Author: Xevinaly

The current Captains would become Generals and their Vice-Captains would become Commanders. They had already proven themselves confident so it was the natural conclusion.

Cheng Yang didn’t immediately make those appointments, giving the Captains a chance to pick out the new soldier candidates.

They planned to have a surge in personnel. Each brigade would add a hundred and twenty people to their ranks, increasing the total number of soldiers in the village to seven hundred and twelve. Once they filled all of the slots for each class change statue, the number of soldiers serving the territory would exceed the Phoenix Village from Cheng Yang’s past life.

Currently, the territory didn’t have enough Experience Fragments to immediately perform class change ceremonies for eight hundred and forty soldiers. Unless Cheng Yang asked the current soldiers for donations, there just wasn’t a way to quickly gather enough Experience Fragments. In order to gather enough, most soldiers wouldn’t be able to train tonight and their savings would be wiped out.

It was better to just wait since there wasn’t a dire need for soldiers right now. All they had to do was wait for the new soldiers to pay back their debts and the problem would be solved with time.

Fortunately, it was close to midnight, which meant the Blood Soaked Cathedral instance dungeon would soon reset and the territory would be able to earn a significant number of Experience Fragments.

Cheng Yang didn’t need to handle the bothersome task of performing class change ceremonies nor distributing tools to Loggers. Old Lee was put in charge of class change ceremonies while Yu Kai was lent the money needed to buy tools.

Cheng Yang was the strongest fighter in the territory so it was better for him to gather as many Experience Fragments as possible.

Cutting down trees at night wasn’t safe, so that night Cheng Yang was the only person in the forest.

Cheng Yang swept through the forest like a storm and was able to earn one thousand two hundred Experience Fragments. Additionally, he leveled up his Magic Missile skill again. His overall damage bonus was now 21%. As for his other skill, Wind Bondage, the experience bar only increased by 10%. It would take quite a while for Cheng Yang to improve it.

The Wind Bondage skill was very practical, especially for someone as accurate as Cheng Yang. If he had been able to use this skill yesterday, the fight against the Elite Blood Gehenna commander wouldn’t have gone so poorly.

When Cheng Yang returned to Phoenix Village he didn’t see any of his Generals. Even in his absence, they were quite busy so he didn’t worry about it and directly entered the Blood Soaked Cathedral instance dungeon.

When Cheng Yang left the instance dungeon, he came face to face with Liu Hau.

“Yok-… My Lord. You mentioned in the past that the number of times we could use the instance dungeon everyday would increase with use, but even after clearing it several times everyday, why has nothing changed? I can only bring four people with me into the instance dungeon and I can tell that those left behind are heartbroken.”

“You’re always so impatient Koko.” Cheng Yang snorted, “You need to clear it at least fifty times before it will upgrade again.”

“That’s not too bad. We should be able to accomplish that in… six days?” Liu Hau concluded after some quick finger math.

“We shouldn’t need that long since I’ve also been clearing the Hard Difficulty. In five days, as long as we keep clearing it, the number of daily runs will double.”

“Just doubled?” Liu Hau frowned, “How are we supposed to get enough equipment for everyone if so few people are able to run it?”

Cheng Yang chuckled when he heard that. “If you aren’t satisfied, why don’t you go find another instance dungeon? If you don’t want to, just be patient and wait for this one to upgrade.”

Liu Hau could only sigh. Even he was able to tell that it was unrealistic for a single instance dungeon to supply equipment for the whole territory.

“By the way, my Lord,” Liu Hau said eyeing Cheng Yang’s outfit, “Do you have a full set of Black Iron equipment?”

Cheng Yang shook his head. “Not even close, I have nine out of ten slots filled but only five pieces are Black Iron grade. As for Alchemist equipment, I haven’t gotten a common grade one even after clearing Hard three times! The drop rate is just abysmal.”

Thanks to his amazing equipment, Cheng Yang attributes were very impressive. Most of his stats were boosted by at least one or two with his Physical Defense being the most impressive. Unfortunately, although his Physical Defense had increased substantially, it was only effective if the enemy hit a spot covered by the armor.

Cheng Yang took a bronze buckler off of his back and handed it to Liu Hau. “Here, my luck was pretty good during this run and the Boss dropped this shield. It’ll definitely be useful to you.”

When Liu Hau glanced at the stats his eyes nearly popped out. “My Lord, how could this humble servant dare to-“

Cheng Yang sent a sharp kick towards Liu Hau’s butt before he could finish his dramatic speech. “Knock that off! Take the damn thing and don’t you dare sell it.”

Liu Hau nimbly dodged the kick and walked off while laughing.

Cheng Yang shook his head. He was helpless in front of Liu Hau’s temperament. 

Obviously, the buckler’s stats were pretty amazing, otherwise Liu Hau wouldn’t have acted like that.

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Humble Bronze Buckler
This shield was forged by the legendary blacksmith Hundred Refined Steel when he was an apprentice

Grade: Black Iron
Class: Warrior
Requirements: Low-Grade Apprentice
Durability: 80/80
Effect: Increase Physical Defense by 3
Effect: Damage Reduction of 4

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Damage Reduction was the unique attribute shields possessed. The effect is similar to that of the Physical Defense attribute but with some key differences. Take for example Liu Hau’s new shield. If he were to block an attack that dealt eight damage, it would be reduced by six thanks to his Physical Defense of six. After that, the remaining two points of damage would be absorbed by the shield. Even though the shields durability will be reduced by a proportional amount, it was the only way to reduce an attack’s damage to zero. Any other class, even if they had a Physical Defense in the thousands, would still take at least one damage.

After that, Cheng Yang took care of his daily chores. He needed to start any new research that he could then resupply on potions. Some of them were brewed using his Alchemist Profession and the rest were purchased from the Alchemy Tower. As usual, he had one of his soldiers carry most of them while keeping a few in his bag.

That morning, he used up all of his energy making Mana Recovery Potions but he wasn’t able to sustain his use with just those, hence, why he still needed to buy a majority of them from the NPC manager.

Cheng Yang looked at the soldier’s arms stuffed with bottles and couldn’t help but smile. He was still too poor right now, or he would buy a Spacial Ring.

Although they were sold in the Grocery, the smallest one cost ten thousand Experience Fragments. Considering how many expenses the territory had, buying one was too much of a luxury.

Even if Cheng Yang had enough Experience Fragments to buy one right now, he wouldn’t. He could always pay some soldiers to carry his things so it was better to unlock a faster training speed. Of course, Cheng Yang wouldn’t mind buying one in the future when he had a surplus.

After packing up, Cheng Yang planned to lead mostly the same group as last time into Cloud City. Although many of them had already visited the two locations given to Old Lee, they were still useful when navigating the city. Even though the terrain in the city had changed, the people who had lived there in the past were able to recognize various landmarks and guide the group.

Last night, the five brigades appointed all of their leadership positions and several of them were held by members of the group going to Cloud City, including the generals Yu Kai, Liu Hau, and Lau Hui. Fortunately, the structure of their military was organized in such a way that filling those absences for a day was simple.

Cheng Yang would have brought Old Lee as well but he needed the general to stay behind to perform class change ceremonies. Increasing the size of the army was undoubtedly the territories main task so Cheng Yang attached great importance to it.

When the group entered the city, they stayed close to the ravine on the West side and followed it, heading North. This was both to bypass the Western part of the city and observe the situation on the Western Bridge.

Since Cheng Yang had obtained a skill scroll when he cleared the Southern Bridge, he had been obsessed with clearing the other three. Although most of the rules that governed this new gamified world were unknown, one key element had been discovered in Cheng Yang’s past life: everything was consistent. Since each of the bridges had a large horde guarding them, finding a treasure on one meant that all of the others must have one as well.

Although it may have been a fluke that a skills scroll had appeared at the Southern Bridge, Cheng Yang was willing to at least check the other bridges for treasure.

However, treasure wasn’t the only reason Cheng Yang wanted to clear the Western Bridge. What he really wanted was to open up a path to the West.

Cheng Yang knew that there were three Territory Altars surrounding Cloud City. Cheng Yang had claimed one and if he was quick enough he could claim another while they were still free.

Of the two remaining Territory Altars, one was a few kilometers northeast of Cloud City.

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

Before performing any class change ceremonies, Cheng Yang gathered his four team Captains so that they could discuss the future of Phoenix Village’s military force.

Soon, Yu Kai and the other had gathered in the main hall of Cheng Yang’s Standard Grade Meditation Hall, sitting on stools in a circle around the brazier.

Once everyone was gathered, Cheng Yang started to speak. “Now that the primary class change statues have reached High Grade, each one can perform two hundred and twenty class change ceremonies. Soon the number of people in each team is going to skyrocket leading to inefficiencies in management. Does anyone have any ideas for solving this problem?”

Cheng Yang’s college friends could only stay silent since they had no experience with this kind of problem.

