Famine 72: Imagination Town

Li CUI’e spoke concisely: “There are simply too many incoming players. We have nowhere left for everyone to stay.”

It was a serious problem.

The farm now hosted over a thousand players. At this rate of growth, by the time the first group of main quests was completed, the population of players would reach approximately 2,300.

That number had already surpassed Skulls Ferry, enough to be called a true village.

For such a large settlement of players, housing was an enormous issue.

Most players who had been drawn to the farm by the convenience store were wanderers accustomed to living rough. Their entire belongings rarely amounted to more than a rolled-up tent and a backpack, all for the sake of high mobility—a swift escape should danger arise. Campsites could be abandoned without care.

Moreover, to survive the perilous world of the Famine Game, many players’ tents were cursed items in their own right, with built-in defensive mechanisms: if outsiders approached, it often meant death or injury.

Comfort or adaptation to communal environments was never even considered.

But now, having all gathered in one place—spacious, safe, and ready to settle down—these makeshift shelters were no longer remotely adequate.

The arrival of the Spring Grass Mercenary Group, with over four hundred members, became the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
Their supplies had been destroyed in the battle with Chen Chunsheng; four hundred people were about to sleep exposed on the bare grass.

This situation even led to an unexpected episode.

Upon arriving at the farm, Gao Zhai tried this: he took his brothers into the nearby forest to fell [Black Thorn Deadwood], attempting to split it into planks to build houses.

Black Thorn Deadwood proved impossibly tough, as hard as steel. Gao Zhai used up all his strength just to get the axe a tiny way into the wood.
But as soon as he breached the surface, a swell of crimson blood oozed out along the blade.

Startled, Gao Zhai halted immediately. He discussed it with Liang Qingshuang, and they abandoned the plan.

After all, the goal wasn’t just to cut trees—it was to make a home. Sleeping in a sinister, bleeding wooden house night after night would surely be torment.

After hearing this, Si Zhiyan suddenly recalled the Bone-Gnawed Fate Disk in the blood mist from earlier.

When the disk first appeared, it rolled forward with a thunderous sound, crushing countless Black Thorn Deadwood in its wake and leaving behind a wide, straight trail of blood.

He had thought that bloodstain was the disk’s doing; apparently, it was actually the blood released by the crushed deadwood.

This clearly was unnatural. He made a mental note to be careful in future.

Si Zhiyan pondered for a moment before quickly making a decision.
“Spread the word—no one is to touch the Black Thorn Deadwood. The farm will provide a unified solution to the housing issue.”

“Please help organize everyone. Tell them to pack their things and temporarily clear out before dinner.”

As for the solution itself, Si Zhiyan entrusted it to a treasured possession he’d held for some time—

—the gemstone sculpture, [Seed of Famine – Imagination World].

Days before, after absorbing the Seed of Famine, the farm had clung tightly to Si Zhiyan, rubbing against him, and then, from the earth itself, a house had grown forth…

A magnificent wooden house.

[Dimensional Space Block – Imagination World]
A spatial block born of the Imagination World, the seed of your own world.

The High Priest destroyed his own world with his own hands, seeking victory in the Main God’s game.
Yet in his heart, surely an image like this remained—
The Main God defeated, the bloody rains ended, leaving behind only blue skies and white clouds. Streets and lanes, lined with a myriad of houses, eaves adorned with colorful banners. A festival approaches; street vendors at the market loudly peddle their wares. A woman offers her daughter a shiny red apple. The girl takes the apple and merges into the tide of children, running freely and healthily through alleys under the bunting…
At night, scattered lights glow, igniting a vibrant living canvas.

Stripped of gloom and freed from obsessive malice, Imagination is just a fragment of untainted space,
ready to fuse with your world and, guided by your intentions, provide sturdy, vibrant structures for your farm.

Unlike a CBD, this space block was less a standalone dimension, and more… an all-purpose builder’s brush.

Pop.

Opening the Imagination World block was like entering creative mode. The view soared above, as Si Zhiyan found himself overlooking the entire expanse of his farm from the sky.
The forest spread out across the northern fringe, with the farm owner’s house and Imagination Lake at its edge.
To the south stretched a vast sweep of lush green grass, dotted here and there with scattered tents in a jumbled array.

In Si Zhiyan’s field of view, a row of construction options appeared below—a UI not unlike a building simulation game.

[Ding! Welcome to the Construction Hub of Imagination Town.]
[Current unlocked materials: basic tiles, basic dyes, quarried stone, quality timber (source: forest), imagination reef (source: imagination pond)]
[Current unlocked buildings: main church, watchtower spire, marketplace, bell tower…]

The list of structures stretched nearly endlessly.

Due to material unlock restrictions, everything at this stage—

—was supported largely by the effect of the imagination reef.
However, these special buildings required extra points to construct, so unless there was urgent need, they could be left for now.

But beyond the default buildings, every piece of construction could be customized down to the tiniest detail—immediately invoking the edit window.

