XMTL

AN: Ok, so my bad. I apparently did not look thoroughly enough as there was a chapter 191 with actual content as Apocalypse32 so kindly pointed out in a comment. So here it is…

And as usual, feel free to give constructive criticism and other comments.

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Just when Cheng Yang arrived in the Yicheng area, the Main Cities around the world were not idle. Some of the main cities that had integrated their forces earlier had already begun to plan to break out of the ruins of the city.

Although so far, except for Cheng Yang, who has entered the wilderness from the Main City area, only a very small number of people in the Main City of Cloud City have entered the wilderness. However, through yesterday’s changes in the rules of heaven and earth, many refugees from towns or villages without a Main City were sent to the closest Main City. The arrival of these people not only brought some much needed people to the Main Cities, but also brought a lot of news that they did not know previously.

For example, the glowing curtain-like portals, weird altars, items scattered in the wilderness, and powerful demonised beasts are all extremely tempting for the Professionals in the Main Cities. Of course, except for those powerful demonised beasts.

After the first month of the apocalypse had passed, basically everyone has accepted the fact that the world has been gamified. At the same time, these people also understood one thing. In order to survive well in this world, they must have great strength.

Although the world has been gamified, the improvement of people’s strength is not the same as games from before the end of the world. In addition, upgrading through fighting monsters is not completely suitable for everyone. Even if you don’t go out to kill the demonised beasts, your strength will steadily increase. However, the key thing is that the speed of this kind of improvement, that is the passive improvement, is very slow. If you are content with this situation, you will only be left far behind by others in the end, not to mention the evolutionary lead that the demonised beasts have. In the end, these people are likely to become food for the demonised beasts.

And now, although the Professionals in the Main Cities really want to kill more demonised beasts and earn more Experience Fragments in order to improve their strength faster. But, after all, the Main City has a limited amount of territory belonging to it, and the number of demonised beasts appearing every day is also limited, and it is gradually decreasing at a noticeable rate.

If this was at the beginning of the apocalypse, people discovering that the demonised beasts were gradually decreasing in numbers, perhaps many people would be ecstatic as this would indicate that people will become safer and safer. Maybe, one day, the demonised beasts will not appear at all and mankind will completely exit the apocalypse.

But now, people have come out of this unrealistic illusion, the apocalypse cannot, and will not, end quickly. At least not within a timeframe which they are able to anticipate. The reduction of demonised beasts is not only not a good thing, but a terrible thing as it indicates that they will be able to acquire less and less Experience Fragments.

Therefore, when the refugees who appeared brought news from the wilderness, the Professionals from the Main Cities were full of yearning for those unknown things in said wilderness. These refugees may not know what the strange curtains of light are, but they know they are the portals leading to Instance Dungeons. In addition, the so-called altars may be some other special existence and people are full of expectations for it.

In order to clear the doubts in their hearts and, at the same time, satisfy the desire of more people to speed up their strength. These Main City forces set their sights on the passages out of the cities.

Like Cloud City, all major cities have large groups of demonised beasts guarding the passages out of the city. The only difference is that the size of the main city is different, and the number of passages out of the city will be different. At the same time, the number of demonised beasts stationed in the passages will also be different.

Regardless of the differences, people knew one thing. If they want to leave the Main City, they must clear these passages so they can travel freely through them.

To open the passages at this moment is undoubtedly a very difficult task, because no one in the Main City has yet reached the level of High-Grade apprentice. But in the passages out of the cities, there are at least ten thousand demonised beasts guarding them, of which the number of High-Grade demonised beasts is almost over one hundred.

Of course, so far, there are no Pinnacle-Grade demonised beasts in these passages, otherwise humans may be directly trapped in the Main Cities.

In the capital, in a villa that Yuan Jianzhe could only fantasise about, there were more than a dozen people sitting around a table. Without exception, all of these people were not young, the youngest one being in his 40s. In this group there are soldiers in military uniforms, as well as people in civilian clothes.

Sitting at the head of the table is an old man who looks to be in his 50s, but everyone here knows that this old man is almost 70 years old and that he is the supreme leader of this country.

After the earthquake that came at the end of the world, several of the country’s main leaders were basically unharmed, and due to the protection of a large number of troops, all of said leaders survived.

The capital discovered the unique curtain of light of the Main City the day after the end of the world. Due to the existence of the elite garrison, they broke through the curtain of light not long after they discovered it. What followed is only logical, a large number of soldiers began to gain classes, including the leaders of the country.

The rescue of the entire city was also launched afterwards. This capital city is one of the largest ones in the country with a population of tens of millions. Even after the initial earthquake and the subsequent ravages of the demonised beasts, there were more than six million people who survived these disasters. The reason why the survival rate is so high is because of the quick and timely rescue done by the soldiers who survived in the city after the apocalypse.

There is no doubt that the leaders of the country have a very high prestige among the survivors. Relying on this prestige, they have concentrated the power in the capital. There are a total of seven leaders, each of whom controls an army of more than three hundred thousand combatants. The strength of the army under these people is superior to all the other major cities in the country.

The most important thing is that with the prestige which these leaders and their loyal army has, they have collected a lot of Experience Fragments from the beginning. Although they could only get very little from each individual, they could gather scary amounts purely through the numbers of people under them! It can even be said that these leaders in the capital are definitely second only to Cheng Yang in the country to use ten times cultivation speed. Of course, they are the only ones who can use ten times cultivation speed in the entire capital. After all, if they want to rule the capital well, they must let their subordinates also have great strength, and the Experience Fragments collected will be distributed in batches. It definitely adds up to an astronomical number.

Now, these leaders, without exception, already have the strength of High-Grade Apprentices, even if they just got promoted. However, this does not have any effect on their combat power.

“Everyone, I have called you here today to discuss how we are going to attack the passages out of the city. As you all know, there are now close to five million people in our capital who have gained classes, becoming Professionals, but the number of demonised beasts appearing every day in the entire area of the capital is less than twenty million. In other words, the average Experience Fragments value obtained daily by each Professional is only a paltry 45 points, which greatly restricts the improvement of our capital’s strength. If we can’t speed up the improvement of our strength, I am afraid that the capital will not be the capital in the future.” The old man at the head of the table said solemnly.

The meaning of this old man’s words was clear to everyone gathered. Due to the lack of proper communication, as well as the complete paralysis of long-range weapons, such as missiles, and the air force, the capital’s current control over the country is one in name only. Except for the two or three surrounding urban areas, the Main City forces in other places have not implemented the instructions of the capital at all. Of course, what makes these leaders feel gratified is that so far, no major city has dared to rebel and announce its departure from being under the leadership of the capital.

But the concluding words of the old man highlighted the current situation. When, one day, the strength of the capital is not enough to deter the rest of the country, they are afraid that sooner or later the whole country will splinter into pieces and enter a period similar to the Warring States period.

An old man wearing a tunic who was sitting directly next to the old man’s left hand said, “Old Li, we all understand what you are saying, but the passages out of the city cannot be clear just by wanting them to be! Don’t look at the over five million Professionals in our Main City, and the more than three million Professionals directly under our command. Most of these Professionals are only Low-Grade Apprentices, and even the number of Standard-Grade Apprentices is less than twenty or thirty thousand. As for the High-Grade, I am afraid we are the only ones. According to the information we have gathered, the number of demonised beasts in each passage is close to fifty thousand, of which the number of High-Grade demonised beasts exceeds 500. Even if we concentrate all our elite forces to clear a passage, our losses will be very large. Instead of rushing this matter, it is better to wait for a while. As long as the number of our experts increases, it will be very easy to clear the passage.”

As soon as the old man finished speaking, a fat middle-aged man spoke unhappily, “Director Liu, I don’t approve of what you said. Who doesn’t know now that all the demonised beasts in this world will evolve over time. Although our strength will increase after a period of time, the demonised beasts will also grow stronger. There is even the possibility that the demonised beasts will evolve quicker than us.”

“Director Liu, the artillery units under my command have gone through a drastic transformation and have restored their combat effectiveness. Although the amount of ammunition in stock is not a lot, it should not be a problem to clear one of the passages.” A middle-aged man in a military uniform said, and his epaulettes signified that he was a general.

The old man in the tunic, known as Director Liu, said: “General Wang, I admit that your artillery is very powerful, but it will not be of much help when clearing the passage you’re referring to. The passage is suspended above the ravine, and if it is bombarded with artillery it might collapse immediately. At that time, even if all the demonised beasts are annihilated, what has been gained? If you want to clear the passage, you have to rely on guns.”

General Wang was dumbfounded for a moment. Although he was very reluctant to admit it, Director Liu did have a point.

The fat middle-aged man continued: “Even if the artillery cannot be used, the sniper rifle can still be used. Our generals have counted and the number of snipers we currently have is no less than two thousand. As long as our people hold the frontlines and the snipers fire from a few hundred metres away, these demonised beasts won’t be able to live for so much longer. Minister Zhao, do we have enough sniper bullets to be able to clear the passage?”