“My Lord, the obvious solution is to create a longer chain of command.” Old Lee said, “Even with just fifty seven people in each team, its difficult to manage everyone during a battle with just a Captain and Vice Captain. A small increase in soldiers could lead to the dissolution of the command structure entirely.”

Cheng Yang nodded, “In that case, do you recommend we use a modern military command structure or one of the ancient systems?”

“Why do we need to follow any specific system?” Yu Kai asked, “We can just create our own. How about… ten people to a squadron, four squadrons to a battalion and five battalions to a brigade?”

“That’ll work for now while we are small but what about later? What will come after a brigade? That system will only support a thousand soldiers.” Cheng Yang asked.

“Above a brigade we can have a regiment.” Liu Hau said, “Then above that how about a Ministry? I recall they had Ministries in the ancient era. Then all of the officers for each level can collectively be known as the Executive Department of Generals?”

Lau Hui snorted, “How many officers do you think there will be in a thousand soldiers? There would be dozens of generals. What if our forces expand to ten thousand? Or a tens of thousands? Generals would be like dogs. What would we call Ministry leaders? Marshals? Grand Marshals?”

“I didn’t…” Liu Hau was stunned by Lau Hui’s rebuttal and was too embarrassed to defend himself.

“Don’t worry about the titles.” Cheng Yang said, “In the past there were several levels of generals, so it’s not unprecedented. Our titles don’t need to follow convention and we can make up new ones as the army grows. I’m open to any ideas so long as they would benefit the territory.”

“In that case my Lord… I think you should step down from your Captain position.” Old Lee recommended, “Since you are the Lord of the territory it isn’t necessary to directly lead the army. Especially since it puts you on the same level of authority as any other Captain.”

“This…” Cheng Yang fell into deep thought, “Your suggestion is a reasonable one. These days even though I was a Captain in name, my true role was that of an overall commander and rarely acted with my team. In that case, tomorrow I’ll announce that Zhao Chuan is taking over my position as Captain.”

Old Lee nodded in satisfaction seeing how much his words were valued by Cheng Yang.

“Should we give each brigade a name?” Liu Hau asked, “I think it would be more convenient than numbering them.”

“We shouldn’t do that until each brigade has a sense of unity. We should use numbers for now and then take input from the soldiers for the name.” Yu Kai said.

“Waiting to name the brigades was my intention in the first place.” Cheng Yang affirmed, “Once the territory levels up again, we’ll be able to build the Barracks. That’s when we’ll name the brigades in a formal setting which will make it more grand.”

None of the others doubted when Cheng Yang said. They all agreed that it would be better to wait until the names could be official.

“My Lord,” Old Lee said, “I have an idea but I’m not sure if its appropriate to say.”

“Old Lee, we’ve only known each other for a few days but I trust your judgement.” Cheng Yang encouraged, “I won’t be offended by anything you suggest.”

“As the supreme leader of the territory you should stop acting intimately with your friends in public.” Old Lee declared, “It is natural for the public to gossip and if they see that your three close friends all assumed leadership positions in the military it would hurt your reputation and undermine your authority.”

“I don’t think that’s-”

Yu Kai interrupted Cheng Yang, “Yoko, I know what you’re thinking but Old Lee is right. Old Lee wasn’t the only one who realized it might cause problems, me and the others already decided to bring it up today but Old Lee beat us to it. From now on, in public we should act more formally around each other even though in private we are the closest of friends.”

“In that case, I’ll try not to show preference for you three in public.” Cheng Yang relented.

“In addition to that, I also think that you should form a personal guard.” Old Lee continued, “Now that you’re not a team leader, it’s necessary to form a small group that answers only to you. If you have a small group of elite soldiers to use your Sacrificial Blood Cloud on it can be useful at critical moments.”

Cheng Yang rejected the proposal without even thinking about it. He knew that Old Lee was just thinking about his safety but creating an elite team wasn’t something he could do at the moment. The only way to gather talented soldiers for a personal guard would be to take them from the brigades. Cheng Yang didn’t want to hurt the core of his military force so he could only wait until he could poach talents from Cloud City.

After settling the matter of a personal guard Cheng Yang suddenly remembered something important. “There’s one more thing I have to tell you that I forgot about. When the class change statues leveled up they gained the ability to sell skills. Right now each statue has a single skill you can buy. However, you can only get it when you level up, so work hard.”

Liu Hau smiled, “I’ve worked hard since the world ended and my experience bar has reached 42% so I should be able to level up in under a week. That skill is exactly the encouragement I needed to reach the next level.”

“Good, I was hoping it would motivate you. Why we’re done here you should go check the statues status pane. I think you’ll like the skills offered.”

When Cheng Yang finished speaking, Old Lee made one last proposal, “My Lord, I also believe that we should increase the number of loans we make to the territories Loggers. The amount of wood we’ve gained after the last two days both from scavenging and harvesting was just five hundred units. It will be a long time before we can solve our housing crisis or even build the Standard Grade wall so as to give the civilians space to lie down. Its far too crowded, we have twelve thousand people living on a square kilometer piece of land.”

Cheng Yang nodded, “I’ve been worried about this predicament for a while. Tomorrow, I’ll loan two thousand Experience Fragments to Loggers without tools. Hopefully with that we’ll be able to build the wall tomorrow.”

After a few more topics were raised, the group dispersed for the night.

After that, Cheng Yang gathered all of the soldiers in order to make an announcement.

The first thing he announced was his resignation as a team Captain. When Zhao Chuan heard the news he felt agitated at first, but when he Cheng Yang announced he would be promoted Zhao Chuan was able to relax.

He was able to predict the that result since he was the only Vice-Captain on Cheng Yang’s team but he couldn’t help but feel nervous. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. Cheng Yang was happy to gain more authority in the village.

Cheng Yang’s next announcement that several new leadership positions would be created in the army. Each brigade would have a General and three Commanders. Under them each battalion would have a Captain and two Vice-Captains. Finally, each squadron would have an Officer.

Each squadron would have at least two people from each class except for the Priest class. Since there were so few Priests they would serve the brigade as a whole under the direct command of the generals.

Generals and Commanders would be appointed by Cheng Yang. The Captains and Vice-Captains would be appointed by the Generals and finally the squadron officers would be appointed by the Captains. This was done to limit the effects of a single corrupt individual in a leadership position.

Of course, this was just in name. Cheng Yang, the Lord of the territory, was the most corrupt of all. Even so, Cheng Yang knew that no one would challenge his decision to make his friends generals in the future. Their S-Rank Innate Abilities ensured that their strength would match their rank.

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

After that, Cheng Yang checked his personal status pane.

Of the loot he had obtained from the day’s activities, the best was undoubtedly the Sacrificial Blood Cloud unique skill. Although he used it at every opportunity he could, the experience bar was only at a measly 2%. This was due to the fact that the Health and Mana didn’t automatically refill after the skill finished, limiting his ability to use it in quick succession.

For Phoenix Village, the biggest gain was increasing its population by 3000. The total population now exceeded six thousand and once the citizens from Huimin, who were too weak to move the day before, were rescued the population would jump to ten thousand.

Cheng Yang didn’t know what the population requirement for upgrading the territory to Pinnacle Grade but ten thousand should be more than enough. That was a problem for the future, right now he needed to focus on the level up requirements for High Grade.

Thanks to the efforts of the Loggers, with the help of a team dedicated to transporting the tree’s they felled, two hundred and fifty cubic meters of wood had been collected.

With that much wood, Cheng Yang would be able to build two more of the shops. Instead, he built only the Grocery and used the rest to make Low Grade Meditation Halls.

Although the shops were incredibly valuable for the territory, very few people could utilize them. None of the regular soldiers had the spare Experience Fragments to invest in a Profession. In comparison, there was an ongoing food and housing crisis among the civilians that needed to be addressed immediately.

What Cheng Yang really wanted to build was the Standard Grade Wall. The area within the first ring was too small to comfortably hold the expanding population and the durability was too low to withstand the attacks of higher level monsters. However, the wall required five hundred cubic meters of wood so Cheng Yang opted to solve the problem he could, with the wood he had.

After selling the wood to the village, each Logger earned twenty Experience Fragments. This was a fair trade enforced by god’s rules.

Of course, those Experience Fragments would be returned to Cheng Yang.

Originally, Cheng Yang intended to take the Experience Fragments back immediately but he had enough of his own to make it a long term loan instead. After all, he had nearly three thousand Experience Fragments so he didn’t need the four hundred the Logger’s could give him for tonight.

That evening, Cheng Yang ordered all five teams outside the wall to hunt edible monsters. The new refugees tore through their remaining food supplies so they needed to quickly gather enough for tomorrow. The only alternative would be to dip into the preserved food they had, but Cheng Yang wanted to save it for a rainy day.

As for himself, he took five people with him to train his new skill. Right now, every Experience Fragment gained would be a huge advantage over the rest of the world, so this opportunity was very valuable.

As such, the five people with Cheng Yang were all either Captains or Vice-Captains of teams. These were people he or his friends trusted so speeding up their growth was a high priority for Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang didn’t return until two in the morning. Earlier he had given away the two thousand Experience Fragments he had so that others could train with them so he didn’t come back until he had gathered enough to train.

