Chapter 28 : Chapter 28
Chapter 28: At some point, Anna had silently appeared there and had been listening for a long time.
She had changed into a linen dress found from who knows where, her brilliant golden hair bound by a gray headscarf, making her look like an ordinary village girl stripped of all refinement.
But those sky-blue eyes were filled with indescribable turbulent waves.
She had heard a city-building blueprint so grand it bordered on myth, and even more so, a work point system sufficient to overturn the entire world's existing order.
All of this came from the mouth of this eighteen-year-old youth before her, whose entire being radiated a cold aura.
In this moment, she felt her sixteen years of understanding of this world had been completely overturned, crushed, and then reassembled into something utterly unfamiliar.
Barrett and Roland also noticed her presence. After receiving their orders, they bowed and withdrew from the tent.
As he passed by Anna, Barrett didn't even dare look at her, only burying his head lower.
He knew this girl with her mysterious identity was definitely not as simple as she appeared on the surface.
Inside the tent, only Caesar and Anna remained.
Caesar's gaze fell upon her, opening his mouth calmly, as if discussing some trivial matter.
“Starting tomorrow, your new job is to be responsible for tallying and managing the work points for the entire territory.”
Anna's head snapped up, her sky-blue eyes full of disbelief.
She instinctively retreated half a step, as if the term “work points” were some terrible demon that Caesar was about to stuff inside her body.
“Me?”
Her voice was thin as a mosquito's, filled with uncertainty and resistance.
“Yes, you.”
Caesar's gaze seemed able to penetrate her heart, stripping away all her disguises and vulnerabilities completely.
“In this camp, you are the only one who has received systematic education, who understands writing and complex calculations.”
“Only you are qualified for this position.”
“Or rather, your value lies precisely here.”
He didn't say “you must do this,” but rather “only you are qualified”—a more sophisticated form of coercion.
While imposing the task, it also clarified her utility value on this cruel wasteland.
Without value, one became trash.
And the fate of trash was self-evident.
He pulled from his breast a ledger with a thick hide cover and blank parchment pages inside, along with a carefully sharpened charcoal pencil, extending them before her without any emotion.
“You will be responsible for recording each person's work point acquisition and expenditure.”
“You need to design a clear and straightforward bookkeeping method, ensuring every account is accurate without error.”
“Barrett and Roland will report to you daily on the labor output from each area, and the distribution of food and supplies must also be based on vouchers you issue for exchange.”
Caesar's voice was cold and clear, like explaining the operational principles of a precision machine.
“This ledger will be the heart of the entire territory.”
“Whether it beats steadily and powerfully directly determines the life and death of these thousands of people, and whether the city beneath my feet can rise.”
“It cannot permit any errors.”
Anna's mind went blank.
She wasn't foolish. She instantly understood the weight of this job.
This was no longer being a “tool”—this was… this was being the territory's entire financial administrator!
The core hub driving the massive machinery of the work point system!
Caesar actually wanted to entrust such a vital lifeline to her? Wasn't he afraid she would sabotage things from within, or use this position to do something?
“I… I can't do it…”
She wanted to refuse. This responsibility was too heavy, pressing down until she couldn't breathe.
She only wanted to find a corner to live quietly, waiting for her family's response, not to be pushed to this precarious position.
But facing Caesar's unfathomably deep purple eyes, the words of refusal seemed frozen, stuck in her throat.
“You have no choice.”
Caesar seemed to see through her thoughts, his tone unchanged.
“Here, value determines everything.”
“A person without value won't survive long on this wasteland.”
He pushed the ledger and charcoal pencil forward another fraction, the motion carrying an irresistible sense of oppression.
“I saved you, Miss Anna.”
“Now, I need you to use your knowledge to repay this 'mercy.'”
“Of course, I won't let you labor for nothing.”
“As the territory's chief accountant, you will receive fifty work points daily, the highest compensation aside from Roland and myself.”
“You can use them to exchange for the best food, the warmest furs.”
These words were like an invisible hand gripping Anna's throat.
It was a threat, but also a transaction.
