Category: Doomsday Lord

Yuan Jianzhe sighed. “I said you wouldn’t be penalized, but that was before you asked me to commit suicide. There are dozens of people with strength on par with Liu Wei at the village, and if the walls are as durable as the stores here, even explosives wouldn’t be enough to guarantee our victory. Not to mention Cheng Yang would also be there. Wouldn’t handing you over as a sacrifice work much better?”

“I…” Ding Ming’s words caught in his throat. Although he had some power in the safe zone, all it would take was a single command for his execution to be set in stone. “Commander Yuan, you can’t hand me over! I’ve loyally followed you for all these years. Was all my hard work for nothing?”

Before the apocalypse, this scene would be inconceivable. Even if he was a military commander, Yuan Jianzhe didn’t have the authority to order a lieutenant executed, much less exchanged with hostile forces.

“Commander, although Colonel Ding made a mistake, I don’t think it’s appropriate to kill him, even if its to appease Cheng Yang’s anger.” Lao Wu interjected.

“Why do you say that?” Yuan Jianzhe always considered Lao Wu’s words seriously.

“The first reason is that it would harm your reputation as well as the military’s if we can’t even protect a colonel from Cheng Yang. Secondly, Colonel Ding is a talented leader, so giving him to Cheng Yang would be a great loss for the military. Finally, if you are willing to throw away someone like Ding Ming for a single mistake, none of your subordinates will be willing to stay loyal to you.” Lao Wu succinctly summarized his thoughts.

Yuan Jianzhe nodded in response. It was a reasonable argument, and since Lao Wu spoke up, he must have had an alternative solution.

“Commander, I have a plan that may solve our current dilemma.”

“What is it?”

“Since someone needs to be sacrificed to Cheng Yang, we should use this as an opportunity to remove the thorns created by Project Uplift.” Lao Wu suggested. “There are a few new militia groups that have been causing trouble that we can hand over instead.”

“I understand your intentions, but couldn’t Cheng Yang ask our scapegoats if they were the culprits? I don’t think he’s a big enough fool not to.”

“There’s an obvious solution. The dead cannot speak.”

Most of the people present were old foxes, so Lao Wu’s intentions didn’t escape them. Since Ding Ming’s death would create a bad precedent for them, no one opposed the proposal.

“You have until Cheng Yang gets back. See that it gets done.” Yuan Jianzhe said after a few minutes of contemplation.

Lao Wu immediately excused himself to take care of it.

After that, Ding Ming was reprimanded by Yuan Jianzhe before the meeting moved on to a discussion of the future.

The conclusion was that the only way to deal with Cheng Yang would be to tear out his roots. As far as they could tell, his only weaknesses were the villages they’d discovered. Thus, to stop Cheng Yang, those villages needed to be destroyed. So, until they had the power to do so, they would have to accept Cheng Yang’s audacious demands.

Shortly after the meeting ended, the door to an apartment was locked.

“Fuck! After everything I’ve done for him, he was willing to toss me aside like garbage! When is that old man going to fucking die?” Roared a wild voice. Even so, the sound insulation for the apartment was unparalleled, so nothing could be heard outside.

“Old Ding, Yuan Jianzhe’s barely fifty, so how is he an old man?” Another man chuckled from his armchair in the corner. “If you want him to die, you’d better not be hoping for natural causes to take him out.”

“I’ll send him to his death soon.” The Old Ding in question was, of course, Ding Ming.

“Does that mean you’re still going to carry out your plan?”

“Of course, we just got unlucky this time since we didn’t manage to kill one of Cheng Yang’s soldiers. Otherwise, how could he be so passive after an attack? If it were me, I would siege the safe zone until the desperate civilians pushed Yuan Jianzhe out.”

“What a dumb plan, is that what you were hoping would happen?” The other man cackled.

“What do you mean?” Ding Ming frowned.

“You’re a colonel. You’d be forced out too, not to mention that we have more than enough Experience Fragments to feed the safe zone for a month. Wouldn’t that be enough time for Yuan Jianzhe to finish his plans and gain the strength to fight back?” The man said. “Even a fool would rather take the money. I thought you planned to get Yuan Jianzhe demoted.”

“That’s only a guess.” Ding Mind stubbornly refused to admit his plan was terrible. “Besides, if I didn’t endanger myself a bit, that old fox Lao Wu would see right through me.”