Another man in a military uniform smiled bitterly and said, “Vice-President Zhou, the earthquake at the beginning collapsed many of our arsenals, and huge amounts of weapons and ammunition were buried deep in the ground and could not be recovered at all. During the period between the start of the apocalypse and now, we have collected five hundred thousand sniper bullets suitable for use, but during this period of time, in order to avoid excessive casualties during battles, we have used the sniper rifles frequently. All the remaining sniper bullets are only numbered at two hundred thousand. If such a hard battle is fought again, I am afraid that all sniper bullets will be consumed. If we encounter any emergencies in the future, it will truly be unfavourable.”

AN: Surprise, a new chapter within a span of a few days! What a treat, am I right?

Ok, so I know that there is no chapter 191 and there is a reason, it is completely missing from the RAWs. On Qidian’s website, the Chinese one, it just skips over chapter 191 and on other sites, chapter 191 is just a repeat of chapter 190 so… yeah I understand that it may be weird and frustrating, it is for me.

This chapter was really a pain to edit, but I managed, thankfully. As usual, feel free to comment any constructive criticism or corrections regarding my editing.

Anyways, enjoy!

Edit: So, as it turns out there is a chapter 191 as Apocalypse32 kindly pointed out, whoops. It will be updated so you won’t miss some context.

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The scene fell silent for a while. For now, there are not many fighting methods to choose from.

At this time, a soldier with a serious expression said: “In fact, this battle is not that complicated as we still have plenty of ordinary ammunition. Although the range and shooting accuracy of ordinary rifles are not as good as sniper rifles, there are too many demonised beasts in that passage so accuracy is not required at all. As for the range, the effective range of these firearms is at least five or six hundred metres. We only need to shoot these demonised beasts from a long distance. If they don’t run out of that passage, they will naturally be surrounded and annihilated. Once they rush out of the passage, we can use artillery to counter the attack, thus making it not difficult to defeat these demonised beasts.”

When this serious soldier spoke, everyone else listened very seriously, and after he finished speaking, everyone fell deep into thought. 

After a while, Lao Li, who was sitting at the head of the table, said, “This is also a more feasible way. However, there is also a problem. That passage is more than one kilometre long. If we want to draw out all the demonised beasts at once, I’m afraid it will not be easy. ”

The serious soldier did not refute the old man’s words, and said: “Chief, if you want to reduce the loss of manpower, you can only take this approach. However, in my opinion, if the demonised beasts are not all rushing out at once, it would be easier to execute the plan. Let our soldiers surround them directly, and we don’t even need to use our limited amount of artillery shells. ”

Lao Li nodded lightly and said, “What you said makes sense. This battle will be commanded by General Ma and due to the situation on the battlefield which is changing rapidly, I allow you to use more weapons or resources under special circumstances. There is only one requirement which is that you take the passage. ”

A few people who were seated were about to express their disagreements, when suddenly, there was a sudden report from outside. 

“Come in.” Lao Li didn’t hesitate and said immediately. 

The door was quickly pushed open. A well-equipped soldier in his thirties walked in and reported: “Reporting to the chairman and the leaders. Just now, our people found a message while monitoring the forum. Someone in Cloud City, Beihu Province, posted a message on the forum saying that there are other villages outside the main city and these villages also have the ability to gain classes. ”

Like a drop of water falling into a calm, clear lake, the faces of the people in the room, who had been very calm before, changed in an instant. What surprised them was not only that there were villages outside the main city, according to what was written on the forum, but also the significance of this reveal. 

“Are you saying that the main city of Cloud City has opened up the passage to leave?” Lao Li frowned slightly, “How did they do it?”

The soldier said: “The passage should have been opened, but the message did not state how the other party opened the passage. In addition, from the language of the poster, we concluded that the village is not in the hands of the main city forces.”

Everyone looked at each other, and Director Liu said, “I am afraid that this village was occupied by this force soon after the end of the world.”

Others did not refute Director Liu’s speculation as this force is not from the main city, their transfer could not have been carried out in the main city, so these people will not have been able to open up the passage out of the city. However, since they were able to occupy the village outside the city before the main city forces, the only explanation is that they had occupied the village before the passage was opened. 

Lao Li suddenly said, “Have you ever thought about it? Could this passage have been opened by the combatants from that village?” ”

“This…” Everyone wanted to refute this view. However, after some time, they couldn’t find any reason to refute it. 

Lao Li looked at everyone present and said, “With our control of the rules during this period of time, the situation in all the main cities in the world is much the same. Since there is such a village outside the main city of Cloud City, I think there will be a village outside the capital as well. However, we haven’t been able to figure out the role of these villages yet. But one thing is certain, there must be a certain difference between getting classes in these villages and getting classes in the main city. In this case, it is even more necessary to open up the passage out of the city. By the way, is it the power of the government or the power of the people that currently controls the main city of Cloud City? ”

The serious-looking General Ma said, “Chief. The force that currently dominates the main city of Cloud City is the military, where there is a division of troops. Soon after the apocalypse began, the commander of the Cloud City Military Region led the army into Cloud City and invaded the main city. ”

Lao Li nodded and said, “General Ma, you should know the commander of the military in this region, correct? ”

General Ma nodded and said, “There have been several encounters, and I have seen them in meetings before. His name is Yuan Jianzhe and he is a good soldier.” General Ma’s tone seemed light and calm. After all, compared to his merits and position, Yuan Jianzhe, the commander of the local military region, was too far behind him. Especially before the end of the world as the positions of the two sides were several levels apart. General Ma can remember that Yuan Jianzhe is also a very good person, which proves that he should indeed be a good soldier. 

Lao Li said: “Well, General Ma, you will let someone go to the forum to get in touch with the main city of Cloud City in a while, and try to figure out the news about the exit route and the village in the wild. ”

General Ma hesitated for a moment and said, “I will do it right away. ”

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This situation was not only happening in the capital of China, but also in the other capitals around the globe. Due to this situation happening, the main cities of each country have set their sights on the wilderness and the huge potential lying there. 

At the same time, other countries have also noticed the news related to Cloud City on the forum. None of these people who send people to pay attention to the news on the forum are idiots. Basically, they have deduced some information from these words. Although they have not fully understood what the situation is about and its significance, they are not far off from the truth of the matter. 

There is no doubt that Cheng Yang, the little butterfly, once again flapped his wings and began to gain influence in this world. The impact this time is different from the previous time of him selling Stones of Return, Mana Amplification Potions, and other items as it has actually caused a change in the world. Which is allowing the main cities globally to cut down the time drastically to open up access to the city.

Currently, Yuan Jianzhe, who was in the main city of Cloud City, felt aggrieved because he didn’t know who had revealed the situation regarding Cheng Yang’s villages to the forum. 

Yuan Jianzhe also had some small calculations in his heart. After he learned that there were villages outside the main city, and that said villages still had the power to give classes, he guessed something. He even guessed that the soldiers who got classes in such villages were more powerful than the soldiers who got classes in the main city. At the same time, he also speculated that since there are such villages around Cloud City, there should also be such villages outside the other main cities. 

Due to these circumstances, Yuan Jianzhe had the idea of temporarily suppressing the news. 

However, as the main city of Cloud City, Yuan Jianzhe naturally couldn’t do anything to block the tavern as he didn’t want to be expelled by the soldiers in the main city. Yuan Jianzhe only had to reduce the spread of news as much as possible, so that as few people as possible knew about Cheng Yang’s two villages. 

All this time, Yuan Jianzhe’s approach has been effective. Except for a limited number of people in the main city, no one else knows the news about those villages. In addition, those who got to know about the news have also received Yuan Jianzhe’s special attention, telling them not to reveal the news. 

Yuan Jianzhe had a plan hidden deep inside of him. If those villages in the wilderness strengthened human fighters, then he must get as many of these villages as possible. Before that, however, he had to keep the news away from other main cities as much as possible. Don’t factor in the distance between the main cities now. The passages between the main cities may seem blocked currently, but anyone can guess that the passages between the main cities will inevitably be opened up in the future. If the other surrounding main cities take the remaining villages first, and their strength grows by leaps and bounds, wouldn’t Cloud City fall into a disadvantage? 

But now, however,  the news has leaked silently, and the most important thing is that he still doesn’t know who the culprit is. This undoubtedly filled Yuan Jianzhe with anger. 

Yuan Jianzhe had considered that Cheng Yang might have done this, but he quickly rejected this idea. Cheng Yang is the owner of those two villages and he is someone with vested interests. Yuan Jianzhe believed that Cheng Yang doesn’t want the news to be revealed any more than he does. 

Regardless, who leaked the news? In the current main city, except for some of the soldiers under his command, the heads of several mercenary groups, and a small number of people under his command, it is impossible for anyone else to know the news in such detail. Even if someone knew about the existence of Cheng Yang, it was impossible to know with such certainty that there were villages in the wilderness and that they were villages with the ability to give people classes. 

Yuan Jianzhe found the staff officer Lao Wu after a short time searching and shared some of his thoughts with him. 

After thinking for a while, Lao Wu said, “Commander, I’m afraid there is something fishy regarding this matter. If nothing else, I’m afraid there are some people in our main city who have different intentions from us. ”

“Why?” After thinking for a while, Yuan Jianzhe still hadn’t figured it out. 

