Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded.

Chapter 106: Comparison of strength between the parties, the sacrificial ceremony begins

"Aside from the Li family, who must be dealt with, the remaining Shuguang and Jiche villages will probably be dealt with based on the situation."

"Although they stand by the Li family, they won't completely side with them from the start."

Lin Feng spoke lightly, revealing a little of his speculation:

"Dealing with two second-level evolvers while eradicating the entire Li family's top management is no easy task. For this, Father Su An has found a practical solution."

"To make up for the church's weakness in combat effectiveness."

Through observation over the past few days, Lin Feng has already roughly understood the church's organizational structure and personnel strength.

Generally speaking, although the church has an advantage in high-end forces, it still has one more second-level evolver.

But the most obvious gap between the two sides is not the number of people.

But the real combat effectiveness that each of them possesses.

Just like both are mutated wild beasts, the rock horn horse of the same level will definitely not be able to defeat the steppe wolf alone.

The evolution level is only a lower limit guarantee of strength, not a specific manifestation of combat effectiveness.

The evolvers born through surgery in the church cannot possibly defeat those of the same level who rely on their own strength and risk their lives to survive in the wasteland.

There is a huge gap between the two sides' actual combat experience and combat experience.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the local big families in Oasis Town dared to take the risk of launching a rebellion and seizing power.

For example, the head of the Li family was able to kill the patriarch-level rock-horned horse in the past, and his strength will only be stronger now.

In this case, the choice of Governor Han Tao becomes particularly important.

After all, he is the only new generation second-level evolver in the past ten years. Considering the thousand-year lifespan of a second-level awakener, he is far from middle-aged and is currently in the stage where his energy and blood are at their most vigorous.

In addition to his origin as a wastelander, his combat power should be the strongest among his peers.

It can completely influence the balance of power between the local big families and the church.

Thinking of this, without waiting for Shen Yue to ask, Lin Feng took the lead and asked:
"Your Excellency the Bishop, and the other four priests, how old are they and what is their overall strength?"

Shen Yue frowned slightly. She wanted to refute Lin Feng's prejudice about the church's combat effectiveness, but after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that what the other party said was not wrong.

The true armed force of the Church comes from the combat priests and the Knights Templar.

The church branch in Oasis Town only sent over forty first-level combat priests from the Holy City headquarters, of which only four were elite combat priests in the late first level.

Although they can rival the early-stage second-level evolvers with the help of weapons and equipment and the Lord's glory, their strength is still far weaker than that of the second-level patriarchs of several large families.

As for the bishop and the four priests, except for the newly appointed Father Su An, the others are all over 500 years old, especially the bishop...

Shen Yue learned from the files of the church chronicles that this acting bishop had been promoted to a trainee priest eight hundred years ago.

Considering the strength of the high priest, he is not only old but also at the end of his life span of the second stage of evolution.

Among the four second-level priests, the most powerful one is Father Wanhai, who is responsible for escorting the pilgrim caravan. However, he must ensure that the caravan arrives at the holy city smoothly, deliver important restricted area observation intelligence, and transport the necessary supplies back to the oasis.

Without him, only Father Suan among the other three had experience traveling in the wasteland and participated in combat.

But how could he, alone, deal with the three major families and four experienced second-level evolvers?

So Shen Yue had to hold back the rebuttal that was on the tip of her tongue.

Looking at the calm man in front of her, Shen Yue took a deep breath and roughly recounted what she knew.

After saying this, he asked with a hint of worry:

"Are you sure that the countermeasures Lord Su An has found can withstand the combined attack of the three major families?"

After listening to her description, Lin Feng frowned.

It seems the situation is worse than I thought.

No wonder the bishop and Father Suan were so eager to stay.

Although Lin Feng is currently only in the middle stage of the first level, he has combat experience and, most importantly, superpowers, firearms ability...

It is enough to easily suppress ordinary evolvers of the same level when evolving to the late first stage, or to slow down the offensive pace of second-stage evolvers.

Especially in the decisive battle between the two sides, Lin Feng alone is comparable to a mobile turret.

Providing long-range strikes and fire suppression to the Holy Spring Cult may bring about a more significant increase in strength than that of a melee second-level evolver.

As for taking over the Farm Village and the Wildebeest Industry later, it was just a pie in the sky drawn for Lin Feng in advance.

But there is no one more suitable to take over than Lin Feng.

Because he was weak and powerless, and he was incompatible with the remaining members of the farm village.

It would be two or three hundred years later before Lin Feng developed his own large family like the Li family and gained complete control over the farm village.

The church’s top leaders had far-reaching plans, and Lin Feng increasingly felt that it would be better not to get involved.

"I'm sure, but it all depends on whether the wasteland hunter team I lead can successfully complete the task assigned by Father Suan..."

