This story actually began a few days ago.

At that time, the temperatures were climbing higher and higher, and the people of Yongning Village were finding life increasingly unbearable. Fortunately, Team Leader Shi promptly adjusted the villagers’ work schedules, encouraging them to go out in the mornings and evenings and stay home during the hottest part of the day at noon.

But staying at home wasn’t exactly a walk in the park either!

Over the past few days, the villagers’ homes had become more well-stocked, but what they’d saved up was mostly food and other supplies—they really didn’t have much in the way of heat-relief items. At first, several villagers suffered from heatstroke one after another, though fortunately, the cases weren’t too serious.

On one occasion, the temperature was so high and the air so dry that a fire even broke out in an empty house. Fortunately, the village had plenty of manpower, and several water-elemental ability users rushed to the scene. Working together, they put out the fire, and no damage was caused.

The villagers unanimously decided to keep this incident under wraps and didn’t tell Cen An, mainly out of concern that “Little Boss Cen” would worry.

Cen An was unaware of the fire, but he was well aware that the weather was getting hotter and hotter, and he was indeed pondering ways to beat the heat. In fact, there were many medicines and items in the formula that could be used during the summer:

Sun hats, which can reduce the temperature by 5%, are primarily made of rush grass.

Cooling straw sandals, which can also lower the temperature by 5% and can be used in combination with the sun hat; their main material is also rush grass.

These two items were part of his usual summer gear set from his previous game, and they were simple to craft. The problem was that rush grass was scarce near Yongning Village. He searched every hilltop but found only one bundle, which yielded five sets of gear in the end. Sun Qiuhua and her two companions took three of those sets.

Want to give each villager a set? You might as well dream.

Then there’s Frost Dew, whose main ingredient is ice grass—he hasn’t seen a single plant of it near the village. And Ice Jade Pills, whose main ingredient is ice crystal orchids—he hasn’t seen a single one of those either…

This had Cen An deeply worried. He could see the temperature rising, though it hadn’t peaked yet—it was currently in the high 40s, which was barely within the range the human body could tolerate. But what if it climbed to 50 degrees later? Would they all turn into roasted suckling pigs?

He stared helplessly at the recipe—even the most skilled cook can’t make a meal without ingredients. But what was even more infuriating? Whether it was the small caravan earlier or the ability users who later went to various settlements to gather information, they’d all brought him plenty of useful raw materials.

For example, the ice grass brought back from Stone Spring Village, the thatch grass from Anjun River Bay, and the ice crystal orchids from the Tianhu Base…

Boss Xiao Cen watched with envy, so furious he slammed his fist on the table. “We’re definitely going to be the rulers of the Silver Moon Mountains!” Not a single inch of those rolling green mountains could be abandoned—who knew what treasures might grow up there!

Even Team Leader Shi was amused. Not sure if it was a joke or not, he clasped his fists in a salute. “Since the Chief has spoken, I promise to ensure you’re seated as the boss of the Silver Moon Mountains before the New Year.”

There’s only half a year left until the New Year—it seems to be coming up pretty fast… The problem is, summer isn’t even over yet!

Seeing that Cen An was still frowning, Shi Qi reassured him, “Don’t worry, Chief. It’s just the heat. Compared to the beast tide, this is a relatively mild disaster for the villagers. They’ll just stay indoors during the day.”

Qu Yue nodded in agreement. “The village has plenty of food and drink right now, so there’s no need to rush out to forage. The villagers aren’t under much pressure.”         

“Exactly, Brother Cen,” Wang Lie added. “Besides, with so many ability users in the village, we can’t possibly put all the pressure on you.”

Qi Yangze couldn’t bear to see the leader looking so worried. After thinking for a moment, he suggested, “How about this: I’ll lead the water-type ability users to sprinkle water around the village every so often?”

It was a good idea. Although it would be a bit taxing on their abilities, with Star Diamond Wheat and Star Diamond Rice now available, it wasn’t an insurmountable problem.

Just as Team Leader Shi was about to nod in agreement, Cen An said with a sigh, “It’s not that I don’t have a solution—I do have one, but it’s not very dignified…” 

Everyone froze and turned to look at him, curious to know just how undignified a solution could be that even their leader deemed it undignified.

Cen An led them to the side of the livestock shed and motioned for them to go inside.

The ability users squeezed inside one by one… Wang Lie shivered on the spot. “It’s so cool in here!” 

“So the livestock shed has this kind of use, too?”

