Ethan’s gaze sharpened as he looked at the group of NPCs in front of him.

The system’s prompt couldn’t be wrong; there was indeed a Hero mixed in!

For him, these so-called schemes were like child’s play in the face of true strength, and he had countless ways to find out the truth.

A smile appeared on Ethan’s face.

Since you want to hide, let’s see how long you can hide.

He scrutinized each NPC, each of them keeping their heads down, not daring to meet Ethan’s gaze.

Daniel followed suit, not lifting his head, fearing he would be discovered.

Ethan suddenly asked, “Who among you is the captain?”

The NPCs’ gazes all turned to Daniel.

Ethan, with a meaningful smile on his face, said,

“Well, captain, please step forward.”

The NPCs, always passive recipients of orders, had taken Daniel’s previous actions as the captain’s.

Daniel cursed inwardly, wondering why the NPCs were being so obedient now!

He let out an awkward chuckle and stepped in front of Ethan.

Ethan walked around Daniel, asking as he walked, “Captain, why do all these people regard you as their captain?”

Scratching his nose, Daniel replied, “It might be because I’m stronger.”

“Oh?” Ethan called over the D+ NPC.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Alexander,” Alexander answered honestly.

“Good, Alexander. Tell everyone, what level is your strength now?”

“My strength is at D+ level.”

At his words, the many F NPCs looked on in disbelief.

He was actually stronger than their captain!

Ethan said nothing, but the meaning was clear.

Daniel’s face turned a little ugly at that, and his eyes shifted, quickly finding an excuse.

“Yes, he is stronger than me. However, I’m an instructor in Riverside, so I took the initiative to command everyone. Moreover, I was generously appointed as the captain.”

“Cut the shit off, Daniel!”

The crowd turned around, and Mia shouted loudly from the front of the cabin.

She walked over to Ethan’s side, glaring at Daniel with hostility.

Seeing Mia, Daniel’s spirits were instantly lifted, and he suppressed the joy on his face.

He hadn’t expected to find the missing Mia here, waiting for him.

Once he escaped, he’d definitely rescue her!

He was frantically winking at Mia, hoping she would play along so he could pass off as an NPC.

“Who’s Daniel? My name is Benjamin.”

Mia disdainfully said, “Ethan, don’t believe him. He’s a Hero. I have a way to prove it.”

Mia interlocked fingers with Ethan, deliberately swaying their hands in front of Daniel.

Daniel’s heart dropped, feeling as though he’d eaten a load of crap!

Mia, who he had long regarded as his woman, was now holding hands with another man?

He took a deep breath, chanting inwardly: I can bear it! I can bear it!

Daniel’s face darkened, but he said nothing.

Seeing this, Mia went all out.

She stood on her toes and kissed Ethan.𝒐𝓋𝓛xt.𝗇𝓔t

Daniel was instantly enraged.

The woman who had always rejected him was now passionately kissing someone else.

This was a huge blow to his heart!

“Mia! I want to die with you!”

He picked up the weapon from the ground and lunged at Mia.

Seeing this, Alexander kicked Daniel, who flew out directly and crashed into the Wooden Caltrops, the protruding spikes piercing his chest.

Daniel struggled painfully a couple of times, but in the end, he breathed his last with an unwilling look on his face.

At this point, Daniel was dead!

[Kill the Hero, obtain Hero’s Soul x1]

The system prompt again.

Ethan let go of Mia, scratched her cute nose, and said,

“Alright, go back to the room and wait for me. It’s cold outside.”

Mia felt a bit embarrassed.

This was the first time she had shown such affection in front of so many people.

Nodding, she jogged back to the room.

Ethan watched Mia’s figure, his face full of smiles.

After Mia entered the wooden room, Ethan turned around and announced to the crowd, “The fight is over now, everyone scavenge the bodies.”

Ethan adhered to the belief that even a mosquito was still meat, letting everyone search the bodies.

Even if they were NPCs, they couldn’t possibly be penniless, right?

So if they had money, then it was his!

Earlier, Ethan had muted the alert sound, but the system interface would still pop up with what he gained, only the sound was turned off.

Sure enough, Ethan found exactly 100 Gold Coins as he expected, half of which were contributed by Daniel.

As for other items, they were slightly less, mostly dry food.

