135: Chapter 135 The Threat of Long Ao

With a stable source of forage, the establishment of the cavalry legion had taken its most solid step forward.

And those refugees finally had proper livelihoods; they were no longer just "mouths to feed," but had become a part of the territory's development.

"We can't just let them eat and live here for free, right?"

Lin Tian stretched lazily and smiled at Lin Yin, who had been quietly accompanying him; his smile carried a hint of "capitalist" cunning.

But even more, it was full of anticipation for the future.

"Let's test the harvest and growth rate of this ryegrass first. If it's really as good as Lord Su Wan said… hehe, our Lin Tian City won't be short of rations for our warhorses in the future!"

The sun on the ninth day shone warmly over the wilderness of the newly expanded outer city.

Lin Tian stood with his hands behind his back, like a true landlord, calculating in his mind how to plan such a large piece of land.

Yesterday, on a whim, he had expanded the outer city to a radius of ten kilometers; good heavens, the area outside the inner city was now so vast that one could practically race horses there.

Looking out, apart from the 20,000 mu of "experimental fields" that had just been marked out, which had a bit of activity, everywhere else was desolate.

"There's still quite a bit of Spirit Crystal left… alright, keep spending it!"

He muttered to himself and began operating the management panel again.

More [Collective Housing Blueprints], [Public Canteen Blueprints], [Basic Workshop Area Blueprints], [Market Planning Maps]… were redeemed and designated for construction in different areas of the outer city.

As for troops? No more recruiting for now.

An army of one hundred thousand requires an astronomical amount of food every day; better to solidify the logistics and livelihood foundation first.

After arranging the construction, he assigned Lin Yan to guard the base with troops as usual, while the rest of the army continued to head out to expand the safe zone, clear out remnants, and explore for resources.

He himself planned to return to the Lords Mansion to further refine the zoning plan for the outer city.

Just then. Hum!

That cold and magnificent "Heavenly Dao Notification Sound," which acted directly upon the soul, exploded without warning, interrupting all his thoughts.

[Heavenly Dao Notification: Detected that the number of surviving lords in the current region is below the three-thousand threshold.]

[Initiating 'Regional Merger' program… Matching adjacent regions… Matching complete.]

[Starting merger!]

[Merger complete. Total number of surviving lords: 8993 / 10000.]

[May you all… get along well.]

The voice vanished cleanly and decisively, leaving behind a brief silence and deeper ripples.

"Regions merged? So fast?"

Lin Tian raised an eyebrow; he wasn't surprised, just didn't expect it to land exactly on the three-thousand mark.

With a thought, he immediately opened the brand-new [Regional Chat Channel].

The number in the top right corner had indeed changed to 8993 / 10000.

The speed at which messages refreshed in the channel was several times faster, dense and packed, with various fonts and tones mixed together, looking just like a pot of porridge that had suddenly started boiling.

Lin Tian wasn't in a hurry to speak; he just watched quietly, his finger slowly scrolling. After the initial chaos, several types of voices gradually emerged in the channel.

There were those cautiously testing the waters and exchanging basic intelligence: "Newcomer reporting in, this area is rich in a 'Grey Thread Vine' with decent toughness; anyone who needs some can chat."

There were those who had survived the disaster and were huddling together for warmth.

There were those who keenly spotted business opportunities and started hawking their wares.

But mostly, there was a sense of suppressed excitement and cautious showing off.

After all, those who could survive the beast tide and live until now under the shadow of the "attack order token" all had some trump cards.

Soon, two names were mentioned frequently, practically becoming the "influential figures" of the new region.

"Is the [Grip of the Titan] big shot here?"

"The Death Knight Legion is invincible! Lord [Eternal Night Monarch], our District 63582 will follow you forever! Watching your Death Knights crush that Excellent-grade lord's defense line last night was so cool!"

"I heard both big shots have Legendary High-grade troop types? Titans and Death Knights? My god, this starting lineup is too dreamlike!"

"More than that! The day the two big shots got their attack order tokens, they each wiped out an Excellent-quality lord who didn't know any better to establish their authority! Now, in their original regions, they have everyone's support!"

Lin Tian looked at these messages and rubbed his chin. Legendary High-grade Titans, Legendary High-grade Death Knights… just hearing the names, he knew they were tough nuts to crack.

And they were both decisive in killing, the type who knew how to use the "attack order token" to establish authority. It seemed that after the merger, the waters had suddenly become much deeper.

After looking into it carefully, he realized that this attack order token was something else! You could even choose whether or not to broadcast live when attacking someone else's territory.

That's why so many people saw the combat process of that Death Knight troop lord.

However, he actually thought the merger was a good thing.

It's easier to fish in muddy waters; with more people, the market is bigger, and the probability of trading for good things is higher.

As for those two so-called "big shots"… as long as they didn't provoke him, he was happy to watch the show.

However, the tree desires stillness but the wind will not cease. Just as the channel was buzzing with discussion about the appearance of the two new big shots.

An ID that had been silent for several days suddenly popped up, its message carrying a sense of malice that had been pent up for a long time and could finally be vented:

[Legendary Black Dragon Lord - Long Ao]: "Legendary Titans? Legendary Death Knights? My Legendary Black Dragon is not weak either!"

As soon as he said this, the channel went quiet for a few seconds, and then became even more boisterous!

"It's the Black Dragon Lord! That Legendary big shot!"

"Big shot Long Ao is out too! Things are getting lively now!"

"Three Legendary big shots gathered together? Is our region about to take off?"

"Big shot Long Ao's words… have some fire in them!"

Long Ao seemed to enjoy this focus; he continued typing, his tone becoming increasingly arrogant:

"The regions merged, perfect. Some old scores should be settled. That guy named Lin Tian, playing dead in the channel a few days ago, isn't he very capable?", "Wash your neck and wait for me! Tomorrow, just tomorrow! I'll let you know what true Legendary power is! I won't even give you a chance to kneel and beg for mercy!"

These words were like water thrown into boiling oil; the channel completely exploded!

"Lin Tian? Who's that? Never heard of him."

"Any brothers want to fill me in? How did this Lin Tian provoke big shot Long Ao?"

"Seems like there was a small conflict a few days ago, and Lin Tian ignored big shot Long Ao?"

"Holy crap, that brave? Not even giving face to a Legendary lord?"

"It's over, it's over; this Lin Tian is going to be the first one used to 'sacrifice the flag' after the merger."

"Big shot Long Ao is mighty! Support the big shot in cleaning up those who don't know any better!"

"Sitting back to watch the show! Betting is open, betting is open; bet on how many minutes Lin Tian can hold out!"

The lords from the two newly merged regions were excitedly eating melons, fanning the flames, and buttering up, making the channel a mess.

Meanwhile, some lords who knew a bit of the inside story, or who had purely traded with Lin Tian before—like Qian Duoduo and Master Blacksmith Li Zhenguo—remained silent and didn't dare to speak up.

Lin Tian looked at the comments constantly refreshing on the screen, mixed with mockery, sympathy, and schadenfreude regarding his name.

He had no expression on his face; he even found it a bit boring.

He pursed his lips; he didn't even have the desire to type a reply.

"A clown grandstanding for attention."

He evaluated with a low voice and directly closed the noisy channel interface.

If he has the time to watch a monkey show, he might as well plan a few more farmlands.