It was enslavement, but also a form of acknowledgment.
He acknowledged that her noble education had value, and was willing to “pay” for it.
This logic that quantified everything into profit made her feel incomparably humiliated and cold, yet she couldn't refute it.
Because what he said was the truth.
On this wasteland, her proud noble status was worthless. The only thing that could let her survive—and survive with dignity—was the knowledge in her head.
Anna's eyelashes trembled violently. She bit her lower lip hard, not letting herself show weakness.
Silence spread through the tent as her mind raced.
Just when Caesar thought she would obediently accept, Anna raised her head, looked directly into his eyes, and asked a question that even made Caesar pause.
“If… if disputes arise over the accounts, what then?”
“For instance, if someone claims they earned more work points than recorded.”
“Or if someone forges exchange vouchers?”
“With just me alone and one ledger, these are inevitable loopholes.”
Her voice wasn't loud, even carrying a trace of trembling, but her enunciation was clear, her logic sharp.
Under enormous pressure, she didn't collapse. Instead, she pointed out the most core risk of this newborn system.
In Caesar's eyes, a trace of genuine surprise flashed for the first time, rather than his usual indifferent control of everything.
He had assumed she would only weep or submit. He never expected such a precise question.
This girl was smarter than he imagined, and more resilient.
“Very good.”
The curve of his mouth widened slightly, the kind of appreciation one shows when discovering an interesting toy.
“You've proven you not only have value, but that your value is higher than I estimated.”
He took back the ledger, flipped open a page, and drew several symbols on it with the charcoal pencil.
“The problems you raised, I've considered them.”
“So your job isn't just bookkeeping.”
Caesar handed the ledger back to her.
“First, I will select from among the families of the most loyal guards five absolutely reliable, literate women as your assistants. They will respectively record accounts for different areas, with you compiling and cross-checking the final results.”
“This is called cross-verification.”
“Second, all work point awards and material exchanges must have marks or seals from three parties: you, the area supervisor such as Barrett, and the person in question.”
“I'll have the blacksmith forge a batch of unique stamps.”
“Third.”
His voice dropped lower.
“Your assistants will be both your helpers and my eyes.”
“And you, Anna, will be their supervisor.”
“I authorize you to investigate and adjudicate all disputes concerning work points.”
“Your ledger will be this territory's first legal code.”
Caesar's words made Anna's heart sink completely.
Cross-verification, three-party seals, supervisory authority, adjudication authority… He had not only thought of these, but thought more deeply and more ruthlessly than she had.
What he gave her wasn't a simple bookkeeping job, but a gorgeous chain woven from power, responsibility, and surveillance, locking her firmly to the core position of his war chariot.
Anna's eyelashes trembled slightly.
She looked at the blank ledger spread before her. Those sheets of parchment seemed like new chapters of her life, except the person writing the rules was no longer herself.
Finally, under Caesar's unquestionable gaze, she extended her slightly trembling hand and accepted the heavy ledger and charcoal pencil.
The instant her fingertips touched the cover, the cold sensation made her shudder.
“Prove your value, 'Anna.'”
Caesar withdrew his hand, his tone devoid of warmth.
“A person who cannot prove their value will soon be forgotten.”
Anna gripped the ledger tightly, her knuckles white from the force.
She said nothing more, only looked deeply at Caesar once. That gaze was immensely complex—containing fear, humiliation, shock, and a trace of emotion she herself hadn't noticed, the strange feeling of being entrusted with heavy responsibility.
Then she turned, clutching the ledger that could determine the life and death of thousands, and silently walked out of the tent.
Outside the tent, the night wind was exceptionally cold, but the entire camp was brightly lit, voices bustling, filled with a savage vitality utterly at odds with this desolate wasteland.
Barrett was using his thunderous voice to direct men in building temporary shacks through the night.
The women gathered by campfires, comforting frightened children while quietly discussing their future lives, their eyes holding both anxiety and a faint glimmer of hope.
Chaos was receding. A completely new order centered on “labor” and “hope” was stubbornly taking root on this land.
