Xu Yuan's idea, to put it plainly, was to strip the Pillagers of currency control and the villagers of resource control.
Currency and resources played a decisive role in the Trial Grounds.
Though everyone who entered the Trial Grounds wasn't an ordinary person, the Pillagers and villagers were still outnumbered compared to the players.
So in the later stages of the trial, it would be very hard for them to hold on to these two rights. And these two rights were exactly what sparked war in the Trial Grounds.
Only someone truly fair, and strong enough to hold both rights, could prevent war from breaking out.
Clearly, Xu Yuan was a very good candidate.
But to completely take away the villagers' and Pillagers' control wasn't easy. Xu Yuan wasn't worried that they would refuse the trade.
The villagers and Pillagers didn't need food. Unlike the players, their only fear was external invasion.
They knew how important the things they held were, and more clearly, that those things were the spark for player aggression.
So their needs were obvious, strong firepower support, in other words, equipment.
Since gear was their only need, then the trade was bound to happen.
The hard part now was finding the villagers, finding Mustard, and finding the middlemen.
Back in the waiting room of the Trial Grounds, Xu Yuan already knew that only Mustard from the villager faction had entered this trial.
Since the real HIM gave the conscious Pillagers the special ability to generate emeralds, then naturally, the conscious villager Mustard must also have been given some kind of special ability.
So Mustard, the sole representative of the villager faction, had become a crucial part of the plan.
But Xu Yuan also couldn't just consider the factor of Mustard alone, he still had to consider the villagers that refreshed within this Trial Grounds.
Those villagers could also be traded with, only they couldn't change professions.
If he wanted to control the trade chain, Xu Yuan definitely still had to go and find more villagers as reserves.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
'So many things to do…'
Back in the main world, many small matters Xu Yuan could leave to his subordinates to handle. So everything was still fairly simple to deal with.
But now in the Trial Grounds, being all alone, he indeed felt a bit like he couldn't be in two places at once.
Mainly because the earlier this matter Xu Yuan was planning got done, the higher the success rate. The time left for Xu Yuan wasn't all that much.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan thought for a moment. 'Looks like I still have to find some people who can do odd jobs…'
Xu Yuan originally planned to act as a lone wolf in the early stages and then slowly form his own faction later on.
But now it seemed that this method didn't really work.
There were just too many things to be done in the early stage, if Xu Yuan was alone, the progress would be too slow. And if progress slowed, it would naturally cause a not-small butterfly effect and affect many things.
So Xu Yuan also had no choice but to start looking for help.
Inside this Trial Grounds, Black Blade was naturally the most suitable person. But Xu Yuan had no intention of blindly going to find Black Blade. After all, blindly looking would also take too much time.
Thinking back and forth, the only breakthrough point right now was that group of players who had met Xu Yuan before.
The reason Xu Yuan thought of choosing them wasn't just blindly grabbing at straws in desperation.
He also had his own considerations.
First of all, what could be confirmed was that group of people likely hadn't gone far, or rather, they hadn't left the grassland area.
Earlier when Xu Yuan asked them for the Leatherworker Villager, they didn't let Xu Yuan go with them to their camp.
From this action alone, it could be seen that their camp wasn't some temporary one, they didn't want Xu Yuan to find the location. They definitely still needed to survive there for a while longer.
Next, they sent five people to surround and attack Barbecue Sauce. From this, it could be imagined that their current difficulty was a shortage of food.
Though they had said they wanted to go join Steve, in a food shortage situation, it was impossible for them to take a risky long journey to find Steve, who they didn't even know the exact location of.
So most likely, they were still staying in the same place.
One more point, and this was the most critical one, though Xu Yuan had forcibly taken their things without reason, they still extended an invitation to Xu Yuan.
Although part of the reason was that they wanted to give themselves a way to save face and not look too embarrassed, the fact that they could even say that showed that this group of people understood the bigger picture and had social awareness.
So there was still some basis for cooperation.
Xu Yuan didn't expect them to be as loyal and devoted as Black Blade, but at least with a few more people, more tasks could get done.
As long as they were given appropriate compensation, they could at least help do some work.
Thinking of this, Xu Yuan made a decision. 'Looks like I'll have to go find them…'
Xu Yuan glanced at the chest above his head, then decided to seal up the tunnel he came from and find another place to exit.
Of course, Xu Yuan didn't take a single thing from the chest.
Although those emeralds were indeed tempting, Xu Yuan wasn't stupid. Since the Pillager chief ordered his subordinates to store emeralds in the chest immediately after obtaining them, then he definitely knew the exact number of emeralds.
If even one was missing, he would notice. And once he discovered the emeralds were stolen, the resulting chain reaction wouldn't be good for Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan's meat farm would definitely be discovered.
If the Pillagers discovered the meat farm, they would definitely strengthen the defense in that area.
Trying to enter that region again later wouldn't be so easy.
———
After sealing the tunnel, Xu Yuan dug another one, digging quite far away to avoid alerting the Pillagers.
After reaching the surface, he found that he was already at the edge of the forest region.
