Chapter 199 - 195: Jealousy is Useless

Chapter 199: Chapter 195: Jealousy is Useless

Inside the Barracks, a group of people lay sprawled on the floor, image forgotten, every muscle in their bodies aching.

They had never expected the training to be so intense. They didn’t even have the energy to think about going out for a stroll.

"Man, this is brutal. If we train like this every day, our whole trip to Lin Xian Village will be nothing but training."

"So what do you suggest we do? If you try to fake an illness, there’s a doctor to check you. The only other option is to drop out."

"Ugh, if I’d known it would be like this, I would’ve held back a little when the coaches were doing our physical assessments yesterday."

At these words, everyone else was filled with regret. Yesterday, coaxed on by the three coaches, they had given it their all!

And now, the coaches knew exactly what they were capable of. There was no way to hide their true condition.

Yao Enlong, sitting a short distance away, chimed in, "They’re just trying to help us. And this training is definitely effective."

"Easy for you to say, big star. Aren’t you tired?"

"This is nothing. Back when I was doing theater, some performances were way more exhausting than this."

"Acting used to be hard work. You had to learn so many things."

"It’s different now. As long as you can act against a green screen, nothing else matters."

Yao Enlong didn’t argue. He had seen far too many bizarre things on set over the past few years.

Green screens were nothing. Some actors didn’t even show up, and their scenes still got filmed.

And with the advent of AI, things had gotten even weirder.

You don’t need acting skills, you don’t need to know your lines. As long as you’re handsome or beautiful enough and have a massive online following, nothing else is a problem.

To put it bluntly, many movies and TV shows these days are no different from product endorsements.

A distorted market breeds distorted entertainment. It’s a vicious cycle, so there’s no point blaming anyone. Just vote with your feet.

"Next."

Yang Chengshu and the other two coaches were very responsible. Aware of the trainees’ condition, they were helping them with massages and therapeutic treatment.

This was why, despite their complaints, no one was making a real fuss.

"Folks, as you can all see, coming to Lin Xian Village is about real training, not a vacation."

"So, for anyone thinking of signing up next time the camp opens, be mentally prepared."

The streamer was consciously avoiding filming Yao Enlong, which showed a good deal of courtesy. He wasn’t like those other streamers who, even when asked not to film, would brazenly shove a camera right in someone’s face.

Of course, everyone who could afford to join the training camp was well-off and could easily cover their expenses in Lin Xian Village.

Otherwise, they would have been filtered out during the application process.

"Dude, you still have the energy to stream? I’m going to have a word with Coach Zhou and tell him to increase your workload tomorrow."

"Dude, come on, have a heart!"

"If I recall correctly, *you’re* the one who opened his big mouth today, which got us an extra half hour of training."

The people around him had forgotten about that, but now they were all glaring at him menacingly.

After a full day of training, most of them had gotten to know each other and were already familiar.

About ten minutes later, their physical conditions were recorded one more time before the three coaches let them go.

However, most of them didn’t leave. They saw a group of Lin Xian Village employees arriving to work out.

They were especially drawn to Hu Xia and the group of beautiful women with her, all of them with fit, healthy figures.

Zhou Xing stood to one side, addressing the trainees. "See that? They only train for two hours every evening, and they’re able to maintain physiques like that."

"If you guys, who are training all day, can just stick with it, you’re guaranteed to see results."

"Coach Zhou, do they come here to train every day?"

"Not always. Obviously, they can’t make it if something comes up."

"But," Zhou Xing added with a hint of meaning, "training here in the Lin Xian Village Barracks is especially effective."

Some of them were dismissive, but others grew thoughtful as they watched the Lin Xian Village employees exercise.

Their attitude in this moment would determine what they gained over the next three weeks.

Yao Enlong snapped a picture and posted it to his social media account, instantly sparking a discussion among his fans.

No one could have known the storm that photo would unleash three weeks later.

Meanwhile, Xu Song, after a full day of treatment, returned to his room and started posting updates to his online account.

