Chapter 49 Lord Yang's Declaration
Yang Qiu was really tired of unpacking by himself, so when he asked Lu Yiyun, who claimed to be the director of the Brain Intelligence Center, for supplies, he specifically marked in the supply list that all food must be "bulk" without commercial packaging, and it would be best if even the instant noodles were not packaged on the assembly line...
What else could Lu Yiyun say? He had already given me the supplies, but he still cared about this little request? Satisfy me, all satisfied!
Therefore, the instant noodles in this batch of supplies are all in their "original" appearance after coming off the production line. The noodles are packed in piles with unmarked plastic sheets, and the oil and seasoning packets are also packed in unmarked plastic bags...
As for whether the lack of separate packaging will lead to uneven use of ingredients... This is not a big problem. At most, it will be a little salty or a little bland, but it is not inedible...
The fried noodles cook so quickly, and the seasonings processed by modern industrial assembly lines are so flavorful that soon, large pots of steaming instant noodles with a stinking smell are freshly cooked.
Players took out paper bowls from the supply pack (paper lunch boxes that cost 1.5 or 2 cents each at the wholesale market and can hold 500 ml of noodle soup) and distributed food to the civilian NPCs who would become "their own people" in the future according to the priority of the tasks.
On the other hand, the common people who came from the lower-class weaving households in Kamor could no longer sit still when the aroma of instant noodles wafted out.
These agitated people looked at the terrifying group of skeletons in charge of cooking food, and at the noble private soldiers who were tied up and thrown nearby. They swallowed their saliva secretly, and after a little commotion, they quickly calmed down...
There is no such thing as compulsory education in this world. People at the bottom of society cannot receive a decent education, and few can even spell their own names. They don't even have the most basic ideological virtues, let alone organization and discipline.
To put it bluntly, they are uncivilized, stupid and barbaric - if they were not in the depths of the Tarantan Desert, with the constant sounds of killing outside the valley, and if there were not a few strong men in this group... otherwise, these lower-class Kamor weavers would definitely be able to sneak away with the supplies when no one was paying attention.
The players did not notice the unusual movements of this group of "civilian NPCs". They worked together to carry a large pot (the kind of straight stainless steel pot used in the cafeteria) to the civilians and distributed paper bowls filled with instant noodles and disposable wooden chopsticks to each of them...
Ordinary people definitely don't know how to use tableware like chopsticks.
But the food was all in front of them, and there was no reason to go hungry just because they didn't know how to use the cutlery. The civilians, whose mouths were already watering and their eyes were green, didn't care whether the chopsticks were handy or not. They picked up the paper bowls and used the small wooden sticks in their hands to dig into the food frantically... and then they couldn't stop breathing because of the burn.
"NPCs can get burned?" The players were so surprised that one guy even got close to the face of a civilian whose tears were burned.
The civilian, who had already been badly burned, was frightened to the point of paralysis.
"Alright, stop scaring people." The player's teammates pulled their friend away, scolding and laughing. "This game is going crazy in its pursuit of realism. Ordinary people know to be afraid of heat and also know to be afraid of us. How normal."
"Okay, it's really realistic. If I weren't a skeleton, I would have suspected that I wasn't playing a game, but really traveled through time." The player who scared others exclaimed.
Several groups of players distributed food, and soon, about half of the civilians picked up paper bowls, and the slurping sounds of noodles and soup sounded like a symphony...
Players' reactions to these NPCs are quite curious: "Is it really that fragrant? I don't think it smells anything."
"Isn't that nonsense? The undead's sense of smell is not that good."
"You know what, seeing them eating so happily makes me feel that our mission is not in vain. It's worth our hard work and running all the way here."
"Come on, forget it. You've been traveling for hours, and you just lie here like a corpse..."
The player carried the empty pot back to the makeshift stove, poured water into it, rinsed it, and boiled water again - there were only ten pots, and it was impossible to cook enough food for everyone at once.
While I was busy, a terrible cry suddenly rang out from the civilians...
"What's going on?" The players who were busy cooking turned around.
But I saw... several older male civilians were snatching paper bowls from others. Many of them were pushed to the ground and the place was in chaos...
"What the hell?!" The players were all stunned.
Anyone who has taken a train knows that it is hard not to be tempted when you see others eating instant noodles up close while half-hungry, especially when you can smell the odor.
