Chapter 34

If Yuan Jianze is now filled with frustration, then Cheng Yang is now feeling a headache. He stood outside the southern exit of Xiangcheng City, looking at the dozens of meters long passage densely packed with mutated creatures, and felt his scalp tingle.

There must be no less than seven or eight hundred of them, right? And among them, there are no shortage of high-level monsters. Cheng Yang estimated that in such a group of monsters, there is at least one late-stage first-tier mutated beast.

Although he had just killed a late-stage first-tier black wolf, it doesn't mean he can ignore all late-stage first-tier mutated beasts. Especially now, with this mutated beast hidden among nearly a thousand monsters, killing it will definitely not be as easy as before.

What would be the consequences if he were to provoke these monsters now?

Cheng Yang looked around. Except for the sparse trees beside him, the sides were like a primeval forest, with thorns entangled everywhere, making it difficult to pass through. Of course, if someone were to clear the way, it would be easy to enter the forest. But now, he is alone, so the only escape route is behind him.

But what if a monster suddenly appears behind him and blocks his way? This is something he must consider in advance. Most monster groups don't stay in one place; they also wander around, looking for food. It's just that their wandering speed isn't very fast.

This is nearly a thousand monsters, not like the fifty from before. With fifty, even if he were surrounded, he could quickly escape. But if he were surrounded by nearly a thousand mutated beasts, death would be waiting for him.

So Cheng Yang decided not to provoke these monsters and slowly retreated. This time, his goal was just to scout, and he had already achieved it. As for how to solve this problem later, he needed to think carefully. At least, he didn't plan to deal with this group of monsters until he had enough mana potions.

On the way back, Cheng Yang took a different route, sweeping through as he went. By the time he returned to Luofeng Village, it was already past three in the afternoon.

Although this trip took a long time, the harvest was quite rich. His spirit energy value broke through to 1,500 points. Even if Yu Kai and the others didn't return the 1,000 spirit energy points tonight, he could still train at four times the speed.

When Cheng Yang stepped into the gate of Luofeng Village, he found that Li Wanshan's team was currently guarding the village. However, Li Wanshan was not practicing; instead, he was guarding the village with his forty subordinates.

Actually, Luofeng Village didn't need much guarding now, as no more monsters would spawn within a kilometer. What truly needed to be worried about was the inside. After all, there were nearly a thousand ordinary people in Luofeng Village who had not yet chosen their professions. They were currently safe, but if someone were to stir up trouble and no one was there to maintain order, some might take risks.

The reason Li Wanshan wasn't practicing was that he had already practiced last night. It had been less than 20 hours since he finished, so he had to wait.

Seeing Cheng Yang walk in from the gate, Li Wanshan immediately went over and asked, "Lord, how was the reconnaissance? Can we return to Xiangcheng City?"

Cheng Yang said, "The situation is not good. The only way to Xiangcheng City is a passage about a hundred meters wide. The rest is all deep, bottomless ravines. Now, that passage is occupied by nearly a thousand mutated creatures. We must kill these monsters if we want to enter Xiangcheng City."

Li Wanshan's expression turned grim, and he said bitterly, "Is there really no way? It's already been three days, and I don't know how my family is doing. ... Damn heaven, why don't you just kill me directly?"

The last sentence, Li Wanshan said, looking up to the sky, his voice harsh.

Cheng Yang sighed inwardly. He had seen people more agitated than Li Wanshan, so he didn't find this strange. He immediately said, "There is a way. As long as we improve our strength, we should be able to enter Xiangcheng City in a few days. Today, I heard a lot of commotion in Xiangcheng City, so I think the military has already entered. Commander Yuan Jianze of the Xiangcheng Military District is a competent soldier; he will save anyone he can. At this time, even if we return early, it won't make much of a difference. Instead of being angry now, we should focus on improving our strength. When we return to Xiangcheng City, if your family is not doing well, your arrival can change their situation."

Li Wanshan's eyes gradually cleared, and he said, "Lord, you're right. Since heaven is playing tricks on us, I will fight it with all my might."

Cheng Yang nodded and then asked, "It seems a lot of people were rescued today? Are the refugees from Huimin Town starting to come out of their hiding places?"

