Author: Xevinaly

“These are the leaders of the settlement.” Jie Zhengqing said without honorifics. “That old man in the middle is Wei Yun. He makes most of the decisions and leaves small matters to the others.”

Wei Yun looked like he was around fifty, which surprised Cheng Yang. Normally someone so old wouldn’t be able to claim a position of power as a normal human.

At the moment, Wei Yun was frowning, and his lackeys had grave expressions.

Cheng Yang coughed to get the other party’s attention.

“Can’t you see that we’re busy asshole? Who the hell are you?” A forty-year-old man named Su Zong growled. He had a short temper normally, so when they were interrupted, he snapped.

“Who I am doesn’t matter. What does is that I’ve come to offer you hope.” Cheng Yang said without putting on airs.

“You…?” Su Zong was so angry he nearly burst a blood vessel. “Who the hell are you to say you can offer us hope during this damned apocalypse? You better not be some kind of religious jackass. If you’ve been spreading bullshit around, you’re going to regret it!”

The man’s accusation wasn’t unfounded. A week ago, there was a man who claimed to be an angel and swindled people into feeding themselves to monsters so he could gather food. Once the leaders of the settlement found out, they fed him to the monsters as well.

“Can you give others hope? Just because you can’t, does that mean I can’t either?” Cheng Yang wasn’t in a hurry to prove anything, so he danced around the issue. “Do you recognize the woman next to me? You may not know her name, but you’ve surely seen her face?”

Wei Yun and the others closely studied Jie Zhengqing’s face. Cheng Yang was right. They had seen her before since they made it a point to recognize the members of their exploration teams.

“Miss Zhenqiang? Which team are you in?” Asked a new person.

“I used to be in group three, but now this man here is my boss. He brought me here to persuade you to submit to him as well.”

“Tch, yet another deluded idiot.” The same person replied. “What did he offer you that was so good that you betrayed us? Did we wrong you somehow?”

Despite the angry questioning, Jie Zhengqing was completely calm. Even if she cared about betraying the settlement, it wasn’t voluntary in the first place.

“Dude, don’t jump to conclusions so quickly.” Cheng Yang smiled warmly. “I know you’re upset, but you need to move past that. Now, I have a question for you. If I had the power to save everyone in your settlement, would you willingly become my soldiers?”

Su Zong snorted. “How is that possible? I bet you can’t even guarantee you’ll be alive tomorrow.”

“Silence Su Zong.” Wei Yun said while looking at Cheng Yang with narrowed eyes. “Youngster, if you really can save this settlement, this old man with do your bidding. But what if you can’t? Then what? You confound my citizens and lead them astray? Have them die for you only to accumulate grudges with your enemies? How could I accept this kind of risk.”

What a sly fox! He pretended to agree on the surface but revealed a hidden blade with the other hand. The meaning of his words couldn’t be more obvious: If you fuck this up, you’ll meet a tragic end.

At the same time, a crowd of explorers surrounded the houses. Although most people lost their will to live, there would always be those striving to survive. If Cheng Yang could offer them a way out, they would grab onto it desperately. Otherwise, they would rip him to shreds and discard him.

Cheng Yang’s smile grew wider. Although that old man was arrogant, his performance was satisfactory. He was worth subduing.

“I hope you’ll keep your word.” Cheng Yang winked at Lau Hui.

Once he received the signal, Lau Hui raised his staff above his head and started to cast Summon Direwolf.

His actions caused a ripple of sighs among the crowd. In their eyes, another religious lunatic had appeared.

Only Wei Yun treated Lau Hui seriously. Since he had dared to enter the settlement and challenge them, he had a backup plan. Moreover, he could tell from their eyes that they genuinely believed something would happen.

A few moments later, a bright flash of light blinded everyone. When they could see again, a dire wolf was standing next to Lau Hui.

Was that a wolf? It was as big as an ordinary tiger! The five leaders of the settlement calmly rose to their feet, quickly pulled out their guns, and aimed them at the wolf.

The other survivors rapidly retreated. They were here to watch a nice show, not get killed.

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better not fire those.” Cheng Yang appeared next to Wei Yun so quickly that not a single person had seen him move. Before anyone could react, he grabbed the gun and crushed the barrel.

Fear and despair filled Wei Yun’s heart. He had expected Cheng Yang to have an ace up his sleeve but nothing like this. Even having a tamed monster was somewhat acceptable, but how could you fight someone who moved faster than you could see? Would bullets even work on him?

“You- What are you?” Wei Yun’s face was turning purple with rage and anxiety.

“There’s no need to be nervous. I already told you what I am. I’m your settlement’s only hope for survival.” Cheng Yang tossed the trashed gun back to Wei Yun, “As long as you’re willing to submit to me, one day, your strength will rival my own.”

Wei Yun stayed silent. It was hard to call Cheng Yang a liar right now, but how was it possible for anyone to get that kind of power? Much less tens of thousands of people.

“Now, if that demonstration wasn’t enough proof, I’ll need to find someone else to lead this settlement. So, will you fulfill your promise?”

Since Wei Yun was willing to threaten him, Cheng Yang Yang would do the same. Besides, even if he killed Wei Yun, there would be plenty of people willing to die for the opportunity he was offering.

Wei Yun looked around at his advisors. Most of them were too stricken with fear to think about the offer. However, Wei Yun could tell that none of them had any desire to resist.

“Answer me.” Cheng Yang demanded.

Wei Yun looked up to the sky with a sigh: “Since I’ve given you my word, I will not go back on it but, I have a request for you, sir.”

“Go ahead.”

“We are all poor people struggling to survive, so I hope you’ll be kind to us, sir. The world is already like this, so I hope humanity will not turn on itself and turn out existence into a memory.”

“Don’t worry. As long as I am here, the human race will not die out.”

Although Cheng Yang sounded confident, he was anything but. Even half a year after the apocalypse, humanity was hanging by a thread, so how could he protect it? What if humanity disappointed the gods one too many times?

The future was unknown, and Cheng Yang couldn’t prevent extinction is the gods demanded it. Even if he reached the pinnacle of strength and survived, what was the point if he was the only person left? Maybe that fear of loneliness was what drove Cheng Yang to help others? Only that would be worse than the cold void of death.

Wei Yun had no choice other than to believe in Cheng Yang’s words. Thus, the two sides reached a wordless agreement.

The person most relieved to see this was Jie Zhengqing. Although she would have been safe, if Cheng Yang went on a killing rampage, her friends and family might have died.

“You made the right choice, Mr. Wei. You don’t have to worry about whether that man lied. Although the circumstances weren’t great, I have the power he talked about. Although it’s not at the same level, I can kill weak monsters with ease. The important thing is that my strength hasn’t peaked. By my calculations, I’ll soon have the same power as a first world war tank.”

When Wei Yun heard that, his heart was put at ease. Although the apocalypse had allowed him to escape life as a convenience store clerk to become a leader, he had no confidence in leading his people to salvation.

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Cheng Yang left Lau Hui to guard the Territory Altar while he rode Enlai into Yicheng. With the White Tiger’s speed, it only took a little more than ten minutes to arrive at the outskirts.

After entering the city proper, Cheng Yang continued to have Enlai run at full speed while he observed the surroundings. His goal was to find someone, anyone to be his Vice-Governor.

A few hundred meters in, Cheng Yang spotted a group of survivors. With a kick, Enlai changed direction and charged straight towards them.

When he rode past, Cheng Yang snatched up one of the younger survivors. The others cried out to him with tearful expressions, but Cheng Yang didn’t stop. Time was of the essence, and he didn’t care even when his friends had questions, so naturally, he explained nothing.

To the other survivors, it didn’t seem like a kidnapping, just a hungry monster grabbing a snack. They didn’t even feel angry at Cheng Yang since they thought he was another victim. Although it was a bit weird that he was riding it, everything happened too quickly for them to get a good look.

It took the group less than a minute to calm down. Losing people was a common occurrence, so instead of being angry, they were thankful that the monster left after killing just one of them.

Once they were a few feet away, Cheng Yang turned around and addressed the woman he kidnapped.

“Don’t panic. This is an opportunity for you. As long as you’re willing, I’m going to make you the Vice Governor of my village. You probably don’t understand how lucky you are, but someday you will, and you’ll be glad I did this. Of course, if you don’t agree, I’ll drop you off and find someone else. The position is special, not you.”

