After the Earth-Boring Giant Worm was defeated, Chen Feng certainly wouldn’t stay in the same place. He hurried back to the camp at the fastest speed.
On the journey.
Because the Inferior Demon devoured the Red Dragon and gained enormous wings, Chen Feng’s travel time was greatly shortened. The river that was previously perilous was easily crossed this time.
It has to be mentioned that Flora’s behavior was somewhat strange—when Chen Feng was about to send her back to the Abyss, she unexpectedly requested to stay.
Regarding this, Chen Feng didn’t have any doubts. The Inferior Demon could bear a load of three hundred kilograms, so even with Flora, it posed no problem. The group returned to the camp together.
.........
Order.
Originally, Order occupied just a school, but by now it had expanded ten miles around. Shouts could be heard from the surroundings as workers transported tools, trying to build some new houses.
The Economic Development Zone had been completely reclaimed.
After some bloody suppression, all presentable monsters in the Economic Development Zone were exterminated. Chen Feng implemented an extinction plan, where any mutated creature was on the list for eradication.
Of course, there were individual exceptions.
For example, some insects—Chen Feng didn’t completely eradicate them, as he needed them for food supplies. This was akin to a free-range method; their astonishing reproductive ability indicated that new offspring would be born in a very short time.
Order began to expand, and the school was constructed into an inner city, while within a ten-kilometer radius, all buildings were to be destroyed and rebuilt. In peaceful times, without the aid of cranes and bulldozers, such a task seemed impossible—but now it was the apocalypse.
Professionals and Skeleton Warriors cooperated with one another, and surprisingly, this didn’t appear as difficult as imagined.
In the event of a battle, the security of the inner city greatly increased, and the surrounding area became a buffer zone. Because of this, the houses within the inner city had become extremely sought after. For some survivors, their greatest wish now was to have a house of their own inside the inner city.
However, the arrangement of personnel was not something they could control.
The population of the Economic Development Zone had settled down. Besides a few deeply hidden survivors, the remaining ninety percent had stabilized within Order.
Fourteen thousand people—this was the latest census.
Compared to the previous thirty-nine thousand permanent residents of the Economic Development Zone, the fourteen thousand was shockingly low. Those people had died—died from disaster, starvation, or at the mouths of other monsters. The number of survivors was less than a tenth of the original population. It is imaginable what kind of changes the city underwent during that time.
"Sir."
A calm-faced Xu Zhe approached Chen Feng. As one of the first followers of Chen Feng, Xu Zhe held an important position in Order, even having the authority to participate in personnel deployment. Yet, despite being such a significant figure, he now bowed humbly and said, "The list is out. Nearly three thousand people will be arranged to reside by the outer wall. But sir... there are still some residences in the inner city. If people squeeze a bit, those individuals could be accommodated."
Xu Zhe seemed hesitant, clearly believing that the inner city was somewhat safer.
Chen Feng turned to look at him and shook his head, saying, "No need."
"Only when individuals truly feel the fear of death will they cherish life. Do you cherish your life, Xu Zhe?"
Xu Zhe shivered upon hearing this, murmuring, "Yes, sir, I cherish it very much."
Chen Feng silently observed him, with an indescribable smile spreading across his lips. "Because you cherish it, you work so hard."
"This is a very simple principle: outsiders aspire to the safety of the inner city and will work desperately hard. Their ultimate wish is to have a safer environment; meanwhile, insiders, to avoid the danger outside city walls, will also be motivated in their work, thus avoiding slacking."
"Order has a long way to go. Compared to the body, the human heart is the hardest to grasp. It’s like raising children—constant pampering helps them become reckless, while occasional corrections let them know what should and shouldn’t be done."
Although Xu Zhe had interacted with Chen Feng for some time, he felt a primal fear of this man. It was as if the conversation they just had made him feel chilled, even though he was bathed in sunlight, causing goosebumps to rise all over.
Chen Feng.
He was Order; Order was him.
Everyone in the Economic Development Zone, including Xu Zhe, lived under his protection. He was like the scorching sun in the sky—because of his existence, all things could survive. But... sunlight not only nurtures life, it also brings drought and disaster.
He didn’t need others to adore him. Instead of meaningless adoration and pursuing, as the ruler of Order, what he hoped to receive was the awe from the depths of people’s hearts.
"How is the research over at Du Men coming along?" After a moment of silence, Chen Feng inquired about another matter.
"Every day, dozens of pounds of insect blood are delivered to his laboratory. After some improvements, the rice is now suitable for human consumption," Xu Zhe answered truthfully.
Du Men’s crop experiment had made progress.
Rice.
This was the first mutated food that Du Men had managed to tackle.
Compared to pre-apocalyptic rice, the husked remaining rice grains were quite small. However, post-apocalypse, after being irrigated with energy, the rice’s genetic makeup mutated.
When the grains were planted on the ground, the rice grew into a towering tree over seven meters tall, with thumb-sized rice grains covering the tree.
Each tree bore thousands of grains.
Fruitful harvest, aromatic fragrance.
Originally, rice was fragile; even a strong wind could uproot it. But post-apocalyptic transformation turned the rice into fruit growing like apples and oranges on trees.
However, the growth cycle of mutated rice was long—taking two months for one harvest. Du Men’s previous challenge was to shorten the maturation period of rice.
Over time, the rice experiment finally succeeded. If irrigated with insect blood, paired with Du Men’s cultivation efforts, the timeline shortened to ten days per harvest.
In times of crisis, special considerations were necessary. Chen Feng was now accelerating everything to combat the bug tide. In terms of food reserves, it was essential to proactively respond.
However, once the bug tide ended, this rice could be cultivated on a large scale nearby. At that time, careful nurturing would suffice, eliminating the need for further insect blood acceleration.
Chen Feng acknowledged the reply with a nod.
Order had much work to be done, and each day seemed endlessly busy. Chen Feng pondered for a while, then spoke in a commanding tone:
"Also, the first batch of weapons forged by the blacksmiths is complete, right? Send those weapons to the playground. I want to replace the Skeletons’ weapons as soon as possible."