“A poor, backward ancient mountain village, isolated by its location, with villagers constantly starving and low in martial prowess…”
Wang Yi silently summarized, then beckoned, asking Man Datou for half a roast chicken.
The chicken's skin was golden, looking tempting and smelling fragrant, causing Zhang Xiaohu's stomach to rumble loudly as he knelt on the ground.
Wang Yi pulled Zhang Xiaohu up, showed him the roast chicken, and said, “Kid, want to eat?”
The child's eyes were already fixated, his throat bobbing as he continuously swallowed.
“I'll treat you to chicken, and you help me with a task!”
Wang Yi directly tore off a fragrant chicken leg and offered it to Zhang Xiaohu.
Zhang Xiaohu longed to snatch the chicken leg and swallow it whole, but he didn't dare, so he just stared intently, constantly wiping his mouth.
“Is this the legendary chicken leg?”
He had never eaten one.
Not only had he never eaten one, but neither had his parents.
In all of Shitou Village, only the Village Chief's family raised two chickens. He had heard the Village Chief's grandson, Yang Xiaobao, say that chicken legs were very fragrant and delicious!
Now, a large chicken leg was right before his eyes; it truly was fragrant. Eating it would surely grant eternal youth!
Wang Yi directly stuffed the chicken leg into Zhang Xiaohu's mouth and said, “Eat up, don't be shy, I'm a good person!”
Zhang Xiaohu could no longer hold back. The delicious food made him overcome his fear of Man Datou. He held the large chicken leg with both hands and devoured it, his mouth greasy, unable to speak.
One chicken leg was quickly finished, but Zhang Xiaohu was clearly not full. He stared longingly at the remaining half of the roast chicken but dared not say anything.
Wang Yi laughed heartily and said to Zhang Xiaohu, “Do you know I'm a good person now?”
“Mm!”
Zhang Xiaohu nodded repeatedly.
“This half of the golden roast chicken is for you!” Wang Yi said, “I am a great Lord, and this is my territory. I'm hiring temporary workers here now. Go back to your village, find some relatives and friends, and bring them here to work for me. If you work well, you'll get to eat chicken!”
“Really?”
Zhang Xiaohu's eyes lit up.
“Of course, it's real!”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiaohu immediately hugged the half chicken and ran off.
...
Three li away, Shitou Village.
Narrow and winding paths wove between crude houses, most of which were built from mud and thatch. Cracks mottled the earthen walls, as if they could collapse at any moment, and the sparse thatch on the roofs looked as if it could all be blown away by a gust of wind.
The road surface was uneven, covered with stones of various sizes. Several villagers squatted in a corner, basking in the sun. They wore patched coarse cloth clothes, their faces etched with the vicissitudes of time and the hardships of life, speaking listlessly.
“I'm so hungry, I really want to eat!”
“Didn't you just eat yesterday? How are you hungry again?”
“Sigh, there's no rice left at home. What can we do?”
“What can we do? Our whole village is like this, living from hand to mouth. My family is no exception.”
“I dug some wild vegetables on the mountain a few days ago, mixed them in, but it's not enough. My stomach is still rumbling with hunger.”
“Wild vegetables can't fill you up. My child cries for food every day, and it breaks my heart.”
“Exactly. Before, we could at least eat sweet potatoes, but now even sweet potatoes are hard to find.”
“I heard someone in the next village was so hungry they started digging up grass roots to eat.”
“Can grass roots be eaten? What if it makes them sick?”
“Can't worry about that much. When you're starving, you'll try anything.”
“Don't know when we'll finally have food to eat. Life is too hard.”
These villagers sighed mournfully.
Suddenly, a fragrant aroma wafted into their nostrils.
Zhang Xiaohu ran over, the half roast chicken wrapped in his clothes. He shouted to the group of villagers basking in the sun, “Dad, Mom, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, Second Aunt, Sister Cuihua, Xiaomao, Yang Xiaobao, come with me! A Celestial has arrived at the river valley, and I'm taking you to eat roast chicken!”
“This child must be starving crazy, still dreaming of roast chicken! This old man has lived fifty years and never even seen what a roast chicken looks like!”
“Go, go, go, go play somewhere else!”
“Xiaohu, there are no Celestials in this world!”
“Eat chicken? How could there be such a good thing? I don't believe it!”
“Why don't you believe me? Then I'll show you!”
As Zhang Xiaohu spoke, he pulled out the half roast chicken from his embrace and proudly held it above his head.
Although the roast chicken was already cold, its unique aroma still wafted out, causing the eyes of the sun-bathing villagers to widen.
“What is that!”
“Is it roast chicken?”
“Give it to me, let me eat!”
“One bite for everyone, first come, first served, let's share!”
“Xiaohu, good child, honor your Second Uncle first!”
“This is my child's roast chicken, you won't snatch it! His father, quickly protect Huzai!”
“Yes, what do you scoundrels want? The roast chicken is ours, whoever tries to snatch it, I'll fight them to the death!”
...
Wang Yi threw a fist-sized stone into his ten-meter square territory. The stone suddenly displayed the number: 0.0025.
In the distance, Man Datou was swinging a grindstone-sized rock, his bulging back muscles gleaming with a bronze luster in the sunlight.
“Lord, can those people from Shitou Village... be trusted?”
Man Datou suddenly spoke, a worried expression on the loyal guard's face.
“We need labor, and hungry people are the easiest to manage.”
Wang Yi continued to throw stones into his territory.
Stones were simply stone materials. Once placed into the territory, they would be recognized as resource materials by the system, with a count displayed above. One cubic meter constituted one unit.
The same applied to wood.
Building the Chaos Warehouse required 1 unit of wood and 10 units of stone, meaning 1 cubic meter of wood and 10 cubic meters of stone.
This was the result of Wang Yi's research for over ten minutes.
Wang Yi chatted with Man Datou as he moved stones: “Datou, you're so tall and strong. If you were to fight people, like me, how many could you take on?”
“If no weapons were used, I could fight a hundred!”
“Damn, am I that weak!”
Upon hearing this, Wang Yi felt reassured. He thought, Man Datou is now the security captain of his territory and the main force. With him here, suppressing Shitou Village should be no problem.
“Starting a business requires labor. Before the second wave of Chaos invasion begins, let's mobilize the villagers of Shitou Village and build the Chaos Warehouse first…”
As Wang Yi was planning this, he suddenly saw a group of people running in the distance. There were men and women, old and young, most of them emaciated. Leading them was Zhang Xiaohu, his face beaming with joy, but those following him mostly carried sticks and looked nervous.
“Oh my god, there really, really are giants!”
“Look, what's that on the ground? It's really roast chicken! Heavens, how is this possible?”
“Let's all go together and snatch their roast chicken!”
“Are you looking for death? Or are you just crazy from hunger? That strong man could kill all of us!”
Those who followed Zhang Xiaohu were, of course, residents of Shitou Village, not all of them, but a small portion, thirteen people in total. They nervously stared at Man Datou, not daring to approach.