Chapter 17: Map Collection Completed

Heading north all the way to Ning'an County, they turned back west; this time they were basically walking along the border line, huh, it looked even more desolate.

Their travel speed also increased, because there really wasn't anything to stop for.

If it weren't for Baili Jing insisting on completing his own route to collect the map, they could have taken a shortcut and returned to Youzhou City earlier.

That day they could already see the Ancient Pass in the distance; after Baili Jing examined his rough map, he finally agreed to head south back.

At this point his task was already ninety percent complete; the final stop was Pingkang County, west of Youzhou City.

Pingkang counted as Youzhou's main source of revenue; the terrain was relatively flat, and its farmland area was the largest in the prefecture.

Baili Jing's impression was that this place would be relatively wealthy.

Along the way he saw many fields, with peasants working in them, a scene of prosperity.

Da Wang saw a child digging wild vegetables by the roadside, bounced over and slipped two candies into his pocket to strike up a conversation.

"Little brother, we're just passing through—what's the name of this place?"

Who would have thought the child stood up a bit taller than him—just that the child was thin, huddled in a small ball, so he had assumed the child was younger.

Now it looks like it's hard to say who's older.

Fortunately the boy didn't mind, saying, "This is Yang Family Village."

"I'm seven years old, how old are you?" The two exchanged ages and names; of course, Da Wang's was made up on the spot.

Upon learning the boy was already ten, Da Wang was surprised for two seconds, then realized: not getting enough to eat, he probably hadn't grown.

From the boy he learned that his whole family—parents, uncles and aunts, grandparents—were all reclaiming land in the fields; he had no sisters, so it was this boy who came out to dig wild vegetables for dinner, otherwise he would have been helping in the fields.

Da Wang heard that the locals were responding to the call to reclaim land, and he was very pleased.

The Little Imp King easily coaxed a ten-year-old child, and the two kids soon chatted animatedly.

If the boy's grandfather had come to call him a little later, Da Wang could have pumped the whole Yang Family Village for information.

Yang Family's grandfather saw a group of people stopped far off by the road, then saw his grandson chatting animatedly with them; he hurriedly put down his work and came over to shout for people, lest this silly boy be tricked away and still have to pay a ransom.

When Zhao Bao came over, he saw their Da Wang lingering, not moving, staring at the grandfather and grandson's backs, wondering what he was thinking, with a look of deep sorrow and grudge.

He stepped forward and probed, "Your Highness, everyone's gone—what are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at my future self. San Lang is my future self; if Youzhou continues to develop like this, when I was ten I'd have been even hungrier than him!"

Zhao Bao: ……

"How could that be? With all of Youzhou's strength, how could we fail to support His Highness!"

"Hmph."

"San Lang's family of six able-bodied workers supports three children, eating only two meals a day, and they never see meat all year—look how starved he's become!"

Da Wang not only has to feed himself, but also several thousand more people.

Starving to death in the fief is no dream.

That night was their last night out, and Da Wang spent the whole night dreaming.

After getting up he still muttered dazedly, "Agrarian civilization, nomadic civilization……natural enemies, conflict inevitable……or maybe industrial civilization has promise……"

Zhao Bao listening on the side was full of question marks, "Your Highness?"

Da Wang jerked upright, "What was I saying? What is industrial civilization?"

Zhao Bao: ……

Da Wang and Zhao Bao stared at each other for a few seconds, then Da Wang slapped his forehead, "Forgot! What did I just say?"

Zhao Bao: "……I only caught something about nomadic civilization being unstoppable, and I didn't understand it either. Your Highness, did you dream of the Xiongnu? Your Highness, if it's a dream, sometimes you only remember it at the moment you wake up, and forget it once you're fully awake."

Baili Jing could only believe that as well; otherwise, would he have become like the old grand tutor in the palace, his mind addled?!

Impossible, I'm still young!

As the carriage drew ever closer to Youzhou City, this matter was also tossed to the back of Da Wang's mind.

Don't look down on the Youwang Mansion being shabby and not presentable; he had already come to regard it as his home. After being away so long, returning made Da Wang quite happy.

In the afternoon he once again climbed onto Xiao Zao's back and rode at a gentle trot.

He had the knack for it now, and his horseback riding was quite good. But for now he was still limited to trotting without leaving the formation, because when Xiao Zao broke into a run, no horse in the troop could keep up.

