Outside the inner city.

When the golden halo covering the entire territory finally dissipated, when everyone recovered from that strange "sensation of migration," and when they finally saw the scene before them.

A deafening exclamation erupted in the open space outside the Council Hall.

"Holy—shit—!!!"

Tie Dun had the loudest voice; this shout made the surrounding eaves tremble.

He stood by the inner city wall, staring outside with wide eyes, his mouth open wide enough to fit a fist.

Zhao Hu reacted a step faster than him and had already strode out of the inner city gate.

Then, he also froze.

A twenty-meter-high city wall.

The gray-white boulders shimmered with a faint cold light under the moonlight, and one could not see the end at a glance.

In the direction of the four city gates, one could vaguely see the thick city gates closed, and the bronze strips embedded in the door panels reflected a dim luster in the moonlight.

"Th-this is..." Zhao Hu's voice was trembling.

Wang Wu caught up from behind, stood beside him, looked up at the city wall, and remained speechless for a long time.

Arrow Eye followed, gripped his wind-chasing hunting bow, and muttered, "Where... where have we arrived?"

"Qingshi County." A voice came from behind them.

Everyone turned around and saw Shadow Snake standing behind them, though they didn't know when she had arrived.

Her cold eyes were currently gazing at the distant city wall, a rare ripple flickering in them.

"This is the former site of Qingshi County," she said softly. "The Lord has migrated the entire territory here."

Tie Dun finally recovered from his shock and grabbed Zhao Hu's arm. "Brother Zhao! Brother Zhao, pinch me! Am I dreaming?!"

Zhao Hu backhanded him on the back of his head. "Does it hurt?"

"It hurts!" Tie Dun covered the back of his head but grinned widely. "It hurts! It's not a dream! Damn it, it's really not a dream!"

He suddenly turned around, facing the inner city, toward the window where candlelight was still shining, and roared at the top of his lungs:

"Lord!!! You are too awesome!!! I, Tie Dun, haven't admired many people in my life, but you are number one!!!"

Zhao Hu couldn't help it either, his eyes gleaming as he said loudly, "Lord! You've directly moved an entire county city here!"

Wang Wu took a deep breath and remarked, "I've been in the Nightmare World for twenty years and have never seen such a thing. Upgrading from village-level to town-level, being able to migrate the entire territory, and incidentally restoring a ruined county city to this state... Lord, just how many more trump cards do you have?"

Arrow Eye smiled, a rare sight, and said softly, "Windchaser Archers paired with a twenty-meter city wall—I'm afraid those Skeleton Soldiers won't even be able to touch the base of the wall in the future."

Su Yurou stood behind the crowd, gazing at the towering city wall and then at the window where the candlelight was shining, whispering to herself, "Lin Feng... just how many more surprises can you bring..."

Shadow Snake said nothing, just quietly looked at that window.

But her hand gripping the deep blue fang tightened slightly.

...

Soon, everyone couldn't contain their excitement and scattered to explore this brand-new territory.

Tie Dun dragged Scarface Liu and A Wang and ran toward the military zone in the northeast.

The spaciousness of the training grounds made their eyes light up, and the neatness of the barracks made them exclaim in wonder.

And those dozen or so independent small courtyards, the Honorary Resident area, made Tie Dun drool.

"This courtyard! Is this courtyard for us to live in?!"

Tie Dun stood at the entrance of a small courtyard, peering inside. "I, Tie Dun, have never lived in such a nice house in my life!"

Scarface Liu patted his shoulder and laughed, "Stop looking, hurry up and pick one! If you're late, others will snatch them up!"

A Wang had already rushed into the second courtyard, his voice coming from inside, "I want this one! Nobody snatch it from me!"

Wang Wu and Arrow Eye headed straight for the city wall.

The two ascended the steps to the top of the city wall, stood by the twenty-meter-high battlements, and overlooked the entire territory.

Under the moonlight, the outline of Beacon Fire Town was in full view: the residential area in the southwest, the commercial area in the northwest, the workshop area in the southeast, the military zone in the northeast, and the inner city surrounded by the inner wall in the center.

"Beautiful," Wang Wu said softly.

Arrow Eye nodded, said nothing, and just gripped the bow in his hand.

Zhao Hu climbed up to the East Gate tower alone.

He stood on the tower, hands resting on the battlements, gazing at the endless plains outside the city, the vaguely visible outline of the Stone Forest in the distance, and the blurry mountain shadows further away.

Under the moonlight, the scar on his face shimmered with a cold light, his expression complex.

He recalled over a decade ago.

Back then, he was just an ordinary guard in Qingshi County, patrolling this city wall every day, watching the sunrise and sunset, thinking about when he could save enough money to return to his hometown, marry a wife, and live a stable life.

But who could have imagined that over a decade later, he would stand on this city wall again.

It was still the twenty-meter-high wall, still this county city, and even the design of the tower was exactly the same as in his memory.

But everything was different now.

Because the person standing on this wall was no longer an insecure little guard.

He was an Honorary ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Resident of Beacon Fire Town, a core member under Lord Lin Feng, and one of the masters of this county city.

Zhao Hu took a deep breath, the night wind filling his lungs, carrying the faint sulfur smell unique to the Nightmare World.

He suddenly laughed, the scar on his face bunching up.

"Qingshi County..." he muttered, "I'm back."

He turned around and looked at the window in the inner city where the candlelight was still shining.

"Lord."

He didn't shout, but said softly in a voice only he could hear:

"Thank you."

Moonlight like water spilled over this newly reborn city.

The first night of Beacon Fire Town thus began.

...

Second floor of the Council Hall.

Lin Feng's hand was still pressed against the territory core, feeling that warm and majestic power slowly settle.

Outside the window came the roar of Tie Dun's signature loud voice, and one could vaguely hear things like "Lord is awesome" and "I, Tie Dun, am convinced."

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, but he didn't go down immediately.

Because in front of him, the territory management interface was updating.

【Territory upgrade complete】

【Current territory: Beacon Fire Town (town-level)】

【Lord: Lin Feng】

【Population: 575 / 2000 (2000 population required to upgrade to county-level)】

【New functions unlocked, please check】

Lin Feng focused, and streams of information flooded into his mind.

【Low-level City Wall Blueprint (town-level general)】

Description: Standard city wall blueprint that can be built by town-level territories.

Height limit: 10 meters

Quality: Gray

Characteristics: Conventional defense, can withstand a certain degree of attacks.

Remarks: You currently possess a higher 20-meter city wall (white quality, integrated HP), so this blueprint has limited value to you.

Lin Feng nodded slightly. The 20-meter white-quality city wall was more than a notch better than the 10-meter gray wall built from this blueprint.

The restoration brought by the Warp Card had indeed allowed him to skip over the defense bottleneck of the early town-level stage in one step.