Ling Cage: Enhanced Nanosteel Suit at the Start

The brief pause made everyone's hearts leap into their throats.

"It depends on each and every one of us!"

Chen Yuan said loudly, "Therefore, we must unite, we must be strong, and we must bravely face all of this."

That last sentence was like a fuse igniting explosives, instantly setting off the uncontrollable frenzy in the square.

As soon as Chen Yuan finished speaking, the High Priest of the Shadow Order was the first to jump out. He raised his arms high and roared with all his might in an almost frenzied devotion: "The Lord of the City is right! We must obey the orders of the Lord of Shadows and be strong, strong!"

His voice was like a signal flare.

The crowd, whose emotions had already been ignited by Chen Yuan's words, immediately found an outlet for their pent-up emotions.

"Be strong! Be strong!" someone shouted in unison with the high priest.

"Be strong, be strong, be strong!" The shouts began to gather.

"Be strong! Be strong! Be strong!"

Led by the Shadow Order High Priest and several fanatics around him, the slogans grew more and more unified and louder, like surging waves, each one higher than the last.

Chen Yuan stood on the high platform, accepting the fervor of faith that he had personally ignited, as solid as a rock.

But to his surprise, as he listened, something seemed off.

Perhaps it was because the shouts were too fast and urgent, or perhaps it was because accents blended strangely in the huge wave of sound, or maybe some people had their tongues tied...

Then it became:

"Strong, strong, and unyielding..."

"Strong, strong, strong!!"

On the high platform, Chen Yuan felt increasingly uneasy as he listened. His lips twitched involuntarily. "Wait a minute, wait a minute, do you want to hear what you're saying?"

Ok? ? ?

Deng Yixia, Deng Yixia!

The high priest was also stunned. His waving arm froze in mid-air, and the fanatical piety on his face instantly solidified, replaced by a huge question mark on his face. No, what are you shouting?

……

Lighthouse Detention Cell, Room 3.

This place holds the core team of the hunters, led by Mark, as well as Ran Bing, Mo Cheng, Erica, Fei Xue, and others.

Although they were disarmed and their clothes were slightly disheveled, they, like Mark, did not recognize the new city lord.

At that moment, the sound of a heavy alloy door sliding open broke the silence.

A figure, carrying a steaming bowl, swaggered in.

It was Chen Yuan.

The white porcelain bowl in his hands was piled high with braised pork belly, glistening with oil, rich in soy sauce aroma, and perfectly marbled with fat and lean meat.

The enticing aroma made several members of the hunter team secretly swallow.

"Hey everyone, good evening!"

Chen Yuan spoke as if he were an old friend visiting, his tone so relaxed it was almost annoying. He even picked up a trembling piece of braised pork, dripping with sauce, with his chopsticks and waved it in front of everyone. "Have you all eaten yet? Oh, judging from your expressions, you haven't eaten yet, have you? What a coincidence, I'm eating right now. Let's chat more after I finish this piece."

He deliberately put the succulent braised pork into his mouth, chewing slowly and deliberately, making satisfied smacking sounds, and mumbling his evaluation: "Tsk, this meat, half fat and half lean, stewed until it's tender and melts in my mouth... Bah, what am I talking about? Hmm... It's just so delicious!"

Mark and the others: "..."

They had imagined Chen Yuan coming to persuade them to surrender, to threaten them, to show off his power, or even to execute them, but they never expected him to come in with a bowl of braised pork, eating the meat while infuriating them.

Erica, being the youngest, had slightly less self-control. Her eyes involuntarily darted towards the bowl of braised pork, her Adam's apple bobbing noticeably as she swallowed.

Perhaps realizing her lapse in composure, her face flushed red, and she stubbornly insisted, "Hmph, who...who wants your meat? I'm not hungry, don't try to tempt us with this!"

However, before she could finish speaking, her stomach betrayed her and started growling.

Erica was so ashamed and furious that she wished she could disappear into the ground.

Mo Cheng stared coldly at Chen Yuan with a serious expression: "What exactly are you doing here? Did you come to see us make a fool of ourselves?"

The hostility in his tone was undisguised.

Chen Yuan finally finished the last bite of rice slowly, let out a loud burp of satisfaction, put down his chopsticks, and wiped his mouth.

He glanced around, his gaze sweeping over Mark's composed face, Ran Bing's worried eyes, Mo Cheng's hostility, Erica's embarrassment, Fei Xue's coldness, and... well, the others weren't important.

"Burp...that feels good."

Chen Yuan clicked his tongue. "I'm here to talk to you all about... well, about doing manual labor, oops, I misspoke, about being a farmer."

Mark and the others were speechless. What kind of hard labor were they doing?

"Ahem, labor makes you happy, and working people are the most glorious. It's better than you just sitting here doing nothing, right?"

Chen Yuan spoke without restraint, seemingly without considering their feelings.

Mo Cheng was the first to explode, "You want us to be your laborers? Dream on!"

Mark stepped forward, raised his hand to hold down the agitated Mo Cheng, and said in a deep voice, "New city lord, is this your way out for us hunters: to do hard labor?"

"Let me correct that..."

Chen Yuan narrowed his eyes, held up a finger and shook it, "After the Lighthouse, there will be no more Hunter Squads. Congratulations on your disbandment."

This news struck like a heavy hammer, hitting everyone hard on the heart.

Hunters are their identity, their honor, and their belonging, for which they risk their lives.

