On the 24th day after the locust plague began, all the sorrow disappeared and spring blossomed between heaven and earth.
Along with it comes a new round of busyness.
The influx of new members inevitably led to a change in the territory's overall style. Even if Ye Miao managed the transition by adding 1,000 new members per day, it wouldn't completely solve the problem. However, before that, everyone was already in a state of panic due to the locust plague, and as a lord, she was under immense pressure and had no spare energy to address these issues.
Now that the locust plague is over, various problems are beginning to emerge.
The first and most striking point is that the security in the territory has obviously deteriorated.
Previously, the population of the territory had grown slowly, and those who came were all striving for the long-term goal of "living a good life." Although it was impossible to have no friction in daily interactions, it was almost impossible to see anything that could be called a serious case.
It’s different now. Among the members who have flocked into the territory for survival, there are all kinds of people. It is true that most of them still want to live a good life, but it is obvious that some of them have other plans.
Peng Yan was one of them. Before the apocalypse, he'd been a street urchin, working a leisurely life. Afterward, he'd never joined any faction. Instead, he'd taken over a relatively intact basement of a building in City T as his base, gathered a group of like-minded buddies, and made a living by robbery and theft.
This method, while dishonorable, was effective. Their sheer numbers made them fearless. If the robbed player provided them with sufficient resources, they could still survive. However, if the robbed player was resource-poor, they would simply kill him and take all his cards, equipment, and supplies.
Since killing other players in the game gives more experience than killing monsters normally, Peng Yan has been using this method and has slowly broken through level 80. The strength of the other people in the team is also not low.
If the locust plague had not hit and made the players afraid to go out, leaving them facing a situation of lack of water and food, they would probably have lived like that for the rest of their lives and would not have come to seek refuge in some "get rich overnight city".
But since we're here, we might as well make the best of it. After joining Overnight Rich City, Peng Yan quickly discovered that this large territory was incredibly wealthy, and targeting the members there would be much easier than scouting for prey outside.
Unfortunately, although he seemed to have a wealth of targets, the system forbade members within the territory from attacking each other. Until yesterday, when the system announced, "Starting tomorrow at midnight, we will enter a completely free-for-all mode," Peng Yan immediately seized on this message. He drank stamina potions that night and waited until midnight. He then called a familiar friend over to try it out, and sure enough, the attack worked.
Now that the attack was effective, they could get back to their old ways. Unlike before, when they could only choose random targets and take all kinds of risks, now that they were in the territory, they could make more detailed plans.
First of all, Peng Yan targeted players who lived in wooden houses, stone houses, and red brick houses, because those who lived in thatched houses were too poor and not worth wasting time on. Although those who lived in villa areas were richer, their levels were probably high enough, and it would be embarrassing if he couldn't beat them.
Secondly, beyond basic businesses like robbery, he also planned to upgrade his industry. There were numerous markets in the city—it was said that there were originally four, located in the east, west, south, and north, but now, due to the significant expansion of the territory, there were eight markets, named "First Market" through "Eighth Market." Each market had a few respectable facades, and the rest were scattered stalls. These stalls were particularly suitable for tackling, especially the "Seventh Market" and "Eighth Market," which would open tomorrow and would likely be less well-managed for a while.
In addition, since the territory is large enough, in addition to the eight regular markets, there are also some small streets where players set up stalls spontaneously. In these places, he can even develop a business of collecting protection fees, which is a stable and considerable income.
Peng Yan had a rough outline in mind, and at dawn he called a meeting with his men to arrange their tasks based on the map. In such a large city, the only area they were reluctant to visit was the southwest, where the procuratorate and court were located, making it the easiest place to get caught if something went wrong.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye. During these three days, Ye Miao led the temporary construction team to work frantically on infrastructure construction.
Before the locust plague mode started, she took great pains to pave all the roads in the territory. As a result, the area of the territory has suddenly expanded two or three times, and she needs to continue paving roads in the newly expanded areas.
In addition, due to the large area of the territory, it is obviously inconvenient for everyone to go everywhere on foot. This is specifically reflected in the fact that in recent days, the business of animal taming players selling horses, donkeys and mules in the market has been booming.
Ye Miao then bought a [carriage] from the system grocery store and put it up for sale in the grocery store. He also took out 1 million to open two small rivers in the territory, so that people could travel by water to some places.
Another major task is to build bridges. Before, when the territory was not very large, it was not a big deal to take a detour to some places. But now, on the one hand, it has expanded, and on the other hand, horse-drawn carriages have appeared. Building bridges not only provides convenience, but also maintains safety and order.
As for public security, Ye Miao handed it over to the NPC Xiaomei. Previously, the NPC patrol team was divided into two groups, responsible for both inside and outside the territory. Now, Ye Miao asked them to suspend their work outside the territory and only focus on matters within the territory.
She had thought that this arrangement would allow her to hide for a while, but after three days, Xiaomei reported: "In those three days, as far as we know, a total of 41 robberies and thefts occurred. They occurred in all areas of the territory, with the highest number occurring in residential areas and the market area."
