Chapter 261 The Rebirth of Black Wind Castle
On the ruins of Black Wind Castle, reconstruction work is in full swing.
The unrest in Zakro left many buildings collapsed and the streets filled with rubble and scorch marks.
For the residents of Black Wind Castle, this disaster was horrifying. They searched for their lost homes on this scorched earth, their eyes filled with caution and vigilance.
Among them, a group of strange-looking skeleton soldiers were directing the construction site.
Although these guys didn't make any terrifying growls, their dark eye sockets and the strange glow on their skeletons still made the goblins and hell dwarves shudder.
"Tsk, the servants of the Demon King are here again..."
A short goblin hid in the corner, glanced timidly at the group of skeleton soldiers, and muttered softly.
"These guys live in the countryside deep in the maze. I don't know what's in their heads..."
"Brain? How can the undead have that thing?!" another goblin shouted in a shrill voice.
"Shh! Keep your voice down, no one can hear you." His companion next to him pulled him vigilantly.
Although the goblins of Black Wind Castle had never actually come into contact with these "servants of the Demon Lord", they had vaguely heard that these strange skeleton soldiers were not just ordinary undead, but a group of maniacs from the edge of hell who worked specifically for the Demon Lord and liked to do some inexplicable things - just like what they were doing today.
On the ruins of Black Wind Castle, players are implementing their great "reconstruction plan".
If the previous epic decisive battle completely fed the combat professional players in the server, then now it is the home court of the life professional players.
As the saying goes, only by demolishing can we build something bigger. Now is the time to do something big! A skeleton player spread out a blueprint on the ground with a clang. The soul fire in his eyes burned fiercely, and he was obviously immersed in his "great idea".
"Look! The water system!"
The skeleton soldier, who seemed to be not very smart, tapped the blueprint with his sharp finger bones and shouted to the goblin engineer next to him. The translation crystal hanging on his chest hummed.
"Water purification equipment, water supply pipelines, water circulation treatment system... As long as these are completed, the water environment of Black Wind Castle will be immediately improved to a higher level! I just want to ask, who can refuse a happy life with clean water to drink every day?"
"...This, what is this?! Inscription?! Unbelievable... This thing can actually be used like this..." A goblin engineer next to him stared at the blueprint with shocked eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.
He was one of the few local residents of Black Wind Castle who could understand the players' thinking. Although he was still full of doubts in his heart - how could these "country bumpkins" living deep in the maze come up with such an advanced structure between steam technology and magic power, he had to admit that the design was indeed quite ingenious, and was not inferior to the popular magic technology in the Magic City.
"This... is indeed a good idea." The goblin engineer narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin in thought, "Combining magic energy technology with steam power can reduce magic energy consumption and improve the stability of system operation... If successful, the way Black Wind Castle uses water will indeed usher in a leap forward revolution."
certainly.
This is purely from a technical perspective.
He had no idea whether there was any lord willing to spend so much money on the goblins.
Maybe we can install one in the lord's mansion and try it out first?
Hearing this, several skeleton players patted their chests proudly, and their bones crackled.
"See what I said? The NPCs in this game are all easy to talk to. As long as you are as smart as me, you can lead the dog planner by the nose--"
"Boss is awesome!"
“666!”
However, just as the players were feeling proud, the Hell Dwarves watching nearby looked confused.
A big man with a rough beard frowned and asked in a muffled voice, "I don't understand. Why do you have to... uh, purify the water you give to the goblins? Can't you just give it to them directly?"
The skeleton players were stunned for a moment, then jumped up immediately.
"What kind of outrageous statement are you making?!"
"You know nothing! Water pollution will cause plague! Goblins will get sick, productivity will drop, and labor will be lost. The economic development of Black Wind Castle will be seriously affected! The Demon King's treasury will shrink! This is no small matter!"
"Yes! When a goblin gets sick, he has to seek medical treatment, which increases medical costs and leads to a waste of resources! In the long run, this is a big problem!"
"And have you ever thought that a healthy worker can do twice as much work! If Black Wind Castle wants to develop, the infrastructure must keep up. This is an inevitable trend in modern industrial society!"
The skeletons waved their bone claws and spoke eloquently, trying to explain their grand industrialization ideas to the dwarves of hell.
The dwarves of hell were filled with confusion and looked at each other, obviously not fully understanding.
But they probably understood one thing - these skeleton soldiers from the maze had a bunch of ideas in their minds that were completely different from theirs.