“Well, I can’t tease you anymore since Cheng Yang revealed strength far above even your estimates. If he wanted Yuan Jianzhe dead, his pet tiger could probably make sure it happens.”

Ding Ming was unconvinced, but arguing with that man was useless.

“I don’t understand why Cheng Yang won’t act. He must know he’s at a disadvantage if this goes on, right? How many people could he have in those villages? A hundred thousand? We have more than three times that, and thanks to Yuan Jianzhe’s crazy plan, three quarters are Professionals. The longer we’re allowed to grow, the worse it will be for him. If I were him, I would have crushed the safe zone first, so why hasn’t he?”

‘Because he’s not a simple-minded easy to manipulate fool like you.’ The other man thought with a sneer. ‘You get what you pay for, but this man really is too stupid. If he messes up like this again, I’ll need to take care of him.’

“What is an opponent?” The man asked Ding Ming. “Powerful individuals will only consider people on their level to be their opponents. Perhaps Yuan Jianzhe is nothing in Cheng Yang’s eyes? After all, the only real rivals for someone like him in this new world are the endless streams of monsters. There’s also a chance he’s going easy on us since we’re all humans. He should have noticed that even if he’s strong, without the rest of humanity as support, he’ll die just like us when if the monsters evolve faster than us.”

“Well, what should I do next? If my plan was so bad, what’s yours?” Ding Ming said with an annoyed expression.

“Since the city resources are split between Cheng Yang in the East and Yuan Jianzhe in the West, we’ll need to find a way to break that gridlock. Either we entice Cheng Yang to take over the East or force Yuan Jianzhe to try and take control of the West. Either way, we need to be discreet.”

“Why don’t we sneak through the East? We could try to challenge the instance dungeon or search for resources near the other village?”

“It wouldn’t be that easy. The instance dungeon is guarded, and the village has a road to Cheng Yang’s village in the south.” The man said. “No, our goal will be to take over that village in the North.”

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“Cheng Yang, what are you trying to do?” Yuan Jianzhe’s cold voice had thrown all decorum aside.

Cheng Yang smirked.

“Brother Yuan, what are you talking about? Didn’t we agree that I can enter or leave the safe zone as I please? It can’t be that you want to back out of our contract, right?”

“That’s…” Yuan Jianzhe wanted to protest and point out that the deal didn’t extend to whatever the hell the tiger was, but the words were caught in his throat. He was so close to forging the knives that could kill Cheng Yang, so he didn’t want to openly declare war just yet.

“Maybe I’m here to build an army?” Cheng Yang suggested when Yuan Jianzhe remained silent. “A few tens of thousands would be nice. Or even a hundred thousand? What do you think? In my opinion, more is merrier, so I should make one as big as possible.”

Despite Cheng Yang’s taunting, Yuan Jianzhe didn’t get angry. He was never afraid of Cheng Yang’s political power and was even less so after discovering Phoenix Village.

It would be too easy to buy or bribe anyone Cheng Yang left in the safe zone, not to mention the cost of housing an army outside your base of operation. Thus, unless Cheng Yang had been kicked in the head by a donkey, Yuan Jianzhe knew he would never make that choice.

Since Cheng Yang had the energy to joke around, Yuan Jianzhe knew he wasn’t here to start a war. So, he sighed and let the tension flow out of his body.

“What’s your intention?” He asked in a much calmer tone.

“Do you think this is a good place for a conversation?” Cheng Yang motioned towards the large crowd gathering around them.

“I pride myself on transparency, so anything I have to say I can say in public.”

“Oh, in that case, let me put my cards on the table. Yesterday one of my soldiers was injured by an explosion. Probably a hand grenade or landmine. Aside from the army, no one has access to weapons like that. Care to explain yourself?”

“We had nothing to do with that. We’ve been strictly following the terms of our non-aggression pact.” Yuan Jianzhe denied the accusation without batting an eyelid. “There are plenty of deserters who might have one, and too many corpses have littered the city with lost military equipment. It’s even possible some bandits found a military supply depot.”

“Don’t take me for a fool. If I say you did it, that means you did, so don’t bother denying it. You’d better find a way to appease me within three days. Otherwise, our treaty will be nullified.”

Before Yuan Jianzhe could react to that declaration, Cheng Yang’s heels clipped Enlai, and the two disappeared into the distance.

