Chapter 143: Hero Lin Xiaobai

Chen Dabai: “How did you get so clever? You even know how to find an audience for your sales now…”

Wang Dazhuang: “Times are changing, and my new goods are changing too. If you like them, feel free to message me privately to buy—secret transactions!”

Ladong now felt he had truly risen. With these mutated plants, he had become a wealthy man in this World, enjoying a comfortable life. Moreover, the Lord Divine Tree sometimes took a liking to his goods and would pay with a Gold Grade Divine Artifact—what a big client! His future was truly bright with fortune.

Although Chen Dabai and Zhai Guangyi mentioned in the group chat that the Forest would be dangerous recently, danger existed everywhere in this World. With the Lord Divine Tree here, where could be safer than this place?

This wasn’t just Ladong’s thought; Xiong Er and Xiong Da felt the same, and so did Li Wenjun. To protect his parents’ safety in the future, Li Wenjun had brought them to live in the town under the Lord Divine Tree’s protection. The cities here were basically managed by the Elf Church under Liya’s control, and Li Wenjun’s family of three was assigned a small house.

Although this small house wasn’t much, to Li Wenjun’s parents, it was no different from a villa in the city. The two of them were now engaged in agricultural work here under Ladong’s guidance.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. After more than three months of arduous travel, the Hero Army finally arrived at the rebuilt Banye City, now only two days away from their target, Banwang City.

However, Lin Xiaobai, the Hero within the army, was feeling anxious. Although he longed to reunite with his long-lost Classmate, not in this way! Moreover, he had been sleeping poorly lately. He had already informed the so-called enemy army about the army’s movements, and now he was truly on pins and needles. He really wanted to run away.

“Honored Hero, we will soon arrive at Banwang City. I hope you can grow faster during this war. We Humans need you.”

A Maiden approached Lin Xiaobai and adjusted the Purple Quality protective Equipment on his body.

The Equipment Lin Xiaobai received from the Church wasn’t limited to just this; there was also a Gold Grade Divine-Rank Sword, the Sword of Courage, along with various Purple Quality gadgets. He was truly fully armed, all bestowed by the True God of the Church.

When he was first summoned back, Lin Xiaobai was extremely excited. The moment he arrived, he became the Hero, received Divine Equipment, and set out to fight monsters with a Demigod by his side.

But after about a year, he realized something was off. Over the past thousand years, no Hero had ever defeated the Demon King, and thousands of Heroes had already died, yet the Demon King remained Mephistopheles. This fit the game’s plot too perfectly. Could it really be that he, the chosen one, was meant to end this thousand-year-old feud?

However, the more his strength grew, the more he realized something was wrong. The Demon King’s power was simply beyond his ability to contend with; even dozens of Demigods combined were nothing more than a slap to him. Growth in this World wasn’t determined by talent or race. Even with the title of Hero and the right to wield the power of a Deity, if he didn’t kill enough people, his strength would never grow.

Whether it was to borrow the power of a deity or to enhance one’s own strength, it required killing more creatures, slaying even stronger beings, and absorbing their souls. He understood this monster-slaying level-up routine, but there was one problem.

The Demon King had been grinding monsters for thousands of years, even treating Heroes as mere mobs to farm. His own accumulation over these few years was nowhere near one-thousandth of the Demon King’s. How could he possibly fight?

Even the mightiest Heroes of the past had been slain by the Demon King, their souls absorbed and turned into nourishment for his growth. Could he, a Transmigrator, really be stronger than all the previous Heroes? Even if he were, he couldn’t possibly surpass the combined strength of thousands of Heroes. This world’s power scaling was just too broken—the longer one lived, the more they accumulated. It was simply impossible for a single Hero to handle. His mission was merely to wear down the Demon King.

There was also a Classmate within the Church. Through this Classmate’s revelation, he learned that the materials for summoning the next Hero were already prepared, and he should make early preparations.

How was he supposed to fight? Now that he saw Classmates among the Demon King’s Army, Lin Xiaobai began wondering if he could secretly escape and break free from the Church’s control.

During this three-month journey, Lin Xiaobai had experienced numerous battles, both large and small. His strength had already reached the Demigod level, mainly thanks to leveling up under the guidance of four Demigods—it really boosted his growth quickly.

But Lin Xiaobai had witnessed Xiong Batian’s battle against two Dragonkin Demigods in the Magic Mirror. Whether these four Humans could withstand even a single blow from Xiong Batian was a question worth pondering—there was simply no comparison. Unless he desperately tapped into the power of a deity, he might have a chance to block that terrifying force.

However, once he used a deity’s power, he would be weakened for a long time, which would undoubtedly lead to his death. He suddenly felt that the title of Hero wasn’t all that useful. The deities of the Human Church seemed almost nonexistent, making the whole situation rather unimpressive. Compared to Yang Jingting and Chen Dabai, his Transmigration start was truly much worse.

Yang Jingting and the others had the Dragon God watching over them, while Chen Dabai was suspected to be a deity of the Elven Divine Tree. Although this still needed verification, bestowing a hundred Blessings and Demigod’s Blessings were indeed feats only a deity could accomplish.

A Hero was like an orphaned child with no one to rely on—it was truly miserable. Lin Xiaobai now only thought about defecting, at the very least to escape the Church’s manipulation. Among the four Demigods, only one was stronger than him—Mier, one of the Church’s Grand Priests, who had reached the Transcendent Demigod level.

If Mier died, no one in this army would be able to restrain him anymore. That would be the perfect time to escape. But he also wanted to take along the Maiden by his side, Duoduo, a graduate of the Magic High School. Although her strength wasn’t exceptional, Lin Xiaobai had deeply cherished her gentleness. She had taken care of him meticulously since his Transmigration. One could only say that even heroes find it hard to resist a beauty’s charms. He would have to seize the right moment on the battlefield.

“All troops! Prepare to advance. Our target is Banwang City.”

Mier saw that everyone had rested enough in Banye City. Banye City was now quite dilapidated, with little food and poor living conditions. The army’s efficiency in recuperating here was low. Moreover, the city’s residents had nearly exhausted their food supplies, and cases of starvation had already begun to appear.

“What a useless city, unable to produce even this much food. You’re not much of a City Lord, are you? When I return to the royal capital, I’ll have to report you properly.”

A logistics officer berated the City Lord of Banye City.

“It will take some time to rebuild here. We’ve done our best,” the officer said, then kicked the City Lord to the ground and spat on him.

“What a miserable place to stay. Let’s go.” The logistics officer led a few logistics soldiers to catch up with the main force, leaving the City Lord of Banye City lying on the ground.

Lin Xiaobai watched this scene, having witnessed it many times during the march.

Every time they stopped to rest in a city, the army required large amounts of supplies. He had considered discussing this with Mier, but Mier said, “The army is doing all this for you. You must grow quickly—that is the best way to repay the people for their sacrifices.”

This filled Lin Xiaobai with deep guilt.