Xu Song’s Treatment Diary: Day one of treatment. The results are incredible. Thank you, Lin Xian Village, for giving me hope to live again.

Depressed Every Day: Bro, are the results really that good?

I’m Not Being Dramatic: Sir, could you tell us a bit about the treatment method?

The Black Room: I’m in so much pain... can it really be cured?

...

Xu Song’s Treatment Diary: To all my fellow sufferers out there, if you get the chance, you have to come here for treatment. It’s incredibly effective.

Xu Song’s Treatment Diary: Also, the treatment method is unique. It’s useless for me to describe it, because only Lin Xian Village has it.

Xu Song’s expression turned odd as he thought about the treatment—it was just inhaling the fragrant incense from the Land God Temple. It was a shame the fragrance couldn’t be collected.

If it could, fellow patients like him could just buy the incense and be cured.

At first, he hadn’t believed it, assuming Lin Xian Village was just trying to maintain a monopoly. It was only after he tried to collect it himself that he understood how miraculous the fragrance truly was.

More patients who had been screened and met Lin Xian Village’s criteria were now making their way to the village.

Once this batch of patients was cured, the influence of Lin Xian Village’s Land God Temple would grow even greater.

Another twenty men were on a train heading for Wuyuan County. A single glance at their bearing was enough to tell they were recent veterans.

"Captain, what’s the real story with this Lin Xian Village?"

"The stuff I just looked up online... it sounds like a bunch of hype."

"I’m not sure myself. But I heard from the company commander that our battalion commander had to move heaven and earth to secure these twenty spots for us."

"The benefits are good, and the pay is high. All of you had better appreciate this opportunity."

The information online was too chaotic for them to make sense of. They would have to go see Lin Xian Village for themselves to understand the real situation.

Some of it sounded completely fake, yet so many people insisted it was true.

He also noticed that among the twenty of them, there were five men he had never seen before.

Back in Lin Xian Village, Yu Hua felt his stomach churning when he learned that twenty military veterans were joining the security team.

He had known this day would come, he just hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

’Whatever, no point thinking about it. All I can do is work on improving myself. Everything else is just noise.’

Yu Hua knew perfectly well that trying to pull any funny business in Lin Xian Village was no different from courting death.

If he got fired, there’d be no second chances, and he’d become the laughingstock of Mountain Ridge Town.

Even if he couldn’t be a department head, the salary for a small team leader was still very high.

The guards under him who were hoping to compete for the deputy captain position had it even worse, but they had no choice but to accept the situation.

Nowadays, Lin Xian Village had no fear of being unable to fill a position. They just had to put the word out.

Besides, his current team had already gotten a huge advantage by being hired as guards in the first place.

Hu Xia simply posted the news in the security team’s group chat, paying no mind to their feelings on the matter.

In a laboratory in the Imperial Capital, a group of researchers stared at the test results for the mutated strawberries, chives, and tea plants, their moods dark.

"All right, let’s stop. There’s no point in continuing the research. We can’t find any pattern whatsoever."

"It’s incredible. The mutation in these plants completely defies the known laws of evolution."

"Could Lin Xian Village... could it really be like what people are saying online? A Spiritual Qi Revival?"

"Who knows? Unless that Lin Feng fellow comes forward with an explanation, it’ll be nearly impossible to find the answer."

These were all top-tier researchers, and they weren’t the only ones on the case. Several premier international labs had also joined the investigation.

So far, no one had found anything.

The cause of these miraculous changes remained a complete mystery.

Of course, they had learned their lesson. Realizing there was no viable angle for research, they stopped pouring massive resources into it.

"Have you guys heard? They’re supposedly treating a patient with late-stage stomach cancer over there."

"That news spread a while ago. I heard the higher-ups are even involved."

"Cancer... If they can find a cure, it would be a monumental leap forward for medicine. That would be a good thing, at least."