Lao Wu said: “Commander, think about it. For those who already know about the villages outside the city, we have emphasised confidentiality to them. If there is nothing to gain, why would they leak the news?”

Yuan Jianzhe was still puzzled and asked, “Even so, what benefit does it have for these people to leak the news to the forum?” ”

Lao Wu said: “There are no direct benefits, however there are indirect benefits. In particular, some people know what the commander thinks about the villages outside the city. They know that as soon as the news leaks out, the commander will be more eager to take those villages as soon as possible. In this way, the time for a conflict with Cheng Yang to occur will be greatly accelerated. ”

Yuan Jianzhe’s expression suddenly became solemn, and he said seriously: “If your speculation is true, this person is really punishable by his heart’s intentions. There are not many people in all of the main city who know about our plan, even the leaders of the mercenary groups don’t know it.”

AN: Hello all. Sorry for the long wait for an update. It is me, donnamirei (the editor), who is updating Doomsday Lord. The one who originally did the translating and majority of the editing, Xevinaly, has gone MIA and I thought that a chapter could finally be put out as I know it is annoying and tough waiting many months for an update. I won’t promise any quick or regular updates, they will be sporadic, but I guess I will try to at least publish a chapter per month (hopefully even two or three a month).

In addition, there will be some minor changes to some words or names going forwards and grammatical changes, this is due to my different way of editing and I use British English instead of American English, which Xevinaly uses. Hope you enjoy this chapter and feel free to comment any constructive feedback! I am also currently fixing a, new, discord server due the old one being removed.

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Cheng Yang then said: “Although this Imitation Training Cube is powerful, there are still great requirements for the defensive ability of the territory. For now, as long as the Imitation Training Cube attracts the demonised beasts within ten kilometres of the village, whether it is your Crane Summit or Niu Bing’s Copper Tomb Village, to perfectly defend against the demonised beast attack is not easy. So, in a moment, you will choose 1,500 soldiers from the village and go with me to Copper Tomb Village. First, you will use the Imitation Training Cube to clear away all the demonised beasts within ten kilometres of the village.”

Although Liu Xiyue* also wanted to leave the Imitation Training Cube in Crane Summit, she also knew that Cheng Yang’s arrangements had to have its reasons. At least so far, Cheng Yang had been right about every decision he had taken. It is also because of his series of decisions that the development of Phoenix Village has become what it is today.

Cheng Yang perhaps saw Liu Xiyue’s inner thought and said with a smile: “I chose Copper Tomb Village because to the west of it is the Dragon Frame. There, there are things necessary to develop woodland and your personal strength. We will clean up the surroundings of Copper Tomb Village earlier which will be more beneficial for the next step.”

In fact, Cheng Yang could not explain, but Liu Xiyue was a member of his Guards after all and he didn’t want the other party to have any doubts about his orders. Although such doubts would not allow the other party to go against his orders, it may compromise the execution of said orders.

Afterwards, Liu Xiyue, under Cheng Yang’s order, gathered some of the soldiers and set off with Cheng Yang. Except for the more than four hundred soldiers who stayed behind in Crane Summit Village, all the others were taken away.

Crane Summit Village and Copper Tomb Village were more than twenty kilometres apart. This distance sounds relatively far, however since both villages have already cleared the roads leading to Yicheng it was closer than one would expect. Even Yicheng City has done the same, so there are not many obstacles encountered along the way. It took more than a thousand people less than half an hour to enter Yicheng.

At this moment, Yicheng has changed a lot compared to before. Originally, one could occasionally see refugee activities, but now, not to mention refugees, even the bodies are difficult to find. Only traces of the pre-doomsday buildings could be seen in some parts of the city and in these buildings, there is still a lot of food and other supplies stored away.

These supplies were not looted by the refugees because they were quickly sent to other places without having time to loot the buildings. At this moment, Cheng Yang and his group of more than one thousand people would naturally not be polite. Like ants moving material to their nests, they collected all the materials they encountered along the way.

In the ruins of Yicheng, Cheng Yang and his party eventually encountered a large-scale group of demonised beasts, many of which were Pinnacle-Grade Immature beasts.

In this herd of demonised beasts, in addition to the High-Grade Immature demonised beasts proportion increased from 20% to 30%, the Pinnacle-Grade Immature demonised beasts also accounted for 1%. Don’t underestimate this one percent as it makes it much more difficult for the weaker main city combat team to eliminate the group of demonised beasts.

Of course, as long as it is not in the wasteland, generally the herds of demonised beasts only have around one or two hundred demonised beasts, of which only one or two are Pinnacle-Grade Immature. But the wasteland is different. Some of the largest demonised herds can reach as many as one or two thousand demonised beasts with roughly twenty Pinnacle-Grade Immature demonised beasts. This would be a total disaster for the Low-Grade and Standard-Grade Apprentice soldiers.

Now, Cheng Yang’s team is facing the same situation. There are many areas in the Yicheng area that are still part of the wasteland and have not been reclaimed. However, Cheng Yang’s team wants to cross it as it is necessary to eliminate some of the large-scale demonised herds.

In the face of such large-scale herds, the team from Crane Summit Village were undoubtedly very vulnerable, and Cheng Yang had to go out alone to defeat those large demonised herds.

Cheng Yang’s defence is strong enough to place him in a class of his own compared to all the soldiers in the world. The same goes for his attack power and, with a wider range of AOE attacks, it’s not that hard to kill these troublesome demonised hordes.

It took nearly an hour for Cheng Yang to finally lead his team across the ruins of Yicheng. The rest of the journey was much easier as this was no longer unexplored territory for them.

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When Cheng Yang entered Copper Tomb Village, it was already past one o’clock in the afternoon and Niu Bing was having dinner in the village. Seeing Cheng Yang’s arrival, he was pleasantly surprised to welcome him. However, he was very puzzled by the people Cheng Yang brought. Although he didn’t know these people, he was very familiar with Liu Xiyue who was walking at the front of the pack. It was obvious that all these people had come from Crane Summit.

“Lord, what’s going on? Could it be that Crane Summit Village has been occupied by others?” Niu Bing was a person who speaks what pops up in his mind without thinking too hard, so he immediately asked Cheng Yang about the situation.

It is no wonder why Niu Bing would think so. This densely packed group of people is almost all of the fighting force stationed Crane Summit Village. Liu Xiyue left Crane Summit Village alone and took all these soldiers to Copper Tomb Village. What is happening? There are no more than two reasons, one is that Copper Tomb Village is in need of assistance and the other is that they couldn’t stay in the Crane Summit Village anymore. In his opinion, Copper Tomb Village doesn’t currently need other people’s support, therefore the only explanation is that they couldn’t stay in Crane Summit Village anymore.

Liu Xiyue glared at Niu Bing and said angrily: “The mouth of a dog can not spit out ivory. Even if your Copper Tomb village is occupied, my Crane Summit Village will be safe and sound.”

Pang Shan, who was standing next to Niu Bing, did not want the two to quarrel. She went up to Liu Xiyue with a smile and said, “Xi Yue, we haven’t seen each other for several days. Let’s talk about our past few days”

Naturally, Liu Xiyue wasn’t really angry with Niu Bing, so she immediately whispered to Pang Shan. To tell the truth, Pang Shan is definitely Liu Xiyue’s best friend in the entire Phoenix Village territory. Although they have only been separated for a few days, they still have a lot of things to talk about. After all, they are students who have just entered college and been thrown into this apocalypse.

Niu Bing looked at Cheng Yang innocently and said, “Lord, tell me, what the hell is going on?”

Cheng Yang smiled and said, “I specially brought Liu Xiyue here to support you as it is a good thing for you . You didn’t even say thank you first, but asked instead if the village was occupied.”

Niu Bing said puzzledly: “I’m fine here, I don’t need support. ”

Suddenly, Niu Bing’s face changed and asked: “Lord, do you know any bad news? Is someone going to attack Copper Tomb Village? That does not sound right. I’ve been here for nearly ten days, and except for the ordinary refugees I saw before, there are no other human forces in this area.”

Cheng Yang took out the Imitation Training Cube, threw it to Niu Bing, and said: “Look at this thing. If you don’t think you need support, I will immediately leave with Liu Xiyue.”

After reading the attributes of the item, Niu Bing was at a loss and said blankly: “Isn’t this thing nothing? It won’t bring any danger to Copper Tomb Village as long as you don’t put any Experience Fragments into it…”

Although Niu Bing’s reaction was half a beat slower, when he talked about injecting Experience Points, he instantly understood Cheng Yang’s intention, and said in surprise: “Lord, are you planning to use this thing to attract the demon beasts to come over and let us kill them?”

“You’re not hopelessly stupid.” Cheng Yang rolled his eyes and said.

However, Niu Bing was used to being ridiculed by Cheng Yang and others so he didn’t care about what had been said.

At this time, Liu Xiyue also explained the matter clearly to Pang Shan, and naturally Niu Bing was ridiculed again.

