Chapter 245 The Transformation of the Hunter's Guild and the Division of War Zones

Kyoto Alliance Supreme Council.

The hall was now silent, devoid of its usual arguments and clamor. The holographic globe slowly rotated in the center of the round table, and the blue area that had once represented human control was now replaced by large swaths of glaring crimson.

The top decision-maker rubbed his temples wearily.

The Golden Core cultivators are forbidden from engaging in combat, and nuclear weapons are sealed off. The decree of that Dao Lord of Kunlun is tantamount to directly stripping humanity of its greatest trump card.

"The borders must be redrawn." The military commander's voice sounded as if he had aged more than ten years. He pointed to areas such as Changbai Mountain, the Ten Thousand Mountains, and the Amazon rainforest on the holographic map.

"According to the Dao Lord's will, the deep mountains and forests where these demons reside have been tacitly recognized as the territory of the demon kingdom. With our current forces, without heavy firepower to clear the area and the escort of high-level cultivators, it is simply impossible for us to break in."

"So we're just going to hand over the Earth to others like this?" A representative of a powerful clan slammed his hand on the table in frustration.

"It's not about handing over the battlefield, it's about fixing the battlefield in place." Professor Wang Mingyuan stood up and pulled out a draft of the global war zone division that had been hastily prepared overnight.

"Friends, abandon the illusion of a complete purge. From this day forward, the world will be divided into three parts."

Wang Mingyuan circled several huge areas on the map.

"First, there is the inland fortress city with a massive protective array and a population of tens of millions. This is the absolutely safe zone, also known as the green zone. Second, there are the deep mountains and rivers inhabited by the demon race. This is the extremely dangerous red zone."

His fingers traced heavily across the vast abandoned cities, plains, and wilderness between the green and red zones.

"Thirdly, there is the buffer zone sandwiched between the fortress city and the demon kingdom. From the Jianghuai defense line to the frozen soil of the Northeast, from the Gobi Desert in the Northwest to the dense forests in the Southwest, these areas will be officially named the Meat Grinder War Zone, also known as the Yellow Zone."

Wang Mingyuan raised his head and looked around at the capital giants and military leaders present.

"In the Yellow Zone, there are no rules, no bottom line. The demons will come out to hunt our soldiers, and our hunters will also go in to dig out their cores. This is the rule set for us by the Dao Lord, treating each other as whetstones for evolution."

Upon hearing these words, the powerful clans who monopolized cultivation resources exchanged glances, their eyes flashing with an extremely cold light.

Since high-level cultivators cannot participate, and since nuclear weapons cannot be used to cleanse the land, this war has become a pure war of attrition. And what a war of attrition needs most are cannon fodder and logistics.

The Hunter's Guild's Grand Master, a lean old man who always wore a monocle, slowly tapped the table, breaking the silence.

"Since the rules have changed, our approach must change too." The old man's voice was as calm as the turning of beads on an abacus. "Before, we treated the lowly mortal hunters as disposable commodities, exploiting them with exorbitant loans and equipment interest rates. But that won't work anymore."

"If the hunters on the front lines in the yellow zone die too quickly and meaninglessly, and the defense line collapses, who will protect our assets and lives in the green zone?"

The old man glanced around at the representatives of the powerful families present, his tone carrying an unquestionable firmness.

"Starting tomorrow, the Hunter's Guild will undergo a complete transformation, taking over all combat supply in the Yellow Zone. The rental prices for all second-generation and even unreleased third-generation exoskeleton armors will be reduced, and basic equipment can even be distributed interest-free. The threshold for pseudo-spiritual root implantation surgery will be lowered."

"We want to give people hope. As long as they can kill monsters and dig up monster cores in the yellow zone, the guild will open its doors to provide them with the best repair fluid and ammunition. We want to transform 'monster hunting' from a high-risk speculative activity into a war profession with full logistical support that everyone can participate in."

One representative frowned: "Giving away equipment for free? Where will our profits come from then?"

