Chapter 111: The Undead’s Literary Condolence
November 5th, Earth time, just an ordinary Monday.
Yang Qiu returned to Earth, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and sat down as usual to turn on his computer and check his emails.
Only three days (Earth time) after receiving the deposit, "Director Lu" delivered all the road engineering equipment...
All of them were large-scale equipment, so of course they could not be delivered to the small courtyard in the urban-rural fringe area where Yang Qiu rented a house. So "Director Lu" directly sent him the address of a civilian warehouse on the outskirts of Anshi City and asked a local courier to deliver the warehouse key to him for him to pick up.
While Yang Qiu was out eating noodles, he took the key from a nearby express cabinet, took a Didi and headed directly to the warehouse in the suburbs.
The identity he is using now is still the illegal one he bought from someone online. The game "Alien World" has been open to the public for more than a month, and the "internal beta" has been in place for a full month. It is impossible that the Chinese authorities have not yet discovered his "background"... Since the other party is deliberately turning a blind eye, there is no need for Yang Qiu to engage in conspiracy theories.
When they arrived at the place, they found that the warehouse arranged by "Director Lu", which originally belonged to a certain agricultural machinery factory, was indeed very quiet. Not to mention sending people to ambush and wait, Yang Qiu released his mental field to scan it. The largest living creature within a thousand meters was no bigger than a mouse. Even the security guards who were supposed to watch the warehouse were cleared out in advance.
"Cooperation requires integrity, only then can we go a long way!" Yang Qiu praised "Director Lu" whose true face he still didn't know, and walked into the warehouse with confidence.
Not long after the warehouse door was closed, all signals from the eavesdropping devices and cameras installed by professionals inside the warehouse were interrupted.
Half an hour later, Yang Qiu came out of the civilian rental warehouse converted from an old factory building, shaking his hands, stood on the roadside, hailed a Didi, and quickly returned to the city.
Not long after the Didi car drove away, a van drove over from the opposite direction and stopped outside the warehouse. Several capable men in casual clothes jumped out and rushed into the warehouse.
The old agricultural machinery factory, which was once prosperous and could even assemble tractors in its heyday, was filled with road engineering equipment, mining diesel generator sets, and Dongfeng trucks loaded with diesel barrels, but all of them have disappeared without a trace.
The field staff stared at the large warehouse, which was so clean that not even a coil of wire was left behind, and then hurriedly took out their phones to report the situation...
Ji Tang went online at five in the morning and took Rex to the countryside for research. After half a day's travel, the two arrived at the final destination of this research trip - Beishan Village, the farthest village from the town and located on the north side of a mountain.
When they arrived, it was already around four in the afternoon. The sun's hottest hour had passed, and the villagers of Beishan Village came out of their homes and began working in the fields at the foot of the mountain.
Ji Tang and Rex saw this late summer and early autumn farming scene from afar, and both of them had numb expressions on their faces...
They had heard some of the situation in Beishan Village from villagers in nearby villages, but when they actually saw it... they were still shocked.
In Beishan Village, which has a population of about 200 and less than 40 households in total, dozens of men, young and old, are busy in the fields, all naked.
Seeing outsiders coming, the villagers of Beishan Village still knew how to be shy. Except for the older ones who were unmoved, the younger ones turned their backs quietly.
Ji Tang heard Rex beside him taking a deep breath... Without even looking, he could guess what the young man's expression was.
A man who looked very old, with a sunburned face and body, but whose actual age should not be more than 40 years old, trotted to the edge of the field, picked up a piece of... rag that could barely be called pants and rolled it around his waist. He stared at the skeleton (Ji Tang) who was pushing a mountain bike and still wearing clothes from a distance in confusion for a long time, and walked towards Rex hesitantly - Rex's clothes were still quite decent in the eyes of the country people.
Because Ji Tang, the skeleton standing next to him, the man didn't dare to get too close. He made a series of murmuring sounds to Rex from a distance of twenty meters, nodding and bowing, as if asking about Rex's background and purpose.