After a few more words, Cheng Yang didn’t want to delay the matter any longer so he immediately talked to Niu Bing and Liu Xiyue about the preparations that had to be completed. To be honest, the combat effectiveness of the city’s defenders this time is not very strong. It is weaker compared to the original use of the Imitation Training Cube in Phoenix Village. At the same time, due to the evolution of the demonised beasts yesterday, one could imagine that the coming beast wave will be fiercer than the previous one.

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Half an hour later, everything was ready, including the soldiers who had been active outside the village walls who had all returned to Copper Tomb Village.

Cheng Yang began to prepare to inject Experience Points into the Imitation Training Cube. Cheng Yang had a plan for the amount of Experience Points he would inject. He didn’t dare to put 10,000 Experience Points into it as that might lead to the demonised beasts overrunning and taking over Copper Tomb Village.

8,000 Experience Points, although only 2,000 less than what was used by Cheng Yang the previous time, is equivalent to two kilometres less of demonised beasts rushing at you. But don’t underestimate these two kilometres. After all, for every kilometre increase in distance, the area of attraction will also increase geometrically. According to Cheng Yang’s estimate, there are at most 40,000 or 50,000 demonised beasts within this eight-kilometre distance, and the number can only be less, not more.

After the Experience Points were added, a strange wave of energy swept across the eight-kilometre area centred around Copper Tomb Village. Countless demonised beasts crazily rushed towards Copper Tomb Village as if they had been inspired by the gods.

At this moment, the bloody battle began. Since this was a planned battle, everything was not out of Cheng Yang’s control. Even in the most intense of times, there were not more than five thousand demonised beasts  rushing to Copper Tomb village at the same time, and few of them were able to scale the wall.

Under the leadership of Cheng Yang and the other experts, coupled with a small number of Standard-Grade Apprentice soldiers from the two villages, they survived the most intense, thus difficult, period of time. Although nearly a hundred soldiers died for this, the situation had stabilised.

However, this battle cost not only the lives of these soldiers, but also a large number of potions. After all, there were no priests in neither Copper Tomb nor Crane Summit, so a lot of Health Recovery Potions were needed.

After the situation stabilised, the battle suddenly became easier. It would take less than a third of the original three thousand-strong soldier group to successfully kill all of the attacking demonised beasts. For this reason, Cheng Yang and the others naturally did not let all of the soldiers constantly stand on the wall, but to stand in shifts. One third of the soldiers would fight, another third rest or practice, and the remaining third went to the barracks to practice their skills.

According to the attributes of the barracks, as long as they are in the same territory, they can use all the barracks in the territory for training or cultivation. This rule is also to facilitate the movement of troops in the same territory. If this is not the case, those who have transferred to a village can only train in the villages’ barracks. Wouldn’t it be impossible to flexibly mobilise troops then?

---

* changed “Liu Wei” to “Liu Xiyue”

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Cheng Yang knew this policy would inevitably make it harder for Adventurers to level up, but he still chose to implement it. Even so, nobody would blame him for doing so. Everyone understood that the army was entirely under his control, so he would choose the army when he was forced to choose between the army and the Adventurers.

At the same time, Cheng Yang spread rumors that the army would expand soon and that interested Adventurers would sign up at the barracks.

For many Adventurers in the territory, their first choice would have been to join the army. However, the army wasn’t hiring, so they had no choice but to become an Adventurer instead. Once they had the chance, they would abandon their current lifestyle to become soldiers.

Cheng Yang didn’t pay too much attention to those people since he planned to enlist everyone that performed a class change ceremony in his territories into the army eventually. If they wanted to enjoy the stat boosts associated with his domain, they would need to serve him. If anyone refused to join, he would use his authority to strip them of their powers.

Cheng Yang had no reason to worry about the consequences of his authoritarian stance. Experiences in his past life had proved that only the strong could afford to debate morality. As a Lord, his word was law. So long as he never went too far, he wouldn’t face any consequences.

After making his arrangements at the Bank, Cheng Yang cleared the Blood-Soaked Cathedral, then visited Joyous River village.

Yesterday, Cheng Yang was too busy to check on Joyous River village’s state, but he wasn’t worried. With Liu Hao’s strength, even if the territory encountered problems, it wouldn’t take long for a messenger to inform Phoenix Village of the situation. Since a messenger had never arrived, it meant Liu Hao could handle it on his own.

When he arrived, Cheng Yang found out that a hundred thousand refugees had arrived the day before but had already been successfully integrated into the territory.

Joyous River village was similar to Silkworm Mountain. There weren’t many residents, so adding a hundred thousand people didn’t make it feel crowded.

Cheng Yang found Liu Hao, received a short briefing on the events of the day before, and then borrowed a Priest to clear the Abandoned Citadel. Between the two instance dungeons, his only significant gain was a piece of Purple Silver equipment.

Cheng Yang also intended to visit The Forgotten Grave, but his schedule for the day wouldn’t allow that.

Cheng Yang retrieved the Imitation Training Cube from Liu Hau before leaving the village. Once he had, Cheng Yang rode Enlai towards Yicheng.

Although it had been less than ten days since Cheng Yang had returned from Yicheng and his level hadn’t increased, the journey was far more manageable this time. His fighting capabilities had significantly improved, and the changes to the gods’ rules allowed his battle style to become more flexible.

Since he was able to control the amount of strength he used when attacking, he was able to maximize his DPS in a battle. In the past, a single attack would deal more damage than necessary to kill a target, but now, even though it still only took one attack, Cheng Yang saved the extra Mana giving him greater endurance.

It took Cheng Yang nearly two hours to reach Crane Summit. At the time, he hadn’t realized where he was until the Professionals nearby tried to attack Enlai out of ignorance.

Fortunately, many people in the village were familiar with Cheng Yang, so nothing major happened.

Unfortunately, Cheng Yang had arrived at an inopportune time. Liu Wei was currently absent. According to the Vice Governor, she had left to clear the powerful monsters that had spawned the day before.

“After the gods’ announcement yesterday, Governor Liu spent the entire afternoon fighting but couldn’t kill every High-Grade monster. To ensure the safety of both the villagers and the soldiers, she went out early this morning to continue hunting.” Hu Zhuang explained.

Cheng Yang nodded.

“Send someone to tell her to come back. At the same time, tell all of the soldiers who have gone out to return as well.”

Hu Zhuang was confused but turned around and relayed Cheng Yang’s orders nonetheless.

After Hu Zhuang left, Cheng Yang took a stroll around the village. Crane Summit had become a High-Grade village since he was here last, and the layout had changed drastically.

Crane Summit was separated into an Inner and Outer Village, the same as the other villages Cheng Yang controlled. The Inner Village contained a large number of buildings in addition to the Class Change Statues, the majority of which were Low-Grade Meditation Halls.

Hu Zhuang’s city planning skills were nothing impressive, but they were reasonable. He had left plenty of space between the Meditation Halls to accommodate their growth in the future when they leveled up.

Although their average level was lower, Crane Summit had far more Mediation Halls than Phoenix Village. The reason for this was quite simple: Crane Summit didn’t need to rush to create a large number of Farms and a High-Grade Wall. Naturally, the wood they harvested all went into Meditation Halls.

Even if only a few of the soldiers were Loggers, as long as they spend some time each day cutting wood, it was more than enough to build several Meditation Halls.

Crane Summit’s Outer Village looked the same as every area where many people gathered during the apocalypse. There were numerous makeshift tents with people milling about between them. There were over a hundred thousand people, so even though the Crane Summit soldiers brought back as many blankets tents as possible, most people had no choice but to sleep on the ground.

Fortunately, after a month of living in fear, no one would complain about having a safe place to sleep. At least not for a while.

“My Lord, when did you arrive?” A charming voice asked from behind Cheng Yang.

When he turned around, Liu Wei’s smiling face entered his vision. For a moment, Cheng Yang was lost in her beauty, but he quickly sobered up.

“I just got here. What about you? Have you been doing well here?”

When Liu Wei heard the concern in Cheng Yang’s voice, a faint feeling stirred in her heart. So faint that she hadn’t noticed it.

“I have.” Liu Wei replied. “Although it’s challenging to deal with High-Grade monsters, as long as you’re careful, there won’t be casualties. Also, as you can see, we’ve built many Meditation Halls, enough for every soldier! We’re planning to have each one reach the Standard-Grade next which will benefit our soldiers greatly. If I had to name a problem, it would be that there are too many people in the village and not enough transfer slots in the Class Change Statues.”

“There’s no need to worry about allowing everyone to become a Professional. For now, focus on finding people that are averse to fighting and have them become Farmers. Farmers will be an indispensable resource to your territory, so it’s best to cultivate them as soon as possible.”

Liu Wei listened intently, but after Cheng Yang finished talking, she had a bewildered look on her face.

“My Lord, you didn’t come all the way here just to say that, did you?”

“Of course not.” Cheng Yang said. “I have something important for you to do. Take a look at this item’s system pane first.”

Cheng Yang took the Imitation Training Cube out and passed it to Liu Wei.

She was a smart girl, so she naturally understood why Cheng Yang was here after reading the item’s description.