"Demon cores." The old man sneered. "The vast wilderness is teeming with endless demonic beasts. We will establish a brand-new economic system with 'demon cores' as the hard currency. The demon cores that hunters risk their lives for are the cleanest spiritual energy and hard currency in this wasteland era. As long as we control the recycling and pricing power of demon cores, the guild will be invincible forever."

The new order of the wasteland was sketched out in this luxurious conference room, along with the redistribution of interests and a cruel yet pragmatic compromise.

……

A few days later, on the outskirts of the main defense line of the Jianghuai region, in the ruins of the Yellow Zone.

The continuous rain finally stopped, and the long-awaited sunshine pierced through the gray clouds, shining on the dilapidated streets full of bullet holes and dried bloodstains.

Old Ding sat on a broken section of load-bearing wall, holding a rag soaked in machine oil, carefully wiping his newly replaced third-generation alloy robotic arm.

The open space in front of the trenches was no longer the chaotic scene of equipment scattered everywhere. Several heavy armored vehicles painted with the Hunter's Guild emblem were parked steadily in the center of the open space, forming a temporary forward supply station.

"Uncle Ding, it's all changed!"

Little Stone ran out of the supply station tent, his face flushed with relief and anticipation for the future. In his hands, he carried not only two boxes of brand-new high-explosive armor-piercing shells, but also two vials of high-purity pseudo-spiritual root repair fluid that emitted a pale blue fluorescent light.

"This guild has really changed its ways." Little Stone handed the repair fluid to Old Ding and said excitedly, "I just used the three Tier 1 Ironclad Wolf inner cores we hunted last night to exchange for it. Not only did it settle the mech repair fees we owed, but we also got two tubes of the latest synthetic repair fluid. I heard this stuff is much better than those cheap stuff we used to have. Drinking it won't hurt your nerves, and it can even slightly increase the tolerance of your meridians."

Old Ding took the repair fluid, uncorked it, and smelled it. Indeed, the pungent, bloody smell was gone, replaced by a pure and gentle herbal fragrance.

He tilted his head back and drank the repair fluid in one gulp.

A warm, gentle current flowed down his throat, softly enveloping the pseudo-spiritual root in his spine that was aching slightly from days of intense battle. The previously restless and agitated spiritual energy channels gradually calmed down under the nourishment of this pure spiritual energy, and even the transmission delay of the mechanical arm was reduced slightly.

"Don't think they're too kind." Old Ding let out a long sigh, threw the empty pipe into the waste bin, but his eyes were clearer and more resolute than ever before.

"They've figured it out; they know this line of defense will have to be filled with the lives of us mortals. If they feed us well and equip us properly, we can go into the wilderness and bring them back more resources."

Old Ding stood up, stretched his shoulders, and produced an extremely smooth metallic scraping sound.

The atmosphere on the front lines has changed these past few days.

The demon race did not launch a reckless, suicidal attack as they had initially. The enlightened demon kings also learned to calculate battle losses. They broke into smaller units, dispersing their armies across the vast ruins and jungles of the yellow zone, engaging in a highly tactical war of attrition with the human hunter squads.

Without overturning the table, let's hone our skills against each other right here in this muddy place.

"But this is fine too."

Old Ding looked at his comrades in the trench, who were helping each other repair their exoskeletons and clean their psionic rifles. Although everyone's face bore the lingering weariness, the numbness had disappeared.

Instead, there is a resilience that has found a way to survive.

"Before, we killed demonic beasts to pay off debts. Now, we kill them to live, so we can truly take a step forward on this path of cultivation." Old Ding patted Little Stone on the shoulder, his tone unusually energetic. "If the medicine from above works, our lives will be longer. As long as we're alive, in this yellow zone, we mortals also have a chance to fight our way to the Foundation Establishment stage."

"Hmm!" Little Stone nodded heavily, inserted the machine gun's ammunition belt into the slot, and pulled the bolt.

"Let's go." Old Ding picked up the high-frequency vibrating knife, its blade gleaming coldly in the sunlight. "The guild's bounty list has been updated. There's a nest of mutated monstrous lions in the abandoned shopping mall five kilometers to the west. Let's raid their den and get tomorrow's food."

The wind in the yellow zone picked up again, stirring up dust from the ground.

……