Chapter 116: The Rat Race

Considering this possibility, the look Wang Xian gave Lu Sheng was inevitably somewhat strange.

"You aren't going to let your life-bound card bleed, are you?" Wang Xian thought for a moment and decided to offer a warning: "You had best not let your life-bound card bleed; that would be extremely detrimental to its future growth."

"Uh... rest assured, it's not my life-bound card," Lu Sheng replied. "My life-bound card couldn't bleed even if it wanted to, so feel free to use it."

Hearing this, Wang Xian felt relieved. After all, it would be wrong to joke around with the potential of one's own life-bound card.

"In that case, I am relieved. However, producing a blue-quality tenfold fertility card is not something that can be done in a short amount of time."

"I need time for experimentation. To create high-quality cards, the ratios of many materials must be adjusted."

Lu Sheng waved his hand. "That is not a problem. But roughly how long will it take to finish?"

Wang Xian pondered for a moment before saying, "It will take at least seven days. If I'm lucky, it will take less time; if I'm unlucky, it's hard to say."

"Seven days?" Lu Sheng frowned. "Fine. If you run low on blood, just have Nuannuan come to me."

Wang Xian nodded, indicating he understood. Shortly after, Lu Sheng left Wang Xian's home.

Walking through the settlement, Lu Sheng pondered his next steps. First and foremost was the training of his subordinates. Although he possessed many monsters with high levels, there were many tasks they simply could not perform. The purpose of training his subordinates was not to enhance his own strength, but to have them gather intelligence or run errands for him. It was also for the security of the settlement; he couldn't possibly handle every single matter himself—otherwise, he would just be a glorified babysitter.

Though nothing had been said explicitly, everyone knew he was the boss of this settlement. If he could raise the strength of the people in the settlement, he wouldn't need to worry about so many trivial things. For instance, if he wanted a card with clone functionality, he could just have his subordinates find it for him once they were capable enough.

Besides, cultivating these people only required using the "red sacs" he had no use for anyway. Currently, there were nearly ten thousand fire ants in his sub-dimensional space, and the towering anthills contained fire ants ranging from the first to the fourth rank. He had already accumulated thousands of red sacs, and more red fluid was being produced by the sacs every single day. He went about it almost like gathering eggs; upon waking, he would enter the sub-dimensional space and have the queen order the fire ants that had produced red fluid to come out and meet their end. Harvesting the red sacs was a daily chore.

His physical body spent most of its time feeding the fire ants and harvesting the sacs. Sometimes, when bored, he would have his fire ants spar with his other monsters.

With these thoughts in mind, he sought out Li Kuang.

"Sir, are you saying you want to train us?" Li Kuang doubted his own ears. In a world of scarce resources, everyone's supplies were insufficient, let alone Lu Sheng, who never stepped outside. In his view, since Lu Sheng never left, even if he were powerful, he shouldn't have many resources. In fact, there were times Li Kuang had wanted to advise Lu Sheng to go out and search for resources, but he feared displeasing him and had held his tongue. But now, what was he hearing? The Lu Sheng who never went out to hunt for resources was now offering to provide them with resources for training?

"That’s right. Your strength is too weak; I can't even get you to do anything for me," Lu Sheng said with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Without waiting for Li Kuang to say more, Lu Sheng produced a massive pile of red sacs.

"There are thousands of red sacs here, ranging from the first to the fourth rank. Handle them yourself and prioritize upgrading the elite members. Make sure Lei Yan is on the training list, understand?"

He found Lei Yan quite useful, so having him grow stronger would be a good thing.

Li Kuang stared blankly at the resources before him; this was simply beyond his comprehension. According to his subordinates' reports, Lu Sheng had never left the settlement. Where on earth did he get so many resources? Li Kuang didn't know, nor did he want to know. He felt that as long as he followed Lu Sheng properly, he would certainly live the good life. Judging by Lu Sheng’s current display of wealth, he was clearly not a stingy person. As long as Lu Sheng continued to grow stronger, they would be able to rise along with him.

Lu Sheng’s image in Li Kuang's heart became mysterious and formidable. He knew that Lu Sheng definitely held secrets and treasures, but those were things he dared not covet. He couldn't even allow himself to think about them; otherwise, greed would lead him into the abyss.

Seeing Li Kuang still standing there in a daze, Lu Sheng patted his shoulder. "Stop daydreaming and handle this properly."

Li Kuang snapped back to reality, casting aside all complex thoughts. Only one idea remained in his heart: absolute loyalty to Lu Sheng! The resources used to train them must be those Lu Sheng deemed beneath him. This meant Lu Sheng possessed even greater resources, which in turn suggested that his current strength might already be unimaginably high. Following a powerhouse, if nothing else, meant his safety was guaranteed.

"Thank you, sir! I will certainly cultivate talented people for you!"

"Good. Focus on training them in intelligence gathering, though of course, that doesn't mean we don't need combat personnel."

After saying this, Lu Sheng left, leaving Li Kuang to handle the operations. Once Lu Sheng was gone, Li Kuang first took inventory of the red sacs and then summoned everyone for a meeting.

There were seven battalions in the settlement, and he planned to select seventy people for training. Following Lu Sheng’s instructions to focus on a core of elites, Li Kuang issued the order. Each battalion commander was to select ten people, five of whom had to be adept at intelligence gathering.

With the order in hand, the commanders approached their subordinates. Lei Yan gathered his people and spoke loudly:

"Lord Lu Sheng wants to train talent. The requirements are simple: five people who are strong in intelligence gathering, and five who are combat-capable and quick-witted."

"Your current strength doesn't matter; as long as you have talent, you can compete for this opportunity."

"Talent is the most important thing. Now, show me the capabilities of your life-bound cards one by one so I can evaluate them."

"Of course, if you don't wish to reveal your card's abilities, I won't force you."

"Remember, you only get one chance."

Then, Lei Yan began having them show him their life-bound card talents one by one. He took this opportunity very seriously. He wanted to cultivate his most outstanding subordinates so they could shine in front of Lu Sheng and earn him greater favor. He had ambition; he wanted to replace Li Kuang. Only then would he be the person with the highest status among Lu Sheng’s subordinates. Why was Li Kuang the one responsible for delivering Lu Sheng's messages and handling his affairs? These should be his, Lei Yan's, duties!

Lei Yan knew clearly that unless he replaced Li Kuang, he could never be Lu Sheng's top subordinate. However, exactly how to replace him was the question. He needed an opportunity.