A week had passed since Peng Li-Yue entered Hallowed Insects' care. In that duration, she stayed in the inn under the supervision of Anya.
Thanks to this arrangement, she had more freedom to wander around the city as much as she liked without anyone following her. She could also relax in peace and eat all kinds of delicacies she wanted without worrying about getting caught by those people from Peng Clan or Tang Clan's henchmen.
Anya did her job flawlessly and was given 25 Golds to enjoy anything she wanted as long as she protected Peng Li-Yue.
Meanwhile, Jessica dragged Jack and investigated the Peng Clan and the current head, Peng Li-Yue's father, Peng Sheng. And as expected, he was a cripple after losing one leg during an expedition in some country in the Murim world. She also discovered that his personality turned very bad after that.
His wife, a beautiful woman named Tang Yuxuan, currently supported him. She was responsible for relaying his command to Peng Clan's elders.
Leo had nothing to do besides waiting. So he decided to upgrade the base.
"Leader, I have bought the wood and iron sand you need."
Chiaki helped him to buy resources with the money she earned from gambling. She looked so happy to be able to help.
"Do you need help?" She asked hopefully.
"Hmm, can you set the defensive system? Make the outside defense manually operated while the bedrooms, armory, weaponry, and storage room defense an automatic one. Only allow me, you, and Jessica to enter. Two turrets and one medium Coco should be enough for now."
Leo laid the building plan for the base on the table and explained in detail about what he needed to her. He had finished these three rooms and only had to upgrade the infirmary to Level 1. With the material brought by Chiaki, he would finally be able to finish the base.
"Yes, Leader."
The short-haired puppeteer nodded excitedly while moving to the said room happily like a puppy wagging its tail. The metal doll on her shoulder seemed to match her movement as it swayed left and right.
Leo quickly got to work on finishing his base. First thing first, he grabbed the storage ring given by Chiaki and moved to the last empty room. Then he removed his gloves and released some nanites to absorb all of the materials in it.
Metal wires, panels of metal sheets, pipes, bolts, cement bags, iron sand, woods, etc., everything taken out from the storage ring was scanned by Main Cube and could be used to upgrade the room.
"Base management." He muttered.
Just like when he created the base, a design appeared in the Main Cube panel. This time, there was a room creation option on it. He tapped the button and instantly, a new menu was shown.
[Infirmary Level 1]
[Armory Level 1]
The option was there from the beginning but it was locked because he didn't have resources to use. Now that Chiaki brought him the required materials, he could finally finish this job.
Without any hesitation, he tapped the first one, Infirmary. Sounds of mechanical whirring could be heard inside the room as soon as he did that.
Equipment that could often be found in hospitals rose. They looked more futuristic with a cylindrical shape, glowing blue lights on some parts of the body, and smooth surfaces unlike the equipment on Earth.
On the walls were a lot of human models with information displayed next to them, like bones, organs, and skin structure.
Beds that looked better than a normal one in hospital were lined up neatly with a computer near each bed. There were also a few more shelves around the room where all kinds of medical instruments could be found inside.
There was no doubt about it. This could be the most advanced infirmary in this world. And it was just a Level 1 infirmary.
"Nice. With this, my base is complete. I just need to upgrade them." Leo grinned to himself before going out of the room and heading toward the bar again.
Waiting for him there was Chiaki and Shui. The latter stood behind the bar and gave Chiaki a drink. The Swordsman's hobby was making cocktails. That was why he loved alcohol.
'Oh, nice timing.'
Leo wanted to talk about the tournament that would be held in a week with Shui. He approached them and sat beside Chiaki.
"Give me the usual."
"Roger." Shui nodded and grabbed a glass before mixing some alcohol in it. After that, he handed it to Leo with a grin on his face, "Here you go, leader."
"Thanks." Leo grabbed it and sipped a little before setting it down on the counter and saying, "We will head toward Qin City in two days. The match you will participate in will be an exhibition one, so you're not allowed to kill your opponent. Have you done some research about the martial arts power level in this world?"
"I watched some fights in the slum." Shui nodded while rubbing his chin. "Though I haven't seen any martial artist with crazy power who can easily crush commoners like bugs. The highest rank I've seen in Sichuan Province is around 4 Stars. And I am sure I can defeat them with closed eyes."
He wasn't wrong. People like that didn't exist here. Even Leo could defeat them easily.
Stronger martial artists often did a closed training that ordinary people wouldn't know of to achieve higher rank. It would be weird for them to display their real strength in front of people like Shui if they were powerful enough to change the tide of war in one move.
"How about comparing them to Coco?" Leo asked as he turned his head toward her.
"That's difficult. I have no idea how strong Coco is." Chiaki replied honestly while stroking her toy's head. "Coco can eat the old man we escorted before without any problem. But twice stronger than that, then it will get damaged."
"I see."
Twice as strong as injured Heavenly Demon.
'Meaning around 7 to 8 Stars Martial Artists. There are not many of them, but they are around. For example, like the Murim Alliance Leader... Coca can't kill him by herself. The only way for her to win is by ambushing him while he is asleep or by overwhelming him with numbers.'
While they were strong, they weren't invincible.
'If we want to go against them, we will need proper preparation.' He thought.
Raising his glass, he looked at it glistening underneath a soft neon light.
"Cheers to our future." Leo smiled happily. "Our Hallowed Insects mercenary group will shine the most in this world."
"Cheers!" They replied enthusiastically before raising their glass and clinking it against his before gulping down the alcohol in one shot.