“I… I…” The young woman hadn’t recovered from the shock of being kidnapped by a man riding a monster, and she wouldn’t until they reached the village and dismounted.

“I feel a little bad, but this is going to be better for her in the end.” Cheng Yang thought to himself.

Enlai was much slower with a second person on his back. The journey to Copper Tomb Village took almost half an hour.

Since his hostage never said no, once Cheng Yang arrived at the village, he dragged her to the Territory Altar, checked her aptitude, and turned her into a Ranger. He would have been gentler, but the timer had almost run down.

At that time, Cheng Yang learned her name: Jie Zhengqing.

Once the class change ceremony was complete, Cheng Yang immediately assigned the Vice Governorship to Jie Zhengqing.

Once he did, information flooded into Jie Zhengqing’s mind, explaining the situation better than Cheng Yang ever could. As a younger person, her ability to accept new things was quite strong, so she calmed down significantly. She couldn’t decide if she was lucky, or unlucky.

“I’m sorry for being so sudden. It must have been scary. “Now that he wasn’t pressed for time, Cheng Yang understood that their relationship needed to be mended before Jie Zhengqing would be loyal to him.

“Who are you, and why me?” She asked once she had her bearings. Although she was angry, she knew better than to bite the hand that fed her. Especially since the monster it controlled might bite back.

“A survivor, like you. Just luckier. My subordinate Lau Hui can explain our story in more detail if you want to hear it. That’s your boss, the Governor, by the way.” Cheng Yang said warmly. “As for why you were chosen, it was totally random.”

While talking with Jie Zhengqing, Cheng Yang opened up her system pane using the Territory Altar. Her Innate Ability was only B-Rank, but that was still better than average. However, it included a management component. Although he’d chosen her at random, Cheng Yang was quite pleased with the result.

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Innate Abilities

• Receive 20% more stats in the Physical Attack attribute when you level up
• The territory under your control has a 20% larger Experience Fragment quota

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The first Innate Ability was rather ordinary, but the second one was so good, Cheng Yang would have brought her back to Phoenix Village if he didn’t need her here so badly. With an increased quota, the village would develop much faster since its passive income would increase. Unfortunately, the bonus didn’t apply to taxes or donations. Otherwise, it would have been a truly god-like Innate Ability.

After that, Cheng Yang left with Enlai to clear the surrounding area while Lau Hui helped Jie Zhengqing understand the situation she found herself in.

Half an hour later, Cheng Yang returned to the village alone. He’d left Enlai behind to continue hunting monsters.

Cheng Yang wasn’t worried about leaving Enali on his own. Almost nothing could fight him on even footing at this point, and nothing that could would be this close to Yicheng. And, although he couldn’t use potions, as long as he didn’t die, he would fully recover in ten or so minutes.

Cheng Yang then brought Lau Hui and Jie Zhengqing with him to visit Yicheng.

Along the way, the three got to know each other better. Jie Zhengdong was a resident of Yicheng that lived with nearly ten thousand other refugees in an area monsters avoided. She was a member of the “explorers” that searched the ruins for useful supplies like weapons and food.

According to Jie Zhengqing, the settlement she lived in wasn’t too harsh. Although the rulers were corrupt, it wasn’t to the point that people wanted to rebel.

Once he heard about the settlement, Cheng Yang ordered Jie Zhengqing to take them there. Not only would he be able to fill out the remaining soldier’s slots, but, as long as they weren’t totally corrupt, he could recruit the leaders of the settlement to be managers for Copper Tomb Village.

Jie Zhengqing was delighted. Most of her family was still alive and lived with her. Now that an opportunity had arisen, she could use her newfound authority to make sure they were able to perform class change ceremonies.

The settlement was on the outskirts of Yicheng in an arena-like formation of fallen skyscrapers. To make any future migration smoother, instead of avoiding any monster hordes on the way, Cheng Yang tracked them down and destroyed them.

Of course, Cheng Yang had a second reason for doing this: intimidating Jie Zhengqing. He could see the barely contained anger in her eyes and knew it was better to leave a strong impression now than deal with a rebellious Vice Governor later.

The ploy was effective. Although Jie Zhengqing wasn’t planning to betray Cheng Yang directly, she didn’t respect him. Now, however, she did. In her eyes, monsters were creatures that needed dozens of people to subdue.

Although Jie Zhengqing called her home a “settlement,” it was closer to a wasteland. The entire area was covered in makeshift tents and buildings, the worst of which were nothing more than a few pieces of cloth propped up by sticks. The refugees were lucky it hadn’t rained since the first day of the apocalypse. Otherwise, this shantytown would’ve been destroyed.

Jie Zhengqing’s return went unnoticed, but Cheng Yang and Lau Hui received some curious gazes. However, that’s all it amounted too. No one here had the energy to worry about strangers, even if they were dressed like LARPers.

Originally, Jie Zhengqing wanted to find her family as soon as they arrived. However, when she brought it up, Cheng Yang shot down the idea immediately and ordered her to take him to the settlement leaders.

Although she was upset by her treatment, Jie Zhengqing could only grit her teeth and comply.

She led the group towards a grouping of makeshift buildings near the center of the settlement. They were much better to live in than the tents even if they weren’t very nice.

Five people were sitting around a fire in between the half dozen buildings. They seemed to be discussing something.

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As Cheng Yang moved through the maze, anything that got close turned into a corpse. Unfortunately, the only things he earned were a few Green-Bronze equipment pieces and a handful of Experience Fragments.

When he reached the center, a Shadow Wolf charged at him. Before it reached Cheng Yang, it was frozen using Hibernation Chill, then instantly killed by Icicle Blast.

It was only natural that the Normal Difficulty wouldn’t pose a threat to Cheng Yang. Only the Nightmare Difficulty would be hard to clear.

Cheng Yang collected the Black Iron equipment drop then opened the chest to find his first clear bonus: a Mage Statue Lifting Stone.

Cheng Yang smiled when he picked it up. With this, the number of slots for Mages would increase, allowing Qin Yiling to perform her class change ceremony.

When Lau Hui saw the prize, he was ecstatic since it represented a quantitative increase in strength. If he knew that Cheng Yang also found a Ranger Statue Lifting Stone, he would be even more excited.

Now, aside from the Summoner statue, Cheng Yang had boosted the number of soldiers in his territory substantially.

“Yoko, will we be expanding the armies when we get back?” Lau Hui asked.

“That’s the plan for now. We haven’t filled every army slot yet. Just remember not to ignore people’s talents when recruiting.”

“Don’t worry. I know what to do.”

Although Lau Hui was a simple person, he definitely wasn’t stupid. Otherwise, how could he get into university?

After that, the duo set off again. This time, they headed West.

They jogged for a full hour before getting to the other side of Yicheng. They could have gotten there faster if the route around the city wasn’t filled with powerful monsters. Although, with Cheng Yang and Enlai there, even a Pinnacle-Grade monster could only slow them down a little.

The hard part of the journey was finding the Territory Altar after getting to the other side of the city. The forest was dense, and without the ability of the Territory Altar to attract every monster within two kilometers, it likely would have been impossible to find.

Even so, it took them nearly three hours before they finally located the Territory Altar eight kilometers from Yicheng.

Once the horde guarding it was destroyed and Cheng Yang had claimed the Territory Altar, he got a pleasant surprise. This village had an Innate Ability.

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Productive
Individuals that stay inside the territory for ten hours will regain 10% of their expended Energy.

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Until now, his only goal with regards to the new territory was increasing Liu Hau’s strength and wasn’t even planning on turning it into a village. Since the territory was so far away, it would be too hard to defend and supply.

However, Innate Abilities for villages were too rare to abandon. In Cheng Yang’s previous life, only one in ten territories had Innate Abilities, and every one of them was a powerhouse.

Although the Innate Ability of Copper Tomb Village was somewhat worse than Phoenix Village’s, it was still useful. But, no matter how weak it was, it was still a territory’s Innate Ability.

Since the Innate Ability only helped people with a Profession, it wouldn’t be beneficial right now since most people didn’t have the Experience Fragments or free time to do nothing but craft items. In the future, however, crafters will be the wealthiest people in any village. At that point, the Innate Ability would be godly. It might even be possible for Cheng Yang to snipe other people’s talents using it as bait.

