Things happened just as the Dread Lord had expected.
The news that the people from the Shallow Beach were appearing in the Nether soon spread.
"Did you hear? All those Demon Kings under HIM are in the Nether now, and they seem to be maintaining order…"
"Hiss… they all went to the Nether? Who dares to make trouble there now?!"
"Earlier my brothers ran into a group of conscious monsters blocking the road, were about to start fighting, and the Death Knight swooshed and appeared, scaring them to death!!"
"Anyway, if you're going to the Nether to take refuge, better be smart and don't stir up trouble…"
Although the information transmission speed of animals and monsters was slow, fortunately, their numbers were not that large, so the news was still quickly known by most.
More than an hour after the Dread Lord and the others appeared, the Dread Lord could basically no longer sense the presence of war.
The current Nether could finally be said to have ushered in a relatively peaceful coexistence model.
Even Xu Yuan probably didn't expect that such progress would occur in the Overworld.
Although all sides had achieved this so-called peace due to the strength of those under HIM, at the very least, it could be considered a good beginning.
The problems facing the Overworld had already been more or less solved by the Dread Lord, Entity 303, and the others.
Xu Yuan, inside the Trial Grounds, would also soon usher in new progress…
The problems in the Nether were quickly resolved under the mediation of the Dread Lord and the others.
With the appearance of the Dread Lord and the others, Pengpeng's words also became more credible.
Those players who were still watching began transporting all kinds of materials to the Nether.
The Dread Lord had also given orders to those conscious monsters in the Nether, instructing them to fully cooperate with the creatures and players coming to take refuge in the Nether.
So everything was still progressing smoothly.
Although there were still some occasional small-scale frictions, they were all internal problems among the players.
There were no more conflicts between factions.
Although there hadn't been any major conflicts in the Nether again, the Dread Lord and the others from the Shallow Beach did not return to the Shallow Beach. They still remained in the Nether.
———
Originally, after solving the problem, they returned once to the Shallow Beach, but were persuaded to go back by Entity 303.
Entity 303 was also thinking for their sake. After all, no one knew when the Void would make a move. Currently, staying in the Nether was the safest.
Only Entity 303 and the Execution Dragon were still remaining in the Overworld.
Entity 303 had always been monitoring the situation on the Villagers' side.
Although the Villager Kingdom's location was very hidden, unfortunately, Entity 303 had a cheat.
He only needed to search for the place with the densest villager population, and he could find the location of the Villager Kingdom.
Entity 303 was stationed at the Villager Kingdom for two reasons, one was to find a way to rescue the villagers at a critical time.
The other was to gather some information about the Void.
After all, the Villager Kingdom was currently under the control of the Void. Although the iron golems in the Villager Kingdom were just small minions of the Void, they should more or less know something.
As for why the Execution Dragon was still in the Overworld, it was also to be able to sense the position of any god-level consciousness entity summoned by the Void at the first possible moment.
Only then could they make better corresponding countermeasures.
Although there wasn't an overly tense atmosphere in the Overworld, it was already equivalent to everyone being in full combat readiness.
———
And the contestants inside the Trial Grounds were the same.
The one-hour break quickly ended.
The contestants of the Trial Grounds returned to the Trial Grounds once again.
After a brief pause, everyone's mental state was much better than before.
As soon as they entered the Trial Grounds, the contestants began busily preparing to explore new areas.
After Xu Yuan re-entered the Trial Grounds, he arrived at the Meat Farm. At this moment, looking around the Meat Farm, it was no longer empty and barren.
Although the Meat Farm hadn't become crowded, pigs, sheep, and cows were scattered all over.
A rough estimate showed there were already around 30 to 40 animals.
'Looks like only our time was paused; the time inside the Trial Grounds wasn't paused…'
Xu Yuan casually glanced at the scale of the Meat Farm and immediately understood that during the pause, the time inside the Trial Grounds had not stopped.
This was also an effective piece of information. Maybe it would come in handy later.
Xu Yuan's purpose in coming to the Meat Farm this time was to complete the deal with Fat Cow and his group.
Before they started working, Xu Yuan gave them five pigs as a deposit. Although the Trial Grounds were paused for an hour, by now, the time was just about right.
Naturally, Xu Yuan wouldn't go back on his word. What he had promised, he definitely wouldn't break.
After spending more than half an hour, Xu Yuan finally managed to herd five or six pigs, cows, and sheep into the passageway of the Meat Farm.
At this moment, Xu Yuan was already drenched in sweat.
'Plans can't keep up with changes… If I had known, I would've used half slabs to build the Meat Farm…'
The more than half an hour Xu Yuan had spent was basically all used to deal with the refreshed monsters inside the Meat Farm.
Xu Yuan hadn't installed any lighting in the Meat Farm, so naturally, it became a mob spawn zone.
Although there were a lot of monsters here, Xu Yuan had a shield and iron sword, and combined with his own skills, it was still manageable.