On this front, they were actually very supportive of Lin Xian Village developing a miracle cure. As researchers, they had a higher risk of exposure to carcinogenic radiation sources.

With that, the researchers submitted a report on the mutated plants.

...

After eating breakfast, Lin Feng saw Zhou Jun waiting for him.

"The security personnel you asked for have arrived."

Hearing that the security personnel had arrived, Lin Feng called out to Hu Xia, "The twenty new guards are here. What’s the plan?"

Hu Xia was in the middle of a discussion with Wan Qianqian about recruiting a Carpenter, a Blacksmith, and a Stonemason. When she heard the guards had arrived, she stood up.

"I’ll be right there."

"Alright. I need to ask Jiaxing about something, too."

In the village square, twenty men stood in neat formation, their eyes scanning Lin Xian Village with curiosity.

The guards already on duty looked at the new arrivals, then back at themselves. The difference was stark.

’We’ll have to start training hard after our shifts,’ they thought.

’Otherwise, if more guards like this keep showing up, we’ll be too embarrassed to show our faces.’

A cleaning lady passing by looked from the new men to the current guards and said, "Look at you lot, and then look at them. You should learn a thing or two."

"Ma’am, they’re fresh out of the military. Of course we can’t compare."

"Then you’d better learn from them properly."

Zhou Jun brought Lin Feng and Hu Xia over, walking straight to the group’s leader, Wan Jianghong.

"This is Captain Wan Jianghong. He’s in charge of the men who’ve come this time."

"This is Lin Feng, the owner of Lin Xian Village, and this is Manager Hu Xia. You’ll be reporting to her from now on."

"Boss. Manager Hu. Good to meet you."

"Hello," Lin Feng said. "Hu Xia, why don’t you go over the compensation package here at Lin Xian Village with them."

Hu Xia shot Lin Feng a glare before explaining the compensation package and their future job responsibilities to Wan Jianghong.

In truth, someone had already briefed them on Lin Xian Village’s salary structure before they arrived.

After Wan Jianghong confirmed with the rest of his men, Hu Xia led them away to sign their contracts and get them settled into their new living quarters.

"With more and more employees, housing is quickly becoming an issue," Lin Feng commented.

Hearing Lin Feng’s complaint, Zhou Jun said, "Why don’t you build some residential housing just outside the village?"

Lin Feng thought for a moment. He wondered if he could designate an entire apartment building as a single "House". ’Would that even work?’

He’d heard that Wuyuan County had already started planning the commercial development around Lin Xian Village, with construction slated to begin next year.

Given the pace of Lin Xian Village’s growth, they definitely needed to build dormitories. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be nearly enough housing within the village itself.

It was manageable for now, but in the future, as these employees started families, the demand for housing would become even more acute.

"We really do need to build apartment buildings. Otherwise, we’ll have no way to house future employees."

They couldn’t expect people to live in Mountain Ridge Town; it was too far from Lin Xian Village.

Zhou Jun’s face lit up. "I’ll call Wang Zhongxuan right now. Any housing they build is guaranteed to be top quality and finished on time."

"Do we really need to trouble them for this?"

"Yes, absolutely. They build fast, and they get approvals fast."

"In that case, fine. The job is theirs."

As soon as Lin Feng agreed, Zhou Jun immediately made the call. This arrangement was highly beneficial for him.

While he wasn’t short on housing in Lin Xian Village, he couldn’t just keep occupying one of the village houses indefinitely.

If they built apartment buildings, he could get a unit for himself and wouldn’t have to impose on Lin Feng anymore.

Besides, many of his friends had been asking him about getting a place in Lin Xian Village.

That was something he couldn’t help with, but apartment buildings would solve that problem nicely.

「Around four in the afternoon」

Manager Hu Zhiming called Lin Feng to inform him that the equipment for three buildings had been fully installed.

Upon hearing the news, Lin Feng quickly made his way over to the Blacksmith’s Shop.

As someone who had upgraded many buildings before, he didn’t hesitate for a moment and immediately upgraded all three.