---

The next morning, Cheng Yang cleared the Blood Soaked Cathedral, started new researches, and led a team into Cloud City.

Their morning went smoothly. They visited five locations and saved two soldier’s families, including Old Lee’s. In the afternoon, they met with some trouble.

The family of one of the soldier’s was being held hostage.

The reason was quite simple. During the apocalypse, many types of violent and unsavory people would see it as an opportunity to create a small empire for themselves. In this case, a gang from the old world had captured people and would force them to go out and search for food while they relaxed in safety.

When Cheng Yang rushed in with his soldiers, the gangsters laughed at their weapons. Hearing that they were searching for a man’s parents they immediately held a knife to the mothers neck, expecting the group to drop their weapons. Their intention was to pressure Cheng Yang’s group into becoming their newest slaves.

Was it possible to threatened Cheng Yang? Not if you wanted to live. The gangster holding the knife turned into streamers before the rest of them were even able to process that Cheng Yang attacked them.

Executing a dozen or so people was very simple for Cheng Yang. He had adapted well to the apocalypse in his previous life and didn’t hesitate to kill others.

Cheng Yang’s ruthless actions frightened people, even some of the soldiers watched on in horror. The Cheng Yang they knew was strict but kind, but this let them see another side of Cheng Yang’s character. They realized now that Cheng Yang was no saint. If someone were to piss him off, perhaps they would die on the spot.

Although his actions shocked the soldiers, none of them questioned him or complained. They just settled down the refugees and kept moving.

Old Lee had helped Cheng Yang choose a route between the locations that minimized the chances that they would encounter the military but as they moved closer to the city center, Cheng Yang believed they would meet each other soon.

Cheng Yang didn’t want to start a feud with the army right now so the group gradually slowed their advance so they could more cautiously survey their surroundings.

Even after turning around to return to Phoenix Village, the group didn’t run into the military. Perhaps Cheng Yang had overestimated how quickly the military would spread into the city.

Now all of the locations in southwestern Cloud City had been visited. Cheng Yang decided that tomorrow, they would skip the east half and go directly to northern Cloud City. This was so they would encounter less refugees and could focus on rescuing the soldier’s families.

When Cheng Yang got back to Phoenix Village, all of the primary class change statues had leveled up up to High Grade.

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Mage Statue
Phoenix Village
High Grade
55/260

Research

• Body Strengthening Mana Flow (High Grade): Increase HP by 20% | Cost: 500 | Time: 10 hours
• Extra Mana Node (High Grade): Increase Mana by 20% | Cost: 100 | Time: 10 hours
• Ambient Mana Gathering (High Grade): Increase Magic Attack by 20% | Cost: 500 | Time: 10 hours
• Passive Ironskin (High Grade): Increase Physical Defense by 20% | Cost: 500 | Time: 10 hours
• Mental State Training (High Grade): Increase Magic Defense by 20% | Cost: 500 | Time: 10 hours

Skills

• Wind Bondage (Low-Grade): Binds a target for a set amount of time | Duration: 2 sec | Cost: 25 MP | Cast Time: 3 sec | Level Needed: Standard Grade Apprentice | Price: 100 Experience Fragments

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Cheng Yang inwardly groaned when he saw the research cost. It would take ten thousand Experience Fragments to finish all of the High Grade research and that was just for the primary statues.

Of course, this cost wasn’t unwarranted. When the statues leveled up, they finally gained the ability to bestow skills to the soldiers! These skills weren’t like the ones they currently had as they wouldn’t be given automatically. These skills were like the Angelic Inspiration skill that the Priests had. In order to obtain them, you needed to pay for them. The new skills were the lowest level skills possible, unlike inherited skills.

In addition, the number of soldiers each statue could produce was quadrupled. Once the funds needed to transfer the soldiers was collected, the strength of Phoenix Village would undergo a quantitative change.

Cheng Yang sighed thinking of all the bills that were piling up: ten thousand for research, thirteen thousand two hundred for new soldiers and ten thousand to upgrade the territory.

After briefly considering shelving research, Cheng Yang decided against it.

One research per statue per day wouldn’t use all of their Experience Fragments which would leave enough to perform a few class change ceremonies. When the process finished, Phoenix Village would have over 800 soldiers so the amount of Experience Fragments gathered every day would increase. There was also the stores’ taxes to think about. Each soldier would earn more when they attacked bigger hordes so they would be able to purchase food and other necessities in the stores.

The benefits a territory with a large number of soldiers received were very clear to see.

Cheng Yang no longer hesitated and started the research for each statue that increased Mana. He didn’t neglect the Standard Grade Priest statue either and started a new research for it as well.

At present, the Priest statue still had three Standard Grade research topics left before it could be leveled up.

Next, Cheng Yang arranged for a batch of new soldiers to undergo class change ceremonies. The population now exceeded ten thousand thanks to rescue efforts in two cities. As such, finding people who wanted to was too easy.

Last Chapter| Index | Next Chapter

“Old Lee, you’re good at this sort of thing so combine the information they gathered and report it to me.” Cheng Yang said.

Old Lee took the soldier off to the side and questioned them. Luckily, the soldiers had exercised some common sense and conducted their interrogations in a way that didn’t allow the refugees to hear each other.

A moment later Old Lee approached Cheng Yang with a sour expression, “My Lord, the situation isn’t good.”

Before Cheng Yang could speak, Feng Lie asked anxiously, “What? Please say they just never saw her.”

Old Lee looked over to Feng Lie with sympathetic eyes. “Mr. Feng, I can’t guarantee that what I’m about to say is the truth, but it should be close. Several of the refugees, those that were healthy, corroborated the leader’s story. Although the others did the same, with a little encouragement, they immediately caved and told us a much worse version. There used to be many more people hiding with these men, including your wife, but anyone who didn’t listen to them were used as bait for the monsters when they scavenged for food. I think you can understand what happened.”

Old Lee’s word struck Feng Lie like a thunderbolt. He trembled before crying out, “Why her? Why Meng Meng? Why was she used?”

“Because she stayed loyal to you until the end. All of the women were offered safety and food so long as they allowed themselves to be used by that man. She was stubborn and resisted. She wasn’t the first or only person to resist, she was just unlucky to be chosen before the others.”

Hearing this Feng Lie’s face became moist with tears as he cried into Liu Hau’s shoulder. The soldiers gathered around him, doing what they could to comfort him. They couldn’t help but respect Nguyen Meng in their hearts.

No one doubted that Nguyen Meng was dead. Several people had matching stories without any collusion so the credibility of their information was higher than that of the leader’s.

“Meng Meng, you should have just done what kept you alive. I wouldn’t have blamed you.” Feng Lie bawled.

Feng Lie’s love for his wife was on full display, her death was a massive blow to him.

“Now that you’ve heard both stories, I’ll let you decide what the truth is.” Cheng Yang said without emotion, “I leave the fate of those refugees to you.”

Feng Lie wiped his eyes. The sadness held within them had been replaced by a bloodthirsty killing intent. “I know what to do my Lord.”

Feng Lie walked towards the leader who was wearing a glowing smile that complimented his suit.

Feng Lie glared at the leader, his expression as cold as a frozen wasteland, “If you can give me a proper explanation, I might just let you live.”

“My friend, I assure you that what I said was true. If the others were badmouthing me it can only be due to a grudge they must-“

“Stop.” Feng Lie ordered. With a single quick movement Feng Lie drew an arrow from his quiver and pointed his drawn bow towards the man’s chest. “Last warning, explain it properly or die.”

The cold gleam of metal shone off of the arrow and even the leader’s warm facade couldn’t hide his fear.

“I.. please sir, consider your actions. This is a society governed by law, if you kill me here the consequences will-“

“Law?” Feng Lie sneered, “Do you think laws still matter here?” Feng Lie pulled back the arrow and released it into the leader’s thigh, causing him to wail loudly.

“There, did that clear your head of those useless thoughts?” Feng Lie asked mockingly as he drew another arrow.

“Sir, if you stop now I’ll let it go but if the military find out you did this you’ll be imprisoned when society is reestablished.”

Feng Lie wordlessly released an arrow into his other thigh.

“It’s true!” The leader shouted, “That woman died but it was for the greater good of the whole group! It wasn’t my fault!”

“You… fucker!” Feng Lie roared sending an arrow directly into the man’s heart.

The man looked down at the blossoming red flower on his suit. “Sir, you…. You said you wouldn’t… The military will….”

Even on his deathbed the leader didn’t break character or show a hint of remorse. “Promises made between people can’t be broken, but you, you aren’t a person at all.”

Feng Lie turned around leaving him to bleed out on the ground. No matter what, the leader would die and in a few hours the monsters would ensure not even a corpse would remain. Only three arrows and a pile of bones.

