Chapter 123 - 121: Expanding Influence

Chapter 123: Chapter 121: Expanding Influence

’How strange. So this is how "punishment" works. What about "reward," then?’

Lin Feng discovered that the Land God Temple’s reward and punishment function wasn’t as simple as it seemed, especially when it came to criminals.

Everyone who had worshiped at the Land God Temple would be recorded, and there was also a list of good people.

The list had a number next to each name. Only numbers above +20 or below -20 were recorded; most people fell in between and weren’t listed.

The guy the police arrested yesterday had a negative value exceeding 105. Today’s livestreamer was even worse, reaching -157.

With a number like that, his crime definitely wasn’t minor. Unfortunately, the list didn’t specify what he’d done, so he’d have to wait for a public announcement.

Lin Feng studied it more closely and found that 50 was a dividing line. A person with a score of +50 had definitely performed a great deed of kindness, and as for -50, it went without saying they had done something evil.

’Seems I can’t just use this thing whenever I want. The cost is a bit high.’

He checked the status after the recent punishment. The gauge, which had risen significantly, had dropped by a tenth.

’Forget it, I won’t test the "reward" function. I’ll save the power for punishing people so I can catch more fugitives.’

This function was more valuable for punishing evil than rewarding good. He believed that even good people would want this power to be used to punish the wicked.

He also discovered another use for it. When hiring employees, if he chose people with high positive values, they would definitely be of high moral character.

"Boss, that guy really got arrested!"

Yu Hua watched in amazement as the police led the livestreamer away.

"He must have actually committed a crime."

The other livestreamers nearby were stunned. When Sun Guiyou wasn’t taken away at first, their chat rooms had already been in an uproar.

"See that? Did everyone see that? The guy was really taken away by the police.

And I just asked around. Anyone who couldn’t smell the incense has some moral issues, to a greater or lesser extent.

Some are into petty theft, some have done other shady things, just nothing majorly evil.

That ’debunker’ livestreamer... it must be more than just a moral issue. He definitely broke the law."

"Streamer, he wasn’t arrested just for slandering Lin Xian Village, was he?"

"I don’t think so. The owner is right over there, and he didn’t even bother with him earlier.

Also, I just heard that starting the day after tomorrow, only people with reservations can get in. So if you want to come, you’d better be quick.

Everyone, look! The police are taking another person who couldn’t smell the incense over there."

This time, Lin Feng didn’t even have to do anything. The person seemed to have voluntarily confessed to his crimes, clearly frightened by what was happening at the Land God Temple.

The livestreamer walked over, offered a cigarette to an old man standing nearby, and asked, "Sir, what did that guy do?"

"He’s got a black heart. Poisoned someone’s entire fish pond. Now that the Earth God has shown his power, he finally knows what fear is."

Someone nearby added, "This is what they mean by ’if you do no wrong by day, you fear no knock at the door by night.’"

"Brothers and sisters, you heard that. There’s really something to this place.

I think I was a bit disrespectful earlier. I’m going to get back in line and worship properly. Hopefully, I can get a blessing."

Seeing this, even the skeptical viewers in the chat rooms started to believe.

Especially with the news that Lin Xian Village would require reservations starting the day after tomorrow, they wanted to hurry over and worship while they still could.

Footage from the various livestreams spread like wildfire online, especially the clip of Sun Guiyou being led away by the police mid-broadcast.

Shortly after, Wuyuan County issued a public notice: the man had committed rape.

When Lin Feng saw the online announcement, he noted that it made no mention of the arrest having anything to do with his "punishment" function.

The release of this announcement had an even greater impact on public opinion. Many people became convinced that the Land God Temple in Lin Xian Village could truly distinguish between good and evil.

This also caused people with guilty consciences to give up on the idea of visiting Lin Xian Village to worship.

While many people might not have cared much about the Medicinal Tea or the Arrow Tower, the appearance of the Land God Temple made most netizens who heard about it want to come and see for themselves.

Looking at the skyrocketing traffic data, the officials in Jiangcheng City and Wuyuan County were no longer pleasantly surprised—they were terrified.

They simply didn’t have the capacity to handle such a massive influx of tourists. They urgently posted announcements online, urging tourists not to come the next day.

At the same time, they requested help from higher-ups; otherwise, the entire city could be paralyzed tomorrow.

The neighboring cities were green with envy, but there was nothing they could do.

After the provincial government learned of the situation, they immediately dispatched personnel to help solve the problem.

Lin Feng also received a notice. Starting today, Lin Xian Village was to remain open continuously, especially the Land God Temple.

"Brother Lin, these people are insane! Look at what’s happening online."

"The tourists from far away haven’t even arrived yet, but people from Jiangcheng City, Wuyuan County, and the surrounding areas are already pouring in."

"My dad just called me, asking if he could come worship. I told him to wait until the crowds thin out."

Zhao Shiyun ran over and said, "Lin Feng, your grandparents want to come too."

"Tell them to wait. There are too many people right now; it’s not a good time to come."

"Okay, I’ll tell them."

Lin Feng’s mother called. He answered, "Mom, don’t tell me you want to come worship the Earth God, too?"

"Of course I want to! And all our relatives have been messaging me, wanting to go worship."

"Tell them it’s not possible right now. I can’t make arrangements; there are way too many tourists. Tell them to wait a few days."

"Alright, then. You should go worship yourself when you have time."

"I know."

Lin Feng soon discovered that there were quite a few people who wanted to come and worship. Even Zhou Jun and Lin Chaoyan, all the way in the Imperial Capital, called him to ask about it.

The impact of this incident was far beyond his expectations and was still growing.

’This is just one special building,’ Lin Feng thought. ’There are still four more to be built.’

Also, with this chain of events, he hadn’t even had time to use the Lin Xian Tea.

This was mainly because the investigation over at the cave wasn’t finished, so he couldn’t proceed with developing the land on South Mountain.

He had only been sitting for a moment when a few professors walked over.

"Boss Lin, we’d like to run some tests on that Land God Temple. Would that be possible?"

Lin Feng thought for a moment and said, "Testing it is no problem, but there are a lot of people worshiping over there right now, so it’s not a good time.

Why don’t you wait a few days? You can conduct your tests at night when there’s no one around."

The professors considered this for a moment. It really wasn’t a good time. If their actions angered the crowd, they might even get beaten up.

"Alright, we’ll wait. We need to transport some equipment over anyway."

After settling the official business, one of the professors asked in a low voice, "Boss Lin, can that Land God Temple really tell if a person is good or bad?"

"I’m not sure about that. Maybe it’s just a coincidence."

"You don’t have any theories?"

"This isn’t my area of expertise. You could go ask Daoist Qi. Perhaps he can answer your questions."

"Then we’ll go ask Daoist Qi."

The group left, a little disappointed that they couldn’t get an answer from Lin Feng.

Lin Feng was speechless. ’How many groups of people have come to probe me now?’ he thought. ’I’m not an idiot.’

"Boss, Boss! My master told me a lot of people from the Taoism community are coming tomorrow."

"Let them come."

Feng Ziling said worriedly, "My master is worried they’re going to cause trouble."

"It’s fine. If they dare to cause trouble, I can kick them out. I rent this land, so what I say goes."

"Oh, right. I’ll go tell my master, then."

’There are definitely going to be some troublemakers coming next,’ Lin Feng thought. ’It’s inevitable.’

Fortunately, after the incident with the foreign pharmaceutical company, he understood that it would be very difficult for anyone to touch this place without support from the higher-ups.