Xiao Ji chuckled, “Brother Cen, why don’t we just stay in the livestock shed? There are so many empty ones in the village! The villagers definitely won’t mind—even though they’re open-air, they’re brand new after all!”

Cen An replied gloomily, “That’s exactly the problem. New livestock sheds are useless; they only serve their purpose once we put small animals in them.”

He pointed downward. In the haystack, a little piglet—with an expression that seemed to say, “What are you guys doing?”—lifted its head and, while doing so, stuck out its rear end to take care of some personal business.

Xiao Ji fell silent for a moment. No wonder he’d smelled something odd earlier—he’d thought the heat had made his nose go haywire.

Cen An continued, “The large barn must house the young of large animals, while the medium and small barns are better suited for the young of smaller animals. So,” the chief said with concern, “will the villagers be willing to share a bed with animals?”

If you were to ask Cen An himself whether he could accept sharing a bed with an animal, the answer would of course be yes—it’s so hot it’s almost unbearable; who cares about cleanliness? Besides, the animal sheds have a certain self-cleaning effect, and the animals are actually quite clean.

But if you were to ask whether the Chief would be willing to have his villagers share a bed with animals, well, the Chief wouldn’t be too happy about that…

The villagers can be infuriating at times—piling supplies at his doorstep every day as if setting up a battle formation; not to mention that one kid who, for no reason at all, keeps tossing crystal cores into his yard. He can’t even sweep them all up, and no matter how many times he tells them, they won’t listen…

But make them sleep in the barn? Boss Cen would be the first to object. Why should the people of Yongning Village have to sleep in a barn? People are meant to sleep in houses! Besides, there are so many ways to beat the heat—surely one of them must work? Any of them would be better than sleeping in a barn.

So Cen An hadn’t even considered the livestock shed at all before—but plans don’t keep up with changes. Who could’ve imagined that there really wasn’t a single viable option…

Cen An grew increasingly worried, even taking on a slightly gloomy air… Just then, laughter suddenly rang out all around him. He looked up in surprise and saw Shi Dui, Qu Yue, Zhao Wu, Tian Yuan… basically, every ability user present—they were all laughing.

Puzzled, he asked, “What are you laughing at?”

Qu Yue waved her hand with a hearty laugh, gesturing for him to look at Shi Dui. Cen An turned his gaze back to Shi Dui.

Shi Qi’s smile didn’t waver, and the look in his eyes as he looked at Cen An was exceptionally gentle. He patted Cen An’s shoulder lightly. “Our leader was hoping to have the best of both worlds. But where in the world are there so many things that can have the best of both worlds?”

Without waiting for Cen An’s reply, he continued, “Notify the villagers and tell them the animal sheds can regulate temperature. Let them decide for themselves whether they want to live in them. We probably don’t have enough sheds right now, so go take a headcount and report back where there are shortages… I’m sure the leader would be willing to build more.”

Cen An nodded; that went without saying. The squad members then set to work.

The chief was left standing there alone, having been laughed at for nothing, with his confusion still unresolved… But from that day on, the villagers began living in the animal sheds.

The livestock sheds had previously been built in a cluster on an open plot of land on the north side of the village. That area had been designated as the animal husbandry zone, corresponding to the farming zone behind the small wooden houses. If it hadn’t been for the recent heat wave disrupting the villagers’ efforts to catch small animals, the sheds would be full by now. Even so, they were only about 60% full.

Qu Yue led a team to make some adjustments, ensuring that each animal shed had at least one small animal to activate its function, and then assigned them to the villagers.

Of course, the villagers only have the right to live there. Once summer is over, the sheds will have to be returned to Cen An. Furthermore, the villagers living in them are responsible for caring for the small animals inside, and they’ll have to pay compensation if anything goes wrong.

There was no need to explicitly state this; knowing that these animals belonged to Cen An, the villagers were practically eager to pamper them.

Those whose families were able-bodied packed their bags that very evening and moved into the breeding area. For those with family members who had mobility issues, it was simple: they just had to report it, and before long, “Xiao Cen” would arrive with a crew to build a new livestock shed.

To this day, Cen An still doesn’t know what the Ability Squad was laughing at him for that day. But seeing that the villagers were no longer suffering from the heat, well… if they want to laugh, let them laugh.

“Waaah, this is so touching!” Mao Zhengwang listened with snot and tears streaming down his face. He pulled a little lamb beside him over and wiped his face on its pure white fleece, but the lamb ran away in disgust.

