A few hours later, they arrived in Nankou City by private plane. A car was waiting to take Zhao Fu and the others to an upscale residential complex.
The complex was one of the Ying Family's properties. It had beautiful scenery and a pleasant environment, as well as excellent security. Several thousand people lived there, all of them descended from the Ying Family, though none belonged to its main bloodline. Those with pure blood lived somewhere even more exclusive.
Zhao Fu also met his maternal grandparents there. They hugged him and wept for a while, then asked why he hadn't come to stay at their home.
Seeing them again brought Zhao Fu some comfort. As for why he hadn't gone to their house, he simply didn't want to become anyone's burden. They were already quite old. He barely knew his other relatives, who were somewhat cold toward him, and he had no interest in getting close to them.
Afterward, Zhao Fu was assigned a house of his own. It was over a hundred square meters, lavishly decorated, and furnished with all kinds of basic appliances and furniture. It was clear that the Ying Family was incredibly wealthy.
He turned on a brand-new computer and, out of habit, went to the Apocalypse Forum to check the latest news. Other factions were making very slow progress. Building a vast foundation wasn't something that could be done all at once; it took time and steady effort.
However, because different regions couldn't connect with one another, many prominent families had their members scattered across them. As a result, they tried to form guild-like factions and recruit ordinary people. But these ordinary players couldn't be managed like soldiers. They were used to the comforts of the modern world—who would risk their lives for you?
Besides, the penalties for a player's death were severe: their level and equipment were reset, and they couldn't log in for ten days. The next time a non-lord player entered Apocalypse World, they would respawn somewhere at random. In other words, if you died, you would reappear somewhere else next time. Guild players were practically useless in battle and were rarely good enough to become elite members trained by the prominent families.
Still, people shouldn't underestimate ordinary players. The prominent families weren't the only ones with ambition. Troubled times gave rise to heroes—who said that kings and generals were born to their stations? Alongside the scions of prominent families, ordinary people with no such background were also shining, standing out from the vast crowd.
"Gu Jun led hundreds of players in capturing a stronghold of a thousand people!"
"Liu Xiuming led hundreds of men and conquered three foreign villages in succession!"
"Jiang Changshui won the unanimous support of the villagers, became Sanjiang Village's chief, and gained six hundred villagers!"
After a quick look through the news, Zhao Fu returned to Apocalypse World. He felt more at home there than in the real world.
Back in Apocalypse World, Zhao Fu thought of the news he'd seen on the forum and felt the pressure mounting. He couldn't afford to let his guard down for even a moment, so he began conducting a census.
Great Qin Village now had 1,340 residents. In addition, Zhao Fu had four human villages, three Goblin villages, and one Gnome village.
After these past few days of development, the villages were gradually recovering. The four human villages had a combined population of 524, the three Goblin villages had 410 Goblins in total, and the Gnome village had 189 residents.
Zhao Fu recruited some more people from those villages and added them to Great Qin's army. It now had 930 Great Qin Soldiers, 150 Goblin Warriors, and 100 Gnomes, for a total of 1,180 soldiers.
In fact, members of other races could also become Great Qin Soldiers, since there was no limit on the number or race of those who could undergo the Class Transfer. However, each village had a limit on the number of soldiers it could accommodate, and soldiers beyond that limit received none of the village's attribute bonuses.
Thus, all 1,180 soldiers could be considered Great Qin Soldiers, and all received the class's attribute bonuses. Thirty-five soldiers were exploring the passage to Bone Space, while 245 were left to protect the villages. That left Zhao Fu with exactly 900 soldiers to lead.
Taking those 900 soldiers with him, Zhao Fu continued exploring the area within twenty li of Great Qin Village. Now that they had Black Forest Horses, travel was much more convenient. Still, only a few soldiers could ride; most had to walk, since they had only tamed so many horses.
Zhao Fu rode Little Black, the Black Forest Horse King, at the front. Little Gray followed beside them, sniffing at the various scents.
Suddenly!
Little Gray had found something. It growled a few times and ran ahead, and Zhao Fu rode after it on Little Black.
A little while later, they found a medium-sized village on a flat stretch of land. It belonged to a foreign race. Its residents had doglike heads and human bodies, much like the humanoid creatures of Western legends. They were Kobolds.
The Kobold village had around a thousand Kobolds, including roughly seven hundred Kobold Warriors. The remaining three hundred were elderly, children, and women.
Most of the Kobold Warriors carried knives, though some wielded spears. Zhao Fu didn't dare get too close to observe them. Kobolds had noses as keen as dogs'.
A thousand Kobolds was too many. If there had only been five or six hundred, he could have waited until nightfall and attacked under cover of darkness, taking them all in one fell swoop.
"But what should I do now?"
Suddenly, Zhao Fu thought of something and looked at Little Gray. Having finished its search, Little Gray was resting nearby. It instinctively shuddered, then turned to see Zhao Fu looking at it with what seemed like ill intent. It immediately tried to sneak away.
This time, Zhao Fu didn't do anything. Little Black simply bit down on Little Gray's tail. Little Black had been bullied by Little Gray before and even bitten a few times, so how could it pass up this chance?
Little Gray turned its head and growled a few times, telling Little Black to let go. It knew that whenever its despicable master looked its way, nothing good could come of it!
Little Black neighed a few times, its horse face breaking into a grin that revealed a mouthful of pearly white teeth. It meant, "Heh, you're the one getting tricked. It has nothing to do with me. I'm just being a good little horse and listening to my master!"
Immediately!
Little Gray couldn't hold back any longer. It twisted around, trying to bite Little Black, the sniveling little sycophant, while Little Black kept hold of its tail and dodged to the side.
Watching the wolf and horse tussle, Zhao Fu couldn't help laughing. "All right! That's enough. Stop fighting."
He hadn't actually been planning to use Little Gray. He'd only been looking for inspiration. Little Gray had a keen sense of smell, which was an advantage!
But sometimes, an advantage could become a weakness if someone knew how to exploit it. The Kobolds had keen noses too. How could he make use of that? With the thought in mind, Zhao Fu led his men back to Great Qin Village, deciding not to alert the enemy just yet.
Once back in Great Qin Village, Zhao Fu issued an order for everyone to mobilize for one task: picking chili peppers, then drying and grinding them into powder. It took Zhao Fu two days to prepare several hundred pounds of chili powder. Then, brimming with confidence, he set out for the Kobold village once more.