294: Chapter 288 Stabilizing the Situation, Completion of Phase Three of the Project, Designing Training Missions

Zhang Mu's journey to the city gate had a few twists.

Flying halfway, he caught a glimpse of Domit leading the many commanders of the First Army, stumbling forward over the city ruins.

He had intended to gather the legions outside the city first before returning to assign them tasks.

However, Mihe suddenly rose from the crowd and called Zhang Mu down.

After landing, Mihe and Domit looked him up and down for a good while.

"I know you are very young, but I didn't expect..." Mihe muttered.

Domit asked in a low voice from the side: "Could it be the Marshal's Professional level..."

"Do you think he is some old guy who has lived for thousands of years? He only promoted to Magister two months ago."

"Oh."

After dealing with Domit, Mihe looked at Zhang Mu: "Half a year ago, you were still an Apprentice Magician, how did you dodge the Church's pursuit?"

Although this matter was widely circulated among Professionals, the current First Army—the former Resistance Army—was very cut off from news because they were being hunted everywhere in Lake.

They knew nothing about the commotion Zhang Mu caused in Bala City.

After all, the Kingdom of Lake did not have any text publications like "newspapers" dedicated to spreading current events to the public.

Their only channel for obtaining information from the outside was Domit.

This guy had traveled outside for years. Apart from finding suitable "recruits" for the Resistance Army and saving oppressed Farmers he encountered, his main job was to collect intelligence on the Laike Royal Family.

When the false news of Zhang Mu's death spread, he was near Bala City; theoretically, he should have heard it.

It was just that at that time, Domit had listened to some of his "chicken soup" and ran off to a basically isolated mountain village for poverty alleviation, coincidentally missing the most heated time of the matter.

"To be precise, a year ago. As for how I escaped the pursuit, don't you often see me using stealth?" Zhang Mu understood the ins and outs and was not surprised that the two knew nothing.

"Your camouflage is actually that strong." Saying this with a sudden realization, Mihe looked curious. "Why? If you were practicing it to help the Third Highness, there shouldn't be any conflict with the Church, right?"

Zhang Mu was just about to explain when Domit spoke up with a blank face: "Third Highness? I remember the Laike Royal Family only has three heirs left, the youngest is... Princess Avril?"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to Zhang Mu, his eyes somewhat gossipy.

"Get lost." Waving him away, Zhang Mu asked Mihe: "Let's chat about these things slowly when we're free. I'm in a rush to go outside the city to handle the legions. If you two don't have urgent matters, I'll be going first."

Hearing that he was in a hurry, Domit straightened his back: "Marshal, the First Army's mission has been completed. Please issue subsequent instructions!"

"Subsequent..."

Zhang Mu stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the luminous figure still floating in the sky.

Does this thing... also act as a surveillance camera?

In his preliminary plan, the First Army must be expanded.

And to avoid exposing too many secrets of the magic-conducting weapon, it was inappropriate to set the training ground on the ground.

But if he stuffed them all into "The World", he felt that since the other party was a god of the Saul Continent, indigenous products like "The World" might not escape the god's sight.

Moreover, the Soldiers couldn't always stay inside the pure white space of "The World"; staying in that kind of place for too long would cause psychological problems.

After pondering for a moment, he lowered his head: "Find a deeper forest outside the city, not too far from the capital, and then open up a permanent camp. The training facilities inside must also be fully built. Well, that's it, go do it. If you lack anything, come directly to me."

"Understood!"

Domit left to carry out the order. As the only active High-tier Professional in the First Army, Mihe went with him, responsible for dealing with magical beasts that might accidentally break into the camp.

With everything arranged, Zhang Mu continued flying toward the outside of the city.

Thanks to the Second Prince receiving the command authority alone, the originally scattered legions were now gathered on the grasslands on both sides of the main road.

Zhang Mu appeared, took out the royal badge given to him by Avril, and demanded that all officers present enter the city immediately.

Although he didn't say it explicitly, they naturally understood that entering the city was equivalent to being under house arrest, so their attitude was full of resistance.

The more tactful ones said they only took orders from the City Lord, while the arrogant ones bluntly said: "Who the hell are you? You think you can order us with just a badge?"

The smell of gunpowder gradually permeated the scene, and there was a posture of about to fight if there was a disagreement.

In the end, they didn't fight because the Griffin Legion arrived.

When Blova led five thousand Griffin Legion members to hover in the sky, blocking out the sun, they became very meek and obedient. They voluntarily walked out of the Soldier formation and lined up to move toward the city gate.

With the leaders taken care of, although the number of remaining Soldiers was large, they wouldn't be able to form a climate.