His colleague’s young daughter giggled as she gave the lamb a quick wash; though they’d only been living there for a few days, the two little ones had already become fast friends. Mao Zhengwang exclaimed, “Our leader is so great! I’ll be loyal to him for the rest of my life!”

His colleague quickly covered his mouth. “Shh, keep it down. If Boss Cen hears you, he’ll lecture us again about not blindly idolizing people.”

Mao Zhengwang quickly nodded. When his colleague removed his hand, he whispered, “I don’t think my admiration is blind…”

The colleague cleared his throat but didn’t say anything else; instead, he changed the subject. “Since you happened to stop by today, I was actually planning to come see you tomorrow. Xiao Wu just stopped by and told me about the arrangements for your Stone Spring Village. He was going to meet with me tomorrow so we could discuss it with you together.”

Mao Zhengwang asked nervously, “Wh-what arrangements?”

“Don’t worry, it’s all good news,” his colleague said. “There are currently two arrangements for your village. One is to join the harvesting and planting teams, just like the villagers here—exactly as you did before. The benefits are the same as those for local villagers. The only difference is that, when it comes to redeeming points, there are some items you can’t redeem yet. However, you can accumulate points to redeem Yongning Village resident status. Once you’ve done that, you’ll receive all the same benefits as Yongning Village residents. The other option is the oak-gathering team. Aren’t there plenty of oak trees near your village of Stone Spring? Boss Xiao Cen is in great need of them, and since you locals are familiar with the trails, if you’re willing to go gather oak, you’ll accumulate points more quickly. It’s just that the journey is long, and since you’re all ordinary people, it might be a bit tough.”

“We’re not afraid of hard work!” Mao Zhengwang jumped to his feet; the moment he heard “Yongning Village residency status,” nothing else mattered to him. “I’m going back right now to discuss this with them!” With that, he actually scrambled out the door and ran off.

His colleague shook his head and glanced at the sky. “Let’s go, sweetheart. Time for bed.”

The little girl was combing the wool of a freshly washed lamb when her father picked her up. In her babyish voice, she asked, “When will the lamb’s wool grow back? I want to make a sweater out of it for Brother Cen.”

Her father replied, “It’s summer now—wool would be too hot to wear.” 

“Then I’ll make it for Brother Cen in the winter…”

As soon as Mao Zhengwang returned, he told everyone about the livestock shed and the plans for Yongning Village. The people of Stone Spring Village listened quietly, and when he finished speaking, no one said a word.

A child asked, “The chief of Yongning Village really needs oak wood, doesn’t he?”

Mao Zhengwang nodded.

The child said, puzzled, “Then of course we should give him plenty of oak wood—he’s helped us so much.” 

The old patriarch laughed. “A whole group of adults can’t hold a candle to a single child. Even a child knows how to be grateful.”

A man said sheepishly, “Grandfather, it’s not that we don’t know how to be grateful. It’s just that the trip to Stone Spring Village and back is too far. We don’t have any grain right now, and if we set out, Yongning Village will inevitably have to subsidize our food. We haven’t even done any work for them since we arrived, yet we’d be eating their food for several more days.”

The others immediately nodded; they felt the same way. Many of them thought they should work in the village for a while first to save up some grain, and then guide the way to the oak forest.

The old patriarch’s expression brightened considerably. “Now that’s more like it,” he said, turning to Mao Zhengwang. “A-Wang, what do you think we should do?”

Mao Zhengwang smiled. “Knowing the Chief as I do, even if everyone has grain on hand, he wouldn’t let anyone bring their own provisions on the journey.”

As he spoke, he told the crowd a story about the “Ability Squad” clearing the mountains, with wind-element ability users making daily round trips to deliver supplies. The crowd listened as if they were in a dream.

An elderly woman asked longingly, “So, if we work for the Chief, will we get meals too?”

Mao Zhengwang replied confidently, “Working earns you points, and points can be exchanged for food. We’ll go gather oak wood—we’ll keep some for ourselves and turn the rest in to the village for points. Plus, on the way there, ability users will protect us. I’m not just saying this, but it’s safer than it was back in Stone Spring Village.”

Back in their village, there was no such thing as “resource zones” or “non-resource zones.” Ability users only cared about their own survival; whatever dangers ordinary people faced while foraging was none of their business.

After Mao Zhengwang finished his impassioned speech, everyone was left speechless. “There’s so little we can do for our Chief. Since he needs oak wood, we’ll definitely have to gather as much as we can. Now, I’m going to take a headcount of those willing to join the oak wood gathering team. Who’s signing up?”

