Chapter 113 – Yuan Jianze’s Dilemma

Chapter 113 – Yuan Jianze’s Dilemma

By the time Cheng Yang and his two companions returned to Dongshan Village, it was already past four in the afternoon.

After Yu Kai finished giving instructions to Liu Cheng’en, they set off for Luofeng Village. This time, Yu Kai brought the entire Fox Hunting Battalion with him. With Dongshan Village’s profession statue upgraded to level 3, they now had 800 slots for combat class transfers. If allocated properly, this would be sufficient to support the development of a territory.

Before leaving, Yu Kai had already upgraded Dongshan Village to level 3. The village’s secondary buildings were complete, and they were self-sufficient in terms of wood and stone resources. The only regret was that their development speed would inevitably be much slower than Luofeng Village’s. This was unavoidable – compared to other settlements, Luofeng Village’s advantages were too pronounced.

When passing by Xiangcheng City’s main city, Cheng Yang deliberately skirted around the edge of the ruins. While he wasn’t afraid of Yuan Jianze’s forces, Dongshan Village was still relatively vulnerable. Cheng Yang didn’t want anyone to discover that this passage led to Dongshan Village.

Along the way, Cheng Yang rescued quite a few refugees. Most of the remaining refugees in Xiangcheng City had already been saved. Those still left were either exceptionally resilient or extremely lucky.

Cheng Yang estimated that there were now at least 300,000 refugees in Xiangcheng City’s main city, possibly even more. The original population of Xiangcheng City had been one million. While the earthquake hadn’t caused many deaths, the subsequent days had claimed countless lives. Over half of these deaths were due to demonic beasts, leaving many without proper burials.

Apart from those rescued by Xiangcheng City’s main city and the several thousand saved by Luofeng Village, there were still about 70,000 to 80,000 refugees in the ruins. These people survived by scavenging for food while hiding from demonic beasts. If they weren’t rescued soon, their lives would end when the remaining food ran out.

…

Meanwhile, in Xiangcheng City’s main city, Yuan Jianze sat frowning in a room of a pavilion he had rented using spirit energy points. The cost was high, but the benefits were substantial. His cultivation progress had far surpassed others, reaching 93% of the initial stage of Warrior Apprentice. With tonight’s cultivation, he would break through to the intermediate stage.

Yet Yuan Jianze wasn’t happy. For two days, he had mobilized his entire force to search for possible teleportation gates, but found nothing. He had initially thought Xiangcheng City might not have such gates, but after seeing posts on the tavern forum about other main cities discovering them, he dismissed that idea.

Where could the teleportation gate be? Yuan Jianze had no clue.

If this were the only issue, Yuan Jianze wouldn’t be so troubled. From the intelligence gathered over these days, he was almost certain that another force was operating in or around Xiangcheng City. The strength of this force was unknown, but their speed was undoubtedly remarkable.

Yuan Jianze’s certainty came not only from his troops encountering an unknown force yesterday, but also from rumors among the rescued refugees. According to these rumors, a human rescue team had been operating in Xiangcheng City just days after the apocalypse began. Their combat power was said to be extraordinary, with some claiming they could kill demonic beasts in a single move.

While Yuan Jianze didn’t fully believe these claims, he couldn’t completely dismiss them either. After all, Cheng Yang had given his trackers a hard time when leaving the main city.

Yuan Jianze couldn’t be sure if this group was connected to those who had left the main city, but he couldn’t deny that this situation made him wary.

What troubled Yuan Jianze most was that he couldn’t determine whether these people were even from Earth.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. After Yuan Jianze granted permission, a capable middle-aged man entered.

“Old Wu, what is it?” Yuan Jianze asked, rubbing his temples.

Old Wu didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he said, “Commander, are you still troubled by that mysterious group?”

Yuan Jianze sighed, “Yes, I can’t figure out where they came from. According to the information we’ve gathered from the tavern, only main cities should have transfer permissions, and most main cities are at the municipal level or higher. The chance of a county-level city having a main city is extremely low. The nearest county is over thirty kilometers away. Even if there were a main city there, they couldn’t have sent combatants here so quickly.”