"...These guys really think too much." A hell dwarf muttered in a low voice.
The goblins have their own witch doctors, who have a 50% chance of being successful and a 50% chance of not being able to cure the disease. As long as they are happy, why should they care so much? Most of the hell dwarves are indifferent, but there are some old stubborn people who value tradition and are very angry.
In their hometown, goblins always have something tied around their necks. Seeing these rude guys running around the streets, they have made a great sacrifice.
Improve their lives? Even the Demon City would not do such an extreme thing! At least let the lives of the Hell Dwarves improve first! Seeing that the argument between the two sides was getting more and more intense, several small goblin leaders quickly ran out to smooth things over.
"Hey, hey, hey! Everyone calm down! Calm down!" A chubby goblin nodded and bowed, looking at the players with a big smile on his face, "The servants of the Demon Lord are wise and brave! You have thought it through very carefully, and we little goblins admire you very much! But... we are in good health, and it is really not that easy for us to get sick!"
Another goblin leader also nodded repeatedly, smiling flatteringly, "Yes, yes, we goblins are very tough! We have survived like this in Black Wind Castle for many years, how could there be so many plagues! How about... a compromise? Of course we need a water supply pipeline, so that it will be much more convenient to get water, but the water purification device... we don't need to waste resources, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" A group of goblins immediately echoed, with an attitude of "the servants of the Demon King are the most reasonable", their eyes full of expectation.
The skeleton players looked at each other, the soul fire in their eyes flickered slightly, and they didn't know what to say for a moment.
They originally thought that they could finally make the natives of Blackwind Castle realize the importance of clean drinking water by arguing with the goblin laborers' health, labor loss, and industrial development. But they didn't expect that the locals didn't care at all?
It's fine that those hell dwarves don't care, after all, you can't expect them to be on the same page with the goblins, but what the hell is it that the goblins don't care? ! "No... aren't you afraid of getting sick?" a skeleton player couldn't help asking.
"Of course we are not afraid of the devil!" A small goblin leader patted his shriveled chest and laughed triumphantly, "We goblins are not a delicate race. We just like to drink salty drinks!"
"Yes, yes. We are alive and well. How can we get sick so easily?" Another goblin leader nodded repeatedly with a flattering smile on his face. "Besides, the previous plague was caused by someone poisoning the water. It has nothing to do with whether the water is clean or not!"
Upon hearing this, the skeleton players suddenly became quiet.
At first they thought that these goblins were simply ignorant and did not realize the seriousness of the hygiene problem, but now it seems that they actually know the whole story and are not afraid just because of their racial talents.
"...Alright." The leading skeleton player sighed and waved his hand, "Then let's do as you said. Install the water supply system and the water purification device... whatever you want. You are the ones drinking the water anyway."
Players' interest in this matter waned instantly, mainly because installing just a water pipe was meaningless and did not fit in with their "magic crystal punk aesthetics". Some things in reality were meaningless.
But since even the goblins themselves didn't care, forcing them to do so would only make them feel like they were asking for trouble. The Demon King's mission did not say "make the sewers of Blackwind Castle meet the sanitation standards of modern society", so they could convince themselves by thinking this way.
Then just fool around.
Several goblin leaders saw this and laughed, not surprised at all.
These "servants of the Demon Lord" obviously didn't understand the situation. The plague before Black Wind Castle was completely caused by the Sawtooth Chamber of Commerce and the Dragun family poisoning the water source. If it weren't for that group of bastards deliberately creating unrest, who would fall down after drinking two sips of water?
Now that Elder Zakro is dead and the Sawtooth Merchant Guild has been liquidated, who would dare to do this in Black Wind Castle? Of course, they are not completely selfless.
After all, they themselves don't drink the water of the Goblin Community at all, and the easier the equipment is to maintain, the easier it is for them to make money.
"Haha, the servants of Lord Demon are really reasonable!" A little goblin leader smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits, and turned around and waved to the goblins on the construction site, "Alright, alright, hurry up and work, don't let Lord Demon's servants laugh at you!"
A group of goblins dispersed with laughter and continued to dig trenches and lay pipes, having a lot of fun.
As for the skeleton players, they looked at these skinny but nimble natives and couldn't help but sigh in their hearts -
These guys are really open-minded...
…
As night falls, the light of the magic crystal lamp poles slowly goes out, and is replaced by the coal lamps on both sides of the street that slowly light up.