Feng Lie had killed countless monsters since the world ended but this was the first time he had killed a man. Although he felt somewhat sick, the rage he felt knowing that the man he killed had thrown his wife into jaws of monsters stopped him from vomiting or regretting his actions.

“My Lord,” Feng Lie said as the leader died, “I left that animal in the street but I give you back the fate of the others. Meng Meng is already dead. Killing anyone else would just tarnish my soul.”

“You made the right choice.” Cheng Yang encouraged, “Well take the rest of them with us to Phoenix Village. If you want them, those that contributed to your wife’s death will be your slaves. You can use them to gather materials or just as meatshield.”

“I… I’ll accept your goodwill my Lord.” Feng Lie said after a moment of hesitation.

After that Cheng Yang and the other soldiers left without sparing the refugees another glance. There was no where for them to go so Cheng Yang wasn’t worried about them running from judgement. If they tried, they’d either be eaten by monster or find another hole to starve to death in. Either way, no one would pity them.

Over the next three hours, they visited another four locations. Their luck was good and they were able to rescue another soldier’s family. Although they didn’t find anyone at the other three locations, it wasn’t all bad since the soldiers still had hope.

When they finished searching in the fourth location, it was four in the afternoon. Although there was still an hour before they absolutely had to leave, due to the large number of people they would be escorting back to the village, the group decided to start heading back now.

The group retraced their steps, following the markers they had left. As refugee groups joined them their speed decreased as they needed to match the slower speed of normal people. This caused them to be attacked by monster more frequently.

Thankfully, since they had cleared the path beforehand, the monsters always attacked alone.

By the time they crossed the southern bridge, they were escorting over three thousand refugees. The caravan stretched for eighty meters and was over twenty meters wide.

Even with the sun high in the sky, the forest outside of the city was dark and gloomy. The unknown depths of the forest instilled a deep fear within the refugees.

After entering the forest their speed slowed to a crawl. Monsters would jump out from behind trees and dart through the refugees. With only thirty defenders, casualties were inevitable. Only a few people died due to two key factors. The first being that Pang Sun would heal anyone that didn’t die on the spot. The second being that the Mages strengthened by Cheng Yang’s Sacrificial Blood Cloud were able to one-shot the monsters that attacked them.

Cheng Yang hadn’t decided to save these people out of the kindness of his heart. He wasn’t a good person like Liu Hau. Rather, he knew that Phoenix Village’s population would be critical to its growth. Although Phoenix Village was overcrowded now, it would quickly expand. If they wanted to increase the population to fill the future village he had to act now. In the first few weeks of the apocalypse refugees were everywhere but if you wanted to find some a month from now it would be impossible.

The distance from Cloud City to Phoenix Village was only five kilometer. When they passed through the gates, Cheng Yang let out a long breath.

It was a smooth and uneventful journey despite dozens of people died. No one blamed Cheng Yang for the deaths and no one would dare to complain that the service was poor.

When those people saw the tall walls guarding Phoenix Village they let out cheers of joy. The walls meant they wouldn’t have to sleep with one eye open, always afraid that a monster would discover them. As for what life inside the walls entailed? Who cares. Its better than starving to death in the ruins.

Cheng Yang immediately passed the responsibility of dealing with the refugees to Yu Kai and went to the Territory Altar. He then started the research that increased Magic Defense for the four primary statues and the research that increased Mana for the Priest statue.

After that was finished, the territory still had two thousand six hundred Experience Fragments. Although there was some left over after starting the day’s research, how long would it take to collect the twenty thousand needed to upgrade the village?

Although he was curious, he didn’t really worry about it. After all, his territory was at the Standard Grade while nearly every other territory hadn’t even been claimed.

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Soon after they arrived, the group ran into a problem. “Yoko, how are we supposed to find them?” Liu Hau asked.

“Easy, just shout.” Cheng Yang said, “As long as we clear out all the monsters in a decent radius it’ll be fine.”

“Oh, that should work.” Yu Kai exclaimed.

“Alright, split into groups of six and kill all the monsters in a four hundred meter radius.” Old Lee ordered the soldiers, “It should only take ten minutes so be back on time.”

The team Captains, including Cheng Yang, chose five people each. Each group then chose a different direction and started their pest control operation.

The reason Cheng Yang was working with a group instead of alone was to test his new skill. The arrangement was especially great for the five Mages he chose since they got to experience the thrill of insta-killing monsters.

They were able to smoothly take care of any monsters that appeared and were even able to annihilate a horde with fifty monsters in just thirty seconds. Although they needed to meditate and recharge their Mana occasionally, they were able to achieve a hunting efficiency no less than Cheng Yang when he was using potions.

Ten minutes later, eight monster hordes and dozens of solo monsters were killed. The people who had joined Cheng Yang were incomparably happy since they had each collected over a hundred Experience Fragments. They had been able to earn three time as much as they usually did in a day in just ten minutes!

After clearing out all the monsters, everyone began to call out the name of Shu Yuan’s parents. Shu Yuan was only twenty-two years old this year, barely an adult, so his parents were the only family he had.

The faces of the soldier’s held a trace of apprehension and anxiety. They all knew that there were only two outcomes of their actions int he apocalypse. Even if the worse of the two didn’t happen for Shu Yuan, what about them?

It seemed that Shu Yuan’s luck was fairly good since the groups shouts were answered with a weak voice filled with excitement.

“Yuan-er! Is that you?”

Shu Yuan trembled. That weak voice had sent an electric current down his spine. After a moment of hesitation, he dashed towards the voice at top speed.

Cheng Yang and the others followed behind him at a leisurely pace. Although the voice was fifty meters away, there shouldn’t be any danger since they had cleared such a large area.

A moment later, Shu Yuan come out of a ruined supermarket with a large group of people. Cheng Yang guessed that the two people beside him were his parents while the rest were the people who had taken refuge in the same spot.

Cheng Yang was happy for Shu Yuan. The number of people who reunited with their loved ones in the apocalypse was just too few. Cheng Yang estimated that no more than half of the soldiers with him would be able to eventually save their families. Some of the soldier’s families will have been killed and others just won’t be found. As for whether those soldier’s would ever find their families, only god knew.

“My Lord, I’d like you to meet my parents. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to live peacefully in Phoenix Village.” Shu Yuan said with reverence. If before he only called Cheng Yang “my Lord” in order to appease him, now it was from a place of genuine respect.

“Congratulations, I hope Phoenix Village will serve as your home for years to come. What will you do now?” Cheng Yang asked.

“My Lord, I’ve already explained the situation to them. They will wait here until we can pick them up this afternoon.” Shu Yuan said.

“Very well, I’ll respect your decision.”

Shu Yuan nodded before taking his parent’s hands, “Mom, dad, I have to go with the Lord to rescue my comrades families as well. It’s only thanks to their power that I was able to find you so I can’t be selfish and stay here with you. Don’t worry about me, with our power nothing can stop us. I hope you can forgive me for leaving so soon.”

Shu Yuan’s father was a sensible man and immediately waved it off, “How could we be so impudent as to blame you for that. They’re our saviors so go. It’s only a few hours and they we can have a proper reunion.”

Shu Yuan tearfully smiled and shared a few words with his parents. Giving each a quick hug he returned to the group.

When Shu Yuan’s parents went back into the supermarket the other refugees hid as well.

---

The next location they needed to search was two kilometers away. It was the office building where they hoped to find the wife of another soldier, Feng Lie’s.

Half an hour later the group was calling out for Feng Lie’s wife.

After a few minutes without a response Feng Lie almost broke down.

Seeing this Liu Hau walked over and gave the man a hug, “Hey, don’t worry. She probably just doesn’t have the strength to respond. We’ll just have to search everywhere she could have hidden.”

Feng Lee took some deep breaths and nodded.

The soldiers fanned out, searching through the ruined buildings for places a person could have hidden.

When they had searched about half the area a voice called out to them. “Hail friends! Are you here to save people?”

A man’s could be seen hiding in a collapsed car park waving at them. Seeing Cheng Yang gesture for him to take care of it, Feng Lie walked over to the man.

“That’s right, specifically, I’m looking for my wife. We’ve killed all of the nearby monster so you can come out.”

Soon more than a dozen people exited the ruins and ran over to them. They were dirty but the leaders of the group looked a lot better than most of the refugee’s they found.

“Are all of you people who worked around here?” Feng Lie asked.

A man in a suit smiled charmingly at Feng Lie, “That’s correct, we used to work around here before the earthquake. Who are all of you? Just a while ago I saw you slaughter the monsters in the area, how did you get so strong?”

Feng Lie ignored the man’s question, “That’s not important. Have you met a woman named Nguyen Meng? She was in her late twenties and around one hundred and fifty centimeters tall.”

“Yes actually, she was with us until just yesterday.” The man said with a sympathetic expression, “A large group of people passed through here yesterday and she joined up with them along with a few others. They were heading west, it may be possible to catch up with them if you hurry. If you bring me along I’ll be able to identify the group for you.”

Feng Lie was relieved to hear that and turned to Cheng Yang to ask if they could chase the group. When he saw Cheng Yang’s face he was shocked into silence. A cold murderous intent was emanating from him.

