After thanking the Deity, Bai Yuan returned happily to Bai Family Fortress with a large pile of “heavenly books.” As he left, he even forgot to say goodbye to his wife and child, completely absorbed in the “number” part of his Six Arts of Gentlemen.

Fortunately, this was ancient times, where women had low status, so Madam Bai wouldn’t get angry over such a matter. If it were modern times, Bai Yuan not kneeling on a washboard for days would make this issue impossible to resolve.

Li Daoxuan watched Bai Yuan depart cheerfully and thought: Good, the huge volume of textbooks I prepared will slowly spread through people like Bai Yuan, growing branches and leaves, and one day bear fruit.

Just then, Li Daoxuan suddenly heard noisy voices from the bamboo forest in the southwest and quickly shifted his attention there.

The southwest bamboo forest was where the Short-term Workers Village stood. Li Daoxuan had set down dozens of plastic houses there, scattered along the rocky embankment beside the bamboo forest, forming a separate small village.

A big group of outside short-term workers were gathered by the bamboo forest, seeming to argue over something.

Li Daoxuan looked down and saw a man lying on the ground inside the circle of workers, his forehead bloody and unconscious, appearing to have been hit on the head.

“This is Old Shi Si, what happened to him?”

“I don’t know. I came here earlier to cut bamboo for a bamboo basket and found Old Shi Si lying on the ground with his head bleeding.”

“Oh dear, quick, call a doctor.”

‘Where would we find a doctor in our village?’

The crowd was thrown into disarray.

Right then, Old Shi Si, lying unconscious on the ground, actually woke up. He opened his eyes, yelled “Aiya,” and rubbed his head: “Damn it, I was robbed!”

With his words, the onlookers sighed in relief.

Old Shi Si looked displeased: “Early in the morning, I carried a bag of flour and a piece of meat from home to go give gifts to a blacksmith master in the fortress, aiming to apprentice.”

Hearing this, the short-term workers understood—bringing gifts at New Year’s, if the master was happy and taught a skill or two, they could become artisans. Then their wages would boom. Old Shi Si was truly clever; why hadn’t they thought of it?

Old Shi Si: “I never expected, shortly after leaving home, to be dragged into the bamboo forest. Then four or five Fearsome Deity guys waving clubs threatened me, demanding I hand over the flour and meat. I refused, so they hit me with a club, stole the things, and ran. Damn it.”

The short-term workers were startled at those words: “Are bandits back again?”

“No way, the bandit troubles in Chengcheng County just stopped recently.”

“Oh God! I never want to fight again.”

The short-term workers were thrown into disarray.

Li Daoxuan couldn’t help frowning. He casually opened the Surveillance Camera app and pulled up all the videos from dawn to now. The bamboo forest was at the box’s edge, so the recordings only showed the forest’s fringe, with vague figures moving inside but no clear details.

One short-term worker said: “Everyone, stop the noise. With this happening, we should report it to Thirty-Two and have the fortress send the civilian corps to handle it, right?”

Another short-term worker shook his head: “What are we? Outside villagers here for short-term jobs; how can we be like the fortress locals? Would the civilian corps care about our troubles?”

“That… makes sense…”

The short-term workers felt small concerns.

Hearing this, Li Daoxuan felt sympathy for these wild figures. They had come from afar seeking a Common Trade in Gaojia Village, placing themselves lowly, cautious and careful, fearing their livelihood would be ruined. Even with this incident, they dared not report it to the fortress.

That mindset was truly painful.

Just as Li Daoxuan planned to call Gao Yiye to manage this, suddenly, a man in tattered clothes, with a rusty sword hanging at his waist, burst from the worker group—it was that “Ground Rabbit” who secretly studied martial arts from Gao Chuwu, rabbit master.

Ground Rabbit stepped forward!

Ground Rabbit, believing himself a true hero, couldn’t stay silent at such a time. He immediately took center position and shouted to the anxious workers: “Brothers, don’t panic. Whether the fortress helps or not aside, can’t we act ourselves?”

The crowd was puzzled: “You are…”

Ground Rabbit said proudly: “My name is Ground Rabbit. I’m a recent short-term worker too, but unlike you all, I never back down when trouble hits.”

The crowd: “…”

Ground Rabbit yelled: “Haven’t you seen? This isn’t bandits or rebels; it’s just some stupid thieves robbing things. What are you scared of?”

The short-term workers buzzed with noisy discussion.

Ground Rabbit: “All of you, shut up! Stop the noise and listen to Mr. Rabbit. You few, grab clubs. You others, grab some too. Then all follow Mr. Rabbit. We’ll reclaim Old Shi Si’s things, teach those thieves a lesson, and scare them off. Otherwise, if they robbed Old Shi Si today, tomorrow they’ll rob Zhang Laowu. How would our lives go on?”

Hearing this, the short-term workers realized: That made sense!

If this bunch of thieves wasn’t dealt with, any of them could be dragged into the bamboo for a clubbing anytime. How could that be allowed?

The group acted right away, grabbing clubs. Soon, over a dozen men were armed and ready. Ground Rabbit waved his hand: “Follow Mr. Rabbit!”

Someone asked: “Mr. Rabbit, do you know where the thieves fled?”

Hearing someone call him Mr. Rabbit, Ground Rabbit got prouder. He laughed aloud: “Mr. Rabbit has rich underworld savvy. One look at the footprints shows where they went.”

“Report, Mr. Rabbit, no thief footprints found here. The ground is all rocks.”

Ground Rabbit: “…”

Sheer awkwardness!

Frozen scene!

Li Daoxuan found it fun too. Amusing, I’ll help you out.

He reached for “West” and “South” buttons, jabbing them wildly to shift his view rapidly, like playing StarCraft and hunting a zergling on the revealed map without fog of war.

Soon enough, he actually found them.

Five ragged men ducking behind some small slopes gathered dry sticks and were lighting a fire, apparently to roast the meat stolen from Old Shi Si…

Li Daoxuan moved his view back above the bamboo forest, reached into the box, and drew a huge arrow on the ground before the workers.

Ground Rabbit was still dazed then, unable to find footprints and unsure how to track, when suddenly a rumbling sound came. An invisible force seemed to push aside chunks of rocks, revealing a giant arrow on the ground pointing far away…

Longer-tenured workers cheered instantly: “The Deity guides us.”

Only Ground Rabbit was shocked: “Huh? Was that… Deity manifesting?”