Thus, even if Cheng Yang abandoned the territory, for now, he would eventually have to come to reclaim it.

On the other hand, if he captured it now, he could level it up more quickly. That way, once it was useful, its Innate Ability would be more potent as well.

“Yoko, what are you thinking about?” Lau Hui asked after his friend fell silent for five minutes.

“I’m trying to decide what path to take.” Cheng Yang said after explaining the dilemma.

“You’re overthinking this. Wait here until Copper Tomb Village has Standard-Grade Walls, then pay everyone there to help develop the village further.” Lau Hui said, “If that doesn’t work, just spend a few more days doing it yourself.”

It was a good idea, and one Cheng Yang had considered already. The only reason he was hesitant to do so, was that he was worried Yuan Jianzhe would use his absence as an opportunity to strike.

Since they were watching him now, it was only a matter of time before they discovered that he was leaving for days at a time. Then, without his strength as a deterrent force, there was nothing stopping Yuan Jianzhe from attacking Phoenix Village.

However, if Lau Hui also thought that was the best solution, maybe it was worth the risk. He would have to be careful when leaving the village and make sure he didn’t spend too many days in the Yicheng area.

With Yuan Jianzhe’s personality, Cheng Yang believed he would only attack once he was confident of victory. So, as long as he didn’t leave the village unprotected for long, it would be fine.

Besides, how could anyone beat his Imperial Guard? Even if they had explosives like grenades, there was nothing they could do.

If he was still worried, there were two things Cheng Yang could try doing.

The first would be to charge up to Yuan Jainzhe using the grenade from before as a pretense and show off his strength. Thus, even if they knew he was gone, they wouldn’t act recklessly.

The second was to feign weakness by pretending to leave and bait them into attacking. Once they were repelled once, they wouldn’t try again so quickly.

Cheng Yang was disinclined to choose the first option since that would destroy the tentative peace between the two groups, but the second option would take up to much of his precious time.

So, after thinking about it for a while, Cheng Yang decided to visit Yuan Jianzhe later that day.

“Let’s go with your plan.” Cheng Yang finally said, “I’ll stay here for the next two days to help Copper Tomb Village develop.”

Then, Cheng Yang passed the Governor position to Lau Hui. Cheng Yang still had an hour before he needed to assign a Vice Governor, so he wasn’t worried about someone random getting it.

After that, Lau Hui used Divine Blessing to become the first High-Grade Summoner in the world. Moreover, he was over halfway to becoming the first Pinnacle-Grade Summoner as well.

Last Chapter | Index | Next Chapter

A few hours before noon, Cheng Yang arrived at Crane Summit. Once he did, Hu Zhuang and his comrades surrounded him.

They were in much better spirits than the day before. They must have killed quite a few monsters last night to have gained this much confidence.

“Hey, Ox, Liu Wei. How was your evening? Did you run into any trouble?” Cheng Yang asked.

“It wasn’t bad, but the situation here is troublesome, my Lord.” Lau Hui reported. “There are too many monsters nearby, and sometimes high-level monsters will wander into our hunting grounds. More importantly, we didn’t have any potions and only Liu Wei for healing, so it was a tough night.”

“There’s no good solution to that other than to keep moving forwards.” Cheng Yang said. “After we build the Wall, focus on leveling up the village and rescuing survivors. If you can’t beat the monsters with quality, run them down with quantity.”

“Cheng Yang, do you think you could bring some of the talents in Phoenix Village here for a while?” Liu Wei asked. “It would provide more security, and if you brought Priests, it would be safer and more efficient when hunting monsters.”

“For now, we can’t allow too many people to leave Phoenix Village. Standard-Grade soldiers won’t be able to help much, and everyone at the High-Grade is tied up right now. Even you have responsibilities elsewhere.”

Cheng Yang thought it over for a moment.

“Ox, since you volunteered and aren’t doing much, you’ll stay here. We can find the other territory Altar so you can level up and then give you top-notch equipment. Then, even if you encounter a Pinnacle-Grade monster, you’ll be able to defeat it.”

“Can I bring my battalion here?” Lau Hui asked.

“No. Not only is it too dangerous, but they need to watch the Bone-Eating Ant Nest. However, I can bring Pang Sun.”

“That’s fine, but does that mean you’re going to replace me?”

“The battalion will be fine for a while without you, so there’s no need. Once the soldiers here adapt, you’ll be able to come back.”

Lau Hui agreed to stay, but he wasn’t confident he could deal with a Pinnacle-Grade monster. Even if he leveled up, his class wasn’t DPS focused. If a strong monster showed up, all he could do was run. The only reason he felt safe at all was that Cheng Yang told him the chances of a monster that strong appearing was extremely low this close to the village.

With that decided, Cheng Yang led the soldiers to Yicheng. Since they had made several trips already, the path was clear, and it was faster than before.

The lumber mill they found yesterday still had a lot of wood. The only troublesome part was that most of the goods were buried under rubble.

While the soldiers were uncovering the wood, Cheng Yang cleared the nearby monsters. Now, with Liu Wei as a guard, the soldiers would be able to work without him. This allowed him the time to search for the other Territory Altar.

Cheng Yang didn’t know where the second Territory Altar was located since Yuan Jianzhe hadn’t controlled it in his previous life. Instead, a group from another major city had occupied it.

There was a lot of tension between the two, so Cheng Yang never visited. But, he knew more or less where it was since there had been several small scale wars between the two villages.

By the time Cheng Yang finished clearing nearby hordes, the soldiers had made three round trips, collecting over a hundred units of wood. Once they did, Liu Wie built the Wall. With this, Crane Summit had nearly fulfilled the requirements to level up.

Now that the situation was stabilized, Cheng Yang left Liu Wei in charge and took Lau Hui to search for the second Territory Altar.

Lau Hui was much slower than Cheng Yang, so he was permitted to sit on Enlai’s back during the journey.

The faster way to reach the other Territory Altar was crossing through Yicheng since the territories were more or less opposite each other. However, Cheng Yang decided to go south of Crane Summit first then go around the city.

He didn’t do so because he was trying to avoid the city. It was because he knew the location of an instance dungeon near Crane Summit.

The entrance was around five kilometers away from the village, but since he’d run this dungeon before, he was able to locate it quickly.

“Yoko, did you see this instance dungeon in your visions too? Isn’t that basically omnipotent?” Lau Hui was dumbfounded.

“It’s just the location of a few treasures.” Cheng Yang said with a laugh, “It’s not like I know everything.”

“Do you know about any other Territory Altars then?” Lau Hui asked, full of expectation. “You never share anything about your visions until the moment before you reveal something major.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t. All I know is that they crop up around any medium or large city from before the apocalypse. Even if I didn’t know about the other Territory Altar here, the size of Yicheng would give away the presence of another.”

“Do they always follow that pattern?”

“Not always. Sometimes a Territory Altar would pop up even if there wasn’t anyone around.”

After that, Cheng Yang left Lau Hui with Enlai and entered the instance dungeon. Since it was an Easy-Difficulty clear, there wasn’t a reason to bring the others.

The world around Cheng Yang blurred before changing to that of a dense maze of trees and thorns. This was the Shattered Midnight Forest.

Fortunately, although it seemed like a maze, there was only one path through the instance. If not, the difficulty of the Shattered Midnight Forest would skyrocket.

Since there wasn’t a trick to the maze, Cheng Yang simply pushed forwards, killing any monsters he encountered.

To other groups, clearing an instance dungeon was a matter of life and death, but for Cheng Yang, it was as simple as waving his hand. For him, clearing instance dungeons wasn’t the hard part, finding them was.

Although Cheng Yang had found five already, that was because he already knew where they were. If he wanted to find any more after clearing the second one near Yicheng, he could only depend on luck.

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Cheng Yang ran the entire way there. Whenever he encountered monsters, he directly killed them.

Half an hour later, he arrived at the entrance to The Forgotten Grave. He then directly entered the instance with his subordinates.

Since the strongest monster inside was a Pinnacle-Grade monster, Cheng Yang and Enlai were like gods of combat inside.

