The establishment of the Iron-Blooded Army did not bring any peace to the shelter. Instead, it acted as a powerful catalyst, instantly igniting Lin Feng's long-planned next step.
An army is a money-devouring behemoth. Three hundred elite soldiers, freed from their regular duties, consume an astonishing amount of supplies every day. Relying solely on the limited resources around the shelter is absolutely insufficient to sustain them for long.
We must expand!
Expand outwards, seize more land and richer resources, and extend the safety perimeter of the shelter from fragile walls to greater strategic depth.
On the second day after the Iron-Blooded Army was established, Legion Commander Qin Lan received the first order from Lin Feng.
"Objective: Radiate outwards for ten kilometers from the shelter. Mission: Clear out all threatening alien creatures within this area and establish an absolutely safe zone."
"At the same time, the Ministry of Construction will follow up and build three standardized highways leading to the main resource points (Chiyanshan Quarry, Tiemulin Logging Site, and the freshwater lake on the west side). I call it the 'Clean Corridor' plan."
Upon receiving the order, Li Xiangbin was so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.
Build a highway!
In the Blue Star era, this would have been an ordinary thing. But on this primitive planet, it was a colossal undertaking comparable to climbing to the heavens.
This means opening up mountains, filling valleys, clearing forests, paving roads... the manpower and resources required are simply astronomical.
But Li Xiangbin wasn't afraid; what he was afraid of was that Lin Feng's ambition wasn't big enough!
He summoned all the key personnel of his construction department overnight, including Wang Jianguo, whom he regarded as his right-hand man. He spread out a huge map drawn with charcoal and began working day and night on route planning, project budgeting, and labor allocation.
Meanwhile, Pang Dahai's logistics department is facing unprecedented pressure.
The "Clean Corridor" operation is a true "total war." It's not just a military matter; it requires the mobilization of the entire shelter.
The Iron-Blooded Army of 300 men is the vanguard, the tip of the knife.
The craftsmen from the Ministry of Construction are the core of the technology.
The remaining two thousand or so ordinary citizens, regardless of age or gender, will become laborers in this massive project.
This means that Pang Dahai needs to prepare and allocate more than three times the usual amount of food, water, tools, and medicine every day!
His warehouse was being depleted at a visible rate. He had to organize more people and risk going out to the area around the shelter to collect all the edible plants and small creatures that could be hunted.
His forehead was covered in a layer of oily sweat from anxiety, and he was shouting hoarsely all day long, directing his "grain officials".
Tang Bao's Ministry of Civil Affairs was responsible for the most tedious mobilization work.
She had to comfort mothers who needed to leave their infants to work, register working hours and calculate wages for all those involved in the project, and set up temporary medical stations for the troops.
For the first time, a weariness and determination beyond her years appeared on her face, which always carried a hint of timidity.
For the first time, the entire shelter, this war machine personally built by Lin Feng, was operating at full capacity with maximum efficiency.
The day the plan began, it was just dawn.
The heavy doors of the shelter slowly opened with a series of teeth-grinding creaks.
What unfolds before everyone is a magnificent panorama worthy of being recorded in history.
Leading the way were Qin Lan and her iron-blooded army.
Three hundred soldiers, dressed in simple armor made overnight by Li Xiangbin's craftsmen, reinforced with multiple layers of "hard-armored beast" leather and ironwood, wielded spears and machetes that gleamed with a cold light.
They formed three neat square formations of a hundred people each, marching silently with their footsteps in perfect unison.
At the very center of the procession, the majestic black dragon flag fluttered in the wind. The black dragon on the flag seemed to come alive, its scarlet eyes coldly gazing at the unknown wilderness ahead.
Following closely behind was a construction team of hundreds of craftsmen led by Li Xiangbin.
They pushed wheelbarrows loaded with various measuring tools, ropes, and iron chisels and heavy hammers for clearing mountains.
At the very back of the line was a vast army of laborers.
More than two thousand shelter residents, carrying all sorts of tools—shovels, axes, and baskets—followed the main group like ants carrying food, heading towards the wilderness.
Their faces showed excitement and tension, but more than anything, a blind fanaticism driven by collective will.
