"The assessment of the Patrol Team is set for tomorrow. As for today, let's finish up the remaining tasks now."
Tang Yu counted the issues still needing resolution on his fingers.
He had agreed to be a hands-off Lord, but he ended up as busy as a dog.
The development of the Territory was gradually getting on track, and various systems were becoming more comprehensive, resulting in him signing nearly half an hour's worth of documents.
Including the acquisition and distribution of resources, survivor statistics, personnel changes, and the recent recruitment for the Patrol Team, and so on.
As the director of the Sanctuary, he couldn't be ignorant of these matters.
"But these are still manageable..."
Tang Yu just glanced over them; Chen Haiping and Luo Zhe handled the details.
Some things, however, needed his personal attention.
"The recruitment for the Patrol Team means that the Sanctuary's firearms might not suffice. The workshop could only produce bullets before, but luckily, we downloaded quite a few firearms blueprints in Lindong, stored on a USB drive. Just take it to the research institute, and with a small amount of Source Crystals, we should be able to convert them into models that the workshop can produce..."
"And that Awakening Potion, the research institute should also be able to deduce the production formula from the finished product. However, this consumption might be quite large, so the deduction of the potion formula can be postponed for now."
There's another thing.
Compared to Lindong Sanctuary, our Territory's external information channels are still too limited.
If it weren't for this trip to Lindong Sanctuary, he would have had no idea about the changes in the outside world... Having this system and this Territory, there's infinite potential for development, but he would not underestimate human intelligence, especially in a disaster. Either you are devoured by the disaster or you rise from it.
"We need to establish an intelligence agency, focusing on information collection not just around the Territory but from Lindong. This agency will acquire information from Lindong and report back to the Territory, giving us a stable channel to understand the outside world."
This plan was feasible, and he already had someone in mind.
Tang Yu, with Number One, his supreme bodyguard, left the holiday villa.
As he walked, he observed the terrain and soon sketched out a simple map.
It might be a little ugly—after all, Lord Tang's talent didn't lie in drawing—but that wasn't important. What Tang Yu wanted to know wasn't the map itself, but rather how much the Territory had expanded after the upgrade.
Whether through the Territory map or the Crystal Ball, taking a personal tour was ultimately more illuminating.
And to build some Arrow Towers along the periphery.
These, too, he came to the site to construct rather than controlling remotely.
Tang Yu had experimented before, building structures remotely uses up more mental energy. He hadn't forgotten that time when, in order to build a wall, he almost drained himself.
Now, his control over the Territory had deepened, and the mental strain during construction was less. Even if he was in Lindong, controlling the rise of buildings wasn't impossible; Tang Yu just thought it's better not to push his luck.
So he came to the site in person.
Selecting the right spot, he pointed, and chunks of Stone emerged from the Void, solidifying in an instant to form a ten-meter-tall Arrow Tower.
Such Arrow Towers, distributed in a semi-circle around the holiday villa, amounted to six that Tang Yu built.
"With these, there won't be any more trouble from Demonized Beasts within the range of the holiday villa, and we can better proceed with peripheral construction."
Anyway, building a wall was out of the question—there wasn't enough Stone. Only by constructing defensive buildings could we maintain those relatively safe days.
As for the Demon Tide... well, there's still a small wall, which should be sufficient.
Having dealt with these, what remained to be built was the Energy Patio.
"Although this thing can supply energy wherever it's built, it's still a very valuable structure and needs to be placed somewhere safe."
In the castle, within Eileen's room.
Winnie was changing her clothes.
When she was first summoned, she had been somewhat bewildered and did not want to keep Lord waiting for too long, so she hastily changed into a set of clothes and went to meet with the Lord.
As a result, the clothes were too tight, and she did not feel comfortable wearing them.
Eileen took out a seemingly larger piece of clothing from the wardrobe for Winnie to change into.
Even though it was quite a loose-fitting top, it seemed to take on the meaning of a tight shirt once on her, as if it were ready to burst forth.
Eileen looked on with a bit of envy, but Winnie's face showed some distress.
She asked, "Is it still too tight?"
Winnie tugged at the clothing and shook her head, "The clothes are fine, it's just that, that chest-binding thing, it still feels too tight."
She was very frustrated because even wearing the largest size for a short duration was manageable, but after a while, it still became uncomfortable.
"How about we forget it, then? I won't wear it; I never wore such things before."
"Hmm…" Eileen pondered. "We could go to the Lord and see if there's suitable clothing and if we can't find any, we could have the Lord custom-make some."
"That sort of thing would be too much to trouble the Lord with," Winnie said, shaking her head.
As a follower, one should be handling affairs for the Lord, not bringing every problem to him, especially of this sort. She found it even harder to speak up about it.
She felt it was fine just to wear it as it was.
Suddenly, her gaze flitted, "Eh, isn't that the Lord?"
Eileen's room was on the fifth floor of the castle, which just so happened to have a view of the garden below.
After an upgrade, the garden in front of the castle had gotten bigger with flowers of various colors blooming profusely, gently swaying in the breeze.
They saw Tang Yu walking on the garden path, looking around curiously.
"Does the Lord also enjoy flower-viewing?" Winnie stood by the window, looking down at the garden below.
"I'm not sure about that," said Eileen, joining her curiosity at the window, "but the Lord is very approachable without those noble airs. He will definitely help you with the clothing issue."
In the midst of their conversation,
they saw Tang Yu coming to a halt, extending his right hand.
The ground before him suddenly dipped, and around the hollow, giant oval stones rose from the earth, one after the other, forming uneven stone columns that enclosed the entire pit.
Then, mystical runes lit up on those stones, slowly extending to the bottom of the pit.
As if carried by a spiraling air, clearly visible to the naked eye, a pool of azure water appeared out of nowhere at the bottom of the pit, quickly filling and rising until it reached a certain height before stopping.
In an instant, an invisible fluctuation spread outwards from the Energy Patio at the core, radiating westward around it.
Tang Yu's hair was slightly lifted by the breath of air.
In the garden, many buds blossomed at that moment, splendid and breathtaking, as if opening their arms to embrace the world.
The grass and trees grew, the young branches sprouted—not like the wild weeds growing wildly in the fields, but as if watered with the essence of life, making these flowers and plants come alive.
Vivid flowers, tender green shoots,
swaying with the breeze.
Surrounding the figure standing amid the sea of flowers.