Oran was gone, but a week later she visited the fortress again. This time she brought with her a basic version of a biomodulation system, twenty research assistants, and an intelligent management system.

The fifth floor of the main building of the fortress has been completely converted into a biological laboratory, and although it cannot be compared with the laboratory in the previous Zero Point company base in terms of implementation, it can at least carry out the most basic concoction work. Zero is planning to add another expansion, but it won't arrive until a month from Ishtar, but for now, the equipment will be enough for pre-modulation.

After two days of installation and commissioning, the fifth floor became a completely forbidden place, and only zero could enter and exit freely. Identification is required for other people to enter and exit to ensure the confidentiality of information.

As for the intelligent management system brought by Olam was also quickly put into practice, a smart brain host was placed in a room on the fourth floor, and five operating handsets were connected. At the same time, the recording terminal was put down to the fortress and three small towns such as Marley, and it took nearly a week to make an identity registration from workers to soldiers, and back up the information in the brain host.

At the same time, a smart card was issued to everyone who served zero, through which the points could be updated through the recording terminal when the zero salary was paid or they traded certain supplies and food.

At this point, the economic system of the Zero Territory Underground was established, and the point system was used with reference to Asgard. The ratio of exchanging 10 points for 1 gold coin reduces some unnecessary links in the financial operation, thus saving a lot of time.

Oran also provided Zero with five data clerks to manage the system for him, which was a gift from Ishtar.

Next, the fortress and the three towns are in full swing. The Canon Fortress was mainly mining and military training, and with a steady stream of workers and recruits, several mining areas were finally able to operate at full capacity, resulting in a monthly resource value of more than one million gold coins. On the other hand, 2,000 recruits were recruited, most of them from the outer islands where life was difficult, so these recruits were very resolute in nature and not much worse in terms of physical fitness.

What they lacked was combat experience, and in that regard, it was still up to the soldiers on the Destiny to train them.

It was obvious that the original fortified area of Canon could no longer accommodate so many people, so Zero had to erect improvised shantytowns near the fort and even on the edge of the mine for the workers to live in. The soldiers lived in the former fortified barracks, and the former slave camp was converted to accommodate nearly 5,000 soldiers.

The towns of Marley, Mungo, and Tucson also operated, and the inhabitants of the towns did not flee after the soldiers in the Papal Hall were beaten away. For them, it doesn't really matter which town they occupy, what matters is that Zero still provides food and shelter, and also raises their salary. Of course, there was resistance, but after the soldiers suppressed it a few times, they resigned themselves to their fate.

Zero's principle is simple, work for him, then everything will be business as usual, and even the treatment will be better than before. But if there is a disturbance, especially if it instigates others to revolt, it will be ruthlessly suppressed. There is no compromise in this regard, and his mercy is directed against his own people, so those who are disobedient or suspicious will give them nothing but cruelty.

His enemies were far away, and Zero had no time to stop at these branches, but to prune them with the quickest means. After the first two weeks, order was re-established in the three towns. Factories in the towns of Möngke and Marley continued to operate, producing a steady stream of food and clean water. Order was restored even more quickly in the town of Tucson, where most of the residents were family members of the military, and after the war, the families of the soldiers who died in the war were evicted. Their family members died in battle, and they had a blood feud with Zero, so naturally they would not work for Zero.

Zero didn't want to kill them, that would give him a brutal reputation, and he didn't want the Papal Hall to use it as a fuss. A lord can be harsh and iron-willed, but if it is brutal, then the meaning is completely different. So he chose to expel them, and he also gave them enough food and water so that they could reach another city, Cage, 500 kilometers away.

There are hundreds of these people, and once they all flood into Cage City, it should affect their food reserves. At that time, how to settle the families of these war dead will become a headache for the Papal Hall, and if one is not handled well, the Pope Hall will be criticized.

The rest were basically the families of the 200 surrendered soldiers, and for the surrendered soldiers, zero scattered them and assigned them to work in the mines. The soldiers and their families knew that there was no way back to Rome, and under Sauron's repressive policy, the Order's treatment of surrenders was basically execution. In other words, even if Zero agrees to release them, they will be executed if they are caught when they return, and their families will be reduced to slavery.

Under such a regulation, the Papal Hall undoubtedly pushed the surrender to the side of zero. At least stay here at Zero, they can still live, although they all know that sooner or later the Papal Hall will call back. But if they are not defeated in a day, they will be able to get shelter. When it comes to choosing between dying now or dying later, most people know what to do.

So Zero got more than 400 workers, plus the new workers he recruited, and after training, the arsenal was also restored to most of its production capacity.

Now, the fortress and the three towns occupied by Zero are extremely busy, and Zero himself is also very busy. However, these high-level pixels have nothing to do, and they are now only thinking about when the Papal Hall will call, so that they can move their rusty hands and feet.

Three weeks after the occupation of Canon, a scout squad outside Tucson discovered that an army had finally driven from the city of Cage, 500 kilometers away.

