Once he had worked out what to do next, he noticed that the road sign ahead showed only thirty kilometers to Mulberry Field Town. All at once, Su Mo’s mood improved again. The day had been extraordinarily long. He had spent it from morning till night rushing about wearily, and had even fought a life-and-death war against hundreds of murlocs. But the harvest from it delighted him.

The buffer alloy for building harvesters would go from the Academy of Sciences directly to Baoyu Heavy Industry after dawn to begin production. A small amount of auxiliary alloy for making the Sun-chaser battle armor, along with some special alloys below grade four, he had also applied for in the name of an “experiment.” Someone would bring them over in the afternoon. And the day after tomorrow, the morning of the sixteenth, the Summer Harvest would officially begin. Everything was on track. He only had to wait a month or two, and the real reshuffle would begin.

Six twenty, the morning sun rising.

Just as the curfew in Mulberry Field Town ended, Su Mo drove the energy car all the way back to the familiar and reassuring Gutian Third Street. Looking in from the head of the street, he saw that, sure enough, Huang Xiaojuan had not slept all night. She was waiting in front of the courtyard gate, yawning again and again and looking around in all directions, while Oreo lay lazily to one side, enjoying the cool breeze. Seeing the energy car drive in, Oreo stood up and sniffed the air.

“Woof woof!”

“Huh, Brother Zong is back?”

Seeing Su Mo wave, signaling her to open the courtyard gate so he could drive the car in, Huang Xiaojuan was delighted at first. But then she noticed that the arm he had raised was covered with wounds large and small, and she rushed over in alarm.

“I’m fine. It was the Academy of Sciences, ah, it’s hard to explain in a few words. All you need to know is that your Brother Zong came back alive, and that was a stroke of great luck.”

“Rest assured, I’ve already gotten researcher status. From now on, nobody will bully us anymore!”

Familiar with Huang Xiaojuan by now, Su Mo naturally knew how to handle her. After he gave her a couple of scares by saying it was a secret of the Academy and showing her his researcher status, Huang Xiaojuan was startled and quickly stopped asking, then timidly went back into the main room to fetch the medicine box.

“Hah, these are only flesh wounds, it’s nothing... hiss...”

He was still talking when Su Mo took off his undershirt, which had long since been soaked in blood, and finally saw the damage. Although the Nether Energy Water had healed all his internal injuries and guaranteed there would be no lasting effects, there was hardly a patch of his body that was intact. It was covered with bruises and small cuts.

“If I had known, I should have asked the Academy for a little more Nether Energy Water.”

“A loss, what a loss.”

He grimaced as Huang Xiaojuan wrapped him up like a zongzi. Then he watched her bring over sweet, fragrant rice porridge, soft and chewy white steamed buns, and a few appetizing side dishes. Su Mo complained aloud, but in his heart he felt an inexplicable peace. At the same time, one more reason was added to the road of returning as the lord of the territory.

Becoming the lord again. He would build a new territory with hope, for all the ordinary people living here, for all the people he cared about here, and for the sister and parents in this world. He would rebuild a future where tomorrow could be seen and a peaceful life could be lived.

Even if it was...

Only one year!

At Zizai Liang Lane.

After several days of buildup, harvest workers were still arriving to sign up in an endless stream, queued from the end of the street all the way to the shop door. A higher profit-sharing ratio, more advanced energy stone tools, and a long-standing reputation were the reasons Zizai Liang Lane had pulled ahead of the Qiankun Grain Store across the way.

Standing in front of the shop door, watching one form after another get filled out and dropped into the collection box beside him, then carried by a dedicated person into Hope City to be filed, acting shopkeeper Zhang Bowen was in an exceptionally good mood. Over these days, through his efforts, the number of workers signed with the store had passed six thousand, more than in previous years. At this rate, by the day after tomorrow, when the Summer Harvest began, breaking eight thousand was not impossible. With this many people, Zizai Liang Lane was practically certain to succeed in the Summer Harvest.

As for the Qiankun Grain Store across the way?

Thinking of that, Zhang Bowen grew even happier. Two days ago, he had nervously proposed that once the Summer Harvest was over, they stop the vicious competition and look after the business environment together. He had expected his father Zhang Da and his older sister Zhang Min to turn him down coldly. But the moment he finished speaking, both of them nodded again and again. Zhang Da even seemed to be quietly thinking of backing out, with the air of someone who would no longer set foot in the grain business after this Summer Harvest.

At first, Zhang Bowen had been puzzled for half the night, wondering why his father and sister had changed like that. But by morning, once he got busy, he had forgotten it completely.

Of course, as the new shopkeeper, Zhang Bowen was not without worries. His master, Su Youzong, after helping develop the energy stone sickle, had taken leave for two days in a row, and no one knew where he had gone. Last night, at Zhang Min’s urging, he had gone to the man’s door in person, carrying a large number of gifts, and still had not been able to see him. This morning, when Sun Quan came again, he had not passed on a word about extending the leave. That made Zhang Bowen’s heart flutter now and then, worried about where Su Mo had gone.

“Huh, Bowen, why are you still here supervising the hiring? Don’t you need to study?”

A familiar voice suddenly sounded beside him. Zhang Bowen’s face froze, and then he felt a rush of disbelieving joy. He turned his head to the right. Sure enough, Su Mo, wrapped from head to toe in white bandages like a zongzi, was slowly walking toward him from not far away.

“Damn, Teacher, what happened to you?”

With a startled cry, Zhang Bowen hurried over and steadied Su Mo. Then he realized his grip was so strong that Su Mo was grimacing, and when he saw the “terrifying injuries” showing through the gaps in the bandages, a flash of anger crossed his face.

Since Mulberry Field Town had been fully developed in the fifth year of the wasteland, with guards patrolling around the clock, serious incidents rarely happened here. And the rules here only protected citizens who held an identity. For outsiders who came to make trouble, there were usually only two punishments. First, being driven out and never allowed to enter Tian Yuan Territory again. Second, a blood debt repaid in blood, with consequences matching whatever losses they had caused.

“Damn it, which blind fool beat you up like this? Tell Bowen, and I’ll take people and wipe out his whole family right now!”

“Don’t. You’re just a kid, and every day you want to wipe out someone’s whole family.”

“Teacher, I got into a conflict with someone by accident. It’s nothing, just flesh wounds!”

Noticing that quite a few people were already looking over, Su Mo hurriedly turned his head, gesturing that they should go inside first. Zhang Bowen carried no small authority these days. He merely waved a hand to the side, and a sharp-eyed shop employee immediately brought out a stretcher from inside.

“Teacher, you’d better lie down on this.”

“I’ve already sent someone to call a doctor. Don’t worry, Zizai Liang Lane will cover all the treatment costs!”

“Fine.” Seeing how much his cheap disciple cared about him, Su Mo had no choice but to go along and lie down.

After a few steps, once they were out of sight of the door, he heard a familiar voice and lifted his head.

“Mr. Su, what happened to you? Oh, all of you, be gentle with your hands and feet!”

Zhang Min hurried out from the inner hall, her face full of fawning smiles. Compared with how coldly she had treated him a few days earlier, her attitude was dozens of times better. Yet in the depths of her eyes, Su Mo caught a trace of a very well hidden emotion.

Was it the look of someone eyeing an expensive piece of merchandise?

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