Ye Miao took a deep breath and asked her, "How many did you catch?"
Xiaomei was a little embarrassed: "...We caught four people in total."
Ye Miao: “?”
Seeing her expression, Xiaomei became even more embarrassed and hesitantly explained, "The territory is too big now, and this amount of manpower is simply not enough. Every time we receive a message from a player, we immediately go to the scene, but it's too late!"
Ye Miao sighed and could only say, "I understand. Let me think of a solution."
In fact, if you think about it carefully, after the substantial expansion of the territory, not only is there a shortage of security personnel, but there is also a shortage of manpower in other areas.
The primary schools in the city center are already overcrowded with students, the street offices of several new communities have not yet been established, and the small clinics in the market can no longer cope with the patients.
Is there any way to screen out reliable talents quickly and in an orderly manner?
Ye Miao immediately thought of the answer: Let everyone take the civil service exam.
The income within the system is not high, but it is stable, which means that players who come ashore no longer have to go out to collect and fight monsters. Life will be much safer, which is a natural temptation in the end times.
Ye Miao made up her mind and made arrangements immediately. Since the public security problem had become serious, she remembered to arrange a police selection examination.
In order to select police officers, she took the initiative to contact Fang Yuming, who was a student at the police academy and had a better understanding of the police system.
Unexpectedly, Fang Yuming also called Deng Wei when he came. Ye Miao soon discovered that their relationship seemed a little subtle. The way they get along didn't seem like a couple, but they weren't ordinary friends either, which made her want to gossip.
In the end, of course, she didn't bother asking, but calmly explained the situation to them. When she sent them away, she couldn't help but reveal a curiosity in her eyes, and stared at their backs for a long time.
It would be nice if they could really be together in the future. Fang Yuming is a college student at the police academy, and Deng Wei is a police officer who just graduated not long ago. These characters are simply made in heaven!
Five days later, the police recruitment officially began. Perhaps due to the obsession with the establishment, the number of applicants far exceeded Ye Miao's expectations. She had planned to recruit 100 people first, with a minimum combat skill level of 60, and then a simple written test to test cultural knowledge and ideology and morality. Unexpectedly, the number of applicants exceeded 1,000, and there were more than 100 people with combat skills above 80. Ye Miao looked at the list of names Deng Wei had compiled and exclaimed, "The list is up!"
Five days later, newly built courtyards appeared near various residential areas, each with a sign reading "Police Station." The members of the territory were delighted to see this, and they all lamented that they could live peacefully again.
That night, Peng Yan led his men into an alley near a residential area. This alley was not a formal market, but many cooking players set up snack stalls here. Since it was close to the residential area, business had always been good.
It's getting late now, the number of customers is gradually decreasing, and the stall owners are starting to pack up and prepare to go home. It's the right time to take action.
Peng Yan, accompanied by five or six of his men, swaggered over. The moonlight cast a dark shadow that carried an inexplicable sense of oppression. Soon, he stopped in front of a middle-aged woman. The stall owner, sensing his hostility, hurriedly buckled her backpack and was about to leave, but Peng Yan grabbed her arm and asked, "Want to leave?"
He laughed, playing with the knife in his hand. "Let me tell you a number. 2,000 gold coins. Isn't that too much?"
"I... I have no money!" the female stall owner trembled.
It wasn't easy for a small vendor to make money. Even though they could make two to three thousand yuan a day, at least seventy to eighty percent of that was expenses. She had just arrived in the territory and didn't have much savings, so she naturally didn't dare pay.
"Tsk, that's where you're wrong." Peng Yan looked nonchalant, and the knife he had been fiddling with leisurely suddenly turned and stabbed at the female stall owner.
The female stall owner screamed and dodged, but at the critical moment, a silver dart flew in and hit Peng Yan's wrist steadily. Peng Yan's arm was numb from the shock and the dagger slipped out of his hand.
"Who!" The brothers all turned around and showed their weapons. However, the other side was obviously more in number and dressed in uniform. One sharp-eyed man quickly recognized them: "Police, police!!!"
With this sound, everyone woke up as if from a dream and turned around and ran.
Just as they were about to run out from the other end of the alley, a shadow suddenly flashed in front of them. Deng Wei quickly glanced at them, grabbed the collar of the one running in front, threw him over her shoulder smoothly, knocked him unconscious, and then threw him out with her backhand to block the retreat of the others.
The whole process took only a few seconds, and the robbers were all frightened. Without waiting for them to react, Deng Wei raised her staff, and vines suddenly grew from the ground, binding them tightly.
"Run? Still running? If I wasn't afraid that the alley was too narrow and you might accidentally hurt other people if you used your skills directly, I would have tied you to the wall!" Deng Wei said fiercely.
The rest of the colleagues soon arrived and took the men into custody. Fang Yuming looked at Peng Yan and curled his lips. "We've been watching you for days, and we have a ton of evidence. Tsk, it just so happens that the public security, procuratorial, and judicial departments are working together to improve the criminal law. You can just go to jail and rest assured."
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