Lin Feng spoke slowly and continued:
"Don't worry about that."

"If you want to take this opportunity to change your fate, your current strength of the First Stage Early Stage is definitely not enough. You must be at least the First Stage Mid Stage to be qualified to participate in the battle and play an important role."

"In this struggle that will soon affect the entire Oasis Town, the first-stage early-stage evolvers will only become cannon fodder, while the mid-stage evolvers may still be able to play a certain role."

"But what really determines victory or defeat is the battle between the late first-stage and second-stage evolvers."

Shen Yue swallowed. After listening to Lin Feng's analysis, she was now nervous and excited.

Although the merits she had accumulated over the years were enough for her to exchange for a mid-term evolution surgery and be promoted to a first-level mid-term senior assistant priest, this would mean that the time for her to apply to be transferred back to the Holy City would be a long time away.

Unless he is promoted to the second level or makes great achievements, it will take hundreds of years before he can return to the Holy City.

Do you want to take a gamble...

Shen Yue was in a dilemma.

Until she saw the man in front of her, she kept a calm smile, and then an idea flashed in her mind:
"Mr. Lin is unwilling to join Oasis and become a member of the upper class. Is he worried that the church won't be able to handle this crisis?"

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and stared at Shen Yue:

"I have great confidence in the Church, or more precisely, in Father Suan and myself."

Then he talked freely:
"You don't need to test me anymore. I've already said that chaos is the ladder of progress. This is your only chance, but for me, there are better options besides participating in this battle."

"The current reward offered by the church is not enough for me to take such a big risk and go against three major families, thousands of people and hundreds of years of accumulated resources."

"That's all."

Shen Yue nodded, and she roughly understood that no matter how much she persuaded Lin Feng, she would not be able to change his decision.

The other party, like himself, has no intention of staying in Oasis Town.

I just want to escape from this remote and poor place and step onto the broader world stage.

But Lin Feng has more and better choices, and the only thing left for him is to risk his life and sacrifice his body and property for the Lord.

Shen Yue's eyes, reflected by the candlelight, gradually changed from confusion to determination, and she whispered back:

"Thank you!"

Time passed quickly, and after the two talked all night long, it was already twelve o'clock, which was also midnight.

At this time, a long bell rang.

"Boom~"

Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes and saw Shen Yue beside him. She had stood up and put the hood of her robe back on, covering most of her face.

"Let's go and see the greatest ceremony in Oasis Town."

Shen Yue slowly opened her mouth to invite.

Lin Feng looked at her:
"Can I, an outsider, watch?" The woman nodded.
"This is a great sacrifice to save thousands of human beings. Lord Su An asked me to take you on a tour of the Oasis Battleship. How could such an important thing be missed?"

"Put on your hood and follow me. Keep your head down and don't speak."

Lin Feng smiled, then stood up and followed.

After extinguishing the oil lamp, the two of them walked out of the study room silently, one in front and one behind, and walked through the church corridor.

Soon they arrived outside the church hall where people were bustling about.

The church's prayer room is very large, thirty meters long and twenty meters wide, covering nearly an acre of space.

But there were only two hundred seats in the spacious hall, and all of them were occupied at the moment.

These were all the men in black robes I saw on the way back.

They are also the "older" people who are about to be sacrificed.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes. According to the total number of more than 2,000 first-class and second-class upper-class people, the oldest one was only 90 years old. Every ten years was a stage, and there were exactly more than 200 people in each stage.

In this way, the number of sacrificers over the age of ninety can be stabilized at around two hundred, with more than twenty added each year.

There are twelve months in a year and twenty-four holy spring days, which require twenty-four sacrifices.

After a few tries, it's almost perfect.

This is also the limit of what Oasis Town can provide.

Before, after Lin Feng initially understood the truth about Shangmin District, he was also a little scared and indignant, but after hearing what Shen Yue said, after putting himself in their shoes, he found that everything the Shengquan Cult did was actually understandable.

Set in a wasteland where people eat each other, it is just a sacrifice and does not seem so dark or evil.

Moreover, the upper class people have enjoyed a life of luxury and comfort for ninety years, which is a life that many people outside can only dream of.

You should know that the average life expectancy of the wasteland dwellers is less than twenty years, and 30% of the newly awakened wasteland dwellers cannot survive the first year. Even the permanent residents of the five major villages that have settled down, except for Shengquan Village, have an average life expectancy of only forty to fifty years.

In the harsh environment and scarce resources of the wasteland, for 90% of the people, even having enough to eat is a luxury.

Even permanent residents can only make do with enough food and clothing, but in terms of other aspects of quality of life, they cannot reach the minimum standard of oasis residents.