“My Lord, this is great! Since you’ve brought it here, do you intend to use it in Crane Summit or Copper Tomb Village? Or is it possible that we can use it in both?”

Instead of giving a direct answer, Cheng Yang asked Liu Wei a question.

“How much lang have you cleared around the village?”

“My Lord, we have limited personnel.” Liu Wei said, ” We’ve cleared less than a six-kilometer radius around each village. It’s our current limit, and we’ll need to upgrade the Class Change Statues before we can handle any more.”

“Six kilometers is too small. Phoenix Village currently has more than fifteen. Although it’s only twice as far, the total area we have cleared is at least five or six times more than yours. I plan to use the Imitation Training Cube to expedite the process. With the walls in place, your soldiers will be able to handle even a massive horde.”

Liu Wei smiled brightly.

“What a treasure! With it, we can not only efficiently kill monsters but increase the territory’s Experience Fragment reserves. It’s killing two birds with one stone.”

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Cheng Yang couldn’t help but smile as he walked out the gate. He couldn’t help but be happy that Yuan Jianzhe showed up in a timely manner and saw him and Lu Chenguang together.

Although Lu Chenguang was Yuan Jianzhe’s subordinate in name, none of the militia captains could be considered loyal. After seeing one of his captains meet with his most hated enemy, Yuan Jianzhe would be forced to consider if Lu Chenguang had betrayed him.

Cheng Yang wasn’t concerned about how Lu Chenguang would talk her way out of this predicament. The bigger a headache she had, the better he would feel. If she fell out of Yuan Jianzhe’s favor, it saved Cheng Yang the trouble of dealing with her in the future.

Lu Chenguang was the first person to make him suffer a loss in this life, so he wouldn’t forget to pay her back. However, he knew his soldiers weren’t the same as him. There would be many casualties in a protracted war, so there wasn’t a reason to go all out against Lu Chenguang until he had an absolute advantage. If he saw her outside the safe zone, though, he wouldn’t hesitate to settle their grudge.

With his task completed, Cheng Yang retrieved Enlai from the rented room and rode him out of the safe zone with Tan Yun. Along the way, Cheng Yang took the opportunity to get closer to the child and extract information.

Lu Chenguang had found him on the streets some time ago. When she did, she sheltered him and gave him delicious food, so it was understandable that the child had latched onto her, especially after experiencing the trauma of the apocalypse. Today, Lu Chenguang had released him back onto the streets for a few minutes to keep up appearances and then brought him back inside.

Cheng Yang rode Enlai to Silkworm Mountain quickly arrived at the village.

When Tan Chao saw the child in Cheng Yang’s arms, he couldn’t help but try to jump to his feet even though his limbs were bound.

“Dad!” Tan Yun also reacted strongly to their reunion.

With a glance, Cheng Yang signaled for the guards to cut Tan Chao loose. After all, any child would be upset to see their parent imprisoned. It would be awkward if Tan Yun started crying. Luckily, the child had experienced a lot in the last few weeks and was able to hold in his tears.

After Tan Chao spent a few minutes crying and holding his son, he stood up and bowed deeply to Cheng Yang.

“Thank you, Lord Cheng! I, Tan Chao, will not hesitate to go through fire and water in the future so that I can be of use to you!”

“Don’t be so formal. You’re one of my subordinates now, so there’s no need for you to worry.” Said Cheng Yang with a smile. “Now that Xiao Yun has been rescued, can you tell me what you know?”

“My Lord, please don’t take my previous hesitation personally. I didn’t dare to say anything since I believed I would be silenced once I was of no use. Then, once Lu Chenguang found out, she wouldn’t have a use for my son anymore…” Tan Chao avoided saying anything that would upset his son. “Now that I know my son is safe in your care, I can tell you everything.”

“Stop sucking up and just tell me.”

“It’s a long story, but I’ll try to make it short. My son and I escaped the initial disaster because we entered the safe zone before the monsters arrived and became Professionals. Later, I told a good friend from before the apocalypse about my Innate Abilities. He sold me out that very day! I was too trusting.” Tan Chao spat. “Lu Chenguang then seized my son and had me handle all her dirty work. She didn’t hide much from me, so I know a few secrets, such as her collusion with Ding Ming to overthrow Yuan Jianzhe and her various plans for dealing with you. The attack suffered by this village was meant for your main base in the South. Thankfully every time I came close, a terrifying man would track me down. If not for my skill, I would have died.”

At this point, Tan Chao paused to observe Cheng Yang’s reaction. He wanted to ask who the person was and how he was tracked but ultimately decided not to.

“Did you tell Lu Chenguang about that?” Cheng Yang suddenly asked.

“I only said that you had a way to detect infiltration, but since I didn’t know the specifics, how could I have told Lu Chenguang?”

“You said that Lu Chenguang’s been working with Ding Ming to overthrow Yuan Jianzhe, right? Someone planted a bomb near one of my villages. Was it their doing?”

“I wasn’t the one who did it, so I’m not sure. However, it sounds like something Lu Chenguang would do.”

“What else do you know about her work with Ding Ming?”

“Their main goal is to cause conflict between you and Yuan Jianzhe. They’re hoping to take over both the safe zone and one of your villages in the chaos.”

This wasn’t surprising to Cheng Yang. After all, Lu Chenguang had tried the same thing in his previous life and had half succeeded.

Since Tan Chao had nothing else that was vitally important to say, Cheng Yang decided to take him to Phoenix Village. Although his Innate Ability was game-breaking, he would be useless if he didn’t level up. Without a solid foundation, there would be no way for Tan Chao to do something like strike a fatal blow and then escape to thousands of miles away.

On the way there, Cheng Yang explained the village’s situation and what he knew about the apocalypse to Tan Chao. He especially emphasized that Tan Chao should take out a Bank loan to increase his training speed.

Cheng Yang had considered giving Tan Chao the necessary Experience Fragments to unlock a high training speed himself but decided against it. Although Cheng Yang was certain Tan Chao wouldn’t defect and join someone another group, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t simply take his son and disappear. It would be better to give those Experience Fragments to someone loyal instead.

Once they arrived, Cheng Yang arranged for Tan Chao and his son to move into a Mediation Hall, then went to the Barracks to grind skill proficiency. His Sacrificial Blood Cloud skill’s proficiency had reached 70%, so Cheng Yang was working hard .to increase the skill’s level quickly.

That night, the first month of the apocalypse came to a close as the second started. By this time, most people had adapted to their new environment, especially those who became professionals. Going out to kill monsters had become a regular part of their daily routine.

Since it was now impossible for Professionals to trade Experience Fragments directly, the Phoenix Village Bank filled that role. As a result, the Bank’s initially large surplus of Experience Fragments dried up overnight.

When Cheng Yang heard the news in the morning, there was a moment of surprise, followed by an immediate self-deprecating reaction.

Although Cheng Yang made unprecedented profits from selling potions and Stones of Return, most of it was used t develop either himself or his elites. His liquid capital only amounted to around three million Experience Fragments if he scaped it all together.

Three million Experience Fragments wasn’t a lot for Phoenix Village. Even if all of it were loaned out, it would only be enough for three thousand Professionals. Even if Cheng Yang diverted all the military revenue and the territory’s automatic collection, over seven thousand Professionals lived in Phoenix Village. There were far too few Experience Fragments to allow each of them to unlock four times training speed.

To protect the village’s interests, Cheng Yang ordered the bank manager to give soldiers priority when granting loans and to reduce their interest rates to 0.8%. Although the reduced rates weren’t much cheaper, it was still a discount that would make the soldiers feel a sense of belonging.

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“Chi Cheng, Lord Cheng is my guest. Do you get a say in what he can and cannot do? Why haven’t you apologized yet?” Lu Chenguang turned her head and shouted.

“Captain…” The Professional had a look of reluctance on his face. He couldn’t understand why Lu Chenguang allowed Cheng Yang to disrespect her.

“Apologize!”

After seeing his captain’s cold face, Chi Cheng no longer dared to disobey.

“I’m sorry, Lord Cheng. I was out of line.”

“It’s nothing. I don’t mind.” Cheng Yang said. “Miss Lu, about what I asked…”

Lu Chenguang smiled.

“Lord Cheng, you’re a little forceful right now. I really don’t know anyone named Tan Chao.”

“You’re right, and I’m going to force the issue.” Cheng Yang snorted. Did Lu Chenguang think she had a way out of this?

Lu Chenguang finally frowned.

“Lord Cheng, I’m afraid this won’t work between us. I admit that you’re power is immense, but when compared to our numbers-“

“I’ve never heard that a group of sheep is capable of eating a dragon. What’s more, in my eyes, you aren’t even equivalent to sheep.” Cheng Yang said without waiting for her to finish.

“That…” Lu Chenguang didn’t expect Cheng Yang to give her so little face. If he’d arranged a private meeting, she wouldn’t be willing to force his hand, but every other power in the safe zone knew he’d visited. If she conceded so readily, it would ruin her image.

Cheng Yang glanced at his watch.

