Chapter 83

In fact, Cheng Yang had not yet made a final decision about the arrangements for Liu Hao and the others. Although they currently served as the battalion commanders of the five major combat units in Luofeng Village, this was only because there were no suitable candidates at the moment, and it was a temporary measure.

In the future, if they were suitable for commanding battles, leading troops would naturally be no problem. However, if they were more suited for managing internal affairs, serving as the manager of an affiliated settlement would also be a good choice.

However, when Cheng Yang appointed Liu Hao as the village chief of Xianghe Village, it was not because Liu Hao was more suitable for managing the settlement, but rather because he hoped that Liu Hao could quickly advance in rank by relying on the identity of a settlement manager. The management of the settlement could be entirely handled by the deputy village chief.

After reaffirming his thoughts, Cheng Yang quickened his pace toward the hiding place of Liu Hao and the others.

Liu Hao and the others had been waiting here for about two hours and were already impatient. If it weren't for Cheng Yang's previous prohibition against entering the jungle, they would have long rushed in to look for him.

At this moment, seeing Cheng Yang emerge from the jungle, the group immediately went to meet him.

"Lord, you've been gone for hours. Did you find anything?" Liu Hao asked with anticipation.

Cheng Yang said, "The matter has been settled. Now I'll take you there." After saying this, Cheng Yang didn't explain further and directly headed into the jungle.

Liu Hao and the others exchanged glances and followed him in.

It took only a few minutes for Cheng Yang and the others to walk the less than three kilometers. When Liu Hao and the others saw the huge altar ahead and the pile of monster corpses below it, they were instantly stunned.

"Lord, is the target you were looking for this altar?" Liu Hao couldn't help but ask, "Is this also a settlement?"

Cheng Yang nodded and smiled, saying, "This is indeed a settlement, named Xianghe Village. In the future, it will be the first affiliated settlement of Luofeng Village. And you, Hao, will be the first manager of the affiliated settlement, the village chief of Xianghe Village. How does that sound? Are you satisfied with this position?"

"Me? Be a village chief?" Liu Hao immediately widened his eyes and said, "Spare me, I'm not cut out to be a village chief. Recording all those trivial data and arranging trivial matters would drive me crazy."

Cheng Yang seemed to have anticipated this response and immediately said, "Your role as village chief is just a nominal one. In the future, the main management of this settlement will be handled by the deputy captain of your team. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about."

Liu Hao immediately turned to look at the person behind him, who was precisely Cai Chengtian, Cheng Yang's planned deputy village chief.

"Could it be me?" Cai Chengtian looked around in confusion, realizing that Liu Hao had brought only him as the deputy battalion commander today. He wasn't sure if this was a coincidence or a deliberate arrangement. However, both Cheng Yang and Liu Hao knew it was definitely a coincidence. If Liu Hao had brought someone else today, the deputy village chief would have been someone else. Cheng Yang had no specific preference for this position.

After Cheng Yang nodded in confirmation, Cai Chengtian said somewhat nervously, "Lord, this... I've run a small company before, but this is the first affiliated settlement of Luofeng Village, which is very significant. I'm worried..."

Liu Hao immediately said, "What are you worried about? This is the Lord cultivating you. Lord, I think this way, I won't take the title. You can directly give the position of village chief to Old Cai. Although I've only known him for about ten days, he is steady and reliable. Although he lacks the drive of younger people, managing a village should be no problem."

Cheng Yang, however, did not agree with Liu Hao's suggestion and said, "Cai, your position as deputy village chief is a given, and you can't avoid the position of village chief. You must understand that being a village chief has significant benefits. As soon as you take office, you will immediately gain a small rank in strength. When the village upgrades to a town, you will have another opportunity to advance. At this stage, we have too few powerful combatants, and affiliated settlements are our opportunity."

Liu Hao's expression immediately became serious. Although the opportunity to enhance his strength was given to him, the heavy responsibility made him feel no less burdened. After a moment of silence, he said, "Lord, why don't you consider Old Yu? He is more comprehensive in his thinking and better at coordinating and managing."

Cheng Yang said, "Don't worry about that. In the future, not only Old Yu, but also Niu Bing, Old Li, and others will have the opportunity to become managers of affiliated settlements. It will depend on whether you can seize the opportunity."

Liu Hao thought for a moment and said, "Alright, I'll accept the position. Should I take office now?"

Cheng Yang immediately nodded and instructed him to place his hand on the altar. After a series of identity confirmations, Liu Hao finally became the village chief of Xianghe Village.

