Chapter 306
Not long had passed since Tang Yu’an assigned a task to Chi Hao—so little time, in fact, that even Wen Qingqing hadn’t yet succeeded in building a branch store, let alone Chi Hao.
However, Wen Qingqing was mainly stuck on the moral character assessment, while Chi Hao was stuck on both assessments…
Lan Yunqing decided he’d talk to Chi Hao later.
Although he couldn’t tell him directly about the teleportation array, giving him a nudge to speed up shouldn’t be an issue, right?
After that, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi said their goodbyes to Lan Yunqing and returned to the RV via the teleportation array.
Not much time had passed in the Fire Dragon Clan’s territory—in fact, only a single night had gone by on the anomaly side. The RV had followed the preset route and arrived at the Flame Dragon Sanctuary.
It stopped because an obstacle had appeared ahead.
Above the sanctuary, flames still raged. Tang Yu’an now understood that this was due to a spatial rift.
What lay beyond the rift was scorching hot magma.
No one knew when the rift would expand, but if magma poured down from the sky, the consequences would be disastrous.
He needed to act quickly and implement defensive measures!
When building the Flame Dragon Grocery Store, Tang Yu’an had chosen an abandoned building. After long exposure to the wind and sun, only three crumbling floors remained, and the structure was swaying in the hot air.
Tang Yu’an opened his system panel and began renovations on the building.
First, he replaced all the walls with reinforced concrete. Then came the floors, the roof, and one glass window after another.
He didn’t try to hide any of this from onlookers.
Before long, some residents spotted him. Someone rushed off to notify Old Mo and Gan Lin, while the others stayed to watch.
They stared at the once-dilapidated structure, witnessing how, in the hands of the Divine Envoy, it rapidly transformed before their eyes.
If creating an oasis could still be explained as a powerful ability, then this kind of hands-on building transformation was beyond comprehension—even for people like Qin Jianping.
Yes, he was one of the envoys the Flame Dragon Fortress had sent to assassinate the merchant cult’s divine envoys. He was still secretly staying within the Flame Dragon Sanctuary.
At first, their mission was just to investigate whether the cult had developed a method to treat ability backlash. But what he discovered… completely shattered his worldview.
Not only did the cult’s style differ entirely from the evil sects he’d imagined—it even felt more righteous than the fortresses he knew.
At the very least, fortresses never took in the poor. Here, people could drink clean water daily and eat their fill.
True, it wasn’t free—but the cult only asked them to mine Flame Stones.
These stones were everywhere. In places like Flame Dragon Fortress, they were considered waste—harmful, even.
Flame Stones on the surface harmed plants and animals; underground, they sped up the depletion of underground rivers.
The merchant cult’s collection of these stones didn’t destroy the environment—on the contrary, it actually improved the ecosystem.
The only mystery was where the cult stored all the Flame Stones.
Despite collecting massive quantities daily, the warehouse never seemed full.
Even stranger, the area around the warehouse wasn’t hot at all. He had secretly investigated—the warehouse was definitely filled with huge amounts of Flame Stones.
Maybe it had been specially modified to insulate heat. But still, the amount stored didn’t seem to match what was being collected.
Aside from that one mystery, there wasn’t much to criticize about the cult.
And then there was the miracle of the oasis.
Watching the two divine envoys create it had left him speechless with awe.
Finally, there was the protective barrier.
According to the intel he’d gathered, this barrier covered the entire domain controlled by the merchant cult—
Which they called the Flame Dragon Settlement.
Within the barrier, there was complete protection from natural disasters and mutant beasts. Extreme heat also counted as a natural disaster.
Even with fire dragons raging in the sky above, the interior remained cool and comfortable.
In fact, it felt cooler than average temperatures elsewhere.
At night, the barrier would hide the entire region, and only those approved by the cult—and without hostile intentions—could enter.
Most importantly, there were strict rules in the settlement.
And these rules weren’t just for show—they were enforced.
He couldn’t break them even if he tried.
Everything about this place felt like it could only have been created by the gods.
And now—he witnessed another miracle.
“God of Commerce!”
“God of Commerce!”
More and more believers gathered, looking at the newly appeared building in their settlement and shouting in excitement.
Soon, a wave of people knelt around it.
The silver-masked figure in the cloak raised a hand with a downward motion, and the voices immediately ceased.
“Get back to work,” a gentle, youthful voice said. “Only through hard work can you live a better life.”
The followers quickly responded and returned to their tasks.
In addition to mining, they were now building irrigation canals and installing waterwheels to draw lake water into the ditches.
Everyone was actively working, full of hope for the future.
By the time Old Mo arrived, the crowd had already dispersed.
Tang Yu’an had just finished remodeling the building. He and Zhou Qi descended from the sky, landing in front of Old Mo and Gan Lin.
Old Mo was about to kneel and salute when Tang Yu’an stopped him.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go inside your new home.”
Old Mo and Gan Lin were both stunned. “My… home?”
