Chapter 112.2: Little Gummy Stirring Hearts
Chapter 112.2: Little Gummy Stirring Hearts
"Amazing! She's even more engaging than the live performance by the singer my old man hired!" Orange Cat gasped in surprise. "How does Little Gummy, this silly and noisy girl, have such remarkable special talent?!"
"What sort of opinion did you have about Tang Jia?!" Yang Ying looked over wryly.
"Your dad hires a singer for live performances? Damn, so what I read in web novels about rich folk inviting celebrities to perform at their homes is true?" Another player focused on this discovered nugget.
"What nonsense! It was a commercial performance for the opening of a shopping mall." Orange Cat quickly waved dismissively. "Who the heck bothers inviting people to sing at their homes. Isn't vinyl music pleasant enough?"
"Your family owns a shopping mall, and you use vinyl records!"
"Are you guys done?"
As Tang Jia sang "A Man Should Strengthen Himself," the windows of the family inn close to the main street were pushed open. Mrs. Doyle, her husband, and the guests staying at the Doyles' inn all appeared at the windows.
The penetrating melody reached the adjacent Martin Street, attracting many residents and shopkeepers to come.
When Caroline arrived, Tang Jia, atop the table, was already singing the third song, "March of the Volunteers."
The song was entirely different from the previous two entertaining pieces. To natives who couldn't understand the powerful and unfamiliar tones, it was no longer just a soul-stirring experience. It was as if someone was using a sledgehammer to pound on their hearts and souls, and each one of them listened intently, forgetting everything from before
Half a block away, in the former mayor's house, Inspector Lowell, who was wondering where Yang Qiu had obtained the "miniature" generator from, suddenly sensed a subtle oppressiveness for a brief moment.
This sensation, second only to Yang Qiu's, made the seasoned ascetic hesitate. Not believing he was mistaken, Lowell stepped out of the hall into the courtyard, releasing his mental field, carefully and cautiously sensing the energy fluctuations in the surrounding space.
There weren't any anomalies whatsoever. It was as if the brief and subtle oppressive sensation was merely due to his hyperactive nerves.
After contemplating for a moment, Lowell instructed Wagner to watch over the house. Changing into his shoes, he left for the town hall.
When seeing Yang Qiu in the town hall's archive room, the latter spoke before Lowell could say anything, "You sensed it too, Inspector?"
"What was that?" Inspector Lowell asked.
"I don't know." Yang Qiu shook his head in slight displeasure. "Some unknown entity cast a glance at Weisshem. Such an overbearing gaze is rather impolite."
Lowell: ""
In a stoic manner, Lowell said, "You felt offended just because an unknown entity was observing?"
"A feeble existence so weak that even its gaze is barely detectable; paying this much attention here would seem rather improper."
What he said made sense. An unknown entity's observation that was barely detectable had no way of affecting the material plane. It was far inferior to the elder gods in the midst of their resurrection.
However, Lowell still thought Yang Qiu was too optimistic and expressed his disagreement, "Don't you think that perhaps this unknown entity came because of your peculiar undead?"
Invading the material world with fearsome monsters from the boundless void was no easy task. It also required the assistance of unstable spatial rifts to penetrate the barriers of the material world. It was different from the Dimensional Realms, especially those incomplete realms without even a demon lord, which became the playground for void demons.
Yang Qiu chuckled. "Absolutely impossible!"
The world barrier of the Earth plane was much more formidable than this magical plane! Even the tentacles of elder gods couldn't pass through, and even a target marked out had to be dragged over here!
Had Yang Qiu not been fused with the tentacle of the damned elder god and tainted with its aura, making it easy for the damned elder god to locate and drag him back, he would have long gone into hiding on Earth, living out his retirement!
Inspector Lowell stared at Yang Qiu for a bit, then said softly, "Are you certain your undead won't be influenced by entities of the void? After all, your undead aren't from the Dimensional Realm."
Yang Qiu smiled but didn't say anything more.
At the time when Yang Qiu utilized the portion of eldritch power obtained from fusing with the elder god's tentacle to transport the void aura to Exile Town, he no longer cared whether this holy inspector would see through the players.
Roughly getting it, Inspector Lowell didn't delve deeper into the matter. He merely cast a profound glance at Yang Qiu. "You are too confident. Your undead aren't protected by the profound rules of this world; they do not belong to this realm."
"Thank you, Inspector." Yang Qiu understood that Lowell was accustomed to concealing concern behind a solemn facade and accepted his goodwill with a smile. "I'm afraid I cannot reveal the true origin of our undead friends to you. But I can tell you that if everyone else is susceptible to mental corruption, they absolutely wouldn't."
Spiritual projections had to be impervious to contamination, much like a person wearing immaculate clothes standing before a grimy mirror. No matter how tarnished the reflection in the mirror, the individual facing it couldn't be affected in the slightest.
Inspector Lowell frowned, shaking his head in silence. Then, he turned to leave.
"Wait first, Inspector." Yang Qiu stood up, halting Lowell with a gracious smile. "If you have the time, why not come and witness the efforts our undead friends are making to enhance the quality of life for the people of Weisshem?"
