"Everyone, relax."
"We haven't brought you here because you've done anything wrong. We're just resolving some lingering issues within the city. After tonight, everything will go back to normal."
Chen Yu spoke softly with a gentle smile, looking at the members of the supply convoy before him.
"If you have any needs, just tell Heilong," the man with a black mole on his face nodded to everyone. "Just tell me if you need anything. As long as it's not about leaving this barracks or getting your communicators back, I'll do my best to satisfy you."
"Whatever the City Lord needs us to do, we will do."
Among the crowd, Uncle Ali grinned and looked at Chen Yu with respect.
"We don't need anything."
"Can we eat the exquisite roast meat?" Before Uncle Ali could finish, Aben murmured dazedly. Hearing this, Uncle Ali swatted the back of his head, "Eat, eat, all you think about is eating!"
Aběn, who was hit, rubbed his head aggrievedly. Chen Yu smiled and shook his head.
"Uncle Ali, why are you hitting Aběn? Of course, we can provide exquisite roast meat. Anyone who wants to eat exquisite roast meat can eat to their heart's content, there's plenty."
Instantly, the eyes of the supply convoy members brought to the barracks lit up.
Exquisite roast meat, delicious!
Anyone who had tasted exquisite roast meat couldn't stop craving it. However, the price of exquisite roast meat was slightly high, and even occasional indulgence was painful for them.
If they were detained here and exquisite roast meat was plentiful, it would be truly worth it.
"City Lord, we really don't need it." Uncle Ali frowned deeply. "That portion of exquisite roast meat costs 30 copper coins. If we sell it, it's revenue for our city. We people just need to be fed."
"It's just roast meat, no big deal."
Chen Yu smiled and gestured to the people in front of him. "Besides, if you don't want to eat it, look at everyone behind you. Let them eat to their heart's content."
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Yu looked at Heilong and said.
"Uncle Ali and the others are in your care. Remember, plenty of roast meat!"
Leaving the barracks, Chen Yu's smile vanished instantly. He beckoned to the fox person standing outside. The fox person, clad in shining golden armor, ran over.
"City Lord."
"I'll put on the Vibranium suit right away." Chen Yu chuckled lightly, then got straight to the point. "Keep an eye on the people in the supply convoy. Heilong will be in the open, and you will be in the dark. Record anyone whose situation seems off and let your brother contact me later. Where is your brother? Why don't I see him?"
"Eldest Brother is monitoring the trial zone. Should I call him back?"
"No, go and monitor."
The recruitment trial zone was located in a densely forested wilderness area with hills and swamps, making the terrain complex and varied. Chen Yu sensed Ya Bo's location with his soul power and rushed over directly.
"So stupid."
"Don't you know how to use leverage? You just charge forward blindly. Is your brain only for breathing?"
On the branches of a thick tree trunk, Ya Bo squatted, hidden among the leaves, watching the trial participants in the distance. Although the entire jungle had poor visibility, from his position, he could see the entire trial.
"Who are you calling stupid? Let me see?"
Suddenly, a deep voice filled with curiosity entered Ya Bo's ears.
Squatting on the branch, Ya Bo glanced sideways and saw Chen Yu, who had appeared beside him at some unknown time, craning his neck and staring intently in the direction he had been looking.
"City Lord?"
Seeing Chen Yu suddenly appear, Ya Bo was startled. Immediately, he sighed with a dejected expression.
"Even if you are above the Saint realm, you can't scare me like this, can you? Can we negotiate? Next time you come, make a little noise. I'm at the peak of the Colored Realm, and if you keep doing this, I'll lose face. This might even become my inner demon and an obstacle to becoming a Saint."
Ya Bo didn't know how many times this had happened. He was very alert to his surroundings.
Yet, Chen Yu could always appear beside him as if by magic.
This made him doubt if the gap between a Saint and the peak of the Colored Realm was really that big. Even though he knew he was no match for Chen Yu, he should at least be able to sense some disturbance.
Chen Yu's countless appearances without warning made him doubt if his Colored Realm was fake.
"Hoo, your mouth isn't so tough anymore. You admit you're at the peak of the Colored Realm." Chen Yu chuckled slyly. "I thought you were going to hide your Black Obsidian Realm until you broke through to become a Saint."
"To others, I'm in the Black Obsidian Realm, but how can I pretend in front of you?"
Ya Bo shrugged with a helpless look in his eyes. "Besides, you, a superior Saint, also put on a Golden Realm facade to deceive others. You're much more detestable than I am."
"How dare you speak to the City Lord like that!"
"My apologies!"
Ya Bo, at the peak of the Colored Realm, immediately lowered his head. Chen Yu also glanced at the people undergoing trials below.
"How are they doing?"
"During this period, more and more people are able to pass the lowest level of the qualification standard," Ya Bo said solemnly. "Our first trial might be because they are unfamiliar with the environment, and also because their realms were suddenly sealed, which they couldn't adapt to. Now, we have about 2,000 people who have broken through the initial qualification standard, and 40 people who have broken through the first-level qualification standard."