Ethan wasn’t choosy, after all, the demand for resources was still quite high right now.

Especially these Divine Dragon Warriors and Earth Dragon Laborers, the daily food consumption and acquisition were already out of proportion.

Now they were already living on their reserves.

Ethan looked at these NPCs and suddenly had an idea.

Their strength was too low for exploration, and they had no way to deal with monsters.

It might be better to open another plantation for them to farm.

In this way, food could also grow more.

Ethan said and did it, opened the map, and selected the plantation again.

After planning an area, the second plantation officially started operating as the Earth Dragon Laborer built it.

As for the previous defensive works, Ethan carefully surveyed the terrain of the abandoned temple, it needed to be defended on all sides, which was a bit tricky.

Ethan even thought about changing the location of the base.

To find a place against a mountain or water.

This way, the pressure of defense would be much less.

Without delay, Ethan dispatched 3 Divine Dragon Warriors to continue exploring the Horizon Mountains.

At the same time, an Earth Dragon Laborer and a Divine Dragon Warrior were assigned to a group, specifically for transporting iron resources.

The Divine Dragon Craftsman also upgraded the Equip, replacing the wooden baskets with iron ones.

Now an Earth Dragon Laborer can transport 4 iron.

The efficiency has increased exponentially!

And these Holy Light goblins, their task is still to find resources in the abandoned temple, the current resource progress bar has come to 99%.

Just 1% short of obtaining a D treasure chest.

After dealing with everything, Ethan sat on the throne and started asking the system.

“System, what is the use of the Hero’s Soul?”

[Ding! The Hero’s Soul, as an exclusive currency in the Dark Lord faction, is more valuable than Gold Coins. It can be used to exchange various items in the Dark Lord Mall. As time passes, it is also the necessary currency for the Dark Lord to upgrade skill levels, upgrade building levels, and enhance followers.]

[Ding! It is detected that the host has an exclusive dungeon. The dungeon can serve as the base of the main camp, and once the dungeon is opened, the main camp is always in the deepest layer of the dungeon. The dungeon can be used for defense. When a Hero comes to attack, they must first pass through the dungeon, and only after clearing the dungeon can they attack the main camp. The host can set the guardians for each level of the dungeon.]

Ethan’s eyes lit up, with this dungeon, who needs to find easily defensible terrain?

If the main camp is always at the bottom layer of the dungeon, it means that all he needs to do is push forward the progress of the dungeon, and another line of defense will be added.

Adding one more line of defense meant more security.

Ethan then asked, “What are the conditions for opening a dungeon?”

[Ding! The first opening of the dungeon is free! The second layer of the dungeon requires 50 Hero’s Souls!]

Free?

That really works!

Ethan opened the system, and he saw the word ‘Dungeon’ appear under the abandoned temple in the mini-map.

After clicking on it, a large “Open” button appeared.

Ethan chanted, “Open.”

The earth shook, and the items originally placed in the abandoned temple were teleported into the dungeon.

Here, the dungeon was no different from outside, with moonlight still shining in.

Ethan was very satisfied.

At first, he was worried that if it was a dungeon, he wouldn’t be able to see the sunlight.

It seemed that his worries were unnecessary.

[Ding! Remind the host that no guardian has been assigned to the first layer of the dungeon.]

Ethan pondered for a moment and said, “Can I change the guardian after assignment?”

[Yes, but each change requires a three-day cooldown period.]

Ethan nodded, being able to change the guardian was good.

Since they are guardians, they definitely can’t be too weak, otherwise, they might be easily killed by Heroes.

However, looking at the list of followers, Ethan didn’t see a suitable candidate.

The Divine Dragon Warriors were used for exploration, and Alexander and the others couldn’t take on this role either.

Their current strength was decent, but in the later stages, D+ strength would be too weak.

As for the goblins, there was no need to even consider them, they simply weren’t fit for the role.

Just when Ethan was still worried about who to choose.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for achieving the achievement of resource acquisition in the abandoned temple! Obtain D-level Chest x1]

“Do you want to open it now, host?”

“Yes.”

Ethan said casually.

He didn’t place too much hope in the chests.

You could get good things, but also bad ones.

He approached it with a calm mind.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the White Phoenix Egg!]

Ethan’s face showed surprise, was this a miracle from a single pull?!