The crowd exchanged glances. After a long moment, someone raised their hand. “I—I’ll sign up.”

“I’ll sign up, too.”                          

“I’ll go! If for no other reason, then just for that pool of water at the village entrance today.”      

“I’ll go too…”                          

“Kids aren’t allowed. Even if I agreed, the Chief wouldn’t. Next.”

After tallying the numbers, a total of seventy-six people from Stone Spring Village came forward. Excluding children and those who were genuinely unable to participate, sixty out of the sixty-four eligible adults signed up. The remaining four weren’t unwilling to join; rather, everyone felt that if all the able-bodied adults left, leaving only the elderly and children behind, it would cause trouble for Yongning Village. So, four people stayed behind to look after them.

That night, the people of Yongning Village spent an ordinary evening, while those from Stone Spring Village enjoyed a rare, restful sleep.

The gentle breeze in the livestock shed felt even cooler than having ice grass rubbed on their bodies. Not to mention this scorching summer day—even on summer days in the past, they had never felt this comfortable… For a moment, everyone felt both envy and relief—envy that the people of Yongning Village lived such comfortable lives, and even greater relief that they had made the right choice and had the opportunity to join this magical little village.

The night breeze blew gently as the world drifted off to sleep.

The oak wood gathering team did indeed receive strong support from Cen An.

He wasn’t without oak wood himself. Earlier, after Su Rui had helped Team Leader Liao clear the three southern mountains, he had made a trip to Stone Spring Village and brought back thirty portions of oak wood for him.

But Su Rui wasn’t very familiar with the area—after all, it was a long way—and Cen An didn’t feel comfortable letting him go a second time. With those thirty portions of oak, he made a pickling barrel as a trial run; now it’s filled with baby bok choy, and it’ll be ready in just a few days.

Now, at last, he’d have a steady supply of oak wood! Boss Cen was feeling a bit excited.

Just as they always did when seeing them off, the oak-gathering team received gifts from the Chief. Escorting the team were still the same two wind-elemental ability users from that day, along with Qi Yangze and Xiao Ji. With the number of ability users in the village growing, these two young men had gained experience through their trials, and this was their first time leading a team.

Watching Cen An stuff package after package into their arms, the villagers of Stone Spring Village were dumbfounded. “Chie—Chief, we don’t need these…”

“That’s right, we don’t need these. A-Wang already brought us provisions for the journey yesterday—we’ve got them with us!” 

“Exactly. We’re not greedy people; having food is enough.”

Cen An was at a loss for words—he saw the same simplicity in the people of Stone Spring Village as he had in the villagers of Yongning Village. He said, “Besides food, there are also medicines. I used the Ice Grass you sent earlier to make several doses of Frost Dew; take a sip whenever you feel hot. There are also sun hats and straw sandals—I’ve set aside two sets. If anyone can’t keep going, just wear them for a while…”

The expressions of the few ability users softened, and even Xiao Ji seemed to grow more composed. “Got it, Brother Cen. Don’t worry—we’ll definitely come back safe, and we won’t skimp on using these supplies.”

Cen An nodded and added, “Although I really do want the oak wood, the wood is dead, and we’re alive. If there’s any danger, you must look out for yourselves first.”

“Got it, got it.” Xiao Ji gave him a gentle nudge and walked him a few steps. “It’s hot out here. Brother Cen, you should head back.”

Su Rui had long been unhappy that he was heading out in such sweltering heat. He snorted coldly, pulled him over, and with a wave of his hand, a mist of water vapor spread out, instantly lowering the surrounding temperature significantly.

Cen An quickly waved his hands. “All right, all right. I won’t say any more. It’ll get hot again later—you guys should get going.” And so, the Oak Team set off.

As for the rest of the people in Stone Spring Village, they joined the village’s gathering and farming teams as planned. Among them was a woman who had once raised chickens; although they had died after just a few days, she had tried many times and gained a wealth of experience, so she was admitted to the livestock team as an exception.

It’s important to note that the livestock team rarely recruited new members—even villagers from their own village found it difficult to join—so her acceptance immediately sparked quite a bit of envy among the others.

Yongning Village smoothly absorbed these seventy-six people—swallowing them whole without so much as a burp—and quietly saw its strength rise dramatically.

At the very least, excluding the strength of the Ability Squad, Yongning Village’s remaining strength was already enough to rank first among the four villages. As for including the Ability Squad… it might even be possible to completely overtake Anjun River Bay, which currently ranked third.

Consequently, when news arrived from Anjun River Bay, the squad members weren’t particularly worried.

