“Big brother, I brought you some food!” Xiao Yi ran all the way from home, holding a large wooden bowl in his hands. The bowl was still hot, so he set it down carefully. “Are you still busy, big brother?”

Cen An rubbed his wrists. There wasn’t much of the raw ingredients left in front of him, so he smiled. “I just finished. I’m actually getting a bit hungry.” 

“Phew… phew…”

Xiao Yi flashed a small smile and eagerly lifted the lid of the wooden bowl. “It’s not as good as what you make, big brother.”

A rich aroma of meat wafted out. Cen An looked closely: it was a bowl of steamed rice topped with half a bowl of braised pork and a small head of blanched bok choy.

“Braised pork? Did you make that yourself?” Cen An was genuinely surprised.

Xiao Yi nodded shyly. “Big Brother prepared the spice mix—it was ready to use. I thought this might suit your taste better…”

“Mmm… mmm…”

Cen An ruffled his hair. That was quite an accomplishment for a seven-year-old. And he had an injury on his hand, too. He picked up the bowl and began eating heartily. It was true—after a busy day, he was absolutely starving.

After a few bites, something felt off. It was as if he’d forgotten something… “Huff… huff…”

The extremely noticeable sound of breathing didn’t stop for a moment. Cen An instinctively turned to look—speechless. Su Rui, that rascal, had actually fallen asleep! The whole village was busy, and this kid was sleeping!

Furious, Cen An walked over and pinched his nose. After holding his breath for a moment, Su Rui opened one eye, glanced at him, and drifted right back to sleep. 

Cen An: …

Forget it, why get angry at a single-celled organism like this… Wait, he suddenly remembered something and shook him awake. “Is your brother still living in the cave? Is he okay with the beast tide?”

Su Rui, his nose still pinched, mumbled, “You looking for him?” As he spoke, he flicked out a stream of air. About ten minutes later, a figure wrapped in wind came running over with a roar, “Brother Cen, you called for me?” The teenager suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes lighting up, “Braised pork!”

Cen An: “…Want to grab a bite?”

Yin Xiang nodded immediately. “Sure, sure.”

Cen An exchanged a helpless glance with Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi, his face expressionless, brought out another bowl—he’d originally brought the extra one in case his brother didn’t get enough to eat…

Yin Xiang wolfed down his meal, wiped his mouth, and seeing that his brother was still asleep, said with relief, “Brother Cen, you want me to help fight the beast tide, right? I get it. I’ll go right now!”

And with that, he dashed off again, vanishing in a flash. Cen An only had time to catch a glimpse of his retreating figure.

Cen An: …That wasn’t what he meant. He was just worried that the silly kid might be in danger out there in the mountains and forests all by himself… Still, his younger brother was far more sensible than he was.

If he’d said that to Yin Xiang, he would have replied, “Of course—his brother won’t get beaten up for saying the wrong thing. As for him, well…”

After finishing their meal, Cen An took a sip of the hot tea Xiao Yi had brewed for him, then got back to work.

The sun rose and set, and in the blink of an eye, five days had passed, bringing them to the sixth day of the beast tide.

A beast tide arrived, leaving the members of the ability-users squad utterly exhausted. Although they had White Grass Soup and various medicines, their fatigue was mostly mental.

Three days of relentless fighting had left many seeing nothing but a blood-red haze, whether their eyes were open or closed.

They had slain countless mutant beasts; the crystal cores alone had piled up bucket after bucket. All of them were transported back to the village, where they formed a small mountain at the ability-users squad’s base.

Several shifts of ability users from the village and the front lines had rotated in and out. Now, the people by Cen An’s side were Qu Yue, Tian Yuan, and Yu Lin, who had finally managed to find an excuse to return.

On the front lines were Zhao Wu, Yu Fei, Old Geng, Xiao Ji, Wang Jin, and Yin Xiang, who didn’t know anyone else.

Although the villagers didn’t have to go out and fight, three consecutive days of high-intensity work had left them mentally and physically exhausted.

The gathering team’s efficiency over the past two days has dropped significantly compared to earlier days. This isn’t because they’re slacking off, but because their energy simply can’t keep up.

Yet, not a single one of them had complained about the hardship or fatigue.

Everyone knew there was someone even more exhausted than they were.

