Chapter 49: Lord Yang's Proclamation
Yang Qiu was truly fed up with unpacking supplies himself. When he reached out to Lu Yiyun, who claimed to be the Director of NeuroTech Center, for the items, he made a special request for the supplies. He asked that all food items be in "bulk" with no commercial packaging, and even instant noodles should be straight from the assembly lines.
What could Lu Yiyun and her team say in response? They had already provided the supplies, yet the "target" was still nitpicking on these details? Fine, they would fulfill his requests to a tee!
Thus, all the instant noodles in the batch of supplies had their original appearance straight from the production line. Noodle squares were stacked neatly and sealed with unmarked plastic wrap, while the oil and seasoning were also sealed in plastic bags, each containing an entire kilogram.
As for the concern about uneven seasoning due to the lack of individual packaging… It wouldn't be a big issue. At worst, some packets might be saltier while others less so, but they were still edible.
The noodles cooked quickly, and the modern industrial-processed seasonings were exceptionally flavorful. Soon, a large pot of steaming, aromatic instant noodles was ready.
The players took out the paper bowls (these were cheap, costing about 15 to 20 cents each in wholesale but could hold 500 milliliters of soup noodles) and distributed the food to the priority group, the civilian NPCs who were now considered "on their side."
Meanwhile, the lower-class folk from Camore couldn't sit still once they caught a whiff of the noodle soup.
Restless, they glanced at the large group of terrifying skeletons responsible for cooking, then at the household guards put away at the side with their hands and feet bound. The civilians gulped and got a little agitated, but they quickly calmed down.
The concept of compulsory education didn't exist in this world. Among the common folk, there were few who could even write their own names, let alone receive a proper education. Besides never learning organizational or disciplinary aspects of studies, they didn't even possess basic moral virtues as well.
Bluntly put, they were uneducated and ignorant. Had it not been for their remote location within the Taranthan Wasteland, where constant scary sounds echoed from beyond the valley, and the fact that there weren't many physically strong individuals among them, these low-born Camore weavers would have already nicked some supplies and run away when no one was paying attention.
The players didn't catch onto what was going through the minds of the "civilian NPCs" as they carried the large pot (the kind used in canteens, made of stainless steel) over to the civilians and distributed paper bowls filled with noodles and disposable wooden chopsticks.
Chopsticks were something the common folk didn't know how to use.
However, now that food was laid out in front of them, they didn't care. The hungry civilians, whose mouths were already watering at the smell, simply picked up the bowls and frantically scraped the noodles using the small wooden sticks provided… and scalded themselves in their hurry to eat.
"NPCs get scalded too?" The players were rather surprised. One player even approached a civilian whose eyes were tearing up from the pain.
The said civilian was scared witless and couldn't move a muscle.
"Enough, stop scaring him." Teammates of the player laughed as they dragged him away. "This game pursues realism to an insane degree. It's normal for civilians to know they should avoid us and be afraid of getting scalded."
"Alright, it's really realistic, I must say. If I didn't have a skeleton avatar, I might actually think I time-traveled rather than playing a game," another player, who had scared a few civilians, said in lament.
Several teams of players distributed the food, and soon, at least half of the civilians were holding paper bowls and slurping loudly.
The players found the NPCs' reactions to be rather intriguing. "Is it really that tasty? I can't really smell anything."
"Duh, we undead don't have a good sense of smell."
"Come to think of it, seeing them enjoy the food so much makes me feel that our efforts in this quest weren't in vain. We really worked our socks off traveling all this way."
"Oh, come on. You were carried here. How many hours did you actually spend walking? You just chilled while the rest of us did the work…"
The players carried the emptied large pot back to the makeshift stove, filled it with water, and started boiling it again. The pot could only serve ten at a time, so they couldn't cook enough food for everyone in one go.
As they were busy with the cooking, a series of wails and cries came from the direction of the civilians…
"What's going on?" The players turned to see what was happening while still tending to the cooking.
To their surprise… Several older male civilians were scrambling to snatch others' bowls. Some people were pushed to the ground, and it was a chaotic mess.
"The f*ck?!" The players were stunned.
Anyone who had taken a train before knew that while not full, seeing someone eat instant noodles up close, especially when the tantalizing aroma was in the air, could be hard to resist.
In this world, the consequences of a similar situation were even more severe…
However, the players didn't consider this aspect.
