At noon, the sky rarely blessed the land with sunlight. Aelina took Fro on a tour around the entire village.

The village had ninety-six residents. Over twenty were paupers, their tattered clothes fused with black grime. Their status was obvious at a glance.

They hid in collapsed houses, under shadows, as if sunlight would scorch their skin. The stench and filth made people hesitate to approach.

Seeing Aelina stride straight into their hovels, Fro gripped his sword and pinched his nose, hurrying after her. The moment they stepped inside, startled paupers buzzed around like flies in the room.

Fro couldn’t stand it. He shielded Aelina from the chaotic swarm, grabbing her hand. “Aelina, let’s go.”

“Let go of me!”

The Silverhaired Maiden’s fury startled the Elf. He sheepishly released her, watching Aelina stand in the sewage-filled hut. She crouched kindly to speak to a pauper. Fro felt a nausea as if he’d swallowed a fly. She looked defiled.

As expected, the paupers kept their heads down, muttering nothing—just like the villagers.

Aelina sighed, shook her head, and walked out with Fro.

They led their horses beyond the village, trudging through muddy soil toward circling crows in the sky.

“No useful intel,” Aelina said. “The best we got was nonsense like ‘there are dogs, dogs eat people.’ We’ll scout the terrain and make a battle plan.”

“Aelina. I have something to ask,” Fro mustered courage, having heard none of her words. “Am I particularly hypocritical?”

“Huh? I don’t care about that.” She only cared if he was tamed—like not touching her limbs. Her desire level had just risen by four points.

Fro seemed relieved. “I thought you were angry at my hypocrisy. I could be gentle with Bella earlier, but not with those poor souls.”

“I’ve never expected anything from mortal morality.” Such a pitiful civilization, so low in productivity. But it was her luck.

“I’ll make you expect something.”

“Good. Now I’ll test your virtue of perseverance,” Aelina said. “From now on, no matter what, unless I ask for help, you must not touch my limbs—especially my feet.”

“Why?”

“To test your perseverance,” Aelina said seriously. “This is a cultivation method from my hometown. It’s the highest-liked one in the ‘Cloud Library.’ Practitioners who endure ten years can ascend to heaven and descend to earth. Like the ‘Bound Wall Hanging’ method I mentioned, it’s just a beginner-level practice.”

“Cloud Library? Likes? What do these mean?” Fro’s head ached worse than when he’d been hit. “A library built on clouds?”

“A library open to everyone’s mind,” Aelina explained. “Anyone can publish knowledge there and correct errors. Helpful knowledge gets likes. Un-open-sourced knowledge is a stagnant pond. Refined knowledge is a roaring river. The method I’m teaching you has topped its category for seventy years, revised seventy-eight thousand and twenty-one times.”

“I don’t understand, but it sounds amazing!” Fro clenched his fist, determined. “I will persevere!”

Heh, what a foolish ape.

When the wind slapped corpse-stench onto their faces, they reached the depression. Fro felt the smell so strong it burned his tongue. They stopped on a high hill. Ahead, the depression was littered with limbs and bones. Mud-caked wild dogs pawed at bloated corpses. Crows flapped damp wings, seizing chances to feast. The thick stench rose like wolf smoke. In the distance, scattered dogs ran toward the depression.

Aelina remained unfazed; she’d disabled her smell sensors. She observed “man’s best friends.” Their eyes, bloodshot from eating human flesh, showed wildness awakened after months of feasting. This roused primal instincts numbed by millennia of domestication. Eating human meat filled their bellies but also made them feel they were challenging humanity. Remembering their miserable past under human slavery—scraping by on burnt rice and dishwater—they felt shame. They hated all bipedal creatures, craving their flesh.

“Aelina, look! Berserk dogs! They’ve grown so big!”

Among the pack were three wild dogs as big as calves, colored red, yellow, and blue. They noticed the two figures on the hill, arching their backs, fur rippling like waves. The pack rallied around these leaders. Undoubtedly, they were alphas.

Three hundred seventy-two wild dogs. Corpses in the depression would dwindle while dogs multiplied. Soon, they’d pounce on the nearby village. Aelina kept observing. Near a large rock by the woods lay withered corpses and over a dozen dried dog carcasses. Clothes and fur showed no burn marks. A hundred meters away, a messy stone pile stood oddly in the wilderness. For some reason, Aelina found it strange.

“If the legend is true, I see Thundergrass,” Aelina said, her gaze locking onto the rock six hundred meters away. She spotted a clump of cut Thundergrass.

“That’s great!” Fro cheered. “We won’t need to crawl into the corpse-filled depression. Just kill a dozen dogs and take the Thundergrass.”

“No. These wild dogs will eventually slaughter the village empty,” Aelina narrowed her eyes, instantly formulating Plans A, B, and C.

Enemies: three hundred seventy-two dogs, three berserk dogs. Aelina calculated. She had a fully armored Golden Ape. A Giant Crossbow could provide remote fire support. Last night, she’d fixed a bug in the Molecular Reconstructor. Now it could temporarily boost power, letting her instantly create an earthen wall. But probably unnecessary. Dogs, stupider than apes, would just dumbly watch her build a fortress.

“Fro, Phase One aims to retrieve the Thundergrass,” Aelina pointed to another hill. “I’ll build a small fortress there, deploy a Giant Crossbow for fire support. If all goes well, return to the fortress after getting the Thundergrass.”

“Got it.”

They led the cart a kilometer away and tied it up. Fro drew his sword and headed to the designated hill. Restless wild dogs lunged along the way, all falling to his blade and crossbow bolts. Aelina climbed the small hill. Wild grass covered it; a rotten flag lay hidden under a tuft at the peak. Aelina picked it up and asked Fro. “The emblem of human gods,” Fro said disdainfully.

Aelina shot reconstruction rays around her. Gray mist danced in blue light, gathering near her. A wall slowly rose from the mist. She stepped on the rising stone surface. The depression was packed with wild dogs. They weren’t eating or pawing corpses—they seemed to gather together. Perhaps her illusion. She sensed organization among these mindless beasts.

The stone tower reached three meters; the city wall hadn’t risen yet. Aelina glanced at Fro. He walked toward the large rock, over fifty meters away. This was their most vulnerable moment—the Giant Crossbow wasn’t deployed, and Fro couldn’t return in time. She should have told this foolish Golden Ape to wait until the fortress was built. But the enemies were just mindless wild dogs.

Suddenly, a sharp whistle pierced the air. The red, yellow, and blue berserk dogs howled at the sky, sticky drool flying from sharp teeth. They charged first at Aelina. The dog pack surged like a mudslide from the stinking depression, following their leaders toward the unfinished fortress. Barks shook the earth. Crows flapped in panic, scattering. Slow ones vanished under the pack. Only black feathers fell into the mud.

Aelina instantly executed Plan B. She swiped the Molecular Reconstructor—a Giant Crossbow appeared before her. Nearby, Fro stood dumbfounded. She waved at the stunned Golden Ape, shouting, “Get back here! You filthy ape!”

Fro finally reacted, but the dog pack overwhelmed him first...