“Yes.” Tang Yu’an nodded. “From now on, you’ll live here and protect the Flame Dragon Settlement.”
With that, he led them into the building.
Zhou Qi took out a plaque and inscribed it with: Flame Dragon Grocery Store, with Peace Guild written in smaller letters below.
“Let someone hang it up later.”
Old Mo took the plaque with excitement and said, “I’ll go hang it up myself in a bit!”
Meanwhile, Tang Yu’an went up to the second floor and set the teleportation array there, directly granting Old Mo access to use it.
The Merchant Cult had reached its current status largely thanks to Old Mo. Considering how harsh the survival environment here was, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi didn’t assign him any specific tasks—he could level up at his own pace.
Given Old Mo’s consistent performance, he had long exceeded their expectations, so no further assessments were necessary.
When Old Mo and Gan Lin learned about the teleportation array’s function, they were both stunned.
But then they heard SilverLight say, “You can’t use it yet.”
“I’ve already issued a task. Someone will come to guide you. The future development of the Flame Dragon Settlement will also be led by them.”
As he spoke, SilverLight looked out the window.
“He’s already here.”
Gan Lin quickly ran to the window and looked outside. A beautiful RV was driving toward their house.
Old Mo also looked out the window but didn’t walk over.
“Go meet him.”
With that, SilverLight disappeared once again with Dark Moon, vanishing into thin air.
Old Mo was briefly stunned, but not overly surprised—he had seen them do this several times. He quickly called to Gan Lin, “Come on, let’s head downstairs.”
As they went downstairs, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi had already flown out of the Flame Dragon Grocery Store under the cover of a shadow umbrella and secretly slipped into the RV.
Inside the vehicle, they quickly removed their divine envoy gear and headed to the driver’s seat.
They drove the RV through the sanctuary, passing curious onlookers, until they reached the Flame Dragon Grocery Store and came to a stop.
Old Mo and Gan Lin had just stepped outside.
Then, they saw two tall, handsome young men get out of the RV.
“Hello there!”
Tang Yu’an skipped over cheerfully and smiled as he greeted them. “Are you the manager of the Flame Dragon Settlement?”
The boy’s cheerful and lively smile made both Old Mo and Gan Lin freeze for a moment, then they nodded.
Tang Yu’an wanted to keep chatting, but Old Mo stopped him and glanced at the nearby believers. “Let’s talk inside.”
“Oh, right!”
Once they moved indoors and closed the door, Tang Yu’an formally introduced himself.
“I’m Eastern Sweet Tang—owner of Store No. 1.”
“And this is Handsome Zhou, my boyfriend!”
Zhou Qi: “…”
Zhou Qi, who had just opened his mouth to speak, nearly choked on his own saliva. He looked helplessly at Tang Yu’an, his face flushing slightly from the blunt declaration.
“B-boyfriend?”
“Yes! We’re a couple!” Tang Yu’an grinned and hugged Zhou Qi’s arm tightly.
Gan Lin had a stunned expression, clearly thinking, “I don’t get it, but I’m deeply shocked.”
As for Old Mo…
He had already thought these two young men bore a striking resemblance in stature and build to Silverlight and Dark Moon, and now he was wondering if he was being too paranoid.
There’s no way they could be Silverlight and Dark Moon, right?
Just thinking about it made it seem impossible.
Old Mo cleared his throat and said, “I’m Little Noisy, and he’s Clear Spring.”
Tang Yu’an showed an exaggerated expression of disbelief, sizing up Old Mo as if discovering something shocking for the first time.
“You—you’re Little Noisy?” he asked.
“Mm.”
Seeing Tang Yu’an so surprised, Old Mo completely let go of any remaining suspicion. He added, “In the real world, I’m called Old Mo, and he’s Gan Lin. You can call us that from now on.”
“Oh, okay! You can call me Little Tang.”
Having recovered from the earlier surprise, Zhou Qi also nodded and said, “You can call me Little Zhou.”
With the introductions out of the way, they finally got to business.
“I’ve received a task to build a road between Desolate City Haven and Flame Dragon Settlement, to connect the entire region,” Zhou Qi said.
“And I’ll help develop the Flame Dragon Sanctuary, generate more wealth, and improve everyone’s quality of life.”
“Sounds good, sounds good.” Old Mo nodded repeatedly.
“I’ve already added you both to the teleportation array’s whitelist for Desolate City Haven,” Zhou Qi continued. “You and Gan Lin should come with me for a visit.”
Old Mo nodded, ready to go—but then Tang Yu’an said, “Grandpa Mo, why don’t you and Gan Lin take a bath in my RV and change clothes first?”
“B-bath?”
Old Mo hadn’t bathed in many years. As for Gan Lin, he had never taken a bath in his life.
In the desert, water was so scarce that even now, despite the improved water supply, they didn’t dare waste any. They were both filthy and stank.
“Yes!” Tang Yu’an said seriously. “Not just you—everyone in the settlement will need to bathe from now on.”
Settlement development starts with good hygiene!
