n

n

n

nAt midnight, in a large empty area in the southern suburbs of East Lake City, in the citywide census operation, those who could not produce a residence permit for East Lake City were all gathered here. A small number of them were from other cities and other provinces, but most of them were from Southeast Asia.

nA cordon surrounded these people. Outside were armed police officers who prevented them from starting a riot.

nAt this moment, nearly 10,000 people were gathered here. Pots and pans were scattered on the ground, and most of them were Southeast Asian people in tattered clothes. It looked like a refugee camp.

nA few people from the Daxia Kingdom who were not from East Lake City stayed at the edge of the quarantine zone. They cursed and waved their hands at the Southeast Asians from time to time, indicating for them to stay away.

n“Damn it! These illegal immigrants really know how to trick people.”

n“Sigh! There were rumors that these Southeast Asians were messing around with a young girl. I’m about to get my residence permit, but it’s too late.”

n“In my opinion, we should send all these illegal immigrants to the battlefield. In the past few days, East Lake City has been filled with them.”

n“That’s right. It’s time for the higher-ups to deal with it. Ever since these cheap laborers came, many jobs have stopped hiring people from the Daxia Kingdom.”

nAt the same time, the Southeast Asians formed small groups and chatted.

n“We’re doomed. Will we be thrown into jail?”

n“We made the wrong choice. The only good thing about the Daxia Kingdom is that it is close to us. They don’t even care about people like us who come from Myanmar.”

n“Sigh! If I had known earlier, I would have gone to the Never-ending Day Empire. It’s dangerous on the road, but I heard that there is free food there, and the work isn’t that hard.”

n…

nIn the East Lake City government, after the meeting about the illegal immigrants ended, Chen Yiming walked out of the meeting room. Mayor Hong Yi also walked out with him.

nHong Yi said helplessly, “With this incident on the sea, Southeast Asia is in chaos. This is only the first batch of refugees. There might be a second and third batch.”

nChen Yiming nodded and said, “It’s not realistic to block the border. The strange mountain village and the stronghold in the otherworld need our martial arts power to be stationed there.”

nHong Yi continued, “Now that Gui province and Min province have banned these refugees from entering the city, there’s only the Jiangnan province that needs a lot of manpower after opening up two battlefields. Therefore, we turned a blind eye to this situation previously.”

nChen Yiming looked at a building that was being renovated and said, “They’re not from the Daxia Kingdom after all. If Jiangnan province encounters a crisis one day, they might become a hidden danger.”

nHong Yi’s expression was solemn. They had discussed this before.

nJiangnan province was currently the most special province in Daxia Kingdom, or even on the entire blue planet. There were frequent conflicts with the otherworld, and the overall situation was headed towards the development of the otherworld.

nHowever, there was a huge difference in the amount of manpower and resources needed to develop and defend the city.

nThe truth was that in the rocky plains, the territory equivalent to two or three provinces in the Daxia Kingdom had already been cleared out by the spiritual figure. The strongest creatures, the stone golems, had retreated and were in hiding.

nIf not for the lack of manpower, the rocky plains would have already been annexed by the Daxia Kingdom.

nTherefore, in secret, the capital, Jiangnan province, and the cities in the province had already reached their limits in their manpower. The refugees from Southeast Asia were like money on the ground for them. They were afraid that if they used too much force, they would scare the people after them away.

nChen Yiming saw through Hong Yi’s biggest dilemma and hinted, “The miracle blood can’t be hidden for long. When the time comes, Jiangnan province will only attract more attention. There’s no need to be afraid of scaring away the refugees.”

nHong Yi let out a long breath when he heard this. “Recently, there have been more mutant beasts in the wilderness around East Lake City, and only half of the troops sent to surround the strange mountain village have returned. We have to find people to fill this gap.”

nThe two of them chatted for a while longer before Chen Yiming turned to leave.

n…

nIn the Chen family’s house, Chen Yingying had already returned.

nFather Chen and Mother Chen had heard from the residents in the district that a foreigner had died in the city. They were telling Chen Yingying to be careful when she went out.

nWhen Chen Yiming returned, he saw his sister sitting quietly on the sofa. Mother Chen was still nagging beside her. He knew that his sister had not told the two elders that she was the main character in the incident.

n“Son, what’s going on outside? Why did I hear that thousands of people have been captured?” Mother Chen asked hurriedly when she saw Chen Yiming enter.

nChen Yingying took advantage of the fact that Father Chen and Mother Chen were not looking at her to shake her head at Chen Yiming, indicating that he shouldn’t tell them the truth.

nChen Yiming said casually, “I just returned from the city government. The city has already come up with a solution. They won’t let the chaos continue.”

