Chapter 91 – The Military Camp

As they traveled, Cheng Yang continuously slaughtered the demonized beasts they encountered along the way. Liu Xiyue, following closely behind, wasn’t idle either, constantly using her Holy Word technique to eliminate any stragglers.

It must be said that Liu Xiyue’s Holy Word technique was the perfect assassination method. When she attacked, her lips barely moved, showing no visible signs of casting. Yet every demonized beast she targeted died without exception.

Although this was only the earliest stage of Liu Xiyue’s growth, the power of her Holy Word technique combined with her heaven-defying luck was already showing its potential. For ordinary combatants just starting out, it would take two or three people working together to kill a single early-stage Tier 1 demonized beast, and even then, the tank would lose some health. But Liu Xiyue was completely different – her battles could only be described as moving through a field of flowers without touching a single leaf.

Fortunately, this skill was single-target. If it were an area-of-effect ability, it would be completely broken.

Cheng Yang thought that if the growth coefficient of her magical attack didn’t decrease in the future priest development system, Liu Xiyue’s power would be unparalleled. But if her attack power growth was limited, this skill wouldn’t be too overpowered. After all, if her attack power couldn’t surpass her opponent’s, the skill would be useless.

Since Liu Xiyue stayed close to Cheng Yang and they were far ahead of the main group, no one noticed that a large portion of the dead demonized beasts were her doing.

Liu Hao, walking alongside Li Wanshan in the main group, couldn’t help but ask, “Captain Li, do you think the lord has some interest in Liu Xiyue? I’ve never seen him so attentive to any girl before.”

Li Wanshan chuckled, “You’re overthinking it. Didn’t you all suspect the lord had feelings for Wang Lu before? How did that turn out? Don’t think too much about it, just focus on killing monsters.”

Liu Hao muttered, “I actually hope Yangzi ends up with this campus belle. They’d make a perfect match!” But his voice was so low that Li Wanshan and others didn’t hear him.

In fact, Liu Hao wasn’t the only one with such thoughts. Many in the large group following behind speculated whether Cheng Yang had special feelings for Liu Xiyue, given how beautiful she was.

Cheng Yang naturally didn’t know about these discussions behind his back. Even if he did, he would have just laughed it off. In this cruel apocalypse, survival was what mattered most. Why bother with others’ gossip?

Since Cheng Yang had already cleared this stretch of road in the morning, there were no large groups of demonized beasts, making their journey quite smooth.

If not for needing to accommodate the untransformed civilians and combatants carrying lumber, they could have moved much faster. But with these people, it took nearly five hours to cover thirty kilometers. If not for the life-threatening danger of falling behind, some civilians might have dropped out.

When they reached Dongshan Village, the sun was nearly setting. Cheng Yang immediately had Yu Kai use the transported lumber to build walls before allowing others to undergo their transformations.

They had brought about four hundred units of lumber this time. After building the walls, there was still some left over, which Yu Kai used to construct Level 1 residences.

After arranging things here, Cheng Yang had Liu Cheng’en stay with the eighty newly transformed combatants while he led the rest back to Luofeng Village.

Dongshan Village wasn’t like Xianghe Village. While Xianghe had convenient transportation with Luofeng and could receive timely support in case of danger, Dongshan would have to fend for itself for a long time. Therefore, necessary supplies were crucial. Cheng Yang planned to return tomorrow to bring more people and resources.

Back in Luofeng Village, Cheng Yang had everyone attend to their own tasks while he took stock of the day’s gains.

Cheng Yang was most concerned about lumber and stone. As for spiritual energy, with the Blood Altar dungeon providing nearly seven thousand points daily, he didn’t need to worry.

In recent days, more combatants in Luofeng Village had obtained logging and quarrying tools. Combined with Cheng Yang raising material purchase prices, everyone’s enthusiasm for gathering resources had greatly increased.

Yesterday’s lumber harvest had reached 700 units, but after sending 400 to Xianghe Village, there wasn’t enough left for construction. Today’s harvest had increased again, finally breaking through to 900 units. Even after sending 400 to Dongshan Village, there were still 800 units left – enough to build a useful structure.

Stone quarrying hadn’t been going as well. Unlike lumber, stone required suitable quarry sites. Around Luofeng Village, only two such sites had been found, each accommodating only about a dozen people. Daily production was only about two hundred units. While this was enough for building construction, the real demand for stone came from road building. For that purpose, this output was a drop in the bucket.

Cheng Yang opened the territory’s attribute page. After some consideration, he decided to build the military camp first. In terms of practicality, the mission hall would have been more useful, but without formal military ranks, one couldn’t accept missions there. This was a divine rule that even Cheng Yang, as lord, couldn’t change.

After Cheng Yang chose to build the military camp, a white light suddenly appeared in an empty area south of the altar. When the light faded, a massive structure stood there, resembling an ancient military camp.

In any territory, the military camp was an absolute restricted area. Only military members or high-ranking officials could enter. But since this camp wasn’t officially operational yet, there were no restrictions.

Cheng Yang stepped inside, carefully examining the camp’s structure.

This was Cheng Yang’s first time entering a military camp. In his previous life as a mercenary, he hadn’t had access. His knowledge of camp layouts came mostly from hearsay.

This was only a Level 1 military camp, covering about forty thousand square meters – roughly the size of several football fields.

The camp was surrounded by a two-meter-high wooden fence. Inside, to the left were rows of barracks, while the right side held the training grounds.

There were fifteen barracks, each capable of housing about a hundred people.

The training grounds were completely different from modern military ones, resembling ancient training fields but with some differences.

The grounds had weapon racks, sparring platforms, and targets – all prepared for combatant training.

At the center of the camp stood a relatively grand three-story building – the camp’s command center. This was where officers managed the camp and rested.

Here, camp administrators could recruit combatants as soldiers or discharge them. Soldiers could also be promoted in rank here.

As Luofeng Village’s lord, Cheng Yang naturally wouldn’t take on a soldier’s role in the camp. He wasn’t like some Ming Dynasty emperor who, despite being the empire’s ruler, insisted on giving himself a grand general title. To Cheng Yang, that was nonsense.

Cheng Yang temporarily left the position of camp commander vacant, planning to appoint Niu Bing to the role. His straightforward personality made him well-suited for the position. But since Niu Bing was currently leading his team on a sweep outside, this matter would have to wait.

In the central building, Cheng Yang opened the camp’s attribute panel:

Cheng Yang had heard about military camp attributes in his previous life. For him now, the most urgent matter was increasing camp efficiency.

A camp’s efficiency reflected its strength and activity level, relating to the number of stationed soldiers, their ranks, and training ground usage.

This efficiency system meant military camps would become increasingly important later on. Take the barracks for example – as a Level 3 village, Luofeng could build Level 3 residences offering 30% cultivation speed boost. The Level 1 camp barracks only offered 10%. Without considering capacity and cost, residences would be better.

But as camp levels increased and efficiency grew, the doubled effects could make the bonuses quite substantial, potentially surpassing residences.

PS: Seeking recommendations and collections…