Ran Bing and Fei Xue frowned slightly, but did not speak.

As for the way out!

Chen Yuan said to himself, "From now on, the lighthouse will distribute resources according to work. Your food will all have to be earned through your own labor."

“I’ve acquired a batch of genetically modified, high-yield grain seeds. You can plant them in the Lighthouse breeding area. To put it simply, you can become farmers.”

"What? They want us to go farm and become farmers!"

Mo Cheng could hardly believe his ears. This was worse than death for him. They were elite warriors, hunters who had risked their lives, and now they had to tend to the crops?

Mark held back Mo Cheng, who was about to jump up, but as the captain, he forced himself to think calmly: "Chen Yuan, you abolished the three laws and promoted equality for all, freedom of love, etc... Have you thought about the possible consequences of these decisions? The rules that the Lighthouse has been operating under for decades have their reasons. What if one day you are no longer in the Lighthouse, or the Mana ecosystem undergoes a drastic change and this new set of rules collapses? Who will clean up the mess?"

Mark's words went straight to the heart of the matter, revealing a deep concern for the future of the beacon.

Chapter 60 Other plans

Chen Yuan looked at him, smiled disdainfully, and said, "Alright, Captain Mark, stop with your nonsense. You yourself don't actually agree with the laws Morgan issued, do you? Otherwise, you wouldn't still be so resentful about Red Bandit's death to this day..."

"shut up!!"

Mark instantly flew into a rage, like a beast whose tail had been stepped on.

Hong Kou, whose sister was burned at the stake for breaking the law, is his eternal sore spot and the pain of his life!

Chen Yuan actually brought it up in public, which completely enraged him—well, it was a stress response.

Mark's eyes were bloodshot. If Ran Bing and his teammates hadn't held him back, he might have already lunged at Chen Yuan and fought him to the death.

The atmosphere in the cell instantly plummeted to freezing point, filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Chen Yuan seemed oblivious to Mark's raging fury. Instead, he leisurely walked to a corner and took out a simple tea set he had redeemed from the system shop.

He boiled water and brewed tea for himself. After finishing, he poured himself a cup, blew on it, and took a sip. "Tsk, look, you're in a hurry again. Young man, don't be so hot-tempered. Come, come, sit down and have a cup of tea. Let's talk about the peace of the lighthouse."

Mark was breathing heavily, his chest heaving, staring intently at Chen Yuan.

After a long time, the rage subsided like the tide, leaving only deep exhaustion and a sense of powerlessness.

He understood that Chen Yuan had seen through him, although he didn't know how the other party knew about Hong Kou.

However, Mark did not truly agree with Morgan's ironclad rules, and Red Cop's death remained a deep and lasting pain in his heart.

Now, Chen Yuan has given him a way out, a seemingly humiliating way out that can save everyone's lives and even allow them to live "relatively freely" under the new order of the Lighthouse.

Being a farmer is better than spending your life in jail or being eliminated as a destabilizing factor.

Mark closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, only resignation remained in his eyes.

He looked at his teammates: Ran Bing's worry, Mo Cheng's resentment, Erica's confusion, and Fei Xue's silence.

Mark sighed, "Fine, farmer it is, we'll...do it."

Mo Cheng wanted to say something, but Mark stopped him with a stern look.

Chen Yuan nodded in satisfaction, put down his teacup, and said, "Don't worry, the seeds and technical support will be in place. Work hard, and the Lighthouse will not let down hard-working people."

He waved his hand, "Open the door and let them in."

The heavy prison door opened again, revealing the lighthouse's dark corridor, where two iron guards stood watch.

With mixed feelings and weary steps, Mark and the others walked out of the cage that imprisoned them and temporarily became farmers of the lighthouse.

After dealing with the relatively "reasonable" hunters, the "relaxation" on Chen Yuan's face completely disappeared, leaving only a cold expression.

He walked toward the cell where the core members of the Light and Shadow Society were being held; the atmosphere there was very oppressive.

Charles, Sharif (Vatican the Lightbearer was held in solitary confinement), and several of the most important priests were imprisoned together.

Charles had lost his magnificent robes and was now dressed in ordinary prison clothes, but even so, his back remained ramrod straight, and his eyes stared blankly at the wall, as if gazing at a non-existent master of light and shadow.

He refused to eat and refused to communicate.

He was like a delicate puppet that had lost its soul, with only a deep-seated resentment occasionally flashing in the depths of his eyes.

Chen Yuan came in alone without any food.

"You heretic, you blasphemer!"

In the adjacent iron-barred cell, a priest suddenly lunged at the bars, cursing at the top of his lungs, "The omnipotent Lord of Light and Shadow will surely unleash divine punishment and burn you, you power-stealing demon!"

Chen Yuan didn't even lift his eyelids before knocking the idiot unconscious with a single punch.

Inside the cell, Sharif, like a caged beast enraged, glared at Chen Yuan with bloodshot eyes and said angrily, "You're not welcome here, get out!"

Chen Yuan seemed not to hear the hostile roar, his gaze lightly sweeping over Sharif's face, which was twisted with anger, and a wicked smile curled at the corner of his mouth: "Oh, isn't this the Shar Pei? Haven't seen you for a few days, still so hot-tempered? What, want to 'sweet' my shoe sole again?"

Memories of the shoe soles instantly flooded my brain. (My brain is being relentlessly attacked by memories.)