Cen An hadn’t rested for three days straight. With the White Grass Soup, theoretically, as long as he had enough energy, he could go without sleep indefinitely. But just because his body could handle it didn’t mean his mind could—the constant mental strain over the past few days had even given him a headache.

Su Rui had long since lost the relaxation he’d felt during his stolen naps. He stood behind Cen An with a grim expression, shooting a dangerous glare at everyone who approached him.

Cen An couldn’t do anything about him, so he simply ignored him and asked in a hoarse voice, “How’s the situation up front?”

Tian Yuan felt a pang of concern and said softly, “No new mutant beasts have arrived for several hours now. This beast tide is almost over. Brother Cen, you should go rest. Leave the rest to me.”

In the past, beast tides in Yongning Village had always ended within three days, and the highest-level mutant beasts had never exceeded Level 3… This time, even the villagers were startled when they realized they’d managed to hold out for five days against a Level 4 mutant beast! It was nothing short of a miracle!

Cen An let out a sigh of relief, nodded, and added, “The new batch of vegetables is ready. Have someone deliver them.” He was speaking to Qu Yue, who quickly nodded in response.

At the front lines.

Xiao Ji deftly grabbed a crystal core and began absorbing its energy. Once his body was filled with the crystal’s frenzied power, he skillfully grabbed a white radish and took a bite, and the frenzied energy gradually subsided.

Although he was young, he had participated in the beast tides of the past two years and knew exactly what they entailed.

In past years, there was no such good fortune. If it weren’t for Boss Cen’s vegetables, their abilities would have gone haywire countless times.

And those medicines… Xiao Ji rubbed the wound on his chest, now reduced to just a faint mark. Without those medicines, who knows how many members of the ability-users squad would have died?

Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air. Xiao Ji instinctively dodged to the side. Clang! A sharp, thick quill slammed into the tree trunk beside him!

Xiao Ji’s body stiffened. A Level 4 mutant beast—the Flying Spine Porcupine! It was this very creature that had severely wounded him back then!

Realizing the danger, Xiao Ji immediately ducked for cover. He had already thrown the ground spike trap, and a stream of water appeared in his hand, engulfing the massive figure lunging toward him.

The figure resembled a hedgehog magnified countless times over; spines rained down from its body in waves, shooting out in all directions as countless whistling sounds filled the air!

Xiao Ji’s water current had already wrapped around the creature, but the gap between their Level 2 abilities was no joke. He strained to pull it back… but couldn’t budge it!

As the porcupine drifted farther from the trap yet closer to him, he could even smell the foul stench emanating from its body… Xiao Ji began to panic. He couldn’t possibly get injured by this beast again, could he? That would be so humiliating…

Suddenly, the weight in his hands lightened. The porcupine let out a wail as it was swept away by a powerful gust of wind, slamming hard onto the spike trap, its soft belly facing down… A piercing scream rang out as the spikes instantly expanded, turning this mutant beast—which had always been the one doing the piercing—into a sieve.

Yin Xiang landed lightly and examined the trap with a series of admiring clicks. “Brother Cen, this trap really works well. I wonder if he’d be willing to give me a few more…” Xiao Ji quickly pulled out his last two spike traps and handed them to him. “Thanks…”

Yin Xiang looked at him, grinned, and accepted them. “You’re welcome.”

Xiao Ji breathed a sigh of relief. If he hadn’t known this was also Brother Cen’s friend, he really wouldn’t have dared to approach him, even though the man had just saved him… He couldn’t shake the feeling that both of these brothers had an inexplicably inscrutable aura about them, which made him feel a little uneasy.

Second by second, the number of mutant beasts charging up dwindled, and the beast tide finally came to an end. Relaxed smiles spread across everyone’s faces; they were about to…

Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom!

A series of thunderous explosions, like mountains collapsing, echoed from all directions. Everyone instinctively looked around: it was those spots where the terrain had shifted earlier!

At the start of the beast tide, four pillars of light had shot skyward from those four locations, but aside from that, nothing else had changed. Everyone had been too busy fighting off the mutant beasts to pay them any mind.

But no one could have imagined that, just as the beast tide was about to end, these places would undergo another strange transformation!