Clearing the instance was a lot easier than the Abandoned Citadel. A combo attack instantly killed the pseudo-boss of the dungeon, and the rest were cleaned up within minutes. The priests they brought didn’t even have the chance to show off.

Once the fighting ended, and Cheng Yang saw the numerous Black-Iron items littering the ground, he had an impulse not to bother picking them up.

Cheng Yang sighed. His heights were set so far above ordinary people now. The first time he wrested a piece of Bronze Green equipment from a monster, he was filled with indescribable joy. Now he felt like picking them up was too troublesome.

Thankfully, he didn’t need to take action personally. The priests he brought along were already moving to collect the equipment. At this point, that much equipment was a fortune for them. Even if Cheng Yang sold it on the Auction House, he would get a few hundred Experience Fragments.

Letting the others deal with the mob drops, Cheng Yang ran to the back of the canyon. Once he arrived, he saw an item floating above the pedestal without the support of a chest.

It was a necklace. One Cheng Yang had been looking forward to obtaining since he had been reborn.

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Sigh of Ice and Snow
When the Goddess of Ice and Snow died in the war, her corpse transformed into a stunning piece of jewelry: The Sigh of Ice and Snow. It changed hands dozens of times before being lost to history. Over billions of years, the furious blizzards and permafrost within have sealed many of the necklaces functions.

Grade: White Copper
Class: Cryomancer
Requirements: High-Grade Apprentice
Durability: 120/120
Effect: Extend the Frozen status by 0.5 seconds
Effect: Increase spell damage by 80%
Sealed: Upgrade to Red Gold
Sealed: Unknown Condition
Sealed: Unknown Condition
Sealed: 100,000 Experience Fragments
Upgrade Condition: 1,000 Experience Fragments

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Even though it was the lowest possible grade of equipment and most of its power was sealed, this was the single most powerful item Cheng Yang possessed. It was even better than his Red Gold staff.

Although it was ranked lower than Green Bronze equipment, White Copper equipment wasn’t the same as starter gear since it had durability. Using more universal game terms as a reference: starter gear was level one, whereas White Copper gear was level 5, and Green Bronze was level 10. After that, every rank of equipment would increase the difference by an additional five. Black Iron was level 20, Purple Silver was level 35, and Red Gold was level 55.

Unfortunately, even though Red Gold equipment was outstanding, it couldn’t close the gap between evolutionary stages. A Low-Grade Apprentice might be able to beat a High-Grade Apprentice by getting twinked, but a Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice wouldn’t be able to defeat a Low-Grade Scholar even with a full set of Red Gold equipment.

As for how equipment fared after the Scholar levels, Cheng Yang wasn’t clear. After all, no one had reached that level in his previous life.

Regardless, Cheng Yang felt that the Sigh of Ice and Snow would be able to carry him through the Scholar levels at the very least. It’s increase to spell damage was astronomical, and the stun buff was good too. However, Cheng Yang had a hunch that the necklace’s real powers were the ones currently sealed.

Although it was demotivating to read the unsealing requirements, the actual upgrade conditions weren’t that bad. It only needed a thousand Experience Fragments to upgrade the necklace from the White Copper grade to the Green Bronze one.

However, that low price worried Cheng Yang. Although it seemed like there wasn’t a conflict between upgrading the necklace and unsealing it, Cheng Yang could think of several ways they were related.

If he upgraded it before unsealing, what if it reset the equipment to White Copper? On the other hand, what if the quality of the unsealed effect directly correlated with the equipment’s grade before unsealing. There was no way to test that, so Cheng Yang’s anxieties forced him to wait until he needed better equipment to do so.

Since he got what he wanted, Cheng Yang left the instance dungeon. Then, he and Enlai returned to Phoenix Village.

Once he was approaching the Southern Bridge, Cheng Yang dismounted and had Enlai hide. Since Yuna Jianzhe wanted to break their contract, he would catch him in the act!

Cheng Yang’s senses had moved beyond mere sight. Now, so long as he wasn’t underground, he could see clearly at night.

After a few minutes of searching, Cheng Yang spotted a pair of spies behind a broken wall.

“I’m just saying, I think this is dumb! Why should we worry about a few deserters? Even if there were thousands of them, we’d crush them easily, so why not let them starve out there in the forest?” Asked a light voice.

“Just shut up and watch, or do you want to haul shit out of the safe zone like the others?” Another deeper voice growled. “If we could have defeated them, why do you think we’ve resorted to measures like this? You weren’t there that day, but the leader of that group is a total monster!”

“How powerful could one person be?”

The deep voice groaned. “Keep this a secret since we don’t want anyone to panic, but he slaughtered over a hundred soldiers without breaking a sweat. If he isn’t taken care of, even if we brought our whole army, we’d be screwed.”

“How is that possible? Everyone should be at about the same level. Even if he was one or two ahead, he shouldn’t be that powerful.”

“If you don’t want to believe that, I don’t care, but just know, if we ever do see him trying to cross into our territory, we’ll die as soon as we fire the flare.”

“That’s absurd, do you….”

Cheng Yang had heard enough. Although these soldiers were technically close enough to the bridge to consider it a violation of the contract, it wasn’t worth it for Cheng Yang to kill them and startle Yuan Jianzhi. Unfortunately, all he learned from them was that the bridge was under surveillance, he wasn’t able to prove that the people spying on the village were doing so under Yuan Jianzhe’s orders.

Although Cheng Yang didn’t plan to go to war if the contract was broken, he was disappointed. If he had caught Yuan Jianzhe red-handed, he would be able to extort more money from him.

Cheng Yang arrived at Phoenix Village around eleven that evening. After a quick meal, he cleared the Nightmare Difficulty Blood-Soaked Cathedral.

Then, Cheng Yang used his newly acquired Ranger Statue Lifting Stone and finished his daily training.

After that night, Cheng Yang’s experience bar nearly broke through the fifty percent milestone. He was one step closer to becoming a Scholar.

In his previous life, there were hundreds of Scholars among the survivors. With their appearance, humanity was no longer defenseless. As for the safe zones, staying near them was like being on a field trip.

So, even though his training was progressing well, Cheng Yang always felt a sense of urgency. If he weren’t able to become a Scholar before a monster siege occurred, everything he worked for would disperse in the wind like a castle of sand.

No one knew how unpredictable the world could be more than Cheng Yang. In the past, no one thought a disaster could appear from nowhere, resulting in hundreds of territories falling overnight. Phoenix Village was one of them. Cloud City was in more danger than usual, and there was one simple reason: Shennongjia. [1] Even before the world ended, Shennongjia represented the mysterious unknown.

Cheng Yang kept the danger posed by Shennongjia secret since he didn’t want others to despair. He was the backbone of the village, so he needed to appear confident. Otherwise, how could anyone else feel at ease?

When he finished training, Cheng Yang cleared the Blood-Soaked Cathedral again before starting new research. He also sold off the potions he made that night.

Only one chore remained before Cheng Yang left for Crane Summit. He bought all of the Stones of Return from the Grocery and listed them on the Auction House.

After that, he rode Enlai towards Yicheng. Using a Statue Lifting Stone was just far too wasteful, so Cheng Yang was unwilling to do so.

His goal today was simple: gather enough wood for Crane Summit to build a wall and the Lumber Mill. Without him protecting the new soldiers while they transported the lumber, the casualties would be unimaginable.

After building those structures, the village would become self-sufficient since the soldiers wouldn’t need to venture deep into the wilderness.

After that, Cheng Yang would take Lau Hui to find the second Territory Altar.

[1] Shennongjia is a state administered forestry reserve

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Liu Hau sighed in response. He couldn’t refute what Cheng Yang said even if he was concerned about his friend’s safety. After all, the world they lived in was filled with danger, so if he wanted Phoenix Village to remain powerful and safe, everyone would need to keep taking risks.

“Who said this tiger doesn’t look strong? What idiot would call it weak!” Liu Hau vented his pent up emotions to erase the helpless feeling in his heart.

While they were talking, civilians brought over a dish of roast meat with rice gruel. In the past, meat was seen as luxurious, but now everyone was sick of it. Although no one complained in front of him, Cheng Yang knew the people missed eating grains, so he released some from storage the day before. So far, Cheng Yang had managed to avoid buying any food from the Grocery, which lightened the burden on the territory’s finances.