After more than half a month of rest, although many buildings still bear signs of restoration, the overall building has regained its former vitality.
The vendors began to shout again, the workers finished a day's work and prepared to go to the tavern for a few drinks, and in the midst of this noise, a group of skeleton players were gathered in a circle, enthusiastically discussing their new "plan".
Luo Yan walked between the players and NPCs with a satisfied smile on his face.
He should have come back here the day before yesterday, but unfortunately Miss Mia was so kind that she insisted on holding a party to celebrate his inauguration.
Luo Yan originally thought it was not appropriate to be so high-profile, but seeing that Miss Mia was so eager to help him, and even worried that he and the new head of the Dragun family would have a falling out again, he specially called Xino over.
Dear Miss Mia didn't know that Shino Dragun had actually been his for a long time. After experiencing the changes in the Chaos Gate, the minotaur who originally had a mental disorder had become a little more intelligent and became much more mature and stable than before.
All in all, the party went very happily. The only flaw was that Vivian somehow got the news and came uninvited with a thick face, which made Mia very angry but she couldn't do anything about it. She had to greet and coax this little ancestor with a smile.
Who wants her to be an adult demon? Vivian is still a little short of that.
Anyway, the banquet ended in a friendly atmosphere, although the price was that someone was almost torn in half.
Luo Yan was extremely grateful for the "gift" his father gave him before he left.
Now that he has been promoted to the gold level, he no longer has to worry about being sucked into undead by a succubus or vampire.
However, sometimes, considering his physical attributes, he still felt a little worried.
The blessing of the Dragon God only gave him strong resistance and recovery, but not much physical strength...
Luo Yan walked slowly through the restored commercial district, watching the new shop signs being hung up and the workers ending their day's work with tired but satisfied faces, the corners of his mouth raised more and more.
At this moment, a sharp voice suddenly came from the side.
"Master Demon!"
The skeleton player with the ID of [Never Surrender] jumped out, his tone so excited that the soul fire was jumping in his eye sockets, and he shouted loudly with the momentum of robbery, "We have a great idea!"
"That's right, please believe me! You will be impressed by our idea!" Another player [Taming Master] echoed, rubbing his hands together and making some weird gestures.
It's okay to bow down to him.
How could there be such an audience?
However, compared to the bureaucrats in the Capitol, Luo Yan really prefers these straightforward guys.
However, just as he was about to speak in a friendly manner, another player with the ID [Undead Entrepreneur] came up to him impatiently and talked incessantly.
"We have decided to set up a 'training park' in Black Wind Castle, specifically for dealing with adventurers captured from the maze!"
He became more and more excited as he spoke, gesturing with his hands, "We have analyzed it and found that ordinary torture methods are too inefficient. It would be better to set up a systematic, industrialized, and large-scale 're-education base'! I guarantee that every human adventurer who comes in will be subdued and completely transformed into my - bah, your shape!"
Luo Yan almost choked on his own saliva and coughed before speaking.
"This...is not good."
After all, humans are protected animals in the Magic City for the sake of face, so even if we want to do it, we can't do it in Black Wind Castle.
Disaster Castle is okay.
Before he could finish his words, [Never Surrender] rushed to add: "But then again, the environment in Black Wind Castle is so harsh that there is actually no need to train them. Just leave them here to stay for a few days!"
"Right, right, right!" The [Master Tamer] slapped his thigh excitedly, with an undisguised sense of pride in his tone, "Let them live with the goblins! Let's see how long they can hold out before going crazy!"
Luo Yan's eyebrows twitched, but he maintained a smile on his face.
"Not really. No matter what, it's not as bad as you say..."
"That's hell!" Undead Entrepreneur said excitedly, thinking he was flattering her. "Look at this shabby place. The environment is bad, life is hard, and there are strange smells everywhere. The soot in the air and the goblin's special 'food' are enough to make even the most determined warrior collapse!"
[Never Surrender] He spread his hands, "To be honest, there is no need to train them at all. Just let them experience the 'real life' of Black Wind Castle. They will be on their knees and begging for mercy in a matter of minutes!"
Luo Yan was speechless as he listened to these players describing their territories as hell.
Although this place is indeed hell, it is not as hell as they describe, right?! To be honest, his moral standards should be the highest among all the demons.
At this moment, his eyes happened to sweep across the street next to him, and he saw a goblin vendor smilingly pouring a spoonful of unknown liquid into the pot, and then secretly adding a handful of snot.
