Chapter Forty: White Eyes?

“Your Majesty, all thirty-eight villagers are assembled.”

The villagers displayed wisdom; not a single one chose to stay behind. That would have been waiting for death. Most of their supplies had been burned to ashes, leaving almost nothing to take along. Thus, everyone finished packing quickly, traveling light and moving at a brisk pace. Following the path Mo Fangyuan had previously taken, it took only half a day to skirt around the small valley.

The spawn mechanics in this world are rather peculiar. If a Blockman stays in one place for just a day or two, monster spawning remains at its usual, low rate without any increase. But once their stay exceeds two days, the spawn rate rises sharply, stopping only when it matches the number of residents in the encampment. This entire process takes only half a day!

Blockman scholars refer to this phenomenon as “Settlementization.” The Blockmen often gauge the depth and strength of a community’s settlementization by the efficiency at which monsters spawn there. It is said that once settlementization reaches a critical point, some unexpected change occurs in that community. Perhaps the people become generally smarter, or their physical fitness improves overall, but these are only Blockman speculations. No one knows for certain what change occurs.

“How are the immigrants faring with food?”

“They can eat their fill now. Their spirits have lifted somewhat.”

“That’s good. Once we return to the Block Kingdom, their anxieties should abate.”

Fortunately, Mo Fangyuan had brought three batches of roasted potatoes when he came. Otherwise, with so many immigrants left without food, some might have starved to death before reaching the Block Kingdom. If anyone died of hunger, morale would plummet further, and unexpected incidents would likely follow.

Blockmen’s need for food is even more severe than humans’ need for water. Humans can survive at least half a week without drinking, but if a Blockman’s fullness drops to zero and they don’t eat, they cannot last even a single day.

Every Blockman has both a hunger bar and a health bar. If their health reaches zero, they die. If hunger hits zero, they begin to lose health automatically. Blockmen usually have only twenty points of health, and that amount can be depleted in half a day; after that, hunger alone can claim their life.

“At this pace, we’ll need at least another day to reach the Block Kingdom…”

“Three batches of roasted potatoes, nine per person per day, and thirty-seven people left…”

Mo Fangyuan had never passed math in his life. Even calculating this simple multiplication and division required all ten of his fingers.

“Damn… That’s not nearly enough, and I haven’t even counted myself and Lin Ye…”

He scratched his head.

“Lin Ye, I’m giving you a task. Head back to the Block Kingdom first. Bring five batches of roasted potatoes to this spot and wait for us…”

“Remember, you need to hurry. I have faith in you!”

After marking a black triangle on the map near the Block Kingdom, Mo Fangyuan solemnly handed it to Lin Ye.

This was the first time he’d encountered the awkward situation of immigrants running out of food.

“Make a note, circle it—never make such a rookie mistake again…”

Lin Ye set off, and Mo Fangyuan was left to protect the remaining thirty-seven immigrants alone. The pressure increased significantly.

Night fell in the blink of an eye.

The immigrants built campfires across the plains for light. Usually, Mo Fangyuan would stand at the center of the group and give a speech to boost morale, but with Lin Ye gone, he couldn’t do that.

“Am I a king, or a babysitter?” The question echoed in his mind once more.

“Oh well, a babysitter it is! Maybe caring for this unruly lot is truly my destiny…”

In his previous life, whenever Mo Fangyuan encountered a village in a game, he would act like a bandit—digging up whatever he found, slaughtering any animals in sight. If he was in a bad mood, he’d find a shady merchant to chop down a bit…

In any case, nothing good ever happened when Mo Fangyuan entered a village. Thinking back now, perhaps this was a kind of punishment for himself.

“Roar! Roar!”

Out in the wild, monsters didn’t spawn quickly; only densely populated settlements saw a rapid spawn rate. So it took more than half an hour after nightfall before the first zombie appeared.

“Roar, roar! Roar!”

But this zombie hadn’t even declared its arrival to the moon before Mo Fangyuan struck it down with a single arrow.

Monsters must die!

This was a consensus shared by all Blockmen. In such an era, not a single Blockman harbored goodwill or mercy toward monsters. If given the chance, even the most timid Blockman would fantasize about killing any monster they saw.

“Raaagh!”

“Hiss! Hiss!”

“Crack! Crack…”

By night’s end, quite a few monsters had spawned, but fortunately, they appeared one at a time with long intervals between, making them easy for Mo Fangyuan to handle.

“If all the monsters spawned tonight had come at once, I wouldn’t hesitate—I’d simply run!”

With the sunrise, Mo Fangyuan led the immigrant party onward.

“There’s only enough food for tonight. Let’s hope Lin Ye reaches the rendezvous point.”

Of course, if Lin Ye didn’t make it, Mo Fangyuan had other contingency plans.

The map he held marked the locations of various resources, including animals. Mo Fangyuan adjusted their route so they’d pass through some animal herds. If resupply never arrived, he’d simply hunt the animals for meat.

Of course, this was the worst-case scenario. Mo Fangyuan sincerely hoped not to slaughter those animals, as such short-sightedness would only reduce the resources available to the Block Kingdom in the future.

“Speaking of animals, the Block Kingdom currently only has a chicken farm and a sheep farm…”

The main reason being that only chickens and sheep existed within the kingdom.

“With thirty-seven people, the labor force for other tasks should still be sufficient…”

Thinking it over, Mo Fangyuan decided he ought to establish other farms when he had time, especially a cattle ranch. In the block world, cattle were considered “universal currency” among animals.

“No rush, I’ll wait and see.”

After all, there were plenty of villages in the area, and he’d be visiting many more times. There was no need to hurry.

Thud, thud, thud.

Footfalls in the grass made soft sounds as he stood atop a small rise and glanced back. The immigrant party stretched out in a long, winding line. He couldn’t fathom how thirty-seven people managed to string themselves out so far.

“Let’s stop here and rest. Wait for those lagging behind to catch up!”

There was still some distance to the destination, but with time on their side and the promise of arriving before nightfall, Mo Fangyuan allowed everyone to rest and drink some hot water.

“Drink plenty of hot water!”

Daytime held little danger, so Mo Fangyuan went ahead to scout. Though this area had been surveyed many times, he felt restless and decided to wander about.

“Baa! Baa, baa, baa!”

Not far ahead, to the right—precisely the route Mo Fangyuan had planned as a last resort in case supplies failed—a flock of sheep jostled and milled, thoroughly engrossed in their playful chaos.

The rams, in particular, competed fiercely, some even getting knocked over in the scuffle. Mo Fangyuan knew they were showing off their strength to win the favor of the ewes and gain mating rights.

This was a hallmark of the block world: animals could mate year-round.

“I wonder if humans are the same… Bah! What am I thinking?”

Mo Fangyuan realized he’d become increasingly prone to wild thoughts lately.

“Hmm? What’s that?!”

For a split second, he thought he saw one sheep’s eyes glowing even paler than cataracts, white light streaming from its gaze.

Suddenly, that sheep jerked its head up and fixed him with a cold, eerie stare, seemingly locking eyes with him.

Mo Fangyuan quickly rubbed his eyes and looked again—only to see an ordinary sheep.

“Am I going blind?”

“This is really bizarre…”

He felt a chill run down his spine.