Early in the morning, sunlight bathed the land. The night’s dampness hadn’t yet faded, and the temperature wasn’t too high. Mao Zhengwang hadn’t slept a wink all night.

Liao Wanwan was indeed thoughtful; the empty house she found for him was excellent, and the wooden bed was covered with a thick layer of dry straw.

But he had just experienced the destruction of his village and the loss of his people; every time he closed his eyes, he saw scenes of bloodstained ground, and in the end, he couldn’t sleep.

The dew on the grass had not yet dried when Mao Zhengwang pushed open the door and stepped out. A young ability user approached him with a smile. “Awake so early?” Mao Zhengwang knew this man was assigned to watch over him, and he understood the necessity of it, so he simply nodded.

Wu Lihui asked, “Are you hungry? Shall I bring you something to eat?”

Mao Zhengwang was taken aback. “You actually provide meals?”

Food was so precious. If yesterday’s meal had been a kind gesture from these people because he’d happened to stumble upon their gathering, then what was the reason today? Could Yongning Village really be so wealthy that it could afford to feed just anyone they picked up off the street?

…Suddenly recalling the vast vegetable fields he’d seen yesterday, he fell silent. It wasn’t impossible, after all.

“It certainly won’t be as lavish as yesterday’s meal,” Wu Lihui chuckled. “But we can definitely provide all the wild greens and mushrooms you want.”

With the vegetables provided by Cen An, the consumption of wild greens and mushrooms has decreased. But the villagers are used to being hardworking; whenever they see them, they still pick them—and of course, they dry them and store them away.

To put it simply, every household in the village now has a substantial stockpile of wild vegetables and mushrooms. Many of the village elders had never seen anything like this in their entire lives; now they smile constantly, and the wrinkles on their faces seem to have multiplied.

Mao Zhengwang felt an even deeper sense of envy. “Thank you so much. Once my injury heals, I’ll go out to gather some and bring them back.” Wu Lihui brought him a large bowl of vegetable and mushroom soup. It was a bit hot, and by the time Mao Zhengwang finished, he was covered in sweat. The villagers were also getting up; smoke rose from the chimneys, and the temperature began to rise.

Some villagers set off in groups to gather in the mountains. As they passed by, they called out to Wu Lihui, “Xiao Wu, aren’t you going with Boss Cen today?” 

Xiao Wu waved cheerfully, “Brother Cen isn’t going out today.”

“Alright then,” the dark-skinned villager said with a good-natured smile. “It’s not safe out there.”

Mao Zhengwang watched and remarked, “You guys really get along well.”

He had never imagined that ability users and ordinary people could get along like this. The way those villagers spoke to Wu Lihui was as if they were addressing their own younger relatives. It was completely different from the rigid divisions in Stone Spring Village.

Mao Zhengwang suddenly felt curious about Yongning Village: “Can I take a walk around the village?” 

“Sure,” Wu Lihui replied readily.

Mao Zhengwang began wandering around the village.

His lodgings were on the outskirts of the village. It had been dark last night, so he hadn’t gotten a good look, but today, with the clear blue sky and white clouds providing excellent light, he spotted the railing outside at a glance.

“This… this is…” He was stunned. It wasn’t that he’d never seen a railing before, but he’d never seen one on such a grand scale! Just within his field of vision, it must have been several hundred meters long, right?

“Does this railing enclose all the entrances to the village?” he asked, his voice trembling.

Wu Lihui replied immediately, “Of course not.”

Then, just as Mao Zhengwang was letting out a sigh of relief, he added, “Of course it encloses the entire village.” 

Mao Zhengwang: …

He drew a slow, sharp breath. H-how much wood would that take…

Suddenly, something caught his eye. The ground along the outer edge of the fence looked as if the grass had been pulled up—as if something had been placed there. A young woman was crouching down to examine it.

Just as he was thinking this, a black shadow darted forward, about to pounce on the girl from behind.

Strangers to this world are never insensitive to such things; his expression changed instantly: “Trouble!”

But just as the shadow hit the ground, a burst of flames erupted from the earth. Before it could even struggle, the shadow collapsed, billowing blue smoke. The girl turned around, picked up the corpse—a howling rabbit—extracted its crystal core, and tossed it aside without a second thought.

Xiao Wu was still looking around, “What’s wrong? What’s so bad?”

“N-nothing…” Mao Zhengwang wiped the sweat from his forehead—partly from the scare, and partly…

He didn’t recognize that trap, yet its power was staggering. And judging by the expressions of the Yongning Village residents, they likely had plenty more of these… Yongning Village was so close to Stone Spring Village, yet they’d never known Yongning Village was this formidable.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Is it okay that I saw this?” Surely traps like this were supposed to be kept secret?

