199: Chapter 199 Lagging Progress

Li Yuan was stunned.

It wasn't because Qin Ce's request was too difficult; on the contrary, it was because it was too simple.

He had studied administration his entire life, read countless classics, and met numerous capable officials. Every one of them told him that administration was a precise art, requiring balance, mediation, and calculation.

But no one had ever told him to take the collected money and distribute it all back without keeping a single cent.

Furthermore, it was to be distributed to the common people.

He was even willing to create jobs for them.

No one in this world operated like this.

Every faction was staring at the cake on the plate, but no one had ever thought about feeding the cake back into the plate!

In a world controlled by noble families, let alone a loss, even earning less was unacceptable.

But Qin Ce didn't care.

Or rather, the loss he saw was different from what everyone else in this world saw.

In his eyes, the greatest loss wasn't money going down the drain, but tens of thousands of people having no jobs, no food, and no hope.

Li Yuan sat back down, lowering himself slowly.

He looked at Qin Ce as if he were looking at someone he had never met before.

“Can it be done?” Qin Ce looked at him.

“Yes.”

A single word—certain, loud, and firm.

Qin Ce waved his hand and pointed downstairs.

There, the voices of the crowd could already be faintly heard.

“Don't just stand there; the people have already arrived. Go handle it. I've given you the highest authority in all of Zhenhuang Pass; now it depends on how you handle things. If you encounter any problems, you can contact me.”

Li Yuan stood up, stood at attention, said, “Yes, I guarantee the mission will be completed,” then turned and strode out of the office.

For the next three days, a new batch of corpses appeared in the central plaza every morning.

They weren't necessarily on the wooden racks; sometimes they were at the city gates, sometimes at the City Hall entrance, and sometimes at the entrances of faction strongholds that were still operating in the shadows.

The numbers varied—sometimes a dozen, sometimes dozens.

They were all people who had been secretly causing sabotage the day before, attempting to bypass the rules on the stone tablets.

The methods were clean and efficient, leaving no traces.

No one saw who did it, but everyone knew who did it.

The deterrent continued, deepening day by day.

And those who were still waiting and watching became completely compliant after seeing the people hanging on the wooden racks on the third day.

The situation in the city stabilized at a pace visible to the naked eye.

Patrols appeared on the streets—not Qin Ce's men, but Civil Defense Teams recruited from the common people, wearing uniform uniforms and armbands, walking the streets at scheduled times every day.

Their equipment was poor, and their combat power was nearly zero.

But as they stood there, they were a wall.

Because everyone knew that Qin Ce stood behind them.

Shops reopened, stalls were set up again, and storytellers returned to the teahouses.

People were selling vegetables on the streets, repairing shoes at alley entrances, and waiting for work at the city gates.

The entire city was like a greased machine; though still a bit stiff, it was already turning.

Not only did it stabilize, but many people from the surrounding areas began to migrate toward Zhenhuang Pass.

News spread out from Zhenhuang Pass, moving faster than Qin Ce had anticipated.

It spread from one village to another, from one mouth to another.

By the time it finished spreading, it had turned into “go to Zhenhuang Pass and you'll get a job,” “go and you'll get land,” “go and you'll get a Pet Beast”—all sorts of nonsensical claims.

But one point was consistent—Zhenhuang Pass had changed, and it had changed for the better.

Long lines formed at the city gates to enter, even longer than the lines of refugees fleeing a few days ago, but this time they weren't heading out; they were heading in.

People waited at the gates to enter, on the streets to register, and at the City Hall entrance to receive work permits.

Seeing Zhenhuang Pass's operations, various places throughout the north began to follow suit.

The Zhao family also erected tablets in their territory, wrote eight prohibitions, killed people, and hung them at the city gates.

The Zhou Family followed, as did the Lin family, and those small to medium-sized factions also mimicked them.

However, they only learned the “Eight Prohibitions.” Those three rules—low tax rates, tax exemptions, and guaranteed jobs—were not adopted by any other place.

It wasn't that they didn't want to learn; they were unwilling, and they were unable.

Low tax rates meant reduced income, total exemption from exorbitant taxes and levies meant a shrinking of power, and guaranteed jobs meant pouring real gold and silver into the effort.

Where would this money come from?

It would come out of the noble families' pockets.

Who would take money out of their own pocket to distribute to the commoners?

The result was obvious.

Instead of stabilizing, various places intensified conflicts because they mimicked the killing methods of Zhenhuang Pass, and the struggles between them became increasingly fierce.

Everyone understood that equilibrium and stability were the minimum requirements for all factions.

But no one was willing to let go of those interests.

...

