Chapter 102: Regime

With a blue loot bag, a green one, three white ones, 114 pieces of rotten flesh, 148 bones, 194 spider silks, and more, Mo Fangyuan had cleared every elite monster in that black forest after only half an evening of relentless labor, the flames reducing the dark woods to scorched plains. “Withdraw!” His inventory overflowed with drops, so he needed to return and store the items before opening the loot bags. “HAHAHA! Yes! This might truly work!” At the dead of night, ghostly howls emanated from Old Fu’s modest house, startling the neighbors who hurried up and down the stairs to inquire after their parents. Old Fu sat upon a wooden office chair, clutching a thick document, his complexion ruddy yet his eyes bloodshot as he spoke with solemn conviction. “The Block Kingdom’s situation now fully permits a military-style management and a state-orchestrated system! The people shall obey the state’s directives directly; the state shall assign labor, distribute rations, and issue tasks…” He had found a breakthrough at last! Returning to the Block Kingdom, Mo Fangyuan first visited the grand royal warehouse. Rows of chests stood in orderly array, segregated by stored goods into block zones, plant zones, mineral zones, miscellaneous zones, and more than a dozen other sectors. Over a thousand chests filled the vast repository, their contents the bedrock of the kingdom’s future strength. Handing his loot to the on-duty attendant, Mo Fangyuan summoned once more the “Yellow-Black King of Good Fortune,” hoping this entity might grant him a measure of fortune. Five bags were torn open simultaneously, dozens of luminous rays cascading to the ground like autumn rain. A blank book, three vines, an iron lock helmet, fourteen lapis lazuli stones, and more. Lapis lazuli, a vibrant blue ore discoverable at sixty layers underground, served as the indispensable medium for any enchantment; without it, the rite would fail utterly. Lacking both enchanter and enchantment table recipes, the ore and its bottles lay piled in the warehouse, untouched by mold and utterly valueless. Seventeen redstone blocks. “Damn it, yes!” Mo Fangyuan could scarcely believe he had unearthed gold nuggets in the very heart of a forsaken mire. Two blades of grass, four half-stone bricks, four jungle woods, and a single golden apple. “Luck has burst forth!” A golden apple restored five hunger points upon consumption, matching an ordinary fruit, yet it also bestowed two minutes of damage absorption I (four points absorbed) and five seconds of life regeneration II (one health every twenty-five ticks, equaling two health per second multiplied by point four, totaling four health recovered). An essential restorative for combat. Crafting was straightforward; the kingdom possessed the recipe requiring eight gold ingots and one apple. Yet no professions existed to produce them, rendering the materials and instructions as futile as blueprints for aircraft carriers, rockets, or nuclear weapons given to an agrarian realm. Blueprints without genius, materials without might—mere air castles unsupported by soil. Two pistons. A piston, redstone-driven and activated to thrust the block ahead, formed the cornerstone of nearly every mechanical construct in the redstone arts. Five iron ingots, seven spider silks, four cocoa beans. Nothing else. Fortunately, two truly useful items had also appeared, sufficient to offset the loss. Presenting the haul to the attendant, Mo Fangyuan departed beneath their fervent regard. The kingdom possessed no clock recipe and could not discern precise time, relying instead on the sky for estimation. Snowflakes drifted lazily through the void, the heavens remaining pitch black. Mo Fangyuan believed he might still steal a few hours of restorative slumber. Although he could remain awake indefinitely, such toil would leave him dizzy and wretchedly pained. “Law, law…” Seated upon a crimson great bed, Mo Fangyuan’s thoughts drifted into emptiness, veering into rambling speculation. “Rape… fourteen years of age… three years’ imprisonment… highest penalty of death… first-night rights…” It was universally known that in this block world, females matured at fourteen and appeared strikingly two-dimensional, implying… “Nobles of the kingdoms, what opinions have you formed regarding the political order?” Mo Fangyuan bore dark circles from his exhaustive labor the previous day. By coincidence, Lin Ye shared the same shadowed eyes, having pondered governance long into the night. Lao Duan had lain awake, unable to rest. Yali had rarely engaged her intellect the previous evening. Lao Fu, however, had not slept at all, his mind teeming with countless schemes and his eye circles the darkest of all, blacker even than the pits beneath dumplings’. Among those assembled, only Zhang Lingyun retained clear eyes. “What ails you all? Why do your eyes look so shadowed?” The unsuspecting Zhang Lingyun ventured the foolish question. “Attend to your own affairs; sit quietly and listen!” Lin Ye rebuked her sharply. “My lord, a few concepts from the trial grounds strike me as potentially useful… Monarchy, parliamentary system, presidential system…” “Perhaps an open policy could be trialed, allowing the people to engage actively in political life, deepening their comprehension and allegiance to the state, thereby bolstering their resolve against the monster hordes…” Lin Ye laid her reference notes before them as a formal document. “Mmm…” Both Lin Ye and Mo Fangyuan knew little of governance, their understanding superficial. “My lord, I have prepared several proposals!” Lao Fu presented a thick dossier, evidently having planned meticulously. Upon Mo Fangyuan’s nod of assent, he began. “My lord, our Block Kingdom’s precarious circumstances render such open policies entirely superfluous. Lin Ye’s notion of openness would prove useless, merely rekindling memories of past shadows and reigniting terror of the monsters. Moreover, no neighboring block kingdoms exist; we must rely solely upon ourselves and require no foreign diplomacy.” Lao Fu launched a scathing critique of Lin Ye’s ideas, dismissing them as utter nonsense. Lin Ye offered only an awkward smile; she truly understood nothing of politics. “My lord, the Block Kingdom now stands in grave peril!” Lao Fu tapped the kingdom map upon the conference table for emphasis. “Zombie Kings, Skeleton Kings… and the Pig Empire born of Hell!” The western reaches remained unknown, yet the northern and eastern domains had been scouted. “These monster forces cannot be overcome presently! The Block Kingdom must brace for catastrophe; should their scouts discover our whereabouts, they may descend upon us, rendering our fate inevitable!” The world was inherently a realm of monsters—a truth block people could no longer deny. Every monster empire dwarfed its block counterparts by far more than a mere star or two! Even though block folk could scarcely wound them, all believed those forces would disdainfully crush an insect without compunction. “Thus, what we lack most is time—the time to forge the Block Kingdom’s might!” Lao Fu shed the shackles of his age, radiating the aura and wisdom of a political visionary. “Therefore we must advance with urgency! Develop at the utmost speed! Only then can we hope to contend with the monster forces!” With the enemy revealed and ourselves concealed, survival lay possible, yet concealing a populous kingdom beneath the very gaze of monstrous powers was patently impossible. The Block Kingdom must therefore expand swiftly, before discovery.