Xiao Wu smiled. “Oh, that? It’s nothing. Everyone in the village knows about it.” The truly secret, deadly traps, however, are hidden deep within.

Mao Zhengwang wasn’t sure if he’d understood, but he nodded and headed toward the village.

He soon noticed that the roads in Yongning Village were exceptionally well-maintained, with a smooth, even surface that made it safe for the elderly and children to walk without fear of falling. He felt a pang of envy; his own grandmother had taken a fall on a rough path not long ago and had passed away shortly after.

No one in Stone Spring Village paid attention to such things. After all, the mountain trails were far more treacherous. Those who couldn’t make it up the mountain wouldn’t live much longer anyway—why would they care whether the village roads were in good condition?

As he walked along the smooth pavement, Mao Zhengwang was deep in thought when he suddenly heard the sound of an argument coming from ahead. He instinctively glanced at Xiao Wu and saw that Xiao Wu was even more curious than he was, craning his neck to look.

Mao Zhengwang was speechless for a moment. These people in Yongning Village really have some nerve…

He heard a villager up ahead say, “What’s wrong with you? I’m drying my grain here—why did you splash water on it?” 

Another retorted, “This is the village road—you’re blocking it to dry your grain, and you think you’re in the right?”

Mao Zhengwang’s hair stood on end. Grain! That was their very lifeline—once it got wet, it wouldn’t keep for long. This was bound to turn into a fight!

Please, don’t let this turn into a fight!

He was frantic, but he didn’t notice that the residents of Yongning Village who had gathered around weren’t the least bit worried.

Everyone wore expressions of pure schadenfreude, and before long, someone shouted, “The Administrative Team is here!” Another unfamiliar term. Mao Zhengwang turned to look.

He saw a man and a woman walking over together. The man kept scratching his head and looked a bit nervous. The woman appeared to be in her thirties, her expression calm yet stern.

Villagers nearby chuckled, “So Xiao Shi is out on a field assignment with Teacher Yu today?”

“I heard Xiao Shi messed up again and got punished by Team Leader Shi. He’s most afraid of Teacher Yu, so Team Leader Shi made him follow Teacher Yu around for a few days as punishment.”

A few bursts of laughter rang out from the crowd.

The villagers didn’t dislike Shi Jie anymore, but they were still eager to see him get into trouble.

Shi Jie’s face flushed red as he stole a glance at Teacher Yu’s expression. Seeing that she didn’t seem to have noticed, he relaxed.

Teacher Yu’s real name was Yu Hong. She was thirty years old and a low-tier Wood-type ability user. She had tried to revive farming many times before, but had always failed, wasting a lot of seeds.

After Cen An’s farm was opened to the public, Yu Hong had come forward on her own initiative, hoping to participate in the farming. Cen An chatted with her for a while and realized that although she had consistently failed, it was due to the issues with the soil in this world; she had accumulated sufficient experience on her own. So he allowed her to join.

Later, when the Administrative Team was formed, Yu Hong met the requirements, applied, and was naturally selected. Now, she serves as the team leader, with Xie Xiuping as her deputy.

The team members all respect her deeply.

Moreover, because of her extensive farming experience, Cen An once jokingly called her “Teacher Yu,” and the nickname caught on.

To be honest, Teacher Yu’s demeanor actually matched the nickname. Whenever Cen An saw her, he was reminded of the principal from his middle school days—the one with a stern exterior but a soft heart. Yu Hong walked over to the grain-drying area and said calmly, “Please explain what happened and what each side’s demands are.” Perhaps intimidated by her presence, the voices of those present grew quieter.

Like students afraid of being caught out, the villagers exchanged glances and mouthed their words to each other.

Both villagers hunched their shoulders and timidly recounted the sequence of events.

After listening, Yu Hong nodded and said, “Drying grain on the road does indeed cause inconvenience to others. However, the village had not previously established a rule prohibiting this, so no penalty will be imposed. We will add this to the regulations, but please do not do this again in the future.”

The villager drying the grain nodded immediately. “I only intended to dry it for the morning. I was actually going to pack it up on time; I didn’t mean to cause trouble for anyone.” Yu Hong turned to the other villager. 

“You got someone else’s grain wet, but since it wasn’t intentional, you only need to compensate them for their losses. You can take the wet grain home to eat yourself. Do you agree?”

The villager nodded as well, “Okay.”