Unfortunately, there was a limit to how long scavenged food would last. For the tens of thousands of citizens in Cheng Yang’s villages, their current food stores would last them at most four months. And the only reason it would last until then was because Yu Kai stumbled onto the remains of a granary. Now Cheng Yang could only wait for the gods to create the Farmer Profession, but even after they did, it would be months before the first harvest.

“My Lord, are you sure you want to clear the Nightmare Difficulty? We won’t have the Imperial Guard to help us.” Liu Hau said after they finished eating.

“We won’t die, but there’s only an eighty percent chance we’ll clear the instance.” Cheng Yang said, “That will be much higher if we got a Standard-Grade Priest.”

“There’s a couple in the village, and out best can heal seventy points of damage thanks to his equipment.” Liu Hau responded.

“Seventy points? It’s not as high as I would like, but that should be enough.”

“You’ve got such high standards, my Lord.” Liu Hau complained, “Where are you going to find someone better at healing than that?”

“No one else knows yet, but my Liu Wei leveled up today and is now a High-Grade Priest. With her power, it’s not a problem to heal a hundred and twenty points of damage.” Cheng Yang said while laughing.

“So she became a Governor as well?” Liu Hau clicked his tongue. “She was already an overpowered glitch, but now she’s probably unstoppable.”

Liu Hau summoned the Priest he was talking about, a man named Zong Qiu. He was one of the first people to become a Priest, so he was very experienced, and his Healing Light skill was nearly at the High-Grade level. In that regard, he was a better healer than Liu Wei.

“My Lord, are you sure it will be enough with just the four of us?” Liu Hau asked after they arrived at the entrance to the instance dungeon.

“No one else is necessary. Aside from the Boss, no one can threaten us, and, apart from its Health, the Boss is at most as powerful as Enlai. As long as we keep Zong Qiu alive, we’ll be fine.”

After that, the team directly entered the Abandoned Citadel.

The first three floors of the instance dungeon were cleared in a bloody whirlwind. With Enlai’s strength, no one else was necessary so they could enjoy the scenery while the white tiger worked.

Once they reached the roof, Cheng Yang ordered Enlai to attack the Boss immediately. Unlike the other monsters, the gnome Boss wasn’t unilaterally crushed. Both sides fought tooth and nail, but Enali gained an advantage thanks to his Vorpal attacks.

Cheng Yang wasn’t idle during this time. While Enlai kept the Boss restrained, Cheng Yang pelted it with Icicle Blasts. Although the gnome had an absurd amount of Health, it wouldn’t last long under the combined assault.

Chunks of flesh were continuously ripped from the gnome’s body by Enali’s powerful attacks. Of course, the Boss wasn’t a punching bag. Enlai never managed to land a fatal blow and took several severe injuries himself. Fortunately, Zong Qiu was there to reverse all of the Boss’s efforts.

If this were a fight with a human, they would undoubtedly try to kill Zong Qiu at all costs. However, since the gnome was nothing but a monster, it’s attention was held by Enlai, who it viewed as the biggest threat.

Once the Boss dropped below half Health, it shrieked and fired its bow into the ground. At that time, black clouds billowed out from where the arrow struck, blinding everyone on the roof.

Cheng Yang was the last to hit the Boss, so it rushed him while Enlai was unable to stop it.

Unable to hit the monster or try to dodge, Cheng Yang felt his Ice Aegis shatter. Then, he felt an arrow rip through his stomach, carried him backward, and nailed him to the parapet.

Luckily, Zong Qui had an astounding combat intuition. As soon as he saw the black clouds, he focused on Cheng Yang’s location. When he heard the sound of shattering ice, he cast Healing Light despite the blindness effect, healing all the damage Cheng Yang took. Despite that, Cheng Yang remained pinned since the arrow was stuck in his stomach.

Cheng Yang wanted to attack the Boss, but, as the black clouds cleared, he saw an arrow heading straight towards his forehead.

He didn’t dare to waste to take the attack head-on. If the Boss had a unique attack property, he might die there and then.

Using all of his strength, he kicked off the ground. The arrow pinning him to the parapet snapped and further lacerated his organs. The pain was unbearable. However, it paled in comparison to the pain of having an arrow pierce through his lower mouth into his neck. The force dislocated his jaw and would have torn it off entirely if it wasn’t embedded in the parapet.

Once more, Zong Qiu cast Healing Light. This time, his stomach healed completely as the broken arrow was forced out.

Three more attacks hit Cheng Yang in rapid succession, outpacing Zong Qiu’s treatment. The situation was torture for Cheng Yang. Every time he was injured, he was healed. He was forced to hang onto his life even if he wanted to collapse.

At this point, the gnome’s aggro switched back to Enlai, who had been attacking it since the black clouds dissipated.

Liu Hau helped Cheng Yang pull out the Boss’s arrows, then, the Boss was one-sidedly attacked once more.

As the Boss’s Health neared ten percent, Cheng Yang grew increasingly nervous. He was worried that the gnome had another trick up its sleeve. Thankfully, it didn’t. The Boss obediently died a few seconds later.

The Nightmare Difficulty was cleared, and all Cheng Yang had left to do was collect his rewards.

In addition to a piece of Red Gold and four pieces of Purple Silver equipment, Cheng Yang obtained a Ranger Statue Lifting Stone. Of that equipment, the only useful one was a Purple Silver necklace that increased his damage.

After that, the group left the instance dungeon.

Cheng Yang’s original plan was to wait until midnight before clearing the Abandoned Citadel again, but it was only nine-thirty. So, he decided to visit Cloud City.

Since he had the chance, he wanted to obtain the first clear reward for the Hard Difficulty of The Forgotten Grave. With Liu Hau and a few capable Priest, it was definitely possible. Since he had the ability, there was no need to wait.

It was definitely something related to his subclass. He didn’t know what it was, but there was no way it wasn’t valuable.

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Cheng Yang took some prepared clothes out of his ring for the father-daughter duo. After so much continuous use, their current clothes stank—especially Qin Qiang, who had been lying in his mother’s corpse juice.

Then, Cheng Yang carried them down the cliff face one at a time before placing them on Enlai’s back. Enlai resisted at first since he didn’t want civilians to ride him, but Cheng Yang’s threats forced him to allow it.

Under Cheng Yang’s orders, Enlai rushed back to the village ahead of Cheng Yang, who followed behind his path of destruction.

Since the path had already been cleared, and the weight of two emaciated riders was negligible, Enlai took less than half an hour to return to Phoenix Village.

Once they were safely behind the village’s walls, Qin Qiang finally allowed himself to believe that they were saved. As for Qin Yiling, she was ecstatic to see so many people.

Over the last few days, the duo had come to believe that humanity was all but extinct. Even when he was feeling hopeful, Qin Qiang thought that human civilization had been thoroughly razed. So, when he saw a thriving village, he was moved to tears.

Cheng Yang was slower than Enlai but not by much. He arrived a few minutes later, and when he did, he explained the current state of the world to Qin Qiang.

Qin Yiling was too young to understand most of what Cheng Yang said, but Qin Qiang was different. When he learned that the world had been gamified, the shock in his eyes didn’t subside for a long time.

“Mister, if we get classes, the monsters can’t hit us?” Qin Yiling asked.

Cheng Yang froze. When he brought them here, he never intended to let them perform a class change ceremony. Not only were all of the slots taken right now, but the task of selecting people had been delegated to his generals. However, Cheng Yang couldn’t refuse when he saw the hope in Qin Yiling’s eyes. So he nodded.

“You’ll become a Professional soon, and then the monsters won’t be able to hurt you.”

Those words brought a smile to Qin Yiling’s face. Seeing her smile made Cheng Yang smile too, so, in high spirits, he checked the class change statues to see if there were any open slots.

Unfortunately, it was as he thought. There weren’t any open slots since it was weird for a Phoenix Village soldier to die. Qin Yiling would have to wait until the statues leveled up.

He also had the option of taking her to a satellite village and performing a class change ceremony there. However, since none of them granted the soldier an Innate Ability, he didn’t want to.

Regardless, he tested their aptitude. Qin Yiling was best suited for the Mage class, while Qin Qiang was best suited to be either a Warrior or Ranger.