Although Yuan Jianzhe was angry, he had no choice but to endure and stay composed. Since Cheng Yang had slapped his face in public, any outburst of anger would only lower his reputation further.

“Lao Wu, let’s go back. We need to discuss our plan for dealing with Cheng Yang.” Yuan Jianzhe’s only opportunity to regain face was to put on a strong front before leaving. Without a show to watch, the crowd gradually dispersed.

Once they were back at his villa, Yuan Jianzhe turned to Lao Wu.

“What do you make of the monster Cheng Yang was riding?”

“My guess is that Cheng Yang discovered a new game rule. That would make the monster either a mount or a pet. It could also be a new summoning ability he got from the Forgotten Grave. But, I don’t think that’s likely. The monster was too fast to be a summon.” Lao Wu succinctly analyzed the situation. “If its a mount, the speed makes sense, but the combat power wouldn’t be outstanding. However, if its a pet, we’re in trouble.”

“Why would you say that?”

“A monsters speed is a good indicator of its level. Since the monster was faster than Cheng Yang, it should be at least one level higher. Thus, I believe the monster was at least a Pinnacle-Grade monster if not stronger.”

“So its possible Cheng Yang tamed a Mature monster?” Yuan Jianzhe asked with a frown.

“It’s highly likely.”

“In that case, we’ll need to take Cheng Yang’s threat more seriously.” Yuan Jianzhe sighed. If it was just Cheng Yang, they could try to get him banned from the safe zone, but the chances of that affecting a monster were low. “Send out an order. We’re having an emergency meeting.”

With that, Yuan Jianzhe turned and walked up to the attic.

Lao Wu bowed before leaving to spread the word.

Half an hour later, anyone with even a bit of power was gathered in Yuan Jianzhe’s villa.

“Does everyone know about Cheng Yang’s visit today?” Yuan Jianzhe asked with a grave expression.

The crowd nodded.

“Since you all know what happened. Let’s begin. Cheng Yang has gone too far this time, and if we continue to act weak around him, we’re never going to have the opportunity to strike back. Any suggestions?”

“Commander Yuan, is Cheng Yang just looking for an excuse to attack us, or did you plant landmines in his territory?” The captain of the first militia, Lao He, asked.

“As far as I am aware, we did not. However, Cheng Yang doesn’t hide his emotions well enough for the attack to have been a lie. If anyone took the initiative to do what he claimed, please speak up now.”

Yuan Jianzhe glanced around, but no one answered.

“You won’t be punished if you did. Cheng Yang would find trouble with us either way. I just need to know so we can proceed with the correct information.”

“I ordered the attack.” Ding Ming, one of Yuan Jianzhe’s colonels, said quietly. “I believed it to be what the commander would want.”

“Stop. There’s no need to justify yourself. Since his claim is legitimate, we need to discuss how to proceed.” Yuan Jianzhe waved off Ding Ming’s control. “Why did you do it, and what did you learn.”

“As mentioned in my previous reports, my spies discovered a second village to the East of Cloud City. Since they couldn’t get close, we weren’t sure if they were related to Cheng Yang but had to assume they were. Since the two groups were related, the power level of their soldiers should be similar.”

“What’s your point?”

“Attacking the village to the South was too risky since Cheng Yang was there, but since the East was unguarded, it was easy to set a few traps and wait for someone to walk into them. This would allow us the gauge the feasibility of explosives against higher-level individuals.” Ding Ming explained. “I felt this was vital intel due to the presence of the high-level guards we’ve seen on the Southern village. Although they’ve never left, they have the same efficiency Cheng Yang does when it comes to killing.”

“What were the results?”

“A Standard-Grade soldier barely survives the explosion, and the resulting injuries incapacitate them for a few moments before their limbs regenerate.”

Yuan Jianzhe frowned.

“How many of those guards are there?”

“We aren’t sure, but their numbers don’t exceed eighty.”

“Tch, how can that bastard have so many strong soldiers.”

“Commander.” Lau Wu decided to speak. “Given the strength Cheng Yang has displayed, I think conceding one more time will allow us to delay until-“

“Commander, we can’t continue to give in to that man!” Ding Ming cut off the advisor. “As I said before, they seem almost incapable of leaving the village. If we can confirm that they are NPCs, we have nothing to worry about. even if we can’t attack him, we can at least stop Cheng Yang from attacking us!”