With the affairs of Zhenhuang Pass temporarily settled, Qin Ce began to plan his next move.

The stone tablet was erected, the rules were set, the heads were hung, and City Hall was operational.

Li Yuan was more capable than he had expected; in three days, he had sorted out the three lines of registration, job allocation, and wage distribution.

Although the Civil Defense Teams recruited from the people were still green, they served as a banner just by standing on the streets.

Qin Ce wasn't worried that Zhenhuang Pass would become chaotic again. As long as he was alive and the twenty-four people of the Seventh Squad were still in the city, this nail was driven in deep.

What he needed to worry about now was another matter—the keys to the God-level Ruins.

Of the thirteen keys, ten had already appeared during this period.

This was the figure Jiang Mo reported after summarizing intelligence from various sources.

The Wang family had two keys, the City Lord's Mansion had one, and the Zhao, Zhou, and Lin families had one each.

The grey-robed old man had one, the location of the one above the Wuji Army's head was unknown, and three more were scattered among small to medium factions. It was said that two had already been resold several times, and even the intelligence network couldn't track down whose hands they had finally landed in.

Of the thirteen keys, ten had already surfaced.

The remaining three could drop from the last three light pillar locations at any time.

As for the charging progress of the keys, the Wang family was far in the lead.

The moment Second Elder Wang Chong decided to yield control of the north, he had already begun laying his plans.

Before withdrawing from various strongholds, he prioritized one thing—clearing out all the easily handled Gold Rank Vicious Beasts. East of Beimang Mountain, any Gold Rank Vicious Beasts that were solitary, non-gregarious, or had attributes countered by the Wang family were wiped clean within half a month.

The Wang family's Huben Battalion was divided into three squads, led by Han Zhang, launching attacks in turns day and night.

Kill one, gain one charge. Kill two, gain two charges.

The golden liquid in the key in Wang Zhuo's hand was already nearly halfway full.

When the news leaked from within the Wang family, the other families couldn't sit still.

Zhao Tieshan slammed three sparring partners on the drill grounds.

Zhou Wenyuan summoned all the merchant caravan leaders from the north back to Fengling City overnight.

Lin Zhengqing sat in his study all night, the lamp burning until dawn.

The City Lord's Mansion was quiet, however—Jiang Tianzong hadn't made a statement from beginning to end, but the frequency of the City Lord's Mansion's patrol activities in the north doubled.

Everyone knew that the number of keys was the threshold, but the charging progress of the keys was the key factor determining when the ruins would open.

Whoever charged fastest would set the pace for opening the ruins.

Whoever charged slowest might be locked outside the door.

Qin Ce took the diamond-shaped crystal from his breast pocket and placed it in his palm.

It was jade-white, translucent, with a faint golden luster around the edges.

The golden liquid at the bottom was just a shallow layer, as thin as if someone had dipped a finger in water and smeared it on a table.

The one with the most lagging progress was him.

Ultimately, Second Elder Wang Chong was still the most experienced.

That move of retreating to advance not only muddied the waters in the north but also snatched time to sweep through the Gold Rank Vicious Beasts.

When he retreated, he wasn't running in a panic; he was pocketing everything of value as he withdrew.

While the various families were still fighting to the death over those vacated territories, the Wang family's key was already nearly half charged.

Qin Ce put the crystal back in his pocket and stopped thinking about it. If the progress was lagging, it was lagging; he would just have to catch up.

Since Qingluan made a Breakthrough to mid-grade silver, he hadn't truly faced a Gold Rank Vicious Beast.

The few Silver Rank beast swarms he fought in Huhe Bay were just a warm-up for the current Qingluan.

During those days of erecting the tablet in Zhenhuang Pass, he was busy setting the stage, killing people, and settling Li Yuan. Qingluan had been hunting on its own deep in Beimang Mountain. Its Rank had stabilized at mid-grade silver, but it hadn't yet experienced a truly high-intensity battle.

When he killed the Pterodactyl before, he had the advantage of time and place—the Pterodactyl used purely physical attacks and had no long-range means. After being restricted by the terrain, he only barely succeeded by using the Reverse Mantra of the Seven Kills Chaos to reflect the damage.

That set of tactics wouldn't work against any Gold Rank Vicious Beast with energy attacks.

So, Qin Ce was curious about what the result would be in a head-on confrontation with a Gold Rank Vicious Beast.

He needed a tough battle.

Not the kind of tough battle where he was besieged like in Huhe Bay, but a one-on-one, face-to-face, tough battle with no room for clever tricks.

It wasn't for the sake of charging, but to know where his limits were.

If he didn't even dare to face a Gold Rank Vicious Beast in its peak state, then even if he fully charged the key, entering the ruins would just be seeking death.

