HLM – Chapter 20 The Heart of the Homestead

Compared to before, things were already looking better for him now—he felt that life was full of promise. The Lord’s Heart was truly a remarkable thing. The more he learned about it, the more powerful he realized it was.

That night’s meal turned out great. Wang Bo ate half a jin of rice and cleaned up both dishes and the soup without leaving a single grain behind.

However, Commander only ate the blueberries in the end and didn’t touch the grapes at all. Seemed like he was a picky eater.

After finishing the blueberries, Commander thought Wang Bo’s food smelled good and leaned in, trying to peck at it. Wang Bo didn’t dare let him eat it—both dishes had chili peppers. Birds couldn’t handle spice.

But Commander thought Wang Bo was being stingy. He rolled his small black eyes around, scheming for a chance to steal a bite.

When Wang Bo was about to start cleaning up, Commander seized the moment, snatched up a piece of chili, and swallowed it whole. Excitedly, he flapped his wings and shouted, “Ah ah! Eat! Ah ah! Ah ah! Your mom exploded!”

His cries quickly turned hoarse. His feathers fluffed out as he flapped his wings like mad—clearly, the chili was kicking in.

Wang Bo was at a loss. All he could do was feed him two blueberries to ease the burn. Then he gave him a few grains of rice, and finally, Commander made it through that miserable ordeal.

Back in the second-floor guest room, Wang Bo built a simple nest for Commander near the window using branches and string. Waving his hand, he said, “Good night, Commander.”

Commander solemnly nodded and replied, “Ah ah, good night…”

Wang Bo was delighted to get a response, but then Commander added, “Ah ah, your mom exploded!”

Wang Bo: “……”

He had a sweet and restful sleep and woke up naturally. Looking outside, the sky was just beginning to brighten. But he had slept so well—didn’t even have a single dream. At this moment, he felt so full of energy that even if a T-Rex came charging at him, he could flip it over!

“Ah ah, good morning,” Commander greeted from the windowsill as soon as he saw Wang Bo getting up.

This confirmed Wang Bo’s suspicion—Commander must’ve been raised by someone before. Who knew how he ended up flying into this castle? Wild parrots didn’t learn to talk like humans, and certainly wouldn’t greet someone in the morning.

“Good morning to you too, Commander.” Wang Bo stretched out his arm, and Commander immediately flew over and perched on it.

Looking at the energetic little parrot, Wang Bo said, “Hey little guy, can you stop starting every sentence with ‘ah’ when you talk?”

“Ah ah, ah ah.”

“…Forget I said anything.”

After washing up, Wang Bo stepped out of the castle. He had yet to explore the surrounding area. He remembered from the helicopter ride that the castle sat halfway up a mountain. If you went around the small hill, there was a clear, pristine lake—an ideal spot that could be called prime real estate.

To the west of the hill lay the lake, expansive and bathed in morning light. The deep blue surface shimmered with a faint golden hue. A gentle mountain breeze stirred the water, creating ripples, and a soft mist began to rise over the lake.

The path in and out of the castle was a winding dirt road that circled down the eastern side of the hill. From the road, you couldn’t see the lake. But from the castle’s western and northwestern wings, you could see the entire vast surface of the lake just by opening a window.

After strolling outside for a while, Wang Bo returned with Commander to prepare breakfast. On the way back, Commander kept crying out, “Hungry! Hungry!” As soon as they got home and saw the blueberries, he looked as if he’d just found his long-lost father and happily smacked his little beak while munching away.

Watching the little parrot eat, Wang Bo couldn’t help but smile—life had never felt so light and joyful.

After staying in the castle for four or five days, he once again opened the Lord’s Sandbox and saw that the spin dial had turned a faint green again, while the green mist hovering above the sandbox had thinned out a bit.

Clearly, the green mist was the “energy” powering the Lord’s Heart. For the spin dial to turn or the Heart of the Castle to operate, it needed to draw energy from this green mist.

Wang Bo lightly tapped the spin dial with his hand, and it began spinning rapidly. After dozens of rotations, he silently thought, stop, and the dial gradually slowed until the pointer once again landed on “Heart of the Territory.”

The words “Heart of the Territory” on the dial twisted and transformed into “Heart of the Homestead.” When Wang Bo tapped it again, it turned into the shape of a brick, though colored a dull earthy brown.

From the name alone, he could tell this Heart was meant for optimizing residential land. But Wang Bo had no plans to build a house right now, so this Heart of the Homestead seemed useless to him.

Scratching his head, a thought struck him—he wasn’t planning to build now, but he would eventually. Charlie had already told him that Highway 8 was going to pass through his territory soon.

Originally, his plan had been to wait until the road opened, then build some houses and shops along both sides of it. But in that case, why not prepare the foundations in advance?

The only problem was that he wasn’t sure of the exact location of Highway 8, so he gave Charlie a call to ask about the planned route.

Charlie explained that the segment of Highway 8 passing through The Land of the Never-Setting Sun had actually been planned twenty-five years ago. The current bumpy dirt road roughly followed that same route.

That gave Wang Bo the information he needed. He zoomed in on the sandbox, found the dirt road with its visible wheel ruts, and placed the Heart of the Homestead on it.

Once the brick-shaped Heart made contact with the road, a large patch of land on the northern side of the highway turned light green. When scaled up for clarity, Wang Bo estimated the area it covered was roughly one kilometer long and half a kilometer wide.

Within this roughly half-square-kilometer zone, the ground was overlaid with faintly glowing green bricks, as if someone had meticulously laid out a prepared foundation.

Thinking of the Heart of the Castle’s abilities, Wang Bo picked up a pillow and placed it on the ground within the influence zone of the Heart of the Homestead.

Just like before, he could transfer items between the sandbox and the real world. He could place anything on the land controlled by the Heart and retrieve anything from it as well.

So now he had a second Heart of the Territory, though it wasn’t as helpful as the Heart of the Castle—mainly because he didn’t have money right now to build anything on the foundation. For now, it would have to sit unused.

Still, the Heart of the Homestead wasn’t entirely useless. One evening, with nothing to do, he opened the sandbox and spotted a wild bird with dark brown streaks wandering around the glowing green zone.

It was a New Zealand rail, one of the most common wild birds in the region. They liked to dwell in swampy, grassy areas, could run fast, and were capable of short flights.

This particular rail was plump, had a much longer neck than a regular chicken, and sported a long tail. Its beak was curved and sharp—powerful enough to catch insects even while lying in the grass. Quite the impressive little creature.

Wang Bo couldn’t help but drool a little when he saw those strong, meaty legs, but he had no shortage of food right now and didn’t need to kill it.

So after a glance, he simply closed his eyes and went to sleep.

The next morning, after taking a stroll through the verdant hills around the castle, he came back and opened the sandbox again to see if the rail was still there.

Unfortunately, the bird was gone—but he did find a nest full of eggs!

That discovery made Wang Bo beam with joy. Looks like he’d be having wild eggs for breakfast today.