Cheng Yang slowly walked up to the man, “Separate and restrain them. After that interrogate them, check to see if this snake’s story is true.”

“Sir, I promise that-” Before the leader of the refugee’s could finish his sentence Cheng Yang struck a large concrete pillar with a magic missile, turning it to dust and rubble. It was a clear warning.

The man in the suit smartly closed his mouth when he saw that.

Everyone could tell that something wasn’t right but didn’t hesitate to carry out Cheng Yang’s order. Although some people tried to resist what could they do against Professionals?

The group of refugee’s was smaller than the number of soldiers so Feng Lie nervously walked over to Cheng Yang.

“Are you curious as to why I’m doing this?” Cheng Yang asked.

Feng Lie hesitated then nodded his head.

“I don’t blame you but be more observant. This is the end of the world and if you miss crucial details it’ll only get you killed. Many of them seem well fed but those few in the back look like they’re starving. Look at their body language. Those that are starved also look afraid, but not of the monsters. Also, I know the eyes of a killer when I see them.”

“My Lord, you can’t mean…” Feng Lie trailed off, his face turning pale. “Are you saying that they… why would they lie about this?”

“People lie for all sorts of reason’s. I’m not saying they killed your wife but I believe it’s a possibility. Once we question them the truth will emerge. Just… be prepared for the worst.”

Even though Cheng Yang tried to comfort him, Feng Lie was able to tell that Cheng Yang didn’t believe his wife was alive.

After a few minutes the interrogations were finished. Many of the healthy looking refugee’s had bruises on their faces. Several of the soldiers had overheard Cheng Yang and were determined to force the truth out of them.

Cheng Yang didn’t even react to their violent methods. In this troubled world, what did a bit of violence amount to? After all, his soldiers hadn’t killed them.

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The soldiers listened attentively for Cheng Yang’s announcement.

“My only request is that no matter what, while we are in the city, you put the needs of the team before your own.” Cheng Yang announced, “If you aren’t able to comply with this, I have no choice but to expel you from the team. This isn’t me trying to bully you but a decision made for the greater good of Phoenix Village. The reason I say this is because we can’t spend too long searching for just one person’s family. Each of you will provide Old Lee with two possible locations your family could be. We will visit each location for a maximum of thirty minutes before leaving for the next location. We will start will the southernmost locations and work our way north. In addition, all rescue operations will stop at five. After that we will come back every day until each location has been checked. Does anyone have a problem with this?”

After hearing this the crowd began to murmur. It was to be expected, which person would be willing to give up on their family just like that?

One by one the soldiers decided to give in and checked in with Old Lee. In the end, everyone accepted the conditions, something that surprised Cheng Yang. Although everyone wanted to spend as long as they could searching for their families and to be the first in line, they knew it was unreasonable.

After everyone made their decision, Cheng Yang led them across the bridge.

This wasn’t the first time Cheng Yang had crossed the bridge that bordered on a natural wonder so he wasn’t impressed. The rest of the soldiers couldn’t help but gasp in admiration as they looked over the sides.

If this bridge had appeared in the old world, it would have made national headlines and become a top tourist destination. Here, however, it could be seen at every major city in four different places.

The bridge, which was several tens of meters long, was made out of a porous red rock with black flecks. It looked like the entire thing was made from cooled magma. If someone were to watch the formation, they would have seen the chasm drop down at incredible speed before the bridges stretched across from the city side.

There was a tight ring of dense forest right at the city side edge of the bridge. Once Cheng Yang’s group passed through it, the scenery totally changed.

The south was covered in lush natural forests while the north was nothing but ruins, bones and dried blood. Although they had seen a similar scene in Huimin, it was still hard for the soldiers to see their home had been destroyed.

The outskirts of Cloud City, where there weren’t any high-rise buildings, had collapsed. Even the squatter shacks had collapsed into ruins.

The ruins of Huimin were already being reclaimed by the forest when they arrived but Cloud City was different. If not for the monsters wandering about it wouldn’t be difficult to image this was a city that had suffered from a normal earthquake.

Cheng Yang didn’t bother with the monsters that were on their own. Instead he left them to the soldiers who would have a harder time gathering Experience Fragments. Cheng Yang only stepped in when they met groups of monsters so they wouldn’t have to waste time dealing with them.

Cheng Yang and the other traveled north-east for about a kilometer in order to reach the apartment of a soldier named Shu Yuan. His family had lived in the suburbs originally, but due to some financial matters they were forced to move into the city. Not willing to just waste away, Shu Yuan used the last of his money to buy a transport truck and work independently. That decision had allowed him to be saved by Cheng Yang right at the start of the apocalypse.

He lived closest to the southern bridge so it was the first stop for the rescue team.

They were traveled in a line three wide towards the apartment complex when they heard someone call out to them.

“Help us…” The voice was gravelly and cracked. “Please…. Help…. us….”

Although the voice was weak, it couldn’t escape the sensitive ears of a Professional.

“Yoko, what should we do?” Liu Hau asked, concern written across his face.

Liu Hau was an incredibly compassionate person and Cheng Yang knew the only reason he even asked was to set an example for the other soldiers. If not for that, he probably would have rushed over immediately.

“We’ll save them.” Cheng Yang said after watching his friends beg with his eyes, “With so many people dead its only right to try and save those we find. However, our goal is to save the families of our soldiers. Saving everyone we run into will slow us down. You’ll have to be prepared to abandon some of the survivors into later.

“I understand.” Liu Hau said with a grateful smile.

Cheng Yang followed Liu Hau towards the source of the sound. After poking around for a bit, they found the entrance to a cavern in the ruins.

Liu Hau bent down to look inside, “How many of you are there?”

“Eighteen.” A voice said before collapsing into a coughing fit. “Please. Water. We haven’t had any for days.”

“Come out first, then we’ll give you water.” Cheng Yang said.

“Are, monsters… gone?” the man asked with a trembling voice, “Horrible, horrible creatures.”

“Don’t worry.” Liu Hau coaxed, “We killed all of the ones near here.”

Only after hearing that did a pair of men crawl out of the hole. They were haggard and had sunken eyes. They looked like they were on the brink of collapse.

“Give… water.” One of the men croaked.

Liu Hau handed him a disposable bottle filled with river water.

Cheng Yang and the others didn’t blame the men for being so impolite. Faced with the imminent deaths, the fact that they hadn’t done anything evil to them was good enough. If anyone raised a fuss over formalities they could only be considered extremely pedantic.

In the eyes of the others, these men seemed to be lifeless husks but Cheng Yang thought differently. When he looked into their eyes he saw the burning desire to survive. In the apocalypse only that could be considered ones true strength. It took a lot of bravery to call out to an unknown group in their situation. Especially a group that used strange powers and weapons like theirs.

“Didn’t you say there were eighteen of you?” Liu Hau asked, “Why aren’t the others coming?”

The man took a long swig of water before replying with a clearer voice, “They’re too weak. Wait a moment and I’ll pull them out.”

Cheng Yang tried his best to suppress the dark thoughts within him. Even if they wanted to survive with all their might, if they were too weak they would just drag his team down.

“Yoko, it seems like that cavern of theirs is quite safe. Lets leave some food and water with them so they can recover and we’ll pick them up on our way back.” Yu Kai suggested, seeing Cheng Yang’s brows furrow.

By this time the two men had deduced that Cheng Yang’s group wasn’t filled with bad people, so when they heard Yu Kai’s words they immediately began to beg.

“We’ll just follow. You don’t need to guard us but just let us follow behind you. We’ll die otherwise.” the men had fallen to the ground in order to bow before the group, “Please, save us.”

Cheng Yang picked up the man, “You don’t need to worry. I’ll follow my friend’s plan and come get you in the afternoon. Before you get your hopes up I need to warn you, our base is outside the city so if you follow us there will be nowhere to hide from monsters during the journey. We may not be able to protect you. Honestly, you are safer here.”

“Is that true?” The man asked with a complicated expression.

Cheng Yang chuckled. “With our strength do you think we would need to lie?”

“So it is true.” The man sighed. Cheng Yang’s argument was too convincing. If they really wanted him dead they could have just ignored him. They could even kill him right now and no one would be able to stop him. “Still, we want to follow you.”

At that time one of the men an the bottle of water down into the hole. The other one hugged Cheng Yang in gratitude.

As Cheng Yang comforted the man he said, “Old Lee, have everyone chip into the food we’ll give them.”

Without Old Lee having to do anything, the soldiers began handing him parts of their rations, quickly amassed eighteen peoples worth of dried meat and energy bars. Even if they had a small lunch, they would still be able to eat a hearty dinner while these people had been starving for days. They weren’t so heartless as to hog their food.

After giving the two men supplies, Cheng Yang’s group continued on their journey. After watching Cheng Yang leave, the two men retreated back into their hole, praying for Cheng Yang’s safe return.

