Ghosts Have Appeared

Once the land had been cleared, crops had to be planted immediately.

The seeds needed for 210 mu of land were no small amount. Zhang Yang could not wait for the wheat on those previous ten mu to mature, so he gritted his teeth and took out the White Fragment of Hope that had dropped from the deer demon he killed earlier.

This thing was extremely precious. Its attribute description alone made that clear.

"Fragment of Hope, white quality, one of the primary materials for making Resurrection Potions."

Under other circumstances, Zhang Yang would never have been willing to use it even if beaten to death. But now, for the sake of the village's rapid development, he was truly going all out.

However, figuring out how to use this white-quality Fragment of Hope was genuinely quite a headache. After all, this thing could not be split apart.

In the end, after pondering for a long while, he spoke with the solemn care of someone studying a spell incantation:

"I want enough seeds for all the crops and vegetables needed for 210 mu of Farmland."

That was all he could do. In the next second, the white-quality Fragment of Hope did not immediately burn. Instead, it transformed into all kinds of lights and shadows. Three seconds later, a huge pile of seeds appeared in front of Zhang Yang.

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

After examining them carefully, he found that there were many kinds and quantities of seeds: enough corn seeds for 50 mu, Wheat Seeds for 50 mu, rice seeds for 50 mu, potato seeds for 20 mu, peanut seeds for 10 mu, fruit trees for 10 mu, beet seeds for 10 mu, and various vegetable seeds for the final 10 mu.

They were more or less what he had imagined at the time.

After heaving a sigh of relief, Zhang Yang finally understood that the wish made with the Fragment of Hope did not necessarily have to be completed in a single sentence. In fact, as long as the Fragment of Hope was of sufficiently high quality, even speaking a hundred sentences would not be a problem.

With the seeds in hand, Zhang Yang quickly arranged for people to plant them. With two harvests a year, they could not miss the season.

Fortunately, with these seeds, as long as nothing unexpected happened in the future, the produce from this land would be enough to meet the village's needs, while also leaving seeds for continued development.

Because of the importance of these 220 mu of Farmland, Zhang Yang also ordered Wu Yuan to send people to build sturdy log palisades around the fields, while assigning a small patrol team to patrol the area daily.

After taking care of all this, he continued throwing himself into the great undertaking of crafting Wood Spears.

That crafting lasted another five days. By then, he had consecutively produced 100 Imprisonment Spears, all of them mid-grade magical artifacts, and distributed them to the 42 infantry captains.

It was also at this time that the second Level 3 Residential House was officially completed. Village Prosperity increased by 5, and villager loyalty increased by 2. At this point, among the third-generation residents, everyone except those eight bachelors had moved into new homes. They would marry within the next few months, and at the latest by next year, a new batch of fourth-generation babies would be born.

If they were lucky, once the village's Livability Index reached 20, another batch of third-generation babies would also be born.

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

Standing before the new Level 3 Residential House, Zhang Yang was delighted and lavish with his praise. These three craftsmen had been the best performers among those who had previously studied under the instructor Qin Ge.

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

Now, after five days, following their personally supervising the construction of a Level 3 Residential House, their respective proficiencies had soared to 145, 140, and 135 points.

Thus, Zhang Yang simply had them build another Residential House. Once their proficiency reached 200 points, they would be able to construct the castle.

Next, he went to check on the craftsmen making bows and crossbows. Just as he expected, another three craftsmen had distinguished themselves within five days.

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

The other craftsmen's proficiency had likewise risen by between 10 and 15 points.

However, one craftsman among them was an exception: Zhao Tiezhu. Zhang Yang had recruited him with the final and most precious recruitment slot in the Village Building Order.

His performance was not dazzling, but it was steady.

Previously, when constructing the Level 3 Residential House, his secondary skill Construction and Repair had increased by only 25 proficiency points—above average, but below the 45 points of the three best performers.

Over these five days, his secondary skill Bow and Crossbow Crafting/Repair had also increased by 25 proficiency points—above average, but below the three best performers, who were currently at 45 points.

However, because craftsmen had primary and secondary skills, the proficiency of both secondary skills had to increase by 5 points to raise primary-skill proficiency by 1 point.

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

It had to be known that this primary skill could potentially produce items with attributes.

Now that was interesting.

After thinking it over, Zhang Yang had Zhao Tiezhu and the remaining 12 craftsmen go to the quarry to cut stone blocks. Now that all the infantry 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 an impressive one. Wu Yuan would personally lead it, accompanied by ten Archer Captains, ten Spearman Captains, and ten Shieldsman Captains. They would set out before sunrise and return at sunset, bringing back roughly 50 units of stone each day—the material required to build the castle.

As for the Four Berserker Bears, along with Qin Yidao, Liu Dali, and the other 35 Captain-Level Soldiers, they would remain behind at the old base to protect the Farmland and residents.

This was necessary. Although ordinary little demons had not dared approach at all during this period, and any demons that occasionally came near were killed immediately, Zhang Yang still felt uneasy. He always sensed that this peaceful state of development had to reach a breaking point.

As it turned out, his worry had been justified.

On the morning of the fourth day after they began mining stone, just as the mining team was preparing to set out, a woman's piercing scream rang out from the Level 5 Residential House. More cries followed, as though something terrifying had happened.

Zhang Yang jumped in fright and rushed over at a sprint. Wu Yuan and the others had already arrived, but their expressions were strange and grim.

"What happened?"

Zhang Yang first breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it was not an attack by an outside enemy, that was fine.

"Village Chief, a villager died. He... died in a rather strange way."

Wu Yuan spoke in a low voice.

Zhang Yang froze. When he entered the dead man's room, the first thing he smelled was the heavy stench of blood. Then he saw the dead man lying on the bed as though asleep, a strange smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth. Yet his body had turned into a scarecrow.

He was a second-generation resident whose profession was craftsman. He had gone with Wu Yuan and the others to cut stone blocks just yesterday, but today he was dead. His wife had slept beside him the entire night and heard nothing unusual. Yet when she woke that morning, she discovered this eerie scene.

"Who was on night patrol yesterday?"

Zhang Yang stepped out of the room. He had already formed a conclusion, but he still asked the question.

"It was Zhou Datou and me. We split into two groups, each with five people: two Archer Captains and three infantry captains. The focus of our patrol was these two Residential Houses and the Farmland. There was no need to patrol the fortress too frequently, but I swear, everything in these Residential Houses was normal last night. I did not even smell blood. It was only this morning that the stench from the corpse suddenly poured out as if a floodgate had opened."

Duan Kuan stood outside with a solemn expression, yet he was also deeply puzzled. Given his strength, it was impossible for a killer to murder someone without evading his senses.

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

"How do you explain this? Don't tell me you fell asleep last night. You were less than 200 meters from the scene!"

"Reporting to the Village Chief, this truly has nothing to do with me. This was caused by the situation at the Mountain God Temple. That villager, Yu Dazhuang, spat at the Mountain God Temple yesterday, triggering this incident. I do not know the details either, but if you disapprove of this matter, I will immediately capture that evil ghost."

Hearing this, Zhang Yang understood. The Mountain God Temple he had built earlier had begun to exert its influence. After all, this was a Fantasy World. Faith was not toilet paper that could be used whenever one wanted and discarded whenever one pleased.

Moreover, if he wanted to let this faith continue to develop, he could not interfere by force.

After a moment of silence, Zhang Yang said:

"Just keep an eye on this matter. As long as that evil ghost does not kill anyone again, do not interfere. The priority is still outside the village. I do not want any enemy imps sneaking close to spy on us again."