Chapter 3: Little Details

With Zhao Wenbin accompanying him, Li Mingxing thoroughly clarified the divisions of his city. Regarding the city's zoning, Zhao Wenbin used the City Hall as the center, temporarily dividing it into three concentric circles.

The innermost circle was the core zone, centered on the City Hall, the open plaza, the elemental pool, and any other core buildings that might appear in the future. This area was within the freely projectable public zone, but the contents here would be selectively projected.

Outside the core zone was the fully projectable public district. Zhao Wenbin planned to place markets, bars, and other public buildings here, so that whenever Li Mingxing projected the city, these facilities could be released directly, saving him considerable time.

The outermost and largest ring was the free zone, which Zhao Wenbin further divided into five areas. Any new buildings would be considered for their attributes and placed here first; when projecting, only one-fifth of them would be released.

After explaining everything, Zhao Wenbin invited Li Mingxing into his office to show him the overall zoning map.

Having seen all this, Li Mingxing felt his worries melt away. He handed Zhao Wenbin the plans for building the market, instructing him to arrange the construction.

Li Mingxing, meanwhile, sat in his own office, contemplating the two tasks he had accepted. Both were of great importance to him, requiring him to consider every detail. If he failed to safeguard his identity while completing the tasks, he risked being hunted by heroes of either the Light or Darkness factions.

Thus, Li Mingxing had to protect his identity while fulfilling his missions, which required an extensive intelligence network—something he had never possessed as an ordinary person.

However, for the second task, Li Mingxing had one advantage: he knew the whereabouts of a follower of the Light faction.

That was the person who had previously visited his home seeking Zhao Wenbin, and Li Mingxing also knew there was someone in the city who possessed an imperial aura. If Zhao Wenbin were to inadvertently appear near this person, the Light faction follower would almost certainly reveal themselves.

In this way, Li Mingxing could provoke a conflict between the follower and the noble. Unlike Li Mingxing, this young lord was not from ordinary origins; his family's influence far exceeded anything Li Mingxing could imagine.

If he arranged things well, Li Mingxing might even discover the hero who guided that noble.

With this thought, Li Mingxing’s gaze fell upon Zhao Wenbin, who was energetically directing the fierce magical slaves. Watching Zhao Wenbin’s efforts, Li Mingxing suddenly spoke, “Zhao Wenbin, would you like to take a trip to the real world?”

Zhao Wenbin, busy directing the slaves, was startled by the voice. He turned to look at Li Mingxing standing by the window on the second floor of the City Hall, unsure what to say.

Li Mingxing smiled and said, “You’ve done very well lately, so I’ve decided to give you an opportunity. If you stay here all the time, you might go mad. Here’s the deal: try to bring back a pair of pigs, cows, and sheep to my city. If you want to bring fish or something else, that’s fine too, but you must not let anyone discover your existence or the city’s entrance.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Wenbin’s face was alight with joy. He nodded repeatedly, promising to accomplish the task Li Mingxing had assigned.

But Li Mingxing reconsidered and added, “No, this still isn’t safe enough. We should sign a contract: if you leak or intend to leak anything in the real world, you’ll die the instant you try to speak.”

Zhao Wenbin had no objections. Having stayed here so long, he already knew that leaving was impossible. Now, with a chance to go out, such a minor condition was hardly worth worrying about.

So Zhao Wenbin immediately set aside his work and hurried over to Li Mingxing. When he entered the office, Li Mingxing had already prepared the contract.

Seeing Zhao Wenbin rush in, Li Mingxing placed the contract before him. “This is an Evil faction contract. Though I’m not Evil myself, I can sign it. Once signed, someone will monitor its execution, so I have nothing to worry about.”

Zhao Wenbin didn’t listen to the explanation; without hesitation, he signed his name.

Watching Zhao Wenbin, Li Mingxing smiled gently. “Alright, remember: you have only one chance, ten days. If you don’t return in ten days, you’ll never come back.”

After saying this, Li Mingxing instructed Zhao Wenbin to hand off his tasks, then opened the door to the outside world for him.

This was actually the first time Li Mingxing had seen someone else use such a door. Previously, he only needed to swipe his torch to freely move between his city and his rented room, but now he was witnessing the door’s operation for the first time.

The city gate wasn’t very large—just a bit taller than Zhao Wenbin. As soon as Zhao Wenbin walked through, the door snapped shut.

From this, Li Mingxing could tell the passage was quite secure.

After Zhao Wenbin left, Li Mingxing didn’t linger. He departed his city and sought out Yin Haitao, who had returned to the real world ahead of him.

Upon seeing Li Mingxing, Yin Haitao hastily said, “Sir, you’d better take Midalin away quickly. Taking her out on the street, everyone’s staring at us!”

Li Mingxing glanced at Midalin and couldn’t help but laugh. After arriving in the real world, Midalin had changed into a well-fitted dress; with her skin now yellow, she looked much like an ordinary person.

Yet, Midalin hadn’t removed the veil from her face and was strolling the streets with ease, naturally attracting everyone’s attention. Midalin herself seemed unconcerned by the stares, but Yin Haitao felt very uncomfortable.

Watching Midalin, Li Mingxing had to ask, “You changed your clothes—why not remove the veil?”

Midalin shot Li Mingxing a glance, “My appearance is for you alone, Master. No one else may see it.”

Hearing this, Li Mingxing was genuinely touched, but he said nothing, instead turning to ask Yin Haitao how much he had gotten for the gems he’d sold earlier.

Yin Haitao replied reluctantly. Since he had used the underworld’s black market and sold in haste, the three fairly good-quality gems only fetched six hundred thousand yuan.

Moreover, he couldn’t keep selling like this, or he’d surely attract the attention of some underworld bosses, which would make things very troublesome.

Li Mingxing sighed, “Well, six hundred thousand it is. Take out the money. You take two hundred thousand—I need a small intelligence network. I don’t care about anything else; just keep me updated on anything happening in the city.”

“Midalin, you take two hundred thousand as well. This is just the beginning; my market isn’t built yet, so for now, use this money to get some practice. In three days, I expect to see two hundred and fifty thousand.”

“I’ll keep the remaining two hundred thousand for myself—I have some use for it. Also, Yin Haitao, after your intelligence network is established, keep an eye on Zhao Wenbin for me. Let me know if anything unusual happens around him.”

Yin Haitao, shrewd as ever, immediately realized Zhao Wenbin was the focus of Li Mingxing’s attention and promised to handle it well.

After leaving his contact details, Li Mingxing returned to the small room where he’d lived before becoming a probationary hero.

By this time, the room had been rented out again, but Li Mingxing keenly noticed that several unfamiliar figures were now living nearby.

Though none were the men he’d fought that night, Li Mingxing could sense that their aura was identical.

Now, Li Mingxing was no longer a rookie. He immediately activated his Sinister Eye to observe the aura of these men.

He quickly determined that they were ordinary people in the real world, with neither the dazzling radiance of the Light faction nor the shadow of the Darkness faction—barely any excess emotion at all.

Their emotional restraint, combined with their strong, standard physiques, told Li Mingxing they were definitely specially trained elite soldiers.

Their skills might not be exceptional, but their lethality was certainly on par with his battle leopards. If he didn’t fear attracting more attention, Li Mingxing would have liked to capture them for his current mission.

But it was just a fleeting thought; this time, he’d come only to confirm whether the noble’s entourage remained. Now, with certainty, Li Mingxing could begin the next phase of his plan.