1 Demons!

"My name is Zhang Yang. Zhang means 'the baring of fangs' and Yang 'the flaunting of power'. But as a matter of fact, I'm a peace-loving person. This is my first time stepping into your land; pleased to meet you."

Zhang Yang arched his hand and spoke with great composure. However, his pale complexion, trembling legs, and almost uncontrollable urge to pee betrayed him.

Because three meters ahead of him was a huge green wolf, staring straight at him.

Zhang Yang had seen the wolves at the zoo and also raised huskies as well as poodles. However, this green wolf ahead of him was just too terrifying. Its head was as huge as a millstone. It had crimson eyes, sharp arm-length fangs, and a body as huge as a truck.

This damn creature definitely doesn't exist on Earth!

This was Zhang Yang's first thought after regaining his composure.

This was a very strange occurrence. Three minutes ago, he was still on his balcony leisurely munching on a slice of watermelon. But all of a sudden, some unscrupulous man from upstairs threw a brick down, striking him in the head and sending him into a coma. The moment he woke up, he found himself in this mysterious place. Before he had the chance to greet his mother who was watching television in the living room, he saw this scary, humongous green wolf resembling a demon in front of him.

The reason why he hadn't yet been devoured by it was because a circular barrier of white brilliance enveloped the area within three meter radius of him. The green wolf simply couldn't enter the zone, while he, of course, didn't dare to step out of it.

So this is that inconsiderate piece of brick?

After spending three minutes returning to his senses, Zhang Yang picked up a piece of brick that had a greenish-purple luster on its surface from the ground. It looked very ancient and had a flamboyant word carved on it: "Order!"

What's this?

The moment this thought flashed through his head, he witnessed a white light flashing across the brick. Seconds later, an attribute panel similar to a game interface appeared before his eyes.

[Village Building Order (Gray)

Energy Points: 97

Status: Semi-activated

No placement required to use part of its functions.

Usable Feature: Level 1 Concealment

Conceals an area of 10 square meters after activation. Consumes 1 Energy Point per minute. Deactivates when a dangerous target is within 10 meters of range.

Usable Feature: Level 1 Protection

After activation, forms a defensive energy shield that covers an area of 10 square meters. Consumes 1 Energy Point per minute. When shattered, instantly consumes 3 Energy Points to self-destruct, inflicting a stun effect on all targets within range.

Usable Feature: Level 1 Vision

After activation, scans all dangerous targets within a kilometer in diameter and distinguishes them by green/safe, yellow/dangerous, red/extremely dangerous. Each activation consumes 5 Energy Points and lasts 10 seconds.

Usable Function: Initial Recruitment

Recruitment limit capped at 500. Death takes up the recruitment quota.

Recruitable list:

Village Chief: Zhang Yang (982nd Village Chief of the Village Building Order)

Age: 18 years old

Strength: F (Extremely Weak)

Agility: F (Extremely Weak)

Defense: F (Extremely Weak)

Soul Strength: C+ (Very Strong. C-ranked souls are eligible to be bound to the Village Building Order. A C-ranked soul is priced at a minimum of 1000 Energy Points.)]

There wasn't much content shown in this attribute panel, but it did make Zhang Yang quickly understand the environment and state he was in.

First: If he did nothing, he could only survive another 97 minutes since Level 1 Protection consumed 1 energy point per minute. After 97 minutes, the protective energy shield would shut down due to a lack of energy—unless he was willing to sell his soul for more energy points.

Second: He was very weak. The soldiers available for recruitment also seemed unreliable. Moreover, he could only recruit a maximum of 500 soldiers, and they would still use up their recruitment quota after death.

Third: Before him, there were 981 other unlucky men who were bound to this whatever village chief, and all of them had died.

So, what if I choose to sell a portion of my soul?

The moment this thought popped up in his mind, a golden scale immediately appeared before his eyes, showing his soul on one side and energy on the other.

This C+ strength of his soul could be exchanged for 1,300 energy points.

But without such an interesting soul of mine, what use would I have for this body?

Zhang Yang decisively chose not to sell his soul. He stared at the green wolf, trying to figure out its weakness. But it was apparent that this wolf was neither arrogant nor impatient. It was as if it knew what kind of delicacy Zhang Yang would be, so much so that it didn't even blink an eye.

Besides, looking at its strong body, razor-sharp teeth, and green fur, one could tell just how scary it really was.

Those 981 brothers before me shouldn't have been that dumb. Above all, their souls had to be C-ranked or higher to be bound to this goddamn Village Building Order. If that's the case, they must have tried various methods. But in the end, perhaps they all died in the vicious fangs of this green wolf. Maybe some of them passed this test and died in a subsequent village building process. Well, this is a huge primitive forest, after all.

Zhang Yang muttered under his breath and looked at the surroundings behind the green wolf. This definitely wasn't an artificial background, but a real primitive forest instead.

Hypothesis 1: If a new village chief is selected and the demon encountered is always a green wolf, the odds are that someone will kill it with no more than 100 energy points. In that case, I won't even need to sell my soul to get through this.

Hypothesis 2: If a new village chief is selected and the demon encountered each time is randomized, my luck isn't looking too good right now. But selling my soul is still not my priority, so no, I am not going to sell it.

Hypothesis 3: No, there is no hypothesis 3; it's either live or die. You want to get such an interesting soul out of me? Not in my lifetime!

In just a few seconds, Zhang Yang had understood exactly what was most precious to him, and that was his C+ soul. It had nothing to do with it being interesting or not. But he thought that the reason why all of the 981 village chiefs before him had failed was because there was a big possibility they had traded a part of their souls.

Of course, he could have guessed wrong. However, that didn't matter. What mattered was that he was not only determined to kill the green wolf, but he also wanted to live through the village building process and carry on with his life.

If he survived temporarily because he sold part of his soul and eventually died, he might as well die in the mouth of this wolf in the first place. In case this was just a dream, there was still half a chilled watermelon on his balcony back home, waiting for him to gnaw on.

That was how straightforward he was. A few seconds later, he made his move.

He tapped the recruitment button on the Village Building Order to recruit a spearman, shield soldier, and bowman. He recruited three of them for the time being while observing the situation to come up with a plan to take down the green wolf.

In a flash of white light, three energy points disappeared and three tall soldiers appeared in front of him.

Their average height was 1.9 meters. They had typical yellow skin and were muscular and strong. If they were on Earth, there was no doubt that they could become the most powerful fighters.

All three soldiers wore simple leather armor, and in terms of its defense, there seemed to be no difference.

In terms of weapons, the spearman wielded a 2.5 meter-long wooden spear with a sharp iron tip. That was about it.

On the other hand, the shield soldier gripped a sword and a thick wooden shield.

The bowman's weapon was a recurve bow, and he had a quiver of 35 feathered arrows.

Zhang Yang wasn't an expert in weapons, but he reckoned that they were of similar quality.

Finally, he looked at their respective attributes.

Regardless of the spearman, shield soldier, or bowman, their basic attributes, including 'soul strength', were all F+. The difference was that they had each mastered a skill.

The spearman mastered the skill of piercing, the shield soldier grasped the technique of sword slashing, and the bowman commanded the skill of triple-arrow shooting.

Honestly, all of them felt somewhat weak.

"Triple-arrow shot!"

Zhang Yang first gave an order to the bowman and almost immediately, the bowman skillfully released three feather arrows.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The three arrows tore right through the air and headed for that green wolf.

In an instant, the green wolf seemed to be taken aback. It leaped up rather clumsily trying to dodge the attack, managing to avoid only two of the feather arrows. The last arrow struck its back and penetrated around 10 centimeters deep into its flesh. Blood sprayed out of the wound.

What? It actually worked!

Zhang Yang smiled in joy. If he recruited more bowmen, he would be able to kill the green wolf within the safety of the defense shield, wouldn't he?

But what if the green wolf turned around and fled when its health bar dropped to around half?

