On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

Liao Ji chuckled and let it go. He now understood exactly how Jiu You's "infrastructure capability" that increased "execution power" was manifested.

As the next fragment of Jiuyou's past unfolded, the Ash Base began a major cleanup.

Starting with the death of Luo Cheng, those high-ranking officials who had previously relied on their status as elders to indulge in comfort and even engage in corruption and embezzlement began to feel insecure.

Because they discovered that Jiu You was truly impervious to reason. This dragon girl was all bravado, and once she set her sights on someone, nothing she said would work. Instead, they might even be subjected to violent execution for resisting arrest.

Anyone injured by Jiu You, even Sciutia couldn't heal them. Almost every one of them was either declared dead the next day or became a permanent vegetative state, which was no different from being dead.

Furthermore, although Zero didn't directly intervene, Jiu You's ability to pinpoint those corrupt individuals within the organization so accurately relied on Zero's data. No one in the entire Ash Base could escape Zero's grasp; Zero was the best pair of eagle eyes hovering over the heads of all high-ranking officials, and Jiu You was the claw. As for Styutia...

Looking at the fragments showing the nuns saying "Uncle, it's time to take your medicine," Liao Ji realized that his understanding of Sthija in the game was completely wrong!

Soon after, no one in the Ash Base's upper echelons dared to use the base's resources without permission, let alone enjoy life. They all returned to their old ways, competing to be the most miserable of all, wishing they could drink heavily polluted water and hand over purified resources to maintain the equipment against the Turbid Calamity.

In the game, this translates to a lower resource consumption rate at the base, while simultaneously increasing the speed of your actions for various commands.

The changes at the top were one aspect, but Jiu You also played a significant role in helping the soldiers who were no longer willing to fight.

Although Jiuyou was previously a Disaster-level being, as a "BOSS" being, after being contracted by the player and becoming a player character, its attributes will be significantly adjusted. This is a common setting in many games. You can capture BOSSes, but the captured BOSSes will definitely be the watered-down versions of the previous ones.

In "The Fall," it's not so much that he was emasculated, but rather that his strength temporarily declined. Now, Liao Ji sees from the fragments of the past that it seems that Jiu You's power was purified by himself, and he is not used to it for a while, which leads to a decrease in his power.

Therefore, Ash, as his own incarnation, began to execute one game decision after another, which was to ruthlessly take Jiuyou to solo dungeons, striving to maximize Jiuyou's experience and level up as quickly as possible.

Perhaps it's because I used save-scumming (SL) too many times when I was trying to capture Jiu You, which awakened my SL spirit. So later, when I used Jiu You to solo various levels, even though the probability was very low, I still had to use save-scumming to pass.

Corresponding to Jiu You's past memories in reality, she was cruelly thrown into one desperate situation after another by Ashes, such as a cave crawling with turbid insects, a nest of mutated plants polluted by filth, and a battle against hundreds of turbid corpse mutants in a one-way tunnel.

This not only honed Jiu You's skills, but this terrifying training method also greatly shocked the Ash soldiers, making them truly realize that Lord Ash was not joking, but really wanted to continue accumulating power and expanding his influence. Their ultimate target enemy might really be... Zhuo E.

Similarly, the Ash Soldiers admired and respected Jiu You more and more, to the point that they looked at this dragon girl as if she were a monster.

After all, Ash Lord's training is terrifying, but Jiu You, who can survive such terrifying training unscathed and even become stronger in battle, is even more terrifying.

Jiuyou's prestige within the Ash Base began to rise rapidly, sparking a strong wave of preparations for war.

Less than three months later, Ash Base launched another offensive. With the powerful Guardian Jiuyou in command, they successfully reclaimed the surrounding areas contaminated by the Evil from the monsters and established new branch settlements and shelters.

From this point onward, Liao Ji's territory within the "Ash" faction began to expand rapidly and in a truly significant way within the game. And from this point onward, for the survivors of the old world...

That marked the dawn of a new era.

Chapter 262 Familiar Characters

"Have you heard? The Ash Army has conquered four more polluted areas, one of which is led by a 'Jiao' level Turbid Calamity Lord!"

"I know, I know! Our scavenging team happened to pass through that area, and I personally witnessed that dragon girl from the Ash Army cleave that dragon-level Turbid Lord in two with a single strike!"

"One slash? Don't be ridiculous. That dragon girl was originally a slave gladiator at the Grassa base. I watched a few of her matches a few years ago. She is indeed very strong, but not as exaggerated as you say!"

"No, no, no, have you forgotten about 'Lord Ashes'? With the Dragon Girl's potential, coupled with that lord's guidance, it's entirely possible!"

"Speaking of that sir, I used to have a brother who wasn't even half as strong as me as a Calamity-level being. But after he went to the Ash Base from our base, he came back to see me yesterday, and that kid has actually reached the upper level of the Dangerous Rank!"