If the same situation were to happen in this world, the consequences would be even more serious...
However, players don't take this into consideration.
"A mere NPC would snatch food?!" This is what shocked the players.
"Damn, I never could have guessed how idle the idiot planner would be. Even the civilian NPCs are doing so much!"
"It can't be a mission, and a dynamic mission?"
"There's no movement on the mission panel. Who received the mission?"
Ji Tang, the only one who knew the truth, didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Stop talking nonsense, stop them!"
The players quickly separated some of their people and followed Ji Tang over...
After someone took the lead in grabbing paper bowls, many people who did not get the food in the first batch also became restless and made gestures to stand up; but when they saw the undead running towards them, they squatted back in fear.
Those who grabbed the food didn't care about anything else and poured the noodle soup into their mouths without hesitation.
During these three days, Yang Qiu also distributed food to them, feeding them twice a day.
But... Yang Qiu's space ring can only hold a limited amount of food. In addition, Yang Qiu is really impatient to watch them eat in an orderly manner. These people do a lot of things like snatching and robbing each other...
There was a middle-aged man named Reed (he looked old) who was a repeat offender of snatching food. While most people could only get half-full, this guy had never been hungry. When the players rushed up and held him down, he insisted on drinking the last mouthful of soup.
"Too arrogant!" Tang Jia, who was holding Reed, couldn't help but curse.
"That's right, this guy really looks like he deserves a beating." Sister Jialuo said unhappily.
The blind woman whose food was taken away could not see that Reed, who had snatched her instant noodles, had been pinned down, and she was still crying and begging for the food to be returned to her. Although they could not communicate in the same language, the group of players could not bear to see her pitiful appearance, and they became more and more disgusted with those who disrupted the order.
"This NPC still has a green name, what should I do?" Yang Ying said in embarrassment.
The think tank in their team, En Bu Zeng, did not respond, and was looking at this group of civilian NPCs who were too "intelligent" in every aspect with confusion.
"Tie them up and put them with the prisoners." Ji Tang thought for a moment and said, "Wait until everyone else has received their food, then give it to these people and the prisoners last."
Enbuteng watched his friends tie up people silently, then turned his head to look at Lord Yang who was not far away.
The NPC Lord Yang ignored their treatment of the civilian NPCs and squatted calmly beside the pretty boy in black robe.
"The degree of freedom... seems to be too high." En Bu Zeng muttered in a low voice.
When he cooked another big pot of instant noodles and distributed it, En Bu Zeng intentionally observed the reactions of the civilian NPCs.
The NPC who receives the food will eat it eagerly as if they are afraid that it will be snatched away.
The NPCs who haven't received the rewards yet, although they don't fight or compete and seem to be waiting peacefully, but... the eagerness and expectation in their eyes, as well as the rage that they want to push others aside and receive the rewards first, are so "real" that even the most dedicated extras in the movies can't act that out.
Entropy does not increase: "..."
This female student with an IQ of over 140 had a strong feeling that something was wrong...
There were more than two hundred people who felt something was even more wrong.
On the other side of the valley, the priests, including the black-robed inspector Lowell, kept their jaws dropped.
The undead can cook delicious food... that's fine!
The dead will also distribute food to the living!
The undead also know how to stop those who don't follow the rules!
The way to stop it was not to curse, beat, or even kill as they imagined, but to tie them up and move them aside!
What kind of undead are these, who are more merciful than the (otherworldly) army? No!
Lowell turned his head away stiffly and raised his hand to pinch his brow.
...If he hadn't been very clear that he wasn't dreaming and Yang wasn't an illusionist, Lowell would have suspected that there was something wrong with his mind and he was trapped in some kind of hallucination...
Lowell forced himself to divert his attention and found that the black magician facing him was holding a rectangular metal object that was slightly longer than his palm and thinner than his finger. There was also a round device on the back of the object that looked like a camera lens.
“…What are you doing…?”
"Nothing." Yang Qiu, with his back to the players, calmly put away his phone.
Witnessing the shattering of the worldview of the famous black-robed supervisor of the Church of the Goddess of Prosperity, as a qualified earthling, of course I had to take a photo to commemorate it...
Seeing Lowell's suspicious face, Yang Qiu decisively changed the subject: "Supervisor Lowell, if you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, I don't think you would believe that there are such orderly undead in the world. It can be seen that people's definition of a certain thing is always limited. The same thing defined by different people will produce different impressions, but this definition cannot really reflect the essence of a certain thing."