"Whoa, mere NPCs would fight over food like this?!" This was what amazed the players the most.
"I can't believe how idle the game developers must be to program civilian NPCs to cause so much trouble!"
"Could it be a quest? Another dynamic quest?"
"Nothing shows on the quest panel. Anyone received a quest?"
The only one who knew the truth, Ji Tang, didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Stop speculating and stop them!"
A portion of the cooking players quickly split off, following Ji Tang in running over.
After one person made the first move in snatching away another's bowl, others who hadn't received the first batch of food were also eager to get their hands on some as they stood up. But when they saw the undead rushing over, they cowered back down.
Those that had managed to snatch away food paid no heed to the others and quickly devoured their prize.
During these three days, Yang Qiu had provided the Camore weavers with food twice a day through sporadic handouts. However, the capacity of Yang Qiu's spatial ring was limited, and he had grown impatient with overseeing their orderly eating. As a result, these people had resorted to fighting over food and snatching from each other…
A middle-aged man named Reed (though he looked elderly) was a repeat offender when it came to snatching goods. While most people managed to get by with meager portions, this man always seemed insatiable. By the time players rushed over and restrained him, he had defiantly drank the last drop of soup.
"That's way too audacious!" Tang Jia, who was one of those restraining Reed, couldn't help but exclaim.
"Yeah, he really deserves a beating," Sister Jia Luo chimed in with displeasure.
The blind woman who had her food snatched by Reed couldn't see what happened, but she could feel the commotion. As Reed was pinned down, she tearfully pleaded for someone to return her food. Even though there was a language barrier, the pitiful sight tugged at the players' hearts, making them dislike the misbehavers even more.
"This NPC has a green name. What should we do?" Yang Ying asked.
Team strategist, Unceasing Entropy, didn't answer as she silently contemplated on how to handle these seemingly overly "intelligent" civilian NPCs.
"Let's tie them up together with the captives," Ji Tang suggested. "We can give them and the captives the food after everyone else has received theirs."
Unceasing Entropy silently observed her compatriots tie up the unruly individuals before she glanced at Lord Yang who wasn't too far away.
NPC Lord Yang didn't seem bothered at all at how they were dealing with the civilian NPCs and just stayed where he was with the black-robed pretty boy at his side.
"Seems like that level of freedom… is kinda excessive," Unceasing Entropy muttered under her breath.
When the second batch of noodles was ready and distributed, Unceasing Entropy intentionally observed the reactions of the civilian NPCs.
NPCs that received food dug in ravenously as if they feared their food would be snatched away.
As for NPCs who hadn't received food yet, though they weren't fighting or snatching, an intense sense of eagerness, anticipation, and a strong desire to be the first to receive their portion could be seen. It was "realistic" to an exaggerated degree, and even the most dedicated extras in a movie couldn't portray such emotions.
Unceasing Entropy: "…"
As a straight-A student with an IQ above 140, she could really sense something wasn't right…
And this sentiment was shared by over two hundred other people.
On the other end of the valley, the Holy Legion cavalry, including Black-robed Inspector Lowell, couldn't close their mouths.
The undead were cooking up a mouthwatering meal… That alone was mind-boggling enough!
The undead were even distributing food to living humans!
The undead even knew to stop those who were being disorderly!
And their method of intervention wasn't the cursing and beating, or even killing as they had imagined, but tying up the troublemakers and moving them aside!
These undead were more merciful than (OtherWorld) armies—That's not right!
Lowell stiffly turned his head away and rubbed his temples.
…If he hadn't been absolutely certain that he wasn't dreaming, and if Yang wasn't an illusionist, Lowell would have suspected he was experiencing some sort of mental lapse or had fallen for some sort of hallucination.
Lowell, who was struggling with the distraction, noticed that the black mage was facing him directly, holding an object slightly larger than his palm and thinner than his fingers. On the back of the object was a circular device that looked like a camera lens.
"…You…What is that…?" Lowell inquired.
"Nothing," Yang Qiu replied calmly, his back to the players as he calmly kept the smartphone away.
