Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 283: War Preparations

Carrying He Yuying's parting gift, Li Wei returned to his room on the fifth floor — only to find Li Yue already waiting for him.

Over the past several days, both Li Yue and Liang Yuzhi had been watching closely. Did he really think he could hide his little schemes from them?

So Li Wei simply pulled out a Four-Star Conspiracy Card and activated it, entering the conspiracy state.

Li Yue laughed cheerfully. "Got the 'good person' card, did you? Ha! He Yuying just doesn't have the nerve. An opportunity like that walks right up to her door and she won't take it. Serves her right."

Li Wei smiled and shrugged it off. That was just how things worked — nothing succeeded a hundred percent of the time. He had to try every possible avenue.

Li Yue studied him carefully for a moment, then gave a satisfied nod. "I'll be settling and leaving the month after next. I have a few things to tell you. Next spring will be your most dangerous time. Once Thomas, Leon, and Zhao Xuanxuan all settle and leave, the only people you'll be able to rely on are the freemen. But if the freemen take heavy casualties, your foundation will become unstable — and remember, there are still two more years of challenges ahead."

"Of course, the situation shouldn't get too dire. Your direct superior will have to send you at least two capable reinforcements. All in all, I'm fairly optimistic about your chances."

"Once you get through that crisis, it'll be time to plan for the second year. You need to open more farmland — at least fifty acres, though it doesn't need to be as intensively managed as Fields No. 4 and No. 5."

"In the second year, you'll also need to do two things. First — build a larger perimeter wall, at least five kilometers in circumference. It doesn't need to be Level 3; Level 2 is fine, as long as it can hold off ordinary mutant creatures."

"Because the mass appearance of mutant creatures mostly happens during the month the Radiation Storm hits. By then, the crops will have been harvested and most resources collected, so you can pull back your defensive perimeter. The outer walls can be abandoned at any time.""The second thing I need to warn you about: relocate the natural persons from the small city base. This is critical. There are people who love nothing more than raiding, and they will absolutely target that step — ambushing you, forcing you into a position where you can't act freely."

"So find ways to make yourself stronger."

"One last thing you need to know: the Level 5 Scavenger Camp can unlock one building, but it requires conditions. First — cultivated farmland must reach fifty acres, with food stores sufficient to feed five hundred people for two years. Second — you must provide housing for fifty families. But there's a trap here: you absolutely must build these houses on the surface. Because once this territory is fully yours, the Pioneering Card in your hands will generate a magical shield to protect your territory — no more fear of Radiation Storms. But without Radiation Storms, the soil fertility in the territory will decline year by year..."

"Li Wei — trust me. Running a territory isn't easy. You need to plan ahead during these next two years, not wait until after you've won and claimed the land. By then it'll be too late."

"Any questions?"

"One. If the Radiation Storm hits next month and the special boss goes west to the small city base and starts a massacre — what then?" Li Wei asked. Eighty kilometers was too far to reach in time.

"That won't happen. The special boss locks directly onto your Pioneering Card. Also, the worst thing about the Radiation Storm isn't the boss — it's the radiation toxin seeping in, which makes Level 2 and even Level 3 Blood Plague infections very easy."

"The natural persons at the small city base are sheltered underground. As long as their luck isn't terrible, the chance of being overrun is very small. After the storm passes, some new powerful mutant creatures will have taken up residence in the area — you'll need to lead a team to hunt them down. But that's exactly what you're good at. I'll leave that to you."

"Also — stop trying to scheme with me and the Widow. You're already standing out too much."

Li Yue said this with meaningful weight, then stood and left.

The door closed. Li Wei's eyes moved, his emotions steady.

The next instant, he opened the Prestige Card system. A massive table materialized before him, filling the entire room — every freeman who had bound a card and connected to the network, including the nursing infants.

Of course, the little ones wouldn't be allocating attribute points. Freemen under thirteen had no right to allocate their own points — Li Wei handled that for them.

And his only direction for them was Life — up to Level 1 Awakening.

That would significantly improve their resilience against external threats: fewer illnesses, better health, and some resistance to the Blood Plague infections that came with the Radiation Storm.

As for the remaining free attribute points, they would allocate those themselves after turning thirteen. That was up to them.

Right now, Li Wei was looking at the attributes of those 108 freemen. Overall, none had shown anything like Mark's exceptional case, but their base stats were slightly higher than ordinary freemen — roughly 5 to 10 extra attribute points on average.

That was still a significant advantage.

Li Wei used his thoughts to sort through the data, selecting thirty men with the best overall attributes — average age between thirty and thirty-five.

Ten were assigned to Santiago's First Patrol Squad, bringing it to a full complement of fifteen.

Another ten went to Benjamin's Second Patrol Squad, also reaching fifteen.

