The Haunting

Once the land is cultivated, crops must be planted immediately.

The seeds required for 210 mu of land are not a small amount, and Zhang Yang couldn't wait for the wheat on the previous ten mu to mature. So, gritting his teeth, he took out the white Fragment of Hope that had dropped when he killed the Deer Demon.

This item was very precious, as its attributes clearly showed.

Fragment of Hope, White quality, one of the main materials for crafting resurrection potions.

In any other situation, Zhang Yang wouldn't have dared to use it, even if it meant his death. But now, for the rapid development of the village, he was truly going all out.

However, figuring out how to use this white-quality Fragment of Hope was quite a headache, as it couldn't be broken down.

Finally, after much deliberation, Zhang Yang spoke with the same solemnity as if he were researching a magic spell:

"I need enough seeds for all kinds of crops and vegetables for 210 mu of farmland."

He could only phrase it that way. The next second, the white-quality Fragment of Hope didn't immediately burn away. Instead, it transformed into various light and shadows. Three seconds later, a large pile of seeds appeared before Zhang Yang.

In those few seconds, he had been so anxious and nervous that he was covered in cold sweat. Fortunately, this white-quality Fragment of Hope was quite effective.

Upon closer inspection, there was a wide variety and quantity of seeds: 50 mu of corn seeds, 50 mu of Wheat Seeds, 50 mu of rice seeds, 20 mu of potato seeds, 10 mu of peanut seeds, 10 mu for fruit trees, 10 mu of beet seeds, and the last 10 mu for various vegetable seeds.

This was pretty much exactly what he had envisioned at the time.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Zhang Yang finally understood. The wishes granted by a Fragment of Hope didn't necessarily need to be expressed in a single sentence. In fact, as long as the Fragment of Hope was of sufficiently high quality, even a hundred sentences would be fine.

With the seeds acquired, Zhang Yang quickly arranged for people to plant them. Two harvests a year—they couldn't miss the season.

Fortunately, with these seeds, as long as nothing unexpected happened, the output from these lands would be enough to meet the village's needs and also provide seeds for continued development.

Due to the importance of these 220 mu of farmland, Zhang Yang ordered Wu Yuan to assign people to build sturdy log palisades around the farmland and to designate a small patrol team for daily patrols.

After handling all of this, he continued to dedicate himself to the great task of crafting wooden spears.

This crafting session lasted another five days, during which he had continuously produced 100 Imprisonment Spears, all of them mid-grade magic artifacts, which he distributed to the 42 Spearman Captains.

It was also at this time that the second 3-level residence was officially completed. Village Prosperity +5, villager loyalty +2. At this point, among the third-generation residents, except for the 8 bachelors, the rest had moved into new homes and would marry within the next few months. By next year at the latest, a new batch of fourth-generation infants would be born.

If they were lucky and the Livability Index reached 20, another batch of third-generation infants would be born.

"Zhang Chunlei, Wang Qiuyu, Chu Beifeng! You three have performed well! Therefore, each of you will be rewarded with one mu of farmland."

Standing in front of the new 3-level residence, Zhang Yang was very pleased and didn't hesitate to praise them. These three craftsmen were the best performers who had been learning under Instructor Qin Ge.

Five days ago, their proficiency in the secondary skill "Building Construction/Repair" had already reached 75, 70, and 65 points.

Now, five days later, after they personally supervised the construction of a 3-level residence, their respective proficiencies had soared to 145, 140, and 135 points.

So, Zhang Yang simply had them build another residence. As long as their proficiency reached 200 points, they could go and build a Fortress.

Next, he went to check on the craftsmen making bows and crossbows. As he expected, within five days, three more craftsmen distinguished themselves.

Their proficiency in the secondary skill "Bow and Crossbow Crafting/Repair" had increased from the original 10 points to 65, 60, and 55, respectively.

The proficiency of other craftsmen still increased by 10 to 15 points.

However, there was one exception among the craftsmen, and that was Zhao Tiezhu. He was recruited by Zhang Yang using the most precious and final recruitment slot from the Village Building Order.

His performance wasn't stunning, but it was very consistent.

