Occupation of Qing County

After this battle, everyone was exhausted and sat down on the side to rest.

Several of them sat together, and bursts of loud laughter could be heard from time to time.

Fire Feather laughed heartily and said loudly, "Haha, Qing County can finally see the sun!"

"Haha, that's right, Big Brother. We are finally free and can do whatever we want!"

Now they no longer had to be like before, forced by the Azure Emperor to do many things they didn't want to do.

Ye Chen and the other four sat together.

Zhu Qiang panted heavily and said, "Brother Chen, I feel like I'm dreaming right now. Before, we had to walk around any Pet Master at LV14, but now, we actually killed LV19s, and two of them at that!"

Ye Chen nodded and said, "We still can't rest for now; there are still many things to do."

The others nodded; they understood that what Ye Chen was talking about was establishing a Safe Zone.

However, with so many people, it would be built very quickly.

It was already early morning, but everyone felt no sleepiness and appeared very excited.

Fire Feather sat on the side and said to Ye Chen with a smile, "Brother Ye Chen, everything will depend on you from now on. I'm afraid you won't be able to be as relaxed as before. The lives of the tens of thousands of people in Qing County are now in your hands."

Ye Chen nodded and voiced his greatest concern: "Big Brother Fire Feather, I know what you're saying. Tomorrow, I plan to gather everyone together and start establishing the Safe Zone."

Fire Feather frowned slightly and said, "In such a hurry?"

"I have to be in a hurry. I have a feeling that monsters above LV20 are about to arrive. You also know that humanity's greatest threat is still monsters. Monsters above LV20 have very high intelligence and strength," Ye Chen said.

"Sigh! That's true," Fire Feather sighed, expressing his agreement.

It wasn't until past 3 a.m. that everyone returned to their respective rooms.

In the room, Ye Chen looked at the loot piled up together.

A set of three-star rare equipment, two five-star epic weapons, and numerous other three-star rare items.

From the Azure Emperor, Black Face, and the people they brought, a total of 160,000 experience points were gained.

Ye Chen ultimately decided to distribute these items tomorrow.

At 10 a.m. the next day, Ye Chen opened his eyes and went into the courtyard.

Just as he arrived in the courtyard, Ye Chen discovered many people standing there.

Fire Feather was sitting on a rocking chair, smoking a cigarette.

Ye Chen went to Fire Feather's side and asked with a smile, "Big Brother Fire Feather, what is this about?"

Fire Feather turned his head. When he saw Ye Chen, his stern face broke into a smile. He said, "Brother Ye Chen, you're awake. These people are the remaining dregs of the former Azure Alliance. Although they haven't done anything truly evil, they aren't good people either. So, I brought them back and handed them over to you to deal with."

Ye Chen nodded. After understanding the situation, he realized these people were all from the lowest level of the Azure Alliance, whose daily job was to supervise ordinary people at work.

They were all in the countryside, responsible for watching ordinary people farm and grow vegetables. Although they hadn't killed anyone, they liked to beat people up.

They were the type who committed no major evils but were constantly committing minor ones.

Golden Eyes had taken people to the countryside early in the morning to capture them all.

Ye Chen looked over; there were about a hundred people, each shivering in place, not daring to move an inch.

Within the crowd, someone shivered and asked the person next to them, "The Azure Alliance has been destroyed?"

"Yeah, I just found out too. At first, I didn't believe it, but now I fully believe it. This morning, I went to wake up the workers, but no one answered me. They said the Azure Alliance is gone and the Azure Emperor is dead."

"Sigh, this is the end. What kind of mess is this? Waking up early in the morning, and the Alliance is just gone."

Fire Feather looked at them coldly and gave a light cough. He said, "Stand straight. This is the leader of our Star Alliance, Ye Chen. Whether you live or die is entirely up to Alliance Leader Ye."

The crowd was a bit shocked. The legendary leader of the Star Alliance was actually a person in his early twenties; this was quite surprising.

However, the crowd didn't dare to be the least bit negligent and said repeatedly, "Lord Ye Chen, we... we were forced into it. If we didn't join the Azure Alliance, we would have faced their pursuit. Everything we did was because we were forced. I am a very kind person; I haven't even killed a chicken in my life. Doing those things was out of helplessness!"

"I was also forced, Alliance Leader! If we didn't do it, we would have been beaten to death!"

"I was also forced..."

"I was also forced..."

Watching everyone crying out their grievances, Ye Chen couldn't help but find it amusing.

Before the Azure Alliance was destroyed, they would lift their chins and show off their Azure Alliance marks, wishing for everyone to know they were part of the Azure Alliance.

But now, they were all complaining bitterly, claiming they were good citizens who had been forced.

It was simply incredible.

The Azure Alliance only gave people the capital to be arrogant; it didn't give them any deep sense of belonging.

Now it seemed that the once-colossal Azure Alliance was such a failure.

Ye Chen said, "Stop crying. Your death penalty is waived, but you cannot escape punishment. From now on, all of you will participate in the construction."

"Thank you, Alliance Leader! Thank you, Alliance Leader!"

"Thank you, Lord Ye Chen! Thank you, Lord Ye Chen!"

Instead of complaining as expected, they were all grateful and deeply moved.

Well, after all, nothing is more important than being alive.

A while later, Zhang Haonan and the others ran over excitedly, followed by hundreds of people, both men and women, with excited smiles on their faces.

These people were all Pet Masters from the Star Alliance.

"Brother Chen!"

"Brother Chen!"

Liang Yiqiang, Zhang Haonan, and the other four called out to Ye Chen from afar and ran over quickly.

Liang Yiqiang arrived in front of Ye Chen and said with a smile, "Brother Chen, I've brought everyone here. They are all waiting in the front yard."

"About how many people?"

Liang Yiqiang thought for a moment and said, "In total, there are about two thousand people, not counting the Pet Masters."

Ye Chen nodded and said, "Let's do this for now. Take all the brothers, go to various places in Qing County, and bring all those ordinary people here. First, see if they are willing to come."

"Okay, I'll go now!"

Ye Chen patted Liang Yiqiang on the shoulder and said, "Go."

Liang Yiqiang led a vast crowd and left again.

Ye Chen said somewhat displeased to these former members of the Azure Alliance, "Don't just stand there stunned, go with them."

Everyone nodded hurriedly, saying okay, okay, okay.

They turned and chased after Liang Yiqiang and the others.

Yu Nian and the other four, including Lin Nuoyi, also woke up one after another and came into the courtyard.

Zhu Qiang stretched and sighed, "This sleep was truly refreshing!"

Looking at the large courtyard, Zhu Qiang exclaimed, "Damn, I never dreamed that I, Zhu Qiang, would have a day like this, being able to live in such a big house, it's even bigger than the pig farm I saw before!"

Tie Niu had a black line on his face and pursed his lips, saying, "Zhu Qiang, if you don't know how to speak, then just don't talk."