Chapter 35 – Clearing the Town

Chapter 35 – Clearing the Town

“Farmer?” Li Wanshan was stunned. “Is there such a profession?”

Cheng Yang explained, “There must be. The land transformed by the rules can no longer be used to grow crops. Look at those wildly growing trees – the soil must have undergone some changes. People can’t eat meat for every meal, so transforming the land to grow food will inevitably become one of the auxiliary professions. It’s just that this profession hasn’t appeared yet, and I can’t say for sure what the situation will be.”

Li Wanshan nodded in understanding.

Cheng Yang then left Li Wanshan in charge of the base and set out again for Huimin Town.

Huimin Town was only a little over a kilometer from Luofeng Village, and now a small part of the town had become part of Luofeng Village’s territory. Although the area was small, it ensured that no demonic beasts would appear on the road between Luofeng Village and Huimin Town.

When Cheng Yang arrived at Huimin Town, he was greeted by a scene of bustling activity.

Within a radius of several hundred square meters, Luofeng Village’s combat professionals were busy everywhere. They were sifting through the rubble, searching for both survivors and supplies, including food and wood.

Many of the combat professionals stopped what they were doing to greet Cheng Yang as he passed, their words filled with respect. While not everyone’s respect might be genuine, most were sincerely grateful to Cheng Yang, as he had saved their lives.

After walking just over a hundred meters, the situation changed dramatically. This area was outside Luofeng Village’s territory, and monster groups were scattered throughout. The combat professionals only dared to move in groups here, their eyes darting nervously as they whispered to each other, afraid of alerting the monsters.

Fortunately, the area was full of rubble that provided plenty of cover. As long as they were careful, they could avoid detection by the demonic beasts.

Cheng Yang first found Yu Kai’s team, who were also busy searching for supplies. While killing monsters was beneficial for improving strength, most people still instinctively avoided danger unless absolutely necessary, especially when dealing with groups of demonic beasts.

“Yang, you’re back so soon? How did it go?” Yu Kai asked immediately upon seeing Cheng Yang.

Cheng Yang repeated what he had told Li Wanshan earlier.

Yu Kai said, “Then let’s focus on clearing Huimin Town first. I heard from some of the townspeople that there used to be two lumber mills here. After the earthquake, they were buried, and their locations seem to have shifted. The scattered wood we’ve been finding probably came from those mills. If we can eliminate the monster groups in town and conduct a thorough search, we’re bound to find something.”

This was exactly what Cheng Yang had planned. He immediately said, “Have someone notify everyone to gather here. We’ll act together. First, we’ll eliminate the monster groups with less than a hundred members, then I’ll deal with the larger groups.”

Cheng Yang then explained his tactics to Yu Kai. After listening, Liu Hao’s eyes lit up, and he quickly left with a few people.

Soon, over a hundred people gathered around Cheng Yang. They had gradually adapted to their new environment and waited silently for Cheng Yang’s instructions.

There were three teams in total, with a balanced distribution of professions. Except for only three priests, there were thirty of each profession, including the team leaders like Cheng Yang.

“During the battle, all summoners will position their summoned creatures at the front, alternating with warriors. Mages and archers will follow behind the warriors, with priests and summoners in the center. This is a team operation. I don’t want any individual heroics. If anyone’s actions cause losses in this battle, I will enforce Luofeng Village’s rules. You may think I’m harsh, but I’m doing this for your own good,” Cheng Yang said in a low voice.

The people in front remained silent but nodded in unison.

“Good. Let’s begin. The monster groups around us aren’t too large. Once we eliminate them, we’ll have more room to maneuver,” Cheng Yang said.

With that, Cheng Yang had everyone form up, staying in the middle of the formation himself. While this reduced his mobility, it helped the others accept his leadership.

Their first target was a group of about forty small imps. When the imps saw the large group approaching, they showed no fear and immediately charged, howling excitedly as if they saw the humans as food.

“Attack!” Cheng Yang barked, and the archers and mages immediately unleashed their attacks. Arrows and magic missiles flew towards the imps, and screams soon filled the air.

Cheng Yang wasn’t worried about the noise attracting other monsters. Different monster groups weren’t friendly with each other, and low-level monsters couldn’t communicate effectively. Even if other monsters heard the commotion, they wouldn’t come to investigate. Of course, if humans made such noise, that would be a different story.

The first volley only took down two or three imps, with others injured but still combat-ready.

For the imps, thirty meters was only a few seconds’ run. Cheng Yang’s group continued their attacks, and by the time the imps reached the summoned creatures, twelve or thirteen had already fallen.

The warriors’ defenses held up well, using their shields to block the imps’ charge. The shadow wolves, however, fought more chaotically, tearing into the imps without any strategy. Fortunately, the imps were equally mindless, and the two sides were evenly matched.

But with so many human allies, the imps were quickly overwhelmed. In less than a minute, all the imps lay dead.

After eliminating this imp group, the team had more room to maneuver. After resting for two minutes, they set their sights on the next target.

The battle continued for over an hour, and most of the monster groups in Huimin Town were eliminated. Only two groups remained, each with over a hundred members. Cheng Yang decided not to have the warriors and summoned creatures face them head-on. While losing summoned creatures was acceptable, losing warriors would be a heavy blow. Even though these people weren’t highly trained yet, those who had experienced some combat were far more useful than newly-transformed professionals.

Fortunately, Huimin Town was mostly cleared, allowing Cheng Yang to kite the large groups of monsters without worrying about being surrounded.

Cheng Yang repeated his earlier tactics, leading the monsters in circles while using his ranged attacks to pick them off one by one.

When the monster numbers dropped to seventy or eighty, Yu Kai and the others organized the main force to surround and eliminate them.

By around 7 PM, Huimin Town’s ruins were completely cleared. Although a few demonic beasts occasionally respawned, they were quickly dispatched by the numerous combat professionals.

Cheng Yang’s gains were undoubtedly the largest. The spiritual energy he obtained was nearly half of what everyone else combined had earned, bringing his total to over 1,800 points. The others averaged less than 10 points each, which was understandable. Cheng Yang could kill these demonic beasts with a single attack, while others needed seven or eight hits, not to mention issues with accuracy and mana consumption.

With Huimin Town cleared, Cheng Yang no longer needed to stay. A large number of people would remain to search the ruins for supplies, which would sustain Luofeng Village for some time. Most importantly, they would find the wood that the village desperately needed.

Cheng Yang then led his team back to Luofeng Village, while Yu Kai and Niu Bing stayed behind with their teams to continue working in Huimin Town’s ruins.

By the time Cheng Yang returned to Luofeng Village, it was already dark. He went to the profession statue and checked its attributes, finding that the upgrade progress was complete. Without hesitation, he selected the next upgrade option. After this, Luofeng Village still had about 1,300 points of spiritual energy remaining.

The reason for this abundance was mainly due to Luofeng Village’s upgrade. The newly expanded territory, including Huimin Town, was mostly untouched land that provided spiritual energy for the village.

Cheng Yang estimated that this high yield would continue for a few more days, until the large monster groups around Luofeng Village were cleared.

After closing the profession statue’s attribute panel, Cheng Yang realized that today’s gains weren’t limited to spiritual energy. They had also collected a significant amount of wood. Whether by divine design or coincidence, logs from Huimin Town’s two lumber mills were scattered throughout the ruins. While hard to find, with over a hundred people thoroughly searching the town, they managed to collect over thirty large logs, totaling about 170 cubic meters.

Combined with the forty cubic meters found yesterday, they now had over 220 cubic meters of wood – enough to build two shops with some left over.