By the time they arrived at Shu Yuan’s house, they had run into over eighty other survivors. Cheng Yang followed the same policy for every group he met. Telling them to lie low and warning them of the dangers of travelling with them. Even though some of the group had been lucky enough to hide somewhere with supplies, Cheng Yang’s group gave away all of their food and water to those in need,

Thanks to the fact that god didn’t change the terrain inside of the safe zones too much, Shu Yuan was able to pinpoint where his building had been immediately.

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Old Lee’s eyes flashed with complicated emotions. In his eyes the punishment Cheng Yang gave him was far too light. After all, what he had lost was a human life! What Old Lee didn’t know was that a human lives were the most worthless things in this new world.

Cheng Yang cleared his throat, “Now that we’ve opened up a path into Cloud City, we won’t have any problems getting inside. However! The city is not the peaceful place you remember so we must discuss our actions before entering.”

Next Cheng Yang greeted the Vice Captains and left them to manage the normal soldiers while pulling the four Captains to the side.

“You know what’s happening inside the city?” Yu Kai asked.

“I don’t know exactly what’s happening but my visions have given me enough to deduce a few things.” Cheng Yang replied, “Right now, the safe zone at the center of the city should be under the control of the military. However, they won’t have many Professionals yet so the efforts to rescue civilians should still be in the initial stages.”

“It sounds like Cloud City is in a similar situation to the one Phoenix Village was in a few days ago.” Yu Kai said with a frown.

“It’s the same except on a much larger scale. The safe zone is five or six square kilometers and the number of Professionals should be about ten thousand. However, the number of people they have rescued definitely isn’t more than fifty-thousand.” Cheng Yang nodded his head.

Yu Kai’s eyes suddenly widened, “Yoko, what if we captured the safe zone!”

“Did you not hear what I said? There literally thousands of soldiers there. Even if they were all still normal people, military weaponry can still kill you easily.” Cheng Yang reprimanded his friend.

“Shit, I hadn’t thought of that… What do we do if the military learns about us? If they find out about us starting a government on public land, they’ll definitely try to interfere. Even if they don’t exterminate us, they’ll still try to control us. How are we supposed to fight guns?” Yu Kai lamented.

“There’s an easy solution.” Old Lee laughed, “Just don’t let them find out. All we need to do is rescue family members then return to the village. Once we get stronger, it won’t matter.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Cheng Yang beamed, “As long as we can go unnoticed for a month, they won’t be able to pressure us anymore. Not only will they run out of ammo, but we’ll have gotten much stronger as well. I trust you all, so I want to say this. I am never going to give up control of Phoenix Village. I will never submit to others and when the village grows, I’ll lift you up as well.”

“I don’t know what the others will say, but you’re my best friend Yoko, I’ll stick with you no matter what. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that you, not the military, will save my family.” Liu Hau said patting his friend on the back.

“Yeah, I hope you’re able to save mine too, Yoko.” Yu Kai sighed, “After all, how can the military be better at saving people than a prophet?” He joked.

Although they believed that Cheng Yang could guarantee that their families were saved, it really wasn’t true. Only the two who were able to call their parents had a better chance of their parents being alive and that was only if they had made it to the safe zone. If they didn’t, their chances for survival were the same as anyone else.

“My Lord, I’ve already lived half of my life peacefully, so I am thoroughly prepared to spend the next half fighting on the behalf of my family!” Old Lee declared with a vigor unbefitting of his age.

“In that case, it’s time to make a plan.” Cheng Yang turned serious, “If we enter the city all together, we’ll definitely attract suspicion so I suggest we split up. Anyone with a family member in the city will stay here and the rest will return to the village to resume normal activities. What does everyone think?”

Old Lee and the others nodded, showing their approval.

“Old Lee, the majority of the people who have family in the city should be people who worked at your lumber mill. There might be a few others from Huimin with family as well. Your job will be to gather all of those people and have them tell you the address of the area they were most likely to be at during the earthquake. Although everything is in ruins now, most people wouldn’t move far since there are monsters everywhere.”

“Rest assured my Lord. I’ll also plan a route for when we enter the city.” Old Lee pledged.

“Yoko, how long will you be in Cloud City?” Yu Kai asked, “Will you be staying overnight or returning to the village? The return team can’t open the gate on their own.”

“We’ll be returning.” Cheng Yang said, “The specific time depends on how many people we are escorting, but I will force the group to leave by six.”

Yu Kai was able to understand the hidden logic behind his friends decision. If he wanted to maximize the class change statue research, he or Old Lee needed to be back in time to start a new one.

After the meeting ended, the soldiers of Phoenix Village split into two groups. Cheng Yang and the other team Captains stayed near the city while the second group was led away by the Vice-Captains.

The only oddity was that Old Lee’s Vice-Captain had family in the city so he had to nominate a temporary Co-Vice-Captain role while they were gone.

The overall leader for the group returning to Phoenix Village was Zhao Chuan. After working with him for several days, Cheng Yang was very impressed. He was trustworthy and had a good character. Even so, the other Vice-Captains retained their autonomy unless it was something major.

Although Cheng Yang and the Captains would only be gone for a few short hours, setting up a chain of command was absolutely necessary. He had seen more than one group get annihilated when they couldn’t figure out who’s orders to follow in the heat of battle.

After Zhao Chuan’s group disappeared into the woods, Cheng Yang turned to face the people behind him.

There were only thirty-five people, including Cheng Yang and the Captains, in the group entering Cloud City.

Cheng Yang cleared his throat. “You all have families in Cloud City, do you not?”

“We do!” the soldiers answered enthusiastically.

“I’m happy to hear that you’re all in a good mood. As many of you probably figured out, the reason we cleared the bridge today was to rescue your families from the ruins of the city.”

“Thank you, my Lord!” One of the soldiers shouted, followed by several other praises. Some of them were genuinely grateful, but Cheng Yang could see that others were just using this as an opportunity to display their loyalty.

As for whether those people were actually loyal to him, Cheng Yang didn’t care. He knew he wasn’t a leader. In his past life, he had seen thousands better than him lose out to the real kings in this world. What he wanted wasn’t loyalty but civic nationalism. He wanted them to feel like they belonged in Phoenix Village, to be proud of living there. That way, they would be less likely to leave.

Cheng Yang did his best to act magnanimous as he accepted the praise. “Thank you for all your kinds words. I’m deeply honored that you all feel this way. There’s just one last thing I need to say before we head into the city.”

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Cheng Yang finished fighting half an hour later. He had killed four hundred of the monsters before running out of Mana. The rest of the horde had fragmented. Without their leaders, the innate hatred monsters held for each other caused them to split into different groups.

Cheng Yang didn’t pay attention to the remaining monsters and ran to meet up with Yu Kai.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yang met up with Yu Kai.

“Yoko, what’s the situation? I heard a lot of noise earlier.” Yu Kai said, relieved to see his friend.

“We’ve pretty much won. We just need to clean up the scattered groups of monsters I couldn’t kill.” Cheng Yang passed Yu Kai his satchel, “Swap with me, I’m out of potions.”

Yu Kai took out the potions he had prepared for Cheng Yang earlier and they swapped bags.

“Quickly patrol your area then meet me in front of the bridge in twenty minutes.” Cheng Yang called over his shoulder as he ran into the woods.

Cheng Yang quickly tracked down one of the monster groups that had escaped him earlier. His arrival indicated that their lives were over.

In just ten minutes, Cheng Yang had destroyed three hordes. When he checked his status pane, he had gotten one thousand sixty three Experience Fragments. Seeing this, Cheng Yang felt that all of his struggles were worth it. Truly, the higher the danger, the better the reward.

When the battle was finished, Cheng Yang looked across the field of bloody corpses. Phoenix Village was going to have a food shortage soon so it was a shame they couldn’t use any of these monsters. It was too much work to transport them and most of them were inedible or disgusting.

Cheng Yang exited the woods and began to cross the bridge. To his surprise he found a single item glowing softly on the ground

He hadn’t heard that there was a treasure on the southern bridge in his past life. It can’t be that it appeared because he reincarnated, could it? His luck was too bad for that to happen. Cheng Yang pondered for a moment and thought of an explanation. Perhaps it had been pushed into the abyss along with the corpses of monsters. Or maybe someone had stealthily taken it during the battle then died shortly after. The simplest explanation of course was that the army had hidden its existence.

Cheng Yang strode across the bridge and picked up the item which resembled an ancient scroll.

Cheng Yang had seen dozens of treasures like this in his past life, although they were rare they weren’t that hard to find. A scroll meant one of three things: an architectural blueprint, a single-use instance dungeon or a skill scroll.

Cheng Yang desperately hoped it would be a blueprint but when he opened the scroll he found a grouping or arcane symbols and circles. It was a skill scroll. Although it would be useful, Cheng Yang couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

When Cheng Yang pulled up the scroll’s status pane, that feeling of disappointment completely disappeared. The skill draw into the paper was incredibly powerful!

