Chapter 453: Risk of Pathfinding

On his way, Meng Chao saw quite a number of citizens sitting at their entrances and polishing the monster bones in their hands. They were making the monster ribs and femurs into daggers, blades, and other tools.

Many of the monster bones were tough and malleable. They had the different functions of metals.

But the growth of each monster bone was different, so it was difficult for factories to process them on a large scale in an assembly line.

Fortunately, Dragon City had too much labor power, so they decided to ask the citizens who were idling in their houses to go through simple training and handle this sort of stuff.

Superstar was in the monster material recovery business. Hence, they distributed a lot of the tasks that did not require a lot of skill, were not dangerous, but highly repetitive and trifling to the normal citizens. This way, they could be considered to be answering to the call of the Survival Committee to help the city resolve the problem of the labor force.

Of course, this sort of task could not satisfy the entire labor market.

While walking through the area, Meng Chao still saw a lot of people who were energetic but had nothing to do, so they looked angry and appeared to be one step away from getting into a fight if someone disagreed with them.

No one could do anything about it. Dragon City had just started expanding their territory, so it was impossible to provide enough positions in the wild to the normal people.

Once there were a lot of people who did not have anything to do in a society, all sorts of internal problems would definitely arise.

And if these internal problems were used by the abnormal beasts with ulterior motives, they could be turned into all sorts of intense conflicts, which would slow down Dragon City’s expansion outwards.

If they slowed down their expansion, the internal problems would become worse.

This was the malicious cycle the abnormal beasts wished to see.

It was also the reason behind why Dragon City paid such a devastating price during the later stage of the Monster War.

In this life, Meng Chao helped Dragon City have a good start, but they were far from being able to relax just yet. He had to destroy the malicious cycle in one fell swoop to completely suppress the monster civilization.

With this thought in mind, Meng Chao arrived at East Settlement No.4, 233.

It was a dark six-story building. Its structure was much simpler than that of a normal residential building. It looked like multiple containers stacked together with the stairs and corridors being outside. By the looks of it, each family had a huge, square space for themselves. It was like the dorms in a construction site.

At that moment, the corridor of the second floor was full of people.

Angry shouts came from one of the apartments, along with the sounds of things being thrown around.

In a moment, eight burly men with fierce expressions strode out.

The onlookers quickly avoided them. The fierce men did not even look at them and just squeezed their way through domineeringly. They shoved quite a number of citizens on the floor and did not seem to intend to help them up.

The citizens did not dare to ask them to help them up either. Without another sound, they climbed up and moved to the side to discuss things.

Meng Chao wanted to climb up the stairs when the men charged out.

The stairs were narrow, and Meng Chao knocked into the shoulder of the man right in front of the others.

Meng Chao felt as if he had been bitten by an ant.

Meanwhile, that man ended up with his butt on the stairs.

Meng Chao casually cast a glance at the men. He did not sense any powerful spirit energy waves from them. By the looks of it, they were normal people.

Unless a normal person was performing malicious crimes, a superhuman had a really troublesome time attacking them.

Meng Chao pushed his sunglasses and said nothing. He walked through the path the men opened up for him.

The men could smell the faint scent of blood from Meng Chao.

Their perception toward danger was much higher than that of normal citizens.

Even the man sitting on the stairs did not dare to provoke this mysterious and unfathomable fighter. He left together with the others in a hurry while whispering with each other.

Meng Chao arrived in front of Apartment 204.

He noticed that this was the apartment that the men had come out from just now.

Then, he felt a little regretful. He should have stopped those men and asked them what was going on.

But that was fine. With his current strength, they would not be able to run if he wanted to figure out who they were.

When he stood at the door, he found that there was nothing in the apartment.

After all, this was a temporary settlement. It was already considered very good for the people here to have their dwellings upgraded from a tent to a container and getting a roof over their heads.

However, the apartment could be said to be nothing but walls. Aside from a few folding beds and bunk beds, the most valuable furniture was a small dining table and chairs.

The words “Pay Your Debt” were sprayed all over the walls with red paint, and since it was not dry yet, it was as if drops of blood were dripping down the words.

All the furniture was turned over, and a few porcelain bowls and cups were shattered.

There was a middle-aged woman who coughed nonstop, along with a stubborn-looking, short-haired girl with her lips pursed crouching on the floor while she picked up the stuff on the floor.

Meng Chao looked at the neighbors who were watching from the corridor. Then, he walked in and shut the door behind him.

The girl and the woman looked up. They watched this unwelcome guest with puzzlement.

Meng Chao removed his sunglasses and smiled, showing off his pearly white teeth.

The girl stared at him for a long time before her eyes went wide. She became so excited that she cheered, “Big Brother Chao!”

This girl was naturally Ning Xing, the talented girl from the martial arts refresher course Meng Chao taught before.

The martial arts refresher course in the eastern temporary settlement was originally taught by Ms. Xiao Fanghua. Meng Chao would occasionally come over to help, but nothing more, since he did not have a teaching license.

Besides, he was still a university student. He was only around six or eight years older than the children, so he did not like people referring to him as a teacher when there were already so many people calling him Leader Meng due to him bringing the Broken Star Club members to organize a few public welfare activities here in the past.

He did not like this title. The Broken Star Club was mainly managed by Qin Hu, who was the director. He was really just a leader in name. At most, he acted as the middleman, so he was not worthy of the title.

