Reincarnated as a bamboo rat, it begins its extreme survival struggle.

The concept of being brought back from the dead may be unfamiliar to ordinary people, but for someone as knowledgeable as Bear Grylls, it is incredibly difficult.

The soul after death will be buried by a priest.

After the ritual, they fall into the Sea of ​​Oblivion and die peacefully until their souls slowly collapse. Souls that are not buried will most likely revive, becoming terrifying, living remains, or even more horrifying monsters.

But no matter how a person dies, their soul is completely different from when they were in their body. The difference is like that between a tadpole and a frog. Ultimately, they are two different states of the same thing, but their outward appearances are completely different.

"Mr. Bell, why are you stopped in the middle of the road? Don't you have a meeting to attend today?"

Just as Bell was thinking, Acorn's voice came from beside Bell.

He had no memory of the adventure, so Acorn still seemed dazed. Unlike Bell, who retained his memories, Acorn had an extra long memory in his mind.

"Meeting? What kind of meeting?"

"Have you forgotten? There's a city meeting today, and as the honorary mayor of Chishui City, you must attend."

As Acorn spoke to Bell, he explained that Bell was now the honorary mayor of Redwater City, holding a very high position within the city, and that he was Bell's personal bodyguard.

As Bell listened to Acorn recount his current identity, he glanced at his own situation and could only say that it was completely different from before.

The current Bear Grylls is no longer a round, fluffy ball.

Although he was still a big white fluffy ball, Bell, standing upright, wore a mini black suit. No bigger than the palm of his hand, he stood on the acorn's shoulder, looking like he was inspecting the city.

Not only did his appearance change, but Bell also discovered that the residents of Redwater City around him did not have any hostility towards him. When he looked over, they even gave him friendly smiles.

"Mr. Mayor, would you like an apple?"

When a goblin traveling merchant met Bell's gaze, he kindly took a large bunch of red apples from the basket on his back and vigorously pushed them towards Bell.

Unable to refuse the kind offer, Bell reluctantly accepted one, holding it in his hands and munching on it as he walked, though he said that with the acorn as a means of transportation, he didn't have to lift a finger.

"You mean, the method of surviving in Chishui City using the essence of Crimson Light was invented by me, and the reason why the various races in Chishui City coexist harmoniously is also because of me, so I have an extremely high status here?"

"Yes, it was only after Mr. Bell discovered that Redwater City began to live a good life after he discovered that it could nourish the Red Light Spirits with kindness, and only after Redwater City became wealthy did its inclusiveness become stronger and stronger."

Acorn explained that the reason he, a skeleton, was able to avoid being ostracized or discriminated against in Redwater City was because Bell discovered the Red Light Spirits and brought the Red Light Essence to the people.

Hearing these words, Bell rubbed his head and pondered.

He knew nothing about this brand-new Chishui City, but it seemed that the essence of Chiguang had truly become a good thing that changed the city. The people here had become simple and honest, and everyone was striving to do good deeds.

"I need to learn more about the new Chishui City, and the city council is the best way to go there and see what kind of person I, the so-called honorary mayor, really am."

Led by Acorn, Bell arrived at the arched building of the city council.

He was thinking the whole way, not only about the situation in Chishui City, but also about the changes happening in his body.

The Red Light God left him with many gifts, including some astonishing treasures in Bell's dream.

"This is the first time I've encountered something that can directly enter my dream world. I'll go in and take a look after the meeting."

Chapter 243 The Honorary Mayor is Just Drawing a Salary for Nothing

"The mayor is here! Silence!"

As soon as Bell stepped into the entrance of the parliament hall, he felt a very different sensation.

Upon seeing this white-haired rat in a suit, the waiter at the door immediately rushed into the council chamber to announce Bell's arrival to everyone.

Everyone who heard the news immediately straightened their posture and stood up straight with solemn expressions when Bell arrived.