The level of detail permitted by this editing system was staggering. From wooden tables and round chairs, to the exact placement of vases and patterned tapestries on the walls, to the layout of roof trusses, beams, and columns… every element could be freely edited.

With such detail and apparent observance of physical laws, Si Zhiyan dared not make careless adjustments. Move a pillar, and who knew if the whole building would collapse? He didn’t have that expertise. Perhaps later, with architects or civil engineers among the players, he would let them experiment.

Si Zhiyan began by expanding the land set aside for the lakeside meadow dining hall, designating it as the settlement’s nucleus.

No matter how it was built, a farm was still a farm—its people’s meals must always take priority. Placing it at the center made for the most rational flow.

At the entrance of the restaurant, Si Zhiyan used the system to place a plaza.

Thud!

A puff of dust cleared, revealing a brand new plaza sprawled out before the restaurant.
The plaza was level and spacious, paved in cobblestone, with intricate variations in the stone’s pattern. Centered on the restaurant, it fanned outward in a handsome, symmetrical semicircle, its rim bordered by a ring of graceful green trees.

In the center, at the restaurant’s doors, stood a handsome fountain: water arced up in bubbling jets, cascading down with a lively splash.
This fountain was quite substantial; a bit of playful fancy led Si Zhiyan to switch to creative mode, reach into the Imagination Pool, and drag out a few beautiful scarlet koi to swim in the fountain basin.

Satisfied, he selected again, placing a two-story red wooden building at the plaza’s edge.
For Li Cui’e, Lin Qiushui, and the other player leaders, there was often need for a meeting hall—a place for consulting and decision-making.
Previously, they’d used Li Cui’e’s workshop, but now, with their own dedicated building, it served as the town hall.

Thus, the central plaza of Imagination Town was complete.

Radiating outward from it lay more than a dozen grey-white stone-brick streets, extending in a web.

Single-story cottages and two-story houses rose along the thoroughfares—some here, some there—springing from the earth and growing skyward, nestled cozily together in harmonious irregularity.

Si Zhiyan carefully managed their spacing. Shopfronts lined the main roads, packed and lively; the residential homes were set further inside, with the space opening up into garden courts and family dwellings.

Perhaps owing to their imaginative origins, the wooden houses were all radiant and welcoming: some with roofs in soft, starry violet, others capped with glittering red tiles. Star, moon, and tapestry decorations abounded; rainbow balloons and bunting hung from storefronts and over the streets, creating the look of a magical market town.

The Imagination Town that Si Zhiyan built contained two thousand multi-story residences and around five hundred shopfronts along the street—altogether enough to house at least five thousand people.

As the first phase, that would suffice.

After finishing the town, he tweaked the roads and laid down a wide, bright promenade between the farm gate and Imagination Town.
On each side, neat rows of floating imagination lanterns hung in the air, glowing softly all down the line.

If Imagination Town was the residential and urban services district at the center of the farm, then beyond it—south of the lake—was a tract of empty grassland.
Here, Si Zhiyan marked out a broad avenue stretching southeast and paved a huge open lot with white stone, upon which he dropped ten large, empty sheds.

This was to be the centralized production base.

Meanwhile, the rift to Skulls Ferry, operated by Tang Qinghuai and Zhong Manwen, was relocated here as well.
Si Zhiyan had long since assigned five farmhands to oversee its daily trading and logistics.
He also allocated one of the sheds as their warehouse, making it much easier to tally Skulls Ferry’s daily orders, shipments, and deliveries.

The original farm gate opened due south. Si Zhiyan deliberately located the production base in the southeast corner, then set a larger, plain iron gate into the southern wall.

Ordinarily, proper players would go out for quests, and newcomers would enter through the front gates—the walls and entrance serving as city walls and gate, with the flow of people considerable.
But production players who needed to work often brought in large teams for raw materials, blocking the main gate.
The two groups used to interfere with one another, slowing efficiency, and at times the congestion forced Lin Qiushui and others to drop everything and intervene.

Now, with guest and cargo routes separated—players coming in through the south, logistics through the east—they no longer interfered, and movement was easier for all.

The work was done.

Si Zhiyan floated cross-legged above the grass, looking down on everything with a satisfied smile.

Imagination Town. Production base. Clean open squares and broad thoroughfares…

It was starting to look proper now.

Examined closely, every single building born of the Seed of Imagination was exquisitely beautiful. The types and ratios of buildings were ingeniously balanced; internal layouts and traffic flows showed thoughtful planning. It was as if their original designer had once, with deep devotion, hoped for the creation of a wondrous and welcoming home where all could live happily and well together.

On the gem sculpture of the Seed of Famine, the High Priest’s twisted, obsessive smile was frozen in a kneeling pose, clutching his chest, head thrown back, blood tears streaming down.
Behind him, Pandora’s Box was half-open, revealing a delicately carved, translucent utopia within—wooden houses scattered amid a thriving, joyous crowd.

…Si Zhiyan exhaled softly.
“Thank you, predecessor,” he whispered, lowering his eyes. “Rest well on your journey.”

With the construction complete, Si Zhiyan opened the farm gates and let everyone in.