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“Young miss, what’s your name?” After Cheng Yang left, Wei Yun breathed out a sigh of relief. So long as Cheng Yang was around, an invisible pressure weighed down on him. It was only after watching him destroy Captain Zhou that he truly understood how little bargaining power he had.

“My name is Jie Zhengqing, Mr. Wei. I hope we can work well together in the future.” Jie Zhengqing’s speech was a little stiff since Wei Yun used to be her boss.

“No need to be so formal.” Wei Yun said with a tinge of bitterness. “My time as a leader is over. If you still think highly of me, just call me Old Wei. Since you have some sway with that irrational man, please take care of me in the future.

“Old Wei, don’t worry about Cheng Yang. He’s unreasonable and unruly, but from what Brother Lau told me, he takes care of his own.”

“Speaking of which, do you know where Cheng Yang will be taking us? You should know how hard it is to find a place monsters avoid, so why is he forcing us to abandon the settlement? Isn’t it too much of a waste?” Wei Yun asked.

“Don’t worry about that.” Jie Zhengqing said with a smile. “This place is a landfill compared to the village Cheng Yang controls outside of town. As long as we have the resources, we can build walls, buildings, and even a grocery store. We’ll be completely safe from monsters, and the village is the source of our powers.”

Wei Yun was stunned. How could Cheng Yang have a village outside Yicheng? There was nothing but dense forest for miles, so how did he build it? More importantly, how did he obtain such absurd powers from a mere village? How did it have a grocery store? Wasn’t it meaningless without farms?

At that time, one of the faction leaders cut in: “That village sounds like something out of a medieval sims game.”

“Yeah, that’s basically what it is.” Jie Zhengqing confirmed. “And our powers are like classes from an MMO.”

“If that’s the case, then we really are saved!” The faction leader cheered. “No wonder Cheng Yang was so strong!”

Wei Yun didn’t know anything about video games, but he was very good at reading the mood. Since the faction leader and Jie Zhengqing were so confident, he could abandon the settlement without worry.

“Ah! Old Wei, what should I do with the prisoners? Cheng Yang told me to deal with them, but I’m not sure what he meant. Should we kill them?”

Wei Yun looked over at the captured rebels, and a dark cloud passed over his face. On the inside, however, he was cheering. This was his chance to regain lost power by becoming an advisor.

“It seems Miss Jie is still new to governance. Cheng Yang was probably testing your resolve, so naturally, you must kill them all, and quickly.” Wei Yun explained. “You should go even further if you want to impress him. Root out Captain Zhou’s friends and allies. You don’t have to kill them, but at the very least, they need to be suppressed. The best way to do that would be to screen everyone from his faction. If Miss Jie is unwilling to do it yourself, this old one needs but an order.”

At first, Jie Zhengqing was hesitant to agree. Killing the people that tried to attack her was fine, but she felt that even killing those that were related was a bit much. However, when she thought about Captain Zhou’s treachery and how Cheng Yang handled it, she couldn’t bring herself to say no.

Even though she hated his guts, Jie Zhengqing respected the way Cheng Yang handled the situation. Moreover, she needed to make sure not to get on his bad side, so Wei Yun’s suggestion seemed to be a good one.

“In that case, I will leave this to you, Old Wei. Kill anyone that you feel must die.” Jie Zhengqing’s decision was resolute, and Wei Yun was happy for the opportunity to prove himself useful.

---

By the time Cheng Yang and Lau Hui returned to the settlement, Wei Yun had finished purging those close to Captain Zhou.

Then, Cheng Yang led the three hundred people selected by Wei Yu to the outskirts of Yicheng, and then to Copper Tomb Village. He could have taken more people, but this was already stretching his limits since he was the only useful person in a fight.

More than an hour later, the slow procession arrived at its destination.

Everything regarding the territory had been explained during the trip by Lau Hui and Jie Zhengqing, so the process following their arrival went smoothly.

Wei Yun’s closest aids, alongside Jie Zhengqing’s family, had their aptitudes tested then were allowed to perform class change ceremonies.

A few people, like Wei Yun, had the necessary Experience Fragments to pay for themselves. Everyone else needed at least a partial loan from Cheng Yang.

After the initial eighty slots were filled, Cheng Yang left Lau Hui behind to protect the rest. Then, he called Enlai, and they teleported to Phoenix Village.

---

When he arrived, Cheng Yang wired the necessary Experience Fragments to level up Copper Tomb Village to Lau Hui. Then he left the village since it was only seven in the evening.

