Lords of the Heavens

Chapter 466 Those who calculate others will also be calculated by others.

"So, what do you think we should do next?"

Li Wei asked again, "Listening to other people's opinions is a good virtue."

But Hathaway shook her head directly, "Big brother, don't ask me. I've already been taught a lesson by reality, and I'm very obedient now. Please let me go. To be honest, I'm completely lost about the future. This situation has exceeded my expectations, and I don't know what to do next."

"Are you saying this out of anger or just being a child?"

Li Wei didn't believe what Hathaway said. Well, in a sense, he was also a little confused about the future, mainly because he was currently in Jiang Xinran's camp. This was a plot that was set from the beginning. You can't leave your camp, otherwise you will lose 50 points of world reputation.

It's worth mentioning that Li Wei started with -10 world reputation points. Now, after a hard-fought battle, he has 15 world reputation points left after handing over the points to his faction. Even so, he is currently ranked 96th in the world, which puts him in the top 100!

Therefore, they will definitely not be able to get rid of Jiang Xinran for some time to come, so how to develop in the future will largely depend on what Jiang Xinran says.

To put it simply, Jiang Xinran is now Gao Yingxiang, and Li Wei is now Li Zicheng. Before Gao Yingxiang died, Li Zicheng could never have established his own power base.

At this moment, Li Yue spoke up:

"Let me say a few words. I think the difficulty of gaining world reputation in this ascending continent will be extremely high, even higher than we imagine. Li Wei, you only have 15 points of world reputation right now, and your current world ranking is only 96th. So I think you should never try to leave Jiang Xinran's camp, otherwise just the 50 points of world reputation deducted from you will make you feel heartbroken and liver-ache for a long time."

"In addition, I still suggest you communicate with Jiang Xinran to see what her strategy is before making a decision. Also, you should hurry up and build a castle fortress to seize the key period at the beginning. With a castle, a base, and a headquarters, you will be much more confident in doing anything."

“That’s right, that’s right. ‘Build high walls, store up grain, and delay declaring yourself king’—this is a wise saying that can be used to justify rebellion at any time,” Zhao Xuanxuan chimed in.

“But things aren’t that simple, Li Wei. I agree with Sister Xiaoyue. You should contact your leader as soon as possible. I’m afraid she might cause some trouble.” Hathaway couldn’t help but speak up.

“What kind of trouble could there be? Our faction has already conquered four magical territories. We have five-star stone mines and hundreds of four-star trees here. I don’t believe that there aren’t similar precious mineral deposits in the magical territories conquered by our leader. Are we just going to leave them there and become bandits?” Zhao Xuanxuan didn’t quite understand.

But Li Wei, Li Yue, and Hathaway suddenly exchanged quick glances and couldn't help but gasp. No way!
Given Jiang Xinran's character and habits, she really might do that. Otherwise, why would she choose such a starting point? To directly confront Duke Kader's military might?
Kader is a player with a thousand-year history, a deep foundation, and a tyrant start. Jiang Xinran is not even 90 years old yet. How can she compare to a thousand-year-old tyrant? She can't compare in any way.

"Damn it! Quick, Thomas, Zhao Qingshan, gather everyone who works as a miner or craftsman. Let's all work together and try to mine that five-star stone mine clean overnight!"

Li Wei roared, feeling like he was about to wet himself in fear. Yes, it was very likely. He felt something was wrong. Unless Jiang Xinran was Duke Kader's 508th concubine, how could she openly start a business at Duke Kader's doorstep like that? Wasn't she courting death?

Absolutely, there's no mistake!
Thanks to Zhao Xuanxuan, her unintentional words were a wake-up call!
Next, all 920 of them except the cooks went out to work, each carrying a three-star enchanted large shovel, the kind that could dig as much as ten ordinary shovels in one go.

Don't waste the excavated soil; store it all in empty resource cards, one thousand kilograms per card. After digging through the top layer of soil more than ten meters deep, you'll find a five-star stone ore mine below. At this moment, everyone should switch to four-star enchanted miner's pickaxes.

Zhao Xuanxuan led the first team, using a five-meter-long four-star enchanted steel chisel to hammer away, creating a row of orderly holes. Then, Thomas, the miner with the highest fate, transformed into a stone giant and slapped down a large, intact five-star ore.

Zhao Xuanxuan, Thomas, and their group of miners and stonemasons are in the first tier, while those with lower destinies are in the second tier, responsible for scraps.

Finally, there are those who are strong and have no outlet for their energy, like Li Wei, who are in the third tier. They either continue to dig and collect soil, or they mine lower-quality stone, such as the Three-Star Stone Mine.

These nine hundred-plus people were like nine hundred giant locusts, frantically plundering everything in the darkness of night.

Of course, the guard duty was handled by Ah-Dai, who led several hundred hunting pets to the perimeter.

