7 The Danger in the Night

It was night, and all was quiet.

 In a somewhat undamaged villa, several survivors sat together, the area illuminated by a dim fire.

 "Do you guys think those two are really trying to build a shelter?"

 "Stop joking around. Shelters aren't that easy to build, and it's only the two of them. No matter how strong you are, shelters aren't something you can build with sheer strength."

 "Forget about those two. Let's think about our own situation first. What do we do? This place is no longer safe. Why don't we head to the Lindong shelter? That's a large shelter with a military garrison. If we go there, we won't have to worry about demonized beast attacks."

 The others weren't very optimistic about this proposal.

 "The Lindong shelter is a good place, but how do we get there? That place is sixty kilometers away, and that's only as the crow flies. If it were that easy to get to the Lindong shelter, we wouldn't have chosen to remain at this small shelter."

 The others felt dejected at these words.

 They had believed themselves safe in the underground freezer, but in the end, they had almost been killed by a demonized beast. If not for those two experts passing by…

 Someone suddenly said, "If only those two experts were heading to the Lindong shelter, then we could just follow them."

 "Hmph, they plan on building a shelter, so why would they head to Lindong? Even if they went, there's no guarantee they would bring us along. In my view, it would be better to head to one of the closer small shelters."

 "But why can't we stay here? Those two experts said that so long as we stay in the villa area, he can guarantee our safety."

 But nobody believed these words.

 In their minds, there were only two people in Tang Yu's group, and they were nowhere to be seen. There was no telling if those two experts would come to save them if they actually encountered danger, and even if they did, there was certainly no guarantee that they would come in time. They weren't optimistic about the chances of building a shelter because they had too few people. No matter how powerful they were, the two of them could not possibly handle everything on their own.

 Deep down, they also understood that as there was no camaraderie between them, they had no basis on which to ask for protection from others. However, though they rationally understood, emotionally, they hoped that someone would save them when they ran into danger.

 This was simply the human instinct for survival.

 In the end, it was Chen Haiping who ended the conversation. "Rather than thinking about these things, it would be better to practice shooting guns and swinging swords. Even if you're not Awakened, you should at least give yourself a better chance to survive."

 The dim candle on the table flickered and swayed.

 Chen Haiping wiped down his weapons. Just when he was about to say something more, he suddenly paled.

 "Watch out!"

 Chen Haiping immediately grabbed the handle of his machete and grimly looked out the villa's french window.

 Two dark green lights appeared, a terrifying vision in the darkness.

 "It's a demonized beast!" someone yelped in fear.

 "Didn't they say that they had wiped out all the demonized beasts in the area?!" someone yelled in confusion.

 "I knew it! It was just the two of them, so how could they keep out all the demonized beasts? Demonized beasts wander around everywhere, and without sturdy walls and a complete defense line, it's impossible to have a safe resting area!"

 Chen Haiping said nothing, only waved his hand for the others to retreat. He knew that a thin French window would never be able to keep out a demonized beast.

 Suddenly… boom!

 The entire villa shook, and the candle thumped to the ground.

 Some of the survivors were baffled and others cried out in panic. Only Chen Haiping, who was staring at the demonized beast this whole time, was barely able to make out a humanoid figure descending from the sky and stomping the demonized beast into the ground.

 Chen Haiping was finally able to make out that it was the mysterious armored expert from that afternoon. With one stomp, it had crushed the demonized beast to death.

 The others gasped. They had not seen the process, but the result… that frightening demonized beast had been stomped to death like a bug.

 They all had complicated looks on their faces. They hadn't believed in Tang Yu and had even been badmouthing him, believing that he had just been using them as labor and didn't care about them. But just now…

 The moment the demonized beast had appeared, that armored expert had stomped it to death. They couldn't see the armored expert's face, but the image of his back was engraved into their minds.

 Number Two, who was in charge of guarding the domain, did not leave its spot, but it took the spear from its back and thrust it into a nearby bush.

 A thrust as fast as lightning!

 Abnormal ferocity!

 Before the people inside the villa could react, they saw a small demonized beast skewered on the tip of the spear.

 A demonized beast had been hiding in there!

 The hearts of the survivors thumped in fear. They did not know what sort of demonized beast this was, only that this world was too dangerous.

 But when Chen Haiping looked over, his eyes immediately flew open!

 It was a spiked worm!

 The so-called Assassin in the Night!

 Chen Haiping knew about it because the strongest Awakened of the shelter had died to a surprise attack from a spiked worm. If that Awakened had not unleashed their ability before dying and brought the spiked worm down with them, the spiked worm alone would have been able to throw the defense line into complete disarray.

 But this spiked worm had been skewered on the spear without the slightest chance to resist.

 Chen Haiping's breathing turned ragged and his eyes went round. He had experienced more shock in a single day than he had in a month.

 With the spiked worm still on the spear, Number Two vanished into the night, leaving the survivors wide-eyed and speechless.

 It took several minutes until they finally came back to their senses.

 "We… lived?"

 "Yes." Someone turned in Number Two's direction, an ashamed look on his face. "Perhaps… we shouldn't have doubted them. Don't you remember them saying that as long as we stayed here and worked for them, they would guarantee our safety and even provide us food? I'm thinking that it's fine to stay here."

 "That's right. With the world ended, every place is the same. If we stay here, at least we'll be safe."

 ...…

 On the domain map, two red dots dissipated, while the yellow dots that indicated neutrality flashed before finally turning green.

 Green did not mean that those people would trust him without reservation. Trust between survivors in the apocalypse did not come so easily. But this sort of conversion meant that they had acknowledged him to a certain level.

 This was enough!

 Tang Yu went over to a clearing behind the castle. At his side was a pile of waste wood that he had asked the survivors to bring over after they had finishing transporting the food. After the survivors brought it to the villa, he had asked Number One and Number Two to bring it here.

 "I can finally build the first building of my domain."

 The Overlord Castle did not count as a true domain building, but was the core of the domain that was linked to the domain's level. This was the second day since he had received the system, and only now did he have the resources to build his first building. Tang Yu felt that this was far too slow. And this was thanks to the survivors. Otherwise, he would have had to use the time during which Number One and Number Two were hunting down demonized beasts to move over materials, and only the heavens knew how long that would delay him.

 He opened the building menu and selected the tavern.

 Construct!

 "Ding dong! Constructing the tavern costs two hundred units of Origin Crystal and one hundred units of Wood."

 An invisible energy pulled the wood on the ground into the air and set it up into the frame for the tavern.

 Afterward, the Origin Crystals in his pocket turned into points of light and fused into the frame. Just like when the Overlord Castle had been built, the frame suddenly transformed into an old-fashioned tavern.

 Tang Yu impatiently walked into the tavern.

 The tavern wasn't large, only one floor, and it covered an area of fifty to sixty square meters. The tavern had a few tables and chairs, and Tang Yu could see that the shelf behind the counter was displaying many kinds of alcohol.

 It was like a real, ordinary tavern. It wasn't as luxurious as the Overlord Castle, but this was just a representation. The true ability of the tavern was to recruit adventurers.

 This was Tang Yu's most dire need. So long as he paid a certain price, he could sign a contract with an adventurer and gain their loyalty.

 Whether to develop his domain or realize any other plans, he needed sufficient manpower. In this aspect, it was especially important to have people that he could trust.