Mao Zhengwang watched from the sidelines. His initial bewilderment had now turned to astonishment.

He had just remarked that he never expected the ability users of Yongning Village to handle even minor tasks like road repair… and now, he was witnessing something even more trivial.

Are ability users really this idle? Do they actually meddle in villagers’ disputes? And with such professionalism, too! Just look at the expressions on those two villagers’ faces—they’re both guilty and convinced!

Suddenly, a group of children came running over, pushing and shoving their way into the crowd. “Oh no, are we too late?” one of them asked. A villager laughed and said, “It sounds wonderful—be quiet, you little rascals!”

Mao Zhengwang was confused and turned to look at Wu Lihui, who smiled and said, “Just keep watching, and you’ll see.”

Just then, Yu Hong finished handling the matter between the two men and addressed them as usual: “I won’t say much else. Everyone has seen so many mediation cases lately; you should all understand what needs to be understood. The only thing I want to say is this: before you do anything, think about our leader—how would he handle it? Once you think about it that way, some things will become clear.”

If Cen An had been there, he would surely have refused with a mix of laughter and exasperation—how could this still be turning into a cult of personality?

But since he wasn’t there, the villagers found her words quite inspiring and began clapping once again. A few children clapped so hard their palms turned red—they adored the Leader and loved learning from him.

Yu Hong gestured for them to quiet down, and once the room had settled, she said, “Additionally, this incident has served as a wake-up call for us. The village currently lacks a place to dry grain. In the past, when everyone had little grain, we could dry it right in our own courtyards. Now that we’re better off, we need a larger space. I’ll report this to the Ability Squad, and I’m sure it won’t be long before we have a place to dry our grain.”

Her words were met with cheers.

Amid the cheers, Mao Zhengwang slowly stepped back out.

Previously, he had always compared Yongning Village to Stone Spring Village, but now he felt there was simply no comparison.

If they had enough crystal cores, the ability users in Stone Spring Village might have built roads too; if they could collect double the cash, they would have helped mediate as well.

But they would never think from the perspective of ordinary people, nor would they ever take the initiative to say, “I know you need a place to dry your grain, so I’ll build one for you.”

Mao Zhengwang began to doubt again. Could he already be dead? Was he in heaven now? He asked, “The mediation affairs group…”

Wu Lihui replied readily, “Brother Cen proposed setting it up. The staff members were all trained by him and Team Leader Shi. If you really want to put it that way, these people have simply inherited his philosophy.”

Mao Zhengwang fell silent for a moment, then sighed, “You guys are really lucky.”

Wu Lihui scratched his head. They thought so too.

At the Ability Squad base, Cen An had barely sat down when a cup of herbal tea was placed beside him.

Before he could even turn his head, he caught a glimpse of a figure darting away. He shook his head in exasperation—a water-type ability user, and now they were running faster and faster. He picked up the cup, took a sip, and asked, “Did Team Leader Shi call me here for a reason?”

Shi Long nodded, paused to think for a moment, then asked, “The Chief believes—how can we expand Yongning Village?” Cen An was taken aback for a moment and asked, “Expand? Do you mean increase its size?”

“Exactly,” Shi Long said. “A village becomes a town, a town becomes a city, a city becomes a prefecture… until it becomes a large-scale base.”

Cen An thought for a moment. “I don’t know much about these things. I’ve just heard before that the more people gather in one place, the more mutant beasts it attracts?” In other words: wouldn’t expansion bring some negative consequences?

“It’s good that you’ve thought of that, Chief,” Shi Long smiled. “But there’s one thing you haven’t considered: larger settlements also have better infrastructure and defensive works. Not to mention, there are those you’ve brought with you…”

He skipped over that part and instead presented Cen An with a mathematical problem: “During a beast tide, if each person in Yongning Village can kill an average of two mutant beasts, and we have five hundred people, as long as the number of mutant beasts doesn’t exceed a thousand, we have nothing to fear. Of course, with the traps and weapons provided by the Chief, the actual numbers will far exceed that…”

“So, if we have more people, and our infrastructure and defenses are improved accordingly, each person can kill an average of five mutant beasts. Then, even if the mutant beasts outnumber us five to one, we won’t have anything to fear.”

Cen An understood immediately—that was the power of numbers!

“Strength in numbers? That phrase fits the situation better than all my rambling.” Shi Long pondered it for a moment and nodded.

Cen An hadn’t realized he’d let that slip, so he quickly changed the subject and asked, “I see. But why did you ask me here today?”

