"Oh, heavens, what do I do now?"
Pang Damao's eyes darted around. He carefully climbed down from the phoenix tree and then took off running.
'The people of Huangni Village have all become bandits, and they're going to raid Stone Village! I have to tell the Roasted Chicken Immortal as soon as possible. Only the Roasted Chicken Immortal can save Stone Village!'
Pang Damao's mind raced as he ran, glancing back over and over, terrified someone was chasing him.
Meanwhile, Wang Yi had returned to the river sand resource point.
Yang Wanli and Yang Qingniu had followed him.
The former kept sidling up to the latter, muttering under his breath and trying to convince his eldest son to run away. The latter, however, had his mind full of roasted chicken and was getting extremely impatient.
Man Datou was directing a few villagers to process the Sand River Giant Crab carcasses.
Yang Qingniu was working with great enthusiasm.
The carcasses were mostly shattered, so there wasn't much crab meat to be salvaged. The villagers of Stone Village had never seen such enormous crabs, and their eyes were wide with shock.
"What kind of crab is this? It's so huge, it must be some kind of monster, right?"
"Heavens, who killed them!"
"This beach is strange, too. When did it become like this? The sand is so fine!"
"Yeah, I remember this place wasn't like this before!"
"Stop wondering about nonsense! Just follow orders, dig out the meat, and fill the baskets!"
The villagers discussed in low voices. Most of them carried woven wooden baskets on their backs and worked quite efficiently.
A short while later, most of the crab meat from the beach had been carried back by the villagers to Wang Yi's territory.
Wang Yi temporarily stored the crab meat in his Chaos Warehouse. The Gourmet Processing Plant was too magical; if he was going to use it, he preferred to do so away from the prying eyes of the Stone Village villagers.
As evening approached and the sky began to dim, Wang Yi distributed some Golden Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Soup, then dismissed the villagers for the day.
With the exception of Yang Wanli, the other villagers were moved to tears with gratitude. Yang Qingniu, in particular, kowtowed a full ten times to Wang Yi. The man was usually rough and reckless, but he was surprisingly gentle when eating the roasted chicken. He held it with both hands, his eyes squinting into crescents, looking like he wanted to lick every last bit of it clean.
His father, Yang Wanli, claimed the roasted chicken was poisonous, but he ate faster than anyone. After finishing his own, he stared eagerly at Yang Qingniu's portion.
After all the villagers had left, Wang Yi took stock of his earnings. In his Chaos Warehouse, he now had: 5 units of wood, 13 units of stone, 2,815 Golden Roasted Chickens, 65 cups of Vegetable Soup, 13 Gold Coins, 50 [Sand River Giant Crab Left Claw], 50 [Sand River Giant Crab Right Claw], and some shredded crab meat.
'Today's haul was pretty decent...'
After tallying his gains, Wang Yi felt a small sense of accomplishment. He then pulled Man Datou along to process the crab meat.
The Gourmet Processing Plant was unbelievably magical. Shredded crab meat went in the front, and bags of "Spicy Crab Sticks" popped out the back.
Wang Yi tore open a package to try one. The crab sticks were made to be about the size of a sausage—palm-length and thumb-thick. The meat was tender, numbingly spicy, and incredibly delicious.
"Here, Big Head, try some!"
Wang Yi handed Man Datou a bag of crab sticks.
Man Datou grinned and didn't stand on ceremony. He ripped open the bag and took a bite, but then said, "Master, that old man didn't go far. He and his son are hiding behind those rocks over there, sneaking a look. Should I go grab them and give them a beating?"
"No need." Wang Yi shook his head nonchalantly. He knew the old man Man Datou was referring to was Yang Wanli.
"Compared to the other villagers, that old man is quite sharp. It's a shame he doesn't understand our existence yet. Just let him be. Hopefully, once he realizes that I, this Lord, am truly a good person, he'll be willing to work for me. HISS... so spicy, so spicy! These crab sticks really pack a punch..."