After explaining the situation to Qin Qiang, Cheng Yang had one of his subordinates lead them back to his Meditation Hall. Cheng Yang wasn’t worried about how the duo would be treated since they were his guests. If anyone dared to harass them, that person would be expelled from the village.

It was just after eight at night, so Cheng Yang decided to visit Joyous River village and get the first clear of the Nightmare Difficulty of the Abandoned Citadel instance dungeon. Then, after midnight, he could run that difficulty again. After that, he would return to Phoenix Village to train.

With Enlai’s speed, it only took Cheng Yang ten minutes to arrive at Joyous River Village. It was even faster than driving a sports car down the highway. Of course, that was mostly due to the road between the two villages.

The road led towards the southern gate, where several people could be seen coming and going. It was time for dinner, so even civilians were bustling about.

Liu Hau’s subordinates were also hard at work. Their role was vitally important in protecting the civilians as they used the road. They needed to sweep through the surrounding areas to ensure there weren’t any monsters forming herds. This was especially important after the discovery of two Nests. If the soldiers of Joyous River Village weren’t careful, monsters might overrun the road and massacre civilians.

Thankfully, the village was on the brink of becoming a High-Grade one. At that point, there would be two thousand soldiers dutifully defending the territory.

In the future, after Cheng Yang annexed the safe zone, those two thousand soldiers would be supplemented by tens of thousands from Cloud City. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough combat strength to restrict the monsters hordes in the tens of thousands.

Cheng Yang’s appearance shocked those near the village’s gate. Although Cheng Yang felt he should be used to it by now, he couldn’t deny that he liked the looks of awe he received while riding Enlai.

“My Lord, what are you doing here?” Liu Hau rushed to the city gates as soon as he heard Cheng Yang had arrived. Not only was that his duty as a Governor, but he was also curious about Cheng Yang’s mysterious trip. However, his enthusiasm turned to shock when he saw the white tiger. “Yoko, look out behind you!”

“Calm down.” Cheng Yang gleefully rolled his eyes, “This is just my new catch.”

Liu Hau was stunned for a moment but quickly understood what Cheng Yang meant.

“Then this is an Ascendant? Didn’t you say they’re almost impossible to meet and harder to tame? Where did you find that guy?”

“I ran into him halfway to Yicheng.”

“That’s where you were going? But Yicheng is over fifty kilometers away, how did you get back so quickly.”

“Haven’t you visited the Tavern in the last few days?” Cheng Yang chuckled.

“What would I go there for? Their food is overpriced and not even that good.” Liu Hau seemed offended that Cheng Yang believed he would frequent the Tavern, “Besides, it would look bad if I went in when my subordinates are forbidden to.”

At present, no one aside from Cheng Yang and the five generals were allowed the freely enter the Tavern. Anyone else needed permission, something that was only granted if Old Lee needed someone to browse the forum.

Cheng Yang’s greatest enemies were other humans, so he decided to restrict the biggest information leak. Although Yuan Jianzhe might have found the villages by now, Cheng Yang wasn’t going to announce that Yuan Jianzhe’s suspicions were correct.

Since Liu Hau didn’t know, Cheng Yang told him about his business selling Stones of Return.

“We’re rich. Totally completely rich.” Liu Hau said with eyes bigger than a cow’s.

“In a sense, but our expenses are going to grow just as quickly.” Cheng Yang replied, “Anyways, I came here to deliver some of those Experience Fragments and help you clear the Nightmare Difficulty of the Abandoned Citadel.”

“My Lord, don’t change the subject, what were you doing in Yicheng? Why didn’t you tell anyone you were planning to visit?”

“It was a spur of the moment decision.” Cheng Yang lied. “So, I only took two people, and coincidentally, we found a Territory Altar.”

Liu Hau sighed.

“My Lord, you are the core of our territory, so don’t throw yourself into danger like that! Every time you do, we’re terrified you might die. Although it’s unbelievable, we trust you when you say you had visions, so let us share the burden of fulfilling your dream. What if something happened and you died? Everything you’ve built would become sand in the wind before Yuan Jianzhe conquered everything you left behind. Can you bear to see that happen?”

“Don’t worry. I have my limits.” Cheng Yang replied. “I knew it wouldn’t be too dangerous, so I didn’t want you all to be worried all day. I even brought some Stones of Return, so if we encountered danger, we could safely escape. Besides, look at everything we gained from my trip. We have a new village incorporated into our territory, and I obtained a powerful Pet. Although Little White might seem gentle, he’s at the same level as a Mature monster No risk, no reward, right?”

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With so few people carrying wood, only thirty units arrived at Crane Summit. Even that amount was only possible with the enhanced strength from the physical Professions. However, it was enough to build two Meditation Halls, so there was no reason to go collect more before the sun set.

Everything was progressing slower than Cheng Yang would have liked, but there was no helping it. He would have to claim the other nearby Territory Altar tomorrow.

To help increase the strength of the new soldiers, Liu Wei and Lau Hui took them out to hunt monsters. They limited their range of operations to a kilometer away from the village. Their combat experience wasn’t enough to help if they ran into a large horde, but, with Liu Wei’s powerful Priest abilities, there was no need to worry about casualties as long as the number of monsters was less than five hundred.

After his new subordinates left, Cheng Yang used the Territory Altar to check the day’s Auction House earning. The Stones of Return had sold out today as well, allowing him to make up more than the deficit of upgrading the Bone-Gnawing Bead. The profits weren’t as incredible as the first day, but he earned almost six hundred thousand Experience Fragments.

After that, Cheng Yang used a Stone of Return to send himself back to Phoenix Village. Since Enlai was Cheng Yang’s Pet, he was forcibly sent to Phoenix Village as well.

Three seconds later, Cheng Yang and Enlai appeared in a random location on the outskirts of the village.

When they did, the civilians harvesting Alchemy materials screamed. Although those willing to brave the wilderness weren’t cowards, the relative safety of the area had lowered their guards. Thus, when a monster suddenly appeared, they were terrified.

However, that only lasted a few seconds. Once they realized Cheng Yang was there, they felt a sense of security. As if they were immune to harm as long as their Lord was there.

“This tiger is my Pet, so you’ll see him a lot more in the future. Warn the other civilians so they won’t react so strongly.” Cheng Yang said before riding Enlai into the village.

Along the way, Cheng Yang’s head turn rate was a hundred percent. Every person that saw him couldn’t help but turn around for another look. Of course, it was to see the white tiger he was riding, not him. No one had seen such a ferocious yet majestic creature before, so they couldn’t help but watch as it progressed through the Outer Village.

Things calmed down once Cheng Yang arrived at the Inner Village. There were fewer civilians around, and the soldiers were either training quietly or outside the village.

“Welcome back, my Lord.”

Cheng Yang turned around to see Xue Yu approaching him at a brisk powerwalk.

When Xue Yu saw Enlai, she couldn’t help but fill with jealousy. A Warrior’s steed was their pride, and seeing her Lord riding an outstanding one only reminded her of the one she was forced to leave behind.

“Thank you.” Cheng Yang replied. “Was there something you needed to report?”

“I do, my Lord. Old Lee told me that they noticed a spy lurking around the woods near the north of the village this morning. Unfortunately, they escaped capture using a Stone of Return.”

“That was probably one of Yuan Jianzhe’s scouts.” Cheng Yang wasn’t surprised. “It was inevitable that he’d try to find the village.”

“I also have a report from Liu Hau that an explosion nearly killed one of his soldiers while they were hunting near Joyous River Village. We don’t have any clues as to where the explosion came from, but Liu Hau is convinced it was Yuan Jianzhe. Although I’m not sure what caused the explosion, I’m afraid that man obtained the Artificer class.”

“No, that doesn’t make sense. Yuan Jianzhe can’t unlock any special classes even if he found an item for it. That was probably a weapon from this world.” Cheng Yang frowned. “I knew Yuan Jianzhe wouldn’t sit still, but it’s unfortunate that he isn’t willing to hand Cloud City over to me obediently.”

Cheng Yang knew about the Artificer class, but the first ones were from Cairo. Some kind of military-grade munitions definitely caused the explosion. Probably a grenade or landmine.

“My Lord, I recommend you immediately mobilize your forces and eradicate Yuan Jianzhe before he becomes a bigger threat.” Xue Yu said.