His overall goal was to visit Sky God Island and obtain the Nightmare Difficulty First Clear. Although he couldn’t be certain, Cheng Yang had a hunch the reward would be a unique Warrior subclass.

However, before that, Cheng Yang had someone he needed to visit. So, he directed Enlai towards the Cloud City safe zone.

When Cheng Yang rode Enlai directly through the barrier meant to keep monsters out, there was a great deal of confusion and panic.

“How did a monster get inside?”

Most people were too shocked to move.

“Someone help!”

A significant minority ran for their lives.

“Calm down, as long as we handle this together, it won’t be a problem.”

Those who were Professionals did neither. They hastily pulled out their weapons and surrounded the white tiger.

“Back off!” Cheng Yang shouted so loudly that any nearby civilians felt their eardrums rattle. It was only at this point that anyone noticed the person on the “monster’s” back.

“How did you get a monster through the barrier?” A person that seemed to be the leader of the gathered combatants asked in a voice dripping with malice.

“Only ignorant eyes like yours could see a monster.” cheng Yang growled. “If Little White were a monster, you would already be dead.”

Cheng Yang couldn’t be bothered to waste any more time on people that weak, so he directed Enlai to move towards the city center. As long as he made enough of a ruckus, Yuan Jianzhe would come out eventually.

“You stop right there!” Although the person from before seemed to be filled with a heroic spirit, Enlai’s aura prevented them from taking a single step forwards.

Cheng Yang’s guess was spot on. He didn’t even reach the center of the city before an organized militia stopped him. At the forefront was Yuan Jianzhe.

Yuan Jianzhe’s face looked calm, but his entire body was filled with visible tension and rage. How could he not be in a bad mood when his worst enemy burst into his house without knocking?

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Even now, the settlement was facing a huge crisis, the same one every gathering of humans was. All of the easily available food was gone. Perishables had long since disintegrated, and everything else was either deep underground or in the territory of a monster horde.

As it stands, the settlement had a week to go before food riots started. Then, the only source of food would be monsters.

For the settlement’s citizens, the only option would be to throw themselves at the monsters in hopes of killing them with numbers. At that point, the settlement would be no more.

However, Cheng Yang’s arrival might change that. Or at least Wei Yun told himself it would.

Although Wei Yun and his aides controlled the colony, ten internal factions held considerable power as well. Since Wei Yun had submitted, the next step was to have the other important figures in the settlement submit.

Wei Yun summoned them to the center of the settlement, and although none of them were happy to lose what little power they had, none of them dared to fight back. Wei Yun had overpowered them, so anyone that could subdue him wasn’t to be messed with. They were especially hesitant when they saw Lau Hui’s dire wolf.

“Now!” One of the faction leaders suddenly shouted.

In an instant, two dozen people jumped up from behind the tents aiming guns at Cheng Yang and the other settlement leaders. This time, however, their arsenal wasn’t limited to meer pistols.

Cheng Yang’s brow wrinkled. Guns weren’t a threat to him, but no one enjoyed being held at gunpoint. It was also his second time today. Cheng Yang could forgive Wei Yun since he had provoked the man, but if these fools didn’t come up with a reasonable explanation, Cheng Yang was going to send them to visit King Yama.

“Captain Zhou, what a treacherous fool you are.” Wei Yun spat at a man in his thirties with long hair tied into a ponytail.

“Wei Yun, this is your fault for forcing an incident.” Captain Zhou said with a devious smile while pulling out a gun of his own and aiming it at Cheng Yang’s head. “I was willing to keep the peace until now, but we all worked hard to make the settlement what it is today, so who are you to give it up for personal gain? Isn’t that right, everyone? It’s so sickening it gives me the chills.”

The man’s words were addressed to the other faction leaders in the crowd. Although some of them agreed, no one dared to move around with so many guns pointed at them.

“It gives you the chills?” Wei Yun snorted. “Bullshit. You’ve clearly prepared yourself for a rebellion, so if you didn’t do it now, you would have done it later. I can only praise you for being too well hidden. I had no clue you’d stockpiled this many guns.”

“Rebellion? You’re senile old man. What loyalty do we have to you? This is simply us fighting to control our own destiny.”

“How ignorant.” Cheng Yang sighed. Initially, he had been willing to see how this played out, but he didn’t have the patience to listen any longer.