While players were organizing a concert to soothe the townsfolk, Ji Tang and the others hastened to lay electrical wires and install the generators. They prioritized providing power to the town hall, Lord Yang's residence, two resettlement points, the Undead Merchants Association canteen branch, and the first completed oil mill.
This oil mill was proposed by Ji Tang, the player mayor, immediately upon Rex's return from the countryside investigation on the first day. Due to the underdeveloped livestock industry in Weisshem, there was a substantial demand for edible oil among the locals. Venturing into livestock farming was impractical, so Ji Tang discovered that local farmers had a habit of using soybeans for crop rotation. Every household stored a considerable amount of soybeans for bartering or as emergency provisions, making soybean oil extraction a natural consideration.
Easily convinced by Ji Tang, Rex visited Yang Qiu on the same day. Through a challenging negotiation (primarily because Rex couldn't comprehend why Ji Tang believed Yang could acquire sophisticated machinery not even found in the Kenyan Empire), Yang Qiu agreed to their request, unapologetically adding the bill for the oil mill to Rex's account.
Rex incurred the debt, and the originally refurbished "Lover Club" now housed an oil mill, featuring a made-in-China manufactured fully automatic spiral oil press (produced by H Province Machinery Factory, with a factory price of 23,000 yuan, similar to the generator but more compact), a steaming and roasting pot, and two fully automatic multifunctional tofu machines (with a factory price of approximately 13,000 yuan).
Leading Inspector Lowell to the oil mill, Yang Qiu, accompanied by Ji Tang, Rex, and Zhao Zhenzhen, found three individuals, along with several orc assistants, tuning the machines in the workshop. As the two of them swaggered in, besides the orc personnel Rex had set to oversee the oil mill, who appeared somewhat nervous, the others didn't spare them much attention.
Yang Qiu handed a lapel badge with a cuckoo flower pattern to Inspector Lowell, who hesitated for a moment before accepting it.
The Mind Imprint matrix wasn't an original creation by Yang Qiu. When a spellcaster decided to set up a mage tower in a certain location, they would set up the mage tower as the matrix core, creating a semi-permanent mind matrix that covered the entire territory. Locals who possessed the token bestowed by the spellcaster could join the matrix, gaining assistance in times of danger. In the unfortunate event of being murdered, they could also leave behind mental information in the matrix to expose the true culprit.
In simple terms, it was a magical version of a regional local area network, providing a certain level of security. That's why all lords in different regions eagerly hoped for a spellcaster to come and build a mage tower and were willing to offer generous benefits.
Building a mage tower consumed both time and money and restricted the spellcaster's personal range of activities. Yang Qiu directly used his own body as the matrix core, something that only a three-hundred-year-old monster like him could pull off.
The moment Inspector Lowell grasped the lapel badge in his hand, he noticed that Ji Tang and Zhao Zhenzhen's peculiar "KABAKABA" sounds had transformed into a clear, organized conversation between a young man and a woman.
Surprised, he shifted his gaze to Zhao Zhenzhen, distinctly hearing the reliable and warm female voice emitted by the skeleton
"Newly harvested soybeans can't be pressed straight away; they have too much moisture. Did you set up the steaming and roasting equipment?"
A deep and steady male voice came from the other skeleton
"That one over there The biggest issue now is that the soybean varieties planted here aren't great. I estimate the oil yield is only around 10%."
Zhao Zhenzhen remarked, "10% is acceptable; it's better than not getting any oil. Use the leftover soybean cake to make tofu directly; it won't go to waste. Given the current weather, making dried tofu is more suitable, allowing for longer storage Oh, we also need to find a place for the tofu residue. Didn't they say there are some abandoned houses concentrated northwest of Martin Street in the town? I think it's a good idea to gather those empty houses to raise some chickens and ducks, providing more sources of meat and eggs. It will also diversify the quality of food for the townspeople. What do you think, Rex?"
Lord Rex of Weisshem clearly couldn't keep up; he was utterly bewildered and didn't understand how the conversation had transitioned from soybean oil pressing to raising chickens and ducks. After a momentary daze, he finally said, "This should be possible. Those two alleys over there are empty, only a few households live there. Uh, do we need to go and get some hatchlings?"
"No need. Naturally hatched chicks and ducklings have too high a cost and aren't cost-effective or scalable." Zhao Zhenzhen waved her hand. "Just gather some fertilized chicken and duck eggs. We can hire people for incubation and breeding, and it will also create a few more job opportunities."
Rex shot a puzzled look at Ji Tang. Hatch ourselves? What was Ms. Zhao Zhenzhen talking about? How do you hatch eggs without mother hens?
"Oh, I can handle that. No problem. I'll teach the workers when the time comes," Ji Tang responded casually.
Rex: ""
Rex silently wiped off the beads of sweat on his forehead and became even more cautious while assisting these two individuals. Both of them surpassed him in skill and had much broader knowledge. Trying to maintain the lordly air without embarrassing himself was already considered a careful approach on his part.
Rex, who could barely understand some parts, had this look on him. As for the orc Ossirian and his compatriots who were learning as well, they couldn't mask their expressions as well
Yang Qiu chuckled as he watched the two national team members who were exceptionally skilled at training people. He turned to Inspector Lowell and said, "Our undead friends are truly remarkable. I'm really not boasting, don't you think so, Inspector?"
Inspector Lowell: ""