The orcs who took over the territory of the Apocalypse Tribe are Xia's subjects, don't...

"Is it over already?" Yan Ganguo stood on the blood-soaked ground, momentarily stunned, then quickly laughed.

After the battle, the original orc slaves, including Budodo, returned to her with bloodstained faces and shy smiles. Their bright eyes looked at her, and they asked excitedly, "Sir, what are we going to do next?"

Hearing their voices, Yan Ganguo turned to look at them and clearly saw the glint in their eyes.

Their eyes had always seemed so familiar to her, but only now did she belatedly realize what that familiarity meant. The eyes they were looking into were exactly the same as the eyes she had when she looked into Jiang Yunlan's.

Like Lan, she also became a beastman capable of saving other living beings.

"What should we do next?" Yan Ganguo blinked, deep in thought.

How did Lan lead them to build their grassland habitat? Her mind went blank, and she stared blankly at the fragments of memory that flashed through her mind. Damn it, she only knew how to command in battle, not how to build infrastructure, nor how to maintain a clan/tribe.

Yan Ganguo secretly pinched his palm, but on the surface he pretended to be nonchalant and said with a smile, "It's fruit season now. We just need to prepare food and clothes for the snow season and wait for Lan to come and pick us up."

The thought of returning soon made her smile much more genuine. She believed that Lan would definitely lead her people to victory against the Farwinter orcs. As long as they didn't wander off and waited obediently here, Lan would come to take them back soon.

"It's Lord Lan, whom the adults always mention! Will Lord Lan come over after the snow season ends?" Bu Duoduo exclaimed in surprise.

Because he had always heard his idol, Iwagaku, mention Lan, he also greatly admired Lan and longed to see for himself the gentle, powerful, and wise Lan that Iwagaku spoke of.

Yan Ganguo thought about the time it took her to get here from Senhu Lake and nodded confidently, "Lan will arrive here no later than the next flower season."

So, she thought, she must try to live on until the next flowering season arrives.

"My lord, the orcs in the tribe are fighting over the allocation of housing!" Budodo shouted in a panic.

Yan Ganguo calmly got up and went to solve the problem.

"Sir, the orcs in the tribe are fighting over food distribution!" Buduoduo ran over, covered in sweat.

Yan Ganguo took a deep breath, transformed into his beast form, and rushed out to solve the problem.

"My lord, the orcs in the tribe are fighting over the distribution of clothing!"

"My lord, the orcs in the tribe are fighting again over the mission!"

"My lord, the orcs in the tribe..."

Yan Ganguo was completely disoriented, wishing she could split herself into several pieces and use her as a weapon. Good heavens, how did Lan manage the tribe so well? She couldn't do it, she really couldn't.

Why do the same problems keep recurring even after they've been solved? Why do solving one problem lead to a new one?

Just kill me.

No, calm down, Yan Ganguo. You are an orc trusted by Lan; you must hold out until Lan arrives.

"grown ups!"

Bu Duoduo's voice rang in her ears, startling Yan Ganguo so much that she wanted to find cover. She took a deep breath to calm her frightened ears, her eyes silently asking, "What's the problem this time?"

"The patrol team sent an orc to say that Lord Lan has brought his people to pick us up!" Bu Duoduo smiled, but a few seconds later it turned into a wide grin.

Yan Ganguo was stunned for a moment, then transformed into a leopard and leaped over the threshold to rush out.

A few seconds later, the golden leopard poked its head out from the doorway. "Budodo, where did the patrolling orcs see Lan?"

"Judging by the time, Lord Lan should have already entered the tribe and reached the foot of the mountain."

"Lord Lan is just as easy to recognize as you said. Ah! Lord Lan is looking over here, Lord Lan is smiling at me!" One of the onlookers excitedly grabbed his friend's arm.

His orc friend couldn't help but pinch his arm, "Lord Lan smiled at me too."

Jiang Yunlan didn't quite understand why she was so popular with the orcs here, but she still treated them the same way she would the Xia orcs. She also didn't quite understand why the orcs here called her "sir," and responded with a puzzled look, so as not to make the orc who called her feel uneasy.

"Lan!"

A golden leopard suddenly appeared and pounced, but Yan Duoyu, with quick reflexes, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and lifted it to the ground.

"Yanganguo, you're an adult beastman now, not a cub. Don't act cute by leaping like that; you'll knock Lan over." Yan Duoyu scolded him with a frown, though her tone wasn't harsh.

Jiang Yunlan chuckled softly upon seeing this.

The scolded Yan Gangguo immediately stood up straight, nodding vigorously to show that she knew she was wrong, and then looked expectantly at her captain, Yan Duoyu. Only after the captain nodded did she straighten up again and circle around Jiang Yunlan, explaining the current situation as she did so.

She couldn't wait to leave her management position and say goodbye to all the headaches she was dealing with. The snow season was just over ten days away, and she couldn't imagine how many more troubles would pile up on her once it arrived.

After hearing the general situation, Jiang Yunlan knew that the area was not well-ordered, and the orcs who had broken away from the Tianqi tribe were even gradually reverting to their bad habits from when they were still in Tianqi. She patiently remembered all the problems that Yan Ganguo mentioned, without blaming him for not managing the area well.

Each orc has different strengths. Gango was originally just a warrior, and she wouldn't force Gango to become an excellent village chief/town mayor.

"Leave the rest to me, get some rest," she said, rubbing her dark circles under her golden leopard eyes.

The chaotic order was rebuilt and gradually improved.