Anna held the ledger, seriously examining this place that would become her “home” for the first time.
She suddenly felt that the “work points” Caesar spoke of might truly be a fierce medicine capable of reviving these numb people.
And she would become the one administering that medicine.
……
Inside the tent, Caesar stood alone in place, quietly listening to the clamor outside.
The blueprint had been drawn. The engine had been started.
Now he needed to add the most critical and most secret fuel to this war machine about to run at full speed.
He walked out of the tent without alerting anyone, his form like a ghostly shadow melting into the night, silently heading toward the most remote and heavily guarded warehouse area of the camp.
Night was the best cover.
The warehouse consisted of several massive tents, with two elite guards standing outside like statues.
They were personally selected by Roland, the warriors most loyal to Caesar, all veterans from the original expedition party who had survived and witnessed Caesar's miracle of barehanded wolf king slaying.
Seeing Caesar approach, they immediately placed hands over hearts in a standard military salute, their gazes fanatical and resolute.
“My lord.”
“I'm going in to inspect the grain stores.”
Caesar's voice sounded somewhat ethereal in the night wind.
“Yes.”
The guards asked no questions, lifting the heavy tent flap for him.
For any of the lord's actions, they only needed to obey.
Inside the tent, supplies transported from Grayrock Town were piled high.
The largest section was stacked with sacks of Earth Potato and dried meat chunks. These were the lifeline upon which the entire territory currently depended for survival, and the foundation driving all plans.
Caesar walked into the depths of the tent, confirming no one else was around.
He closed his eyes, the extraordinary perception brought by his dragonkin bloodline activating at full power, carefully sensing all movement within thirty meters.
Wind sounds, the friction of canvas, the steady breathing of distant guards… After confirming there were no prying gazes or breaths, he slowly extended his hand, placing his palm on a full burlap sack of Earth Potato.
His gaze became deep and focused as he silently recited in his mind.
“System, activate Hundredfold Amplification. Target: this sack of Earth Potato.”
【Quantifiable item detected: Earth Potato (bagged, approximately fifty kilograms). Quantity: 1. Proceed with 2-100x random amplification?】
“Yes.”
There was no earth-shattering light, nor any sound.
The instant Caesar confirmed, the space around that solitary sack seemed to become a reflection in water, beginning to blur and ripple violently.
The next second, those shadows transitioning from void to solid abruptly solidified. In just an instant, ninety-nine identical, bulging sacks appeared from nothing, stacking together with the original to instantly form a potato mountain half a person's height.
【Amplification successful. This amplification multiplier: 100.】
【Talent “Hundredfold Amplification” has entered cooldown. Remaining time: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes.】
Caesar looked at this spectacular scene before him, his face showing no joy, only icy calm.
After completing this, he didn't immediately leave, but personally began work like the most professional warehouse manager, starting his most important task tonight—erasing traces.
He knew deeply that once this secret was exposed, he would become the enemy of the entire world, devoured by countless greedy gazes.
Before possessing absolute self-protection capability, caution was his most important weapon.
He completely scattered these two hundred newly appeared supply sacks, not letting them form two neat new stacks.
He moved dozens of sacks of potatoes to the deepest corner of the warehouse, covering them with canvas, disguising them as reserve supplies.
He mixed dozens more into the original potato pile, making the stack larger and more chaotic.
The remainder he scattered in various places, as if they had just been moved in from outside and hadn't been organized yet.
He busied himself for over half an hour until the entire warehouse looked like an ordinary granary with massive stores but slightly chaotic management, no longer showing any trace of things “appearing from nothing.” Only then did he dust off his hands.
When he walked out of the tent, the moon had risen to its zenith, its cold moonlight spilling across the earth, stretching his shadow long.
The guards at the entrance still stood like statues, completely unaware of the scene inside the tent sufficient to overturn the world's understanding.
Caesar raised his head, glancing at the round moon in the sky. In his deep purple eyes reflected a bottomless cold pool.
All was ready.
Next, let this wasteland that had been silent for a thousand years witness the savage growth of a new order.