At the rear of the procession, Lin Feng stood calmly atop the shelter's walls, like a king reviewing his army.
He did not travel with the team.
Because he knew that the real test was yet to come. The sweat of mortals can pave the way, but the real chasm requires a miracle to bridge.
The battle broke out suddenly less than three kilometers from the shelter.
They entered a sparse thicket of purple thorns. This was the den of the "Stone-armored Wild Boar."
This is a strange beast the size of a calf, covered in a layer of hard, rock-like keratin. They are ferocious, extremely territorial, and possess a pair of enormous tusks capable of easily overturning a cart.
"Aww!"
With a furious roar, seven or eight stone-armored wild boars suddenly burst out of the bushes. With their heads down, they charged fearlessly towards the Iron-Blooded Army's formation like out-of-control heavy tanks.
The laborers following behind let out terrified screams and instinctively tried to back away.
"Maintain formation! Anyone who retreats will be executed!"
Qin Lan's icy voice acted like the most effective tranquilizer, instantly silencing all the commotion.
"First rank, raise your shields! Form ranks!"
"Second rank, spears! Ready!"
The soldiers of the Ironblood Army displayed astonishing discipline. They showed no fear whatsoever at the sight of the ferocious beasts so close at hand.
The soldiers in the first rank quickly slammed their heavy wooden shields to the ground, leaned back, and braced their shoulders against the shields, forming an impenetrable shield wall.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The stone-armored boar slammed violently into the shield wall with a dull thud. The immense impact caused the soldiers in the first rank to turn red in the face and their arm veins to bulge, but they gritted their teeth and refused to retreat an inch!
"prick!"
Just as the momentum of the wild boar's charge was brought under control, Qin Lan issued a second order.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Dozens of spears, gleaming with a cold light, emerged instantly from the gaps in the shields. The spear tips pierced precisely into the relatively soft neck and abdomen of the stone-armored boar.
Fresh blood gushed out like a fountain.
The once arrogant stone-armored wild boars collapsed to the ground with a thud before they could even utter a few cries of pain. They twitched a few times and then fell silent.
The entire process was smooth and seamless, with perfect coordination and not a single bit of hesitation.
The people behind were all stunned.
The monsters that were like nightmares to them were so easily defeated by this team called the "Iron-Blooded Army"!
Their gazes toward the black dragon flag grew even more awe and fanaticism.
Qin Lan ignored the cheers behind her. She drew her sword from her waist, walked expressionlessly to a dead wild boar, cut off its head with one stroke, and held it high.
"Pang Dahai!" she shouted coldly. "Logistics Department! Come up and process the spoils! This is tonight's dinner!"
"Alright! Legion Commander is awesome!" Pang Dahai and his men came running up, their mouths practically watering as they looked at the fat wild boar carcass.
The "Purify the Corridor" plan officially kicked off amidst such a bloody yet highly efficient start.
Over the next ten days or so, this massive team, like a giant, relentless bulldozer, slowly but irresistibly advanced across the wilderness.
The Ironblood Army is responsible for clearing away all obstacles. Whether it's hordes of scythe-like "Blade-footed Mantises" or "Rotten-skinned Giant Lizards" lurking in the swamp and spitting venom, they all meet only one fate before their array of shields and spears—ruthless slaughter.
The construction workers followed behind, carrying out the most arduous road-clearing work.
Using the most primitive tools, they gradually leveled the rugged ground. Wang Jianguo, utilizing his mathematical knowledge, designed the most efficient levers and pulley systems to move those huge stones, greatly improving the efficiency of the project and earning himself more contribution points and praise from Li Xiangbin.
Thousands of laborers were responsible for the most strenuous physical work.
They loaded the excavated soil and rocks into baskets and carried them, trip after trip, to the low-lying areas that needed to be filled.
Their sweat soaked the unfamiliar ground beneath their feet. Every day, people fainted from exhaustion or were injured in accidents, but spurred on by the contribution points and supervised by the discipline department, no one dared to stop.
Everyone was like a wound-up toy, burning themselves out in their respective roles.