Wang Yi waved Man Datou over. The two of them devoured a full 10 bags of crab sticks, sweating all over, and had to chug down Vegetable Soup to cool off.
When all the shredded crab meat was finally processed, Wang Yi was left with 133 bags of crab sticks. With each bag weighing a pound, that came out to 133 pounds in total!
'This is all the crab sticks we have. We'll have to eat them sparingly!'
Wang Yi muttered to himself. Just as he was about to store the crab sticks in his Chaos Warehouse, he heard someone shouting from a distance, "Immortal Master, it's terrible, terrible! The people of Huangni Village have all become bandits!"
The one shouting was, of course, Pang Damao. He ran until he was completely out of breath, plopping down on the ground right in front of Wang Yi. He grabbed his ankles, gasped for air a couple of times, and continued, "The village chief of Huangni Village is a Demon! He killed someone, and he can transform people! I saw it with my own eyes! He pushed Zhang Gouzi into a small wooden hut, and in the blink of an eye, Zhang Gouzi's appearance completely changed! He grew a beard, got a big sword, and became a bandit..."
"Don't panic. Tell me slowly."
Wang Yi gave a look, and Man Datou immediately fetched a Golden Roasted Chicken and a cup of Vegetable Soup.
Pang Damao's eyes lit up. He quickly stuffed the roasted chicken and vegetable soup into his robes, took two more deep breaths, and then began to recount in detail what he had seen in Huangni Village to Wang Yi.
Wang Yi listened in silence, his brow furrowing.
He was now certain that the Huangni Village chief, a man named Ma Changgui, was a Player. This person was brutal and ruthless—boiling chickens in a giant pot, beating and killing villagers. He was definitely not someone easy to get along with.
As for the strange wooden hut in Huangni Village and the matter of Zhang Gouzi turning into a bandit, Wang Yi didn't find it hard to understand.
'This world has game-like settings, so nothing is too surprising. Still, being neighbors with a Player who can turn his subordinates into bandits is not a good thing...'
Wang Yi rubbed his chin. 'Living in this Otherworld, I have to be decisive. Our territories are adjacent, so conflicts of interest are bound to arise sooner or later. We'll inevitably fight over resources and such. Rather than wait for him to grow stronger and come after me, it's better to use my early-game advantage to eliminate this threat ahead of time.'
Besides, the other party was clearly no saint. They'd already become bandits and were planning to raid Stone Village. If he didn't do something, let alone anything else, the Stone Village production team would probably be disbanded.
Just then, Yang Wanli came running out.
The old man, convinced that Wang Yi was a Demon, had been secretly watching him, hoping to uncover some sort of scheme. He hadn't found any scheme, but he had overheard the news that Huangni Village was planning to raid his own village.
He was in no mood for secret surveillance now. Throwing caution to the wind, he grabbed Pang Damao's arm and asked, "Da Mao, what did you just say? The people from Huangni Village are going to raid our Stone Village tonight?"
"Yeah!"
Pang Damao nodded.
Yang Wanli's face instantly turned pale. 'If that's true, what are we going to do?'
Yang Qingniu ran out too, cursing angrily, "Damn it all! They stole our grain during the day, and now they want to raid our village at night? Do they think I'm a pushover? I'll fight them to the death!"
With that, the man stomped his foot, turned, and started to march off, looking ready for a fight.
Wang Yi said, "Wait! Huangni Village won't be easy to deal with. How about you let this Lord help you through this crisis?"
Pang Damao was overjoyed. "The Immortal Master is kind-hearted! I knew you would help us!"
"Y-You really mean it!"
"Sir, you gave us roasted chicken, and now you're going to help us fight bandits? You're a truly good person! I, Yang Qingniu, will kowtow to you!"
Wang Yi's expression was also serious. 'The villagers of Stone Village are a resource,' he thought. 'Helping them is helping myself. I just hope that Ma Changgui isn't too difficult to deal with.'