Chen Yu was still not satisfied with the current results.
The number of qualified people was too small.
It had been over a week since the first trial. The grain storage in Chen Yu's city had already been built, which was indicative of the situation.
In just a few days, the number of people meeting the initial standard had not even broken ten thousand.
He didn't know how long it would take for his elite regiment to be formed.
According to Chen Yu's plan, the initial regiment should currently have at least over ten thousand people, the first-level regiment over two thousand people, the second-level regiment around five hundred, and the peak regiment a hundred people.
As the city's population increased, the number of soldiers in the regiment would increase proportionally.
Based on the current development, it would likely take at least several more months to meet Chen Yu's needs. What Chen Yu could hope for now was that the lazy donkey would be a slightly better donkey and stop being lazy. He was now waiting for it to bring the troops from Freedom Town to make use of them.
"Does the City Lord have any thoughts?"
Sensing Chen Yu's silence for a long time, Ya Bo asked.
"No, you are the commander of the troops, and everything here is under your command." Chen Yu shook his head and asked, "Have you done what I told you to do?"
"Cai Zi has already gone."
"Good."
Cai Zi was the jackal among Ya Bo's brothers. After Ya Bo was recruited, these people also joined Chen Yu's command.
Ya Bo and his group could establish a foothold in the city, and they indeed had some skills.
As the leader, Ya Bo was naturally the backbone of everyone. Heilong was a good assistant. The fox person was cunning and ruthless, while the jackal was skilled in intelligence gathering and discerning danger.
The configuration was very complete.
"If it's him, I'm relieved." Chen Yu nodded with satisfaction. Ya Bo also frowned and said, "City Lord, we've gone through all this trouble, is it worth it? You just want to find the hidden dangers in our city, and using a grain storage as bait is a bit too costly."
"The grain storage is just a catalyst."
Chen Yu whispered in a deep voice, "We need to do things systematically. If we want to reclaim the entire territory of Fengqi City, we can't rely solely on force. We also need some pretexts. Even if the pretext is far-fetched, we must have it. Otherwise, if we just act on our own whims, wouldn't we become hooligans, like wandering bandits, and ruin our reputation?"
"So, you think the ones who planted the mines are the city lords of the sub-cities?"
"Did I say that?"
Chen Yu, who was standing on the branch, suddenly stood up and looked down at Ya Bo, who was still squatting, with a slight smile.
"You misheard."
"Increase the efficiency of the troops a little. They are all common people from the caves. They have been ordinary citizens for decades, so their thinking must be somewhat limited. You are the commander-in-chief of our Fengqi City. Although you don't have to teach them hand-in-hand, it's good to give them some guidance occasionally."
Patting Ya Bo's shoulder, Chen Yu leaped from the forest and disappeared.
Ya Bo, squatting on the branch, tentatively tried to sense Chen Yu's location, but he couldn't find Chen Yu within his range of perception.
"Above the Saint realm, is it really that mysterious?"
Ya Bo murmured softly. Coincidentally, he saw a few reckless youngsters charging forward in his line of sight, and his mouth couldn't help but curse again.
"If you're not going to use your heads, just throw them away. Fighting like this, you'll get yourselves killed."
"So dumb!"
Back at the City Lord's mansion, Chen Yu sat silently in his chair, perusing books. During this time, Yu Pu had also contacted him, inquiring about when the high-purity ore would be available. The gnomes had already set up the underground furnace. As soon as Chen Yu's ore arrived, they could start refining weapons.
Bows, spears, shields... all were within the scope of what the gnomes could refine.
The quality could not be guaranteed.
According to what Yu Pu relayed from the gnomes, the level of their refining would depend on the purity of the ore provided by Chen Yu. High-purity ore would surely result in higher-level equipment with better attributes. As long as the ore provided was sufficient, they could refine the quantity Chen Yu needed within half a month.
Their efficiency was astonishing.
Many royal families in the cave world hired artifact refiners with refining talent. For them to refine weapons in batches, it would take about three to five days to refine them, and the highest quality was Silver level. For higher-grade equipment, it would take longer and require more effort.
The gnomes could indeed do it in half the time required by human artifact refiners!
Chen Yu couldn't quite understand why the royal families didn't hire them to refine artifacts for them, given their high refining skills. Was it simply because of their inferior non-human status?
After briefly informing Yu Pu that he would have to wait a while longer, Chen Yu continued to read the book in his hand.
Time ticked by. By the time Chen Yu finished the last page of the book he was reading, he looked out the window to find it was already late at night.
"It's nighttime. Does the bet still hold?"
The little demon, sitting on the windowsill, smiled faintly. Chen Yu shrugged noncommittally.
"Naturally."
"It's almost past midnight, and there's been no activity at the grain storage." The little demon fiddled with the long hair at his temples. Chen Yu remained calm. "There's still plenty of time, what's the hurry?"
Almost as Chen Yu finished speaking, a hurried figure ran towards the City Lord's mansion.
"City Lord, it's bad! The grain storage is on fire!"