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to. The gods forbid killing within the safe zones, so unless I was willing to starve him to death, it’s impossible to kill him. We can’t waste time guarding the safe zone since it would limit our growth, and a protracted war would be more harmful to us than them since they have far more soldiers.”

“What do you plan to do, my Lord?” Xue Yu asked, “We can’t allow that commoner to continue causing trouble for us.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll deal with him.” Cheng Yang sneered. “If he tries to do anything over the top, I’ll personally drag him out of the safe zone and see whether he can die like the rest of us.”

Although Cheng Yang said that, he was hoping he wouldn’t have to kill Yuan Jianzhe. In his past life, Yuan Jianzhe could be considered the reason he had lived as long as he did. He had valiantly mobilized the military against horrible odds to capture the safe zone and rescue civilians. He also set aside Experience Fragments for food before he could be kicked out for not doing that.

As such, how could he not be lenient with Yuan Jianzhe?

Cheng Yang also hoped he would be able to count Yuan Jianzhe among his subordinates someday, but it seemed the man wasn’t the type to be someone’s second-in-command. He had hoped that just developing his forces would be enough to dissuade Yuan Jianzhe, but now he would have to change his strategy.

“Since you have a plan, this subordinate will not bring up the matter again.” Xue Yu said with a bow.

Cheng Yang sent Xue Yu away, then he visited the Territory Altar and sent thirty thousand Experience Fragments to Crane Summit. It was enough to level up the village and compensate workers for any collected materials.

When he was done, Cheng Yang left the village. He had a promise to fulfill.

Riding Enlai was a calming experience. Thorns and shrubs were crushed under his paws, and any monster they encountered were left in the dust. The combination of the safe environment and his boredom allowed Cheng Yang to think introspectively for the first time since he returned to the past.

When did he become a kind person? Why was he wasting time to rescue a pair of civilians that were utterly incapable of helping him? Although he’d focused rescue efforts before, it was always because he had more to gain by rescuing them.

He wasn’t this nice even before the apocalypse in his past life. In fact, he’d been rather selfish. He spent most of his free time gaming or sleeping but never helping others.

Was his experience as a Lord changing him? No, from the perspective of a Lord, this trip was even more wasteful since he could use this time to rescue more civilians from Yicheng.

Was he still the same person as before? When he returned to the past, did something change? He had only grown more vicious in his previous life, so what had happened? Did the gods meddle with his mind to make him some into an ideal person?

When was the last time he did something fun? Even before the apocalypse in this life, he never stopped to enjoy good food or rejoice over the lives of his friends? Did he not care about anything but power now?

Why couldn’t he forget the look in Qin Yiling’s eyes?

Why did the tired and defeated Qin Qiang fill him with sorrow?

Why did the thought of leaving those two to die on that ledge fill him with such remorse that he set out to save them immediately after returning to Phoenix Village?

For more than half an hour, all sorts of questions flowed through Cheng Yang’s mind. Although he didn’t have any answers, he knew something about him had changed, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

“Mister! You came back for us!”

Cheng Yang’s thoughts were interrupted by the childish cry of Qin Yiling.

“Aren’t you afraid that you’ll attract monsters by shouting so loudly?” Cheng Yang asked with a bright smile.

“Dad! Dad, wake up! That uncle came back! Hurry and get up!”

Cheng Yang never got an answer since Qin Yiling was too excited to hear the question.

He slowly got off of Enlai while lamenting his new status as an “uncle.” Then, he quickly scaled the cliff.

The outcrop was much cleaner than before. The loose rubble had been thrown off the cliff, and a small shrine had been created for the grandmother’s body.

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Only after the group was over a hundred meters away did any of the survivors voice a complaint.

“Captain Hu Zhuang, are you really going to bring everyone over to that guy?”

“Of course, there’s nowhere left for us in Yicheng, and life is only going to get harder. The last scraps of food are disappearing, and too many people died the last time we hunted a monster to eat. With what we have now, everyone will be dead in less than a month.” Hu Zhuang, the burly man, said.

“I know, but…” The man couldn’t find any words to refute Hu Zhuang.

“Circumstantial evidence proves most of what he said is true. We heard that voice, and when we killed monsters, we got Experience Fragments. Moreover, no sane person would dress like that guy unless there was a benefit. Our only hope for survival is to become a Professional like him.”

“But if he’s lying to us or has evil plans for us, what’s to stop that tiger from eating us?” A man in a red shirt said.

“Nothing. That’s why if that man wanted to force us to do something, he could have. At the very least, I believe he wasn’t lying when he said he would find someone else if we didn’t agree.”

The rest of their group was hidden around three hundred meters, so it didn’t take long for the group to return to Cheng Yang. Once they did, Cheng Yang smiled warmly.

“Now that you’re all here let set off.” Cheng Yang took the initiative.

Although several people wanted to say something, Cheng Yang didn’t give them a chance.

Cheng Yang led the way while his companions, Liu Wei and Lau Hui, covered the rear. Since they had to defend over a hundred people, a loose ring was formed around the densely packed survivors. Enlai and Lau Hui’s wolf prowled the surrounding area while the humans finished off any monsters that got close.

After traveling for a few minutes, Hu Zhuang decided to get some answers from Cheng Yang, no matter the cost.

Cheng Yang was rather indifferent, but since he knew Hu Zhuang would have a useful Innate Ability, he humored the man. If he had an answer, he would provide it. The only things he hid were details regarding the state of Cloud City.

After a half-hour of conversation, Cheng Yang learned quite a bit about Hu Zhuang. He was an ex-soldier, and after being discharged, he started a security company with his former squadmates. He continued to hire ex-soldiers until the company had nearly two hundred employees.

With their prowess, they fared much better than ordinary people during the apocalypse. Even so, of the original group, only half of them were left.

Cheng Yang’s group had cleared all the hordes earlier that day, so there wasn’t any danger. However, Hu Zhuang and the other survivors were able to see the power of Cheng Yang’s group clearly. They already knew they were strong from watching them earlier, but it was different seeing it up close.

After arriving at Crane Summit, Hu Zhuang and the others were deeply shocked by the class change statues. They were incredibly life-like and didn’t have any signs of being worked on.

“This is the village, and those are the class change statues. In the future, there will be a wall and wooden buildings. However, those buildings need resources. So, for the next few days, it will be your job to collect the necessary wood. Do any of you know of any places with a stockpile of lumber nearby?”

“I know the location of a few lumber mills nearby.” Hu Zhuang said.

“In that case, hurry up and perform your class change ceremonies. Afterward, get to work.”

Although they didn’t have many Experience Fragments, everyone had a few. With some teamwork and wits, a large group could kill a monster without casualties.

For those with less than ten, they borrowed some Experience Fragments from Cheng Yang.

Hu Zhuang was the first to perform a class change ceremony. After this, Cheng Yang eagerly checked his system pane.

---

Hu Zhuang
Crane Summit Soldier
Class: Warrior
Level: Low-Grade Apprentice (0%)

Age	41	Life Span	110
Health	30	Mana	20
Physical Attack	5	Magic Attack	1
Physical Defense	3	Magic Defense	1
Attack Speed	1	Movement Speed	1

Innate Abilities

• Receive 20% more stats in the Physical Defense attribute when you level up
• Iron Wall (Special Ability): Increase the Physical Defense of you and your allies by 30%

Skills

• Meditation (Standard Grade): Meditate to absorb experience fragments and level up
• Lacerate (Low Grade): Add magic to your blade making it easier to cut through enemies | Damage: 5 | Cost: 2 MP | Cast Time: 3 sec | Proficiency: 0%

Equipment

• Iron Sword: Status symbol of the warrior | Damage: 4
• Wooden Shield: A wooden shield | Can block physical attacks

---

Hu Zhuang was the perfect meat shield. His Physical Defense was fifty percent higher than usual, which was ideal for a frontline tank.

In Cheng Yang’s previous life, Hu Zhuang had twenty-four points of Physical Defense, enough to make most of his enemies despair. As a result, he became one of Yuan Jianzhe’s generals.

At present, only Hu Zhuang and Zhou Jie had general-level Special Abilities. At least with regards to Cheng Yang’s forces.