Qu Yue, sitting beside Shi Long, chuckled. “Xiao Cen, if Yongning Village is to expand, we first need people. Where will they come from?” Cen An thought for a moment. “Mao Zhengwang? But didn’t he say all the villagers of Stone Spring Village were gone? He didn’t seem to be lying.”

Shi Long said, “I know he wasn’t lying. But the fact that he managed to escape safely means those people didn’t have an ambush set up on the outskirts. With over five hundred people in Stone Spring Village, it’s inevitable that others escaped as well. With Mao Zhengwang here, it’ll be easier for us to attract those people.”

Cen An thought for a moment and chuckled, “No wonder Team Leader Shi asked Liao Wanwan to find him an empty house and provide meals.”

Yongning Village wasn’t exactly poor these days, but they weren’t pushovers either. Mao Zhengwang might be injured, but he wasn’t bedridden—at most, they could find him a safer spot and let him forage for himself.

“Besides, we can’t handle too many people right now. The folks who escaped from Stone Spring Village are just the right fit, aren’t they?” Cen An’s eyes crinkled in a smile.

Shi Long and Qu Yue exchanged glances, and Liao Wanwan and the others behind them laughed. “Brother Cen always says he’s no good at this kind of thing, but in my opinion, he’s doing just fine. He figured it out so quickly. He’s way better than my dad.”

Team Leader Liao? Team Leader Liao wasn’t even there. Since he wouldn’t understand anyway, he might as well go up the mountain to hunt mutant beasts. Before, they had to throw away the meat after hunting, but now they could feed it to Dahei in exchange for rock crystals. Team Leader Liao said he’d been having a blast these past few days.

Cen An waved his hand and said, “I have something to say too.” He pulled out a piece of grayish-white wood.

It was the very piece Mao Zhengwang had given him yesterday. This type of wood was a specialty of Stone Spring Village, with a higher density than other woods. The villagers would cut a piece and wear it around their necks, praying that their bodies would be as sturdy as the wood.

Mao Zhengwang had fled for his life with nothing but the clothes on his back, so he gave Cen An this small trinket he’d been carrying.

“This is called oak. It can be used to make many tools. I really need it.” Cen An looked at everyone. He rarely said things like “I really need it,” and at first, the ability users present were itching to raid Stone Spring Village right then and there just to give it to him.

Oh, wait—Stone Spring Village doesn’t exist anymore.

Wait, that’s still not right. We in Yongning Village don’t loot things—ahem—we don’t loot things.

Cen An: “We don’t know what the purpose was of those who massacred Stone Spring Village, or if they’re still holed up there. But we can’t give up on the oak wood in that area.”

The crowd exchanged glances. Shi Long tapped the table lightly, his tone casual yet carrying a sense of gravity. “Whatever the leader wants, the Ability Squad will naturally provide.”

Everyone burst into laughter. “That’s right, Brother Cen, just relax and wait at home.”

Leaving the task of expanding the territory to the Ability Squad was the right move. Cen An now had two other major matters to attend to. The first was expanding the scale of the ranch.

It had been nearly half a month since the first barn was completed. The animals were adapting well—the chickens and ducks were laying eggs almost daily, and the rabbits were steadily gaining weight. He hadn’t encountered any major issues. It was time to build the second, third, and fourth… barns.

Second, if things go as he expects, the farm will level up in three days. After this upgrade, his farm will reach Level 4, and the crops unlocked at Level 4 are…

In short, two very important crops—and ones that require large-scale cultivation. So, here’s the problem: both of these tasks require manpower—a tremendous amount of it.

Of course, he could hire villagers for these tasks, and he’s sure they’d be happy to help. But there just aren’t that many villagers. Cen An now understands why Leader Shi was so eager to expand—there really aren’t enough people.

What’s even scarcer are the ability users.

Even the villagers had noticed that the number of ability users in the village had dwindled significantly recently.

This was to be expected, after all. A small caravan of five had just left, and a few days ago, Team Leader Shi had sent several wind-elemental ability users to investigate the area near Stone Spring Village.

Team Leader Liao has also led a group deep into the mountains. Since he’s been away these past few years, the village knows nothing about the conditions in the deep mountains (especially the mountains in the opposite direction from the Su Rui family’s home). Now that he’s back, it’s only natural for him to go and investigate.

Speaking of which, let me digress for a moment. Team Leader Liao really never seems to be home! Ever since Team Leader Shi first let him go into the mountains, it’s been at least half a month now, and he’s only come back once!