The final ten formed the Third Patrol Squad, with Javier — the former Warehouse No. 4 manager — as captain, and Mark as a member.

Because at this point, that fifty-five-year-old man was genuinely combat-capable. With Profession Card levels of 3+3+2, he was fully on par with Benjamin and Santiago. Keeping him as a warehouse manager was a waste.

And among the newly arrived freemen, there were plenty of talented warehouse managers.

"These three patrol squads will be collectively designated as the Tactical Company. Going forward, they will operate on a full-time combat basis — no labor duties, only training and fighting. Temporary quarters in Zone D on the first floor."

Li Wei considered this and issued the announcement through the Prestige Card system. A comprehensive reorganization of all freemen was overdue — clarifying each department's authority would allow the camp to operate more efficiently.

All forty-two members received the notification simultaneously.

Li Wei then highlighted Nelson's name and, acting through the Freeman Manager's authority, formally established a management committee. Members included: Engineering Group Chief Linus, newly appointed Warehouse No. 4 Manager Henry, Head Chef Ellen, Market Manager Jenny, Transport Captain Xavier, Deputy Medical Group Head Ashe, Education Group Head Delphine, Deputy Tailoring Group Head Caroline, Deputy Blacksmith Group Head Sam, Deputy Armorsmith Group Head Lucas, and Deputy Miner Group Head Alexander.

In principle, all of these individuals reported to Freeman Manager Nelson. For significant matters, the committee would vote; for major decisions, Li Wei would step in.

Each committee member led a team of subordinates.

The 208 newly arrived freemen — excluding the children — had been distributed almost immediately. Who wouldn't want more hands in their department?

This was the fourth personnel reorganization Li Wei had made in the past two weeks.

Nelson's office as Freeman Manager, for instance, now had five specialists under him: one for coordination, one for records, and three for review and assessment. You couldn't just say "I need this many materials and this many workers" — you needed qualified professionals to evaluate it. Nelson himself was an excellent engineer, and the three assessors he had selected were the best in their field: analytical minds who could size up a situation at a glance.

What pleased Li Wei most was that Nelson had chosen those three assessors himself. Sharp judgment, real capability.

Overall, Nelson was performing well as Freeman Manager.

Linus's Engineering Group covered most of the technical work — underground space expansion, underground piping, heating system maintenance, steam power generation, and future construction of walls and residential housing. Currently fifty members strong, it was the largest division.

Worth noting: the Engineering Group was strictly separate from the Blacksmith Group, Tailoring Group, and Armorsmith Group. The former handled the everyday needs of ordinary freemen; the latter three specialized in crafting stat-bearing equipment.

Take the Blacksmith Group, with Zhao Xuanxuan as head — in recent days she had already cut over a dozen apprentices who weren't suited for enchantment work. Not for lack of intelligence or effort, but because enchantment blacksmithing required something more. Zhao Xuanxuan had become almost obsessed, insisting on collecting Ability User blood to add to the molten iron...

Li Wei then checked the camp's inventory.

Current stock of One-Star Blood Resistance Potions: 1,500 doses, with another 1,000 producible over the next month. Plentiful.

He didn't fully understand the mechanics, but according to Liang Yuzhi, it was a suppressor. The source of the radiation Blood Plague was uncontrolled magical particles — which caused destruction while also generating new growth. Many plants had mutated in response, and through their natural advantages, had developed suppressive properties during the mutation process. Properly combined, they produced the Blood Resistance Potion.

Something like that.

Two-Star Blood Resistance Potion stock: 150 doses, with another 50 producible next month. Worth noting: Liang Yuzhi earned 100 family Contribution points per Two-Star potion produced, putting her current total at 24,000 — if she kept going, she might actually overtake Li Wei as Head of Household...

Of course, given that the two of them had now reached a strategic understanding, that was a non-issue.

Food stores were fine. Even with two hundred more mouths, they could easily hold until next autumn.

This year's wheat harvest was being kept entirely as seed grain — next year, Li Wei planned to plant a hundred acres.

Firewood, coal, and iron ore were all steadily accumulating. Leon, as head of the Miner Group, led over twenty miners to the valley town in the northern mountains every day for intensive extraction. Zone A on the first floor was already too full for coal — an emergency coal warehouse and iron ore warehouse were being built outside.

Thomas was appointed captain of the Tactical Company; He Yuying was made deputy captain. Their one and only task: training.

The indifferent Zhang Jinjun was assigned to logging — taking an electric bus out with the mining team every day, with a simple quota: one truckload of timber per day.

Li Yue took charge of the Tailoring Group and Armorsmith Group.

After reviewing everything and finding nothing he had missed, Li Wei finally went to bed. For him, the seventh month in this world was almost upon him. To have come this far — it felt good.