Old Wu suggested, “Commander, could they be from Xiangcheng City but arrived at the main city before us to transfer?”

Yuan Jianze was momentarily stunned before replying, “That’s unlikely. You saw the situation outside the main city’s barrier. Even with our combat power, we paid a heavy price to break through. How could others have entered so easily? Besides, with such a defensive barrier, anyone who entered could have stayed inside to kill monsters safely. Why would they leave?”

Old Wu nodded, “That’s true.”

“Enough about that. What did you come to see me about, Old Wu?” Yuan Jianze asked.

Old Wu then remembered his original purpose. He straightened up and said, “Commander, it’s about our water situation. It’s been over ten days since we took over the main city. In the beginning, with fewer people in our territory, our daily water consumption was manageable with the purified water we scavenged from the ruins. But with the expansion of our rescue operations, the population in the main city has increased dramatically. Our stored purified water can only last two or three more days.”

Yuan Jianze’s heart sank. A person could survive a day without food, but going a day without water was unbearable. Hearing that the main city was about to run out of water, he knew the situation was serious.

“I remember there’s a river in Xiangcheng City. Has it dried up?” Yuan Jianze suddenly asked.

Old Wu replied, “The river still exists, Commander. But according to those who’ve reached the outskirts of Xiangcheng City, the entire area around the city is now filled with massive ravines. There are only a few passages leading out, all surrounded by dense forests that no one dares to explore yet. As for the river, it’s even stranger. The water source emerges from underground in the northwest and disappears underground in the southwest. With such strange behavior, we’re not sure if the water is safe to drink.”

Yuan Jianze thought for a moment before saying, “If our stored water runs out, that river will be our only source. We need to test the water as soon as possible to see if it’s drinkable.”

Old Wu smiled bitterly, “But who would volunteer to be the test subject?”

A cold glint appeared in Yuan Jianze’s eyes, “Old Wu, can’t you think of a solution? Are we short of people in the main city?”

Old Wu glanced at Yuan Jianze and immediately understood, “Commander, I understand. I’ll take care of it right away.”

Yuan Jianze nodded, then asked, “Have we made contact with neighboring cities and prefectures as I instructed?”

Old Wu replied, “We’ve contacted one – Cangcheng City to our north. However, they’re not under military control but government administration. Two days after the apocalypse began, they used police and armed police forces to take over their main city. But from their posts, it seems they’re not looking for external assistance or waiting for higher-level instructions. Instead, they appear to be seeking allies.”

Yuan Jianze cursed, “These bastards are already showing their true colors in this chaos.”

Old Wu hesitated before asking, “What should we do? Someone from the capital has already posted on the forum, asking all government or military personnel who have taken over main cities to report their situations.”

Yuan Jianze didn’t answer immediately. After a pause, he said, “Tell the truth. There’s nothing to hide about our current situation.”

Old Wu nodded, then discussed some matters regarding the main city’s development with Yuan Jianze before leaving.

After Old Wu left, Yuan Jianze stood up and walked to the window. Looking out at the distant barrier and the ruins beyond, his heart was far from calm.

…

Cheng Yang was unaware of the main city’s water crisis or that they had discovered four passages leading outside. However, these matters weren’t particularly important to him. He had no intention of kindly informing Yuan Jianze that the river water was drinkable, nor would he stop Yuan Jianze from exploring the ruins of Xiangcheng City.

Currently, Cheng Yang’s only interest in Xiangcheng City was the dungeon teleportation gate. As for demonic beasts, both Luofeng Village and its two subsidiary settlements were surrounded by endless hordes. There was no need to compete for monsters in the main city.

As long as Yuan Jianze didn’t threaten his forces, Cheng Yang was content to maintain this peaceful coexistence. This period of peace was crucial for Luofeng Village’s development.

Upon returning to Luofeng Village, Cheng Yang immediately used sixty cubic meters of wood to build a level 3 residence.

Today’s wood harvest in Luofeng Village was substantial, reaching 1500 cubic meters. Stone collection was slightly less at 500 cubic meters. With so many raw materials, they could now construct several buildings.

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