He had thought about it and decided that Big Brother Chao was the most comfortable title. Of course, being referred to as Ace Chao felt pretty good too.

Ning Xing quickly introduced her mother to Meng Chao.

Mrs. Ning had clearly heard about Meng Chao countless times before. She stood up excitedly but then started coughing loudly. Her face turned red, and she did not even know what she should say.

“Ma’am, don’t get worked up. I was just passing by and thought to see how Ning Xing is doing.”

Meng Chao helped them pick up the tables, chairs, and folding beds. Then, he helped Ning Xing move Mrs. Ning to the bed to sit. He originally wanted to pour her a glass of water, but all the cups were smashed, so he could only give the Tyrant Mammoth’s nose and Demonic Halberd Pig’s thigh to Ning Xing.

“The Demonic Halberd Pig’s thigh is for you. Have your mother turn it into a stew. As for the nose, it’ll be hard for you to take care of it at home. Bring it to the martial arts refresher course. I’ll notify the kitchen and have them cook it carefully so that you can eat it as a supplement.”

“Thank you, Big Brother Chao.” Ning Xing stood up and bowed deeply to Meng Chao.

Mrs. Ning rubbed her hands and said, “Th-That won’t do. Over the past few months, Superstar’s Manager Qin has already taken care of us a lot. He even gave Ning Xing two scholarships. You’re being too kind to us, Leader Meng, you’re too kind!”

“It’s what I should do. Ning Xing has a lot of cultivation talent. What she lacks is just a bit of resources and chances. Right now, if we give her some help, I believe that at some time in the future, she will repay Superstar one hundred times.

“What we’re doing is something normal for a lot of enterprises in Dragon City. Everyone is performing a fair trade, so no one owes anyone anything. No one needs to thank anyone either.”

Meng Chao was worried that they would reject the offer, so he smiled and added, “Honestly, I won’t even have to wait for long. In a few days’ time, the city is going to organize a maximum punching strength competition for middle school students. Ning Xing can wear the fighting robe from Superstar when she goes to the competition.

“As long as she succeeds in the challenge and becomes the defender of the arena for a few rounds, the advertising effect will be enough for us to earn back all of the money we poured into her in terms of sponsorship. In truth, we’d be the ones who will be benefiting from her!”

“Don’t worry, Big Brother Chao!” Ning Xing had always been a tomboy, and her punching strength had increased over the past few months, so she was even more confident than before. She jumped up and swung her fist. “I’ll definitely become the defender of the arena!”

“However strong you are, there’s always someone stronger. Your opponents won’t just be your classmates from the refresher course. You’ll also be facing your peers from plenty of key schools and private schools. Many of them have powerful skills, so don’t underestimate them!”

Meng Chao looked around and changed the topic. “Over the past three months, I’ve been training in the wild, so I didn’t have the time to come and visit all of you in the refresher course. I came over today to see whether you ran into any problems and whether I can protect you by solving your problems.”

Even a blind man could see the glass shards all over the floor and the terrifying “Pay Your Debt” on the walls.

Mrs. Ning sighed. Ning Xing knew that Meng Chao was powerful, so she could not help but say, “Big Brother Chao, I-I didn’t run into any trouble, but I think my brother is in trouble. Could you help us find him?”

Meng Chao was a little stunned.

Ning Lang was missing?

“What exactly is going on? Who were those fierce-looking people just now?” Meng Chao asked.

The story Ning Xing told him was about the same as Qin Hu’s, but there were a lot more details.

She said that her older brother, Ning Lang, was not a bad person. When he was young, he was even the pride of the family and the entire residential area.

But when he entered high school, he went through spirit energy deviation and was heavily injured. He lost all hope to awaken to supernatural abilities and became hot-tempered and surly. He also got to know a lot of people working in society and started to often cause trouble, which brought a great deal of worry to the family.

A year before, he told his family excitedly that he was going to the wild as a pathfinder. As long as he succeeded, he would become rich overnight, and the entire family could live without worry. Naturally, he could also solve his sister’s problem with the lack of cultivation resources.

Pathfinding itself was not a problem.

Even though it was dangerous, Dragon Citizens were born to face all sorts of dangers head-on. They were indifferent toward life and death, would fight if they were displeased with something, and were fearless toward death.

Ning Lang’s greatest problem was that he was greedy. He did not join other people’s pathfinding squad as a normal pathfinder.

Instead, he borrowed a large amount of money in secret and bought a lot of weapons, equipment, and construction machines, then used the connections he had built up over the years while fooling around to gather a large group of friends to build his own enterprise.

It has to be known that when it comes to pathfinding, aside from skills and fighting strength, a lot of luck is also required.

If they were lucky, there would not be a lot of powerful monsters around the developing land, but they would be able to discover a water source with a lot of spirit energy, a rare metal mine, or a crystal mine. Soon, mega corporations would come to fancy their land, and they would turn from a guerilla army to a regular army.

The other situation would be that word would get out, and more pathfinders would come to them. They would then turn the developing land into a new town, and with more people, they would be stronger, so monsters would not dare to provoke them.

At that time, the pathfinders could use the resources they found in the developing land to get a chance to rise to the top in one go.

But Ning Lang was someone with horrible luck.