“One, two, one! One, two, one…”
Early morning. The sun had yet to rise, and the air echoed with the sharp, rhythmic shouts of soldiers marching.
“Move out! Turn left!”
“One, two, three, four.”
The sound of synchronized footsteps followed. Paired with the shouting, it somehow made one’s heartbeat fall into rhythm- an oddly reassuring sound.
Liu Feng’s peace was broken. He threw off the blanket and sat up abruptly, rubbing his dark under-eye circles that looked almost panda-like. He’d been working until one or two in the morning for the past few days. Finally, things had settled down enough for him to sleep in- only to be woken up .
A soft whimper came from the foot of the bed. A round, dumpling-like figure rolled over twice, then flopped back down, motionless.
The little guy clung to Liu Feng all day long. If it didn’t see Liu Feng for too long, it would start howling “Awoo awoo awoo,” like a child who had been abandoned.
Just a few days ago, Liu Feng had gone back to Earth for five or six hours and locked the panda in his study. When he returned after dinner and opened the door, the place looked like a husky had torn through it.
The most helpless part? The little guy saw Liu Feng and immediately rolled over to him, clinging to his leg and refusing to let go, whining affectionately. In the end, it fell asleep hugging Liu Feng’s foot.
What kind of behavior was that? Liu Feng suspected that maybe the panda had been traumatized in the past and now found a sense of security with him- like it saw him as its mother.
The door was gently pushed open, and a small head peeked in- it was the little deergirl Sumi. Her first glance went straight to the panda lying on the floor.
Her second glance locked eyes with Liu Feng’s sleepy black gaze, startling her so much her deer ears shot up straight, eyes wide.
“Little Sumi, keep your voice down- don’t wake Young Master,” Nicole whispered gently. “Let him sleep a little longer.”
“Lord, Lord’s already awake…” Sumi replied timidly.
“Huh?” Nicole pushed the door fully open and sure enough, saw Liu Feng sitting lazily on the bed, staring blankly at them with a dead-fish look in his eyes.
That look immediately charmed Nicole, making her gray eyes sparkle with little stars as she screamed internally So adorably dumb!
But the next second, she felt her heart ache. In a soft voice, she said, “Young Master, why didn’t you sleep a little longer? You don’t have to do morning practice today.”
“Can’t sleep anymore,” Liu Feng muttered, shaking his head lazily. “Go tell Uncle Niu Ben, Niu Er, Niu San, and Niu Si to gather in the study after breakfast.
“Oh right- call Buff too.”
“Yes!” Nicole nodded.
“Little Sumi, if you want to play with Caesar, come on in,” Liu Feng said lazily, yawning.
The panda’s name was Caesar. Liu Feng had originally wanted to call it something like Husky, Lil White, or Lil Black, but everyone had vetoed those names. In the end, he had no choice but to go with Caesar.
In Liu Feng’s opinion, the name Caesar didn’t sound affectionate at all. Lil White or Lil Black sounded much cuter.
“Can I?” Sumi’s face lit up with excitement.
It was Sumi’s day off today- or more accurately, the whole elementary school had the day off. One rest day every six days, and this day was her happiest time.
“Of course. Just be careful- Caesar’s a little troublemaker,” Liu Feng said with a chuckle.
For whatever reason- maybe because Sumi was small, or non-threatening- the little panda didn’t seem to mind her at all.
“Okay!” Sumi nodded obediently, toddled over to the panda, and squatted down to watch it sleep. She occasionally poked its chubby face with her finger.
“Awoo…” Caesar unconsciously swatted with its paw, wiggled its head a bit, then went back to sleep.
“Hehehe…” Sumi giggled quietly, covering her mouth, then poked him again…
Liu Feng chuckled and shook his head, then got out of bed. With Nicole’s help, he enjoyed a cheerful and noisy breakfast.
Yawning, Liu Feng made his way to the study, followed by Mina and Anri.
As for Weya, she had taken Tess to the orphanage. She always went to help out there on holidays.
From a distance, Liu Feng saw Niu Ben and the others already waiting outside the study. The only people who had the keys to enter freely were Mina, Nicole, and Anri- no one else could go in.
“Young Master/Lord City Lord,” they greeted respectfully.
Liu Feng opened the door and stepped inside, the others quickly following.
He sat down in the chair, interlaced his fingers, and looked at the group in front of him. “I called you here today to announce a few things.”
“We await your orders, Young Master!” Niu Ben was the first to respond, and the others nodded quickly.
“The army can’t stay inside the city anymore,” Liu Feng said calmly.
“Huh?” The group looked at him in shock. What was this? Are we disbanding the army?
“Take a look at this military reform plan,” Liu Feng said, passing over a document from the table.
Niu Ben took it, and the others crowded around to read. The more they read, the more startled they became- a completely unprecedented system unfolded before them.
“Young Master, if the army moves out of West Sun City, where will they be stationed?” Niu Da immediately asked. He was currently in charge of the military, so he couldn’t help being concerned.
“They’ll be stationed to the east of the city. That area’s more remote, has things to defend, and is closest to the main road into the city. If anything happens inside, they can be there in minutes.”
Liu Feng pulled out a map and pointed to a location. “Here. I want this area built into a military fortress. Along with the navy, it’ll be a pair of fangs for West Sun City.”
“Navy?” They looked confused. What is that?
“You’ll find out later,” Liu Feng brushed it off, then continued pointing at the map. “Once the army moves out, they’ll also be in charge of patrolling the territory- random checks, every day.”
“Yes!” Niu Da responded respectfully.
In fact, the army’s new location fell right within Liu Feng’s future urban expansion blueprint. It happened to be in the eastern part of West Sun City, which was an important military stronghold.
He was already laying the groundwork for expanding the city. At the moment, only Anri and Niu Ben had begun to pick up on his long-term vision.