Ye Miao, who had just regained his composure, wanted nothing more than to escape. He uncontrollably clasped his hands behind his back, forcing a smile on his face: "No..."
"?" Chu Cheng looked at her inquiringly and said nothing more, but he was obviously more certain that she was worried.
Ye Miao took a deep breath. "It's just... there's been a lot going on in the territory lately, and the pressure is really high. Sigh... I don't know what new and unethical system will come up with after the peaceful period is over."
Chu Cheng continued to study her. Sensing her attempts to conceal something, he didn't truly believe what she was thinking. But he could also tell she didn't want to talk about it, so he followed up on her topic, saying, "Don't worry. You've led the territory through so many difficult modes before. Now that the territory is much stronger, no matter what the system throws at it, it shouldn't be too difficult for the territory. Suppose a mode appears that even you can't handle..."
He paused, then smiled, "The other territories were probably wiped out."
Ye Miao listened to his words, appearing extremely calm, but actually going crazy inside.
She had never thought his singing was that good before, but after hearing him sing, she suddenly realized that his voice had a kind of bewitching magnetism, and now when he spoke words of comfort to her, it sounded extremely beautiful.
"...You're right." Ye Miao smiled at him, "Let's take it one step at a time. Let's get the recruitment done first."
"Okay." Chu Cheng nodded. Ye Miao said nothing more. While trying to remain calm, she walked quickly past him, revealing a bit of evasion.
What's wrong?
Chu Cheng didn't dare to ask, so he shook his head and could only remind himself to be careful.
The next day, Ye Miao stayed in the room all day, busy interviewing HR and building players.
Choosing construction players wasn't difficult, as she only needed them to help with simple tasks like laying bricks, which could be accomplished with a 10-20 level Architecture skill. So Ye Miao quickly selected enough people, clicked on the panel to zoom in, and showed them the blueprints she had previously planned.
The task was simple, but the construction players who were members of the territory were excited and couldn't help but whisper to each other: "Wow, look, the boss is going to pave roads for the whole city..."
"And the residential areas are paved with tiles, the roads are paved with asphalt, and there are sidewalks. This is so cool!"
"But now there are no cars, so isn't asphalt road a bit unnecessary..."
"It's pretty good just for the sake of beauty! It'll look like a big city when it's finished. I'm really looking forward to it!"
Ye Miao ignored these whispers at first and continued to speak her mind. But the more they talked, the louder they became, and she finally couldn't help coughing: "Ahem..."
Everyone fell silent instantly, and everyone sat up straight, trying to look serious.
Ye Miao smiled helplessly and said, "It's not too late to get excited after the floor is laid out! To make it look this good, we need everyone's help!"
"Understood!" Everyone nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, Boss. We have to work hard even if it's just for our own living environment!"
Ye Miao: "Complete the project before the end of the peace period. Food provided, but no accommodation. The labor fee is 150 gold coins per person per day. Is that okay?"
"Absolutely!" the members agreed readily.
Ye Miao added, "Then you guys can discuss the specific division of labor. I won't be involved. I'll only be responsible for the acceptance on the last day."
"Okay, okay!" The construction players were in a good mood. Everyone asked Ye Miao for a copy of the paving blueprint. After the meeting, they went out to find a place to discuss the division of labor.
As for selecting an HR, that touched upon Ye Miao's blind spots. Before entering the apocalypse, as a programmer, she had always been the one being interviewed by HR, and she had no idea how to choose an HR.
So after meeting more than a dozen people, she still couldn't figure out who had the best professional skills. She finally decided to pick a few with whom she had a compatible personality. After all, everyone would have to work together, and if their personalities didn't mesh, things would likely be a lot of trouble.
On the third day of the peaceful period, Ye Miao led the team to City T to start a new round of recruitment.
