Chapter 339: Chapter 339 - 331: Abusing Public Office for Personal Gain
[Ding! Congratulations to the host, Greenfield City’s city walls have been successfully completed, rewarding the host with one fortress core!]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the emergency side mission: Suppress Greenfield City’s riot, ensure the completion of Greenfield City’s city walls, and overachieve in the mission by successfully reclaiming four neighboring cities of Greenfield City. Reward: one Bone Marrow Cleansing Pill, 500 points! An extra 500 points reward added!]
[This victory has moderately increased the morale of the citizens in all cities under your command!]
[Congratulations to the host, Monarch’s Reputation +150!]
[Information on Qingchuan City, Yunshan City, Fengyuan City, and Pingchuan City has been loaded into the territory system and updated. Does the host wish to view it immediately?]
Shen Tang clicked to view the basic information of the four newly reclaimed cities.
[Qingchuan City (Mining-type city)
Total population: 70,000
Morale: 10
Security: 10]
[Yunshan City (Mining-type city)
Total population: 70,000
Morale: 15
Security: 10]
[Fengyuan City (Agricultural-type city)
Total population: 90,000
Morale: 20
Security: 15]
[Pingchuan City (Commercial-type city)
Total population: 80,000
Morale: 15
Security: 15]
Shen Tang glanced at the ridiculously low morale and security and felt a chill down her spine! She feared that if she personally went to reassure the people’s morale, she might face an assassin from the crowd!
Shen Tang contacted Xiao Jin to deploy troops to guard the four cities that just experienced riots, strengthening security to prevent another outbreak.
Simultaneously, she dispatched Lu Xiao with the air force to transport large quantities of supplies and food to the post-war regions to comfort the people’s hearts.
[By the way, host, the city walls of Greenfield City have been completed. You can place this fortress core within the walls, which will significantly enhance their resilience, making it the world’s most formidable fortress!]
Shen Tang was torn with indecision, unsure whether to place the fortress core in the Imperial City or Greenfield City, as the tragic fall of Old Imperial City to the rebel army was still fresh in memory. However, Greenfield City, located at the southwestern border near the polluted lands, served as the first line of defense against pollution and was equally important.
Just as Shen Tang hesitated, the system suddenly issued a warning.
[Not good, host! Morale has significantly decreased in the southern border cities!]
[The host’s Reputation Value is also affected!]
Shen Tang’s heart jumped, and together with Lu Xiao, she returned to Greenfield City, where she heard the bad news.
Recently, many Beastmen from the border cities and surrounding tribes have gone missing!
This had started days ago, but with riots occurring everywhere and everyone busy with internal conflicts, the daily deaths of Beastmen went unnoticed by the authorities.
Not until Xiao Jin brought the troops to quell the unrest did anyone realize that many civilians had mysteriously disappeared and the number of missing people was increasing daily, causing widespread panic.
Shen Tang frowned and asked, "Are there any Beastmen missing in Greenfield City?"
Shi Ye, who had already organized the list of missing people overnight, said sorrowfully, "The situation in Greenfield City is much better than in other cities, yet over twenty people have inexplicably disappeared in the past half month. Fortunately, with the completion of the city walls, there haven’t been any new disappearances in the last couple of days."
Standing at the city gates, Shen Tang looked at the towering walls, which under the sunlight, cast a cold gleam like a crouching giant beast, deterring incoming threats.
Greenfield City suffered the least in this crisis, largely thanks to these city walls.
Xiao Jin, Lu Xiao, and Hu Yun led teams to investigate the incident.
A few days later, more tragic news came, Hu Yun’s team had been completely wiped out!
Fortunately, Xiao Jin arrived halfway to rescue him, but Hu Yun was severely wounded, unconscious, and in a critical condition!
When Shen Tang hurriedly arrived, Hu Yun’s condition had significantly worsened.
He was pale and blue all over, spitting out a lot of black blood, and the most bizarre thing was the dark gray-green granulation growing at the wound, seemingly self-healing!
Yet his life force was quickly draining!
Shen Tang, Xiao Jin, and Lu Xiao exchanged glances, each seeing the shock in the other’s eyes.
The Beastmen of the Empire likely had no idea because they had never seen polluted creatures. But those who had stayed in polluted lands for so long recognized it at once — these were wounds from a polluted mutant species, and Hu Yun’s body was undergoing mutation!
Polluted mutant species and the living corpses that appeared in Old Imperial City share similarities, both can rapidly reproduce through infecting external objects, but there are also significant differences.
Living corpses are essentially walking, attacking decayed chunks of flesh, possessing merely the instinct to kill, without retaining the abilities and strength of the host, having a limited lifespan, and disappearing once fully decayed.
However, these polluted mutants possess a certain level of intelligence, can inherit the host’s superpowers, and even become stronger! They are not limited by lifespan, and once they spread, they are even more terrifying!
It is feared the entire Empire would face catastrophic disaster!
Should it be that the recently missing Beastmen were all killed by the polluted species, the thought was terrifying!
Shen Tang’s face turned pale, unwilling to believe this conjecture, how could polluted lands appear at the border? In the original storyline, the expansion of polluted lands and invasion of the Empire occurred years later.
Why had the timeline advanced so much?!
"Uh..." Hu Yun lying on the ground groaned painfully, his skin growing even paler and bluer, his bones distorting and expanding with a teeth-gritting crunch, as if he would transform into a mindless monster the next second!
The Beastmen present, terrified by this scene, withdrew hastily, their faces pale.
Hu Yun’s mother knelt on the ground, crying until her eyes almost went blind, "Wu wu... my child... Please, Your Majesty and lords, save my child!"
Xiao Jin and Lu Xiao’s faces grew darker, a flash of reluctance in their hearts, but the current situation demanded solving Hu Yun completely before his mutation, otherwise, more innocent civilians would be harmed!
"Hold on, I have a solution!" Shen Tang didn’t have time to think, quickly extracting an Anti-Pollution Serum from her space and injecting it into Hu Yun.
This was a reward from the system for a previous mission. Now that the system store had upgraded, she could purchase plenty of Anti-pollution Serums.
Under everyone’s shocked gaze, Hu Yun’s body stopped mutating and returned to normal.
Shen Tang quickly used her Healing Ability to treat his wounds.
After a dozen minutes, Hu Yun opened his eyes, bewilderedly touching his body.
He was alive!
Wasn’t he bitten to death by those terrifying monsters?!
Hu Yun’s mother wept with joy, "Son, it was Your Majesty who saved you, quickly thank Your Majesty!"
Coming to his senses, Hu Yun knelt on the ground with tears in his eyes, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for saving me! From now on, my life is yours, alive as your man, dead as your ghost, I’ll follow you in the next life as well—"
Xiao Jin hurriedly interrupted, "Alright, stop with the mushy stuff, tell us what exactly happened to you."
This brat was still trying to steal a favor!