This Overlord Doesn't Care About Anything

Book 5: Chapter 40: The Number One Productive Force Is Poaching Another's Foundation

What is West-Resisting City still missing?

I will often ponder about this question.

This question is related to when Ill finally be able to experience the happiness of collecting money while idling. At present, even though its all basically fully automatic work, the issue is that all sorts of problems often appear during the process of the work. In my absence, the head of internal affairs, Moon, is basically the pillar of West-Resisting City.

But Moon still isnt mature enough as of now. Although hes shown slickness, slyness, and maturity beyond his current age of 20 years-old, hes still a distance away from those top strategic advisors. He isnt comparable to those rumored supernatural imperial scholars in the royal capital or many of those advisors by many Overlords sides. His talent is indeed extremely outstanding to the point that many people ignore this one problem.

This problem being that before Moon came to West-Resisting City, hes never really held any official position.

All he did when he was still serving under the Overlord of Tian Cheng was to give advice to the Overlord. When he arrived at Yun Hai, he was merely Bai Huangs little brother. It can be said that most of what hes mastered is theoretical knowledge and that he basically has no experience in wielding power. The first formal job hes had is to manage the internal affairs of an entire cityno, not only internal affairs, but also the ambition to expand outwards and strategies to achieve this goal step by step; these are the responsibilities he carries.

Moon is no god, he is man. He doesnt have the ability to touch stones and turn it into gold; he only has the means of using money to make money. He will make mistakes, but hell also make up for them. Overall, hes a guy who lets other people be spared of worry when assigning him things to do.

Apart from this, theres Fang Thirteen propping up the citys military affairs and also a very reassuring person. Since ancient times, there hasnt been any territory that expands outwardly by ones personal strength. Perhaps its possible to be a tyrant on a small scale, but when it comes to truly fighting against the towering figures of the world, its much more important to depend on ones army, money and food situation. Those three things are the foundation of a territory.

One can argue that the former West-Resisting City was an isolated city that relied on Felitas hardworking defense and had no prospect of expanding outwards. But the addition of Moon and Fang Thirteen allowed West-Resisting City to change from defense to offense. Moon is able to handle the internal affairs in an orderly manner to ensure that wealth continuously accumulates in the city while Fang Thirteen can use the money that Moon accumulates to launch attacks on the outside and conquer more cities. With more cities in Moons hands, hell be able to generate even more money and recruit even more troops for Fang Thirteen, thus forming a virtuous cycle.

I call this the current West-Resisting Citys most important foundation.

These two people must never have one side be delayed otherwise problems will arise.

As long as Im able to guarantee that this virtuous cycle doesnt collapse, West-Resisting City will continue to develop naturally. It can be said that the things West-Resisting City is doing now, as well as the things that need to be done in the future, are all to serve Moon and Fang Thirteen. Lets take Bai Huang for example; Bai Huangs role is to guarantee public security. If public security is unstable, then the will of the people will be in disorder and thus influence Moons work negatively. Then we have Aleya and Felita; the stronger the both of them get, the more flexible Fang Thirteens tactics will become and will greatly enrich the armys combat power.

Up until now, everything seemed to be peaceful.

At least before the assassin appeared, even I thought that the comfortable days were coming.

Until Fang Thirteen was obstructed by the assassin when she was about to succeed on the front line, only then did I understand this one truth; the current West-Resisting City is too weak. The reason its been capable of persevering with its development, while Moon and the others do play a role in it, is because of me, the behind-the-scenes boss.

Its inevitable that things will be a little dull like this. Its like playing a tower defense game, your pursuit should be doing nothing except watching as you set up towers in a way that pleases you and kills the monsters. Its not supposed to be you crazily tapping the screen to release your active skills, what pleasure is in doing that?

But the current West-Resisting City cant do without me.

If the assassin this time was able to assassinate Fang Thirteen during the first time she showed up or didnt leave me a note and instead immediately went to burn the grain, she would have easily succeeded. This also means that if it were another assassin, West-Resisting City would have already collapsed by now. The internal and external cycle system that I painstakingly set up can be easily destroyed by a single assassin; this realization made me sober up a lot.

The one thats strong isnt West-Resisting City, its me.

After pondering about the reasons and connections, I understood one thing. Its that West-Resisting City is still lacking people. When other children leave their homes, they inherit a large heap of their old mans connections and basically dont lack anything on the day they assume their positions. But it was much different for me. When I first arrived, I had nothing else apart from Aleya. At the time, Felita was about to be given to the Demon Race due to heresy, Moon was locked up in a brothel with a sky-high ransom fee, and Fang Thirteen was still confined by the shackles of familial affect and couldnt move a single step. But I brought them with me back to West-Resisting City. And yet, this still isnt enough. All I did was fill the three pits known as internal affairs, military affairs, and public security. Theres still too few people around me.

Groom them myself?

Too hard, too hard.

Then just poach people!

It doesnt matter who it is, it doesnt matter what grudges or complaints they have against me, it doesnt matter if theyre at the highest point in their lives or have fallen into a quagmire; it all falls down onto one word: poach! As long as hes capable, poach and bring him to West-Resisting City! As long as hes willing to come, willing to give his life to me, then poach him with no regard for cost! I didnt learn how to poach for so many years for nothing; no matter how well-connected or strong a backer, Ill still be able to dig him out!

Especially someone like Shiloh. For her to reach Level 7 at greater perfection realm at the tender age of 12 or 13 years-old, many resources must have been used on her, right? Ill dig you out! You know what this is called? Its called decreasing anothers abundance to make up for your deficiencies; isnt this exactly the will of heaven and the peoples expectations? 1

Therefore, beginning from the night that Shiloh failed to burn the grain and fodder, I was already secretly scheming on how to build a Secret Division Organization belonging to me with her as the core.

In any case, I cant be too passive in terms of information. I cant just let somebody kick my *** and not even be able to find out who the culprit is, yeah?

But the experience I have from successfully poaching Fang Thirteen cant be replicated. I had put on a disguise at the time and she didnt know me while I did know her. I had made preparations while she had no defenses up, so naturally I was able to bring back this beauty. But its not the same for Shilohshes not blind.

And so, I need someone who can help me probe her first. To get a hold of some personal information about Shiloh.

For example, whether or not she can communicate with people normally, which territory she comes from, what her purpose is.

For example, why she didnt kill Fang Thirteen at the time, why she left a note before burning the army provisions and before assassinating me, and so on.

For example, what she likes, what she dislikes, some of the things she thinks about, her three measurements, whether or not she has a love history

Before I figure out these things, I dont intend on making any movements.

However, I dont recognize anyone related to Shiloh and I cant exactly ask Shiloh directly, so I havent made any progress at all in terms of this matter.

That is, until this person called Evergreen showed up.

When Hunter told me this piece of news, I didnt show anything on the surface, but I firmly remembered it in my mind.

Evergreen can be made use of. Hell be my springboard for my attack on Shiloh.

Judging from his words, he was once a hidden undercover agent from the Overlord of Cangzhou, sent to hide in West-Resisting City. Due to problems that arose in Cangzhou, he is now homeless.

If done properly, even if hes regarded as part of a Secret Division Organization, Ill incorporate him into my harebah, Ill add him as one of my subordinates.

I didnt go out today. Instead, I sat inside my City Lords mansion, silently scheming for a day.

1. Dig/excavate and poach have about the same characters in Chinese. Or at least the meaning is there.