The four pillars of light suddenly exploded with a deafening roar, revealing blood-red magical arrays, followed by the ground trembling violently…

In the dark room, the old man was as withered as a human-shaped piece of tree bark. He could barely even control his tongue, yet a gleam of sharpness flashed beneath his drooping eyelids as he mumbled, “The time has come… heh heh heh, thank you, Boss Cen…”

Beneath the wooden bed, a blood-red magical array suddenly lit up. As the light grew ever brighter, boundless vitality surged into his body, and his withered skin slowly began to plump up…

Xiao Ji’s face paled. “Why do I hear the sound of a massive horde of mutant beasts approaching?”

Yin Xiang’s expression also turned grave. Using his wind-elemental ability to lift himself off the ground, he looked into the distance. “You’re right. Hordes of mutant beasts are pouring out from those four locations. Their numbers… are even greater than the previous beast tide!”

“Impossible!” Wang Jin instinctively protested. “Those four locations combined don’t cover much area—where could so many mutant beasts be coming from?” 

“Teleportation array.” Yu Fei left those two words behind; his black robe flickered, and he vanished.

Zhao Wu naturally knew where he had gone and immediately said, “We can’t hold this position anymore. Fall back, shrink the protective perimeter, and return to the village!”

Back in the village, everyone had naturally noticed the commotion as well. Cen An, who had been about to rest, jumped to his feet. The frantic scurrying of countless mutant beasts from all directions made it seem as though an earthquake had struck.

“Beast tide? How could another beast tide be happening already?” 

“Wait, wasn’t it supposed to be over?”

“So many mutant beasts! Did you see that? There are even more than on the first day!” 

“Are we done for…?”

“Nonsense!” Qu Yue shouted. “If we could handle the first wave, why can’t we handle the second? There’s a limit to how many mutant beasts there are. Don’t forget, we’ve stockpiled so many supplies! Hurry up and get to work!”

As soon as he spoke, the villagers finally found their anchor. “Right, right, let’s get to work!”

“Exactly. With Boss Cen here, and the ability-users squad here, what’s there to worry about?”

“Not a single mutant beast has even set foot in our village yet—what’s there to be afraid of…”

The villagers immediately set to work, but things weren’t so simple for Qu Yue and the others. Those words were only meant to reassure the villagers; they knew full well what the reality was…

Several of them looked at Cen An in the center at the same time, their eyes filled with concern. He had always been soft-hearted; they hoped he wouldn’t put too much pressure on himself…

Cen An had no time to think about anything else right now. His mind raced: Where did all these mutant beasts come from? A teleportation array? Or an illusion device? He checked the status of himself and his friends—no debuffs. An illusion device was out of the question…

For the first time, the usually refined Mr. Cen let a string of curses fly in his mind: Damn it! There really are that many mutant beasts!

Here was the problem: although they had plenty of supplies left, they were barely enough to deal with these mutant beasts—if not a drop in the bucket, then at worst, a drop in the ocean. And with these mutant beasts swarming in from all directions, the gathering squad couldn’t even go out to gather resources anymore…

Without supplies, what would they use to make trap bait? Without trap bait, how would they deal with the mutant beasts…? Rely solely on manpower to wear them down? How many of their people would have to die!

Cen An closed his eyes slightly; a faint, throbbing pain in his head made it hard for him to concentrate, yet his expression grew even more composed. There had to be a way… Suddenly, a system notification popped up: 【You have collected all materials. Do you wish to upgrade the house?】

Cen An froze. Materials for upgrading the house? Hadn’t he collected them all a few days ago? Why was the system only sending this notification now? Just as he was about to reach out to dismiss it, he suddenly sensed something was off…

If he remembered correctly, the first house upgrade would grant a feature: a protective shield!

Cen An’s eyes snapped open. How could he have forgotten this ability? It was the most useful ability in the early game!

Boss Cen jumped to his feet. “Sister Qu, notify the ability-users squad—tell them to return to the village immediately! Wang Lie, inform the villagers: no one is to leave the village. Remember, not a single step outside!”

Qu Yue and Wang Lie perked up. That tone of Brother Cen’s usually meant he’d figured something out! The two immediately replied, “Yes, Brother Cen!”

“Got it, Xiao Cen!”

Cen An paused for a moment, reached into his pocket, pulled out an item stone, and handed it to Su Rui, saying apologetically, “Could you do me a favor?” Su Rui’s face darkened even further. “I’m here to protect you. I’m not leaving.”

Cen An cleared his throat. “I promise, I’ll be perfectly safe from here on out—safer than you… Besides, no one else can do this but you. You know your ability is the strongest.”