Then, the smell that made the noseless undead feel suffocated instantly spread.
A hell dwarf working on a construction site nearby accidentally smelled it, his face turned dark, and without hesitation he took out the wine flask from his waist and gulped down a big gulp. It was unknown whether he wanted to use the liquor to disinfect, or take the opportunity to drink during working hours.
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However, unlike the Hell Dwarves, the Goblins smelled the aroma from the cauldron with greedy expressions... Perhaps because they were too short, they did not see what the vendor did.
……All right.
The players may not be completely exaggerating.
But this was obviously not his fault, but the goblins were just like that. He cursed the goblins for being so bad, and silently fed shit to other goblins.
Luo Yan was silent for a moment, and finally chose to face this group of excited undead skeletons with the most elegant attitude.
"Since you think the environment of Black Wind Castle is comparable to hell, do you have any suggestions for improvement?"
The players were stunned and looked at each other.
[Never Surrender] thought about it seriously and started counting on his fingers: "First of all, regarding the food issue, goblin stew should definitely be banned by the Demon King!"
Um.
This is not very realistic, but we can introduce health supervision regulations and let Snik regularly blackmail illegal vendors to increase the cost of breaking the law.
Luo Yan listened attentively and motioned for them to continue.
The Taming Master nodded repeatedly. "The next issue is the air quality. We can consider using some magic to remove the foul smell in the market. Although we skeletons don't have noses, we really don't want to see NPCs vomit."
[Undead Entrepreneur] added: "Then there's the accommodation. Can we have a decent hotel here? I don't ask for the luxury of the nobles in Magic City, but at least we can make people feel that sleeping on the floor is no different from sleeping in a hotel, right?"
The players contributed their ideas one after another, and finally made a long list of "environmental optimization suggestions" for Black Wind Castle.
Luo Yan listened calmly, then picked up the notebook he carried with him, wrote a few lines elegantly, closed the notebook, and turned around to hand it to the old butler behind him.
"Go ahead and deal with it," he said calmly, as if it was just an ordinary administrative document.
This time he didn't use a magic quill, but wrote it by hand.
The old butler who followed closely behind took the book and looked down. The first page read:
——Black Wind Castle Reconstruction Plan——
1. Research how to reduce the smell of Goblin Stew (important).
2. Research and formulate food safety regulations that at least don’t look so disgusting.
3. Study air purification schemes to prevent tourists (if any), laborers, and vendors from vomiting on the streets 4. Improve accommodation conditions appropriately.
The old butler was silent for a while, sighed slightly, but still obeyed the order respectfully.
"Yes, sir."
Seeing that the Demon King was so open-minded and really adopted their opinions, the surrounding players were excited and continued to ask questions.
"Master Demon, what about the training park? Do you want to arrange it?"
"Me, me, me! I want to sign up to be a trainer!"
"I am responsible for training the elves!"
"I train dwarves!"
"Fuck, you're so strong!"
"Why, why...is it not possible? There are also petite and cute dwarves. I've seen them in Calamitous Castle!" A little devil argued, his face flushed, and he punched the other players who were making fun of him.
Luo Yan showed a gentle smile and slowly said -
"roll."
This one word of truth was enough to subdue these evil natural disasters...
…
The inspection is coming to an end.
Luo Yan didn't want to disturb his people too much. After all, they felt uncomfortable when he was around them, and even the work they could normally do well was done clumsily.
After returning to the lord's mansion, although the outer wall of the mansion had not been completely repaired, the facilities inside had been almost restored, so there was at least no problem living there.
At this time, his old butler hesitated for a moment, took a step forward and whispered.
"Sir, can we talk for a minute?"
Luo Yan stopped, turned to look at the old butler who was walking over, and spoke in a friendly manner.
"Go ahead. I'm listening."
The old butler stood beside him and said after a moment's silence, "The order of Black Wind Castle has indeed been restored, but... the negative impact caused by the Chamber of Commerce Alliance is too great. The tragedy that happened that night has frightened many merchants, and they may not be willing to come back. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the economy of Black Wind Castle. I believe you have seen it from the account book. Excluding them is a lose-lose situation for us."
He paused and looked towards the end of the street with complicated eyes.
The group of goblins were busy cleaning up an abandoned warehouse, bargaining with a few skeleton players with smiles on their faces. They were the ones who took advantage of the situation to demolish the place, but now they were pretending that nothing had happened.
The old butler frowned and continued in a low voice.
