Chapter Twenty-Six: Recruiting Manpower

At this moment, as the mechanical voice faded, a new function appeared on the sheepskin scroll: “Leaderboards”!

The leaderboards were divided into three sections.

They were:

Hunting Leaderboard.
First place: Colin, with 143 kills.
Second place: Artu Neiatos, with 39 kills.
Third place: Wang Xiong, with 39 kills.
...

Construction Leaderboard.
First place: Colin, Level 2 Territory.
Second place: Lin Yilan, Level 2 Territory.
Third place: Meichuan Sanyi, Level 2 Territory.
...

Resource Leaderboard.
First place: Colin.
Second place: Bell Grylls.
Third place: Li Chou.
(Note 1)
...

On all three leaderboards, Colin ranked first!

His blood-red name was seared into the eyes of every survivor.

Especially on the hunting board, where his kill count exceeded the second place by over a hundred—Colin claimed the top spot with an overwhelming lead.

At this moment, the chat channel erupted in excitement.

“Holy crap, 143 mutant kills, first in construction, first in resources, a triple bloodbath! Is Colin really that fierce?”

“These three boards are connected—kill more, get more resources, gather more, and naturally you advance further in construction...”

“I was worried he’d get killed yesterday, but I was really overthinking it. Over a hundred kills—hardly anyone in the whole game can beat that...”

“No way, no way, in my head this boss is already three meters tall!”

“No wonder he can withstand that kind of psychological pressure. Turns out people really are built differently—I’ve only killed my second mutant...”

“Why are there foreign names on the leaderboard? Wasn’t this game supposed to be all players from the Celestial Empire?”

“What? You mean you’re not from the Land of the Rising Sun?”

---

“Fuck? You’re not from the Land of Liberty?”

“What? You’re not from the White Nation? When I saw this bread, I thought it was a White Nation game...”

“Damn, no wonder some people talk so weird, like a machine translation—turns out you guys aren’t even from the Celestial Empire!”

“So the game must have a built-in voice translator...”

“I’m nothing special—seventy-seventh on the hunting board, forty-ninth on resources, thirty-fourth on construction, level two territory. But mainly, I just want to say: I’m simple—give me boobs, I’ll give you food...”

“Does anyone teach foreign languages? My skills aren’t great, and before I die I want to learn a bit—eighteenth on the resource board, blonde and blue-eyed, preferably well-endowed...”

“Blonde cultist, you traitor! White-haired lolis are the truth!”

“Come on, you all just want to score, but you make it sound so classy.”

“Boss, boss, what about men? I’m blond, call me Harry, very Pot-ter...”

...

A full stomach breeds desire.

While everyone else was fantasizing about freeloading, Colin was already contemplating his next move!

“Food is plentiful, water as well. The main thing is these ninety-nine extra loaves of bread, which open up many possibilities...”

Colin returned to his house, leaning back in his chair, one arm resting on the armrest, his hand propping up his cheek, fingers tapping absently on the table.

His two subordinates, already upgraded, sat behind the large desk, quietly awaiting orders.

With the territory expanded, the next step was naturally to recruit more people.

Otherwise, in such a large house, there were only three people... He was called a lord, yet only had two underlings. How could that be justified?

It was a blow to Colin’s dignity as a lord!

Recruiting was now a pressing matter.

From the sheepskin scroll, Colin could use mist points to recruit servants—three points each.

Recruiting high-level talents required special recruitment cards.

Those probably only came from quests and couldn’t be obtained under normal circumstances.

So, for now, he could only take in ordinary servants if he wanted to expand.

Of course, Colin wasn’t foolish enough to waste mist points on recruiting servants, since the world channel was full of people desperate to sell—just a few hundred milliliters of water or a loaf of bread could buy a person.

At this stage, people were the least valuable resource.

The daily mission rewards weren’t enough to support even oneself, let alone two servants—for most, they were just burdens.

That’s why Colin planned to take this chance to grow.

But recruiting wasn’t as simple as taking in as many as you wanted.

The main limitations were food and lanterns.

The former was manageable—at this stage of development, resources weren’t that tight yet.

The latter, while not irreplaceable, had a crucial detail: Colin noticed that only when using system lanterns did blood burn at a standard rate.

Otherwise, the blood would burn one or two times faster—hardly cost-effective.

Currently, he had only two lanterns, so Colin planned to base things around them, forming two teams.

The first would naturally be his own.

A standard blood lantern illuminated a diameter of twenty meters, an area of three hundred fourteen square meters—almost three-quarters of a basketball court.

Plenty of space, more than enough for ten people, let alone three.

With standard blood, Colin could use the synthesis function to merge three into one, creating ordinary tainted blood.

Of course, anything higher wasn’t possible yet—he hadn’t unlocked the next level.

“Alright, I’ll recruit twelve people here, making fourteen in total. Groups of three, stationed front, back, left, and right. Number Two as my deputy. I’ll lead this team to explore the treasures,” Colin thought.

Then, the second team would be formed around the other lantern...

Servants couldn’t synthesize, so this team could only use dim tainted blood.

The light from that could only illuminate a radius of five meters—seventy-eight square meters.

To be safe, five people seemed about right—any more and it would get unwieldy; if one went down, the rest would follow.

Besides, this team wouldn’t face anything too dangerous—they’d just scout around the house.

“Pity the others’ sheepskin scrolls and synthesis tables can’t be taken. Otherwise, the second team could be much bigger.”

Colin sighed. The sheepskin scroll and synthesis table were vital items—apparently they disappeared when one died.

He wasn’t entirely sure, but when he’d searched that woman’s corpse, he hadn’t found them.

After confirming with the two servants that there were no issues, the plan was set.

He would recruit sixteen servants, divided into two teams.

Colin started reclaiming unwanted population resources from the trading market.

[Level 3 Water]
[Item Description: Has a slight odor, but should be safe to drink.]
[Type: Consumable.]
[Quantity: 200ml.]
[Price: One servant.]
[Seller’s Note: Message me if you have other unusual items.]