Chapter 421

Dawn was just breaking when John wrapped himself in his clothes and stepped out; a few days ago, the lord had left him several beef cakes, which he had carefully hoarded, adding a little each time to flavor his mush and soak up some grease, eating it all the way until yesterday.

This level of treatment was already among the best in the entire slum district; many had long since run out of food, and yesterday morning two corpses of starved people had been carried out—unless things changed, many more would die.

Food was available on the black market, but prices had sextupled, draining everyone's last copper coin; damn Count Gula, his grain guild controlled all grain trade in the city, citing broken trade routes to keep raising prices.

He'd heard it was over the position of city lord—these power struggles among the elite were beyond John's understanding, and he didn't care to understand them; he only hoped the market would recover soon and grain prices return to normal.

He had hands and feet; even if he had to take odd jobs or carry heavy loads, he could always scrape together a meal, unlike now, when he didn't even know where to beg.

The market was growing increasingly chaotic; occasionally, shadowy figures appeared, their demeanor unmistakably like slave catchers—could someone really be kidnapping people for slaves within the city?

He didn't know whether slave catchers dared seize free citizens, but he knew slave traders had begun targeting the slums; over the past two days, people had been lurking around, likely waiting for the right moment.

John's household had two women, prime targets for slave traders; the only advantage slave traders had over slave catchers was that they rarely used force and wouldn't burst into homes to drag people away.

But when someone was starving and near death, they'd come calling—no money needed, just a few cakes could make you "voluntarily" sign a bond of servitude.

Thinking of this, John couldn't help worrying about the two women at home and wanted to rush back—but his empty stomach reminded him that if he didn't find food soon, his household would run out entirely.

Stepping out of the neighborhood into the stinking, filthy puddles, John was startled to find far more people on the streets, and at the corner, several gray-white skeletons had appeared.

John's heart leapt—he rushed over, drawn by the sight.

He'd never liked these bone structures before; seeing them always reminded him of death. But now, no matter how he looked, they radiated one word—familiarity.

The appearance of the skeleton guards meant order had returned.

Those who hadn't lived through chaos couldn't grasp how precious order was; now he understood, and everyone around him understood too—their faces bore expressions of profound relief.

John recognized several slave traders; even their faces wore friendly smiles, and the daggers they'd once deliberately displayed to intimidate were now completely hidden.

Look—order had returned; demons had become human again.

A commotion swept the street as a Huang Tong dragon flew overhead, followed by a squad of skeletons.

John cried out excitedly: "Lord Nai Ge!"

Meeting someone he knew—especially a Huang Tong dragon accompanied by so many skeletons—John immediately linked the return of order to An Ge and his group.

Nai Ge turned and saw John; his eyes lit up instantly. He pointed a short claw: "Good. You there—you're conscripted. Appointed as Peacekeeper, you'll lead the guards to maintain security in this area."

Without waiting for a reply, he flew over and slapped a badge into John's hand; the skeletons behind him immediately turned their gaze toward him.

John held up the badge, dazed, pointing at his own nose: "Me? Peacekeeper?"

"Yes, yes, yes—Peacekeeper. We're short-handed; you'll do. You know this area—anyone causing trouble, you arrest them."

Nai Ge leaned close to his ear and whispered: "If you can't handle them, press here on the badge. With this badge, the skeleton guards will obey you. Don't let anyone take it from you."

"But…" John hesitated, yet his voice carried a flicker of eager excitement.

"No buts. The mission to save the city is yours now—go!" Nai Ge shrugged off responsibility.

They weren't short on manpower—they were short on people who could lead. All except the little angel and the little zombie had been deployed, but for a whole city, it was still a drop in the bucket.

As for the Lai Yin family, they'd already taken over city defenses, municipal offices, and granaries—there was no one left to maintain public order.

He, a full-fledged God of Knowledge, could only lead his skeleton guards patrolling the streets, with no energy to delve into every neighborhood.

Even if he had the energy, he had no idea where to start—he was a stranger here; who knew where the filth was hidden?

