My lord, spare his life!

"You're asking me? Who should I ask?"

Zhang Yang immediately shifted the blame.

"The problem definitely isn't with me."

Fan You's stats for [Loyalty], [Morality], and [Ambition] remain at zero. Compared to Fan You, an NPC she's not very familiar with, she naturally trusts the straightforward data more. Unless there's a bug, the game data shouldn't be wrong.

Well, that's not always the case.

Based on their interactions, she felt that Fan You was quite moral.

Even if it's below the average level, it shouldn't be 0.

Zhang Yang was skeptical of all this, the only thing she was certain of was that Fan You's attack was unrelated to her because he was too far away. Fan You didn't refute this, but instead frowned, his brow beaded with fine sweat, and fell into thought. Zhang Yang watched, muttering to herself.

This flavor is just perfect.

It's a fragmented, ancient-style handsome man's face that was meticulously crafted by a group of observation samples, using all their brain cells to create it. It has both good looks and temperament.

After a short while, Fan You regained his composure.

They also noticed Da Chong trying to act cute towards Zhang Yang.

"My lord, this is..."

"Its name is Zhang Dami, a pet I caught." Zhang Yang grabbed Zhang Dami's round ears with both hands, and the latter obediently raised its neck, letting out a whimper that softened its rough voice, making it look pitiful and cute.

"It most likely fed on humans."

Others may not be sensitive to smells, but Fan You is different.

"Human cannibalism?"

Zhang Yang looked down at Zhang Dami, whose eyes were round and bright—the advantage of round eyes was that they made even a little innocence seem ten times greater. At this moment, Zhang Dami looked completely innocent, seemingly not understanding what Zhang Yang and the other person were saying. However, Fan You was not going to let it get away with it.

"It understands what we're saying, it's just pretending not to."

Zhang Yang reached out and patted its big head, but the expected scene of splitting its skull open with his bare hands didn't happen: "Then I won't eat it anymore."

With his heart pounding in his chest, Zhang Dami grunted and rubbed his head against Zhang Yang's leg, trying to lick her toes with his tongue. Before his warm, moist breath could even touch her instep, she turned away in disgust.

"Why doesn't my lord kill it?"

Keep them; they'll become a threat.

Zhang Yang was puzzled as to why Fan You wanted to kill Zhang Dami. He carefully recalled their conversation: "You want to kill Dami? Because it once ate people? But, people have never eaten people. People who eat people have much bigger appetites, are much fiercer, and much more ruthless than Dami."

The observed samples stated that in their real world, people also eat each other. There's no reason why only people can eat each other; surely Big Meow can eat people too? Besides, Big Meow doesn't eat people in the home side quest map; it only eats data, a string of game code.

"Isn't that right, Big Meow?"

Zhang Dami hid her large head behind Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang told it, "You can't eat it anymore."

Fan You remained silent.

A look of astonishment flashed across Puyang Kui's eyes.

But ironically, neither of them could find a way to refute it.

Leaving aside distant examples, consider just one kingdom, Dou. Its taxes were forcibly collected for 120 years. Natural disasters and man-made calamities led to abandoned farmland, unemployment, and in some places, even cannibalism, resulting in over half the population dying. Which of these people didn't eat far more than a giant tiger?

Man-made disasters and wars are far more terrifying than pest infestations.

Zhang Yang's emotionless, indifferent voice continued to reach my ears: "Some things have a cause and effect, right? If people hadn't stolen all of Da Mi's food, Da Mi wouldn't have gone hungry. If she hadn't gone hungry, she wouldn't have come down the mountain, and if she hadn't come down the mountain, she naturally wouldn't have been able to eat people."

Compared to people who live in groups, birds and animals in the mountains are easier to catch.

The mountains are rich in resources, so why do wild animals come down from them?

"...If cannibalism means killing, then should all cannibals be killed as well?" As an NPC, Zhang Yang can use her strong imitation and observation abilities to make herself look like a human, but she is ultimately just an NPC made up of data, and understanding humans is somewhat difficult for her. "If we're going to kill, we can kill Da Mi; if we're not going to kill, then why kill Da Mi? Shouldn't we solve the problem itself when a problem arises? Why does Da Mi eat people? Why do people eat people? Solve the problem at its root."

This is similar to a game developer fixing a bug.

The bug should be fixed wherever it occurs, rather than deleting a player's account simply because a player's behavior caused a bug.

Fan You's gaze swept over Zhang Dami, seemingly without emotion, but Zhang Dami instinctively arched its back and bristled, letting out a series of intimidating growls. He said calmly, "If my lord wants to keep it, then keep it. If it can be tamed and reformed, it will be a meritorious deed."

Zhang Yang did not have a bird, Fan You.

She doesn't need anyone's permission to raise Mimi.

"My lord, what do you think is the root of the problem?"

"The root cause is... a lack of food?"

Zhang Yang couldn't help but think of the emaciated NPCs at the survivor base—men and women, young and old. They were starving because large areas outside the base had fallen, overrun by dangerous zombie beasts. Even if the fallen areas were reclaimed, ordinary seeds couldn't take root and sprout in the heavily polluted soil. Zhang Yang had been secretly observing the homestead side quest these past few days; the soil was very clean.

It took a tremendous amount of effort from each base to achieve this effect.

That is to say-

Even unmodified seeds can germinate here.

Why are the NPCs in the Homestead side quests always hungry? Why do they take away from Big Meow's food, forcing Big Meow to come down the mountain to find food?

Zhang Yang felt increasingly confused and had a headache.

She asked, "If there's no food, can't we plant it?"

Fan You let out a sneer: "Where will the land come from? Where will the seeds come from? Even if there is fertile land and seeds, after paying taxes, eight or nine out of ten will be taxes. If the weather is bad, even one or two out of ten will not be left, and you will still have to sign a loan with a monthly interest rate of two or three percent..."

At the beginning of the founding of the Xuanwu Kingdom, the tax rate was 2 out of 17.

The sons who were enfeoffed established the Dou Kingdom. At first, they wanted to follow the old example of their ancestors. However, the mother and son cared more about their own enjoyment. So they used the excuse of collecting future taxes in advance and promised that once the taxes were collected, their descendants would receive double the tax exemption.

The result can be imagined.

The rulers of Dou Kingdom extended their empty promises to 120 years later. Dou Kingdom obviously wouldn't live that long, so it was impossible for them to honor the tax exemptions for the next 240 years.

Zhang Yang: "No farmland? But isn't there land everywhere outside?"

There is land everywhere you look, so how can there be no land to cultivate?

"These lands all have owners." Puyang Kui looked at Fan You with some sympathy; his lord wasn't very bright.

"Is the master just letting the fields lie fallow?"

"Not really... but you can understand it that way if you want."

Zhang Yang: "Oh, I get it now. So they're just reserve accounts, occupying the spot without using it. Knowing they're a bunch of reserve accounts, just kill them all, and the spot will be available, right?"

That pile of observation samples was full of martial virtue.

The game features internal skirmishes at bases 1, 3, and 5, and external skirmishes at bases 2 and 4. To ensure fairness, the number of participants is balanced. To increase their chances of winning, both sides frequently use alternate accounts to occupy spots on the opposing side, hindering the other's ability to amass elite forces.

The boy, sitting sideways on the tiger's back, suddenly realized and concluded: "See? The root of the problem lies in reserving the spot, not in the big cat."

The solution is to address the issue of players occupying spots that disrupt the balance.