Those two needed to work hard inside an official army position before their Innate Abilities were useful to anyone else. That’s because the gods’ rules only recognized someone as an ally if they were in the same military unit or adventuring party.

Once everyone finished performing their class change ceremonies, Cheng Yang had Liu Wei relieve Lau Hui of his Vice-Governor position. In his place, Liu Wei assigned the job to Hu Zhuang.

“Mr. Cheng, why did you make me the village’s Vice-Governor?” Hu Zhuang was notified when the position was passed to him.

“Because you already have the trust of the citizens that will be living here. Since my companions and I will be leaving soon, I need someone who can run the village more than someone who has absolute loyalty to me.” Cheng Yang explained. “It’s also impossible for you to directly rebel since you have this position, so loyalty isn’t a big deal at the moment.”

As Hu Zhuang prepared to protest, Cheng Yang checked his watch. It was around three in the afternoon. He needed to hurry.

“Instead of complaining, put your energy into gathering wood. For now, I’ll guide you back to Yicheng, so we can gather enough wood to build two Meditation Halls. They won’t be as good as a Wall, but they’ll keep the civilians safe for now.” Cheng Yang said.

The group once again prepared for a long trip, but this time, the survivors were in high spirits. They had obtained the key to unlocking their own destiny. There was no longer a feeling of despair weighing down on them, and a sense of freedom had bloomed in their hearts.

Any monsters they encountered during the journey were dealt with by Hu Zhuang and his companions. Although they were worried at first about fighting monsters without using traps, it didn’t take long for them to adapt to their new abilities.

Hu Zhuang led the way to a lumber mill, and when they arrived, they pulled massive logs from the rubble and carried it back.

On the way back, there was almost a disaster. They ran into a horde with a Pinnacle-Grade leader. Fortunately, Cheng Yang was able to detect the monsters before the two groups collided. As such, he was able to rush forwards and ensure there weren’t any casualties.

When the survivors caught up to Cheng Yang, all that was left of the horde was a few scattered monsters and blood-soaked corpses. In their eyes, he seemed invincible.

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“Who are you?”

Cheng Yang had just finished killing a few monsters when he heard someone call out to him. He had sent Liu Wei to search on their own with Enlai, a decision which apparently made him more approachable.

About a hundred meters away, a small group of people slunk out from behind some rubble. Their clothes were nearly rags, and their hygiene was horrible. Their eyes were filled with a deep weariness, but their posture showed Cheng Yang their determination to live.

Cheng Yang was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected to find any survivors so quickly. Most importantly, Cheng Yang recognized the man in the middle. In his past life, that man was famous throughout the greater Cloud City area.

“I’m just someone passing through. Are you the survivors living in the ruins?” Cheng Yang tried to maintain a friendly tone and atmosphere despite the surroundings. He was confident that the people in front of him were on edge since the earthquake, so he didn’t want to spook them.

“We live in the ruins, and we survived, so I suppose you could say we are.” A burly man in his forties said suspiciously, “You’re not from a settlement, so where did you come from?”

“Settlement?” Cheng Yang had forgotten, but there were rumors of some settlements in Yicheng in his past life. By the time he visited Yicheng, the settlement had already been destroyed, and its handful of surviving residents had migrated to one of the nearby villages.

Another reason the settlement was destroyed was the implementation of the gods’ second trial. After the first month, the gods evaluated everyone living outside the safe zones. So long as they were deemed worthy, the gods teleported to the nearest safe zone. Around ninety percent of the survivors were, leaving only the weak and cowardly left to fend for themselves. After that, only the very resilient survived until rescue could find them.

“You don’t know about the settlement? So you are from outside the city.” The burly man said. “So you know, the settlement is an area that the monsters rarely visit.”

“I take it you live in a settlement.”

The man angrily shook his head. “Our settlement was recently taken over by a bunch of scumbags who raided a police armory. We didn’t want to be exploited by them, so we’re traveling to another settlement.”

Cheng Yang smiled warmly at the man, hoping his sincerity would allow him to get some more useful answers.

“How many people live in that settlement?” Cheng Yang asked.

“Why are you asking, who the hell are you?” The man immediately became hostile.

“Didn’t you say scumbags run the settlement? Why does it matter if you tell us what you know.” Lau Hui asked.

Cheng Yang smiled sadly in his heart. Didn’t this guy get it?

“It matters because although the leaders are scum, the people there are just desperate citizens trying to survive. No one asking questions like that can have small goals, so what would I do if you started a massacre?”

No sooner had he said that than Liu Wei returned riding Enlai.

“Their monster…” The group of survivors grew pale and started to back away.

However, before they could escape, Enlai jumped and landed behind them. As if it enjoyed seeing the humans tremble, Enlai got as close as possible before roaring. With such a big tiger roaring at them, none of them had the strength to run. Some of them didn’t even have the strength to stand.

“Don’t be afraid.” Cheng Yang said. “This tiger is my Pet.”

After the initial roar, Enlai appeared satisfied, so the survivors were able to get over their shock. Since a young woman was sitting on the tigers back, perhaps it was a trained pet like Cheng Yang said.

“It doesn’t eat people?” The burly man asked, desperately trying to sound confident.

“Not unless I tell it to. What do you think Enlai, do you want to eat them?”

Enlai quickly shook his head lest that horrible nickname come back.

“Who are you?” The man asked again, but much more politely.

“Do you remember the three messages that came from the so-called gods?” Cheng Yang asked.

Members of the group nodded.

“Those gods allowed us to obtain powers like in a video game. When we did, we leveled up a few times and then made a journey here from Cloud City.”

“Does that mean you’re a wizard or a sorcerer?” One of the younger survivors asked.

“I’m a Mage, this man is a Summoner, and the woman on the tiger is a Priest.” Cheng Yang then explained how he founded Phoenix Village and their desire to make a satellite village near Yicheng.

“I don’t understand what you mean when you say the world is a game, but will we really become like the superheroes in the movies?” The burly man excitedly asked after watching Lau Hui lift a car off the ground.

“As long as you’re able to level up, you will.” Cheng Yang said with a devious smile.

“Good! Once I become a Warrior, I’m going to level up as soon as possible!” The burly man said fiercely.

Cheng Yang ignored the daydreamer and asked: “Now, will you tell me about the settlement?”

“If you do, will you promise to make us stronger?”

“As long as you swear loyalty to me. Its nothing major, just view me as a government official. In addition, I’ll make sure none of the scum from the settlement can become Professionals. You’ll be able to watch them struggle while you get stronger.”

“Let me talk it over with my friends.” The group of survivors moved a few meters away before having a hushed conversation.

Cheng Yang almost burst into laughter when he saw that. With his hearing ability, even if they were another ten meters away, he would be able to hear them clearly.

From their conversation, Cheng Yang knew that the survivors really were worried about bringing a disaster to the settlement. That wasn’t the only reason, however. There were about a hundred more of them in their group in a nearby apartment’s basement. Since they didn’t know Cheng Yang’s intentions, they didn’t mention them.

They finished discussing after deciding to wait until Cheng Yang proved the existence of the Territory Altar. Only after that would they reveal anything about the settlement. It was only natural to be wary of Cheng Yang, so he didn’t mind their decision.

However, he wasn’t going to agree to it. He didn’t have the patience to wait until the survivors trusted him. So, when the burly man came forwards to explain their decision, Cheng Yang stopped him.

“I already know your plan, and I don’t care about it. Since you’ve got over a hundred people in your group, that’s all I need. The nearby village can only accommodate eighty Professionals, so I don’t care about the settlement anymore. You’re only option is to gather your group and follow me to the Territory Altar or leave now and lose this opportunity forever.”

The survivors were worried since Cheng Yang had heard everything, but the burly man took the initiative. Since this was close enough to their original plan, he decided to agree.

“We’ll go get them now, sir. Just wait a few minutes, and then we can go.”

When he finished, the burly man ran off without waiting for either Cheng Yang or his companions to reply. Once their leader was gone, the other survivors followed.

“Cheng Yang, who were those people?” Liu Wei asked once it was quiet.

“A suitable group of survivors.” Cheng Yang then explained the situation.

“I see, why did you let them go then? What if they don’t come back?”

“If they don’t come back, then we find someone else.” Cheng Yang said. “Besides, I don’t think their leader will pass up this opportunity.”

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