When building the 3-level residence previously, his secondary skill "Building Construction/Repair" only increased by 25 proficiency points, which was above average but below the top three, who had 45 points.

And in these past five days, his secondary skill "Bow and Crossbow Crafting/Repair" also increased by 25 proficiency points, which was above average but below the top three. It currently stood at 45 points.

However, because craftsmen have a distinction between primary and secondary skills, proficiency in both secondary skills must increase by 5 points to increase primary skill proficiency by 1 point.

Therefore, although Zhao Tiezhu was not the best in either "Building Construction/Repair" or "Bow and Crossbow Crafting/Repair," his primary skill proficiency was the highest among all craftsmen, at 59 points.

It should be known that this primary skill had a chance to produce items with special attributes.

This was interesting.

So, after some thought, Zhang Yang sent Zhao Tiezhu and the remaining 12 craftsmen to the quarry to excavate stone. Now that all the Spearman Captains were equipped with two or three Imprisonment Spears, they had enough military strength to mine stone eight kilometers away.

This mining team would be quite luxurious. Wu Yuan would personally lead the team, which included ten Archers Captains, ten Spearman Captains, and ten Shield Trooper Captains. They would depart at sunrise and return at sunset, extracting approximately 50 units of stone per day, which was essential material for building the Fortress.

As for the Four Berserker Bears, along with Qin Yidao, Liu Dali, and the remaining 35 captain-level soldiers, they would stay behind to guard the home base, protecting the farmland and residents.

This was essential. Although ordinary minor demons didn't dare approach during this period, and any demons that occasionally appeared were killed immediately, Zhang Yang still felt very uneasy. He always felt that there would be a critical point to this comfortable state of development.

And as it turned out, his worries were correct.

On the fourth morning after mining began, just as the mining team was about to set out, a woman's high-pitched scream echoed from the 5-level residence, followed by more shouts, as if something terrifying had happened.

Zhang Yang was startled and rushed over. He saw that Wu Yuan and the others had already arrived, but their expressions were all strangely grim.

"What happened?"

Zhang Yang first breathed a sigh of relief; as long as it wasn't an external invasion.

"Village Chief, a villager died. He—he died in a very unusual way."

Wu Yuan whispered.

Zhang Yang was taken aback. When he entered the deceased's room, the first thing he smelled was a strong scent of blood. Then he saw the deceased, lying on the bed as if asleep, with a strange smile on his lips. However, his body had turned into a scarecrow.

This was a second-generation resident, a craftsman by profession. Just yesterday, he had gone with Wu Yuan and the others to quarry stone, but today he was dead. His wife had slept with him all night and hadn't heard anything unusual, but when she woke up this morning, she discovered this bizarre scene.

"Who was on night patrol last night?"

Zhang Yang left the room, a judgment already forming in his mind, but he still asked.

"It was Zhou Datou and me. We split into two groups, five people each, two Archer captains, and three Infantry captains. Our patrol focus was these two houses and the farmland. After all, the Fortress doesn't need constant patrolling. But I swear, everything in this house was normal last night. I didn't even smell blood until this morning, when the scent of the corpse's blood seemed to burst out like a floodgate opening."

Duan Kuan, standing outside, had a grave expression, and was also very confused, because with his strength, it would be impossible for a killer to escape his perception.

Zhang Yang nodded, then directly opened the Village Building Order and summoned the Ghost Priest.

"How do you explain this? Don't tell me you were asleep last night; you were less than 200 meters from the incident!"

"To the Village Chief, this truly has nothing to do with me. This is a matter concerning the Mountain God Temple. That villager, Yu Dazhuang, spat at the Mountain God Temple yesterday, which triggered this incident. I'm not clear on the specifics beyond that, but if you disapprove, I will immediately apprehend this evil spirit."

Hearing this, Zhang Yang understood. His previously built Mountain God Temple was now beginning to function. After all, this was a fantasy world; faith wasn't like toilet paper, to be used and discarded at will.

And if he wanted this faith to continue developing, he couldn't interfere forcefully.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Yang said,

"Just keep an eye on this matter. As long as that evil spirit doesn't kill again, don't interfere. The focus should still be outside the village. I don't want any more enemy Imps approaching to spy."