Doomsday Cat City Lord - Chapter 19

Although not many monsters were seen in the mountain forest, there was movement under the ground and in the sky from time to time. To ensure safety, Mi Miaomiao began planting trees after patrolling Mount Muyuan.

The Level 1 honeysuckle seeds were evenly distributed along the edges of the platform where the Mountain God Temple was situated, but the roots stopped extending downward shortly after.

[Host, the area beneath the Mountain God Temple has been converted into a warehouse by me. System buildings must be attached to physical structures, so I modified the temple’s original small vegetable cellar; it was empty before.] 012 explained quickly, fearing the host would misunderstand that it had deliberately kept information from it.

“Meow.” That’s fine.

Mi Miaomiao felt this was normal. After all, this was reality, not a game; it had previously been worried that a brand-new warehouse would just appear out of thin air on the mountain.

It suddenly stopped channeling wood-element energy and thought of an important question: “Meow?”

Can monsters destroy system buildings?

[System buildings cannot be damaged, but they will be destroyed along with the city core.]

“Meow?” The city core?

[The city core building is chosen by you. Once the city core is breached, system buildings will collapse, city points will reset to zero, and the ranking will restart calculation.]

“Meow?” What if I don’t designate a city core?

[If 50% of city residents die, 2/3 of the city territory falls, 4/5 of the city management team dies, or the City Lord dies if any one of these four conditions is met, the city is judged to be breached.]

“Meow.” Then I won’t designate a core building.

Mi Miaomiao looked up at the sky. Above the thinning dark clouds, the pale blue sky could not bring the warmth of the sun.

[…Alright.] 012 had originally wanted to persuade it, but when the host said those words, the feeling it transmitted to the system was that this giant cat was prepared to coexist or perish with the city. And so, the words that were about to spill out simply stopped.

The honeysuckle vines wove into a massive arched canopy. Just looking at the flowers blooming overhead gave one a sense of complete security.

“The environment in these mountains is truly excellent. Something I couldn’t achieve when I retired has, unexpectedly, been realized after the apocalypse. But when it comes down to it, it’s all because our City Lord is strong enough; we don’t have to worry about safety while following it.”

Hang Chun had been working in professional kitchens for 30 years. At 57, he could still easily toss a wok. He sprinkled salt and his prized aged vinegar over the half-cooked shredded potatoes, and instantly, an alluring fragrance spread through the camp.

“Then we’ll settle down in Rong City.” Hang Qiushi returned with the printed notices just in time to hear her father’s words. She smiled, took over his task, and pushed him into a chair to rest.

Hang Chun rubbed his shoulders and looked carefully at the text on the white paper by the firelight.

[Rong City Rules] Article 1: Attacking one another within the city is strictly prohibited. Article 2: All actions shall be governed by Alliance wartime law.

[Rong City Resident Benefits] Each resident will be issued 5 days of food and water, with three months of free collective housing. Each resident possesses land use rights for 50 square meters, to be used as they see fit.

[Contribution Point System] Contribution points serve as the currency circulating within Rong City. At the current stage, they can be exchanged for: Daily supplies (limited), crystals, water orbs, ability potential testing, the City Lord’s healing ability, protection for mental-type ability users during advancement, applications for animal-assisted therapy, etc. (For exchange details, please visit the Rong City internal website: xxxx)

[Current Methods to Obtain Points] Collective Task 1 (Long-term): Mount Muyuan land reclamation. Current primary tasks involve clearing mountain paths and trees in residential areas. Reward: Free three meals a day, 10 points daily.

Collective Task 2 (Long-term): Squad-based hunting of monsters in Mount Muyuan and surrounding forests. Water orbs and crystals belong to the individual. Reward: 10 points per Level 1 monster, 100 points per Level 2 monster.

Collective Task 3 (Long-term): Following squads to collect designated supplies. Reward: Free three meals a day, 20 points daily, plus a commission on supplies.

Guard Task: Recruiting evolvers Level 2 and above to protect field teams. Reward: 50 points daily, with individual contribution values calculated for hunted monsters.

(For more details, please visit the Rong City internal website: xxxx)

Feng Lu took out the communicator that Deng Huai had modified for him using old parts, opened the Rong City internal network, and viewed the details line by line. He discussed them seriously with his grandfather: “Collection tasks provide protection, and land reclamation tasks provide tools; these two are the safest. I’ll slowly save up some water orbs, and I’ll definitely be able to improve your basic abilities and mine.”

“Good, good. Grandfather awakened the strength-type ability, so I can go participate in the land reclamation tasks too. Didn’t the task details say a portion of the wood can be used for personal use? When the time comes, Grandfather will build you a beautiful log cabin.”

Cheng Jin and Yang Hailin looked at their daughter, Feifei, who was playing with the cubs, and discussed building their house near Feng Lu and his grandfather.

“Our two families have looked out for each other along the way; it’s better to be closer.”

After dinner, Cheng Ningye and Mi Miaomiao checked the warehouse together. The 500-square-meter space had white walls that emitted a soft glow. Frozen meat, canned food, grains, and pet food separated themselves after being placed inside. There were no physical partitions, but one could feel that the temperature in different areas varied depending on the items stored there.

Mi Miaomiao granted warehouse access to the two vice city mayors and hesitated: “There’s a new ‘Warehouse Manager’ job on the panel. Who should I give that to?”

It was very confident in the animals of the Miaomiao Group, but the cats and dogs were just beginning to learn human script, making communication with humans very inconvenient.

“Let’s wait to choose… for now, let everyone submit applications online and come to collect items at fixed times each day.” The expression behind Cheng Ningye’s mask was numb. The desensitization training he hadn’t achieved in his past life was something he had jumped headlong into in this one.