Weren't it for the strict supervision of the Grand Tutor and Zhao Bao, he would surely have taken off at a gallop. The last time he'd tried a little at the border, on returning he was met with Zhang Tu, Zhao Bao, and the Grand Tutor kneeling together in protest.

Hmph!

As a result, he hadn't ridden long before his riding urge was still unsatisfied, when suddenly he heard a clear bell ring, as if it sounded in his mind.

Baili Jing's first thought was of his Capital Prosperity Dream; he flicked his wrist, and indeed the whole screen was showering with petals.

In the middle it read 【Congratulations, my lord, on completing the novice task～】

With this excitement, horseback riding instantly lost its appeal, and Da Wang started fussing about wanting to return to the carriage to rest.

Zhao Bao was also puzzled: does His Highness prefer to do the opposite? Let him ride a horse and he quickly loses interest, yet when he earnestly begs not to go, Da Wang insists on going, leaving Zhao Bao lost in thought.

Baili Jing got into the carriage, then sent away Zhao Bao who had been following to attend him, and stayed alone.

Lowering the curtain, he immediately opened the Capital Prosperity Dream.

【Congratulations, my lord, on completing the novice task～】

Task reward: Youzhou Full Territory 3D Topographic Map ×1; Youwang Mansion ×1

Below was a three‑dimensional mountain‑river‑lake‑sea map?

Baili Jing looked and looked again; the shape resembled his simple Youzhou map, but this map was three‑dimensional, with mountains and rivers immediately clear.

Could this be that full‑territory topographic map?

He curiously reached out and poked it—wow! This map actually moves!

It can even be freely zoomed in and out!

The Great King was overjoyed, this is fun!

But he immediately discovered a new continent; this thing was initially a 3D full topographic map, and when Bai Li Jing zoomed in, he found many details on it.

For example, he discovered a dark brown Secluded Prefecture City on it, and outside Secluded Prefecture City was light green wasteland.

Zooming in on Secluded Prefecture City, he could even see the streets!

The Great King's eyes and mouth opened wide, one hand poking the map, the other covering his own mouth. Too amazing, right?!

He zoomed in and zoomed in again, discovering he could actually see pedestrians on the street?

Bai Li Jing let go of his mouth, reached out and pinched his own arm—'Ow~!' It hurt! Not a dream!

Outside the carriage, Zhao Bao immediately asked worriedly: 'Your Highness? What's going on?'

Bai Li Jing hastily replied: 'It's fine, I bit my tongue, don't worry about this prince!'

Zhao Bao thought, 'How hungry he must be! On this journey there's hardly any meat to eat; Your Highness has visibly lost a lot of weight, and when we return to the prince's residence we'll need to fatten him up well.'

Inside the carriage, Bai Li Jing was both excited and thrilled—how could the world have such a miraculous treasure? Although it comes with the side effect of city destruction and loss of life, he could understand that now. As the world's ultimate treasure, even sacrificing one's life… would not be acceptable.

He zoomed in on Secluded Prefecture City, following his memory and rummaging around, finally found the Secluded Prince Manor.

Oh wow!

Thrilling!

This was equivalent to him watching from heaven every move inside the Secluded Prince Manor; he saw the little eunuch who tended the horses in the stables constantly moving back and forth carrying fodder.

So that additional skill noted after the City Lord's Heart meant this! Back then they said the additional skill would take effect after generating a 3D full topographic map of the entire Secluded Prefecture region, allowing one to grasp all movements within the territory; now he finally understood how heaven-defying this thing is!

The Great King's fingers twitched with anticipation; he zoomed in and zoomed in again, and the little eunuch walking below could be magnified at most to the size of his fingernail, after which the map wouldn't move—this must be the maximum scale!

The little eunuch looked like a giant ant, walking back and forth in the toy-like Secluded Prince Manor.

When the little eunuch entered the stables, he disappeared from view; when he came out after finishing laying fodder and turned around, he reappeared, and the Great King extended his pinky finger to lightly push his back…

No reaction.

Alright, this is heaven-defying enough; even though the Great King didn't manage to poke the little eunuch, he couldn't help bursting into laughter.

'Hahaha…' Realizing it, he hastily covered his mouth, but unfortunately it was already too late.

Zhao Bao still heard it, uneasy, he rode his horse closer again: 'Your Highness?'

The Great King: '……Nothing, I was asleep dreaming of eating meat.'

Zhao Bao: ……

Your Highness is really craving meat; tonight when we go back we should roast a sheep!