“The hour started six minutes ago. If I were you, I’d hurry up and fetch the child.”

Lu Chenguang’s mind turned to electricity as she thought about how to handle this.

Yesterday, the day after Yan Chao went to Silkworm Mountain, Lu Chenguang deemed Tan Chao either a dead man or a traitor, so she had his son moved somewhere else just in case. She was familiar with the kind of person Tan Chao was and knew that if he were given the opportunity, he’d betray her in a heartbeat if it meant getting his son back.

Since Cheng Yang was here asking for his son, that meant Tan Chao was captured and left alive long enough to betray her during an interrogation. As for whether he was still alive, that depended on Cheng Yang’s bottom line.

If Tan Chao was still alive, then Cheng Yang’s intentions were clear: he wanted to control Tan Chao just like she had. If Tan Chao was dead, there wasn’t a problem giving the child to Cheng Yang. Without Tan Chao, the child was worthless and certainly not something to offend Cheng Yang over.

Lu Chenguang took a deep breath.

“Lord Cheng, may I know why you’re looking for Tan Chao’s child?”

Cheng Yang was ready to reject the question, but then he thought about the consequences. His goal was to rescue Tan Chao’s son, not get revenge on Lu Chenguang. Although she owed him for the deaths caused in Silkworm Mountain, it was a minor incident. In Cheng Yang’s eyes, Tan Chao was more important, so if he were too forceful and made Lu Chenguang do something drastic, he would regret it.

After a moment of thought, Cheng Yang said: “I’m just fulfilling a promise made to a dead man. You should know who I’m talking about. Of course, if you force me to, I might as well ask Commander Yuan to listen to a few things that man said before he died.”

Lu Chenguang’s eyebrows twitched. What a blatant lie! When had that monster ever treated his enemies well? Either way, if Cheng Yang was planning to pull Yuan Jianzhe into this, she needed to reassess the situation.

Although Cheng Yang was powerful, she didn’t believe she would be helpless in front of him. Moreover, the safe zone’s numbers advantage was only growing. Soon even if they couldn’t defeat him, they could defend against him. As long as she was in the safe zone, Cheng Yang couldn’t hurt her.

Yuan Jianzhe was different. The other militia leaders would protest if she were dismissed from her position without reason, but if the secrets Tan Chao knew were revealed, they would clamor for her removal.

“That’s not necessary. Since it’s to comfort the dead, I’ll try my best to find the boy. As for whether I can, I can’t say for sure.”

Cheng Yang’s only response was to glance at his watch.

Lu Chenguang clearly understood the threat. Cheng Yang would only care about success or failure when the hour ended, not excuses. Fortunately, Tan Chao’s son was already in the building. It wouldn’t take more than a few minutes to bring him over.

“Lord Cheng, wait here for a while. I’ll go down to direct my subordinates and find the child as soon as possible.”

Lu Chenguang didn’t ask Cheng Yang to describe the child. At this point, they both knew she knew where he was, so there was no point in keeping up an act.

“Li Yushan.” Lu Chenguang called out to one of her subordinates. “Entertain Lord Cheng until the child is found.”

After that, she turned and left. Since it had come to this, she had no qualms handing Tan Chao’s son over. She had confirmed that Cheng Yang wanted to use him as a bargaining chip and that he wouldn’t needlessly spill her secrets. That was enough.

After she left, Li Yushan stayed in the room with Cheng Yang to drink tea and chat. She did her best to carry a conversation on her own since Cheng Yang was silent most of the time.

Less than half an hour later, Lu Chenguang returned with a child in her arms. Although Cheng Yang had never met Tan Chao’s son, there were enough similarities between the two that Cheng Yang recognized him.

“Lord Cheng, I was rather lucky today. I sent people out to search, and one of them found this little guy on the streets nearby. He was pretty miserable back then, so I brought him back for a quick bath and a change of clothes.” Lu Chenguang said with a joyful smile. “Xiao Yun, tell this uncle, do you like the clothes I gave you?”

“Like it.” The child was frightened by the strangers around him, but after hearing Lu Chenguang’s encouragement, he whispered his agreement.

Cheng Yang wasn’t sure why she bothered to put on an act at this point. I couldn’t be to prove to Cheng Yang that she found the child on the streets, so maybe she was trying to convince her subordinates?

Cheng Yang didn’t care about that at all. He just stood up, walked over to Lu Chenguang, and held out his arms to receive the child.

When he did, the Tan Yun flinched away from him and looked up at Lu Chenguang with fear.

“Don’t be afraid, Xiao Yun. This uncle is a good man. He’ll be taking care of you from now on.”

Tan Yun looked at Cheng Yang with a timid face, then after being transferred to his arms, looked back at Lu Chenguang with a sorrowful one.

Cheng Yang’s eyebrows twitched. Why did this feel like he was a child abductor? What kind of tricks had Lu Chenguang pulled to make her, the actual child abductor, seem like a hero in this kid’s eyes?

“Miss Lu, that’s all for today.” Cheng Yang said coldly before walking towards the villa’s gate.

As he did, he heard the crisp sound of boots on concrete. At the same time as he reached the gate to leave, Yuan Jianzhe walked in.

Yuan Jianzhe’s sudden visit startled Lu Chenguang. She was worried that Cheng Yang would take the opportunity to share her secrets. However, on the surface, she smiled as if nothing was amiss.

“Commander Yuan, sorry for not announcing my visit but every time I show up, I bother you to run here and there for me. It makes my heart uneasy about troubling you every time!”

“Lord Cheng, since you visited my city, as the owner and your friend, how could I not come to meet you. Wouldn’t it be rude if I hadn’t?” Yuan Jianzhe could tell that Cheng Yang was mocking his inability to control him, but he wasn’t someone so easily baited. “What matter brings you here today, Lord Cheng? If necessary, I can provide assistance.”

“It’s nothing. A friend of mine passed away and entrusted his child to me. Captain Lu already helped me find him, so I was about to leave.”

“Oh? As soon as Lord Cheng sees me, he’s ready to leave? Am I so unpopular as an old man?”

Cheng Yang frowned slightly. What kind of trick was Yuan Jianzhe up to? Although they knew each other well, their relationship wasn’t the kind where they would amicably chat after seeing each other.

“It’s not you, Commander Yuan, I’m just in a hurry to get back. Next time I have a chance, I’ll be sure to visit you.” Even though he had his doubts, Cheng Yang didn’t reveal them.

Yuan Jianzhe laughed.

“I shall be looking forward to it.”

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“Hey, you! Halt!”

Although Cheng Yang had changed back into his ordinary outfit, the guards hadn’t recognized who he was.

“Me?” Cheng Yang asked with a confident smile without stopping. “Why can’t I walk down this street?”

“Don’t you see where you are? Do you think any random cat or dog can walk over?” The guard sneered. “Now scram, or you won’t even know how you died.”

“Oh? Can you kill people in the safe zone again? I must have missed the announcement.” Cheng Yang laughed. “In that case, I’d like to know how you plan to kill me? Even if I stood still, someone like you isn’t enough.”

“Don’t blame me for this.” The guard said as he blew a whistle.

At that time, seven other guards rushed over from their positions.

They were all either Warriors or Summoners, so they had absolute confidence in beating a lone Mage. Attacks were useless here, but as long as they could overpower the other party, dragging them outside the barrier wasn’t impossible. Even if they didn’t do that, it was easy to starve a person to death without anyone knowing by locking them in one of the countless rooms in the city. Moreover, since attacks couldn’t deal damage, torture was actually possible in the safe zone.

In the eyes of the guards, Cheng Yang had become meat on the chopping block.

“Maybe if you kowtow a few times and beg for forgiveness, we’ll let you go with just a beating. Otherwise yo-“

Before the guard could finish speaking, he saw Cheng Yang rush towards him with blinding speed, and before he could even react, he found himself on the ground. All he could remember was a crispt smacking sound followed by burning pain.

“That slap is to teach you how to talk. If someone less forgiving heard you say something so inelegant, it wouldn’t have ended there.” Cheng Yang calmly returned to the middle of their encirclement.

“Fuck! Let’s take this guy outside the barrier and bury him alive!” At that moment, the guard let his emotions get the better of him and spoke without thinking.

Two of the other guards realized what had happened, but the others were already rushing Cheng Yang. They had always been able to act as tyrants within the safe zone, so why would they feel fear?

Right as they reached him, Cheng Yang slipped out of a gap like a wisp of smoke. Then, he delivered two swift kicks to the backs of the guards next to him.

With his status as a Pinnacle-Grade Apprentice, it wasn’t a problem for him to fling them several feet. Even if it were a direct contest of strength, he would be able to crush those Low-Grade Warriors.

After that, Cheng Yang knocked the rest down, one after another. With his speed, they weren’t even able to catch his shadow before kissing the ground.

Every time they tried to stand up, Cheng Yang would deliver a vicious punch to their heads. If it weren’t for the rules of the safe zone, they would have long since died. Only once all of them had either passed out or given up did he stop.

During this entire process, the other two guards nearby and the rest on the street turned a blind eye, lest Cheng Yang focus his attention on them next.