Mi Miaomiao walked out with its head buried, too embarrassed to tell its servant that although he could now speak to people face-to-face, the demeanor he displayed when coldly spitting out one or two words scared quite a few people.

The current residents weren’t afraid of their City Lord a giant cat seven or eight meters long but they were terrified of their icy, frighteningly arrogant Vice City Lord.

At night, the forest around the camp was deep and silent, with clear rainwater, as summer insect chirping was almost unheard of in the apocalypse.

Gone was the swaying of the ships, the ferocious roars of monsters, and the worry of being woken up by scratching sounds from beneath the water. The air was filled with the unique, mild fragrance of banyan tree fruit.

At first, everyone felt quite uncomfortable, but as the footsteps of the patrol teams rang out rhythmically, they slowly felt at ease.

Gradually, snoring began to drift out from the tents.

Xuan Yu hadn’t rested much for three days and was now sleeping soundly on top of the big cat. Mi Miaomiao was used to little sleep and was lightly gnawing on the black cat’s wings for fun.

Cheng Ningye was still busy editing the Rong City system. Outside the tent, two deliberately heavy sets of footsteps suddenly approached.

“Meow.” Ai Yuan and Wen Yushuang.

“Me?” Cheng Ningye pointed at himself in disbelief, but turned his head to find his giant cat had already closed its eyes, fast asleep.

“Heh.” Cheng Ningye put on his baseball cap and strode out of the tent, looking murderous.

Wen Yushuang and Ai Yuan were leaning against the railings of a rain shelter nearby.

Seeing the grim, cold-eyed young man whose black eyes looked sharp as blades as if he were about to kill someone and knowing full well that his social anxiety made his outward expression the exact opposite of his inner self, Wen Yushuang lowered her voice and complained: “You really are equally repellent to everyone.”

“You should wear a mask or communicate online. Without us two in the middle to smooth things over, you’re going to be misunderstood.” Ai Yuan reached out to pat Cheng Ningye on the shoulder, but quickly retracted his hand under the gaze of those eyes, which were so black they were unsettling.

“Leaving.” Cheng Ningye found a rock, sat down facing the forest, and wasn’t surprised by their decision.

Ai Yuan: “Yeah, we still want to go find our parents. We’ll go down the mountain with a team tomorrow and see if there are any teams setting out from Lushan Town.”

Cheng Ningye: “Ask if anyone else is leaving.”

Wen Yushuang lowered her head, plucked the last cigarette from her pack, and raised an eyebrow at Cheng Ningye: “Cheng, I might as well take everyone who wants to leave with me.”

“Thanks.” Cheng Ningye pinched his stiff fingers and offered them a smile.

Becoming a resident of Rong City was simple; leaving Rong City was also easy. As long as one possessed proof of identity from another faction, they would automatically disappear from the Rong City system panel and would never be able to join again.

Cheng Ningye hadn’t actually expected to gain two trusted friends so quickly in this lifetime, so he couldn’t help but tell them: “Rong City will always welcome you. And… even if you plan to join some faction, try not to go to the Changsong Plateau.”

Ai Yuan and Wen Yushuang could hear the seriousness in Cheng Ningye’s voice and nodded solemnly. Even though the reality was that whether or not they could find their parents alive remained a mystery.

The next morning.

Deng Huai stretched and walked out of his single-person tent. Just as he put on his glasses, he saw a suggestion box made of wooden boards standing in the center of the camp, with a very eye-catching outdoor thermometer hanging on it.

“16 degrees?!” He tugged at his shirt. He hadn’t realized how low the temperature had dropped until he saw the reading.

“It’s only the beginning of September; it’s still summer, and yet the temperature has already dropped. Looks like I need to find more winter clothes when I’m out searching for supplies.” Another passerby was also startled by the temperature, grumbling as he stood in line for breakfast.

Deng Huai opened the Rong City website; the task to collect supplies had indeed refreshed. The designated supplies included: construction printers, repair tools, food, water purifiers, thick quilts, winter clothing, snow-shoveling tools, and more.

He looked at the weakening rain and realized something wasn’t right, frowning: “Most of these are things needed for winter. It’s only September could it be that we’ll enter winter immediately after the rainy season? How did the City Lord and the others know?”

After breakfast, the team split into two.

Cheng Ningye took those who had signed up for the land reclamation task to the warehouse and took out two folding loggers, five laser cutters, two shovels, and several bundles of rope. Their first job was to clear the road from the mountainside to the foot of the mountain.

The original stone steps had been built over thirty years ago. Only after cutting away the intertwined tree roots and shoveling away a layer of soil could they barely see the scattered horizontal stones.

“Young Brother Cheng, these tree roots aren’t right. Why do they shatter at the slightest touch?”

Banyan wood was hard and suitable for building houses or crafting furniture and vessels. The elderly who had joined the land reclamation were happy to have good materials, but worried they wouldn’t be able to chop the trees. This discovery now made them panic.

“It doesn’t matter. The City Lord checked them yesterday; these banyan trees only have problems with their roots. Above the roots, they are perfectly fine.”

Cheng Ningye held a resonance-cavity laser cutter transformed into a chainsaw, striding in the very front to clear the large banyan tree roots, inadvertently pulling a distance of over ten meters from those behind.

Feng Lu followed close behind, his gloved hands swinging his shovel so fast he still couldn’t catch up.

Mi Miaomiao and Xuan Yu took another group down the mountain, drove the bus and two vans away, and according to yesterday’s route, switched to the boats to head to Lushan Town.

They hadn’t even reached the shore when they heard the roars of monsters and the chaotic cries of a crowd.

Mi Miaomiao frowned. Had the Level 5 monster arrived ahead of schedule?