nMother Chen was relieved to hear this. “That’s good. I almost didn’t dare to go to the market to buy groceries tomorrow.”

nFather Chen was very curious and asked, “Yiming, I heard from the neighbors that a refugee camp has been set up in the south of the city. Do you think they will be used as a form of labor?”

nChen Yiming thought to himself, “Father Chen used to be a chef. Now, he goes to the square every day to brag to others. How did he guess part of it so quickly?”

nHe nodded. “Something like that. East Lake City is expanding rapidly, and we are short of manpower to begin with. Previously, due to various reasons, they didn’t manage it too strictly.”

n…

nAt 3 am, the police officers in charge of guarding the temporary camp received the order to release the Daxia Kingdom people who did not have a residence permit. The remaining Southeast Asians would be handed over to a team of soldiers.

nThere were less than 20 soldiers in this group, but each of them emitted substantial pressure. When one met their gazes, their expressions would freeze.

nSoon, the group of nearly 10,000 Southeast Asians were escorted out of the city by this group of soldiers.

nThe police officers looked enviously at the soldiers escorting them away.

n“How strong! I was clearly prepared just now, but my heart still raced when I met their gaze.”

n“Of course. If there’s just a dozen people escorting nearly 10,000 people out of the city, without the strength to suppress them, what if they all escape halfway?”

n“Go back and have a good rest, then continue your training tomorrow. If you get a chance to go to the otherworld one day, you might be able to take off.”

nIt was already late at night, but there were still some onlookers nearby.

nWhen they saw the refugees from Southeast Asia being escorted out of the city by the soldiers, they could not help but clap and cheer.

nClearly, the refugees from Southeast Asia who had sneaked in were not welcomed by the locals.

n…

nThe next day, there were no longer any people who were not from the Daxia Kingdom on the streets of East Lake City. It seemed to have become much cleaner, and the entire city had a different scenery.

nChen Yingying took the initiative to ask Chen Yiming to be her sparring partner.

nThe two of them went to the riverside again. Chen Yiming played the role of a moving target, using irregular movements to simulate actual combat. Chen Yingying played the attacking role and shot out arrow after arrow.

nThey practiced for a long time, and Chen Yingying only stopped when she was so tired that her posture had changed and her entire body was drenched in sweat.

nChen Yingying had landed a few shots on Chen Yiming during this sparring session. At this moment, she asked uncertainly, “Brother, have I improved?”

n“It’s alright. Keep it up.” Chen Yiming nodded.

nHe was not lying to his sister. In terms of archery skills, he could be said to be at the level of a grandmaster. After yesterday’s guidance, Chen Yingying’s basic archery skills were closer to perfection, so she had naturally improved greatly.

nHowever, there was no obvious improvement to be seen today. Many of the archery techniques in the next stage involved the internal force. It was a domain that Chen Yingying could not reach for the time being.

n“When are you bringing me to the otherworld to cultivate again?”

nChen Yingying asked this out of the blue with a serious expression.

n“About that…” Chen Yiming didn’t continue and fell into deep thought.

nIt was still unknown what the situation was like on the other side of the space-travel passage in the strange mountain village. Were the treants retreating forever or were they using other secret methods to investigate the situation in Jiangnan province?

nIf he arranged for Chen Yingying to stay in the stronghold in the otherworld for a long time to cultivate, without either him or the spiritual figure guarding the stronghold, how could Chen Yiming feel at ease?

nIf a powerful flying creature passed by and destroyed the entire stronghold, it would be too late for him to feel regret.

n“I can’t leave for the time being. I’ll make the arrangements as soon as possible,” Chen Yiming said seriously.

nHis attitude towards the battle with the treants had been the same throughout, and he had not changed his stance. He hoped that the treants would reveal their true strength first so that he could make a move to counter them.

nHowever, from his sister’s expression, he could tell that it was different from before.

nThis way, it was naturally not a problem to be a little more flexible. After all, national matters were very important.

n…

nThat day, Chen Yiming ended his leisurely life and set off for Jiangnan City.

nAlong the way, he saw a group of Southeast Asians repairing the roads between the cities in the wilderness under the supervision of soldiers.

nAt this moment, compared to the other provinces in the Daxia Kingdom, the strength of the mutant beasts in Jiangnan province had decreased greatly. Without strong mutant beasts around, the humans who could previously only stay within the city walls began to gain the upper hand.

nThis way, the plan to gradually bring the wilderness back under human control had been proposed.

nTo do this, the first thing they had to do was to build more roads and wider roads to ensure that the military could quickly provide support if there were any problems at any location.

nChen Yiming went straight to Wang Ronghui, who was now in charge of all matters in Jiangnan province. The two of them stood on the rooftop of the highest building in the government office area, overlooking the entire Jiangnan City.