In fact, the T City players couldn't hide the fact that the territory had been upgraded again. A quick glance at the map would reveal that Overnight Rich City's territory had significantly expanded. Consequently, after the upgrade, a significant number of new applications were submitted, and two small, settlement-level territories had abandoned their own development and formed a group to join them, suddenly increasing the number of people by nearly 200.
Even so, large-scale recruitment has a different meaning. For players, a territory openly recruiting new members with clear requirements is much safer than simply taking their chances. Especially with the "notify you to join and then exit your original territory" model of "Get Rich Overnight City," it's very similar to the old days of job-hopping: finding a new employer before resigning!
So it was the same street where we had recruited the new members, and it was still bustling with people. The whole team worked together for two days and two nights, and finally returned to the territory on the morning of the third day.
Chu Cheng asked Ye Miao on the way: "How many people do you plan to add this time?"
"6,500, so the territory's population will be around 15,000. There will still be 5,000 spots left, which we'll keep for later use."
Chu Cheng did not forget to remind: "There are still two strongholds."
Ye Miao: “…”
If Chu Cheng hadn't told her, she would have really forgotten!
It wasn't that she took the stronghold lightly, but it really didn't have much of a presence right now. Over at the Red Maple stronghold, the members who wanted to move to the main territory had already been relocated, and those who remained were there on their own accord. On the one hand, there weren't many of them, and on the other hand, she didn't have to worry about anything; she could just leave one person on duty there to handle any issues. As for the Tianju stronghold, it was even simpler. Tianju was too low-lying, and when a flood hit a while ago, Chu Cheng made the quick decision to move everyone to the main territory. Now, the entire stronghold had been washed away, leaving only a piece of land that nominally belonged to Ye Miao. There was no need to worry about that at all.
So Ye Miao thought for a while and said, "Let's leave the stronghold for now. Although it's a bit of a waste of manpower there, it can save us a lot of effort. And as long as the main territory can be developed well, we can activate it anytime we want."
"That's right." Chu Cheng nodded after careful consideration, agreeing with her idea.
On the sixth night of the Peace Period, the territory's population increased by 6,500, bringing the total to 15,000. The construction team's efficiency was far greater than Ye Miao had anticipated. They had already paved half of the new surface, creating a smooth, even surface that drew praise from the members.
In the residential area on the east side, an elderly couple in their sixties are happily moving into a red brick house with their grandchildren.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, an old man's son and daughter-in-law were attacked by a monster on their way to work and both died. Fortunately, their child was on vacation and stayed at home with the old couple, thus escaping the disaster.
In the following months, their family experienced countless twists and turns. They once joined a territory that exploited and oppressed its members, and after the territory was destroyed, they slept on the streets and their lives were hanging by a thread.
Until a dozen days ago, they joined the Overnight Rich City. At that time, the family was penniless and even their equipment was damaged. They were still looking for territory as a last-ditch effort.
Because generally speaking, even if you join a territory, you still need money to live. If you don't have money, you have to fight monsters or gather, but fighting monsters and gathering monsters always require equipment. People like them who have nothing are in a desperate situation.
But there's always a way out. Almost as soon as they entered the territory's gate, they were greeted by an old member. The old member told them, "The Lord asked me to wait for you. She said that it must be difficult for you two elderly people raising two children, so she had to let you in and see if you needed anything."
The first words they said when they met were enough to make them realize that this new territory was different from every previous one.
They were then taken to the reception hall, where the staff explained the rules of the interest-free loan, and they quickly received 500 gold coins. They were also told that it was too dangerous for the elderly and children to go out and kill monsters, and that there were jobs in the territory like farming and animal husbandry, and if they were interested, they could sign up and try.
Then, things changed. They used the 500 gold coins to buy a thatched hut and some basic equipment, then joined Sun Chen's farming team. They worked from sunrise to sunset, their income wasn't high, but it was stable. The team also provided three meals a day, and they soon saved a small fortune.
