Dust was swirling.

The corpse of the Supreme Bright King and the enormous handprint became increasingly clear amidst the dust. Especially when viewed from atop the city walls, the sight was truly far too shocking.

The original forty-two settlers of Gaojia Village had already witnessed such a scene before, yet seeing it again still left them utterly awestruck. Thump, thump—in the blink of an eye, they had plopped down kneeling across the ground.

Following them were the new villagers, the Bai family’s tenants, and the Bai family’s servants. One after another, they knelt down, knocking their heads against the ground.

Mr. Bai was also stunned by this scene. Having always maintained his pride, he felt an impact at this moment that far exceeded that felt by the ordinary villagers.

He glanced around. Even Thirty-Two and his wife were kneeling properly, just like the ordinary villagers.

Everyone was murmuring in unison, “Praise the might of the Deity!”

Just then, the curtain of the large carriage carrying the Bai family’s dependents was pushed open. A middle-aged woman leapt out, followed by a young man—Mrs. Bai and her son. As soon as they jumped down from the carriage, they decisively knelt down, prostrating themselves flat against the ground, seemingly oblivious to the mud and dust clinging to their clothes.

Mr. Bai scanned his surroundings. Throughout the entire Gaojia Village, he alone remained standing, stood out incongruously.

Mr. Bai tried hard to convince himself: He is not an evil spirit, nor a false god. He is a genuine deity who just manifested his power. Besides, his name sounds like it belongs to Daoism. Kneeling to a Daoist deity can’t be wrong, can it? This doesn’t count as joining a cult.

In reality, Ming Dynasty scholars often wore Daoist robes as a fashion statement; Daoism was universally considered an orthodox faith. Kneeling to a Daoist deity was perfectly acceptable.

Persuading himself like this made his knees feel less stiff.

Mr. Bai also knelt down: “Praise the might of the Deity!”

Li Daoxuan watched the little figures in the “sky” below prostrate themselves throughout the village. A faint smile touched the corners of his lips as he prepared to tell them to rise.

Suddenly, he felt there was something amiss.

A faint point of light, like that of a firefly, rose from every single person and drifted up into the sky. Then, these tiny, firefly-like lights scattered, flying towards the four walls of the scenic box.

With over a hundred and fifty village residents, plus the hundred or so people brought by Mr. Bai, the total approached nearly three hundred. Each person emitted one point of light, amounting to nearly three hundred lights. One after another, they flew upwards and seeped into the four walls of the scenic box.

Then, the entire scenic box erupted in a dazzling golden light!

It was as if an enormous golden lantern had been lit inside the scenic box.

The little figures below seemed completely unaware of this golden radiance; they didn’t even blink. Li Daoxuan, however, was momentarily blinded by the glare, forcing him to shut his eyes.

When he reopened his eyes, he was astonished to discover that five new buttons had appeared on the corners of the box. They were labeled “East,” “South,” “West,” “North,” and “Center.” Beside the box, a row of strange text appeared: Rescue Index: 325.

A strange sensation welled up within Li Daoxuan, akin to suddenly grasping a key game mechanic while playing.

He eagerly pressed the “East” button.

The village inside the box seemed to instantly shift ever so slightly towards its left side. The visible area to the left of the village clearly shrank a notch, while the visible space to the right distinctly increased by a similar amount.

He pressed the “East” button again. The houses and little figures instantly seemed to shift a tiny bit further left, and another sliver of space appeared on the right horizon.

He tapped the “North” button several times in quick succession.

The entire village seemed to edge slightly southward, while the visible range expanded northwards, revealing a small slope covered in a grove of trees. All the trees were dead, their bark entirely stripped away.

This must be the slope where Zheng Daniu had chopped trees previously. Li Daoxuan hadn’t been able to see it then, but now he could. (Readers who forgot may refer to the final paragraphs of Chapter 39.)

“The sight range can move in all four directions: east, south, west, and north!”

Li Daoxuan was overjoyed: “Haha! The sight range has finally gotten larger!”

“So that’s it! I get it! I understand!” This was what he realized: the unseen entity that sent him this box clearly intended him to use it to save the late Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the scope of what he could see, the radius, was determined by his Rescue Index.

Initially, he had only rescued over a hundred villagers, and the “Rescue Index” hadn’t met the minimum threshold needed to expand the sight range. But now, by repelling the bandit army and effectively rescuing Mr. Bai’s group of over a hundred people, the “Rescue Index” had risen sufficiently. This met the condition for expanding the sight range, hence the new buttons “East, South, West, North, Center” materialized, allowing him to click the buttons to see these newly accessible peripheral areas.

Exhilarated, Li Daoxuan frantically mashed the “North” button. Very quickly, however, he realized… it stopped working.

That is to say, pressing it elicited no response. The sight range no longer moved northward.

“Has the sight range reached its northern limit?”

He pressed the “Center” button. The sight range instantly snapped back, centering itself directly above Gaojia Village.

He then tested the East, South, West, and North buttons again. Pulling out a ruler and calculating the 1:200 scale, he quickly determined the expansion: about 500 meters more visibility in each direction around the village—east, south, west, and north.

The increase wasn’t massive!

This was simply because the “Rescue Index” hadn’t increased enough.

But that didn’t matter. Knowing the method to expand the sight range was a significant gain in itself. Going forward, as long as he found ways to raise the “Rescue Index,” the sight range could continue to grow.

Li Daoxuan opened a Notepad file on his computer and recorded today’s findings inside.

1. The center of the scenic box’s sight range is Gaojia Village, and the radius is determined by the “Rescue Index.”

2. The sight range can be moved using the “North,” “South,” “East,” “West,” and “Center” buttons. However, the scale ratio of items and people inside the box to the real world remains 200:1.

Having recorded these, he stretched long, feeling a surge of joy mingled with exhaustion. Originally, he was just keeping a box of pet miniature people with a mindset to help whoever he incidentally could. Now, the addition of the “Rescue Index” seemed a bit like pushing him to “grind.” Systems with measurable metrics tend to pressure people into compulsive behavior. He didn’t want to force himself, though. Let nature take its course. He would rescue those he wished to rescue. How much of the sight range unlocked was secondary; whatever happened would be fine by him.

Lowering his head again to look into the box and Gaojia Village, he saw the villagers busily getting to work. Just like after the bandits had invaded last time, they were preparing to clean up the aftermath.

A group of villagers was clearing the bandits’ corpses. Naturally, clothes had to be stripped—not a scrap of cloth could be wasted. Weapons were all confiscated and distributed. Any loose copper coins found on some bandits belonged to whoever discovered them, a matter of pure luck.

The completely stripped bandit corpses were carried outside the city walls. A large pit was dug on a slope, and the bodies were thrown inside and buried.

Thanks to Li Daoxuan’s biased assistance, none of the villagers had suffered serious harm. The most severe injury occurred to one of the Bai family’s servants: while pouring burning oil over the parapet onto the besiegers below, he had accidentally spilled some onto his own leg.

Now, a large blister had formed on his scalded leg, causing him to groan in constant pain.

Several villagers were dousing it with cold water, trying to cool the burn. But the villagers had no medication specifically for burns. Beyond applying cold water, they had no other recourse.

Li Daoxuan opened his drawer, pulled out a tube of “Strong Relief Brand Scald Ointment,” squeezed out a minuscule dab—smaller than a grain of sesame—and delivered it downwards…