At the moment Liu Hao took office as the village chief of Xianghe Village, a voice echoed in both their ears:

"Congratulations, the village chief of Xianghe Village has successfully taken office, and the development of the affiliated settlement is on track. As the first successfully operational affiliated settlement globally, and achieving the goal within a month after the apocalypse, according to the rules, a road will be automatically established to connect Luofeng Village and Xianghe Village."

The content heard by Cheng Yang and Liu Hao had slight differences, but the main points were the same.

Just as the voice faded, on the southern side of the flat land in Xianghe Village, rows of trees fell to the ground, then rapidly decayed and turned into soil. The ground then leveled and solidified, forming a wide road about thirty meters wide.

This was completely the standard of a modern eight-lane highway!

Cheng Yang was very excited. He knew very well that in the current situation, the cost of building such a road would be unimaginable. It wasn't that laying the road was difficult, but the extraction of raw materials would be a nightmare.

For this already built road, each meter required ten cubic meters of stone. The distance between Luofeng Village and Xianghe Village was definitely over thirty kilometers. This meant that just for this road, three hundred thousand cubic meters of stone were needed. This would require a thousand stone workers to work for a year.

As for construction, it was much simpler. Once the raw materials were sufficient, Cheng Yang only needed to apply for the construction of the road at the altar, and the project would be completed instantly.

Looking at the road, Liu Hao smiled and said, "Lord, I didn't expect that having the first affiliated settlement would come with such benefits. Communication between the two villages will be much easier in the future."

Cheng Yang's face also showed a smile. He understood the power of this road better than Liu Hao and said, "Hao, this road is not simple. In the future, the exchange between settlements will mainly rely on such divine rule-established roads. There will be no monster spawns near these roads, and all large monster groups will avoid these roads."

Liu Hao, who was not stupid, immediately understood the implications and said, "So, in the future, even ordinary people can freely travel between the two settlements?"

Cheng Yang nodded and said, "Indeed, although there are still risks, it is a thousand times, ten thousand times better than before."

Liu Hao immediately said, "Lord, can we also build a road from Luofeng Village to Tianfu City? Then we can smoothly reach Tianfu City."

Cheng Yang understood Liu Hao's thoughts, as his hometown was in Tianfu City, and his parents and sister were there. However, he knew that such a road could not be built.

"Hao, you should give up this idea. Building such a road would require an astronomical amount of stone. The distance from Xianghe City to Tianfu City is at least 1,500 kilometers. Even for a basic 10-meter-wide road, each meter would require three cubic meters of stone. Calculate how much stone would be needed to reach Tianfu City from Luofeng Village. Instead of trying to build the road, it would be better to focus on enhancing our strength and then directly retake Tianfu City," Cheng Yang advised.

Liu Hao seemed to still have some doubts and said, "But this road didn't use any stone, right?"

Cheng Yang smiled bitterly and said, "You know, this road is a reward under the rules, not something we applied to build."

"Ah!" Liu Hao sighed dejectedly and said, "I guess that's the way it has to be."

Next, Cheng Yang set Cai Chengtian as the deputy village chief of Xianghe Village.

After completing this, Cheng Yang opened the settlement attribute panel of Xianghe Village. Compared to Luofeng Village, there were significant differences, the most obvious being the addition of a "pseudo" word after the divine favor ability, and an additional permission settings tab on the panel.

Through the permission settings, Cheng Yang could set the powers of the village chief and deputy village chief in Xianghe Village, such as personnel appointments, job transfers, and construction projects.

The attributes of Xianghe Village itself also differed from those of Luofeng Village, the most significant difference being that Xianghe Village did not have a territory attribute.

After setting the permissions for Liu Hao and Cai Chengtian, Cheng Yang did not stay in Xianghe Village but directly stepped onto the road and headed toward Luofeng Village.

The current Xianghe Village had no wood and no manpower, and was completely in a state of disrepair. To develop it, the first task was to transport some wood from Luofeng Village and bring some people here to transfer to combat roles, so that Xianghe Village could gradually stabilize and develop.

Liu Hao and the others temporarily stayed in Xianghe Village. Since there was no wall built yet, the surrounding demonized beasts were already spawning. If they did not quickly eliminate these demonized beasts, they would regain control of the altar, and Cheng Yang's first affiliated settlement would become a fleeting memory.

Liu Hao did not immediately use the pseudo divine favor effect because he only needed one or two days to advance to the mid-level apprentice. After successfully advancing, using the divine favor would directly advance him to the high-level apprentice, which was much more cost-effective than using the pseudo divine favor now.

PS: Request for recommendations, collections, clicks, and donations...

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends