Chapter 132 Manipulating Ganling Citizens (1/2)
Chapter 132 – Manipulating Ganling Citizens
8 PM.
All bandits were terminated, and the fire was extinguished. It took a while to douse the fire as Tong had to personally use his [Create Food] to suppress the fire.
As a consequence of his command, the majority of the houses and buildings were burnt down, which was a reason why Tong ordered Zhang Xiu to build a refugee camp outside of the wall beforehand.
Li Feihong could not help but scold Tong in the clan chat. ”You could have told the soldiers to douse the fire after the slaughter.”
However, Tong disagreed. ”What if the ninja is still hiding in the town? I need to make sure that he's really not here or I won't get a good night sleep.”
”But I can't see anyone else in the city. You also double checked the areas!”
”We can't rely too much on our skills. Since our abilities can be considered cheating, his skills can be overpowered like us as well. That guy has ninja-based skills, so I can't help but assume that he should have a stealth skill or some sort that can hide his presence from our detection.”
”So the reason that you burned half of the city...”
”Yes, I want to fish out the ninja. I'm sorry.”
Li Feihong put a palm on his forehead. He muttered. ”You'd better be ready for the backlash.”
Tong had a bitter smile as he gazed at the refugees. ”I know.”
...
The town civilians evacuated outside of the city and were given supplies which they cried the tears of joy. They had not eaten properly after the bandits took over the city as most of their food was robbed.
They were skeptical at first when they saw the raging flame inside the city and heard that the army commander intentionally burned the town to kill the hiding bandits. But after they heard that the commander would give them one gold per person as compensation and would help them rebuild the city later, their sour mood was appeased.
A new refugee camp was built. After the rough counting, there were only 50,000 civilians remaining.
The soldiers asked around for the information about the city before it was taken. This city used to have 120,000 in population, but the bandits killed all the men, so they were the only remaining survivors as the bandits kept them for labors.
All survivors were elders, children, and middle-aged or older women. All young girls were kidnapped during the takeover and their locations were unknown at the moment.
Hearing that they were still missing citizens, Tong and Li Feihong were depressed. They did their best to look for a hint in their map but they could not find anything.
'The number of all otherworlder hasn't reduced. So the ninja isn't in the city. From the looks of it, he shouldn't be in these areas. If he is, he should have used that illusion skill long ago.'
'Since Zhang Yan isn't here, maybe they have escaped together?'
Tong, who stayed behind on the outside of the wall, looked at his radar skill description while he was gritting his teeth.
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[Radar Map] Upgradable
- Range 10 kilometers.
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Upgrade Price
Range 100km – 100,000 Lifespans
Range 1,000km – 1,000,000 Lifespans
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He had a bit over 146,000 lifespans at the moment. If he were to upgrade his radar skill, he had confidence that he would be able to locate the hidden kidnapped victims. However, the cost of this upgrade was huge. A hundred thousand lifespans was not a little amount.
Tong stood still. His breath became rough, quick, and short as he hesitated if this investment was worth it.
'Idiot! What are you hesitating for!?'
No longer hesitated, Tong pressed the upgrade button in the system menu.
<your hud=”” map=”” has=”” been=”” upgraded=””>>
<your map=”” range=”” is=”” now=”” 100km=””>>
The system robotic voice did not stop. It said something weird inside Tong's mind.
<your [greed]=”” was=”” greatly=”” weakened=”” by=”” your=”” recent=”” action=””>>
<your [corruption]=”” was=”” slightly=”” weakened=”” by=”” your=”” recent=”” action=””>>
<if you=”” go=”” against=”” your=”” [greed]=”” two=”” more=”” times,=”” your=”” [demonic=”” seal]=”” level=”” will=”” reduce=”” by=”” 1=””>>
Tong's vision blurred as more information rushed into his brain. He lost his body balance and staggered for a few seconds before he came back to his sense.
The HUD map on the system screen expanded. He could zoom out and view the map from above as if he was looking at Google Map from the satellite view. However, Tong had to zoom in if he wanted to locate the people in the map.
'It's getting complicated to use. But it's still useful nonetheless.'
'And WTF with the [Greed] and [Corruption]?'
'Wait, if I go against [Greed], my seal level will drop?'
'Hah, so I have to behave and not divulge myself into the 7 sins?'
'No, it's not the time to think about this stupid skill. I have an urgent job to do.'
Tong abandoned his thought about his complicated [Demonic Curse] and [Demonic Seal]. Watching his huge map on the screen, Tong sat down on the ground and grabbed a nearby rock. He started drawing a map on the ground based on his system map.
From a scribble shaped squares, it turned into a massive map of the surrounding areas. All commanding officers gather around to watch what Tong was doing.
”Bring me a local. No, bring me twenty of them. I want to ask them about the map.”
Once the locals arrived, Tong questioned each of them about a few specific locations.
”What's this place on the map?”
”I think that's Ah Xiao's lumber mill.”