Rex nodded to the man, turned his head stiffly, and said to Ji Tang with an unpleasant expression: "He calls himself Walker, and he is the village chief of Beishan Village."
Ji Tang patted Rex's shoulder in understanding.
On the first day of his research in the countryside, Rex had the naive idea that "changing the village chief can turn the poor and distressed village around and make it rich." Although he later realized how naive this idea was and stopped saying it...but now that Rex sees this barefoot and shirtless village chief who doesn't even have a decent pair of pants, he must be embarrassed.
What followed was the investigation process that both of them were extremely familiar with - Rex introduced himself as the new lord of Westram, picked up Village Chief Walker before he knelt in panic, handed him an azalea badge to hold, and asked the village chief to lead them to the village to find out the situation.
After visiting the less than 40 families who lived densely on the mountainside to protect themselves from wild beasts, Rex became even more depressed...
The adobe houses made of yellow mud and straw are the most important property of every household. No one in the family has the most common low-quality glassware on the market. Even the village chief's house can only produce pottery jars and shiny black wooden bowls.
Most families could not afford a complete set of clothing. Only the village chief and several older villagers had half a set of "going out clothes" with patches on top of patches. When villagers needed to take soybeans to other villages to exchange for salt, these villagers who could afford the "going out clothes" would deliver them over.
The villagers' daily food...is potatoes.
Normally we eat wild pepper mashed potatoes. When there are seasonal wild fruits on the mountain, we eat various fruit mashed potatoes. Just add a little salt to season it.
Meat and animal fat would only be seen in the villagers' wooden bowls when the big pits dug around the village were big enough to trap blind wild animals, or when a child caught a field mouse, a rabbit, a snake, or something like that.
The whole village is very primitive, so primitive that it is hard to imagine that less than thirty miles away from this village is the town of Westerme, where some blocks have electricity, and less than a hundred miles away is the city of Innadri, which has electricity and gas and a population of hundreds of thousands...
Rex, who had visited twenty-one villages, could see the root cause of poverty in this village without Ji Tang’s reminder - lack of water and lack of good land.
The Westham Territory was not short of water. Because it was adjacent to the Sorenson Mountains, both groundwater and river water were quite abundant.
But abundant water resources and whether the people living there can make full use of the water resources are two different things. For example, Beishan Village, which is the farthest from the densely populated area (town), has to choose to live in the mountains and cultivate the fields at the foot of the mountain in order to resist wild beasts.
Far away from the main river that runs through the Westham territory, they can only use a small stream for water, so they have no way to grow wheat (wheat still needs irrigation), and can only grow drought-resistant potatoes and soybeans. The only fields they can cultivate relatively safely are at the foot of the mountain, so they have no way to rotate and fallow to conserve the soil fertility. They can only follow the experience of their ancestors and rotate soybeans and potatoes on the same land.
After listening to Village Chief Walker speaking nervously and haltingly for a long time, his words were unclear and required effort to understand what he wanted to express, Rex had to reluctantly say that he was not here to recruit laborers, and Westram did not go to war - it seemed that the previous lords had given up on treating this village as a place to collect taxes, otherwise they would probably have forgotten that there were still people here unless there was a war.
After getting a general understanding of the situation in Beishan Village and memorizing the population of the village, Ji Tang said to Rex on the way back, "It is very difficult for this village to get rid of poverty locally. The water diversion project is too expensive. Given the financial situation of Westram Territory, I estimate that we will not have the funds to do such a thing in a few years. To solve the plight of Beishan Village, it seems that the only way is to relocate the entire village."
Rex nodded silently and sighed.
"I always thought that people's lives were difficult because the lords and officials were not honest enough. Ji Tang, it turned out that my ideas were too naive." Rex said melancholy.