What really made Xu Yuan sweat was the fact that the Meat Farm was located not far from the residence of the Calamity Villagers.
Xu Yuan had to be extremely careful when dealing with the creepers that spawned in the Meat Farm, he couldn't let them explode, nor let the hidden skeletons shoot them and cause an explosion.
Also, Xu Yuan had to try his best to reduce animal deaths, because his next plan required a large amount of food resources.
That was also why Xu Yuan regretted not using half slabs to build the Meat Farm in the first place.
If he had used half slabs, mobs wouldn't have spawned. That way, it would've been much more convenient for Xu Yuan to get meat.
But just as Xu Yuan said, plans can't keep up with changes.
Xu Yuan hadn't expected that the Meat Farm would become useful so soon.
'Looks like I'll still have to come back and remodel this place a bit later…'
After gathering the promised payment for Fat Cow and his group, Xu Yuan returned to their camp again.
———
At this time, Fat Cow and his team were already waiting in the camp, it looked like they had finished their work.
Fat Cow and his people were chatting when they saw Xu Yuan approaching.
"Boss, you're here."
"We've finished the job."
Fat Cow was very quick-witted. Seeing Xu Yuan coming over, he immediately called his people to take over the pigs, cows, and sheep Xu Yuan brought.
"This is the entrance coordinate of the passage, it's not far from here."
"Your request was to open up the grassland area and the forest area. We've already connected both ends. Walking this passage from east grassland to west forest only takes about 20 minutes."
"If there's a minecart or ice path in the future, it'll be even faster."
"Want me to give you a tour?"
Since Xu Yuan had already brought the payment, Fat Cow naturally had to give a proper account of his work.
Hearing Fat Cow's words, Xu Yuan shook his head and said,
"No need to see it."
"You guys can use the passage in the future too, but I don't want anyone else to know about this matter."
Xu Yuan also made the unpleasant words clear upfront, since this passage was something he intended to use as a trade route in the future.
Hearing Xu Yuan's words, Fat Cow's group quickly nodded.
"Don't worry, boss, we definitely won't talk."
"Yeah, yeah, our lips are sealed!"
Although Fat Cow and his people agreed very eagerly, Xu Yuan didn't fully believe their words.
But saying this was just to remind them. He didn't expect them to really follow through, after all, they weren't his own people.
With Fat Cow's matter dealt with, Xu Yuan was just about to leave.
But he hadn't walked far when Fat Cow called him back.
"Boss…"
Hearing Fat Cow's voice, Xu Yuan stopped and turned around, looking at Fat Cow with some confusion.
He saw Fat Cow hesitate for a while, then finally opened his mouth.
"Uh…"
"Do you have any other tasks you need us to help with?"
After saying that, he seemed a bit worried Xu Yuan would misunderstand, and quickly waved his hand.
"This time we don't want any reward…"
Fat Cow's meaning was simple, in short, "Can we follow you?"
Fat Cow was a smart guy. He knew Xu Yuan's strength very well, and after the previous deal, he also knew Xu Yuan was short on manpower.
For free-roaming players like Fat Cow's group, their only way out in the Trial Grounds was to find someone powerful to follow.
At first, Fat Cow's team planned to join Steve, because one of their teammates claimed to know Steve.
But Fat Cow knew very well, though that player claimed to know Steve, how well they actually knew him was unclear.
Besides, who in this game doesn't "know" Steve?
If that counts, then Fat Cow also "knows" HIM.
Fat Cow figured that if they really had connections with Steve, they'd already be in Steve's guild. So that player's words weren't very reliable.
Previously, Fat Cow's group believed him because it was their only lead at the time.
But now, things were different, they had met Xu Yuan.
Fat Cow clearly understood, even if they did find Steve, they wouldn't be valued. People like them, even if they joined Steve's team, would probably just be cannon fodder.
Rather than that, they might as well follow Xu Yuan and become a new rising force.
Hearing Fat Cow's words, Xu Yuan wasn't surprised.
He had already seen that Fat Cow was a man with foresight, and Fat Cow's actions just confirmed that Xu Yuan hadn't misjudged him.
Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then nodded and said,
"Follow me."
Right now, Xu Yuan was indeed short on manpower, and he still had a lot of things to take care of.
Earlier in the prep room, Xu Yuan had already planned to go to the grasslands to observe the situation and recruit free players like Fat Cow's group under his own banner to form a new force.
To recruit these people would definitely cost a lot of food resources.
Although Xu Yuan already had the Meat Farm, the situation in the Meat Farm wasn't too optimistic.
That place was a natural monster spawn area, and gathering food resources took too much time.
One trip could take over half an hour.
So Xu Yuan urgently needed to remodel the Meat Farm platform into half slabs, so monsters wouldn't spawn anymore.
That way, getting meat in the future would be much more efficient.
Remodeling would undoubtedly be time-consuming, and Xu Yuan didn't want to spend too much time on this kind of thing.
But remodeling was indeed the most urgent task at the moment.
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