"Oh my god, really? Now I want to go to Ash Base too. If I could be chosen by that person, could I reach the Danger level or even the Catastrophe level?"

"Hmph, come on, you don't even dare to go outside the base walls. You're stuck inside all day. Ash Base only accepts people who are truly willing to fight against the Turbid Calamity. They don't want cowards like us who are afraid of death and just want to survive!"

"So what do you think Lord Ash is up to? They're not just going to fight the Turbid Evil; in the last six months, they've also annexed three nearby bases."

"Who knows? Just don't attack our base. I've heard that Ash's bases have very few entertainment facilities and are all under military management. Even the high-ranking officers live similar or even worse lives than ordinary people. I can't stand that kind of suffering, and I don't want to be dragged into fighting the Turbid Monsters!"

"Yes, yes, we work so hard to become Evil Ones, isn't it all for self-protection and to enjoy better treatment? We need to distinguish between what's important and what's not."

"The Ash Army must not come! Please, please don't come!"

In the illusion of the past, several elite Evil Ones from the Azure Base were praying.

Unfortunately, the fact that they could appear in Zero's memory fragments proves...

Sure enough, a series of explosions occurred in the base city the next moment, and the sounds of fighting echoed continuously within the Azure Base. A group of Ash Army soldiers lurking in the city made their way straight to the heart of the enemy, taking advantage of the chaos created in the city to kill their way towards the location of the base's high command.

This tactic was Liao Ji's forte at the time. He would first send his elite Evil Ones in batches, disguised, to infiltrate the target base. After gathering enough intelligence, they would suddenly launch an attack, assassinate the base's high-ranking officials, and seize power without expending too much military force, thus taking over the base in a manner similar to a coup.

"Damn it! It's the Ash Army!"

"They don't outnumber us, but we have so many of us, don't be afraid!"

"Commander, we can't hold on! That dragon girl has single-handedly wiped out three of our squads!"

"What is that robot? One of it has the firepower of our entire regiment! Requesting backup! Requesting backup!"

"Why are they so strong?!"

In less than half a day, Azure Base was completely incorporated into the Ashes' territory, even though the guard force here was dozens of times larger than the Ashes' army.

However, Liao Ji's subordinates, not to mention top-tier combatants, even ordinary soldiers, are battle-hardened veterans who have repeatedly fought against the monsters in the polluted land. They are worlds apart from the guards in many bases who just loaf around and wait to die, hiding inside the walls. There is no comparison between them in terms of mental will and combat experience.

However, his good fortune didn't last long. Liao Ji remembered that the Azure Base was probably the last base he had captured by taking advantage of such a "decapitation strike".

The base leaders weren't fools either. They began to strictly control the personnel entering the base, making it much harder for Liao Ji to let his mutated subordinates in. At the same time, they greatly strengthened the internal defenses, with various barrier facilities targeting the mutated, almost eliminating the possibility of breaching the base from the inside.

This meant that if Liao Ji wanted to capture the base again, he would have to fight a proper siege battle. However, this would consume a lot of resources. Moreover, powerful combat forces like Jiu You and Ling would lose their advantage in siege battles and would be helpless against the thick, heavily armored city walls.

After analyzing the pros and cons and calculating the potential gains, I had no choice but to abandon my plan to continue trying to seize the base.

After all, without a good way to break through the "iron lump", a battle to conquer a city is like losing eight hundred to the enemy and a thousand to yourself. Liao Ji's attempt to seize the base for population and resources is a bit of a losing proposition.

By this point, the game was already in its mid-stages. Liao Ji, who was stuck at a bottleneck, couldn't just sit idle, so he did some side quests and shifted his focus from the human base to other races.

Only humans would build steel bases; demi-humans, on the other hand, exist in tribal forms.

Thanks to Jiu You, a dragon-human, Liao Ji's journey to subdue the subhuman races was quite simple. The vast majority of the subhumans did not resist; on the contrary, they welcomed the Ash Army.

It's true that demi-humans will never be enslaved, but only if someone can provide them with food and lodging, and besides, they're just joining the Ash Army.

Among these, many characters that Liao Jizhen was truly familiar with began to appear in the fragments of the past.

While Jiu You was helping him build the Ash Alliance in various demi-human tribes, he encountered a cat-human boy who looked like he had been expelled from his tribe and was all alone, looking very pitiful.

The boy was nearly killed by the monster, but they managed to save him.

There was also a burly werewolf who was deeply attracted by Jiu You's powerful figure and clamored to join the Ash Army and become a strongman like Jiu You.

The werewolf Dazhuang is only focused on becoming stronger and is a bit silly. However, when the other cat-man boy joined the Ash Base, he was initially very wary. He was clearly a very meticulous and cautious person, and his first impression of the Ash Base was not good.