Even though he could order the shield soldier to intercept, the bowman's damage was still too low, after all. Before the green wolf was shot to death, perhaps the shield soldier would already be dead.

Zhang Yang immediately recruited 90 more spearmen, ordering them to attack at all costs. Because among the three weapons, the damage from arrows was the lowest, followed by sword slashes, and finally spear thrusts. Since the attributes were the same, he naturally chose spearmen to be the main attackers.

He wasn't in the mood to care about what combinations he could come up with using different types of soldiers. He was worried because he had no idea how the weak soldiers would perform against such a powerful green wolf.

It was better for all the spearmen to rush at once and constrict the green wolf's space.

"Kill them!"

The 91 spearmen instantly swarmed toward the green wolf from all directions. But at the next second, the green wolf swiped its claws at the first five spearmen, slashing them into halves. Their leather armor was of no use whatsoever!

Such strong attacking power and yet, a feather arrow is still able to penetrate 10 centimeters deep into its flesh?

Damn, demons these days sure know how to put on an act.

While Zhang Yang lamented, five more spearmen rushed forward, and four of them were instantly crushed by the green wolf's fangs. The last spearman survived, and in that second, he stabbed the green wolf with the spear in his hand. However, it only penetrated less than five centimeters!

This was the result even after activating the piercing skill.

Zhang Yang watched from the back as chills ran down his spine. This green wolf was just too strong and had a high IQ as well.

Bam!

The green wolf's sweeping claw smashed the 10th spearman's skull, and blood spurted into the sky.

However, this didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the subsequent spearmen as they continued to dash ahead. Just as Zhang Yang thought, the spearmen managed to constrict the green wolf's space in just a few seconds. Even though the green wolf was strong, the distance between the two sides was close enough so that the 90 spearmen poured in like a raging flood the instant they were recruited.

Even if many of them had to suffer severe injuries, there would always be a few who could land a critical hit on the green wolf.

Bam!

In the blink of an eye, more than 40 spearmen had perished. Meanwhile, one of the spearmen seized the opportunity and punctured the spear through the green wolf's left eye, 10 centimeters deep!

At the same time, the bowman inside the protective defense shield continued firing arrows with a high hit rate. However, the feather arrows couldn't even penetrate the wolf's skin by one centimeter. It was apparent that the green wolf had put on an act earlier to feign its injury.

"Shoot it in the eyes!"

Zhang Yang hurriedly commanded, guessing that its eyes were the only targets the bowman could break its defense.

Roar!

The green wolf growled in agony and finally went berserk. It madly pounced and crunched the spearmen around it, crushing them as if they were delicate stalks of wheat. However, such a madness also revealed more weaknesses. One by one, the spearmen jabbed their spears at the green wolf. Even though they were eventually clawed or bitten to death, there was no doubt that the green wolf was seriously wounded.

At that moment, Zhang Yang managed to maintain his final sanity and didn't allow himself to faint due to this scene of flesh and blood. He couldn't help but lament that this was the benefit of a C+ soul, where he didn't puke or pee in his pants upon witnessing corpses.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

As the green wolf finally slowed down, the bowman fired a triple-arrow shot again, eventually blinding the other eye. However, there were only nine remaining spearmen.

Despite that, they still fearlessly charged with their spears!

"Kill them!"

Bam! Bam! Bam!

In an instant, eight spearmen were clawed to their death by the green wolf. However, the last spearman successfully pierced the spear through the huge wound on its chest. Blood spurted out, drenching his entire head. The green wolf was dead, and Zhang Yang had survived.

In an instant, the Village Building Order lit up. A white brilliance shone on the green wolf's carcass as if absorbing something from it.

[Successfully killed Level 1 Green Wolf Demon.

Successfully captured 1 x Imperfect Green Wolf Demon Soul.

Received 35 Energy Points.

Received 500 x Green Wolf Meat (Can be consumed.)

Received 28 x Green Wolf Tooth (Can be used as a material to create weapons.)

Received 50 x Green Wolf Demon Blood (Contains a small amount of demonic power. Can be used as a material to create a talisman or battle mark.)]