Chapter 154 - 142: Number One in the Gated Community

"You keep an eye on things," Wang Yun said in a low voice, then he went to the bedroom.

Lin Yi was slumped in her chair, head tilted to the side as if she had fallen asleep.

Panic seized him. He rushed over and checked for her breath.

He let out a sigh of relief.

She was still breathing; it seemed she had just fainted.

He carried his wife back to the bed and carefully tucked her in.

Wang Yun suddenly froze. He looked up, his eyes flashing with disbelief and elation. "This is..."

...

"Holy shit, Big Bro, there’s a settlement for the trial! Holy shit, and rewards for our rankings!" Qin Ziwu leaped to his feet, his face a mask of astonishment. "Big Bro, you have to be number one, right?"

Qin Ziwen frowned slightly from his seat on the sofa.

A familiar yet strange message had appeared on the small orb of light that represented his Home, floating before him.

It was familiar because he saw it every morning when he woke up.

It was strange because this message, of all things, was being issued by the Home.

Besides, there were differences in the details between this message and the usual one.

[Home Settlement: Congratulations to the esteemed Level 2 Authority and Lord of the Homeland for successfully passing the novice phase. You have officially become a Lord of the Homeland. More Card types have been unlocked.]

[Current Phase Feature Unlocked: Hunting Celestial List]

[Calculating your performance in the novice phase: Combat S, Development S, Wealth SSS++]

[Overall Rating: SSS]

[Current Gated Community Ranking: 1]

[Reward: 1x Random Level 2 Red Card]

"Yeah, I’m first."

Qin Ziwen looked at Qin Ziwu. "What about you?"

"Fifty-fourth," Qin Ziwu said with a grin. "I’m more than happy just to score a free Card."

Qin Ziwen said, "Good thing I had you activate it. If you’d missed this chance, you’d be down a Card while everyone else got one. That’s a two-Card difference right there."

The Home’s notifications kept scrolling, line after line of red text appearing.

[Current Phase Type: Challenge Round]

[Time Limit: 30 days]

[Challenge Objective: The Gated Community must complete ≥10 Hunting Celestial List tasks (including ≥2 Level 2 tasks).]

[Please complete the objective within the time limit. Failure to do so will result in being permanently stranded in this world.]

Qin Ziwen froze when he read that. ’Permanently stranded in this world?’

’Is that supposed to be a punishment or a reward?’

’I wonder if some people are tired of all the world-hopping and would actually want to stay here forever.’

Qin Ziwen was lost in thought, but the Home wasn’t finished. The notifications continued to appear.

[Gated Communities Merged: Total survivors 2,025. Activated Homes: 82.]

[Home’s Blessing: The miracles of the hunt belong only to the brave.]

After reading through all the notifications from the Home, Qin Ziwen rubbed the bridge of his nose.

’So, the two Gated Communities have merged.’

A weight settled in his palm as a crystalline Card, glowing with red light, appeared in his hand.

[Function Card] Level 2 Guild.

Qin Ziwen thought, ’Use.’

[Function Activated: Level 2 Guild]

[Authority Level Increased. Current Authority: Level 2 Authority (3/4)]

[Level 2 Guild: You may form an alliance with other Lords of the Homeland. Max alliance members: 20. The following functions are unlocked upon forming an alliance: Goodwill Alliance, Shared Building (1).]

[Goodwill Alliance: If an ally harbors strong malicious intent, the alliance with them will be automatically terminated, and all other members will be notified.]

[Shared Building (1): The guild leader may set any building to shared mode, opening an access portal to it within each ally’s Home. While shared, the Level of all the building’s traits is increased by 1. Current number of shareable buildings: 1.]

’This Goodwill Alliance is... genuinely useful. In an environment like this, the hardest thing to do is judge someone’s true intentions.’

’With the Goodwill Alliance, we can at least avoid the internal strife and scheming among allies and focus our collective energy on outside threats.’

’The only drawback is the limited membership; a Level 2 Guild only has twenty slots.’

’The Shared Building feature is straightforward enough.’