In this way, they easily paid off the interest-free loan in 10 days, and then replaced the wooden house with a stone house. Later, a school was opened in the territory, and the old couple sent their grandchildren in. On the first day of school, looking at the bright and clean classroom, they almost forgot that they were still in the end of the world.
Today, the two elderly people took leave from the school, saying that they wanted to change houses and move with their children.
The two children have been excited since last night because moving from the stone house to the red brick house is a big improvement. Not only is the living area much larger, but there is also a yard.
On the way to their new home, the grandparents each held the hand of a child and told them with a smile, "When we get to our new home, we'll make some fields in the yard and grow our own vegetables. We'll also buy a small wooden boat, and when we have time, we'll take you fishing!"
"Great!!!" the children were overjoyed.
The two old people looked at them with loving faces. Such a scene would of course remind them of their deceased son and daughter-in-law, and a trace of pain would pass through their hearts, but the dead are gone, and they can't save anything. They can only try their best to live a good life now.
The fact that their "current life" has turned out like this has already exceeded their expectations. They are not dissatisfied with anything and just hope that this peaceful and harmonious life can continue forever.
On the seventh day of the peace period, Tiaodeng City was also expanded, and the upper limit of the number of people was also increased to 20,000.
After the upgrade, An Ruoying sent a message to Ye Miao: "Miao Miao, I'd like to ask, if there are other small territories within the territory expansion area, what are your plans?"
Ye Miao: Huh? You expanded into other territories?
[An Ruoying] No, no, I didn't choose that location. But if we expand gradually in the future, it will definitely have an impact, so I wanted to ask about your plans first.
In An Ruoying's eyes, no matter what the problem is, Ye Miao will definitely have a good solution.
But Ye Miao really didn't have a good solution to this problem. She could only tell An Ruoying: "According to the system settings, the territories cannot be moved at will, so those territories cannot be relocated. I plan to bypass those places when expanding in the future so as not to affect them."
[An Ruoying] But if that happens...wouldn't my territory be full of holes? Isn't that a case of obsessive compulsive disorder?
She thought of the relationship between Italy and the Vatican, but there was only one Vatican, so it wouldn't matter if it was there. If Ye Miao did this, as the territory gradually expanded, the map would slowly be filled with "Vatican"s, which would not only be unsightly but also inconvenient, forcing her to take detours frequently.
[Ye Miao] There's nothing we can do about obsessive-compulsive disorder. Unless they're willing to join us, the problem will be solved. Otherwise, are we just going to force our way in?
Fighting them head-on would be considered bullying a small territory, which clearly didn't align with their values. An Ruoying had no choice but to give up, sighing and replying, "That's right, I'll just bypass them. Just treat these small territories as 'forbidden areas' and not think too much about them!"
"Well, this is the only way!" Ye Miao smiled, turned off the panel, raised his eyes, and saw the golden equipment he had casually placed on the desk. His mood became complicated again.
Over the past few days, Chu Cheng has been helping her recruit new members and choosing people, doing everything very seriously. She's been tempted several times to just impulsively confess her feelings, but when the words come to her lips... she just can't bring herself to say them!!!
This is so embarrassing. If she had known this would happen, she shouldn't have said it so decisively. Back then, she thought her persona was that of a cool and aloof lord who was completely focused on his career, but now—hahaha, hahahaha! Being cool and aloof feels good for a while, but falling in love is like being buried in the crematorium in seconds!
Ye Miao raised her head and sighed, feeling like three little people appeared in her heart, one was laughing miserably, one was crying, and the other was scolding her for being so stubborn. Is there a conflict between falling in love and developing territory?
——From the perspective of that time, there was indeed a conflict.
Ye Miao maintained her rationality and comforted herself. At the same time, she kept calculating in her mind, refusing to give up and analyzing whether there was still a possibility between her and Chu Cheng.
Finally, she came to the conclusion: Judging from her current situation, it should be impossible, but she can at least try.
If she tries hard and it works out smoothly, she will be very happy; if it doesn't work out, she won't lose out by having played with the ambiguity.