Li Wanshan, hearing Cheng Yang's question, immediately said, "Lord, it's already the fourth day since the apocalypse. Those hiding in the shadows have been starving for days. If they don't come out to find food, they will starve to death without the monsters even needing to act. Plus, there are very few monsters left in Huimin Town, with only a few monster groups every few hundred meters. They might have realized this, so they came out of their hiding places. This is why we rescued a large number of people in the past half day. Lord, you might not know, but the six hundred people who have come to Luofeng Village are those who still have the strength. There are still many people in Huimin Town who have been starving for days and are too weak to walk. The warriors in Huimin Town are now trying to kill as many usable mutated beasts as possible so that they can eat and then travel."

Cheng Yang was stunned and then asked, "How many people are still in Huimin Town?"

Li Wanshan said, "About two thousand people have been rescued from Huimin Town. Based on the population of Huimin Town, there should still be nearly two thousand people who haven't been rescued. As for the others, they either died under the claws of the mutated beasts or starved to death."

Cheng Yang roughly estimated that with the current population in Luofeng Village, there were about 1,300 people. If another 4,000 people could be rescued from Huimin Town, the population would be enough for Luofeng Village to upgrade to Luofeng Town.

The only problem Cheng Yang was concerned about was how to feed these 5,000 people. Could they eat mutated beast meat every meal? Even he, who had lived in the apocalypse for a year, couldn't adapt to that life.

Perhaps he really needed to build a general store earlier, otherwise, not only would the spatial ring be like a mirage, but food would also be a big problem.

In the early days of the apocalypse, people largely bought their food from general stores. Although no one knew why there was an endless supply of food in the stores, people felt fortunate rather than finding it strange.

"How many mutated beast groups are left in Huimin Town? What is the largest group?" Cheng Yang immediately asked.

Li Wanshan said, "Huimin Town is less than one square kilometer. After the morning cleanup, there are about 14 to 15 monster groups left, with the largest having over 300."

Cheng Yang nodded and said, "That's not too bad. I'll go to Huimin Town later and try to eliminate all the mutated beast groups in the ruins by this afternoon. Although new monsters will appear after these groups are destroyed, the numbers won't be large. We can clear the ruins with peace of mind, which will be beneficial for both rescuing people and finding wood."

Li Wanshan suggested, "Lord, we can build a carpentry workshop first. With a carpentry workshop, we can have some people learn logging skills. With enough wood, other buildings can be built quickly."

Cheng Yang shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "The effect of logging skills is not as ideal as you think. Generally, a logger can get about ten cubic meters of wood per day, which is already quite good."

Li Wanshan's eyes widened, and he said, "Ten cubic meters? Isn't that too little? With our strength, even with this iron sword, we can cut down a few large trees a day, which should be at least ten cubic meters."

Cheng Yang smiled bitterly and said, "That won't work. Without logging skills, the trees you cut down cannot be used to build structures."

"Why?" Li Wanshan was puzzled.

Cheng Yang shrugged and said, "I don't know. You can think of it as the gods not recognizing it."

"Then why could the wood we transported be used? We didn't have logging skills back then, right?" Li Wanshan was even more confused.

Cheng Yang said, "When the gods transformed this world, they included all the wood they deemed suitable in the rules. So the wood we found in Huimin Town can be used. After the transformation, to get wood, it must meet the new rules."

Li Wanshan smiled bitterly and said, "That's too unfair. If I had known, I would have sold all the logs from my lumber mill to you."

Cheng Yang rolled his eyes and said, "I would have liked to buy them, but I didn't have enough money. I had to negotiate for a long time just to get an advance payment of 80,000."

Li Wanshan laughed awkwardly and said, "Who would have thought it would be like this?"

Cheng Yang said, "Alright, let's not talk about this. We can decide later. Building a carpentry workshop is not a bad idea. We now have 200 people, so it's fine to have a few dozen learn logging."

Li Wanshan nodded and smiled, "That's great! If we can increase the wood supply by a few hundred cubic meters each day, we can quickly meet the conditions for upgrading to a second-tier village."

Cheng Yang, however, said, "Wood won't be the most important thing in the future. The most important thing for people is food. So a large part of the population will become farmers, which is an inevitable trend."

PS: Today's collection only increased by 30. Brothers, we need to step it up...