Zhang Mu asked Blova to leave him two Griffin riders, then took the remaining Griffin Legion to escort the officer team. He wandered around the legion for an hour, picking out a few timid Soldiers who were clearly bullied by their companions, and promoted them on the spot to temporary supreme commanders.

With him there, the Soldiers didn't dare to resist the appointment, but they probably wouldn't take orders from a straw bag either.

This way, no one could take on the role of an "organizer," and the legion could be stable.

"All Legion Commanders, take your armies back to the temporary station."

"Yes!"

The army set off and dispersed in all directions.

After the legions were all gone, Zhang Mu immediately led the two Griffin riders to chase after Solon's carriage.

They used ordinary horses and had left a few days early, but Zhang Mu caught up in just a few hours.

He landed on the carriage's driver's seat and lifted the curtain.

Seeing that the person who came in was him, Palina, who had been stunned for a moment, stood up anxiously: "City Lord, Lia is missing..."

"I already know. You don't need to worry about this." Zhang Mu didn't intend to sit down and stood in front of the carriage door: "You go directly back to Gur City. Solon, you temporarily act as City Lord to handle daily government affairs and urge the project progress. Once this phase is completed, set off to the capital immediately."

"Understood." He nodded and then asked: "City Lord, I also heard the divine oracle. Lake... aren't you going to run?"

"Can't run, and no need to."

"I understand."

"Hmm. Oh, also, don't use the carriage. I called two griffins to send you back to Gur; it's faster."

"Where?"

Solon turned to look out the carriage window. Zhang Mu interrupted him: "I came first; they are behind. When they arrive, just follow them."

"Yes."

Both were arranged properly. Zhang Mu had no urgent matters for the time being, so he returned to the capital the same way.

As a result, upon returning, he found that he couldn't be idle either.

The capital was affected by the great war, and eight or nine out of ten citizens were killed or injured. Those who luckily escaped thought that Lake was a country abandoned by the gods because of the divine oracle, so they didn't turn back and headed straight for the neighboring countries.

At this time, the capital was approximately equal to an empty city.

How could this work? With no people, who would he hold the coronation ceremony for?

Learning the situation, he picked two whom he was more familiar with from the more than twenty imprisoned City Lords—Danielson and his companion.

The two actually had no intention of being enemies with the royal family and were the only two City Lords who spoke up for Zhang Mu regardless of offending Andre.

In this land of the Saul Continent, the two were outliers.

Coincidentally, Zhang Mu liked such outliers.

Leading them out of the prison, he assigned them a task—go to the nearest surrounding cities to bring the people back to the capital, commonly known as relocating the people.

Both were surprised and couldn't help but ask why he trusted them.

"I'm afraid you'll run away? Go quickly."

Sending them off to work, Zhang Mu went to find the Second Prince without stopping.

He was staying in the palace where the King usually met with ministers, sitting on the wooden steps in front of the throne, one hand pressing on his knee, the other rubbing his temples.

"What are you annoyed about?"

"Ah?"

Seeming to have just noticed the person coming, the Second Prince quickly raised his head and straightened his posture. Seeing it was Zhang Mu, his shoulders slumped again, and he started grumbling.

"Although the palace is not badly damaged, the servants, Guards, and maids were all drained by the Blood Sacrifice Array. Let alone preparing for the coronation ceremony, I can't even find a cook to prepare food."

"I asked someone to send a message to Danielson to bring some servants from the surrounding cities. The coronation ceremony doesn't need to be too grand; just having it is enough. Anyway, I don't expect neighboring countries to participate or anything; what's the point of showing off."

Seeing that Zhang Mu had considered everything properly, the Second Prince breathed a sigh of relief: "Then... send a message to whom? Danielson? I remember he isn't..."

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures." Zhang Mu waved his hand. "The two of them can be trusted. At least they can handle picking up people. I guarantee it."

His tone was firm, and the Second Prince was no longer excited, turning to pull him to sit beside him:

"Cough... what's going on with you and the Royal Sister?"

"What's going on?"

"It's... that thing?"

"That thing?" Zhang Mu was asked with a blank face, even using Blue Star dialect. "What exactly do you want to say?"

"Uh, are you preparing to hold a wedding?"

"Wedding?"

After being stunned for a while, he realized what the Second Prince was being vague about and laughed: "A wedding is a serious and solemn ceremony; it can't be rushed."

"Tell me in detail?"

"Look, the Senior and I are both getting married for the first time, so the process certainly can't have any omissions, right? Like proposals, custom rings, all must be there. And the atmosphere must be right. Now the capital is in ruins; how disappointing would it be to talk about a wedding?"

The Second Prince frowned and pondered for a while: "But... why is it okay for my coronation ceremony to just have it?"

