Chapter Ninety-One: Journey to the Village

Mo Fangyuan tapped the little houses on the map that represented villages, bewildered.

Although the block people in this region had suffered the Zombie King’s bloody massacre, ten years of time had allowed the stubborn race to recover its vitality.

From the number of villages shown on the map, there were not exactly few of them. Add to that more than a decade of development, and as long as the old warrior went to seek shelter there, he should not die, should he?

The green hills remain, and there will always be firewood to burn.

Since the old warrior had been able to draw such a detailed map, he ought to have understood that truth as well.

But that was not something Mo Fangyuan needed to concern himself with, so he gave it little thought. What he needed now was a way to increase the population of the Block Kingdom.

After a week of travel to the east, they had only reclaimed the village in that small valley.

And there were only eighteen people there. Even if all of them were put to work around the clock, they still could not produce much in the way of resources.

“So we go deeper.”

This time, Mo Fangyuan’s bottom line was to add at least fifty new block people to the Block Kingdom. Fewer than fifty, and this expedition would count as a failure.

The supplies left for the village in the small valley were enough for them to last quite a while, so there was no need to worry about them for the time being.

Moreover...

“This new map gives a detailed record of eight real block people villages. If we bring them all under our banner, the number of people will be far more than just a two-digit figure.”

Pointing to the nearest village marked on the map, Mo Fangyuan smiled with confidence.

It was a village built on a cliff: dangerous, yet secure.

In truth, in order to survive on this land washed over by the Zombie King’s slaughter, these villages were almost all located in perilous terrain such as high mountains and sheer cliffs.

“Greetings, Old Village Chief!”

After a day and a half of travel, the soldiers of the field army had already arrived at the entrance to this cliffside village.

Because it was built between steep rock walls, the village’s entrance was a man-made stone tunnel.

There were only two ways to enter the village.

One was to jump down from the cliff and land on the backs of the villagers’ houses that protruded from the rock face, then enter the village along the tops of the houses.

The other was to enter through the village gate.

These natural and man-made defenses made the village as impregnable as a fortress.

But the shortcomings were obvious as well: the farming area inside the village was extremely limited, so food had to be gathered outside every day; and most of the village remained in darkness, requiring a large number of torches to provide light and prevent monsters from spawning within...

As soon as Mo Fangyuan and the others arrived, they were given a warm welcome.

The residents of the cliff village even prepared their specialty mushrooms into mushroom stew for the soldiers of the field army to enjoy.

Mo Fangyuan’s invitation for them to join the Block Kingdom was also readily accepted by the villagers.

The eight combat professionals clad in iron armor were proof enough that the Block Kingdom they spoke of truly existed.

Joining the Block Kingdom was the dream of every village block person, and for no reason other than the promise of a safe place to live.

“Take these with you for now. We’ll come back for you in a few days.”

That was what Mo Fangyuan said to the village chief after leaving a batch of supplies here.

He intended to subdue these villages in advance, then, beginning with the last one, bring them together one by one and pack them back to the Block Kingdom as a group.

After informing this village, the group pressed on without pause toward the second target village.

It was a village built halfway up a small mountain. The temperature was lower than on the plains, and the terrain was much the same as the old warrior’s village.

Compared with the first two villages Mo Fangyuan had encountered, this village was somewhere in the middle in terms of survival conditions.

Compared with the old warrior’s village, swallowed by snow, at least there were still people alive here.

Compared with the village on the cliff, it was already close to running out of food.

If Mo Fangyuan had come a few days later, this village might have been completely swallowed by the tide of history.

“Where is your village chief?”

These villagers had already begun throwing everything burnable into the furnace. Mo Fangyuan was curious: would their village chief not stop such a practice of drinking poison to quench thirst?

“He’s dead...”

“...”

The village chief was the core of a village, just as a king is the core of a kingdom and an emperor of an empire.

A village chief existed so that the village might prosper, its people live in greater happiness, and none come to harm.

An outstanding village chief could lead a village toward greater wealth and strength.

Unlike the corruption, rot, and inhumanity so common in his past life, the block world... or rather, the village chiefs of this era, were true village chiefs: the head of a village.

That “head” referred to an elder who was respected and revered, one whose knowledge, experience, insight, and character were all the highest among them.

In the block world, such elders would usually devote themselves utterly to the village’s development and safety, exhausting every ounce of their strength, and because of that, they were also the first to pass away...

And this village’s chief was already dead. Without a chief to direct and lead them, these villagers were like a scattering of sand.

If block people were not inherently simple, hardworking, and remarkably united and kind-hearted, then what might have surfaced here would not have been the light of human nature, but its ugliness.

“Then come with us to the Block Kingdom.”

“Thank you! We are deeply grateful!”

And so, the third village was successfully taken in.

After receiving their assent, Mo Fangyuan left behind a substantial amount of supplies and then headed for the next village.

By then, a week had passed since Mo Fangyuan arrived in the eastern river basin.

At night, while traveling according to the map left by the old village chief, Mo Fangyuan and the others found a small cave.

The cave entrance was narrow. After blocking the mouth with dirt blocks, everyone began to rest.

Crackle and pop...

The coal blocks burned as the soldiers sat around the fire, each lost in thought.

“Your Majesty, this is our current supply status...”

Five stacks of baked potatoes, two stacks of assorted meats, weapons, blocks...

Their stockpile was now close to the “five-three-two red line” Mo Fangyuan had set, and that was dangerous.

The “five-three-two red line” had been established by Mo Fangyuan based on the Block Kingdom’s current reserves, its production capacity, the combined combat strength of its combat professionals, and the situation posed by hostile monsters.

“Five” meant that fifty percent of the items carried by an individual combat professional or an entire combat unit had to be food.

This was because block people possessed a special constitution: once full, they could rapidly recover both health and stamina, which was extremely important for combat and survival operations.

Moreover, as the Block Kingdom’s productivity gradually rose and grain production no longer fell into negative growth, every combat professional became precious. Carrying fifty percent food was necessary.

“Three” meant that blocks should account for thirty percent.

Placing and breaking blocks was the block people’s specialty. In many situations, as long as one could overcome fear of monsters, blocks could be placed to withstand attacks, enabling both offense and escape.

The more skilled block people could even use rapid block placement to perform advanced maneuvers like “air walking” and “instant bridging,” humiliating their enemies in style.

“Two” referred to carrying weapons at twenty percent.

Iron weapons were fairly durable and not easily damaged, and block people could see the durability of their tools, allowing them to replace weapons before they were exhausted.

In addition, combat professionals could use that thirty percent allocation of blocks during battle, combining them into crude weapons.

Along the road, the field army had distributed many resources to the villages they passed, and now their own supplies were nearing the red line as well.

“Take the residents of the two villages ahead with us, and then we leave!”

Supplies were limited, and the Block Kingdom had no ability to establish a logistical supply line. Accepting those two villages in front of them was already the limit of what their carried resources could support.

Mo Fangyuan absolutely could not risk the lives of the soldiers.

As for those villages behind them, struggling miserably in the wind and snow, Mo Fangyuan could only apologize. He hoped they could hold out until the field army came again.