nWang Ronghui had dark circles under his eyes. As soon as Chen Yiming arrived, he complained, “It’s not just the countries in Southeast Asia that are in trouble. The Daxia Kingdom’s East Sea province probably can’t avoid it either.”

nChen Yiming was about to ask about the situation with the treants when Wang Ronghui told him about the problems that East Sea province was facing.

nHalf a month ago, a sea monster suddenly appeared on the coastline of Southeast Asia.

nThese sea monsters held anchor-like weapons in their hands. They were exceptionally strong, and there was a layer of skin on their bodies, like a layer of biological armor. Their internal force had the water attribute.

nIn addition, the reason why the Southeast Asian countries were in such chaos was because more than 10 sea monsters had gathered together. They could create huge waves to cause tsunamis that destroyed the cities near the coastline.

nChen Yiming asked in surprise, “This sea monster shouldn’t be a native creature from the blue planet, right? Did you notice which space-travel passage it came from?”

nWang Ronghui smiled bitterly and shook his head. “Ever since the otherworld invaded the blue planet, the sea has become a restricted area. Only those at the peak of the warrior realm dare to move freely on the sea.”

n“However, there aren’t many people at this level in a province, let alone in a small Southeast Asian country. They can’t even deal with a sea monster that has come ashore, so how can they have the ability to investigate the situation?”

nChen Yiming thought to himself, “No wonder so many refugees were forced to pass through the dangerous wilderness and sneak into the Daxia Kingdom. The coastline of Southeast Asia must have been breached by the sea monsters, and the country was in danger of being destroyed.”

nIt was unknown how many people would die along the way. At the moment, for those who made it into the Daxia Kingdom alive, only the cities in Jiangnan province allowed them to enter.

nHowever, now that East Lake City was taking the lead to capture the illegal immigrants, the speed at which the other cities followed these actions would not be much slower.

nAt this thought, Chen Yiming fell silent.

nJiangnan province had indirectly benefited from the arrival of the sea monster. He also knew what Wang Ronghui meant by saying that there was a high chance that East Sea province could not avoid it. Everything was obvious.

nAfter Wang Ronghui told him about the sea monster incident, the two of them quickly started a casual conversation.

nNot long after, the topic changed. Chen Yiming asked Wang Ronghui if Jiangnan province had sent any special troops to enter the space-travel passage in the strange mountain village to investigate the movements of the treants.

nWang Ronghui smiled bitterly again. “In the past half a month, a team has been sent in every week, but they never returned. There was no news from them at all.”

nChen Yiming’s expression turned solemn. Two teams had entered the space-travel passage a week apart, but neither of them had returned.

nFrom the looks of it, the treants treated the humans on the blue planet cautiously. There must be some treants guarding the exit of the space-travel passage and stopping the teams that had gone over to investigate.

nWang Ronghui continued, “Ling Zhongyun, Zhao Shumin, and the other two requested to go in and investigate the situation, but I didn’t allow them to.”

nChen Yiming suddenly had a thought and said, “The treants didn’t hesitate to start a war and occupy the territory of the black river. The terrain of that area is completely a desert.

nNow that they are guarding it against humans, coupled with the fact that the treants have large roots, could there be something special deep underground?”

n“This… It might be the legendary energy mine.”

nWang Ronghui hesitated for a moment before saying in an uncertain tone.

nChen Yiming was confused. The treants’ actions were obvious. The top human experts had explored the otherworld for many years, so why couldn’t they give him an answer with at least 70% confidence?

nWang Ronghui organized his thoughts and continued, “It’s still unknown how big the otherworld is. Some experts once guessed that the reason why creatures from the otherworld could evolve or cultivate was because there was something called an energy mine deep underground.

nThis type of energy mine was similar to the oil underground on the blue planet, but there was a certain difference. In the otherworld, there were substances called essence energy and spiritual energy. Experts guessed that it was produced by the energy mine.

nHowever, the soil in the otherworld is much harder than on the blue planet and the depth at which the energy mines might be located could also be far beyond imagination. Furthermore, high-tech equipment can not be used in the otherworld.

nWe also asked the martial masters to investigate this. They explored more than 3,000 meters underground, but they didn’t find anything, so we haven’t been able to verify it.”

nHearing this, Chen Yiming remained calm on the surface, but his heart was in turmoil.

nThe Skill Points in his body were essentially obtained from converting absorbed energy. He had verified this long ago.

nThe energy mines that might exist would represent countless Skill Points for him!

nNow that the number of Skill Points needed to increase his talent level was increasing, it was extremely slow to rely on just accumulating Skill Points every day. He wished he could immediately send out the spiritual figure to investigate.

nAfter all, it could still be revived if it died. But he had to deal with the treants first.

n