Not only that, for the new generation of oasis residents, death is not inevitable at the age of ninety. As long as they can work hard to evolve to the late first stage and become members of the oasis management, they can avoid becoming sacrifices and live a carefree life from then on.

But the most important thing for Lin Feng to accept the truth about Oasis is not the above preferential treatment measures, but the ultimate goal of creating the upper-class district to support the upper-class people...

It is not to satisfy the selfish desires of a certain person or organization, but to save the vast majority of human beings.

Based on this point alone, it doesn't matter what specific measures are taken.

This is the sacrifice necessary to become a partner in justice.

At this moment, as the echo of the bell gradually faded away, the two hundred "elderly" people aged 90 and above present stopped chanting in their mouths and looked towards the stage together.

Four people in dark robes stood beside the podium.

Three men and one woman.

They are all church monks in the late first stage.

The man and woman standing in the middle exuded a strong aura, and their deep eyes seemed to carry some kind of magic that made people fall deeply in love with them.

The two of them are elite assistant priests in the late first stage.

The tall, upright men on both sides were two of the four elite combat priests that Shen Yue had mentioned before.

When Lin Feng took a sneak peek at the two of them, he felt a sharp and powerful aura.

Unlike the acolytes who focus on spiritual research, their evolutionary direction is absolute power.

At this time, as the ceremony officially progressed, everyone began to draw lots.

Two elite deacons stood on both sides of a box under the podium. Starting from the first row, the offerers took turns to come forward and draw their own numbers.

After the two hundred candidates for sacrifice have completed the drawing of lots, the next step will be the selection process.

The male deacon took a chalice and scooped a full cup from the holy spring at the back of the church. He walked down the stage to the people offering sacrifices and announced the result:

"The Bishop said that this year marks the 124th Holy Spring Day in the Wasteland's millennium, so that's why we chose this number."

After he finished speaking, the crowd was shocked.

The Shangmin who drew number 124 walked out of his seat, came to the podium with a nervous expression, and respectfully took the Holy Grail from the deacon's hand.

Then, in front of everyone, he drank the holy spring water in the holy chalice.

Then he followed the deacon out of the church prayer room.

Once the sacrificer is chosen, the final ceremony is performed immediately.

The observation ceremony takes place in a secret room on the highest floor of the church.

And that was also a tall tower attic with a golden religious emblem on top.

Lin Feng thought the ceremony would end here, but Shen Yue pulled him and followed the team heading to the spire.

"no problem?"

Lin Feng spoke silently.

Shen Yue nodded and continued forward.

But at a fork in the road, he took Lin Feng to the attic of the auxiliary tower in the side building.

From here, you can see everything that is about to happen in the attic of the main building's spire, dozens of meters away.

Two combat priests were seen carrying a heavy two-cubic-meter black box filled with liquid.

Then, under the guidance of the deacon, the chosen sacrificer took off his robe and jumped in from the top of the black box.

As the black box was closed, the female deacon placed her hands on the back of the black box and began to guide the sacrificer, asking him to relax, not to be nervous, and not to resist.

After the two had established a stable mental connection, the female deacon nodded slightly, signaling the male deacon beside her to begin observation.

Then the male deacon waved the flag and gestured towards the Moon Garden more than 200 meters away.

The manager guarding the Moon Garden immediately began to fine-tune the giant convex lens that was more than ten meters wide.

Soon, the focus of the mirror light was gathered on an observation hole in the black box.

At this time, a layer of dark color began to appear on the originally snow-white mirror surface, and gradually deepened into dark red.

It looked like an evil blood moon.

The same red as the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone.

Lin Feng, who was hiding in the attic nearby, stared at all this with eyes wide open in disbelief.

He wanted to ask Shen Yue beside him, but she had already covered his mouth with her hand and shook her head vigorously, indicating that he must not say anything.

Lin Feng nodded slightly and continued to observe.

With the huge glass mirror, countless light sources outside the dome, including the energy released by the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone, were gathered and concentrated in the black box.

At this moment, you can see with the naked eye that a red and white, gauze-like light source gradually condenses at the focal point.

The fleeting glimpse reminded Lin Feng of when he was on the top of Laoshan Mountain and accidentally caught a glimpse of a fleeting illusory light and shadow in the distant forbidden area of ​​​​the scorching sun!
This is the power of the curse!
At this moment, as the focus of the convex lens condenses and flows into the black box, it is seen by the eyes and absorbed by the brain of the sacrificer.

The entire black box began to shake slightly.

That was the painful struggle of the sacrificer.

The blazing light containing the power of curse was invading his brain consciousness and synchronizing the neuronal pulse signals.

The female assistant priest behind the black box was also reading all the images seen by the sacrificer.

Confirm whether there is any unusual phenomenon of scorching sun storm in the scorching sun restricted area thousands of miles away.

(End of this chapter)