A sudden wave of noisy clamor erupted outside the Council Hall.

It wasn't the sound of battle, but a cacophony of surprised, disbelieving voices all talking at once.

Lin Feng pushed the door open and stepped out, seeing a large crowd of people appearing out of thin air on the open ground in front of him.

Old men, women, children, and soldiers carrying weapons formed a dense, dark mass that filled half the square.

Carts, grain sacks, weapons, and piles of ore were stacked together in a messy heap.

The population was about three thousand, with a thousand of them holding weapons and wearing mismatched leather armor, looking around blankly.

Zhao Hu ran over from the end of the street. He froze for a moment at the sight before immediately organizing men to begin the count.

Tie Dun squatted by the pile of supplies, muttering to himself, "Gray Crystal, Copper Ingot, Tin Ingot, Iron Ingot... We're rich, we're rich!"

Wang Wu and Arrow Eye led several Centurions to maintain order, guiding the newly appeared County Soldiers and their families to congregate on the other side of the clearing.

Twenty minutes later, Zhao Hu ran up to Lin Feng holding a piece of parchment. He presented it with both hands, unable to suppress the joy in his voice. "Lord, the tally is complete."

Lin Feng took the parchment and glanced at it: one thousand County Soldiers and two thousand military dependents.

Supplies: three thousand Gray energy crystals, one thousand units of Copper Ingot, one thousand units of Tin Ingot, one thousand units of Iron Ingot, and one thousand units of various grains."

Capturing the orc territory and gaining these resources and people was a pure profit.

Combined with the newly added recruitment quota for the Great Qin Elite Camp, this battle was well worth it.

Lin Feng looked up, his gaze sweeping over the crowd gathering around him, his voice steady and powerful.

"Tonight isn't over yet." He looked at Su Yurou. "Yu Rou, take a thousand Beacon Guards and follow me. We head west to take Akita County."

Then he looked at Jiang Yelan and Jiang Zhaoyue. "Ye Lan, Lord Jiang, lead the remaining Beacon Guards and the thousand new County Soldiers to strike Kumamoto County to the north. Before dawn, I want to see the flags changed on all three county seats."

Jiang Yelan pressed her right fist to her chest and bowed her head slightly.

Jiang Zhaoyue cupped her fists. "As you command."

Su Yurou held the bone healing staff tight and replied softly, "Yes, Lord."

The troops quickly split. Su Yurou followed Lin Feng, and a thousand Beacon Guards filed out of Chidori County's west gate.

Jiang Zhaoyue and Jiang Yelan set out toward the north gate with the remaining Beacon Guards and the newly organized County Soldiers, their footsteps gradually fading into the night.

Lin Feng walked at the very front of the column, hurrying toward Akita County in the west.

The moonlight emerged from behind the clouds, casting a pale, deathly light over the Brown Earth Plain.

On the distant horizon, Akita County's walls were not yet visible, but they soon would be.

...

Akita County was eighty li west of Chidori County, and Kumamoto County was seventy li to the north.

Before being captured by the orcs, these two counties had always been within Chidori County's sphere of influence.

Backed by the Crying Rift Valley, Chidori County harvested vast amounts of monster resources; unable to process them all, it sold the surplus to these two surrounding counties.

Back when they were still town-level territories, Akita and Kumamoto Counties had relied on Chidori County's monster resources to gradually rise to the county-level.

Thus, they were very close to Chidori County, guarding that cash cow like two satellites.

Lin Feng hurried across the Brown Earth Plain with a thousand Beacon Guards.

Moonlight leaked through gaps in the clouds, illuminating the grayish-brown ground in a pale light.

The troops lit no torches; in the darkness, the black-armored soldiers were like a silent river, surging rapidly across the ground.

Great-Horned Deer pulled the disassembled siege towers behind the column, their wheels making a dull thudding sound as they rolled over the gravel.

Su Yurou rode a Great-Horned Deer with the bone healing staff resting across her knees, the emerald-green runes on the staff shimmering faintly in the night.

She urged her Great-Horned Deer to speed up a few steps, catching up to Lin Feng's side.

"Lord," she spoke.

Lin Feng turned his head. "Hm?"

"Do you remember back in our first year of high school, when I was the Study representative and used to collect homework?"

Lin Feng didn't speak, nor did he quicken his pace, which she took as silent permission to continue.

Su Yurou's lips curled into a smile. "Back then, you were always the last to hand it in. Every time I walked to your desk, everyone else's notebooks were already stacked high, but yours was always empty.

When I asked for your homework, you wouldn't even look up, just saying'still thinking.' I would just stand there and wait until you finished the last problem and gently placed your notebook on top."

She paused. "Once, I finally couldn't help myself and asked why you were always the last one. You put down your pen, looked at me, and said very seriously, 'I'm contemplating the meaning of life.'"

Lin Feng's footsteps faltered for a moment.

Su Yurou let out a soft laugh. "I actually believed you back then. I thought this classmate was so profound, so different from the others who were always joking around.

But to be honest, everyone knew how everyone else's grades were in the whole grade. I obviously knew your ranking.

But strangely, seeing how seriously you did your homework and how neat your handwriting was, I felt that this person couldn't possibly stay at the bottom forever. It was just a feeling I couldn't explain."

Lin Feng remained silent.

"Later, in the second year, your grades really did improve, climbing all the way from the bottom to the top ten in class."

Su Yurou glanced at him. "I thought to myself then that I was right after all. I even made a note in my diary that Lin Feng's grades proved my judgment, showing I have a keen eye for people."

After saying this, she shook her head. "Thinking back now, I was really naive and narcissistic."

Lin Feng was silent for two seconds, then said something that nearly made Su Yurou tumble off her Great-Horned Deer: "The game I was addicted to in the first year shut down its servers in the second year."

Su Yurou was stunned, her eyes widening as she looked at him.

"There was nothing left to play," Lin Feng's tone was as flat as if he were talking about the weather. "So I had to study."

Su Yurou's lips twitched; she wanted to laugh but held it back, eventually turning her face away, her shoulders shaking slightly.

It took a few seconds before she turned back, her voice still carrying a trace of lingering laughter. "So when you said you were 'contemplating the meaning of life,' you were actually thinking about game strategies?"

Lin Feng didn't deny it.

"What was the game ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ called?" she asked.

"I forgot." Lin Feng turned his head, looking straight ahead.

Su Yurou knew he was bluffing but didn't press him. Her Great-Horned Deer snorted as if to smooth things over for him.

After a moment of silence, Su Yurou stopped smiling, her voice softening. "Lord, do you remember Zhao Kai?"

"I remember," Lin Feng said.

Su Yurou bit her lip. "His family's village-level territory was destroyed during the last double Nightmare Tide. He himself was killed in that battle; his Nightmare avatar died, and he lost the qualification to enter the Nightmare World."

She paused. "On the night of Awakening Day, he sent many messages in the class group, saying 'Awakened are meant to be superior.' Now that he's a regular person again, I wonder how he feels."

Lin Feng was silent for a moment before saying only one sentence: "As long as he's alive, it's enough."

Su Yurou was taken aback, then nodded gently. "Mhm."

The Great-Horned Deer snorted again, as if in agreement.