“Well? Have you learned your lesson?” Cheng Yang asked while squatting next to the original guard.

Although the safe zone’s unique nature healed his wounds, blood covered the guard’s face, and his teeth littered the ground. At that time, a single name popped into his mind. A name associated with the strongest human in Cloud City. A monstrous existence who could face an entire battalion on his own and win. Other than Cheng Yang, who else could beat him up so viciously?

Once he realized what was happening, the rage in his eyes began to mix with fear. Even if Cheng Yang decided to drag him out of the safe zone and murder him, who would dare to stand against him? Even Commander Yuan would turn a blind eye.

“Are you Cheng Yang?” He asked with a tentative and raspy voice.

When he saw Cheng Yang nod, he felt like his body had been submerged in ice.

“I’m going to ask you a question. If you answer truthfully, I’ll forget about this matter. I can’t guarantee you’ll survive lying.” Cheng Yang said calmly. “Where is Lu Chenguang?”

“Captain Lu is in her quarters right now.” The guard said while pointing a trembling finger towards one of the buildings. He wasn’t one of Lu Chenguang’s subordinates, so he didn’t hesitate to sell her out.

Cheng Yang didn’t care if the guard was lying since he could always follow up on his threat if he had. He turned around and walked towards Lu Chenguang’s house.

When Cheng Yang reached the door to Lu Chenguang’s villa, he loudly declared: “Cheng Yang, the Lord of Phoenix Village, has come to visit Captain Lu Chenguang.”

Less than thirty seconds later, the villa’s door opened to reveal several people, including Lu Chenguang.

“Greetings, Lord Cheng! When we last met, you were a loner, but now your title is grandiose. How domineering!” Lu Chengunag greeted Cheng Yang as if he were an old friend.

Cheng Yang gazed into her eyes and couldn’t find a hint of insincerity. The level of her acting was superb. It was at the level that Cheng Yang started to doubt that they were enemies.

“Captain Lu, I specially visited you today because I need you to do something for me. Can I come in?”

Of course! Since Lord Cheng thinks highly of me, I’ll have to treat you well. We can talk in the parlor.” Lu Chenguang laughed warmly as she led Cheng Yang inside.

If not for the memories from his previous life, Cheng Yang would believe her if Lu Chenguang claimed Tan Chao was setting her up.

Regardless, Cheng Yang subconsciously allowed Lu Chenguang to take the initiative to lead him to the parlor on the second floor.

Once Lu Chenguang was seated, Cheng Yang began talking.

“Captain Lu, I’m afraid I’ll need to trouble you to help me with something.”

“I’ll gladly help you anytime, Lord Cheng. In the future, there’s no need to visit someone as lowly as me personally. Just send a messenger, and I’ll do my best to support you.”

“I’m hoping you can help me find a person, specifically a child.” Cheng Yang ignored Lu Chenguang’s flattery. “His father’s name is Tan Chao. I have reason to believe you know where the child is.”

Cheng Yang carefully monitored Lu Chenguang’s reaction when he mentioned Tan Chao’s name, but there wasn’t so much as a ripple of emotion.

“Lord Cheng, I’ll do my best, but I’m afraid I may not accomplish this task in a short amount of time. There are thousands of children in the safe zone, and I don’t know anyone named Tan Chao, so I’ll ne-“

“Captain Lu, I didn’t come to request your help but to demand it. ” Cheng Yang checked his watch. “In an hour, I expect to see the child standing before me. Otherwise, I’ll beat you to a pulp.”

Lu Chenguang’s eyebrows twitched. Despite her attitude, Cheng Yang hadn’t given her any leeway.

“How dare you? Even if it’s you, when Captain Lu shows you so much respect, it’s basic courtesy to do the same!” The Professional behind Lu Chenguang shouted with a face full of anger.

“Does this man speak for you, Captain Lu?” Cheng Yang ignored the Professional and directly addressed Lu Chenguang.

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To the safe zone’s Professionals, Cheng Yang was both a person they were intimately familiar with and someone completely unknown. He was familiar because each of them had heard his name so many times that they could write a book about him. He was unknown because only a few dozen had ever seen his face.

If Cheng Yang tried to enter the safe zone, he’d be stopped by the guards. Even if he told them who he was, they would still block his path unless he demonstrated his strength. However, Cheng Yang had his methods. Even if they didn’t recognize him, there was someone whose appearance they would absolutely recognize: Enlai.

Therefore, he directed Enlai to rush right over to the barrier. When the guards noticed Enlai, they assumed it was another monster attack since they hadn’t seen the person on its back. Since a monster like that couldn’t possibly be weak, a formless pressure descended on them.

It wasn’t until they finally noticed the person on its back that they realized what was happening. Right now, there was only one person that was able to ride a monster like that: that humanoid monster named Cheng Yang.

The guard at the front made a split-second decision and jumped out of the Enlai’s path. The other Professionals quickly followed suit lest they be the one to try and block that indomitable charge. No one dared to think of the consequences of taking a direct hit from that white tiger.

With extreme speed and a huge hop, Enlai stopped on a dime in front of two professionals. This terrified them since if they were to piss Cheng Yang off, he’d slaughter them like livestock.

“You move pretty quick!” Cheng Yang said with a playful grin. “No need to notify Commander Yuan of my arrival. I’m not here for him today.”

After saying that, Cheng Yang squeezed into the safe zone, leaving behind a crowd of Professionals looking at each other in dismay. They didn’t know what Cheng Yang was planning to do after rushing into the safe zone, nor what they could do to stop him.

The refugees were even more confused. They had no clue who the man on the white tiger was, but since those powerful guards didn’t dare to let out a sound when he was around, he must be a big shot. Many swore in their hearts that they would survive and become like that one day.

Cheng Yang didn’t care what those people thought since he was already in a dilemma.

Ideally, he would have entered the safe zone without many people noticing, but it was better to charge in since that wasn’t possible quickly.

Now he was faced with a choice. He could go straight to where Tan Chao’s son was held or attempt to conceal his purpose. To do so, he’d need to find a place to shrink Enlai and then disappear.

Cheng Yang would prefer to take the second approach, but it wouldn’t be easy to find a place to disappear.

After some quick reflection, Cheng Yang realized there was an easy solution. Even if the streets were crowded, access to the buildings was heavily restricted.

Cheng Yang rode Enlai onto a crowded street, then entered a relatively high-class apartment building.

The interior wasn’t that different from that of an apartment building from before the apocalypse. It even had an elevator to provide quick access to each of the thirty floors. Of course, strictly speaking, it wasn’t an elevator but a magic item that used the Experience Fragments collected as rent to function.

The elevator was wide enough for Enlai to enter, without any discomfort. The only other person in the elevator ran out in fright, leaving Cheng Yang alone. It wasn’t surprising for only one other person to be in the lobby at the moment. Although the safe zone had a massive population, most of them couldn’t afford to live in an apartment like this. At most, twenty-percent of the rooms were filled.

Cheng Yang ordered Enlai to shrink the moment the doors closed, then he clocked on a few random floors and waited for the elevator to reach its destination.

In this way, even if someone were watching from the lobby, they wouldn’t know what floor he’d exited on.

On the twenty-first floor, which had six studio apartments, Cheng Yang stepped out of the elevator. He walked over to one of the unclaimed apartments and opened its system pane.

The apartment he chose was a little over twenty square meters for a hundred Experience Fragments a month. It was pretty cheap.

Cheng Yang paid the fee and entered the room.

Once inside, he fished out a change of clothes to disguise himself as a sorcerer and put it on. Although doing so would make him considerably weaker, nothing in the safe zone could threaten him even without it.

Cheng Yang ordered Enlai to wait in the apartment, then opened the door and left. Since he owned the room for a month, no one else would be able to enter without his permission. So, he didn’t need to worry about leaving Enlai here.

Cheng Yang got back into the elevator and quickly exited the building. When he did, he noticed several people watching the building.

Although he attracted a small amount of attention, it quickly dissipated. After all, there was no lack of unknown Professionals in the city, and Cheng Yang’s equipment was as ordinary as it could be.

For the next few minutes, Cheng Yang leisurely wandered the safe zone. This way, he would be able to tell if anyone was still following him.

Half an hour later, once Cheng Yang was sure no one was tailing him, he began to search for the building Tan Chao specified.

It would not be easy to find the Grocer in this urban jungle if it was your first time visiting the safe zone, but Cheng Yang knew its layout like the back of his hand.

A few minutes later, Cheng Yang arrived at the Grocery and spotted the building Tan Chao had described.

Cheng Yang entered the building and walked up to the fourth floor. Once he arrived, his expression soured. Room 401 was currently unowned.

“Tch. Lu Chenguang is too cautious. It’s possible Tan Chao’s son was never even here.”

Cheng Yang was unsure how to proceed from here. Even if he bought the room, there wasn’t a way to gather clues. Once an apartment was vacated, everything inside would reset. This was one of the gods’ rules.

At the very least, it was unlikely that Lu Chenguang had disposed of Tan Chao’s son. More than likely, she had switched his location.

