Chapter 17

The wheel stopped in front of the fence.

"Miss, Miss!"

An Rou came to her senses at the sound. It was the old man. He had the name "Uncle Xiang" on his head. An Rou asked, and the system really didn't even give him a surname. He said he was an orphan who made a living by helping farmers with their fields.

He came into the world alone and lived his whole life alone, without a wife or children.

When they were chatting, An Rou saw him in tears and felt complicated for a moment.

The timeline of Soul Calling Song is consistent with the real world. The game has only been on the market for about twenty years. How can he have a lifetime?

But his true feelings were beyond reproach.

An Rou walked over and saw Uncle Xiang glancing at the fence from time to time with a sneer on his face. She knew he was going to bring up this matter again - the new fence was so shabby that even Uncle Xiang couldn't stand it.

The unbarked branches were hastily tied with hemp rope and stuck into the ground, which did not match the lady's extravagance at all.

An Rou had no choice. Before she began the renovations, her mind was filled with images of the modern farm she'd worked on in her previous life, the beautiful houses and tree-lined roads. But if she really built a mansion in this desolate place, not only would the players, but even the NPCs would be suspicious.

"Okay, Uncle Xiang, I'm not in the mood to listen to you rambling about the fence."

Uncle Xiang chuckled and looked behind her: "That house? I know quite a few skilled bricklayers..."

"I don't want to hear about the house either."

"What about the bed and cabinets? They're too expensive in furniture stores. It's better to find a carpenter to make them..."

An Rou couldn't bear the annoyance any longer: "Just unload the things directly."

Uncle Xiang quickly unloaded the groceries from the oxcart. Four baskets of bamboo strips were covered with a thick, old cloth. When the cloth was turned over, the chirping of ducks could be heard. They were two baskets of chicks and ducklings.

"Cover it, cover it." The noise gave An Rou a headache.

Uncle Xiang took out another bag of rapeseed wrapped in old newspaper and placed it on the bamboo cloth. Finally, he took out a bulging cloth bag.

"Miss, it's still hot."

An Rou put one hand on her forehead and opened her eyes to look: "Is it from Nianfeng Baozi Shop?"

"It's a smokeless alley. Miss, you'll know it's right after you try it."

“No price increase, right?”

"No, no, a steamed bun costs 2 gold each, and a stuffed bun costs 5 gold, so a total of 70 gold."

An Rou nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. She had taken the cloth bag with her when she left home. She had told her father in advance that if anyone used it to buy ten meat buns and ten steamed buns, it meant she was doing well on the farm and there was nothing to worry about. She had also repeatedly told him to collect the money and not to ask too many questions of the person who helped buy the goods.

An Rou reached out to take the bag and asked casually, "Have you talked to the boss? Is business good recently?"

"I did ask, but the boss was like a mute and didn't say a word," said Uncle Xiang.

An Rou nodded. It seemed that although her father didn't understand why, he remembered everything she said.

She clenched her hand around the handle, but Uncle Xiang didn't let go. He stared blankly behind her.

An Rou's heart trembled and she turned her head away.

The two ghouls huddled at the door of the thatched hut, their hands and feet moving restlessly, as if they were about to lose control of their soul-devouring instinct and rush forward to eat Uncle Xiang.

[Violent,] An Rou said consciously, [Keep it under control!]

Not knowing how to get rich quickly, they all stopped and retreated back into the house.

An Rou exerted a little force and pulled the cloth bag from Uncle Xiang's hand.

Uncle Xiang came back to his senses and said with a puzzled look: "Miss, are you hiring two farmhands to rest in the house?"

It seems like she feels sorry for her.

"Let the cows plow the land without eating grass? After working hard for most of the day, they should at least give it a break, right?" An Rou said with a smile.

Uncle Xiang nodded and said with a smile, "I'm leading the cow that Miss bought. Once Miss has everything she wants, I'll let it go plow the fields."

He took the errand fee handed to him by An Rou and drove away happily in the ox cart.

An Rou paid him a generous fee, 10% of the purchase price each time. After a few trips, that was as much as he could earn as a farmer in a year. This was why, even during the days of unrest in Zhongsu Town, he still had the courage to wander the streets.

The advantage of NPCs not lying is reflected here. Even though Uncle Xiang's eyes occasionally light up with greed, he has to be honest when reporting to An Rou, not reporting a single gold coin falsely.

But even so, An Rou's account balance was reduced by more than half.

Prices in the Soul Realm were high. Fence branches cost hundreds of gold per cart, and eight acres of land cost three thousand gold. Add to that repairs to the thatched hut, chicken coop, furniture, and other daily necessities, and the total cost was 20,000 gold. And that was just to get the farm back to its original form.

An Rou originally had more than 10,000 gold in her account. She earned a few thousand from the death of her good brother and grandfather, but she reluctantly gave up the residual value for the sake of labor.

He was at Silver level, much higher than them, and his family background was also richer than theirs. He probably died five or six times in the past three days, and got 12,000 gold.

After adding and subtracting, An Rou had less than four thousand gold left.

However, An Rou's property was not only gold coins, but also a gray Wu Tang sword, a red Wu Tiger-Head Spear, and several items that dropped when several people died, which were probably worth some money. However, these items could only be sold at the pawnshop in town, and now An Rou didn't dare to go back to town rashly.

The most important thing is not the money, but the soul! She urgently needs fresh corpses and fresh souls!

The more An Rou thought about it, the more annoyed she became. She suddenly felt that compared to these three, she was more like a soul-eating ghoul.

She paused and her eyes fell on the long thatched hut.

The thatched hut was newly built, shaped like a simple pavilion. There seemed to be nothing underneath, but in fact, the body of Badao Zhan was buried underground - the only remaining body at present.

