Pang Damao stood outside the range of the two Arrow Towers, quietly observing the Lu Family Stronghold ahead.
The middle-aged man who had shouted at him a moment ago was just a patrol guard, and he had already gone off to report to someone.
Before long, a middle-aged man clad in bright silver Battle Armor walked out.
The newcomer was none other than Lu Junsheng.
"So you're the one who wants to join our Lu Family Stronghold!"
Lu Junsheng wore a look of arrogance as he sized Pang Damao up.
"Yes, that's me!"
Pang Damao had never met Lu Junsheng before. Seeing his heroic armor, he felt the man was extraordinary, like a general, and instinctively wanted to kneel.
But then he remembered that he was now working for the Roasted Chicken Immortal, and as the head of the Intelligence Department, he found a new sense of confidence and couldn't help but straighten his back.
Lu Junsheng nodded and asked, "What village are you from? What's your name?"
"I'm from Stone Village. My name is Pang Damao!"
"From Stone Village!" Lu Junsheng narrowed his eyes. "Look at those skinny arms and legs. You must be starving all the time. If my Lu Family Stronghold weren't newly established and in need of manpower, I would never take in a small fry like you."
As he spoke, Lu Junsheng tossed Pang Damao a small, palm-sized wooden tablet and said, "Take this. With this tablet, you're a member of our Lu Family Stronghold, and the two Defense Arrow Towers won't attack you on sight!"
"This must be the Protective Talisman!" Pang Damao hurriedly bowed in thanks, then added, "So, you must be the esteemed Lord Red Yan?"
Lu Junsheng laughed heartily and waved his hand. "No, I'm her old man. you can call me General Lu! Now, come into the stronghold with me. First, I'll reward you with a bowl of white porridge. After you've had it, you'll join the others in driving stakes. We're building a wooden palisade around this Lu Family Stronghold!"
"White porridge?" Pang Damao rolled his eyes.
"That's right, white porridge! Never had it before, have you? From now on, you'll work your life out for this general, and you'll get one bowl of white porridge a day!"
'Who'd want that!'
Pang Damao grumbled to himself.
'I'm so sick of meat broth I could puke!'
'Trying to buy me over with a single bowl of white porridge? Isn't that just insulting?'
Though Pang Damao was scornful on the inside, his face was all smiles. He put on an act of being moved to tears with gratitude and soon followed Lu Junsheng into the Lu Family Stronghold.
The Lu Family Stronghold was, of course, Lu Hongyan's territory. It was bustling with activity inside. Many people were hard at work: some chopping firewood, some cooking, some building shacks, some smithing, some driving stakes, and others drilling with greatswords.
If he hadn't known these people were villagers from nearby, Pang Damao would have suspected that a troop of government soldiers was setting up camp here.
He didn't dare let his guard down and observed everything cautiously.
Soon, Lu Junsheng led Pang Damao to the base of a large tree.
The tree's trunk was so thick it would take two people to wrap their arms around it. Its canopy was enormous, covered in green leaves like cattail fans, and hung with numerous vines. Dangling from these vines were objects shaped like wooden buckets, varying in size, some yellow and some green.
If a Player were here, they would be able to see the tree's Attribute Information. It was a Food Barrel Tree.
The Food Barrel Tree was classified as a resource structure. The "food barrels" hanging from the vines were its fruit. When a food barrel turned yellow, it was ripe, and inside was white rice, ready to eat.
Pang Damao had never seen such a tree and was immediately astonished.
"Give him a bowl of white porridge!"
Lu Junsheng pointed at Pang Damao. Beneath the Food Barrel Tree, an old woman in her sixties hurriedly complied. She then picked up a wooden ladle and a coarse porcelain bowl and scooped some thin porridge for Pang Damao from a large vat.
The old woman was in charge of distributing the porridge. Seeing Pang Damao's unfamiliar face and realizing he wasn't from their village, she was reluctant to give him too much and only filled the bowl halfway.
Pang Damao was actually a bit thirsty, so he finished it in a few gulps.
