Chapter 406: A Potpourri of RacesThe chief of the Yeluo clan snorted. "Don't you think that man would punish us if we ran?"
The Yeluo turned silent. That man was a demon in the guise of a human; if the Yeluo were to run, he surely wouldn't let any of them go.
The chief sighed. "At the very least, if we all die here, he'll avenge us."
"Not bad! You didn't run despite seeing a potent foe. My impression of the strength of the Yeluo wasn't mistaken,"
Zhang Lie's voice suddenly called out from a distance. The chief, startled, looked all around for the source of the noise before noticing Zhang Lie on the shoulder of one rock giant, quietly observing the Yeluo who were guarding the city walls.
"I'm glad you're all taking guard duty so seriously."
The chief of the Yeluo sighed in relief. "Honored fighter, you should have informed us before your return! We were half-scared to death."
"But if I had done so, how would I have been able to test your integrity?"
The chief swallowed a gulp of saliva. "What would you have done had we run?"
Zhang Lie continued to smile. "I wouldn't have killed you, of course, but you would find your quality of life significantly diminished."
The chief shuddered upon seeing Zhang Lie's smile, and he dreaded to think more about what would have happened if he had listened to one of his fighters' suggestions.
The leader of the rock spirit said, "Human fighter, if there's nothing more, we'll be returning to the quarry."
Zhang Lie beckoned to him. "Have a few rock spirits remain behind to help with the rebuilding of the city."
The leader of the rock spirits didn't dare to disobey.
The Yeluo chief reported, "After you left, two humans showed up in the city, allegedly in search of you. Their clothing was all but a pile of rags, and they had wounds all over their body. Because they were both humans, we didn't dare make a rash decision. They're both in the city right now—apparently, they made their way over from Ming."
"From Ming?" Zhang Lie thought about it for a moment, but he didn't know anyone there.
"Bring me to them."
The most expedient solution, of course, was to see them for himself.
Turning to the hunters behind him, he commanded, "Su Hong, direct the rock spirits to where they would be more useful. The rest of you, thank you for your hard work."
Su Hong shouted, "Rock spirits, follow me!"
He led the rock spirits to the gaps in the wall left behind by Zhang Lie's invasion. As the rock giants placed their palms against the ground, large pieces of spiritually infused rock protruded out of the earth, rose out of the ground, and began patching up the gaps.
Meanwhile, the Yeluo chief led Zhang Lie to the two human stragglers that had found their way into his city.
Glancing at their haggard forms, for a moment, Zhang Lie had no idea who they were, though it was clear they had suffered tremendously over their journey.
On the other hand, when they saw Zhang Lie, their eyes reddened immediately.
"Zhang Lie, we've had such a hard time trying to search for you!" Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NƟvelFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
Only when he heard their voices did Zhang Lie realize their identity. "Chu Feng, Yun Bing! What are the two of you doing here?"
Chu Feng raised his head. "We've come to be your followers, of course."
Yun Bing nodded. "You'll accept us, won't you, champion of mankind?"
"Of course!" Zhang Lie replied. "But how did you make your way over? We haven't even had a chance to connect our teleportation apparatus to the global network yet."
Chu Feng replied, "Once we saw that you had been expelled from Qi, we rushed over from Ming."
Yun Bing almost cried. "You don't know how much we've suffered! We almost died quite a few times."
"How strong are the two of you now?"
"We've filled our mutated gene fragments to capacity, and we have around fifty superior gene fragments each."
"No wonder you almost perished!"
Superior-grade lifeforms roamed the second realm, mutated-grade lifeforms were more common than dogs, and there would even be peak-grade lifeforms appearing from time to time. It was a miracle that the two of them had managed to arrive in Zhang Lie's new city alone.
"You had both better thank your ancestors for their blessings."
Chu Feng grinned. "Well, what's done is done. Is there anything we can do to help you out?"
Zhang Lie nodded seriously. "Actually, there is."
"We'll do anything."
"Don't worry, you'll definitely be able to accomplish this task: the first thing you need to do is to recuperate, and then to raise your strength. To be frank, the two of you are weaker than the three thousand hunters with me, let alone Team Zenith. Take your time and grow stronger first."
Chu Feng and Yun Bing lowered their heads. They had thought that Zhang Lie would be starved of manpower, but it turned out that they were both wholly unnecessary!
They couldn't help being a little disappointed.
"Don't think too much of it. I'm very touched that the two of you braved so much danger to make your way here, and there'll be a lot of work for the two of you once you've both rested."
After meeting with Chu Feng and Yun Bing, Zhang Lie returned to Earth and messaged Yan Long, officially submitting an application for his new settlement to be considered a human settlement.
Yan Long was very surprised by the information that Zhang Lie relayed. "You're really planning on building a new city? How's the progress?"
"It's fine, but I need skilled architects and engineers."
The city was filled with hunters and fighters, none of whom would be much help for what Zhang Lie had in mind.
Yan Long replied immediately, "I'll contact the governor of Qi and have him send a few men."
"No, that won't do. Xiao Zhengyang mentioned that there are quite a number of men from the world federation in influential positions in Qi."
"In that case, I'm not sure how I can be of help."
Regardless, Zhang Lie thanked Yan Long for his help and promised to contact him if he had any ideas. He returned to the city. With the rock spirits' help, the reparation of the city walls was swiftly concluded. The repaired portions were rather rough around the edges, but the walls were far more functional than before.
As he walked through the streets, he suddenly saw Chu Feng directing a few men.
"No, no, not like that! Follow the blueprint."
Zhang Lie walked over. "What are all of you doing?"
"There are a lot of broken and run-down buildings around here, so I'm helping fix them, as well as refurbishing a proper house for myself."
Zhang Lie noticed the blueprint in Chu Feng's hands in amazement. "You studied architecture?"
"A little. As you know, we scions from the large clans have to dabble in all sorts of things to stand out from our peers."
"Do you know how to repair city walls?"
Chu Feng glanced around him. "I think it shouldn't be too difficult with the foundation we have."
"Very well. In that case, let me officially instate you as the lead architect of this city!"