"Your ideas are not completely wrong," Ji Tang consoled him. "It's just that poverty in different regions is caused by different factors. It's not that all problems can be solved by officials being honest. Integrity and morality are not panaceas. The ability to do things and the determination to do things are the most important."
Rex nodded and shook his head, still sighing.
Ji Tang can understand Rex's reaction very well...
No matter in which dimension, poverty is the "easiest to solve" and the most difficult problem to solve.
It is said to be the "easiest to solve" because in the eyes of some people, solving the problem of poverty is just a matter of doing charity - for example, charity activities on Earth, charitable organizations in developed countries go to third world countries to deliver food, medicine, and clothing to local people, and ask reporters to take a few photos of the poor people's grateful smiles when they receive the food and publish them, and their hearts are satisfied. They think their obligations to the poor have been fulfilled, and they can go home and enjoy the civilized world with peace of mind.
This kind of poverty alleviation activity that does not even address the symptoms but not the root cause is really of little use - international charities send food and medical care to Africa and India every year. This charity has been going on for decades, but Africans are starving and getting sick.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that this kind of relief-style charity is really meaningless... At least the poor can still get some benefits, and by the way, it can also solve the problem of luxury cars and mansions for some charity staff, or help wealthy people legally avoid taxes.
Some people may say that those charitable humanitarian organizations have good intentions and are well-intentioned. There are indeed many amazing people in these organizations who have done great things, and they cannot all be condemned with one blow. Then the question is, do the small number of people in these organizations who really do practical work and are truly committed to solving the problem of poverty really not understand the root cause of poverty in third world countries?
People on earth have passed the social stage of monopolizing knowledge as resources. Uncle Hei can learn about the outside world by buying a cheap Chinese smartphone and finding a place with internet access. International humanitarian organizations that have sufficient resources, broad horizons, and the ability to deliver food, medicine, and even send medical teams to third world countries, don’t they really understand what the locals need?
To put it bluntly, it is nothing more than seeking benefits and avoiding harm between the difficult path and the easy path - the success of China's poverty alleviation is visible to the whole world. Why don't those international organizations that have been doing charity for decades or even hundreds of years learn from the advanced experience? There are many ways to do it.
Rex is an idealist who is willing to get things done. At least as the nominal owner of this land, he sincerely wants to improve the lives of the people of Westram. He does not classify the population in remote rural areas as a burden on civilization, a social burden, or backward elements that need to be eliminated in urgent need of elimination. The easiest "poverty alleviation" option of just sending some supplies to satisfy one's self-satisfaction and then walking away would never occur to his mind.
With this idea in mind, he went on a thorough and on-site visit to more than 20 villages in the Westham territory. It would be abnormal if he didn't get anxious, angry, helpless, depressed, or something else.
Rushing back to Westham before dark, Ji Tang separated from Rex and ran to find Zhao Zhenzhen as usual to report today's research situation to her - Zhao Zhenzhen and the expert group were not in the same system, and the two had not met offline.
Zhao Zhenzhen listened to Ji Tang's introduction of the last village they visited today, nodded, and said, "The poverty in this world is not the same as the poverty in China."
Ji Tang deeply agreed with this.
Poverty in China is mostly caused by illness and old age.
The former is easy to understand, but as for the latter... it's a bit hurtful, but also easy to understand - a considerable number of people are living in extreme poverty below the poverty line, and the biggest reason for this is the abandonment of their children.
The subsistence allowances and pensions of the elderly, as well as the oil, salt, rice and flour personally sent by the street office, village committee and poverty alleviation cadres, are taken away by their children and grandchildren... This kind of thing also exists in reality. (Note)
As for the two types of people who are drug addicts and those who become poor due to laziness, they are not within the consideration of Zhao Zhenzhen and Ji Tang - they are said not to be able to talk about it, and to talk about it would be tantamount to making a ideological mistake, but who is willing to care about such people!
The loss of labor force is the biggest cause of poverty among the lower classes in China.
