Chapter 24: Unruly People, Strange Cycle

Ji Chen, who was planning the construction of his territory, saw the system notification. 

He paused for a moment but was not surprised. 

The notification of increased support from the people had appeared frequently in the past few days. 

Most of the time, it would appear when he brought food back to the territory. However, as the food supply increased, the increase in support gradually decreased. 

This time, even though they brought back thousands of units of food, only a few points were added. 

This meant that the residents were no longer solely concerned with the survival factor of food.

If Ji Chen wanted to further increase the morale of the people, he had to satisfy their other needs such as clothing, housing, and even luxury goods like specialties. 

This made him feel like he was playing a simulation business game where he needed to constantly satisfy the harsh needs of the unruly people in order to increase their satisfaction and let them continue to work well. 

Otherwise, not only would the satisfaction level not increase, but it would also decrease, even lower than before.

However, there are many differences. In those business simulation games, they generally can't do anything to those unruly people. They could only bite the bullet and endure to meet their requirements.

He had absolute power here, and if the residents were not satisfied with their needs being met and failed to work properly, he could make them work in the dark and dismal mines until death. 

He would teach them the meaning of being loved by a feudal lord. 

Besides being a person who loved his people like his own children, he could also be a Class A war criminal. 

Ji Chen looked at the drawings on the table, stroking his chin in thought.

In these past few days, by working hard to expand the available area of the territory instead of wantonly destroying trees, the open space has greatly increased. 

Following Wilus's suggestion, they mainly expanded towards the east, west, and north directions, while leaving the jungle facing the sea intact, only slightly widening the path leading to the beach. 

This could effectively use the trees to block the salty sea breeze and extend the lifespan of wooden buildings.

In addition, the ship that was stuck on the reef was being dismantled. Although the keels and masts were completely damaged, there were still some structures that could be reused. 

These were being dismantled and preserved for future shipbuilding. 

Ji Chen understood building a ship capable of crossing the ocean would take years, as it required a significant amount of time to prepare the materials. 

With the limited labor force in the territory, this time could be extended indefinitely. 

Nonetheless, escaping the island was already a significant accomplishment. 

However, he wondered if the Murlocs or Naga would be able to transport him across the ocean to become the Pirate King of the Four Seas.

The River Murlocs and Naga Warriors, who were leisurely eating dried sea lizards outside, suddenly trembled at the same time and looked left and right in surprise.

They had a strange feeling of being targeted.

After roughly determining the plan for the future development of the territory, Ji Chen stretched lazily. 

He recalled the encounter with the Kobold hunting team earlier. 

From what they said, it could be inferred that, besides the Kobold tribe, there should be some human natives on this island, and the two groups were in a hostile state. 

When the Kobolds saw Ji Chen, they mistook him for one of the natives, which led to a series of unfortunate events. 

As for those human natives, Ji Chen would definitely find a way to subjugate them in the future. 

As for the Kobolds, their inherent hostility towards humans made it almost impossible to subjugate them. 

Furthermore, he couldn't let such a naturally hostile race coexist with humans on such a small island. 

Someone might ask, why couldn't he use the unit tech tree to change the Kobold's inherent hostility? 

That was a good question! 

The Kobold's allegiance was only superficial, and they wouldn't actually fall under the jurisdiction of the territory. This was because there was no mention of their talent tree in the unit talent tree.

After a while, he found himself in a strange loop.

To truly subjugate the Kobolds,

he needed to change their unit attributes.

To change the unit attributes of the Kobolds,

he needed to truly subjugate them.

It was an unsolvable loop.

Just like the age-old question of whether the chicken or the egg came first.

As for subjugating the human natives and exterminating the Kobolds, he planned to start dealing with them once the beginner's phase was over.

He cleared his mind and left the Lord's Mansion.

Along the way, the subjects immediately stopped what they were doing and bowed respectfully to him.

After strolling around the territory, Ji Chen, who was immersed in the sound of people greeting him everywhere, was in a good mood. 

He took Alice and walked towards the beach, intending to enjoy the sea breeze.

As he walked on the beach barefoot, he let the cool sea water wash over his feet.

Alice followed him like a little girl, stepping on the waves with her jade-like feet and playing in the water happily.

Unconsciously, the small waves wet their clothes, making the fabric on Alice's chest slightly transparent, giving a slightly awkward feeling.

Ji Chen glanced at her unconsciously.

Then he sighed in his heart.

Why didn't he feel awkward when Alice appeared on the beach before, with only a thick membrane wrapped around her body?

But now, with clothes on, even if they were only slightly wet, he felt a strange awkwardness.

What was the reason?

After a while, he suddenly realized.

Ah, it's not the clothes or Alice that are awkward.

It's my dirty mind!

"I am guilty! I need to reflect!"

Ji Chen walked, and his mind was abnormally active.

"Hiss-"

As he walked, his right foot suddenly felt a pain. Limping down to take a look, he saw a blunt metal angle buried in the sand, which he had just stepped on. 

"What's this?"

Ji Chen endured the soreness of his foot and tried to take a closer look. 

[Small Random Resource Box]

[Effect: After use, you can obtain 1400 units of wood, stone, fiber, clay, and crude iron.]

Huh?

It was a random resource box.

It was probably washed here by the sea and buried under the sand.

He had even stepped on it.

Was this luck good or bad?

"My Lord, are you alright? Does your foot hurt?"

Turning around, Ji Chen saw Alice kneeling beside him, allowing the seawater to wet her skirt, her eyes filled with concern like the color of the sea.

He felt a warmness in his heart and touched her hair. "I'm fine, I just stepped on something."

"There's a resource box down here, let's dig it out."

Ji Chen didn't feel like going back to the territory to get tools, so he just picked up two stones from the beach and started digging with Alice.

The sand was so soft that even with just stones, they could easily dig out large amounts of it.

After some hard work, the two of them quickly dug out the main part of the resource box.

He activated it.

"Ding ~ You have unlocked the Random Resource Box. Randomly selecting resources…"

"You received 1400 units of clay."

Clay?

The unexpected clay, which amounts to 1400 units, is equivalent to the production of a fully staffed small clay mine for four days, which is a decent amount. 

With this resource, he can now focus on one important task: upgrading the territory.