“It seems I won’t be able to keep a low profile.”

The reason Cheng Yang had hoped to rescue Tan Chao’s son in secret was that if people knew you had a skilled assassin, they would be much more vigilant.

Unfortunately, his only choice at this point was to find Lu Chenguang and force her to hand over Tan Chao’s son. No matter how reluctant she was, Cheng Yang had ways to make her submit.

When he left the building, Cheng Yang headed towards the central square.

As can be expected, Lu Chenguang hadn’t settled for living in a shared building. She hadn’t in his previous life, and there was no way she changed her habits in this one.

Soon Cheng Yang came to a street lined by ordinary villas. Layer after layer of Professional guards lined the road, creating an imposing scene.

This was the center of power in the safe zone. Every influential individual lived here, including Yuan Jianzhe.

It’s not that they didn’t want to live in the top-tier villas, they just couldn’t afford them yet. So, they could only live here and guard the street heavily.

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If he’d had that Innate Ability when he entered the mystery gate, he’d be swimming in Experience Gems! The final chamber only had High-Grade Experience Gems, and each one was worth a hundred thousand Experience Fragments! So long as you could sneak past those vile rodents, wouldn’t you be able to take as many as you could carry?

Naturally, this was just Cheng Yang’s wishful thinking. Innate Abilities aren’t something you can get just cause you want them. Each one was preordained, and although Cheng Yang was able to upgrade one of his for being the first to receive a unique subclass, opportunities like that were rare. No one had found a stable method of changing one’s Innate Ability in his previous life, so Cheng Yang didn’t have any expectations.

Cheng Yang quickly tossed those distracting thoughts to the side.

After taking another look at Dong Sizhou’s system pane, Cheng Yang’s mouth twitched into a slight smile.

“Dong Sizhou, don’t you have something you want to tell me? Like, say, your real name?”

In place of his name, Dong Sizhou’s system pane showed a string of question marks. Cheng Yang had an acute understanding of the Identify skill’s effects, and this was a phenomenon that occurred when you didn’t know the other person’s name. This was definitely the same person as before, so the only explanation was that “Dong Sizhou” had lied about his name!

“Dong Sizhou’s” eyes darted around the room. Ever since he noticed the appearance of the Identify skill, he’d been panicking since he had no way of knowing if he was the only person to receive the skill or if everyone had. Since it had appeared at the same time as the change in the gods’ rules, he could only assume everyone had it.

So, when he saw Cheng Yang open the door to enter, his heart nearly jumped out of this ribcage. After hearing Cheng Yang’s words, his complexion became sickly. He wasn’t a fool. It was apparent Cheng Yang had used Identify on him.

He’d tried using the skill on Cheng Yang so he’d know what his opponent could see, but it had failed! The only thing he learned was that Cheng Yang was vastly stronger than him.

“I apologize. My real name is Tan Chao.” Since he didn’t know what information Identify could reveal, Tan Chao had no choice but to come clean. “I only lied earlier because I was worried you would inform the safe zone of my captivity and betrayal. If Lu Chenguang knew I had betrayed her, she wouldn’t let me off easily.”

Cheng Yang glanced at the system pane. Where there had previously been a string of question marks was the name Tan Chao. It would seem he hadn’t lied this time.

“Good, if it was only to that extent, I could still consider you to be an honest person.” Cheng Yang said with an unfathomable smile. “However, you also said that you were able to sneak in because the guards were slacking. I think that statement ought to give you a moment of concern, don’t you?”

“This…” For a moment, Tan Chao was unsure how he ought to answer.

“Since you don’t want to admit it, I’ll say it. You’re trying to hide your stealth skill so you can find an opportunity to escape, right?”

At that moment, Tan Chao’s eyes flashed with despair. Previously, he hoped that Cheng Yang wouldn’t see his Innate Ability while using Identify. Was the difference in strength between them so high? Had every one of his secrets been exposed in an instant?

“Since everything else you said was a lie, it would seem that your so-called fears are probably a lie too.” Cheng Yang said without giving Tan Chao time to explain himself. “Yu Kai, I don’t think our friend enjoyed your special service enough last time. Skin him again.”

Tan Chao’s face turned deathly pale. That was something he never wanted to experience ever again. Now that his lies were exposed, what could he do? Was there anything he could say that would prevent Cheng Yang from torturing him?

Seeing Yu Kai pull out his tools, Tan Chao broke.

“Wait! Please wait! I’ll talk!”

Cheng Yang stretched out his arm to block Yu Kai.

“Then speak.”

Seeing their faces, Tan Chao grit his teeth.

“Only if you accept my condition. If you do, I’ll tell you everything I know from beginning to end. Otherwise, I- I’ll never speak even if it kills me!”

“Let’s hear it.”

“My son. They took my son. If you can save my son, I’ll tell you everything.” Tan Chao said, holding back tears. “Moreover, if you think highly of me, I’m willing to become your dog!”

“Oh?” Tan Chao’s words triggered a memory of Cheng Yang’s past life. Memories of a rumor about a man with abilities very similar to Tan Chao’s.

In that timeline, Joyous River Village was under the control of Lu Chenguang, the second militia head. Supposedly, she had an extremely formidable assassin under her control that could arrive without a shadow and leave without footprints. However, she could only control that assassin because she had their weakness grasped within her hands.

That assassin was only ever rumored. No one could confirm them, and Lu Chenguang always denied them.

However, Tan Chao’s existence confirmed those rumors! With the Erase Presence skill, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he could arrive without a shadow and leave without footprints.

Although he wasn’t originally going to agree to Tan Chao’s request, he couldn’t resist the temptation of obtaining a powerful subordinate.

“Do you know where your son is being held?” Cheng Yang asked tentatively.

“I do, but that place has dozens of guards. Even though I can get in using my skills, it’s impossible to bring my son out with me without being noticed. If I tried and failed, who knows what they’d do.” Tan Chao said with a forced smile. “Also, I can’t guarantee that the location hasn’t been changed. After all, I’ve been imprisoned for quite a while.”

Cheng Yang wrinkled his brows. That would be a problem.

“Just let me know where he was before you left. If he’s still there, I have complete certainty that I’ll be able to rescue him. Otherwise, I can only promise that I’ll try my best. Also, tell me how old he is and any distinguishing characteristics he has.”

“He’s being kept in room 401 of the apartment building behind the Grocery.” Tan Chao said with a profound sigh. “He’s eight, and other than a mole the size of a currant on the back of his head, he doesn’t have any distinguishing features.”

“Good. Stay here. I’ll take a look at the situation. Then we can talk more.”

After saying that, Cheng Yang left the room, and Yu Kai followed him out.

“My Lord, do you actually believe anything that guy said?” Yu Kai asked after they’d walked an appropriate distance away.

“Yu Kai, when you used Identify on Tan Chao, what did you see?” Instead of answering his friend, Cheng Yang posed a question.

“Everything except his Innate Abilities and Skills.”

“I could see his entire system pane. His name was hidden in the beginning, but after he gave us the name ‘Tan Chao,’ I was able to see it. So, at the very least, he has that much sincerity towards us. Even if the stuff about his son is a lie, my visions can verify that it’s close enough to the truth.” Cheng Yang said. “Alright, you need to stay here and deal with the refugees. I’m going to go to a safe zone and investigate. Since Tan Chao can be considered someone talented, I’ll take the opportunity to do a good deed and force him into service under me. Don’t you think I’m too nice?”

Yu Kai chuckled. Tan Chao must have a really powerful skill if his friend was acting like this.

It didn’t take long for Cheng Yang to reach the safe zone after leaving Silkworm Mountain.

Seeing the chaos, he couldn’t help but laugh. Previously he’d vowed not to bother with the safe zone during this period, but now he had no choice but to join the fray.

He hoped that Lu Chenguang hadn’t moved Tan Chao’s son to a different location. Either way, he would have to hurry.

At the moment, the safe zone was still in lockdown with a Professional standing guard every meter or so. Even Cheng Yang had no choice but to admire that show of force. At least a hundred thousand people were guarding the barrier!

As one could expect, there was a dense crowd of refugees in front of the guards. Although a few hundred thousand people had rushed in earlier, over a million were still waiting outside, and they would keep waiting until Yuan Jianzhe pacified the one’s that had already gotten inside.

Even though there were over a million refugees, the Professionals’ presence was a strong enough deterrent force to prevent a riot. After all, the corpses of particularly rowdy refugees already littered the ground.

Fortunately, Yuan Jianzhe was a considerate man. Even though he prevented the refugees from entering, he recalled the soldiers hunting monsters in the city to come to protect them from any monsters that spawned nearby.

Naturally, this wasn’t an easy task.

Although newly spawned monsters were usually at the Low-Grade level and were killed instantly, too many people gathered here, which attracted monsters from deeper in the city. Among those, there was no shortage of Standard-Grade monsters, and the occasional High-Grade or Elite monster would appear. At those times, loss of life was inevitable.

Even though there were thousands, Yuan Jianzhe could turn a blind eye to the scattered groups of civilians still struggling in ruins. However, it was impossible to ignore the lives of over a million people.

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