But the situation in this world is different. After several days of visiting, Ji Tang and Rex saw that the poorest groups were basically young and strong, and there were very few patients and elderly people.
The reason is very simple and cruel - young and middle-aged people are struggling to make ends meet, so how can the sick and the elderly have the energy to struggle?
In Beishan Village, the oldest person Ji Tang and Rex met was a female villager in her early 40s.
Where have the people older than this villager gone?
Self-explanatory.
"A large number of young and strong people are poor. No wonder people in this place are so calm when talking about war. They even regard territorial wars as normal." Zhao Zhenzhen shook her head and said, "We are the only ones who can come here, you, me and the two old uncles. There is not much we can do, but we still have to do what we should do. It is best to start promoting the merging of villages before winter."
The arable land in Westerm is actually not a small amount for local farmers. Even if at least half of the entire connected flat land is occupied by the manor farms of the Rhine nobles scattered everywhere, the remaining land can be properly managed and gradually reclaimed, and there will be no problem in feeding 20,000 mouths including farmers and townspeople.
"That's what the expert group said," Ji Tang said. "The advice from above is that when we have enough local currency and enough food to purchase, we should seize the opportunity to build a model village to attract farmers to settle down—"
Before Ji Tang finished speaking, he heard a "ding" sound beside his ear, and a large piece of yellow words popped up on the information panel...
Zhao Zhenzhen saw Ji Tang lower his head slightly, as if looking at something diagonally below him, and immediately understood: "Did Lord Yang give you a mission?"
Ji Tang raised his head stiffly, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and said, "Lord Yang asked me to immediately organize people to install generators and pull wires..."
The expert group gave Lord Yang the "delivery" date today. Zhao Zhenzhen was amused and said, "This guy is really decisive. He got the things and let them go."
Lord Yang and Ji Tang disliked the old electric wires laid by the former mayor on the main street of the town, so when the building was renovated, this fire hazard was removed and a gap was left for laying the cables as planned.
Lord Yang asked in the middle of the night ( it was only noon in reality, but it was already dark in the game) to install the generator and pull the wires immediately. Ji Tang had no choice but to go offline and call up Old Geng and Master Liu who had already finished work, and bring along Rex, Ben, the orc Osrian, the boy Brook, the orc girl Lika and other natives who were classified as their own people, and start working...
Exposed wires can easily cause safety problems and are prone to theft. When renovating the main avenue in the town, Ji Tang had already asked the clerks to arrange for the townspeople to dig underground spaces along both sides of the road for the cables to pass through - after all, the streets in this world don't have to worry about being crushed by heavy trucks, so it doesn't matter if they are buried shallowly.
The 100KW diesel generator set found in the mine can generate 100 degrees of electricity per hour and consume about 30 liters of fuel. If it is only used for lighting in some areas and driving small motors, two sets are enough for Westram. Lord Yang asked Jitang to install only two sets...
The generators, transformers and transmission cables are all made in China with excellent quality. The losses during transmission are negligible. However, in order to reduce the losses as much as possible, Ji Tang installed both generators on the main road in the town to meet the needs of nearby power transmission.
Due to the shortage of manpower, the work was not completed by dawn (in the other world). Ji Tang asked the clerks to suspend recruiting for half a day, gave the townspeople who worked as temporary workers half a day off, and closed the main road in the town so that they could continue working.
The townspeople who had come early in the morning to line up to get their work numbers had no idea what they were worried about. They all gathered outside the main street in the town and refused to leave no matter what was said.
Ms. Shirley came to report the situation to Rex nervously. When he heard that hundreds of people were blocking outside, Rex was at a loss and looked at Ji Tang in confusion.
Ji Tang: “…”
"...arrange a performance for them!" Ji Tang, who was cornered, said angrily, "Go to the resettlement site and ask those who have talents in singing and dancing if they are willing to perform at the street corner. It doesn't matter what performance they perform, as long as they can quiet down those people!"