Tian Yuan’s lips twitched, and he nodded in resignation—after all, he really couldn’t beat him.

This time, Su Rui didn’t get a big head from the praise. He looked at the prop stone. “Can you guarantee it?”

Cen An chuckled softly. “I promise. If there’s any danger this time, I’ll cook you braised pork for a whole month.” Su Rui mimicked his expression, curling the corners of his mouth slightly, and took the prop stone.

Cen An quickly outlined what he needed him to do. Su Rui nodded; it wasn’t difficult.

After he tore open a spatial rift and left, Cen An took a deep breath and returned to the little shack. A dark shadow flashed beside him, and Yu Fei suddenly appeared.

He seemed to have been rushing; he glanced at Cen An, and upon seeing he was unharmed, silently lowered his eyes. Drops of water dripped from the tips of his jet-black hair—sweat from rushing so urgently. It was hard to imagine just how fast he’d been moving to make a Level 5 ability user sweat so profusely.

Cen An didn’t turn around, however; he simply opened the system interface.

【Upgrade House?】

【Yes】

【House upgrading, please wait…】

Supplies in the courtyard flew into the air—countless pieces of wood and hay soared through the sky, all rushing toward the dilapidated shack… The sound of clanging and clattering filled the air as the shack transformed at a visible pace.

The Reality Protection System was still in effect; others could only see Cen An standing in place, looking somewhat puzzled. The ground trembled more and more violently; the beast tide was closing in…

Had about ten minutes passed? Twenty minutes?

Suddenly, Qu Yue and Wang Lie both ran back, followed by the gasping members of the ability-users squad.

“Brother Cen, we…”

Cen An made a shushing gesture, and the scene instantly fell silent. Time continued to tick by, second by second.

A member of the ability-users squad standing on the outer perimeter suddenly had the wooden talisman on her chest glow. Her eyes flashed with intensity as she flung an iron nail, impaling a purple-skinned frog.

Although it was only a Level 2 mutant beast, it was the first mutant beast to enter the village during the beast tide. This meant the beast tide was already very, very close to them…

Should they wait any longer? This young man, who had brought them so many miracles, didn’t seem to have a good solution this time…

The thought flashed through her mind, and the dashing female ability user curled her lip, casually plucking the crystal core from the purple-skinned frog. Why wait? I’d rather believe that Brother Cen can summon a bolt of heavenly lightning to strike down all these mutant beasts at once than believe he’s wasting our time making us wait idly, right?

Cen An simply stared intently ahead. The house upgrade was nearing completion, with broad leaves falling one by one in a neat line onto the roof… An ordinary little wooden house had taken shape.

The system suddenly erupted with a crude fireworks effect: 【Congratulations on successfully upgrading your house!】

【Your home has been upgraded. A new feature has been activated: “Protective Shield.”】

【Protective Shield: The Otherworld is fraught with danger. To protect your precious life, the Protective Shield feature has been activated. You may freely choose the shield’s protection range and even extend its duration as you wish. However, all gifts come with a price—you’ll need to prepare crystal cores.】

The description of the Shield was largely the same as in his previous life, except that “in the game” had been changed to “in the Otherworld.” Cen An glanced at it casually before closing the window. He turned to face the crowd, produced two handfuls of crystal cores with a flick of his wrist, and said just two words: “All set.”

The beast tide is coming, and the ability-users squad forbids anyone from leaving the village. These two pieces of news spread rapidly throughout the village in the blink of an eye.

The villagers hard at work in the small market were one thing, but those who hadn’t signed up—or who still didn’t believe Cen An—felt their blood run cold upon hearing the news!

“Did you hear? Did you hear? The beast tide is about to crash into the village!”

“Oh my! I told you this wouldn’t work. How could these people still trust such a young upstart…”

“What are we going to do now? The ability-users squad won’t let us out—we can’t even escape!”

“No way, we can’t just sit here and wait to die! The village is so big that the ability-users squad might not be able to keep an eye on every corner. Let’s sneak out!” 

“Right, let’s head in the other direction before the beast tide hits!”

“That makes sense…”

Next door to Aunt Wang, the man who always prided himself on being clever was thinking the same thing.

Without telling a soul, he quickly packed his belongings and hurried to the exit on the other side of the village.

On the way, he ran into a few others who were just as hurried, lugging their luggage. They exchanged glances, pretending not to know what the others were up to.