The commander was Mesa, the deputy commander of the 2nd Legion who had escaped from Tucson, and this time he had assembled a total of 5,000 soldiers, 100 paladins, and 30 griffon knights from the three surrounding towns, including Cage City, and drove towards Tucson City.

Mesa wants to get rid of her shame and retake the military base in Tucson. When she heard the news, Su was very happy. She called Berrien, who remained in Tucson, and then quietly approached Mesa's army with three hundred soldiers.

Mesa's fighting style has always been steady, otherwise he would not have brought in so many soldiers in one go, and he planned to use the numerical advantage to push down the enemy forces in Tucson. But there are many people in the army, and the march naturally cannot be fast. Advancing at a speed of 100 kilometers a day, by the evening of the fifth day, the city of Tucson was seen at night. Mesa ordered the whole army to rest and make an official attack early tomorrow morning.

But on the same night, Su led a team to the door. After handing over the soldiers to Berrien, she single-handedly slaughtered Mesa's barracks. Know that Mesa's army is stationed in the wilderness and is not in danger. Although the military camp was very rigorously arranged, how could it withstand the rush of the ninth-order destroyer, so Su sang all the way and went straight to the main camp of Mesa.

If Zuihou hadn't brought in a dense mecha force to fire at Su, Mesa would have died that night.

Under the strong firepower of the mecha troops, Su had no choice but to withdraw. After meeting up with Berrien's team in the middle and rushing left and right, Berrion sent a thunderous rage to the Mesa barracks, and the continuous lightning formed a bright line of fire that isolated the pursuers, and by the way, blew up more than a dozen paladin mechas, making Mesa furious and helpless.

In this raid alone, Mesa lost a few hundred soldiers and more than a dozen mechs, which greatly reduced the morale of the Knights.

The next day, Zero, who received the news, drove over with the battle group of Hook and Manshan, and Haiwei Yeliu and other high-level people also came. At nine o'clock in the morning, Mesa attacked. Thirty griffon knights took to the skies first, and they were the most dominant aerial firepower in the Order. The Griffin Knight's light machine gun fire is a threat to ordinary soldiers, while the Pocket Missile is a firepower that even the higher ranks are unwilling to face.

Mesa's first offensive was clearly aimed at aerial suppression of the Tucson side, and tactically it was correct. It's a pity that there are a lot of people with abilities on the Zero side, especially those with the ability of the elemental domain like Berrien, who have a very obvious advantage on such a battlefield. What's more, Zero also updated a batch of equipment from Istane, and as soon as he saw the griffin knight rise into the air, under Zero's order, the soldiers who had already occupied the commanding heights immediately picked up the Angela cannon they had just purchased.

As the griffin knights approached, they were greeted by a powerful network of anti-aircraft firepower created by Angela cannons, as well as the lightning and lightning that Berrion unleashed in his hands. In such a situation, even if the griffon knight had already dropped the guided missile, it had already been intercepted and detonated by the zero fire net before it hit the ground.

Seeing this, Mesa's face was gloomy and he gave the order for a general attack. So hundreds of paladin mechs were scattered everywhere and the ordinary soldiers advanced towards Tucson, and from the sky, five thousand soldiers formed a magnificent wave, which was fully pressed towards Tucson City.

Finally, full-scale fighting broke out outside the city of Tucson.

After the capture of Tucson, Zero considered the arrival of the Papal Hall, and the city would definitely turn into a front line of war. Therefore, some time ago, although Su and Berrion were idle, the other soldiers did not rest. Leaving about a hundred men to maintain order, the others went outside the town to dig fortifications. In addition to the trenches, several unused armor plates were brought from the steel mill in the town of Marley.

They were fixed outside the trenches as cover, and they had people cut square holes in them so that the soldiers could shoot behind the cover.

These arrangements are finally coming in handy now, and the armor plates can hold out for a while, even if the paladin mech is allowed to collect fire. As for ordinary rifles, they are not a threat at all, and only heavy fire strikes such as rocket artillery and missiles can destroy these things. When Mesa found that his army was facing unexpected resistance from their advance, he ordered the armor plates to be removed first.

So nearly half of the mecha's firepower was aimed at those armor plates, and soon, two sides were blasted into slag. Seeing this, Zero no longer has any reservations. A little towards the knight mech, Zero Bento rushed towards this force first. His meaning is obvious, that is, to clear the opponent's power armor forces first.

After the battle with Zero, Hook, Manshan, Yeliu, Haiwei and other abilities. The paladin mechs of the Mesa army were quickly depleted, and the griffon knights were also eliminated one by one with the cooperation of Berrion and Angela. When the casualties of the mechs exceeded two-thirds, the balance of the war began to tilt in favor of zero.

After clearing the mecha troops almost completely, Zero and the others began to charge and kill in the Mesa army, and in the face of these killing gods, ordinary soldiers could not stop them at all. Zero, they didn't compete with those ordinary soldiers, and their targets were the other party's commander-level figures. These people are like nodes in the entire command network, and when these officers are also attritional, Mesa realizes that he can't command the army.