Captain Zhou’s only hint towards Cheng Yang’s abilities was the dire wolf next to Lau Hui and second-hand information from Wei Yun. The firepower he had now was more than enough to annihilate a small group of monsters, so how could he put a few humans and a wolf in his eyes? Even if Wei Yun wasn’t exaggerating, how could a human body withstand a bullet? As long as he hit Cheng Yang, it would be over.

Cheng Yang’s disdainful attitude did nothing to dissuade Captain Zhou. He felt himself a cat playing with a mouse in its claws. How blind he was not to recognize that the mouse was a tiger, and he was but a grasshopper.

“You may feel powerful, boy, but a bullet will end you like anyone else. If you want to live, you’d better tell me how you got those powers of yours. Otherwise, I’ll-” Cheng Yang suddenly charged at Captain Zhou.

The Captain’s words weren’t just for show, as soon as Cheng Yang moved, he fired his gun. Unfortunately, Cheng Yang was too fast. The bullet missed, and the distance was closed in an instance. With a fierce kick, he shattered the man’s kneecap sending him to the ground.

When Captain Zhou looked up, he saw a sharp iron sword pointed at his throat.

“Stay put, or I’ll gut you.” Cheng Yang said calmly.

Despite everything, Captain Zhou had a smile on his face still. His soldiers continued to point their guns at the center of the group, with only a few changing their targets to Cheng Yang.

“So that withered old man wasn’t lying about you.” Captain Zhou chuckled. “This makes me want your powers even more.”

“Do you not understand the situation you’re in? Order your subordinates to put down their guns in three seconds; otherwise, you’ll die.” Cheng Yang said bluntly.

“That depends on what you can give me.”

“Do you think you’re in a position to negotiate right now?”

“How could I not be? Your friend’s lives are in my hands even though mine is in yours.” Captain Zhou cackled. “Push me too far and well see if both of us don’t die.”

“What a crazy bastard. Its people like you who are the most troublesome to deal with.” Cheng Yang sneered before snatching the Captain’s pistol.

Then, Cheng Yang lifted the gun up to his temple and leisurely fired. The bullet didn’t even have the power to make his head move. It just bounced off.

One bullet after another, Cheng Yang methodically shot himself until the clip was empty.

Captain Zhou’s face oscillated between fear, excitement, despair, and ecstasy with each shot of the gun. At first, he had been confused, but now he knew why Cheng Yang was so confident.

“How can this be? You aren’t afraid of bullets! This is too amazing!” The Captain laughed despite the danger he was in.

“Three.” Cheng Yang ignored the man and started counting down.

“How wonderful, when I get that power, I’ll be unstoppable.” Captain Zhou grinned. “Even if you kill me now, Wei Yun and the others will still die. I refuse to believe everyone is as bullet-resistant as you!”

“Are you stupid? Even if everyone here died, I could just find someone else to serve me.”

“What about me, then? I’ll serve you loyally as long as you give me power like yours.” Captain Zhou said in an unconvincing tone.

“Your just another unfortunate soul, so if you submit to me, I’ll consider it. I also promise not to kill your subordinates.”

“Really? Great, everyone stand down!” Captain Zhou shouted.

Although their leader was crazy, none of his subordinates weren’t willing to die with him. As soon as they had the opportunity, they threw their guns to the ground.

A moment later, Wei Yun’s underlings rushed forwards to repossess the weapons.

Cheng Yang stored the sword in his ring and tossed the pistol back to Captain Zhou. Then, he turned to Lau Hui: “Ox, you know what to do.”

Before Captain Zhou had a chance to get up, Lau Hui’s dire wolf charged forwards and bit into his neck. Even in death, the man never stopped smiling.

“Even if I let everyone else go, a crazy and vicious snake like you needs to die.” Cheng Yang said coldly as the wolf ripped Captain Zhou into pieces.

“Jie Zhengqing, you and Wei Yun can take care of the rest. I promised to spare his subordinates, but that promise does not extend to you. Do what you want.” Cheng Yang turned to address Wei Yun. “Pick some people you trust. After me and Ox finish clearing the surrounding area, we’ll bring you to our village. We’ll bring the rest of the settlement in batches later.”

Then, Cheng Yang left with Lau Hui before anyone could ask him a question.

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“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.

---

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

---

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.

---

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

---

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.

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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.

---

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

---

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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