"Sir, forgive me for being frank, but you are too kind to these goblins, even... to the point of indulgence. I know you want to use them, but now that the conflict between us and the Dragun family has ended, they are gradually becoming a burden because they are too united. You should have noticed that they are getting lazier and more perfunctory. They take a long time to do some simple tasks, and they are extremely xenophobic... I can even imagine what they will do next."
His voice was sincere, and he was considering the issue completely from the lord's perspective.
As a demon, he has both human and demon blood in his body, and he doesn't trust groups like goblins from the bottom of his heart... because he knows them too well.
Luo Yan did not respond immediately, but just listened quietly.
The old butler glanced at him, lowered his voice, his eyes flickered slightly, and he spoke boldly.
"Sir, you know that I have always considered things from your perspective. Even if you blame me, I have to say that Snik is no longer useful! His mission was completed when the Chamber of Commerce Alliance was cleaned up. It may not be a good idea to keep him around. It is far less cost-effective to put him on trial..."
It is normal to dispose of tools after using them. This is what the Dragun family does, and so do other families in Hell. A smart tool is one that understands its own destiny.
Snicker wouldn't resist.
Unless he wants his entire family to disappear without leaving a single penny.
However, Luo Yan smiled faintly.
He withdrew his gaze, looked around, looked at the streets that had come back to life, and spoke in a calm tone.
"You think too much. I don't hate goblin merchants, I just hate disobedient profiteers. The reason why they didn't come back was not because of fear, but because their keen sense told them that Elder Zakro is still alive and the 'war' is not over. They are afraid that the flames of war will burn back, and they are afraid of uncertainty."
The old butler nodded silently without refuting.
Luo Yan continued, with a meaningful smile on his face: "But now that the dust has settled, they have been eager to squeeze in. Do you know how they tried to please me when I was in the Magic City? They even spent a lot of money to bribe those nobles who would not normally look at them to help them with their business. They can't wait to step on the corpses of the Sawtooth Chamber of Commerce and replace those guys who stood on the wrong side."
The whole thing is not that complicated. The key core is just one thing - whether Zakro is dead or not.
As soon as the Magic City Daily announced the news, the chambers of commerce in the entire Magic City were ready to move. If they hadn't been stopped by themselves, they would have rushed in to share the cake long ago.
Black Wind Castle needs to cultivate some power of its own. This drastic reconstruction and renovation of the old community is to provide space for the newly grown flowers and plants to grow and develop.
They will form new factions, and these intricate networks of relationships will to some extent be able to balance the excessive influence of Snick and his neighborhood committee.
His garden should not only have man-eating vines and ghost-leaf grass, but also many rare species, just like the greenhouse mine outside Beifeng City.
In this way, the garden is considered to be completed, and he can return to the maze of Leiming County with peace of mind to continue cultivating his core territory.
"...As for Snick," Luo Yan continued, looking at the old butler who was lost in thought, "he is a smart man, and he climbed up from the bottom. This guy has rich experience in the underworld, and most importantly, he knows where he is."
Then, his gaze shifted and fell on Snik in the distance.
The short goblin was squatting in front of a newly opened shop, whispering something with several shop owners.
The shop owners all had fawning smiles on their faces, and seemed to be completely impressed by his idea.
Luo Yan didn't care what his tricks were, but to gain the trust of the lower-level goblins, it was impossible to do so by just drinking and snoring. He must have some extraordinary qualities.
"He is a very useful tool. Not only can he help me establish the lower-level order of Black Wind Castle, but he can also help me check and balance the external Chamber of Commerce. Not only will I not deal with him, I will also reuse him... until one day he feels that he has grown strong enough and colludes with outsiders like Grok did. That will be his death."
The old butler was silent for a long time, then a smile spread across his face and he nodded in satisfaction.
"Understood, my Lord."
In fact, as long as the lord thinks it is good, he has nothing to say.
His only worry was that the lord would rely too much on the advice of one person, but now it seemed that he was worrying too much.
How could he be an ordinary person who could gain the respect of the Padrich family? The vision of those demons has always been the best in the whole hell, and they have never made a wrong bet in the past five hundred years.
But perhaps I am the one who is really out of date.
Luo Yan didn't say anything else. He just raised his chin slightly and looked indifferently at the Black Wind Castle which was gradually regaining its prosperity in the night.
The city that has risen again from the smoke and ruins is moving towards a new order.
Perhaps it won't be long before I can leave here with peace of mind.
(End of this chapter)