Then he'd run into John—wasn't this the perfect local expert?

"Oh, by the way—get your wife and daughter here too. We're setting up free food stalls soon; have them distribute food. I'll assign guards to protect them. Appoint them as Municipal Officers." Nai Ge casually bestowed titles, not caring what rank "Municipal Officer" even meant.

John trembled all over: "Is… is this allowed?" Was this the pace of the whole family becoming officials?

"Why not? Go! Find more people you know—at least you can get a full meal."

Not long after, John brought his wife, daughter, and a crowd of acquaintances—once they heard there'd be full meals, everyone's enthusiasm soared.

Soon after, An Ge arrived with grain—his hand reached out and pulled out a huge sack, as if drawing it from a storage space.

"Where did you get the grain?" Nai Ge asked.

An Ge pointed toward the direction of the grain guild—the same guild they'd first met John at when they came to sell vegetables: "Stole it."

With trade routes cut, the only way to resolve the city's grain crisis was confiscation.

Confiscate surplus grain from noble trading houses and redistribute it reasonably. Of course, the process wasn't peaceful—in An Ge's eyes, it was simply "stealing," and he'd been the one to do it.

A swarm of skeletons surrounded the grain guild. An Ge blasted open the gates with magic; the little zombie and little angel howled and led the skeletons charging inside; the arrogant mercenaries immediately dropped to the ground and surrendered.

Count Gula had fled, but all the grain he'd stockpiled fell into An Ge's hands. To secure the position of city lord, Gula had prepared extensively, hoarding enough grain to stabilize the city after taking power—once he claimed the title, he could legally open the granaries and calm the market.

Silver coins were distributed as usual; granaries were opened, grain sold at fair prices, and dozens of food distribution points built so the poor could receive meals for free.

With a large number of skeleton guards maintaining order, no one dared cut in line or fight for food. Human soldiers might warn or drag offenders away, but skeleton guards didn't—they drew their swords and cut immediately.

No one would try reasoning with skeleton guards.

The crisis in Beifeng City was resolved overnight. Now, all that remained was reopening the trade routes—then Beifeng City would regain its former vitality.

"We've been to the blocked pass. The mountains completely isolate Beifeng City from the desert, leaving only one narrow pass. We heard a giant boulder had rolled down and blocked it, but when we went to check, the entire pass had collapsed—Gula, furious over his defeat, must have blown it up," Fei Wo spat bitterly.

Clearing the completely collapsed pass would require an enormous effort. The confiscated grain had temporarily solved Beifeng City's food crisis, but without a road, the city's grain would eventually run out—then what?

When the topic of massive engineering came up, Du Luo glanced around and asked: "Where's the lord?"

A massive workload was only massive for ordinary people—for An Ge, it might take half a month at most.

Bai Yin instantly understood Du Luo's intent. He shook his head: "The lord has gone back to reclaim wasteland. We can't keep troubling him. If we can't even fix one trade route ourselves, why keep dragging him in? An asset that generates no profit but only burdens us is a liability—we must discard it quickly."

Fei Wo shuddered: "What? Liability? Discard it? How did we get to discarding it? I just became city lord—my seat isn't even warm yet—how am I a liability?"

Du Luo asked: "Then what do we do?"

Bai Yin turned to Fei Wo: "Are there any other routes out?"

Fei Wo thought for a moment: "There is one—south along the mountains, there's a great canyon. Someone built a cableway there; you cross the canyon via cableway, then follow it through the mountains to reach Jiuliu Fortress—a city larger than Beifeng. But the cableway can't carry grain."

"How wide is the canyon?" Du Luo's eyes lit up.

"About fifty meters—but it's extremely deep. Fall in, and you'll be crushed to pulp."

"Has no one ever thought of building a bridge across it?" Du Luo asked.

"A bridge?" Fei Wo blinked, hesitating: "I once heard people from the Beifeng family say building a bridge over the canyon requires geological conditions, structural mechanics, stress calculations—a whole pile of things. Only a Master-level Engineering Mage could build one. What's an Engineering Mage? I've never even heard of it."