---

Sacrificial Blood Cloud
Based off of an ancient forbidden technique that sacrificed a person’s life to permanently strengthen another. This version was created by a mad monk. although the power decreased the side effect lessened as well.

Grade: Unique
Requirements: High-Grade Apprentice
Cast Time: 12 seconds
Duration: 10 minutes
Effect: Gift one of the caster’s attributes in full to a number of allies dictated by the skill’s level base of five
Effect: All of the casters attributes are halved for the duration

---

Cheng Yang only needed to see its grade, Unique, to know it was something extraordinary. In his last life, Unique skills were incredibly rare, with only a few being publicized. The only downside to these skills was that they were much harder to level up.

After reading through the status pane for the skill, Cheng Yang realized why the speed of the monsters he fought had skyrocketed. It was definitely because the Blood Gehenna commander had mastered this skill. More than likely, the commander had trained the skill beyond level one.

Using the final attack of the commander as a reference, Cheng Yang was able to roughly gauge how powerful the skill had been. Based on the damage it had dealt, the Blood Gehenna’s stats had been reduced by no more than 20%. No wonder the skill was Unique!

Cheng Yang began to daydream about a scene where five Mages prepared their spells. Cheng Yang then transferred his Magic Attack stat to them, allowing them to blow a group of powerful monsters to hell in just one attack. It was the ultimate buffing skill!

Too bad it was a skill scroll, not a skill inheritance crystal, otherwise Phoenix Village would have become unstoppable.

In the end, Cheng Yang chose to learn the skill himself. He would be able to use this when leading armies or power up a group of guards when he was about to be defeated.

After a few minutes, Yu Kai and the other team Captains arrived at the bridge. Most of the soldiers wore ripped clothes covered in bloodstains, evidence of a harsh battle. If it wasn’t for the rules of god preventing them from dying, they might have had serious casualties.

“Yoko, you look happy, did you find something good?” Liu Hau asked with a goofy grin.

Cheng Yang nodded, “Yep, picked up a decent treasure. What about you? Did you get many Experience Fragments?”

“My team killed nearly five hundred monsters.” Liu Hau boasted, puffing up his chest. “The average soldier earned thirty Experience Fragment which is much higher than most days.”

Cheng Yang smirked before sharing how many Experience Fragments he had collected, causing Liu Hau to steam with envy.

“My Lord,” Old Lee interrupted their banter. “I’m afraid to say I was negligent in my duties. There were casualties within my team due to my inadequacies. Please punish me my Lord.” He said with a remorseful expression.

Cheng Yang’s laughing face instantly hardened. Although he had been preparing himself for such a report since the first day of the apocalypse it was still a shock to receive it so suddenly. He had been especially careful after collecting a large group of subordinates to protect their lives. After all, any soldier groomed since day one of the apocalypse was an extremely valuable asset.

Even so, Cheng couldn’t protect them from war. Even though wars in the apocalypse weren’t as bloody as those in the old war, they were still brutal. These weren’t wars against people but against remorseless monsters. Prisoners weren’t taken in these wars and they didn’t end until one side was completely destroyed. In the old world, genocide was considered the most vicious, evil, and brutal form of war but it would soon be considered commonplace. It wouldn’t be odd to see whole cities and villages completely wiped off the map.

“How many died?” Cheng Yang asked in a monotone voice.

“Only one person died thankfully.” Old Lee said, as if we were reporting the total destruction of his team, “If not for the potions we brought, I’m afraid many more would have followed him to the grave.”

Cheng Yang almost laughed when he heard that. Taking a moment to compose himself he cleared those negative thoughts from his mind. “Retrieve the corpse and give the dead a proper burial. We can’t let our precious comrade become food for beasts. If the soldier has a family in the village, we’ll make sure to take care of them. They will be moved into the first priority for becoming Professionals in the next round of selections. In addition, you will provide them with a large number of Experience Fragments. That will be your punishment! From now on, if a soldier dies, it is their team Captain’s responsibility to provide a pension to those they left behind. I won’t allow the pensions to be low but the exact amount can be decided on later.”

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Cheng Yang wanted to fire again instantly, but he needed a second and a half to charge up another Magic Missile. His Attack Speed bonus was quite small so all he could do was wait.

Luckily, the commander had no choice but to keep moving forwards in order to use its minions as meatshields. This allowed Cheng Yang to land another hit on the Blood Gehenna.

Cheng Yang didn’t have a skill that allowed him to view another creature’s status, so he could only estimate how much Health the commander had left. Normal High-Grade monsters would take four hits for him to kill but since the commander was a Blood Gehenna, it could take as many as eight if it absorbed enough blood. He would need to hit it with a Magic Missile at most four more times.

Right now, Cheng Yang didn’t even have time to make a single attack. The tree was entirely unable to withstand the combined attack of five High-Grade monsters and was easily felled. There weren’t any other tall trees around so it fell directly to the forest floor.

In the process of fallingm Cheng Yang kept a tight grip on the tree, sending a Magic Missile from out of the leaves at the commander.

Thanks to his finely honed battle instinct, Cheng Yang didn’t even need to look back in order to make a shot from so close. At the same time, the tree hit the ground, Cheng Yang started running again with the monsters in close pursuit.

He climbed up the nearest tree, which was only six meters tall. If this tree were to be felled too, he would fall right into the jaws of the monsters.

Why would Cheng Yang choose to do that instead of running? He wasn’t a fool but rather this was a calculated move.

Seeing that, the Blood Gehenna flashed a look of scorn towards Cheng Yang on its human-like face. In its mind, Cheng Yang was already a dead man. Although his health was low, his opponent was just a mage. Now that he was surrounded, what could he do? He could just sit back and watch Cheng Yang get torn apart.

Cheng Yang saw the commander shielding himself with the large branches of the tree he had been in earlier, ready to dodge or block any attack he made. Below him the tree was already starting to tilt. It was time for Cheng Yang to make his gamble.

Cheng Yang fired at the thin branch below him, snapping it and sending the Magic Missile into the monster below him. As he fell, Cheng Yang was already preparing another attack.

The group of monsters leaders didn’t hesitate to swarm towards Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang landed on the back of the Graveseeker leader that had knocked down the tree and slammed his stave into the back of its head. At the same time he fired the charged Magic Missile, blowing its skull apart. The monster fell to the ground, deader than dead.

The other three leaders attacked all at once. The most vicious was the attack of the Venom-Toothed Wolf leader who directly ripped out Cheng Yang’s throat.

Cheng Yang tried to scream but only gargled blood. Although he knew that unless his Health reached zero he wouldn’t die, even if his throat was ripped out, the impact was just too strong. Even with the experiences from his past life, Cheng Yang cried as a whole was created in his neck.

Cheng Yang tried to dodge the other two attacks but since he was held by the neck by the wolf, he wasn’t able to. A scythe like arm slashed open his stomach and a horn gored into his back.

Cheng Yang’s Health bar instantly lost 38 points. Although the rules of god prevented Cheng Yang from dying, the pain from them wasn’t reduced in the slightest. His Physical Defense numbed the pain a little bit, but Cheng Yang still felt like he was dying all over again.

If not for having already died once, he probably would have fainted from the pain, sealing his fate. Tears leaked from his eyes as he quickly calculated the current situation.

It seemed very grim. He wouldn’t be able to escape without the leaders killing him from behind. More importantly, they tightly encircled him, unwilling to give him even the slightest opportunity to run away.

However, Cheng Yang never intended to run away. Forcing himself through the pain he uncorked a bottle and drank the liquid inside into his mouth. Instantly his wounds sealed themselves and his Health was restored in full.

This was his hidden ace, Health Recovery Potions!

The Standard-Grade Health Recovery Potion he had could restore 30 points of Health, an effect doubled by his Perfect Medicinal Body. As long as he drank one, he could instantly pull himself from the jaws of death.

Although it was wasteful to drink a bottle to restore just 38 Health, Cheng Yang didn’t mind at all. Potions were just a commodity worth a few Experience Fragments, nowhere near as valuable as his life. Even if it was a Pinnacle-Grade potion, he still would have downed it without hesitating.

Even when he was writhing in pain, Cheng Yang hadn’t forgotten to begin casting Magic Missile. As he drank the potion, he struck one of the leaders without even needing to aim.

Without giving him time to breath, Cheng Yang’s body was shredded once more by the monsters. Cheng Yang had already prepared another potion and thew out a second Magic Missile, killing the wolf.

Cheng Yang’s body was completely drenched in blood. If not for quickly ingesting the potions he had brought, his Health would have reached a measly twenty five.

A short distance away, the Blood Gehenna was frowning. Why hadn’t that human died yet? Even if his body was intact, he should still be on the brink of death after three round of attacks. It was after that last double attack from the remaining leaders that the Blood Gehenna noticed the shine of glass in Cheng Yang’s hand.

Cheng Yang continued with this unique fighting style. It could only be achieved by him who had money, a powerful Innate Ability, and incredible willpower. One after another, the two leaders attacking him died.