Ye Miao calculated the account very clearly, then picked up the Pixiu and walked out of the room.
"Awoo." The Pixiu rubbed against her arm. She whispered to it as she walked downstairs, "Xiuxiu, I raised you for a thousand days and used you for a moment. Now the task of pleasing Chu Cheng is left to you. Remember to come over to my place often and bring him here so he can be familiar to me!"
Pixiu: "Awoo awoo——"
Ye Miao: “…”
According to the setting of the game "Fantasy World", the rarer the pet, the better it can understand the owner's meaning. A mythical pet like Pixiu may have an IQ higher than that of a Border Collie. Even if it can't understand human language, it can still understand what its owner means.
But judging from its current reaction, Ye Miao had no idea how much it understood.
After the territory was redesigned, Ye Miao was too lazy to move far away and continued to live on the north side. The same was true for Chu Cheng; the two happened to be neighbors.
Ye Miao went to knock on the courtyard door. Chu Cheng was originally preparing the VIP set dinner. When he heard the knock on the door, he opened the door and saw the big fat dumpling in Ye Miao's arms.
"...Please come in." He didn't know why she came, but he still opened the door and invited her in. Ye Miao carried the Pixiu into the living room. Chu Cheng closed the door and followed her in a little later, asking her, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Yeah, that's right." Ye Miao nodded, and tightened his arms around the Pixiu. "I've been very busy lately. Would it be convenient for you to help me take care of the Pixiu for a few days? It's very well behaved, but it needs someone to play with it every day, and I can't take care of it."
"Sure." Chu Cheng nodded readily, "I'm free."
"Okay, thank you then!" Ye Miao put the Pixiu on the carpet. Perhaps because she felt guilty, she didn't want to stay any longer and trotted away.
Chu Cheng didn't think anything of it at first, but when he bent over to pick up the Pixiu, he suddenly remembered something else and was startled: "Wait a minute."
“?” Ye Miao stopped, held his breath, and turned around.
Chu Cheng asked in confusion, "If you don't have time to take care of the Pixiu, then do you have time to take care of the mutant earthworm and the horse?"
“……?!” Ye Miao’s pupils trembled and he became confused.
It was a mistake. She had brought the Pixiu with her for other reasons, so she hadn't given it much thought. Now, hearing his question, she suddenly realized that her approach was full of loopholes.
But of course she couldn't show her fear!
"Well... just throw two pieces of fruit to the mutated earthworm every day. The horse is also easy to feed and has low emotional needs. I can handle it." She said.
"Is that so?" Chu Cheng nodded in understanding. He accepted her explanation in his heart, but he was unwilling to miss this opportunity to show his presence. "Otherwise, leave it to me to take care of. I remember that Pixiu and Xiaoqiu have a good relationship. If Pixiu suddenly disappears, Xiaoqiu might be sad. As for Ma..."
He paused and narrowed his eyes: "I lent you that. If there is any problem with it, you will have to pay for it."
Ye Miao: “…”
What he said makes a lot of sense.
She had no choice but to run over again, bring the horse over, and also bring the flowerpot with the mutated earthworms. She thanked Chu Cheng sincerely, "Thank you so much for troubling me! I will take them back as soon as possible!"
"It's okay. I really like having pets." Chu Cheng poked the third head on the left side of the mutant earthworm with his finger, attracting the other heads to come over and rub against him. He smiled and said, "But pets all recognize their owners. If you have time, come and visit them more often."
"No problem." Ye Miao agreed readily and walked out. "Then I won't bother you anymore! See you later!"
"See you later." Chu Cheng nodded and watched her back as she left until she was out of sight. Then his gaze fell back on the flowerpot in front of him.
Take them back as soon as possible? He wished they could stay with them for a while longer.
They are here, if she visits them more often, maybe things will turn around?
Ye Miao returned to his residence, closed the door, and leaned his back against it, only to find that he was sweating.