Zhang Mu patted his shoulder and said earnestly: "People are different."

"I don't underst..."

"You'll understand later." Standing up, Zhang Mu walked toward the palace gate. "Don't run around these days. You're about to be the King; be steady."

The Second Prince scratched his head and watched his back disappear outside the door.

For the next month, Zhang Mu had intended to return to the Blue Star to check on the progress of the mining plans of the Ying Country and China, but who knew he was so busy he couldn't squeeze out a minute.

Danielson and his companion worked very diligently, and in just three days, they led a team to transport a batch of civilians back to the capital.

As soon as the people arrived, Zhang Mu started to get a headache.

Although there weren't many people, they had to have a place to live, right? They couldn't all camp outside the city?

Otherwise, a magical beast would come and snatch them away. So the speed of cleaning up the ruins in the city must be accelerated.

It's just that this way, manpower became a problem; after all, the capital was already short of people at this moment.

Finally, Zhang Mu decided to postpone the reorganization of the legions and pulled all the Soldiers, including Professionals, into the capital to move rubble.

The effect was outstanding.

The Soldiers were also ordinary people, but at least they exercised all year round, so they had strength.

Plus, with Professionals knocking down the collapsed large walls, it was easier for them to move.

Then there was the outflow of civilians reported from various places.

Whether humans believe or not, the Church lets nature take its course, but with the existence of numerous miracles, local people, even if they don't go to church to worship, deeply believe in the existence of gods.

The divine oracle to annihilate Lake was clearly heard by everyone. They didn't dare and didn't have the ability to get involved, so they all migrated to neighboring countries.

Usually, the large number of people was not obvious, but now that they had all run away, it was realized that things were a big deal.

The shortage of civilians and Farmers had the most intuitive point: no one cleaned the city's hygiene.

It didn't take long, just three days, and the streets were full of domestic waste.

What followed was the plague.

The virulent disease spread rapidly, leading to more serious population loss. With fewer people, hygiene was worse, and the plague spread faster, forming a vicious cycle.

Zhang Mu was troubled by this.

Fortunately, the injuries eventually healed themselves.

This was the result of the combination of the divine oracle and Lia's True Word Spell: God Said.

The Church's ban was lifted, and the countries of the Saul Continent suddenly fell into chaos.

Some big countries had long coveted the resource-rich small countries, but due to the rule prohibiting the use of force, they could only drool on the sidelines but could not send troops to invade.

Now that the obstacle was gone, what were they waiting for? Grab it!

In the Saul Continent, never have unnecessary expectations for the military discipline of Soldiers.

When the legion set out, they burned, killed, and looted along the way. If they couldn't take it, they smashed it; if they couldn't smash it, they burned it. The main idea was to leave no living thing.

This was not because the Soldiers lost their minds after seeing blood, but because the entire kingdom was "united."

Moreover, the King of a certain kingdom incited in the expedition speech—the loot would be divided three-seven.

Seven percent belonged to the royal family.

With heavy profits promised, how could the Soldiers not go crazy?

Thus, the scourge of war spread throughout the continent, and the people were plunged into misery.

Under such chaos, only one country was peaceful and quiet—Lake.

Lia's True Word Spell: God Said was—I say, Lake is strictly forbidden to use force.

You must know that she did not say "in the city," but the entire territory of Lake.

Because Lia's True Word Spell: God Said did not spread to the ears of everyone on the continent like the divine oracle, the neighboring countries only heard the god say "annihilate Lake in one year."

So at first, they didn't know the news and thought to themselves, a small Lake, why wait a year? They hurriedly raised an army to crusade.

The result was that after the Professionals in Lake released their first magic toward the city gate, the whole army was wiped out.

No one knew what kind of death they had; they only knew that the camp was empty in an instant.

Once the news spread, not only did the people of their own country return, but the people of the surrounding capitals all came to Lake to take refuge.

As the number of people recovered and even exceeded the past, Zhang Mu was no longer in a hurry and planned to return to the Blue Star.

Who knew that as soon as he set off, Solon, who was far away in Gur, sent a message—the Phase III project was completed.

The so-called Phase III project was actually the "mortal village" of the Mountain Gate and the "off-campus town" of Hogwarts.

Theoretically, countries on the Blue Star no longer had any doubts about the authenticity of the extraordinary, so the Phase III project was indeed a bit redundant.

But the huge Mountain Gate and Hogwarts had such a narrow territory that it would inevitably make people suspicious over time.

After receiving the news, Zhang Mu immediately set off to Gur to collect the buildings and landscapes into "The World," and returned to the capital to gather a group of management from the Adventurer's Guild to help him design tasks.

The Adventurer's Guild, which issued various tasks for a long time, was most suitable for this kind of work.