’Once it’s shared, a portal to the building will appear in the other members’ Homes.’

’The portal only leads into that specific building, and leaving it will return them to their own Homes.’

’That’s a nice touch.’ Qin Ziwen set the Celestial Star Arrow Gallery as the Shared Building.

’Now they can go directly inside the Arrow Gallery to practice their archery instead of coming all the way to my Home.’

’When they finish, they can just go back the way they came, straight to their own places.’

[Level 1 Celestial Star Arrow Gallery: Level 2+1 Bow Skill buff, Level 2+1 Stamina Recovery, Level 1+1 Stabilize Heart and Calm Spirit] (Special Effect: Arrows are infinitely generated but cannot be taken out of the Arrow Gallery).

’It adds one to every single trait?’ Qin Ziwen was surprised.

He’d assumed it would be a random trait that got a +1 Level boost, but instead, every trait was upgraded by a full level.

’The buff is terrifyingly powerful, then.’

’It’s practically a training camp for Divine Archers.’

Just then, a commotion could be heard starting up outside the Gated Community.

"Let’s go. We’re heading out." Qin Ziwen grabbed the new Three-pronged Fork Li Tieshan had forged. This Steel Fork was made of solid steel with three absurdly long tines at its tip. It weighed around forty-five pounds, which felt perfect in his hands.

Du Yu was even more heavily armed. He was clad in Mountain Armor and a face mask, a Precepts Saber at his waist and a Long Spear in hand as he followed behind Qin Ziwen.

Footsteps sounded from outside the door. When he opened it, Li Yue, Deng Guang, and Zhao Pu were gathered at the entrance.

"Captain."

"Mr. Qin."

"Brother Qin."

Qin Ziwen looked at them. "The new residents are here?"

Zhao Pu nodded, his expression grave. "Mr. Qin, the new residents have arrived. It’s a new building, but it doesn’t look like an apartment block. And... they’re probably not completely new to this."

"Let’s go downstairs. We’ll assess the situation first," Qin Ziwen said. He was thinking about how the windows of his Home were all covered by Expansion Cards. ’It improved security at the time, but now with the safe house ability, it feels a bit redundant. I should rearrange them and clear out the balcony. That would make it easier to observe things outside.’

They exited the stairwell and stepped outside the building, where a wave of heat washed over them.

It was dry and sweltering, at least ten degrees hotter than the forest had been. Although there was only a single sun in the sky, its light was blinding.

Li Yue sounded stunned. "Only one sun... We’re definitely not on the same planet we were on before."

"It’s incredible. Unimaginable."

Stepping out of his building, Qin Ziwen looked north. Just beyond the northern wall of their compound, a five-story school building now stood, pressed right up against it.

The school’s exterior walls were mottled and spattered with old, dried bloodstains.

Most conspicuous of all were the silent students lining the open-air corridors.

Compared to their own Gated Community, you could clearly sense that the student survivors in the school building were far more united.

Qin Ziwu said, "It looks like a university building, not a high school."

Zhao Pu muttered, "It’s hard to imagine what they went through. The walls of the corridors are covered in blood."

Beyond the railings of the north gate, a man who looked like a teacher stood on the other side. His voice was resonant as he called out, "Is there anyone in charge over there?"

Downstairs, in front of Building Two, Zou Jianghe straightened his suit and strode forward, head held high.

But a moment later, he walked back with a dark expression on his face.

He looked toward the upper brass of the Alliance Association, his eyes sweeping over Zhang Bo, Huang Tao, and the others. "Quite the dark horse, aren’t we? I never imagined our Gated Community was hiding the person ranked number one. Well, why don’t you show yourself, great expert? The people over there want to meet our top-ranked resident."

’Zou Jianghe wasn’t number one?’

Huang Tao was stunned. If it wasn’t Zou Jianghe, then... A certain person’s image surfaced in his mind.

Zhang Bo’s eyes flickered with shock and uncertainty.

The two exchanged a look. Simultaneously, the same name popped into both of their heads.

...

...