Chapter Forty-Seven: Guards! Guards!

"Lord, we still have enough souls at present, and the exchanges are proceeding steadily. Should we consider opening another barracks and continue recruiting more guards?" Shadow turned to consult Li Ren, who was seated at the table, lost in thought.

"Indeed, we have far too few guards, completely disproportionate to the number of players we have now. If this lot were to cause trouble, it would be quite vexing," Li Ren replied, pulling himself from his reverie. "Recruit more guards, but focus on those of higher levels. For players at this stage, level alone is enough to keep them in check—quality isn’t too important."

Shadow nodded, having thought along the same lines. Though they still had a plentiful supply of souls, this was only thanks to the initial batch of equipment and the subsequent sale of a few shops—soon, they would lose these steady sources of income. Careful planning was now essential.

Barracks were not structures typically found in player cities; after all, players built their own armies—who would want to live together in a barracks, as if preparing for real war rather than playing a game? Yet Li Ren’s situation was different. The guards and troops recruited from the Deathwish Grounds would not simply revert to piles of bones; these summoned soldiers needed a place to stay. Without barracks, unless the city was vast enough or one was inclined to cram every corner with troops, there would be nowhere for them.

Li Ren surveyed the current layout of Falling Clouds City: the Deathwish Grounds, the quest hall, the tavern, the shops, the market, and now the barracks—all had taken shape, and a rudimentary city was complete.

What concerned him most at the moment was the matter of his guards, which Shadow was now handling—recruiting and managing the defense forces.

The basic barracks system allowed for a maximum of one thousand troops. Situated near the Deathwish Grounds, the barracks drew little attention: a simple wooden fence enclosed the area, blocking all view save for a single gate at the front. Its dilapidated appearance could easily be mistaken for an undeveloped wasteland on the city's edge.

Unless one knew the truth of the place, the barracks would seem nothing more than a vacant lot awaiting development.

After spending an extra one million souls to fill the gaps in his guard ranks, squads of skeletal sentinels, each level one hundred, silently filed out from the Deathwish Grounds. Following Li Ren's orders, they took up positions at the city gates, increased patrols along the main roads, and the rest settled into the nearby barracks.

Once the barracks doors closed, tranquility returned.

As Li Ren busied himself with reallocating his troops, outside the quest hall, a player who had just spent all his souls to acquire an impressive level seventy piece of gear was admiring his new possession, unable to put it down.

He was so absorbed in his satisfaction that he failed to notice the cold gaze fixed upon him from a short distance away, intent on the item in his hands.

Just as this player was about to head for the teleportation array and leave, the figure behind him suddenly sprang into action—a swordsman striking a mage, and the mage completely unprepared. It was nearly a one-hit kill!

A flash of cold steel, and the mage’s face twisted in disbelief—surprise, shock, and finally rage, before he dissolved into a beam of white light and was instantly transported to the Falling Clouds City teleportation array, his spirit burning with indignation.

All that remained where the mage fell was the telltale pile of bones signifying a player's resurrection—and two pieces of equipment: the coveted gear he had just exchanged all his souls for, and the hard-won staff he’d previously equipped.

The city, it turned out, was no safe zone! The mage let out a furious yell, resentment surging within him, but powerless now—once a player is killed and his equipment looted, there is little else to be done.

Of course, in Li Ren's Falling Clouds City, the term "safe zone" did not exist. As a neutral city, he had never intended to set up such a protection, nor had he informed the newcomers of its absence.

The swordsman, having discovered this quirk by chance, seized upon the opportunity—hence the scene that had just played out.

Seated within the city lord's castle, Li Ren watched the events unfold with perfect clarity. Conflict among players was inevitable: for a piece of equipment, a pile of coins, a single herb or a fragment of ore—robbery, murder, backstabbing; none of it was surprising.

Noting that the swordsman's name had turned red, Li Ren, with a hint of curiosity, dispatched the nearest squad of skeletal sentinels to the offender's location.

The swordsman, of course, did not linger—having secured his loot, his only thought was to escape and hide until his red name faded, which, for a single kill, would last only ten minutes.

But with the city lord’s eyes upon him, thoughts of escape were laughable.

He hadn’t made it half a street before a full squad of skeletal sentinels blocked his path. Seeing the cold gleam of their blades, he realized at once they were no ordinary patrol.

Without hesitation, he turned to flee, but level one hundred skeletal sentinels were far faster than he could ever hope to be.

It wasn’t long before a flash of cold light ended him; the red-named swordsman vanished on the spot, his name reverted to white as he reappeared at the teleportation array.

Li Ren smiled at the seven or eight pieces of equipment scattered on the ground. He paid no mind to the burgeoning grudge between the mage and the swordsman—playing the role of the fisherman reaping the spoils was quite satisfying.

As expected, the drop rate for red-named players was greatly increased. The boost in skeletal sentinels had proven very worthwhile.

After ordering the sentinels to collect the loot and return it to the exchange system, the equipment was quickly snatched up, and though the number of souls gained was modest, it offered Li Ren a new avenue for profit.

"Shadow, I've just discovered something interesting," Li Ren remarked to his subordinate, who was busy fine-tuning the city's arrangements.

Though Shadow, as vice lord, was preoccupied, he could hardly have missed Li Ren's conspicuous redeployment of the sentinels.

Sure enough, Shadow nodded. "That rule was one I personally disabled. Originally, the system did enforce safe zones here."

Li Ren was momentarily taken aback. Only now did he realize that the city had once been set up with safe zones by default, but they were now grayed out—clearly disabled by his own authority.

"This is a lucrative path, is it not, my lord?" Shadow grinned slyly, and Li Ren nodded in agreement, truly impressed by this man who had returned from the future—such cunning matched his own tastes perfectly.

Seeing Li Ren’s approving smile, Shadow could only roll his eyes inwardly. “If you hadn’t issued that order yourself back then, who would have thought of such a wicked scheme? The chaos that day in Falling Clouds City… too painful to recall, truly…”

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