Because the Ashes were already very famous in this area, they were definitely a super power. Logically, the civilians in the base should have lived very well, but in reality, the cat-man boy found that this was not the case.

Some ordinary people are even going hungry.

"Mommy, I'm so hungry... Can you...?"

On their way back to the base with the two demi-human boys, Jiu You saw a little boy tugging at his mother's dress, staring longingly at the bag of what looked like potatoes in her hand.

The mother glared at the little boy, then, somewhat helplessly, half-squatted down, earnestly patted the boy's head, and explained, "This food is for the adults of the Ash Army."

"But..."

"Little Bao, you must remember that the adults of the Ash Army are fighting bloody battles outside to kill those damned monsters, so that Little Bao and Mommy can live here in peace. Our Ash Army, the Ash Lord, will surely save this world one day. When that day comes, Little Bao can eat as much as he wants, and we will never have to worry about food again. So, for that day, can you be patient for now?"

"Nengneng! I know, Mom! Xiaobao isn't hungry anymore. Let's leave these for the Ash Army brothers and sisters on the front lines! They need to be well-fed to have the strength to kill monsters!"

"Xiao Bao is so sensible!"

"Hehe! Mom, I've made up my mind. When I grow up, I'm going to sign up for the Ash Army and kill the Turbid Evil!"

"Xiao Bao is amazing! Mommy supports you!"

"Hey? Mom, look! Isn't that the Dragon Girl you always tell me about?!"

It was the little boy who first noticed Jiu You. When his mother turned around and saw Jiu You with two demi-human boys, she was immediately startled and quickly said respectfully:

"Lord Jiuyou!"

"Hmm." The dragon girl nodded calmly, not because she was arrogant, but simply because that was her personality.

The mother opposite clearly knew this too, and didn't mind at all. On the contrary, she excitedly and enthusiastically showed Jiu You the bag of food in her hand, which she was going to donate to the Ash Army later.

Throughout the entire process, Jiu You didn't say much, just listened quietly and nodded, but the cat-man boy beside her couldn't help but speak up.

"Auntie, do you really believe that this donated food will reach the Ash Army?"

After young Karl asked this question

What I got in return was a puzzled look on the mother's face.

Chapter 263 The End of the Dream

"Young man, you're new here, aren't you? If it were any other base, I certainly wouldn't believe you, but our leader is Lord Ash. We've all witnessed Lord Ash's fairness and integrity!"

"Anyone might embezzle or deceive us, but Lord Ash is the only one who wouldn't! So we can rest assured! We are willing to share some of the burden with Lord Ash, and we are willing to contribute our small share to the fight against the Calamity!"

"Yes, yes! Mom is right! You're not allowed to say anything bad about the Ash Army or Lord Ash!"

Although young Karl found it unbelievable, he quickly apologized. Later, when Jiuyou took Karl to see Lord Ash again, Karl finally understood why the people believed him so much.

The simplest reason is that Karl found he didn't see any truly wealthy or powerful people. Even the high-ranking officials at the base were dressed simply, and everyone looked travel-worn and extremely busy. There were no big houses, servants, or luxurious lifestyles to speak of.

It seemed that everyone in the base was on edge, eager to do something big, and determined to overthrow the Chaos and reclaim the world.

Finally, Jiuyou led the two teenagers behind her to the top floor of the base. Karl also met Lord Ash. Just as rumored, his face was not visible and his whole body was shrouded in the shadow of a cloak.

Karl was initially a little worried and uneasy, after all, he was expelled from the tribe because he was a "good-for-nothing". But who would have thought that instead of letting Lord Ash learn martial arts, he threw him into the library.

As for the other werewolf, Da Zhuang, Ash assigned him to follow Jiu You. This big, clumsy guy, who had previously been somewhat looked down upon by Karl, was actually said by Ash to have talent comparable to Jiu You's.

"Thank you, Lord Ash. I will definitely work hard and will not let you down!"

"Sister Jiuyou, from now on you will be my goal. I will definitely surpass you and become the number one general of the Ash Army!"

"That's what the young Ba'er said."

Beyond the fragmented memories, Long Niang felt Liao Ji's arms around her tighten even more, and Jiu You understood what Liao Ji was thinking.

After all, the Dragon Kingdom had gone through such a thing. Karl was alright, but Barr...

"Lord Ashes." Jiu You tried to comfort him, but she was tongue-tied and didn't know what to say, so she could only place her hand on Liao Ji's hand.

Liao Ji looked at the two characters, Karl and Bar, in the fragments of memory, and finally sighed and smiled at Jiu You to indicate that he was fine.

The old world was indeed tragic, but it was a wonderful time when people like them, united around the ashes, with shared dreams and aspirations, came together to fight for their cause.

Liao Jiyue is now even more grateful to Zero for presenting to him in this way all these memories that he had never seen from the perspective of a "player".