After sending the confused Ms. Shirley to call for help, Ji Tang used his authority as the mayor of the player town to send tasks to online players...
Players who were killing monsters, completing quests, or chatting and gossiping burst into laughter when they saw the mayor quest pop up on the information panel: "Participating in a stage performance to appease the restless townspeople? What the hell is this a quest?"
"I can sing Little Apple, but can the NPC townspeople understand me?"
"Ji Tang hasn't issued any missions in such a long time since he took office. I thought he had forgotten about it. It seems he is accumulating energy to launch a big move!"
Complaints aside, there are still quite a few players who have nothing better to do than teleport to Westham Town and come to look for Ji Tang with a smile on their faces...
"Holy crap! Are they pulling cables?" The players who arrived at the scene immediately shouted as soon as they saw the construction site. "You are so mean, Ji Tang. You are hiding and doing the hidden missions, and you let us go dance?"
"It's free work, there's no reward! Don't you see that those who are busy here are using tool accounts?" Ji Tang knew exactly how to make these guys shut up, and he immediately attacked with a fatal move.
When they heard there was no reward, the players immediately lost their minds and started talking at once: "So how are you going to do this task? Can I go and sing Little Apple?"
"Forget about singing, the NPCs can't hear you." When Ji Tang saw the players coming, he immediately asked the natives to take off their azalea badges. He didn't need to be cautious when speaking. "Is there anyone who can dance? And if you can organize a performance and appease the townspeople, the reward will be doubled!"
A brave man will always be rewarded with a big reward. A brave man immediately raised his hand: "I! I'll do it!"
The townspeople who had been stuck at the intersection of the town's main street for nearly an hour looked towards the isolation belt made of wood and bricks with either concern or anxiety.
Having just received a few days of stable daily wages, everyone hoped from the bottom of their hearts that this kind of life where there was work to do and they could earn money for the work would continue for a while longer. Suddenly, they were told to stop working for half a day and come back in the afternoon. It would be strange if the townspeople could really go home with peace of mind.
"Why did they suddenly say they were going to stop working? Could it be that Mr. Rex doesn't have the money to pay the salaries?"
"Could it be that the undead captured those people the day before yesterday and brought them back to cause trouble?"
"May the Lady of Gold bless you..."
The townspeople were whispering to each other anxiously when there was a sudden commotion among those crowded in the front row.
People tried to tiptoe and look forward, and found... a female soldier wearing a gorgeous dress, with a big and strong figure and extremely fit, came around from behind the isolation belt carrying a table, put the table down in front of the crowd, and then climbed onto the table and stood still.
The female warrior standing on the table looked at the hundreds of townspeople who had blocked the street entrance tightly and raised her hand: "Hello, everyone!"
It's not the strange sound of KABAKABA, but standard Mandarin.
But the townspeople still didn't understand and just looked at the man in confusion.
Although she is extremely muscular, she looks like a woman. How come she has a man's voice?!
The players lay on the isolation belt and shouted: "Don't waste time, Orange Cat Boss! Your transformation won't last long!"
"That's right, sing it while you can still make vocal accompaniment!"
The RMB player with the ID "有只桔猫" had just reached level one, and his energy bar was very short. He really couldn't maintain the disguise illusion for too long. He quickly shook his shoulders, spread his hands in front of him, posed like a tenor singer, and sang: "You are my little apple——"
"Hahahahahaha!"
"You really only know how to sing Little Apple!"
Teacher Yuchi, who was in charge of organizing the performance, held her stomach and said, "Stop laughing, stop laughing, the dance group, hurry up!"
The townspeople in the front row saw the undead pouring out from behind the isolation zone, and they quickly squeezed back and consciously made room.
Several players who came to the front lined up in front of the table where the orange cat boss was standing. They put their arms around each other, raised their pelvises, and danced a very untidy horse dance...
Teacher Yuchi, who had just told everyone to stop laughing, slipped under the isolation belt and rolled around on the spot.