Each time he died, his life value was halved. Once his life value dropped below 50, he would be completely offline. An Rou didn't know how much life value he had left, but he had already died six or seven times, so it was very likely that he would be completely exhausted next time.

Rather than disappearing in vain, it is better to fill the stomachs of the ghouls.

Bang, An Rou slammed her hand on the table in the thatched house.

"Wang Da, Wang Er, come here!"

Two ghouls stood in the corner like wooden sticks, their pale faces covered with cloth, revealing only a pair of wide-open eyes.

Every time she saw their eyes, An Rou couldn't help but think of Mei Qian's appearance before her death.

The two pairs of living dead eyes showed dissatisfaction. An Rou knew that they would never submit until she fed them. After all, it was only after she devoured the wild flowers that Bao Fu finally obeyed her.

She can't cure them, but she can get rich quickly.

They are differentiated from the rich. According to the settings in the game, the rich are the ghost mother, which naturally has a restraining force on them.

Bao Fu didn't know where he was hiding, and let out a low growl.

The voice was a little weak, but it didn't affect the effect at all. Wang Dawang walked to An Rou with stiff legs.

An Rou flicked her wrist and thrust the Seven Souls Sword towards the table. Unexpectedly, the attack power was too high and it pierced straight through.

She didn't care about the newly bought table. She played with the Seven Soul Swords and sneered at them: "Do you really think I can't control you? I can make you live or die!"

The ghoul seemed to be able to tell the aggressiveness of the weapon and took a half step back, but turned around and took a half step forward, stretching his neck and looking at An Rou without fear.

"Hungry, we are very hungry!"

They still have human form and can speak, but their words and actions are a little slower than those of living people - the stiffness of the living dead's limbs is one reason, but the most important reason is that they are not adapted.

On the first night they differentiated, they moved by crawling.

If he is given some more time to adapt, he will probably be able to become like the coal shop clerk, hiding in the city and becoming a smart ghost waiting for an opportunity to hunt.

An Rou had a blank expression on her face and clicked her tongue in her heart.

If you want to argue with me, I'll starve you two ungrateful bastards.

She gave up the idea of ​​digging out the Battuzhan and feeding it to them immediately.

She is the best at taking advantage of the power of the tiger to bully others. She uses the power of her sudden wealth to force the two ghosts to work.

An Rou pointed to the plow outside the door and said, "Go plow the soil!"

This job was originally reserved for the old ox.

Baofu growled in cooperation.

Wang Da Wang's pupils trembled, but he still went obediently.

An Rou ate two bites of the bun slowly, thought for a while, and went to look for Bo Fu.

Finally found it next to the chicken coop.

Ever since it split into two cubs, it lost its majestic aura and lay on the ground all day, looking sickly. At first glance, it looked like a cotton quilt without a cover.

Perhaps it was because she had been worried about Wang Da and Wang Er losing control these days, and seeing them suddenly become rich, that made An Rou feel a little more secure.

She lay down on the broad, flat back of the rich man, raised one hand and stroked his cold, soft neck skin.

"So, Baobao, you will also be weak after giving birth."

*

The old ox knew the way well. When the ox cart was halfway there, Uncle Xiang lay down from the front of the cart, dozing off as it bounced.

After an unknown amount of time, he realized the car floor beneath him had stopped shaking. He opened his eyes and asked, "Are we there yet?"

Clank! The sharp knife was nailed to the car board, almost touching his face.

Just a thin line away, the knife exuded a chill.

Uncle Xiang shuddered, but didn't dare to move. He rolled his eyes and looked at the man beside the car.

Destiny, he thought.

At the same time, Chiqian Yiming received a notification on the screen: [Unnamed NPC's favorability -20%, current favorability 40%, rejection.]

It’s only one step away from being on alert.

According to the situation after the announcement of Zhongsu Town, if the NPC's favorability reaches the alert level, it is very likely to be reported to the police station, and the player will be fined with a "ban order". Within the scope of Zhongsu Town, the destiny value is cut in half.

Chiqian Yiming pulled the corners of his straight mouth.

In his opinion, destiny value does not need to be maintained by pleasing NPCs. Completing game tasks is the fundamental way to increase destiny value.

It is true that the mission clues have to be obtained from the NPC, but who stipulates that you have to please the NPC in order to obtain clues?

Coercion and intimidation are often more effective.

"Old man, where are you coming from?" His tone was cold and hard, without any fluctuation.

Uncle Xiang swallowed his saliva. The tense atmosphere continued and people's favorability towards him continued to decline.

The sword slid down all the way, cutting a corner on the car board, and it got closer to Uncle Xiang's neck.

On the first day of Zhongxu Town's lockdown, Chiqian Yiming had seen this thin, dark-skinned old man. That day, the town wasn't in a state of panic, so nothing unusual happened. But he saw him again on the second and third days. He followed him for a while, watching the old man browse through the shops. Although he bought a lot of things, he didn't find anything suspicious.

Until today, I suddenly realized that the streets were empty in the past two days. Most of the townspeople who went out bought some daily necessities and hurried home. There was no one who made such a large purchase like the old man.

When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong.

Realizing this might be a clue, Chizen Ichiming used his mobility skills to quickly fly across the town, but couldn't find him. If he wasn't in town, he was most likely in the fields outside. Judging by the old man's appearance, he certainly looked like a farmer.

Sure enough, I ran into him just as I left the town.

A foul smell penetrated my nose.

The liquid originated from between Uncle Xiang's legs, dripped along the seam between the car boards, and dripped onto the gravel road. As luck would have it, it splashed Chiqian Yiming's clogs.