At the foot of the mountain, dilapidated, low houses and rickety wooden sheds had been dismantled by the beastmen. The narrow passageways had been transformed into easily passable streets.

New buildings were erected on the streets.

The thin beastmen pulled their patched clothes tighter and walked peacefully through the streets, no longer afraid of sudden whippings, nor worried about many things like Guoji had.

They actually lacked many things. Their shelter consisted of several orcs crammed together, but it wasn't drafty. They could sleep soundly in their own beds. They could only eat until they were seven or eight tenths full at each meal, but the tribe's food was distributed to each orc on time, so they could have three meals a day. Moreover, Lord Lan promised them that they would not go hungry.

Their past desires are being fulfilled little by little, and Jiang Yunlan has also promised to fulfill the remaining unfulfilled desires.

Their stable and reassuring emotions calmed them down, and although they would occasionally complain verbally, they rarely engaged in physical conflict.

The cold snow season is gradually warming up, and the warm flower season is about to begin, but it can still be chilly when the wind blows. Orcs are afraid of the cold, so they often gather with familiar orcs to keep warm and chat to pass the time.

"I heard that Lord Fenghong and his team led a group to other territories of the Tianqi Tribe to subdue those places."

Upon hearing this, an orc exclaimed excitedly, "A certain lord has already conquered a territory, hasn't he? I saw the messenger going to see Lord Lan this morning."

Just as the orcs had predicted, Jiang Yunlan received good news from the messenger. The team that had gone out during the snow season to wipe out the remaining forces of the Apocalypse Tribe had once again achieved victory, and was now settling the newly rescued orcs, awaiting her next instructions.

Jiang Yunlan wrote a letter based on their situation, handed it to the messenger, watched the orc carrying the letter leave, and then walked to Albero's residence.

Albero was hallucinated on the battlefield and rested for five days before regaining its former vitality. On its first day of recovery, it informed Jiang Yunlan of the location of the other orcs who had plundered the elves.

The orc squads led by Feng Hong, Hati, and Yan Duoyu have been clearing out the remaining seven Apocalypse Tribe territories, and thirteen Apocalypse orcs scattered across various locations have yet to be captured. According to Albero, nine of the thirteen Apocalypse orcs acted collectively, one acted alone, and the remaining three acted in groups.

Among the dead or captured Apocalypse Beastmen, Ling Caiyuque and Jianying were nowhere to be found. Jiang Yunlan suspected that two of the thirteen Apocalypse Beastmen who were fleeing were them.

"Lan, that lone orc is also traveling at full speed today. He's heading towards the ocean, and should be very close by now," Albero said cheerfully, sensing the dwindling number of targets.

Its own kind were certainly also hunting down these Apocalypse Orcs. So after the Apocalypse Tribe fell, the number of surviving Orcs dwindled day by day.

Hearing its words, Jiang Yunlan felt strange and asked with great doubt, "Is it going to leave the continent for the ocean? Could this beastman be a beastman who can live in the water?"

This doesn't make sense. The direction he's been traveling on land lately doesn't seem to belong to orcs who come from the sea. Albero has seen a map of the Apocalypse Tribe. He hasn't followed the river, clearly indicating he doesn't have a high need for water, nor does he need to sleep in it.

"He fled to the sea for other reasons."

Suddenly, 022's voice came from behind her. Jiang Yunlan froze and turned around in surprise to look at it, which had come from elsewhere. Since arriving here, it had been busy collecting and analyzing the research of the Apocalypse Tribe and had not appeared in front of Jiang Yunlan for many days.

The translucent slime didn't need to sleep during its dormant period, and despite working non-stop for dozens of days, it didn't develop dark circles under its eyes. As usual, it floated to Jiang Yunlan's shoulder and sat down. Its voice showed no sign of fatigue, but rather a hint of excitement at successfully solving the puzzle, "I found some useful information in the surviving treehouse."

“Lan, I’ve figured out the identity of that orc who fled to the ocean. He’s the orc who manages the laboratory in the Apocalypse Tribe, Jianying,” 022 said.

Jiang Yunlan had fought with Jianying and had a deep impression of him. Her intuition told her that Jianying hadn't used his true strength when they fought, and that the lion-beastman Jianying was stronger than Yuan Dong, the leader of Apocalypse.

Gathering the thoughts that flashed through her mind, she exhaled and said calmly, "022, do you figure out what he's going to do at the ocean?"

"He is most likely going to find materials to solve the 'aftereffects of plundering the power of spirits'," 022 said.

It also discovered that the Apocalypse Tribe was trying to allow the orcs to directly absorb natural elements, attempting to grant them direct access to the power of nature. However, there was a "door" between the creatures of this world and the power of nature, and without the "key" given by the nature spirits, the "door" would not open for the orcs.

The Apocalypse Tribe's attempt ultimately ended in failure.

022 didn't delve into how the "door" appeared. Its expression turned serious, and its calm voice carried an inexplicable chill. "Lan, if Jianying successfully removes the spirit fragments from his body while preserving his power, we will no longer be able to locate him."

These words struck Jiang Yunlan like a hammer blow, causing her to instinctively straighten her body. She immediately realized that this wasn't just a matter of not being able to find Jianying, but rather that Jianying would gain a method to seize the power of the spirits without paying a price.

“Is he going to the ocean? Perfect, we have ships for exploring the ocean, and we also have orcs from the ocean.” Jiang Yunlan finished speaking, turned around, and took a step forward.

"Albero, come with me."

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Author's Note: The story is ending after we reach the last plot point! Do you have any requests for side stories, my little angels? Feel free to leave a message in the side story section, and I'll write them if I have any inspiration.