All twenty-four members of the Seventh Squad remained in Zhenhuang Pass.

Qin Ce gave them a strict order: remain anonymous, settle down in a scattered manner, do not expose your identities, and do not take the initiative to act.

Their task was only one—to watch.

Watch who was causing trouble in the city, watch who was secretly networking, and watch who was outwardly obeying but inwardly defying Qin Ce's rules.

On the surface, Zhenhuang Pass had returned to a semi-autonomous state. Li Yuan led the City Hall staff to maintain daily operations, the spies of major factions quietly crept back, shops reopened, and merchant caravans hit the road again.

Everything seemed no different from before.

But there were twenty-four more pairs of eyes.

These twenty-four people had crawled out of refugee camps, fought the Pterodactyl in Yinpinglu, and withstood the siege of five Silver Rank beast swarms in Huhe Bay.

They wore plain clothes and blended into the crowd, no different from ordinary citizens.

Some went to the docks to work as porters, some went to the market to set up stalls, some went to teahouses to work as waiters, and some even blended into the newly recruited guards of the Zhao family.

They didn't speak, didn't cause trouble, and didn't expose their strength. They were just watching—watching who was secretly networking, who was making small moves, and who was coveting this city that didn't yet completely belong to Qin Ce.

Qin Ce was in no hurry to deal with them now.

What he wanted wasn't temporary peace, but true control. Once these spies had figured out everyone's background and the veins of Zhenhuang Pass were woven into an airtight net in his hands, it wouldn't be too late to pull the net. But all that was for later. For now, the most important thing was one thing—kill Gold Rank Vicious Beasts and fill the key's energy.

Qin Ce mounted Qingluan and set out once more.

This time, he didn't bring anyone with him.

Qingluan flew above the clouds. Below were the rolling foothills of the Beimang Mountain range, the grayish-brown ridges like giant snakes lying stiff, extending from beneath his feet all the way to the horizon.

The wind was strong, making Qin Ce's clothes flap loudly. He squinted, looking down at the coordinates he had already marked.

During that month when he first started tasks in the Wuji Army, he had deliberately scouted all the areas he passed through.

The detection range of Nine-Star Insight was further than any scout's. He could discover the traces of Gold Rank Vicious Beasts in advance, avoid them from afar, and simultaneously mark their locations on the map in his mind.

A month ago, those marks were densely distributed on the map, like nails driven into the northern territory.

A month later, most were already empty.

Qin Ce had Qingluan lower its altitude, flying close to the ridges past those marked coordinates.

The first coordinate, a Low-grade Gold Iron-Backed Azure Wolf; it was sleeping in its den when marked.

Now the den was still there, but the wolf was gone. There were bloodstains on the ground, traces of large-area skill scorching, and marks where a corpse had been dragged. Judging by the technique, it was the Wang family's Huben Battalion.

The second coordinate, a Low-grade Gold Rock-Armor Earth Dragon, the same species as the one Wang Zhuo killed. The entire nest had been turned upside down. Still the Wang family.

The third coordinate, a medium-grade gold Thunder-Mane Wolf King. Qin Ce hadn't dared to approach when he marked it, only taking a glance with Nine-Star Insight from five kilometers away before bypassing it.

The Thunder-Mane Wolf King was still there, but several groups of scouts had appeared at the edge of its territory. Someone was using binoculars in the distance, someone had set up camp upstream of the creek, and someone had driven boundary stakes into the ground.

Several factions were eyeing the same prey, wary of each other, and no one had made the first move.

Qin Ce did not approach. For a target being watched by several groups of people, whoever moved first would become the target.

He continued flying north. The further north he went, the thicker the aura of Vicious Beasts became and the fewer traces of human activity there were.

The Gold Rank markers became increasingly sparse, not because they weren't being targeted, but because there were originally very few in this area.

Those that were easy to fight, solitary, and easy to strike had already been mostly swept clean by the various families over the past month.

What remained were either gregarious, had troublesome attributes, or were located too deep—deep within the territory of other Gold Rank Vicious Beasts—where no one dared to move easily.

Qin Ce stopped above a forest of withered trees and opened the map in his mind.

Most of the Gold Rank Vicious Beasts he had marked were no longer in their original locations.

The remaining few were either unsuitable for a practical combat test or were already being watched by several factions.

In the entire north, from Beimang Mountain to the periphery of the Space-Time Rift, almost every Gold Rank Vicious Beast within the capability range of a Silver Rank Beast Tamer had been cleared out once.

There was only one place truly suitable for Qin Ce.

To the northwest, deep within the Space-Time Rift.

...