He just stopped by the village entrance, handed over the crystal cores, and left. Cen An ran after him and shoved a few bags of vegetables into their hands. He saw Xiao Ji trailing at the very back of the group—he looked like he was practically living off the land…

Snap, snap.

In short, with so many people gone, there are now only six ability users left in the village, at most. The villagers don’t know this, but Cen An can’t help but worry.

Snap, snap.

Worried about what? Naturally, he was worried about the mutant beasts and also about the group that had massacred Stone Spring Village. What could six ability users possibly do…

Crunch, crunch.

Cen An had had enough. “Can you stop eating already!”

Su Rui looked up innocently, crunching as he popped another sweet asparagus stalk into his mouth. “You’ve been getting angry a lot lately.” 

Cen An: …

He took a deep breath. “All you do is eat. Get to work!”

Su Rui pointed toward the animal shed: “I just caught a piglet and tossed it in there.”

Cen An kicked him. “Who told you to throw it in there? The small animal pen is only for small animals—pigs go in the large one… Never mind, I’ll build it in a bit. Bring a lamb over tomorrow instead.”

Su Rui finished crunching on the sweet asparagus, then slurped down a colorful tomato—who knows if he’d snuck off to pick it—and casually pulled something out of his pocket, tossing it over.

Cen An saw a piece of grayish-white woodland in front of him and perked up. “Oak? Where did you find that? Are there any around here?”

“I picked it up while I was catching the pig,” the Great White Wolf said after a moment’s thought. “It wasn’t exactly close by—I had to cross several mountain ridges, and I could smell the scent of burning.”

Cen An felt a bit amused—how could it be both “just happened to find” and “so far away” at the same time… Still, “That must be near Stone Spring Village. Sure enough, oak trees only grow there. Did you spot any people?”

“No.” Su Rui shrugged indifferently. “Even the animals have fled. It’ll probably be a while before things get lively again. Is this what you want? I’ll chop it all down for you tomorrow?”

“Hold on a second.” Cen An quickly grabbed his arm. “Let’s wait until Shi’s team finishes gathering intel. We don’t want to tip them off.”

“Even though there’s no one here now, there’s no guarantee those people won’t come back to check. We should just listen to what the professionals have to say.”

Seeing that he wasn’t angry anymore, Su Rui leaned in. “Tonight, can we have cold-served winter melon rind again?”

Cen An: “…All you ever think about is food!” Su Rui looked completely serious.

Cen An: “…I’ll make it for you tonight.”

Just then, an ability user came from outside. “Brother Cen, someone who ate the cold jade melon is in trouble! No, wait…” He gestured frantically. “It’s not exactly trouble, but…”

Cen An had no time to listen to his explanation; he was frantic. “Who? Where?” The man pointed. “To the east…”

In a flash, he vanished from sight.

The young man blinked, then rubbed his eyes. “No wonder he’s Brother Cen’s friend—that spatial ability is truly amazing…”

What could possibly be wrong with the cold jade melon? The story begins at noon. At the Yu household.

Yu Wenchao had exchanged today’s vegetables and walked in carrying the cold jade melon. He saw his father rummaging through the drawers on the bed and asked, “Why didn’t you go to the villager activity center today?”

His father chuckled. “Mrs. Wu and the others heard I’m good at weaving and wanted to see it. I came back to look for some supplies—they’ll be here to pick me up in a bit.” He glanced at the cold jade melon in Yu Wenchao’s hand and clicked his tongue twice. “Did Boss Cen send you another melon?”

“He did. He also taught us how to prepare the melon rinds.” A faint smile touched Yu Wenchao’s usually stoic face. “He said they can be served cold or used in soup.”

“That’s wonderful, just wonderful,” his father exclaimed. “We’ll have one more dish for dinner.”

Yu Wenchao cut the cold jade melon in half and handed one half to his father. His father waved it off, saying he’d already eaten at the community center. So Yu Wenchao ate it himself.

Since getting these vegetables, his health has improved significantly. With more strength, he could take on more work, which meant he could earn points faster.

The points redemption center often donated cold jade melons, so he’d been eating them quite a bit lately. Yet he never grew tired of them.

He took a big bite of the red flesh, and the sweet, refreshing juice spilled out… As Yu Wenchao ate slowly, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Was the melon too cold? That couldn’t be—it was well over forty degrees outside today…

Before he could process it, a sharp pain shot through his entire body. He heard his father’s shout, but he was already unable to respond… Something was about to come out. Cold sweat beaded on Yu Wenchao’s forehead as he clenched his fist tightly—

Puff, puff, puff.

A row of spikes burst from the ground.