Chapter Twenty-Seven: Lin Ye’s Strange Behavior

Education, safety, survival... Mo Fangyuan had never given these things much thought while playing games. In his eyes, survival was ridiculously easy, and everything else even simpler.

As long as you had hands, that was enough.

If there was anything truly difficult, it was probably things that required brains, like redstone engineering, building, or PvP.

But after actually arriving in the world of blocks, Mo Fangyuan realized just how hard survival could be. The monsters he used to chase and hack down in the game had, in this world, turned the tables and become the masters, pinning the block people to the ground and doing as they pleased.

Though Mo Fangyuan could level up and had an inventory space akin to a small dimension, these abilities did little to change the dire straits his entire block people race found themselves in.

He wasn't the protagonist of some cheap wish-fulfillment novel, conquering the globe in a day and uniting the world in three.

The power of one person was ultimately limited.

"Steve, grant me the arm of a kirin..."

After his daily bout of over-the-top fantasizing, Mo Fangyuan got up as usual to have breakfast.

The sun rose in the east.

This was Mo Fangyuan's second month in this world. Aside from noticing the sun looked more angular and Yali more beautiful, not much else had changed.

Well, except that he was finding bald heads more agreeable the more he saw them.

The early farmer gets to till the fields.

Farmers were the first collective to ring the morning bell. Shouting "Long live farming!", they marched to the fields, rising at the faintest light of dawn, undeterred by wind or rain.

With the field guards on duty, the farmers could safely leave the city as soon as the sky began to brighten.

Without the company of games, Mo Fangyuan naturally lost the will to burn the midnight oil and finally realized his long-held dream of "early to bed, early to rise."

It was strange—though everyone was made of blocks, their fates differed.

Steve could shoulder a planet, punch through several Marses, ageless, immortal, resurrecting infinitely—more super than any superhero.

But people like Mo Fangyuan, of the same race as Steve, couldn't even defeat a single zombie.

You couldn't generalize about people's physical constitution.

"What a strange world..."

Most of the block kingdom's people now lived in apartment buildings. The abandoned little shacks had mostly been dismantled by Mo Fangyuan for building materials.

Looking down from a high place, the whole city looked like a development zone, vast tracts of empty land.

For Mo Fangyuan, who had long lived in densely populated cities, this was unsettling.

In his mind, a nation's strength was measured by its population and the size of its territory.

Naive, perhaps, but not entirely wrong.

The block kingdom, however, was neither populous nor vast.

"Your Majesty, here are last night's spoils!"

Yali approached Mo Fangyuan, carrying a small wooden chest, her head slightly bowed; the single strand of hair on her head sparkled in the sun.

Sunlight bathed her flawless cheeks, making her seem almost...

"Bah! What am I thinking!"

Mo Fangyuan assured himself that he was a person of pure morals and would never think such impure thoughts.

"I'll marry no one but a dragon girl!"

Mo Fangyuan declared that if she wasn't a dragon girl, he wasn't interested.

"There are three stacks of rotten flesh, one stack of bones, two stacks of spider silk, and half a stack of gunpowder..."

Whenever he had spare time, Mo Fangyuan would gradually select the brighter minds among the people and teach them mathematics and geography...

Though Mo Fangyuan had always been a poor student and clueless about many things, elementary school math was something he’d never forget.

"What a pity!"

He regretted his earlier choices bitterly.

In his previous life, he’d focused on Chinese, biology, and history—subjects that could be improved by rote memorization. But those were utterly useless in the world of blocks.

If only he’d played fewer games, maybe he’d be like the protagonists of those technological novels, developing industry and building Gundams!

Block people were born knowing how to read and speak, so language arts were nearly redundant.

As for history and biology?

Was he supposed to tell them that the First Emperor of Qin was their ancestor, and that they had five thousand years of history before this? Or perhaps research why block people never needed to relieve themselves?

The times had changed!

"Turn the rotten flesh straight into fertilizer and spread it, and make bone meal from the bones..."

Usually, Mo Fangyuan would use the rotten flesh they collected as fertilizer right away.

The bone meal, however, he stored for emergencies.

"Alright, you've been busy all day—you should get some rest," Mo Fangyuan said with a wave, indicating he understood.

"Yes, Your Majesty... Lin Ye seems a bit off. I don't know how to advise him. If you have time, could you check on him?" Yali mentioned Lin Ye's odd behavior just before leaving.

"Lin Ye?"

Mo Fangyuan remembered—wasn't that the young man who had accompanied him to the Eastern Great River region before?

"What happened to him?"

Mo Fangyuan had been quite satisfied with Lin Ye's performance in battle; he was a capable person.

Naturally, Mo Fangyuan paid attention to such people.

"I'm not really sure... Um, in your words, perhaps... he's a bit unhinged?"

Yali was uncertain herself.

"Forgive my ignorance."

Mo Fangyuan pondered.

Mental issues? That was serious. Left unchecked, he might lose a valuable worker—and Mo Fangyuan certainly didn’t want anything bad to happen to such an excellent laborer.

He made up his mind. He would pay Lin Ye a visit.

Carrying a bird whose species he couldn’t identify, Mo Fangyuan headed toward Lin Ye’s home.

"Ah! Being a king is exhausting—I have to play both father and mother, and even look after my subordinates' health..."

In this era, with humanity on the brink, orphans were common, and Lin Ye was one of them.

His home was in Unit 1, Building 1 on Kingdom Road—a place reserved for those who had made significant contributions to the block kingdom.

Knock, knock, knock!

Arriving at Lin Ye’s floor, Mo Fangyuan politely knocked on the door.

Click.

The door was closed but not latched, and it slowly swung open under Mo Fangyuan’s knock.

Curiously peeking inside, Mo Fangyuan was stunned.

Bathed in the morning light, the figure inside made him take back his earlier thoughts.

This was no potential crossdressing master—he was born for it!

When Heaven sends a crossdresser among men, it first bends his mind, whitens his skin, and refines his features!

Ahem, ahem!

Mo Fangyuan coughed twice—partly to alert Lin Ye to his presence, partly to remind himself to keep his composure.

"Hmm?"

Lin Ye’s head turned slightly, as though movement was difficult, but upon realizing it was the king, he became flustered.

"No need for formalities; I just came to check on you. Do as you wish."

Squawk!

Mo Fangyuan tossed the unidentified fowl onto the ground and shrugged.

The bird made a sound that was neither quite chicken nor duck.

"Your Majesty, I..."

Lin Ye hesitated, his tone a mixture of confusion, despair, and other negative emotions.

Just as I thought! He's definitely unwell—and seriously so!

Mo Fangyuan resolved that he must help this excellent tool... no, this excellent person recover.

"I heard from Yali. I don't know exactly what happened, but people have to live. You can't stay in the same place forever..."

"...No matter what difficulties you encounter, don't be afraid. Face them with a smile! The best way to conquer fear is to confront it!"

Mo Fangyuan, who had read plenty of "inspirational chicken soup" in his previous life, found it easy to handle a young man like Lin Ye, who had never been brainwashed by motivational phrases.

"Mm..."

Though still burdened by negative emotions, Lin Ye seemed a bit better than when Mo Fangyuan had first arrived. Mo Fangyuan didn’t expect to cure him in one go; his was an ailment of the heart, and rash action would only make things worse.

It seemed he would have to spend more time communicating with Lin Ye and strive to help him recover soon.

Mo Fangyuan left with a smile, while Lin Ye stood by the window, lost in thought.