The moment Acorn entered the council hall, everyone present bowed slightly to Bell, giving him, the honorary mayor, the utmost respect.

This scene completely stunned Bell. He had always lived on the fringes of intelligent life, and this was the first time in his life he had been so revered by so many people.

In an instant, Bell entered a state of 'Who am I, where am I, what am I going to do?'

Fortunately, Bell adjusted quickly. Although his mind was blank at the moment, as a leader, he often didn't need to say too much.

Amidst the salutes of the crowd, Bell looked around, nodded, and began to speak:

"Let's not get bogged down in these complicated formalities and get straight to the point."

After he finished speaking, everyone took their seats, and the host of the meeting walked to the center of the room to warm up the atmosphere before the meeting began.

His job consisted of only two things: introducing the participants and the agenda of the meeting.

But without him providing a detailed introduction, Bell quickly obtained a wealth of information about the attendees after entering the meeting venue.

The Red God's modifications to the world also took effect on Bell. However, in order to minimize the impact on Bell's personal will, the information left by the Red God was extremely gentle, requiring Bell to spend time adapting to it.

"Are the city council seats generally divided into three categories...?"

As Bell looked at the attendees, information about those who had a significant impact on the city naturally came to his mind.

There are more than 220 seats in the city council. The number of seats is not fixed and depends on the number of Crimson Light Spirits.

Normally, when someone possesses a Crimson Light Spirit, a new seat should be added to the City Council. Of course, if the person coexisting with the Crimson Light Spirit does not wish to join the City Council, no additional seat will be added.

Those who hold seats have voting rights, which in turn influence the strategic policies of Chishui City.

In addition to those who have voting rights, there are three unique individuals who also possess veto power, enabling them to single-handedly reject proposals that are agreed upon by everyone.

As the honorary mayor, Bell possesses veto power.

Besides him, the church representative also has a veto right. After all, the opinions of the church members are usually highly unified. At present, the church is the organization with the most Crimson Light Spirits in Crimson Water City, with a total of 127 Crimson Light Spirits coexisting with the priests.

The Crimson Light Spirits usually hide in Crimson Water City. Only genuine acts of kindness can move them and lead to a symbiotic relationship.

The church's creed places strict demands on its members. Pastors who firmly believe in the church's creed and use it as their guiding principle are more likely to move the spirits than ordinary people.

The church pastors represent the pinnacle of good deeds in Chishui City, and their opinions have a significant impact on the city's development direction.

But good intentions alone cannot sustain the normal operation of a city, especially for priests whose faith requires them to give up their interests and make sacrifices. If they were to completely take control of the city's power, they could destroy the city's basic economy within three years.

Often, pastors propose extremely outrageous motions, such as providing high-standard relief to disaster victims or helping disaster-stricken areas complete reconstruction work.

It's not that these proposals are bad, but the pastors are being too harsh on the residents of their city.

Their proposal suggests that residents of their city should drastically reduce their standard of living in the face of disaster, only meeting their most basic needs for resources, and then transport those resources to other affected cities until the reconstruction of those cities is completed.

Disaster relief is never-ending, and Chishui City's resources are not unlimited, so there's no need to take resources from local residents and hand them over to outsiders.

Therefore, at this time, it is necessary to have pragmatic people who are specifically responsible for the normal operation of the city and the maintenance of its development to stop the pastors' outrageous proposals.

The third person with veto power is the executive mayor of Chishui City, who is responsible for coordinating all matters in the city and allocating resources accordingly.

The executive mayor has a large staff, and basically all grassroots officials are under his management, but very few of his staff can enter the city council.

Only a very small number of officials possess the Crimson Light Spirit, which results in these pragmatic officials having too few votes in the city council. Therefore, giving the executive mayor a veto power is the best way to check and balance them.

In short, the priests and others who gained the Crimson Light Spirit through their pure good deeds represent the ideals of Crimson Water City. The existence of the executive mayor and his ilk represents the realities the city must face.

