Chapter Eighty-Five: The Drawbacks of the Magma Pool

"Is... is that a person?!"
"Someone’s coming?"
"Iron armor... iron armor... sob, sob..."
"It’s true! It’s real!"
"We’re saved!"
...

Mo Fangyuan was utterly bewildered. What on earth was going on? All he did was jump down from above, yet these people were so stirred, as if salvation had arrived with his presence. Was his arrival truly their rescue? Relief from the bitter cold... but their lives didn’t seem so bad, did they? Mo Fangyuan was full of doubts.

Little did he know, in the eyes of these villagers, Mo Fangyuan and his companions were the very light that pierced their despair.

Only when he saw the blocky people crowding around did Mo Fangyuan notice the problem. Their faces were sallow, their bodies exuding a greenish-black particle effect. Each one of them bore the negative status of "Hunger."

Inside the village chief’s house, Old Chief and Rong Huang heard the commotion outside.

"What’s happening?" The village hadn’t been this lively in ages—the last time was a year ago...

"People from the Kingdom have arrived?!" Amidst the clamor, Old Chief seemed to catch the heart-stirring words, "Someone from the Kingdom."

He glanced at Rong Huang across the wooden table. Rong Huang’s expression was equally unusual.

"It can’t be..." Old Chief seemed to realize something. Without a second thought, he dashed outside, his excitement barely contained. Could it be that the Sun Mother herself had sent a miracle? Rong Huang followed closely behind.

"They’re other block people! The village is saved!" When Old Chief caught sight of the sharp iron swords in the newcomers’ hands, his heart leapt with joy. It was real!

"They must be from the Western Kingdom, come to rescue us!" Old Chief harbored no suspicion toward these armed, blood-scented block people. After all, they were block people—block people everywhere were kin.

"We are block people! We are family! That’s why we came!" Mo Fangyuan raised his right hand high, greeting the starving villagers with a gentle and kind voice.

"We’re sorry! We came too late and made you endure too much suffering!"

From the earlier conversation, Mo Fangyuan had already gathered why the village was in such dire straits—the answer lay in the central lava pool.

The lava pool was a double-edged sword. While it provided warmth and shielded the inhabitants from the extreme cold, it also parched the earth. In the block world, the basic requirement for farmland was grass blocks. Only grass blocks could be transformed into arable land. Without them, nothing could be planted—a fact every block person understood. With all the grass blocks in the valley turned to dirt by the lava, farming was impossible. No farming meant no food. No food meant famine.

It was a simple truth.

In his past life, famine was a devastating disaster; if mishandled, it could lead to plague and cripple social productivity.

"As long as we’re here, no monster will ever torment you again!"
"As long as we’re here, no block person will go hungry!"

Mo Fangyuan’s perspective had utterly changed. Before, he only wanted his kingdom to thrive so he could enjoy himself, perhaps go down in history as a great king, immortalized like the First Emperor of Qin. But now, such fanciful ambitions seemed hollow.

He would never abandon his kin in their time of need! If they suffered oppression, he would lead the charge for justice!

Everything was for the liberation of block people.

With these words, Mo Fangyuan ordered his warriors to distribute the provisions they had brought to the unfortunate villagers.

"An army marches on its stomach," as Zhou Shuren once said.

Block people possessed personal storage space, and their crafted chests offered vast interior capacity—a single small chest could store an enormous quantity of food, eliminating transport worries. Mo Fangyuan had assigned two warriors with twelve-slot inventories each to carry food, not only for the army’s consumption on the march, but also to handle emergencies.

"Come! Eat without fear—eat your fill!"

With ample supplies in hand, Mo Fangyuan gladly provided for his kin.

"I... I... I have some too!"

At that moment, Xiao Li, flushed with excitement, stuttered as he spoke. He too had known hunger’s sting. Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out eggs and handed them to the villagers.

In the field army, Xiao Li was known by the peculiar nickname "Egg Brother." This was because of his deep fondness for eggs. He would exchange almost all his rations for eggs, keeping only the bare necessities. The familiar Xiao Li was the one who ate an egg a day—if he skipped a day, it meant either the supplies had run out, or he’d been replaced!

"Greetings, sir! I am the village chief!" Mo Fangyuan noticed the gray-clad elder hurrying toward him from afar.

"Hello, Chief, it’s a pleasure to meet you!" Mo Fangyuan had already set his sights on this village and was curious about the chief’s abilities.

Among block people, the chief was generally the most experienced member of their small community—the one who knew how to lead his people through a desperate world. In other words, the cleverest of them all.

Old Fu, Yali, Old Duan, Fang Zhi... it was always the same. Many talents had come from the ranks of village chiefs, and Mo Fangyuan held them in high regard.

"Thank you, sir, for your help..." Mo Fangyuan wanted to speak as an equal, but the chief was insistent, addressing him as "sir" at every turn, which made Mo Fangyuan frown.

"Greetings, mighty warrior! I am Rong Huang, the village’s guard, and I offer you my sincerest respect!" Rong Huang, the village’s only warrior, now stood before Mo Fangyuan. Before Mo Fangyuan could reply, this seven-foot man fell to both knees, holding up his battered stone sword in gratitude.

But...

"This isn’t a gesture of respect—it’s the ceremony of fealty!" Mo Fangyuan, well-versed in such matters, immediately sensed something was amiss. Ordinary respect did not require kneeling! One knee meant a subject before a king; two knees, a servant to his master.

What was he intending?

"Warrior, why do you do this?" Mo Fangyuan tried to help Rong Huang up, but found the man’s strength so great that even with his own level ten power, he couldn’t budge him. Helpless, Mo Fangyuan could only ask for an explanation.

"I once swore that if anyone could save our village, I would obey their every command—even if they were a demon!"

"Now you have done it! Please accept my loyalty!"

Rong Huang was stubborn as a mule. No matter how Mo Fangyuan tried to dissuade him, he remained unmoved. Thus, Mo Fangyuan, bewildered, found himself with a new comrade in arms.

"Chief, what is the current state of the village?"

Unable to move Rong Huang, Mo Fangyuan temporarily accepted their new "master-servant" arrangement.

"Honored guest from the kingdom, our village now has eighteen people, all gathered here..."

"We have very little food left, though some other resources remain..."

The chief’s face was troubled.

"Our most valuable possession is this map..."

Fortunately, after surviving countless disasters, block people had come to recognize the importance of maps. Any sizable village would send people out to explore and chart their surroundings.

Producing the map, the old chief offered it to Mo Fangyuan as if presenting a treasure. This map was the village’s greatest achievement since its founding. It detailed the environment around the small valley.

"This is truly a valuable find..."

The map of the Block Kingdom had only vague records of the eastern river basin, and even less around this valley. With this map, Mo Fangyuan could quickly sweep the neighboring villages.