"...You are right." Lowell nodded reluctantly.
Yang Qiu smiled slightly: "I can guess how the gentlemen who are prejudiced against me will fabricate my purpose of taking away these people who have difficulty surviving in Kamoer. I hope to take this opportunity to make you and your holy priests understand that those prejudiced and narrow-minded speculations are not credible at all."
Rowell: “…”
Andre, who was sitting next to him silently: "..."
How should I put it... Anyway, they both felt that the opinions of gentlemen on this guy couldn't be said to be all prejudice...
"Tarantan is a wasteland that has been abandoned for thousands of years. For thousands of years, people's impression of Tarantan is only desolate and dangerous." Yang Qiu didn't care whether they believed it or not, he just focused on giving . "When I traveled here many years ago, I was deeply impressed by this wild but vibrant land..."
Lowell & Andre: "..."
The wandering monsters, infected monsters and mutated monsters everywhere can also be regarded as the "vitality" of Tarantan... Fine, as long as you are happy.
"...I believe this land can shine with its own glory, and I also believe these unique undead can establish civilization and order on this desolate land." Yang Qiu said with a smile, "Accepting the abandoned people of Kamoer is the common will of the undead and me. As you can see, we will prove our friendliness with our actions."
Lowell, who was full of complaints, turned serious when he heard this.
Yang Qiu's words were tantamount to formally declaring that he wanted to encircle Tarantan and proclaim himself lord.
The wasteland next to the border of his own country was occupied by a black magician and became the king. This kind of thing... A day ago, Lowell would definitely treat it as a joke.
The reason is simple. The Tarantan wasteland not only has no indigenous people, but is also not near the sea.
Find a piece of unowned land and claim to be the king, but there are no indigenous people to cultivate it, and you can't take advantage of the convenience of the sea to build a dock and collect slaves... Then what can you do with this land?
One solution is to bring in a large number of immigrants from outside, but... it costs money.
Even if the lord uses fraud to deceive the people, before the land is successfully reclaimed and cultivated to produce products, all the people must rely on the lord for protection and support.
In short, this is simply a waste of money, and a meaningless one at that - with this capital, wouldn't it be nice to buy a fleet, hire a group of mercenaries, and go to other continents to seize colonies?
The gentlemen of Camorre would rather rob the local farmers of their land than go out to take a look at Tarantin. It's impossible that these gentlemen are stupid.
"...I see." Lowell decided on his response in a flash and nodded seriously, "I respect your idea, black magician. But for the sake of our long-term friendship, I hope that accepting citizens of the Principality of Shiga will be the last time."
Yang Qiu laughed, neither agreeing nor denying...
How could he not know the character of the rulers of this world? If he, the self-proclaimed Lord of Tarantan, got into trouble with the Principality of Shiga, the Principality of Shiga would definitely take the initiative to gather all the poor households in their country and stuff them to him, and then happily wait for him to go bankrupt because of a bunch of mouths...
The self-proclaimed civilized middle class arrogantly separates themselves from their poor compatriots. They always say that if all the people in poor places die out, the happiness of the whole country will increase by a certain amount, and they always talk about the cockroach population. If you expect the gentlemen who are more ruthless than the middle class to treat their compatriots as human beings, you will be beaten up enough. (Note)
As they were talking, the third batch of instant noodles cooked by the players came out of the oven, and a group of skeletons came over carrying a large pot and holding a pile of disposable paper bowls...
The black-robed ascetic monk, who had finally succeeded in diverting attention, trembled violently.
The inspector of the Holy Priest Cavalry of the Lady of Prosperity turned back with a stiff expression and looked at his own team members.
...Everyone, including Andre, sat there very quietly with a serious expression.
No one made an excuse to leave, and no one untied the leather bag around his waist.
Although everyone was very calm and did not swallow their saliva, sniffle or inhale impolitely, their eyes were all following the cauldron carried by the undead...
Rowell: “…”
What was even worse was that the black-robed inspector was unable to force everyone to stick to their original intentions, because as the cauldrons were moved in front of them, the tempting, stimulating aroma that made their internal organs excited even more intensely impacted their sense of smell, and even Lowell's own saliva secretion increased a lot...