Having personally witnessed the famed Black-robed Inspector of the Goddess of Prosperity's faith having his worldview completely shattered, Yang Qiu, who was qualified as a standard Earthling, naturally wanted to take a picture to commemorate the moment…
Seeing Lowell's skeptical expression, Yang Qiu decisively changed the subject, "Inspector Lowell, had you not witnessed it firsthand, you wouldn't easily have believed that there are undead so orderly. It goes to show that people's definitions of certain things are always limited. The same thing defined by different individuals will lead to different impressions, but such definitions cannot truly reflect the essence of a certain something."
"…You have a point." Lowell reluctantly nodded.
Yang Qiu flashed a slight smile. "Noblemen who have prejudices against me might speculate about my intentions for taking these people who aren't able to survive Camore. I myself can guess a few. I hope this opportunity will help you and your fellow clergy understand that these biased and narrow conjectures have absolutely no credibility."
Lowell: "…"
Andres, who was seated quietly beside them: "…"
Well… In any case, both of them now reckoned that the view of the noblemen toward this fellow might not be entirely biased.
"Taranthan has been an abandoned wasteland for a thousand years, and throughout this time the impression people had of Taranthan has only been one of desolation and danger." Yang Qiu didn't care whether his audience believed him or not; he only focused on delivering his message.
"Many years ago, when I traveled through this land, I was deeply impressed by its wild yet vibrant nature."
Lowell and Andres: "…"
Demonized beasts and mutated creatures roaming everywhere could hardly be considered the "vibrancy" of Taranthan… But well, whatever floats your boat.
"…I believe this land can regain its splendor, and I also believe that these unique undead can establish civilization and order in this desolate land," Yang Qiu continued with a smile. "Taking in the abandoned people of Camore is the shared will of both me and the undead. And as you can see, we will prove our goodwill through action."
Lowell, who found it all rather ridiculous, became serious when he heard this.
Yang Qiu's statement was equivalent to a formal declaration that he intended to establish himself as the ruler of Taranthan.
Having a black mage occupy the wastelands next to their own country and declare himself king… In Lowell's eyes, it would be a complete joke if he heard such a thing just a day before.
The reason was simple—Taranthan wasn't just devoid of indigenous inhabitants, but it also wasn't located by the sea.
To claim an unowned land as ruler without native settlers to cultivate it and without the convenience of building a harbor to bring in slaves… What could one possibly do with that land?
Importing a large number of immigrants from outside might be a solution, but that would require money.
Even if some settlers were tricked to come over by deceit, until the land was successfully cultivated and yielding produce, all settlers would rely on the lord for protection and sustenance.
In short, this was just a wasteful expenditure of money—meaningless and futile. If one had such capital to spend, it would be more feasible to buy a fleet of ships and hire mercenaries to plunder colonies on the Outer Continent.
The noblemen of Camore that were eager to seize land from local farmers wouldn't even bother glancing at Taranthan, and these people surely weren't idiots. These gentlemen were not idiots.
"…I see." Although many thoughts were racing through his mind, Lowell decided on this response and nodded solemnly. "I respect your ideas, Black Mage. But for the sake of our long-lasting friendship, I hope this is the last time you receive the Duchy of Shiga citizens."
Yang Qiu chuckled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
He understood the nature of the rulers in this world very well. If he, as the self-proclaimed ruler of Taranthan, were to be at odds with the Duchy of Shiga, they would undoubtedly take the initiative to gather their impoverished citizens and send them his way, gleefully waiting for Yang Qiu to feed them all.
Even the supposedly civilized middle class on Earth arrogantly severed ties with their less fortunate and always talked about how the eradication of the poor in a region would raise the overall happiness of the entire nation.
So, how could he expect the nobles here, who were even more ruthless than Earth's middle class, to treat their own people like humans? It was simply wishful thinking on his part.
As they spoke, the third batch of instant noodles cooked by the players was ready. A bunch of skeletons carried the large pot and stacks of disposable paper bowls over…
Lowell, who had successfully regained his composure, shuddered. The inspector of the Goddess of Prosperity's faith turned his stiff face to look at his own troops.
…Everyone, including Andres, sat silently and unmoving in their spots.
None tried to make any excuses to leave, nor did they unfasten the leather bags from their waists.
Although everyone managed to remain composed and weren't sniffing the air or licking their lips, all their eyes were fixed on the large pot carried by the undead…
Lowell: "…"
To make matters worse, this black-robed inspector couldn't even demand that everyone stay true to themselves because when the large pot was brought before them, the tantalizing aroma overwhelmed their senses of smell.
Even Lowell's salivary glands became more active…
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