"Now that he's done drinking, go drive stakes. You, take him over there!" Lu Junsheng added.
The old woman distributing the porridge bowed in agreement and led Pang Damao to work.
After that, Pang Damao became frustrated. He was constantly supervised and beaten whenever he tried to slack off. He felt like he had been conscripted for forced labor. He was made to work until dark without rest and wasn't even allowed to leave at night.
He did manage to catch a glimpse of Lu Hongyan. Dressed in Battle Armor with a Cloak and riding a Golden Lion, she was a stunning sight.
However, just for staring a few seconds too long, he got a good beating from the foreman.
'Damn it, they're just bullying me! They won't let me go back, which means I'll miss out on tonight's Immortal Roasted Chicken. What a huge loss! This bullshit Lu Family Stronghold is no good place to be!'
Pang Damao silently cursed everyone in the Lu Family Stronghold from top to bottom. He hated that he had no martial strength and couldn't escape. But he also resolved to figure out all the details of the stronghold, so when he got a chance to flee, he could report back to the Roasted Chicken Immortal and have him wipe this whole damned place out.
Meanwhile, on Wang Yi's side, the Production Team had already finished work for the day. He stood at the entrance of the warehouse courtyard, watching Yang Qingniu and the others set up torches in the distance, and sighed, "Another uneventful day."
He had also gone out exploring the map today, but came back with nothing.
At that moment, Boss Li arrived with a worker from the sand field to collect their "wages."
Wang Yi checked their progress. The workers from the sand field had transported a total of 14.8 units of river sand today. For purely manual labor, that was quite good.
"Let's just round it up to 15 units of river sand. That would be 45 bags... ah, whatever. Here's 50 bags of five-spice ham sausage. Take them back and divide them amongst yourselves."
Wang Yi took out 50 bags of five-spice ham sausage. Boss Li packed them into a bamboo basket and hurriedly bowed his thanks.
"Alright, it's getting late. Hurry back! From now on, you don't need to work so late. You must finish before the sun goes down."
Wang Yi waved his hand, signaling that Boss Li could leave.
Just then, Zhang Xiaohu and Yang Xiaobao came over, wiping away tears. The two children fell to their knees with a THUMP, and Zhang Xiaohu said, "Immortal Master, my mom went up the mountain to gather herbs, and she still hasn't come back!"
Yang Xiaobao also cried out, "My grandpa and my auntie haven't come back either! Did a monster eat them? WAHHHH!"
"You two, stop crying!"
Wang Yi quickly tried to comfort them.
Zhang Xiaohu was Zhang Dashan's son. He was very sharp and sensible for his age.
During the day, Zhang Dashan was busy leading the men to work, while Yang Qinggu went up the mountain to gather herbs. This meant Zhang Xiaohu was pretty much left to fend for himself. He had even become a "wild vegetable squad leader," leading the other children to dig for edible greens.
Yang Xiaobao's father was Yang Qingniu, his grandfather was Yang Wanli, and his aunt was Yang Qingxiu. He was a year younger than Zhang Xiaohu.
The boy's mother, Yang Qingniu's wife, had reportedly passed away from an illness last winter. Yang Qingxiu usually took care of him, but today, he had also been left unsupervised and had run wild with Zhang Xiaohu all day.
'They're still not back at this hour?'
Wang Yi looked at the sky and muttered, "Don't tell me something really happened to them."
At this thought, Wang Yi quickly shouted to Yang Qingniu, who was setting up torches in the distance, "Cyan Ox, do you know where your father and the others went to gather herbs?"
"To North Mountain, of course. Where else would they go?"
Yang Qingniu's face was bruised and swollen. He winced as he spoke; he had taken quite a few punches from the Big Head Guard today.
"It's already dark, and they're still not back. Is that normal?"
"It's fine. We'll just wait a bit longer. They'll be back soon!"
Yang Qingniu said nonchalantly.
"Don't just wait. Go get Zhang Dashan, find a few more people, and go search for them on the mountain!"