"Li Wei, stop busying yourself here! There are so many four-star trees outside, just cut them all down!"

Hathaway did manage to become a commander, mainly because she didn't want to do dirty mining.

"Never mind me, you should hurry up and absorb some of the wandering magic."

"Brother, do you have any common sense? Without a magic mine, everything is pointless, unless I'm a fourth-tier mage—but in this place, the free-floating magic is nothing. We can mine out the five-star stone ore, cut down all the four-star trees, and dig out enough fertile soil, and that should be enough. We only have one night. In any case, regardless of whether my master initiates the movement to become bandits tomorrow, we have to retreat. Duke Kader won't be able to find us, but don't you think there are a lot of traitors and traitors around us?"

“These are clearly all Duke Kader’s men who were sent to follow him and land in P City.”

"To be honest, I'm really panicked right now, and I just want to run away."

Hathaway is a little anxious.

"It's alright, no big deal. Being a bandit is my specialty." Despite saying this, Li Wei still assigned the task of felling the big trees to the soldiers who were woodcutters, while he himself took advantage of the night to conduct a comprehensive reconnaissance of the area within a radius of 500 li.

We can't count on Jiang Xinran.

This old woman's goal might be to swallow them all up and fight them to the death, just like that cowardly Lu Ziming. Yes, although they belong to the same camp, it's never as good as getting into the same pot.

King Deng is stirring up trouble, and Jiang Xinran is stirring up trouble too!
Centralizing power, centralizing military power, damn it!

I almost made a huge mistake!
So, should we inform those two unlucky guys, William and Fred?
The thought flashed through Li Wei's mind, but he also felt that William and Fred, as seasoned veterans of internal power struggles, should be able to figure out that everyone might be secretly preparing to flee.

Thinking of this, Li Wei turned back and went directly to Li Yue, who was digging for wild grass and collecting medicinal herbs, and handed her the Chaotic World Development Card.

When you use the Chaotic World Exploration Card to explore the surrounding area, the map will be recorded in the Exploration Card and then shared with your faction's allies.

However, if you don't have an exploration card, for example, if Ah-Dai has explored at least 500 li in radius today, its exploration area is not on the shared map.

This thing, from the very core, exudes the feeling of a loving family.

At this moment, Ah Dai was flying about 20 or 30 miles ahead of Li Wei, with Li Wei following silently behind. He no longer needed to explore every ravine and grove of trees as he used to; there was no need.

There are three objectives now.

First, figure out which areas are suitable for rapid marches, and whether there are any magical creatures of level six or higher in the current area.

Second, find out whether the surrounding area has been infiltrated by the enemy and set up ambushes at key locations.

Third, find out where the enemy started their attack and whether they have any deployments targeting our side.

As for where to settle down specifically, that's impossible. At this stage, facing the dark and chaotic map, even a genius like me can't do anything. But staying away from Duke Kader and his faction members, and at the same time, staying away from Jiang Xinran, is a basic strategy.

That night, Li Wei almost swept across nearly four thousand miles, roughly scouting the northwest and southwest directions of his own forces. He identified three retreat routes and five temporary emergency retreat routes, and located the strongholds of two enemy traitors. Although it was not yet certain whether the enemy had received Duke Kader's orders to encircle or blockade the surrounding area, he did not want to gamble on that outcome.

It's worth mentioning that Duke Kader's starting position is less than 1700 miles away from Jiang Xinran's starting position, located in the southeast direction. Well, that's actually quite a distance.

"If I were Duke Kader, when I saw Jiang Xinran set the starting location in her back garden, I would probably understand Jiang Xinran's intention immediately. And this old man who has lived for thousands of years would probably not give Jiang Xinran, or us, any chance."

"So I guess that yesterday, while Jiang Xinran was dealing with the pack of demon wolves and I was dealing with the stone trolls, Duke Kader must have already sent his elite troops over stealthily."

"Today is probably the time he will make his move."

Thinking of this, Li Wei couldn't help but feel anxious. This ancient mountain was truly unpredictable and mysterious!

With one hour left before dawn, Li Wei silently returned to the starting location.

The area remains bustling, but what was once a picturesque plain is now riddled with potholes, resembling an unsightly bald head.

Outside that large pit, Hathaway stood there, gazing towards the northwest, as if she had turned into a waiting-for-her-husband stone.

Something was wrong, but Li Wei couldn't detect anything unusual.

The moment Li Wei appeared before her, she almost burst into tears. She hugged Li Wei tightly, and at the same time, five Sequence 3 magic runes landed on Li Wei's chest, followed by a Sequence 3 life blessing.

"escape……"

She only had time to utter one word before Li Wei threw her off balance. Almost instantly, a black arrow, as sharp as the Grim Reaper, pierced Li Wei's chest silently.

He didn't even notice his +15 perception because it was suppressed.

(End of this chapter)