...No, no, we're already very familiar with each other! What are you doing?
She secretly complained in her heart, and when she heard the message alert sound a few times, she opened it.
Just now when she was at Chu Cheng's place, the message notification kept popping up. If she hadn't been so nervous, she would have opened it and read it a long time ago.
However, after opening it and reading just a few sentences, she discovered that there was actually an argument in the Lords' chat group. To be more precise, it was Hua Yao who was unilaterally cursing, while everyone else was sitting there like a fool.
[S City·Wuxia City·Lord·Hua Yao] Speak!
[S City, Wuxia City, Lord, Hua Yao] wasn't he always so arrogant in front of the smaller fiefdoms! How come he's so arrogant now?
[S City·Wuxia City·Lord·Hua Yao] Damn, you’ll be hit by a car as soon as you go out!
What's going on?
Ye Miao was a little surprised. He originally wanted to find out what happened directly from the group chat history, but after flipping through two pages, he only saw Hua Yao cursing loudly, with very little useful information.
She thought for a moment, then opened a small group chat. It had been created to address the previous air traffic issue, and it only contained Guo Li, An Ruoying, and herself. After the three parties successfully completed the air traffic, the group had been largely abandoned. Ye Miao immediately added Hua Yao to the group chat and asked, "What's going on? Why are you cursing so harshly?"
While I was typing, the prompt popped up twice in the group next door, and Hua Yao was still typing frantically.
So, Guo Li was the first to reply to her on Xiaoqun's side: "A while ago, another territory in City S upgraded to a city. Recently, they began to further expand their territory and forcibly annexed several small territories in the surrounding area."
"Most of the territories were actually willing to join them, so the process wasn't exactly friendly, but it was okay."
"But two territories were developing quite well on their own, enjoying their own entertainment and having no intention of interfering with the larger territories, so they refused their request. The lord led his men to attack them. They didn't kill them, but they basically demolished their territories, leaving them homeless."
"Hua Yao couldn't stand it anymore and is speaking up for justice here."
Ye Miao read through each sentence, becoming increasingly angry. An Ruoying even became furious: "Damn, you've seen all sorts of bizarre things when you've lived long enough! There are so many places to expand, why is it such a fuss!"
Guo Li: They're just inflated. They think their territory is so big that they don't have much to negotiate with smaller territories. They're willing to annex them because they think highly of them. Anyway, the smaller territories can't fight back.
After saying this, Hua Yao, who was frantically attacking the crowd, finally paid attention and launched another barrage of indignant rants: "Yes!!! That's it!!! I really can't stand this!!!"
"We all came from small territories, and we all know how hard it was back then. How could it be like this!!!"
Ye Miao read these words and didn't agree with them too much. Things had already happened. If she agreed with Hua Yao here, it would at most help Hua Yao vent his anger, but it would not solve the actual problem.
She clicked back into the group chat and typed calmly.
[Ye Miao] @Huayao, don't be angry. Actually, there are also inhumane things happening in T City. I've experienced things like sacrificing members and engaging in slavery. I have experience with this kind of thing.
[Ye Miao] We are all civilized people, and we don't want to break our moral boundaries just because our living environment is harsh. But this is the end of the world after all. The territory has been established for a long time, and we have military force. If we can live in peace, that would be great. If not, tit-for-tat is also a solution.
Ye Miao: So if you want to enforce justice, I support you. I have ships and people here. Just say the word and I'll lead a team to help you fight.
After three messages were sent, the group fell into deathly silence.
In the small group, An Ruoying was very excited: "Ahhh Miaomiao is so domineering! If you really want to fight, take me with you!"
[Hua Yao] Isn't that too aggressive... Shocking! I... I... I don't really want to fight him...
After waiting for two minutes, the culprit finally showed up.
[S City·Dragon King City·City Lord·Zhang Zhu] I’m sorry, everyone calm down… I was inconsiderate this time, and I won’t do it again.
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