Xu Yuan observed the surrounding environment. 'Judging by estimation, their camp should be to the west…'
Though earlier those five players didn't reveal their camp's location, but judging from the direction that the player named Yoyo ran from, carrying the Leatherworker Villager, it was possible to deduce the camp's location.
Clearly, from Yoyo's behavior, he wasn't the kind of person who schemed or played tricks. He naturally wouldn't do something like pretending the camp was in the west while deliberately coming from the east.
So as long as he followed that direction, he should be able to find it fairly easily.
Xu Yuan walked westward for about ten minutes and, just as expected, found a camp.
At this moment, the five players were sitting together, all with faces full of worry.
"I've got 2 pieces of meat on me that'll spoil in just over an hour…"
"Ugh… it's all my fault. At the start I didn't know food would spoil, so I killed pretty much every animal we ran into…"
"What now? Should we go try our luck in the forest over east?"
"Are we the ones gambling on luck, or are the monsters? You don't even know how many monsters are in that forest…"
Just as Xu Yuan expected, this group of players had not left the grassland. The reason they hadn't left, of course, was due to the current food crisis.
Although players able to enter the Trial Grounds could be considered elite, their habitual way of thinking had caused them to stumble in the Trial Grounds.
When players entered the Trial Grounds, their first concern would definitely be food storage. When they just entered, they thought this place was no different from the main world.
If they saw any animals along the way, they basically killed them without thinking. They never considered that food would rot, since food in the main world doesn't spoil.
It was precisely this habitual thinking that led to their current predicament. They had already killed off nearly all the animals they saw earlier along the way.
They left the food in their backpacks and never paid attention, by the time they noticed, most of it had already gone bad.
Later they finally found Barbecue Sauce and wanted to catch and raise it as a food supply, but Xu Yuan beat them to it.
Though they still had some food in reserve and wouldn't starve just yet, they were nearly out of supplies.
Now they only had two options, either wait for nighttime, kill some zombies, and gamble on eating rotten flesh to stay alive. Or head to the forest region to find animals.
But clearly, neither option was a good one.
Eating rotten flesh had an 80% chance of poisoning them. In the main world, where rotten flesh was plentiful, this wasn't an issue.
You could just eat more pieces, sooner or later, you'd get lucky, and the hunger bar would be refilled.
But in the Trial Grounds, they didn't dare take that gamble.
There were too many differences between the Trial Grounds and the main world, they didn't even know how many monsters spawned here or how strong they were.
So whether they could even get enough rotten flesh was uncertain. Using rotten flesh to stave off hunger clearly wasn't a good solution.
And don't even mention venturing into the forest region.
This group of players naturally understood that the forest had probably already been occupied by conscious monsters.
Without enough food supplies or equipment, going into the forest was no different than suicide.
Just as the group was discussing their next move, Xu Yuan slowly appeared in their line of sight.
Seeing Xu Yuan suddenly appear, all five players jumped up and looked at him warily.
"He… why is he back again?!"
"How did he find us?! Was he tracking us?!"
"We gave him the chicken and the villager, why won't he leave us alone?! What the hell does he want?!"
Some of the players didn't have a good impression of Xu Yuan. After all, at their first meeting, he'd forcibly taken two of their possessions.
Only Fat Cow didn't mind Xu Yuan's appearance. In fact, a hint of excitement was on his face.
Seeing this, Fat Cow quickly stepped forward, blocked his teammates, turned his head, and said in a low voice, "He's not here to cause trouble."
Back when they first met Xu Yuan, though he had taken their stuff, Fat Cow could feel that Xu Yuan actually didn't want to fight with them.
So this time, when Xu Yuan suddenly appeared at their camp, he wasn't worried that Xu Yuan posed a threat.
After calming his teammates, Fat Cow stepped forward to face Xu Yuan and asked, "Brother, this meeting isn't a coincidence, right? Seems like you came looking for us."
"May I ask what for?"
Hearing Fat Cow's words, Xu Yuan nodded. He didn't beat around the bush and directly said, "I need you guys to help me do some things. I'll give you appropriate rewards afterward."
Fat Cow nodded upon hearing this and continued asking, "Oh? What kind of things?"
Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Digging underground tunnels. As for the reward… I'll provide you with enough food supplies."
Xu Yuan had many things to do, finding villagers, finding a middleman, finding Mustard.
But these were things that Xu Yuan would never entrust to Fat Cow and the others unless they earned his full trust.
What Xu Yuan wanted them to do now was basically prepare the underground paths that would form the future trade chain.
After all, once the trade chain was formed, traveling underground would definitely be the fastest. And once all areas were connected by tunnels, it could also serve as the transport network for the future.
[T/N: NEW NOVEL ALERT— "Fate: Emiya the Host". A friendly neighbourhood man reincarnates as Emiya, gets a funny system and builds a harem of Illya, Miyu, Ritsuka, Mash, Rin, Saber and all. But, there are many twists and turns, take a look, add to collection and give some PS.
— Also, if you all help it reach TOP 5 in Collection and Powerstone Ranking, I will give 2 Bonus Chapter of every single novel Tommorow.]
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