A few of them were even thinking: if they ran into the ability-users squad and were questioned, they’d push the person next to them forward and then take the opportunity to…

But to their surprise, there were no members of the ability-users squad guarding the village exit. Could it be that the “notice” they’d mentioned was really just a formality?

The group grumbled to themselves, but this worked out perfectly for them.

Without wasting a moment, they rushed out. Suddenly, a shout rang out from behind them: “Wang Damao, what are you doing?! You… you’re leaving the village?”

Yes, Wang Damao—that was the name of Wang Dasao’s neighbor.

Mrs. Wang had just seen Wang Damao sneaking out the door, so she hurried after him.

Since time was of the essence, Cen An hadn’t explained why the villagers weren’t allowed to leave. So, in Mrs. Wang’s simple mind, leaving the village equaled disobeying Young Master Cen’s orders—which meant bringing trouble upon the village.

So, Mrs. Wang immediately panicked and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Everyone, come quickly! Someone’s trying to leave the village!”

As it happened, their village was quite close to the small market, so villagers who heard the commotion rushed over immediately. “Oh my! Why are they trying to leave now?”

“You can’t go out! Boss Xiao Cen said so…”

“Quick! Grab them!”

Wang Damao saw things were getting out of hand, shoved the person next to him aside, and bolted out of the village entrance.

The person next to him stumbled from the shove, but once he caught his bearings, he too ran out, cursing all the way!

The group was feeling quite smug. So what if you don’t agree? So what if you try to catch us? We’ve still managed to get out! Hmph, you lot can just stay in the village and feed the mutant beasts!

Before their smug expressions could even fade, a sudden, terrifying change occurred!

The ground’s slight tremor suddenly turned into violent shaking. The surrounding vegetation stirred, a foul wind swept by, and the roar of a mutant beast rang out, followed by a second, then a third…

In the blink of an eye, countless mutant beasts burst forth from the surrounding mountains and forests!

The speed of these mutant beasts was far beyond what ordinary people could match. In the blink of an eye, these man-eating monsters were right before their eyes!

Wang Damao was so scared that his heart, liver, and lungs felt like they were about to jump out of his throat. He was afraid the ability-users squad would round him up to do manual labor. He’d been cooped up at home all day—how could he possibly have such reliable information?

He only knew a beast tide was coming—he had no idea it was approaching from all directions!

He stumbled back, his mind consumed by a single thought: “I have to get back to the village! I have to get back to the village! Help! Help—” Just a few seconds later, a massive protective shield suddenly appeared above the village.

This protective shield was like an upside-down bowl, enclosing the entire village. Wang Damao slammed into the shield with a thud. “What is this thing! Let me in! Ugh…”

A thick spike pierced his chest from behind. Wang Damao’s eyes widened in disbelief as he slid down the shield. He prided himself on his cleverness, yet in the end, he died because of it.

The mutant beast’s hooves came crashing down, sending a spray of blood flying from the ground.

The others who had followed him out fared no better; they were utterly helpless against the onslaught of the beast tide and were trampled into a pulp almost instantly.

The villagers inside the protective shield were horrified; they’d never seen anyone so eager to die!

Moreover, they still didn’t know what this protective shield was, yet the beast tide was about to crash through! Before their prepared screams could escape their lips, the next scene left them stunned—

The vanguard of the beast tide slammed violently into the protective shield, producing a deafening roar that shook their eardrums! The inverted bowl didn’t budge an inch! The leading mutant beasts, however, were literally crushed to death by their own momentum!

The second and third waves followed immediately… Driven mad by the sight of blood and flesh, the mutant beasts had lost all reason. Like moths drawn to a flame, they crashed into the protective shield, dying in wave after wave, piling up into mountains of corpses around the village.

The purple outer wall of the protective shield reflected the sunlight, resembling a fragile soap bubble, yet not a single crack appeared. The villagers who witnessed this scene were astonished, then fell silent, and finally, they cheered.

Even an elderly villager who had lived half a lifetime wept with joy. “We don’t have to be afraid anymore! We’ll never have to fear the beast tide again!” 

“Waaah, Boss Cen! It must be Boss Xiao Cen! He’s the one who told us not to leave the village!”

“That’s right! He’s saved our lives again—he’s saved the whole village!”

Sun Qiuhua hid in the crowd, clutching her son tightly with one hand, yet a smile slowly spread across her face. Yes, he’s saved our lives once again.