However, when the team advanced to a canyon about eight kilometers from the shelter, they finally encountered a formidable barrier that was almost impossible to cross by manpower alone.
It was a huge rift valley, about fifty meters wide and bottomless, like a hideous scar on the earth.
The only passage is a natural stone bridge formed from a single, massive rock.
However, the center of the stone bridge is completely blocked by a spherical boulder with a diameter of over twenty meters and a weight of several thousand tons.
This boulder, with its smooth surface, is tightly wedged into the stone bridge. Not to mention human strength, even heavy engineering machinery from the Blue Star era might not be able to move it easily.
"What...what do we do?" Li Xiangbin looked at the boulder in front of him, sweating profusely with anxiety. Taking a detour would add at least a hundred kilometers to the journey, turning the "Purification Corridor" plan into a joke.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at this insurmountable obstacle with despair.
Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from behind.
Everyone turned to look and saw Lin Feng, alone, riding a magnificent white horse, slowly approaching.
"Mr. Lin!"
"The leader has arrived!"
The crowd parted to make way for him, and everyone looked at him with anticipation and admiration.
It was as if any problem would be solved as soon as he arrived.
Lin Feng dismounted and walked to the edge of the rift, calmly looking at the huge spherical rock.
"All Ironblood Army soldiers, block both ends of the stone bridge! Everyone else, retreat 500 meters!" His order was not to be questioned.
Although the crowd was puzzled, they immediately complied.
Soon, only Lin Feng remained around the huge stone bridge.
He stood at the edge of the canyon, the sunlight casting a long shadow of him. The mountain breeze ruffled the hem of his clothes, making him appear detached from the world.
He closed his eyes.
The next moment, an invisible force of telekinesis, ten times more powerful and vast than when the house was built, suddenly erupted!
"Buzz!"
A deep, resonant hum filled the air, causing the space itself to tremble.
Five hundred meters away, everyone felt an immense pressure that made it difficult for them to breathe and caused their hearts to race.
They stared in horror at Lin Feng's figure, wondering what was about to happen.
"rise!"
Lin Feng let out a low shout in his heart.
Then, the massive, thousand-ton spherical boulder, which had baffled thousands of people, began to make a "crackling" sound.
It was trembling slightly!
Then, under the watchful eyes of thousands of people who stared wide-eyed as if they had seen a ghost, the boulder, as big as a small mountain, slowly, inch by inch, floated up from the stone bridge that was blocking it!
Without an explosion or any mechanical intervention, it simply rose into the air quietly, defying all the laws of physics!
“God…miracle…” Wang Jianguo’s lips trembled. He gripped Li Xiangbin’s arm tightly, his nails digging into his flesh, but he felt nothing.
Li Xiangbin was completely petrified.
"My God..."
"The leader is the true God! He is the true God who came to save us!"
All the laborers lost control of their emotions. They knelt down with a thud, kowtowing frantically in Lin Feng's direction, shouting incoherently. It was a primal, soul-deep reverence and worship.
Lin Feng, suspended in mid-air, also looked slightly pale. Lifting such a massive object had taken an enormous toll on his mental energy.
But he didn't stop.
He slowly reached out his hand and made a grasping motion in the air towards the floating boulder.
"go!"
With a low shout, the huge spherical rock, like a cannonball thrown by an invisible hand, pierced the sky and flew into the distant wilderness with a sharp whistling sound.
"Boom!"
A moment later, a deafening roar echoed from afar, shaking the ground. A huge cloud of smoke shot into the sky.
Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath.
He turned around, looking at the now unobstructed stone bridge and the kneeling crowd in the distance, as if worshipping a god. A trace of weariness appeared on his face, but more than that, there was an absolute majesty of absolute control.
He doesn't need an explanation.
This miracle, more than any law or speech, has imprinted his authority deep into the soul of every individual.
"The road has been paved for you."
His voice clearly reached everyone's ears: "Keep moving forward."
After saying this, he mounted his horse and, amidst a chorus of enthusiastic, thunderous shouts of "Long live the leader!", turned his horse around and slowly rode away.
All he left behind was an unfathomable, monumental figure.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com