Doomsday Lord

Cheng Yang was worried it was a one-time use item since it had the “Imitation” tag, but the description put his heart at ease.

He wondered how powerful the real Imperial Training Cube was? If the imitation harnessed the power of the heavens and the earth, what did the real one use? Since it had training in the name, maybe the actual one increased skill proficiency gains?

Either way, the imitation Training Cube was still a useful tool. As long as the affected area wasn’t too large, it could help his territories by bringing monsters into the Experience Fragment collection radius.

Cheng Yang estimated that Dong Shizhou must have used at least twenty thousand Experience Fragments. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many monsters. Since the area around Silkworm Mountain hadn’t been cleared as thoroughly as the other two villages, the cube must have attracted hordes formed on the first day of the apocalypse.

Cheng Yang felt blessed that Ding Ming didn’t have wealth like his. Otherwise, he might have been able to summon half a million monsters to attack the village.

Once he stored the cube in his ring, Cheng Yang returned to the Meditation Hall where Dong Shizhou was held.

“Since you were honest, and this is a nice item. I’ll let you live. For now.” Cheng Yang announced.

As he walked out, Cheng Yang winked at Yu Kai, who followed him. Since everyone else was leaving, Ye Tao also left.

“My Lord, is it safe to leave Dong Shizou like that?” Yu Kai asked, “The rope should hold, but-“

“Of course it’s not safe, but he’s still hiding something. I never threatened to kill him, so why did he bring up an execution? To take his secrets to the grave. Make sure you’re Demonic Watcher is keeping an eye on him. Once he makes his move, contact me.”

“Are you sure? What else could he be hiding?”

“How much do you think this would be worth on the Auction House?” Cheng Yang asked after handing Yu Kai the imitation Training Cube.

“A lot.” Yu Kai replied, “But not unless you controlled a village. But, where did Ding Ming get this?”

“Since they used something so valuable in this attack, do you think Dong Shizhou walked in here under everyone’s noses?”

“Why wouldn’t he ha-” The realization suddenly hit Yu Kai. “Fuck! Of course not! That guy almost fooled me. We know gate inspection is lax, but how would they know? If they were bringing something so valuable inside the village, they must have had a better plan than just walking in.”

The duo walked over to the outer walls to check on the situation.

When they returned to the walls, he saw a steady stream of monsters making their way to the village. Since the cube would attract them for twenty-four hours, he would need to leave it in Silkworm Mountain. If he tried to take it back to Phoniex Village, he would become a walking calamity.

After his walk, Cheng Yang met with Liu Chengen.

“Vice-Governor Liu, how’s the situation?”

“We seem to be out of danger, for now, My Lord. Although there are still a few hundred monsters surrounding the village at any given time, they won’t be a problem. They’re serving as stress relief for the surviving soldiers since there’s no danger in hunting them.”

It was good news, but the loss of a thousand soldiers weighed heavily in their hearts.

“The monsters will keep charging over like that until around this time tomorrow, so make the soldiers pace themselves. When it’s done, the territory should make around four hundred thousand Experience Fragments. Keep what you need to upgrade the village and wire the rest to Phoenix Village.”

Since Yu Kai was only the Governor in name, Cheng Yang explained his plans to Liu Chengen. He managed the territory and was a capable administrator.

Then, Cheng Yang made another trip around the wall and prepared to leave.

The monster siege was over, and the threat was eliminated, but Cheng Yang quell the anger in his heart! However, until he revealed all of Dong Shizhou’s secrets, he couldn’t act.

If he impulsively attacked the wrong person, he’d let his enemy play him like a fiddle.

Although most of the beast siege casualties had been from Silkworm Valley, a few were from the Fox Hunting Battalion. As a result, there were a few dozen spots to vacancies to fill, so Cheng Yang visited Old Lee when he returned to Phoenix Village.

Old Lee listened to Cheng Yang report, but when he was asked to take care of the vacancies, he didn’t leave immediately like he usually would. Instead, he stood awkwardly by the doorway.

“Old Lee, we’ve gone through thick and thin together, so why are you hesitating over there? If you’ve got a problem, tell me.”

“It’s just a little thing, my Lord. I don’t want to bother you with it since you seem busy right now.”

“Tell me.” Cheng Yang repeated.

“Well, the village’s contains over a hundred thousand civilians and a few thousand soldiers. The soldiers live in the Inner Village with their families, but everyone else crowds together in the Outer Village. They are comfortable as they are, but as they feel safer, they want more as well, like housing. Since even housing is a problem, the rest of our infrastructure is naturally horrible. We’re starting to have issues with water use and waste disposal. It takes some people over an hour to get water, and the river is being polluted by those upstream. Some areas don’t even bother moving their waste and have created large pits of human excrement. If we don’t do something soon, the area will become unlivable.”

Old Lee paused when Cheng Yang signaled for him to stop. The problems he described were ones people need to face in his past life as well.

Water wasn’t a huge issue since it could be solved with labor incentives, but the sewage would be troublesome. In the past, villages had tried to build aqueducts to funnel out the waste, but there was one big problem. The territory would forcefully remove any unauthorized structures. Even if you tried to dig a ditch, it would fill itself in at midnight.

Thankfully, the gods would remedy this problem by creating bathrooms and water fountains in the safe zones. You needed to pay to use them, but it was better than nothing.

Territories were given a similar solution. They had the option to build their own facilities. A couple would be manageable, but the expenses scaled with population.

These changes would be implemented on the same day the gods rescued people living in rural areas.

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’ve foreseen that the gods will offer us a solution in a few days. Just keep the situation under control until then.”

Old Lee groaned.

“My Lord, I need to tell you something, but I don’t know how to phrase it.”

“Just spit it out.” Cheng Yang said with a worried tone.

“I’m worried I’ve offended the gods and brought a calamity down upon the territory.”