The Wasteland Lord's Black Soil Throne

[Witcher-style flavor / Fourth Calamity / Slow-burn development]

After transmigrating into The Northern Badlands as a notorious cannon-fodder lord, the first thing Chen Heng does when he opens his eyes is check how many days he has left to live.

Thirty days. In thirty days, the protagonist, Michel, will arrive, while the knights’ order sweeps in from the east and razes Blackthorn Manor. The script has already sealed his fate: he’s an NPC destined to die.

Fortunately, the game interface came along with him. He is now Wayne Bell, a potioneer, and he has every quest in his head, including the hidden ones.

From the start, Wayne abolishes blood sacrifices, redistributes land and lowers rents, wins over witches, and hunts monsters. The villagers’ fearful looks turn to confusion, then to something they can’t quite name. The manor grows stronger by the day, and everything goes off-script.

Chen Heng thinks he’s turned a single-player game into a farming story.

That is, until a huge wave of players arrives and the world chat starts filling up: “Holy crap, how is the Lord of Blackthorn still alive? Wasn’t this dungeon supposed to end in Chapter Four?”