Caught between these two factions, the role of Bell, the honorary mayor, is quite simple: two words: coast along!

There was practically nothing for him to do in the city. Bell just received the generous resource allocation that belonged to the honorary mayor and could do whatever he wanted. He could even decline the city council's attendance requirements.

There was no other way; the Crimson God had given Bell an extremely high status. According to the Crimson God's setting, Bell was the original founder of this city and the pioneer who developed Redwater City from a small village into one of the four major cities. Even the legal provisions clearly stated that the power of the executive mayor came from Bell's appointment, and under special circumstances, Bell had the right to dismiss the executive mayor.

"Speaking of Acorn, what is my monthly resource allocation as the honorary mayor?"

"The monthly resource allocation is worth 10,000 gold coins. When there is a need, the city's treasury can be used first. However, given Mr. Bell's prestige in this city, there is no problem with him taking whatever he wants from the city's treasury."

After communicating with the acorn telepathically, Bell's beard twitched.

A monthly allowance of 10,000 gold coins for selectable resources is already an astonishing salary level, not to mention that this salary is free.

However, according to Acorn, he has never received a salary, because Bell was able to directly access a large amount of resources in Redwater City based solely on his prestige.

These resources are not just gold coins and fixed materials, but also, more importantly, knowledge and talent.

Bell can freely access the libraries of various professional guilds in Redwater City, and can also mobilize the city guards and a large number of adventurers to go out and explore.

Chapter 244 The Future Development Direction of Chishui City

"I propose once again that, in the name of Chishui City, we send out aid teams to help several intelligent races outside the Seventeen Cities Alliance."

"Nonsense! Do you know how long the journey takes from Chishui City to the lands of those uncivilized races? Are you going to bear the risks and resource consumption?!"

As Bell familiarized himself with his new role as honorary mayor, the two factions within the city council with veto power started arguing again.

Since the battle between the [Netherworld Ruler] and the [Chronology Research Society], the entire continent has been plunged into turmoil of varying degrees. The southwestern region, being deep inland, has been less affected.

However, within the Winterthorn Mountains outside the Seventeen Cities Alliance, the aftermath of the battle with the [Netherworld Overlord] altered the environment. This was because there was a time sampling point of the [Time Sequence Research Society] here. When the [Netherworld Overlord] used the Cycle of Despair, he directly dragged a part of the Winterthorn Mountains into an independent space.

For a high-level battle, it was a trivial incident that caused a terrible area-of-effect attack on the Winterthorn Mountains' ecosystem.

Leaving aside life forms like monsters, the intelligent life forms living in the Winterthorn Mountains alone suffered a devastating blow, to the point of annihilation.

There are three types of intelligent life here. The least affected are the humans on the edge of the mountains. Not many people died due to the environmental changes, and they still retain the ability to rebuild their settlements.

However, the Yetis and Blackrock Dwarves suffered severe damage.

The Yeti race has a low level of culture. They are intelligent beings from the high-altitude regions of the Winterthorn Mountains. This race is physically powerful, but their groups are extremely scattered. Generally, only one Yeti family will live together. They tame magical beasts, snow leopards, and support themselves by hunting animals.

These Yetis are excellent warrior material. The more educated members of the Yeti race will venture out into the world to learn professions. Under normal circumstances, with a little training, an adult Yeti can become an excellent level 10 warrior and gradually become stronger as training continues.

The ruler of the underworld directly seized several peaks of the Winterthorn Mountains, shrinking the Yeti's living area. Many Yetis were forced to leave the high-altitude areas. They couldn't even speak the common language of this world, and after contacting other races, they could only run into obstacles everywhere.

The Blackrock Dwarves are similar to the Yetis; they are a renowned forging race in the southwest region, possessing innate magical abilities that allow them to become excellent magical craftsmen.

But after the Lord of the Underworld intervened, the Forge, on which the Blackrock Dwarves depended for survival, was gone.