Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

After noticing that Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen had not returned in time, a team of settlers went to the mountain woods to look for them.

In comparison, the Eagle Men carried the dead bear away and disappeared, not before tossing the body of their fallen member over the cliff. Perhaps this was how they paid respect to the deceased. Or, they simply didn't care.

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Either way, both Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen agreed that they should be very cautious about their new neighbors.

By then, it was very likely that they knew how to get their hands on more “Hearts of Enlightenment,” which was by killing other tribesmen. For this reason, they would not be able to coexist in peace.

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The Soul of Civilization which emerged from the dead Eagle Man flew into Lu Zhishen's hand, so they didn't need to worry about losing it. Being the case, they only needed to find another “offering item” to summon another member for the settlement.

In other words, waging wars against other tribes and monsters was an efficient way to increase the size of their group.

It was almost nightfall. Ji Ye found several settlers to have them watch the cliff area from a safe distance, before heading back to the settlement with Lu Zhishen.

However, they didn't see any particular movements from the Eagle Men, who made no attempt to avenge their killed member. Again, perhaps they didn't really care about losing a member or two. Maybe they were trying to gather resources and develop first before expanding their territory.

Speaking of resources, Ji Ye made sure to ask some people to loot the ape cave clean, before heading to the serpent's pool together with Lu Zhishen. There, they found the self-replenis.h.i.+ng fountain water to be another Extraordinary Rank-1 treasure named “Frigid Water.” Also, there were “Frigid Iron Ores” hidden at the bottom of the pool, which could be used to forge quality weapons.

The discovery had confirmed Ji Ye's theory; they could find many useful resources scattered around a monster's lair. Those Eagle Men were probably after the winged bear for the same purpose.

Without wasting any time, Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen dispatched more settlers to search around Twin Dragon Mount so they could find other Extraordinary monsters to hunt. Meanwhile, Ji Ye stayed inside the settlement because it was almost time for the second group of “testers” to enter the Land of Inheritance. He wanted to brief the new players if any of them showed up in his area.

To his disappointment, he didn't see anyone arrive, even after waiting all the way till midnight.

After spending another day waiting to no avail, he chose to log off and return to reality.

“…Mister Ji Ye, what you provided is crucial intelligence. The higher-ups offered their sincere grat.i.tude for your effort.”

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Half an hour later, Ji Ye was having a confidential conference inside the player base of Yang City.

No players had mentioned killing an “alien player” up to this point. As soon as they heard Ji Ye's report, the confederation office immediately considered this to be top-secret.

After learning that killing “alien tribes” yielded Hearts of Enlightenment, a few experts present immediately showed worried looks upon realizing what this meant.

Ji Ye didn't hold anything back when explaining what he had learned. As far as he could see, being frank made things easier.

After the conference, Director Zhou approached him and made a serious suggestion. “Mister Ji, be a dear and consider moving away from the base if necessary, all right? We'll find a more secure place for you to stay.”

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The director even ordered Ling Chen to go there again and escort Ji Ye back to his room just in case.

“Man. Why do I get the feeling that I'll be busy every time you come back?” Ling Chen complained in a jokingly manner while moving along the hallway.

Ling Chen used to believe that the security work was pretty relaxed because all the gathered players were civilized people. However, Ji Ye had proved him wrong many times.

Of course, he wasn't allowed to attend the conference so he had no idea what kind of grand discovery Ji Ye had just brought back, which was something that surprised the heck out of the government.

To make matters worse, Director Zhou was already busying himself and preparing new arrangements for Ling Chen. At this rate, he'd be dispatched to a better-protected player residence and become an on-call liaison for important players.

“Do you want to be selected as a player?” Ji Ye joked. “That way, you won't not need to run around the base everyday because you won't have time for that anymore.”

It wasn't entirely a joke because Ji Ye knew he'd be busier by the day at this rate. From then on, he would have to constantly be on the watch for invasions. Not to mention that he needed to spend a lot of “virtual time” training.

“Are there gonna be new players at all?” Ling Chen frowned. “At least I didn't hear about any popping up yet. Someone on the forum is suspecting that the second group of testers is only a baseless rumor.”

“I think there will be in due time.” Ji Ye shook his head. “Otherwise, the description of the mission wouldn't have mentioned something that relevant. I think we have made a mistake here. n.o.body said that the new players would arrive as soon as the settlement missions ended. We simply a.s.sumed it.”

“Perhaps. As to the players themselves, I'd like to know how they get chosen. Do they still need to be professionals and such? If so, things may get problematic.”

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As a matter of fact, the confederation had already sent an alert to warn people about the likelihood of protests or something worse taking place, if the majority deemed the player selection process to be unfair. The people in charge of security had not slept a wink in the past 24 hours.

“Going by common sense, letting people with the right skills build the settlements in the early stages is a wise choice,” said Ji Ye.

As someone who had just witnessed potential enemies, Ji Ye believed that humans had to rely on their professionals and elites to win a war. Throwing random people from the crowd into the Land of Inheritance would just make things worse.

However, the security alert also came with a reason. If the “common crowd” left in reality grew displeased, who is going to keep them in order? It was already a mess when the first group of a million experts were suddenly spirited away from this world. Missing more of them could only lead to a bigger uproar.

Cras.h.!.+

They suddenly heard something breaking apart in a room nearby.

“I fu*king SAID I have a trauma, and you're telling me no? What do you mean I'm ‘mentally healthy'? You psychiatrists are frigging useless! Rich guys PAY YOU to get fake proof, but you can't give me one of those when I actually have a problem with my mind?”

A cute thermo cup was hurled from a door nearby and almost hit Ling Chen.

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