"Cough cough cough!" Du Luo stepped forward slightly: "It shouldn't be too hard. I'll go take a look. But I still want the lord to take a glance—otherwise, our measurements might take forever. How long can our grain last?"

"Three months." Bai Yin knew exactly how much money they had.

"Then let's ask the lord for just one look. We'll prepare gifts—like every seed we can find in the city—to ask for his help. That won't make us a liability, right?" Du Luo suggested.

"Brilliant idea," Bai Yin's eyes brightened.

Fei Wo was utterly confused: Hadn't they just said they needed a "Master-level Engineering Mage"? Why had the topic suddenly jumped to collecting seeds? The shift was too abrupt.

Bai Yin smiled and explained: "If the highest mage rank is Master, then anything above Master could be called King-level, right? Then this one is the King of Alchemy, the King of Engineering Mages."

…

After the dam was built and filled over several days, the water level of Shahe had risen. Once the lateral canals were dug, vast stretches of land on both banks could be irrigated.

After finishing his duties in the city, An Ge rushed back impatiently to tend his fields. This time, the area to reclaim was too vast for the four of them to handle alone.

Reluctantly, he selected a group of "clever" gray-bone skeletons to help.

In the Desert Town, An Ge had noticed a problem: the gray-bone skeletons here were smarter than their counterparts in the main realm—at least as intelligent as Silver Skeletons, and some even approached the wisdom of Gold Skeletons, barely qualifying as sentient skeletons.

Smart skeletons made An Ge's life easier—they could handle digging ditches, building ridges, and channeling water.

"These gray bones are so smart. It's heartbreaking—that was my Enlightenment Aura, stolen by that damn bone. Makes me furious," Nai Ge barked as he directed the gray-bone skeletons.

No one responded.

Nai Ge didn't care and continued: "Shouldn't we go look for it? Recover my Enlightenment Aura—then we could make these skeletons even smarter."

Still no response.

"The emperor left behind so much land. Let's go explore outside—maybe we'll find even larger, better farmland than this desert."

Not a sound.

He muttered different ideas for a long time—still no response.

Realizing An Ge was dead-set on farming, Nai Ge finally fell silent, embarrassed.

After the canals were dug, the sluice gates were opened to flood the land, then closed again, and seeds were sown.

An Ge chose jujubes best suited for desert growth; around each tree's base, he'd pre-buried insect ash.

This insect ash had been painstakingly gathered by An Ge—grabbing a handful every few minutes, accumulating bit by bit.

As his soul grew, the interval between grabs had shortened to sixteen minutes; each time he could grab a large handful—but he still couldn't grab items from storage spaces.

He'd tried grabbing storage bags or rings, but if anything was inside, he couldn't move them—unless the storage space was emptied. He didn't understand the mechanism.

But when he retreated his consciousness into his body and transformed into Luo Ke, he could shove items into this side—even items inside storage accessories.

Only small storage spaces worked, though—huge spaces like the one Da Mao had cut, hundreds of cubic meters, couldn't be transferred over.

An Ge had tried once, transferring six storage bags, each about two cubic meters. Two were filled with seeds; the other four were packed with soul crystals—hundreds of thousands of them.

Now, if he needed money anywhere, he could just throw soul crystals at people.

The jujube trees grew rapidly; when they reached waist height, An Ge paused the Rapid Death Aura.

Then he interplanted Gao potatoes between the jujube trees—so the trees shaded the harsh sun, letting the potatoes grow more steadily.

Everything proceeded in orderly fashion. Soon, green sprouts emerged along both banks of Shahe.

Du Luo and Bai Yin arrived by carriage, unable to help but marvel: "It's so strange—the lord is an undead creature, yet wherever he goes, he doesn't bring death—he brings endless life."

"Isn't that good? Life is always more interesting than death. Beifeng City had too few seeds—we couldn't find any new ones. I wonder if the lord will like these?" Du Luo said, glancing back at the carriage behind him, where bundles of translucent objects were stacked.