7]
[Defense: 80,000 points]
[Flaw: Unstable bloodline; highly prone to self-detonation or violent rampages]
...
[Species: Demon-Human Hybrid]
[Combat Power: 66,000]
[Combat Rank: Platinum 6]
[Defense: 80,000 points]
[Flaw: Unstable bloodline; highly prone to self-detonation or violent rampages]
...
"Someone in the empire wants me dead. Those bastards, those sons of bitches."
After pondering for a long time, Su Mu cursed bitterly. He wasn't stupid; he could naturally see that this was a trap. This group of powerful freaks was like a sharp blade—used well, it could cut off an enemy's head, but used poorly, it would slice off your own neck.
Much like the Red Hare horse from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was a fine horse indeed, but it brought doom to its master—whoever rode it would suffer misfortune.
"Those bastards in the empire, where on earth did they send me? I really want to kill those scumbags!"
Accompanied by a woman's angry scolding, someone wearing a white lab coat, with short hair, an ordinary face sprinkled with freckles, and myopia glasses walked briskly toward Su Mu.
[Race: Human]
[Name: Li Mei]
[Combat Power: 0]
[Specialty: Intellect]
Quickly checking the woman's information, Su Mu immediately put on a smiling face and went to greet her.
He had finally met a living human being; finally, he could communicate with a real person.
Of course, if this woman harbored any malice toward him, Su Mu wouldn't mind burying her beneath a large tree to serve as fertilizer.
"Hello, I am Su Mu, the lord of this place. Welcome to my territory," Su Mu introduced himself very enthusiastically.
"Li Mei. Do you eat chocolate?" The woman was quite familiar, pulling a bar of chocolate from her pocket, breaking it in half, and handing a piece to Su Mu.
"A very good start. I don't dislike this woman," Su Mu thought to himself.
...
十几分钟之后，苏牧已经和李梅在苏牧的小石屋里一边抱着热茶杯吸溜，一边聊起天来了。
Ten minutes later, Su Mu and Li Mei were sitting inside Su Mu's small stone hut, sipping from hot mugs of tea while chatting away.
A person who had been marinating in a circle of monsters for ten days, and a person who had been locked up in an imperial prison for an entire year—both of them showed symptoms of being chatterboxes, and the moment they met, they had an endless stream of things to say.
"So, you became a lord purely for money?" Li Mei asked.
"Of course not. My ambition is to become the greatest lord in the world, something like a God King," Su Mu immediately retorted.
"By the way, what did you say you were locked up in an imperial prison for a whole year?"
"Because of that batch of synthetics, you see. The synthetics I created were unstable and caused a riot in the empire, which is why I was locked up for a whole year."
"Actually, if they hadn't slashed my funding, my synthetic humans would have been the most perfect warriors without a single flaw."
Li Mei wore a look of utter grievance.
"Bastards!"
"A bunch of bastards!"
Li Mei and Su Mu cursed the sky together.
"By the way, you mentioned earlier that as long as you have some materials, you can completely fix the flaws in these synthetic humans. What kind of materials do you need?"
After some probing, Su Mu was certain that this woman was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper, devoted entirely to her scientific experiments, and well worth keeping in his territory.
"Blood from the Ice-Silk Magic Spider, the higher the rank the better. It can be used as a neutralizing agent. As long as the three types of blood are perfectly fused, the flaws of these new humans will be flawlessly repaired."
Hearing Li Mei's words, a sharp gleam flashed in Su Mu's eyes, and a smile crept onto the corner of his mouth.
Ice-Silk Magic Spiders, was that all? He would go out tomorrow and hunt down a dozen or so. If there was one thing the dark world wasn't lacking, it was monsters. Li Mei the scientist had truly come to the right place.
A vast world with boundless potential.
"Are you willing to stay in my territory?" Su Mu asked.
"Are you willing to take me in?" Li Mei countered.
"Of course I am." Su Mu smiled warmly.
"Thank you for taking me in." Li Mei looked grateful.
"Then what should we do with this batch of synthetic humans of yours?" Su Mu asked.
"They were forcibly injected with heavy sedatives by the empire, so they won't riot for a month. For the time being, you can use them as lumberjacks and miners. Their strength is much greater than that of ordinary people."