Chapter Fifty-Three: The First Day of Winter’s Year

"This is truly unbelievable..." Mo Fangyuan could hardly believe it; in just one night, the entire world seemed to have turned white.

Beneath the ground, atop the roofs—everywhere the snow could fall, no place was spared from its blanket of white.

Wrapped in three layers of wool robes, Mo Fangyuan barely managed to break free from the clutches of his bed.

He grabbed a handful of snow from the ground, kneading it over and over until it formed a snowball, satisfying his curiosity bit by bit.

"Come to think of it, it's been years since I last made a snowball... The last time was when I had just started middle school..."

Aside from that once-in-a-century blizzard, he truly hadn't witnessed snowfall of such magnitude again.

The snowball was cold, but Mo Fangyuan's heart was not; instead he felt exhilarated—perhaps this was the southern dweller's yearning for northern life.

Crunch!

He stepped onto the snowy ground; his leather shoes sank straight in, producing a crisp crunch.

At first glance, the snow was at least half a block deep, reaching the knees of the little block people.

"This isn't a good omen..."

Seeing residents nearby struggling to move about, Mo Fangyuan understood.

Not only in reality, but in the block world too, snow would accumulate—and there, the snowfall piled up even thicker than in the real world.

If the snow wasn't cleared, the city's traffic would soon collapse.

"Old Fu, come here for a moment!"

The central castle stood at the heart of the Block Kingdom. Though it was only a small castle, it was much larger than any other structure in the Block Kingdom.

Thus, the central castle not only served as Mo Fangyuan's residence, but also as the political core of the Block Kingdom.

The Night Watchers' Headquarters, the Human Resources Department... every institution of the Block Kingdom was housed here.

Mo Fangyuan easily found the administrative sector.

"Your Majesty, this is indeed a difficult matter..."

Old Fu pondered thoughtfully.

By traditional standards, the kingdom rarely intervened in such affairs: first, they lacked the capability; second, excessive snow accumulation was not particularly detrimental to the Block Kingdom in its earlier, undeveloped days.

After all, block people didn't need to breathe. They could clear away snow blocks with their bare hands, or simply carve out a tunnel beneath the snow for passage.

"But that's no longer feasible—you know the state of our city now!"

Compared to the past, today's Block Kingdom was utterly transformed—centralized, scaled up, urbanized...

If nothing was done, the residents' work and farmland development would be severely affected.

Old Fu, gifted administrator that he was, instantly grasped the danger once Mo Fangyuan explained.

"As you wish, Your Majesty! Except for a few critical positions, I will dispatch as many people as possible to clear the city's accumulated snow!"

Having set his task, Old Fu hurried off to the factories to gather manpower.

"The Block Kingdom is still too weak when it comes to dealing with nature. If I hadn't noticed in advance, a single snowfall might have crippled the kingdom..."

"There isn't much else to do now, so this will have to suffice..."

The kingdom's total population was only 471, with several job positions still unfilled—let alone anything more.

In the Block Kingdom, unlike my previous life, the more people working, the faster the efficiency.

Workforce and efficiency were directly proportional!

"Why is it that I, of all people, have to worry about population?"

In the novels of my previous life, those who crossed over to become rulers faced the greatest threats: foreign invasion or treacherous ministers fomenting chaos.

Yet here I was, running around for the sake of population.

That notion of recruiting people during the winter months once again ignited in Mo Fangyuan's chest.

"Sigh, never mind all that for now. Let's go outside and see what's happening."

Ever since becoming king, after experiencing so much, Mo Fangyuan found himself with less and less time of his own, constantly busy with affairs large and small. Before crossing over, he was merely a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old youth.

"I'm still the same boy as before, unchanged in the slightest..."

Humming a favorite song from his previous life, Mo Fangyuan began to move.

He wrapped himself in another layer of wool robe and sluggishly made his way out.

The temperature outside was estimated to be around minus ten degrees.

As soon as he stepped out of the castle gate, a chill even colder than last night assaulted him.

The biting wind lashed Mo Fangyuan's face, making him feel a touch of cold.

Block people, with their thick skin and flesh, could endure it, but if someone from his previous life came here, they'd probably last only a short while.

Old Fu worked efficiently; before long, Mo Fangyuan saw groups of block people under the direction of their building supervisors, clearing the snow from the kingdom's main avenue.

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

"Long live the King!"

"His Highness is forever divine!"

Whether with respect or admiration, the kingdom's residents greeted Mo Fangyuan. He didn't know what came over him, but instinctively called out a classic phrase from his previous life:

"Comrades, thank you for your hard work!"

What is a comrade? Those with shared aspirations and goals.

In the Block Kingdom, everyone's ambition was simply to live well, and under Mo Fangyuan's influence, their goals gradually unified: to eliminate monster tyranny, and make the world belong to block people.

So, calling them comrades wasn't out of place...

After escaping the overzealous crowd, Mo Fangyuan arrived at the fields outside the city.

Even in the frigid winter, the diligent farmers refused to abandon their care for the land.

They dug up mature potatoes and piled them along the dirt road outside the city, then mixed new potatoes with fertilizer made from rotten flesh and planted them in freshly harvested fields.

Winter crops grew slower, so to hasten their growth, more fertilizer was needed.

They took seeds, wrapped them in fertilizer, and buried them in the tilled earth.

Bent at the waist, they repeated this process again and again. Even affected by the low temperatures, they refused to rest, insisting on tending their fields.

"Fellow citizens, the warehouse is full of food—enough to feed us all. There's no need to work so hard. Please, go back and rest!"

"Your Majesty, it's not hard for us. Farming is the mission bestowed on us by the sun, and the only contribution we can make to the kingdom. Please allow us to continue!"

The unassuming Minister of Agriculture, Er Gou, spoke up, and the farmers echoed his plea.

Mo Fangyuan felt a complex emotion—wanting to cry, wanting to laugh... Unable to persuade them to rest, he sent word to Yali, asking her to dispatch a few people to keep watch here.

This scene gave Mo Fangyuan a clear understanding of how much block people craved food; even with the warehouse stacked full, they continued planting without pause.

But perhaps that wasn't a bad thing...

"But two redstone blocks can't do much..."

Mo Fangyuan had pondered long about how to increase the yield of food.

No matter how he looked at it, there were only four ways.

The first was to switch to higher-yield crops, but in this era, potatoes were already the most productive—no room for improvement.

The second was to expand the farmland, but that wouldn't work; the farmers already tended as much land as possible, and the Night Watchers couldn't guarantee the security of additional fields.

The third was redstone transformation, but with only eighteen redstone blocks in the kingdom, there was nothing to be done.

The fourth was feasible for now, but Mo Fangyuan didn't want to use it, nor could he.

This method involved using bone meal to accelerate growth—on average, three bone meal would mature one crop.

But if bone meal were used now, it would be fine for the moment, but later, when faced with natural disasters or monster outbreaks, and food couldn't be produced, the kingdom would collapse.

Such precautionary measures couldn't be used recklessly.

Mo Fangyuan shook his head, forcing himself not to dwell on these worries.

Whoosh whoosh...

The wind howled, snowflakes swirling down, deepening the blanket of snow on the ground.

Visibility plummeted.

Mo Fangyuan had no choice but to abandon his plan to visit all areas of the kingdom.