"Li Shimin" and Speculations

"Everyone, the overall situation right now isn't too good."

"In particular, the eleventh group's reconnaissance is now basically complete. The news coming back from over there isn't very optimistic."

After a few words, Zhao Li, who was in charge of the relevant statistics, also put away his charcoal pencil.

In less than an hour, a hand-drawn map, which was barely clear, had appeared between the few dark gray pages on the table in front of him.

"It can be confirmed that Route 3 has many hills and mountains, so there is almost no risk of not needing to find additional cover. In terms of terrain alone, it is indeed quite suitable for small-scale infiltration, and even newly arrived civilians can mostly pass through in small groups."

"However, Group Eleven believed that doing so would pose a higher risk of an epidemic, and emphasized that they did not recommend that we send people from this direction."

"Because within a radius of thirty or forty li to the east, in the area they had explored, the new graves on those hills had already formed a continuous range of small mounds. Many of the bodies were simply wrapped in tattered straw mats and dumped in the mass graves."

Even the Hunter in the nearby mountains are now hesitant to venture into the mountains.

"Moreover, besides the common threats in the wild, based on Taoist Priest Qu's experience, those places are likely shrouded in miasma, infested with Corpse Demon, and even some demonic creatures that have become sentient due to the excessive accumulation of corpses. If too many people try to venture deeper, it will most likely attract surprise attacks from all sides."

A hush fell over everyone.

Although they have even begun to "get used to" this situation, these souls from the 21st century are still experiencing once again the stark reality of what it means to be "worse than a dog in chaotic times."

"Shimin, what do you think?"

In the silence, someone suddenly turned to the person above and asked a question.

With just these words, everyone's attention was drawn to the middle-aged man, who was wearing a large cloak, had a dignified bearing, and was sitting in the main seat.

The man called "Shimin" gave a wry smile, then became serious. "I agree with Group Eleven's assessment. With so many of us, the first thing we need on our next route is a safe water source."

"We can try to deal with ordinary monsters using military force and the collective efforts of everyone, but without modern sanitation and purification methods, we absolutely cannot risk spreading a plague by forcibly crossing over."

"Frankly speaking, given the sanitary conditions in ancient times, even attacking head-on along the main routes and official roads would probably be safer than dealing with a major epidemic."

"Moreover, based on our previous handling methods, it's impossible that the first two or three counties couldn't have been completely unaware of what was going on. My assessment is that they are either reinforcing their defenses, or—most of the county magistrates and their clerks have probably already fled."

"Under these circumstances, even sending out elite troops for a surprise raid to seize the gate would likely not be as easy or efficient as before."

"At this point, we can only wait for the intelligence team to provide specific information."

At this point, even the imposing man "Li Shimin," who was clearly Main God User, couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.

"What I'm really worried about is that when these gentlemen run away, they might take all the grain belonging to the wealthy families in the city, or even burn it all in a frenzy, just like what happened in Linyi before. That would be a real problem."

"After all, some of these guys are really not human."

When this was brought up, everyone's expressions clearly weren't very pleasant.

After all, in this era when food is extremely precious, it is outrageous that someone would dare to set fire to grain; it is simply courting death!

Even if the arsonist and the mastermind were hanged together at the city gate afterward, it would be far less detrimental to morale than this kind of mess!

However, an old man sitting on a nearby chair, after hearing these words, suddenly turned to a middle-aged man on the other side and asked, "How is our ancient background research team making progress?"

"Elder Ning, they haven't been able to fully gather their personnel in this Mission World, and they also can't determine the duration of this Mission World. But based on the resource information we've gathered in this area so far, there are basically no conditions for steelmaking and chemical processing."

"The most significant breakthrough lies in the fact that some of them successfully brought in a small number of improved varieties."

"According to their actual reports, potatoes already existed in this era, but after careful examination by the agricultural team, they were still relatively primitive, small, and highly toxic varieties. Even the mature varieties were only about the size of grapes or longans, which is completely different from the modern varieties that we have bred and optimized over a long period of time."

Touching his beard, the middle-aged man dressed as a farmer looked rather regretful.

"Sweet potatoes and corn haven't been introduced yet. Although we didn't bring a large quantity of seeds, it's enough for another batch of propagation processes later."

"However, the response team raised the distinction between pests and diseases and soil resistance, requesting that a certain amount of original seeds be reserved as a reserve, and that short-term cultivation be carried out only at the current scale."

"In fact, the inspectors arrested several house slaves yesterday who had disguised themselves as refugees to sneak in, specifically to find out about the seeds in the fields."

Hearing the two talking about this, a relatively thin elderly gentleman standing nearby suddenly leaned over and asked, "Is that so? How did they notice the one in the field?"

"What are you saying? You send people to patrol and roam around there every day, treating those seedlings like royalty, day and night. Who wouldn't notice something's wrong?"

"These landlords and rich folks, they all have such shrewd noses! If it's truly a superior breed, it can be passed down through generations, which is more precious than real gold—"

The two elderly people joked around for a while, and the middle-aged man next to them waited patiently before asking his own question.

"However, Elder Ning, I do have some doubts. Aside from farming to preserve superior seeds, developing mycotoxins, and recruiting refugees into an army for a northern expedition, can we really be considered as participating in the main storyline in the end?"

"Upon closer inspection, the theme of this Mission World should be the conflict between humans and demons, and the struggle between the righteous and the evil, right? Otherwise, could it really be that I have a date with a female ghost?"

The old man was stunned for a moment by the question, and finally gave him a rather speechless glare.

"I'm not sure either, but that's what the research team guessed. They're definitely more professional in this area, and it's best for an old man like me not to offer my opinion."

"Anyway, the most elite user teams have all been sent to Jinhua and Beijing, so there's not much point in us going there. Since the research team thinks it's more appropriate to do this now, let's just consider it a concrete verification for them."

Suddenly lowering his voice, "Elder Ning" silently looked up, and the others followed suit, but could only see the top of the tent.

"Of course, if I'm not mistaken—they might want to test some hypotheses that don't yet have much evidence."

In the end, it's all uncertain—it depends on our luck this time.