As the first breakthrough point personally designated by their leader, the Ability Squad took the Anjun River Bay mission very seriously; they had sent over five ability users just for preliminary reconnaissance. Later, when executing the plan, they selected the three most suitable candidates: Sun Qiuhua, Xie Xiuping, and Yu Wenchao.

Now, nearly a week later, news from the three of them has finally come back.

The Wind-type ability user who delivered the message even chuckled, “Wenchao was the one who sent me the message. He seems to be in good shape, and he’s already made contact with Qi Shaoyuan, the deputy squad leader of the Anjun River Bay Ability Squad. All the details are in the letter.”

Team Leader Shi nodded, opened the letter, and handed it to Cen An first. Cen An skimmed through it quickly, and his brow immediately furrowed.

As soon as he frowned, the others followed suit, eager to see what the letter actually said. After reading it one by one, everyone understood what their leader was thinking…

In addition to describing how they’d established contact with Qi Shaoyuan, the letter also detailed the current situation in Anjun River Bay. What was that situation like? Basically, it was much the same as in other settlements…

How to put it? In this era of Cataclysm, the lives of ordinary people and low-level ability users in every settlement are miserable. Places like Yongning Village are a rare exception among the few.

Yongning Village was blessed first with ability users like Shi Long and Liao Yongzhi, who were wholly devoted to the village, and later with Cen An. It was the combination of these two factors that allowed the villagers to live their current lives free from worries about food and clothing.

So what’s life like in other settlements?

Generally speaking, if they’re lucky, they might manage to scrape by with half a meal; if not, they might go hungry, get caught and devoured by mutant beasts while foraging, or have their settlement wiped out during a beast tide… any of these outcomes is possible.

If they happen to have a decent leader, with an ability user protecting them, they don’t have to worry about mutant beasts breaking into the village in the middle of the night; but if they end up with a lousy leader, it’s not uncommon for the ability user to just kill them on a whim.

There are even plenty of those worthless leaders like the ones from the Tianhu Base back in the day—the kind who act like local tyrants… And Cui Pengfei, the Bay Master of Anjun River Bay, is clearly not much of a leader.

Cui Pengfei has only one daughter, yet for some reason, he doesn’t treat her very well; instead, he dotes on his only nephew, Cui Hongxuan, as if he were a precious treasure. Cui Hongxuan is a real scoundrel; spoiled by Cui Pengfei’s indulgence, he beats or berates ability users—let alone the ordinary villagers.

Over the years, he’s directly killed four or five people—not to mention those who lost their lives because of a single word from him, or those who starved to death or died of illness after he robbed them. Compared to him, Sun Yuanhao doesn’t even hold a candle.

In short, with Cui Pengfei and Cui Hongxuan ruling over the villagers of Anjun River Bay, their lives were as miserable as being gnawed on by a dog—or rather, by two dogs at once.

“Cui Hongxuan is a lecher,” the Wind-type ability user added. “Whenever he sets his sights on a girl from a certain family, at best he’ll make a few lewd remarks; at worst, he’ll show up at their door to force a marriage. Many families live in constant fear if their daughter is even slightly attractive. Sister Qiuhua explained that the reason they were able to make contact with Qi Shaoyuan was that he’d recently set his sights on Qi Shaoyuan’s younger sister, Qi Yiyun.”

Cen An nodded; the letter had mentioned this as well. He was just a little puzzled: “The letter said that Qi Shaoyuan was able to join the Ability Squad because of his extraordinary abilities. If he’s that powerful, why couldn’t he take out Cui Pengfei and become the Bay Master himself?”

The Wind-type ability user said, “Qi Shaoyuan is a Level 3 Metal-type ability user, and her sister is a Level 2 Metal-type ability user. Cui Pengfei, on the other hand, is a Level 4 peak Water-type ability user—he’s stronger than him. Plus, the Ability Squad takes orders from Cui Pengfei, not Qi Shaoyuan. Qi Shaoyuan’s role in the squad is more like an enforcer; he’s stuck with all the dirty and tedious work, but he doesn’t get much in return.”

Cen An thought for a moment and said, “Can’t we just take out Cui Pengfei and let Qi Shaoyuan take his place? I think he’d be easier to work with.”

After he finished speaking, silence fell over the room.

Qu Yue’s mouth dropped open in shock. She reached out and ruffled his hair. “What’s gotten into my little Buddha? Has the heat gone to your head?” Laughter immediately erupted all around them.

Cen An：……