The commander had realized that the bottle allowed his prey to survive but even if it was cunning, a monster wouldn’t be able to understand the use of it. Seeing its remaining subordinates die, it grew nervous. It grabbed a large branch and charged towards Cheng Yang, intending to deal a killing blow.

Cheng Yang watched this happen unconcerned. He began to cast Magic Missile, waiting for when the monster would drop its shield. In the blink of an eye, the commander pierced Cheng Yang’s heart with its sharp claws. At the same time, Cheng Yang had thrown a Magic Missile through its guts. It died unable to comprehend why Cheng Yang was still alive.

Cheng Yang collapsed to the ground, panting. He wiped the tears and blood off his face before drinking his last Health Recovery Potion.

He watched the corpse of the Blood Gehenna commander bleed out on the ground. If he had been any slower in taking his potions or if he hadn’t been able to kill them all before running out of potions, he would have been the one lying dead on the ground.

Cheng Yang let out a long sigh before getting up off the ground. He was already used to living so close to death and only needed a short amount of time to return to his optimal mental state.

He would have time to rest when he was dead. Right now, he still had to face a thousand strong horde of monster that was hot on his tail. Despite the situation, Cheng Yang let out a light laugh. Killing the leaders of the horde hadn’t been very cost effective so he looked forwards to making up the deficit by slaughtering Low-Grade monster

He started leisurely jogging back towards the bridge.

The monsters in the horde didn’t know that Cheng Yang had already killed all of their leaders so they continued blindly charging forwards.

The difference in speed between the normal monster and the leaders was great enough that there was a significant gap between the two even after the commander died. Cheng Yang quickly intercepted them, insta-killing the monsters in the front.

A difficult fight had turned into a one way slaughter. Cheng Yang kited the large horde, throwing Magic Missiles into it without even aiming. Sometimes a Standard-Grade monster would try to fight him, but why would Cheng Yang feel pressured by something so weak?

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Cheng Yang’s attack had the same effect as poking a hornet’s nest. Every monster in the vicinity turned to look at him before letting out a battle cry. In an instant, countless monsters stampeded towards Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang hadn’t hidden himself so, unsurprisingly, the monsters found him easily. Seeing the wave of monster led by the Blood Gehenna, Cheng Yang grimaced and ran south. Even under the pressure of a thousand monsters, Cheng Yang didn’t miss even one of his shots.

After running a hundred meters, Cheng Yang had managed to kill ten Blood Gehenna. The leader of the Blood Gehenna wasn’t like the wolf leader from yesterday, it couldn’t stand to see it’s underlings massacred. It used its superior speed to break away from the main horde and rush towards Cheng Yang.

Ten other monster leaders rushed out of the horde and joined the Blood Gehenna leader. At a glance, Cheng Yang couldn’t tell which monster was the commander for the whole horde since they were all High-Grade monsters, but there was no doubt that these were the best they had.

Cheng Yang smiled, as he had hoped, the leaders of the horde had rushed out to stop him. Although he was at a disadvantage against so many high level monsters, as long as he could kill them the rest of the horde would be easy to take care of. The key to defeating these leaders was that they were separated from their minions and their speed was inferior to his. They were at least twice as fast as the rest of the horde, but that was their limit.

Whether it was before the apocalypse or now, human endurance had its limits. Back in the old world, some athletes were capable of running three or four hundred meters at nearly top speed. Although becoming a Professional gave a person superhuman endurance, there was still a limit. The number of minutes a person could run at top speed was the average of their Physical Attack and Mental Defense.

Monsters often had different algorithm for calculating their endurance that was unique to their race. Although there were some monsters that completely outclassed the rest, most of them were still better than humans. So, although Cheng Yang’s speed is about double that of the other monsters, they would catch up to him eventually if he only ran.

After a short period of time, Cheng Yang decided to try and find the commander. If an Elite High-Grade monster caught up to him with a group of other High-Grade monsters when he ran out of endurance, he wasn’t sure he’d survive.

Distinguishing an Elite from a group of different monsters at the same level wasn’t easy but there was a special trick to it. All of the other monsters would be chasing him with all their might while the Elite would still seem rather leisurely.

Surprisingly, it seemed the Elite monster was the Blood Gehenna from earlier. After making up his mind, Cheng Yang shot a Magic Missile at the commander before accelerating to put some distance between them.

The Blood Gehenna was a smart monster, so after being hit twice, the commander realized it had been discovered. The monster had a great battle sense and immediately deployed a strategy that gave Cheng Yang a headache. Having grasped the rhythm of Cheng Yang’s attacks, the Blood Gehenna slowed down and blocked every subsequent attack by pulling another monster leader in front of itself.

Cheng Yang fired off a string of expletives at the commander in anger. If he had been able to learn new Mage skills from a High-Grade statue, these kinds of cheap tactics wouldn’t work against him. The chase lasted for nearly a minute, enough time for Cheng Yang to kill five of the leaders. This left the commander with only five meat shields.

The situation was quickly spiraling out of control so he decided to run away. He would have to try to split the leaders into smaller groups or lead them to his soldiers.

Although High-Grade monsters were a threat to Cheng Yang, that was only if they could catch him. All he needed was four Magic Missiles to end their lives, and he didn’t need to worry about Mana thanks to his potions. Although he would be able to kill nearly all of them before he ran out of endurance he still chose to run. Seeing how cunning the Blood Gehenna was, Cheng Yang couldn’t erase the worry in his heart that the commander was beyond dangerous.

Seeing that Cheng Yang planned to escape, the Blood Gehenna sneered. With a shout it expelled a dense could of blood mist from its pores. This mist then traveled through the air in tendrils invading the bodies of the other leaders. Cheng Yang was able to see a fine red glow cover each of the remaining leaders after a moment.

“Oh fuck…” Cheng Yang’s face paled and he suddenly recalled the result of the military’s battle to clear the southern bridge.

Cheng Yang hadn’t participated in the battle since he wasn’t a Professional, but everyone in the safe zone knew what had happened. At the beginning, the human side had an obvious advantage. Although there were several high level monsters, the horde was outnumbered ten to one and the army still had some high munitions weaponry left so humanity was able to somewhat restrain them.

Right as the battle was about to end, the remaining High-Grade monsters all went into a frenzy. Their Physical Defense increased to the point were no one could deal more than a single point of damage. This caused Cloud City to lose hundreds of soldiers. This was one of the reasons the army had such a hard time occupying Phoenix Village.

Why did the leaders suddenly go berserk near the end? It had always been a mystery to those that participated in the war, but many speculated that one of the leaders must have used a powerful skill. Cheng Yang was now able to verify that conjecture, the Blood Gehenna’s skill matched the descriptions he had heard!

As this thought flashed through Cheng Yang’s mind, the monster behind him accelerated explosively.

Cheng Yang yelped. What was that speed?! Aside from the commander, the other leaders all more than doubled their speed. He wouldn’t be able to outrun them anymore! He could only curse god for sending fast monsters at him one after the other.

Cheng Yang didn’t have time to lament his bad luck, if he were to get caught by those crazed beasts, he’d die for sure. Cheng Yang turned towards Yu Kai’s group praying that his endurance would hold out until he reached them.

As he ran, Cheng Yang finally began to miss. If he slowed down for even a millisecond there was no guarantee he wouldn’t die because of that. As such, he was only able to hit one in every five shots that he threw behind him.

As the gap closed between them, Cheng Yang was able to gain a small amount of comfort from learning that only their speed had been boosted. Four Magic Missiles still killed them.

Cheng Yang could feel that his endurance was almost gone. If he continued to run like this, he would soon be penalized by god’s rules. Once you used all of your endurance, your speed and endurance stats are halved. It isn’t hard to imagine Cheng Yang’s situation if that were to happen.

Cheng Yang wanted to directly kill the Blood Gehenna to end the buff effect but the commander’s cunning exceeded Cheng Yang’s imagination. No matter what Cheng Yang did, he was unable to get a clear shot. Especially while he was running like this.

Cheng Yang was panicking and could only use a temporary measure to last a little longer. He glanced around, hoping to find a tree he could climb. When he spotted one, he dashed towards it fiercely before jumping three meters into the air and catching a branch.

In less than two seconds, Cheng Yang had climbed to the highest point he could, ten meters above the ground. By that time, the monsters had caught up to him. Luckily the only fast climbers had been killed earlier so, although the remaining four were able to forcefully climb up a few meters, Cheng Yang could knock them off with Magic Missiles.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Cheng Yang acted like he was aiming down the trunk but actually fired towards the Blood Gehenna!

*Pfft* Since the attack had come from above and the commander had been slower than its subordinates, it was unable to block the attack. It let out a bloodcurdling scream as its flesh exploded.

After two of the monsters were knocked off of the tree the others realized that they weren’t going to be able to climb up to Cheng Yang. Once they realized that, they all attacked the tree itself, quickly eroding the meter thick trunk.

Each of these monsters was powerful in their own right, causing sawdust to fly into the air. They were like five steady chisels, capable of knocking the tree down at any moment.

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