The battle lasted from day to afternoon and was finally over.

Mesa's army lost more than 3,000 soldiers, and the mechs were almost wiped out. Most of the prefect-level characters were killed and wounded, and even Mesa herself died at Zero's hands. About 500 of the remaining Knights surrendered, while the rest fled back to Cage City.

According to the post-war count, there were more than 700 soldiers killed in this battle, most of whom died in the armor plate being bombarded by the enemy. Compared to the losses of the Knights, Zero's side can only be regarded as a slight injury, but if it weren't for the fact that there were too many high-level troops under Zero, otherwise it would not be possible to clear the opponent's mecha troops in time. In that case, there will be more people who will die by then, and there are not many equipment recovered this time, most of them are ordinary equipment, and the returns cannot be compared with the previous ones.

It's just that after this battle, there is no Shili that can pose a threat to zero for nearly a thousand kilometers. The next morning, Zero took a thousand soldiers and a few high-ranking soldiers to Cage City. Three days later, the city was broken in a few clicks. The size of Cage City is not small, about the total area of the three towns of Marley, and here is the training camp of the Knights of the Holy Seal, and only then did Zero know that in the army assembled by Mesa, there were actually 3,000 people who were still recruits in the training camp.

Basically, all the soldiers in the training camp were transferred to Mesa, and it was no wonder that the remaining soldiers were simply not enough to resist Zero's attack. After the news of Mesa's defeat reached the city, the mayor of Cage and some officials evacuated the city in advance, leaving only more than 20,000 civilians to defend such a city, unless another thousand soldiers had to be brought in.

However, Cage City is located on the plains, there is no danger to defend, and the current strength is not enough to swallow a big city like Cage without asking for self-questioning, so the residents of Cage City are only enough for ten days of supplies, and other materials that can be taken away as much as possible. Among these supplies, Zero prioritized food and water, followed by the equipment of the Knights, which were converted into nearly a million gold coins, the most valuable of which were twenty paladin mechs. With them, plus Canon's remaining Knights of the Round Table, Zero has a mech squad.

As for the future life of the residents, it has naturally become another headache for the Pope Hall. And as long as it can give the Pope Hall a headache, Zero is willing to do it.

When he returned to Tucson, he received unexpected news.

Orlan is here again, but this time, she's also bringing with her the mysterious patron behind Ishtar.

Zero returned to Canon, and when he arrived in the evening, he met Oran first. Orlan had already heard about the battle outside Tucson, and when he met him, he said, "Lord Zero, congratulations on defeating the Pope's Hall again. ”

Zero said disapprovingly: "It's just a small victory, not a heavy setback." You've won the prize. ”

"No, it's you who is humble. Defeating an army of 5,000 men from the front is not a small victory. ”

"The numbers don't speak for themselves. ”

"When the numbers are large enough to a certain extent, that's a problem. Oran smiled.

Zero had no intention of continuing to entangle with her in this matter, and he changed the subject and said, "I heard that you didn't come alone this time. ”

"Yes, I also brought the adult who supported us behind the scenes. ”

"I wonder which big man in the Papal Chamber?" asked Zero casually.

The two came to the command room on the fourth floor, and Oran stood outside and said, "You will know when you go in and see, I guarantee that you will be surprised." ”

"Oh, the person who can surprise me is not the young Pope. Zero joked and pushed the door in.

There was only one person in the command room, and he stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at the inner city of the fortress. He was covered with a cloak that wrapped his entire body together, and even his face was buried in the shadow of the hood. When Zero came in, he sighed with emotion: "The current canon can only talk about the real impregnable wall." ”

Zero also walked to the window, and the evening light painted the fortress with a golden color. The outer wall, which is made up of armor plates, has been basically assembled, and in a few days, the gate will be completed, and with heavy artillery batteries and anti-aircraft machine guns installed on the wall, the fort's defense will jump several levels. The wall, which was made up of a row of metal armor plates, flowed with a metallic sheen in the skylight, and it was indeed worthy of the word iron wall.

"Nothing in this world lasts forever. No matter how strong Canon is, it is impossible for him to never fall. Just like Sauron, he can't sit on that throne forever. Zero said in a flat tone.

The cloaked man shook slightly, turned his head, and a pair of bright eyes could be seen from the shadow of the hood: "You have the confidence to enter the city of Rome?"

"Not with confidence, but with certainty. ”

"I really don't understand, where does your faith come from?"

"Quite simply, the city of Rome is just a small hill in front of the peak I am about to climb. "Zero simple words, but full of strong self-confidence.

In other words, the hill of Rome is just an obstacle that you will inevitably climb over as you reach the top. I see, strange outsider, though I don't know where your end is. But I'm glad that I can walk with you for a short time in your life's journey. The man in the cloak finally pulled down his hood, revealing a handsome and sunny face: "First meeting, I am the current Pope Paul VI. ”

Zero's pupils shrank slightly, and then a wry smile appeared. When he said it casually, he really got it right.

The back-of-the-scenes supporter of Ishtar turned out to be the contemporary pope!