Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 122: The Four Great Freelance Players

[Family member Sophie has initiated a Plot Kill against family member Penny. She hopes that the latter will encounter a maddened wild boar within twenty-four hours, have her internal organs torn open by its tusks, bleed all over the ground, struggle for hundreds of meters in an attempt to survive but fail, and die in despair, pain, and humiliation!]

Eh!

What happened to sisterhood? Big sis, you're getting impatient!

Li Wei smiled silently and casually cast a dissenting vote!

However, it seemed meaningless. Six votes in favor, two votes against. Penny, Fila, and Old John's Freelance Player alliance was vulnerable and had long since shattered into pieces.

In the end, Penny spent 18 Contribution points to exempt herself from this Plot Kill, leaving her with 36 points. Tragic!

Too tragic!

Li Wei faintly began to understand. Sophie was like a mad dog account, responsible for attacking everyone. It didn't matter how much Contribution she had left, as long as the others were weakened.

Sure enough, the next moment, Sophie initiated another Plot Kill.

[Family member Sophie has initiated a Plot Kill against family member Fila. She hopes that Fila will mistakenly consume a poisonous herb within twenty-four hours, bleed from her five orifices, lose her mind, scream madly, and ultimately die from the poison, her eyes wide open in grievance!]This time, Li Wei cast an approving vote without hesitation.

Three seconds later: seven votes in favor, one vote against. The Plot Kill went through, and Fila had to spend 21 Contribution points to exempt herself, bringing her total Contribution down to 41 points.

At this point, aside from Li Wei who was watching the show from up high, and the family's Three Musketeers, the other four had all been subjected to Plot Kills. While suffering heavy losses, they had also obtained a one-month immunity.

At this moment, Old John looked at Li Wei.

Fila also looked at Li Wei.

Penny and Pete also looked at Li Wei.

The intention of these four Freelance Players was obvious: What are you doing? Why aren't you initiating Plot Kills? The other side is a small group of three people, and their Title Tasks are your biggest enemies. Right now, you only need to spend 9 Contribution points to maintain your supreme position while causing an average loss of 15 Contribution points for each of the three of them. What are you waiting for?

Makes sense!

Li Wei readily took their advice!

[Family member George has initiated a Plot Kill against family member Leon, hoping that the latter will die in a stone mine cave-in within twenty-four hours.]

[Family member George has initiated a Plot Kill against family member Clyde, hoping that the latter will be burned by molten iron within twenty-four hours, trigger severe complications, and ultimately die.]

[Family member George has initiated a Plot Kill against family member Sophie, hoping that the latter will be stung to death by poisonous bees within twenty-four hours.]

Three Plot Kills explicitly, consuming 9 Contribution points. He only had 100 points left, but he was still a Family Elder.

However, just as he initiated the Plot Kills, Leon suddenly tossed four One-Star Profession Cards to Old John, Fila, Penny, and Braised Egg Pete with lightning speed.

Fuck, bribery?

Is this kind of operation even possible? Is it against the rules? It didn't seem to be, because Profession Cards are non-material.

So what the fuck, you guys can just be bribed this easily?

Li Wei looked at Old John, Fila, Penny, and Pete in surprise. As a result, these four were expressionless, but they had undoubtedly made their choice.

[Seven votes against, one vote in favor. The Plot Kill is invalid.]

Holy crap!

None of the three Plot Kills were valid, which meant he had wasted 9 points of Contribution for nothing and gained nothing in return.

The four Freelance Players and the small group of three had actually quickly formed a united front at this moment.

It goes without saying for Leon's trio, their goal was clear and their methods sharp. But for you four Freelance Players, is this the extent of your ambition?

With this kind of foresight, Li Wei truly, truly found it baffling and unreasonable!

Giving up long-term benefits for immediate gains?

Or do you guys feel that the family's Three Musketeers are more badass, and I won't last long as the Head of Household?

Awesome, you guys are truly awesome!

Li Wei wasn't angry. It was just 9 Contribution points; he could afford to lose it.

He just felt that there was a reason why Freelance Players remained Freelance Players.

He even felt somewhat lucky. Fortunately, he hadn't formed an alliance with them earlier; they truly couldn't accomplish anything.

If picked out individually, each of them was a hero, but put them together, and they would start infighting among themselves.

A pile of loose sand!

[Announcement! Family Elder George has a total Family Contribution of 100 points this month, ranking first. According to the rules, he will become the Head of Household for a term of one month. He will be responsible for assigning the family's Monthly Main Task and is qualified to issue or not issue Special Tasks based on the family's overall situation.]

[Friendly Reminder: Family members who accept a Special Task do not need to complete the Monthly Main Task.]

[Friendly Reminder: The Head of Household must bear full responsibility for Special Tasks. If any serious mistakes occur or terrible consequences are triggered, they will face severe punishment. But if successful, extra rewards can be obtained (barring special circumstances).]

[Friendly Reminder: Because of the existence of the Family Blueprint, for the next three months, the Head of Household will receive an additional 2.5% Clearance Evaluation each month during the end-of-month summary.]

——

A few lines of information emerged. Li Wei became the Head of Household without any suspense, and his era had descended once again.

Sweeping his gaze across everyone, they all wore expressions of silence and calm, but the intent of silent resistance was quite obvious.

Fine, it doesn't matter. Anyway, you are all just passersby who can only stay for six months, while I still need more than a year to clear the stage, and I'm even thinking of challenging the Rookie List.

Then we definitely aren't walking the same path.

Therefore, formulating and issuing next month's Main Task would be particularly important.

Using public office to avenge personal wrongs and deliberately suppressing them was definitely a no-go. It might feel good, but it wouldn't benefit the family's development.

Especially considering the threats coming from the outside world, he couldn't act so capriciously.

What if the black-robed Witch brought robbers to attack next month?

Could he shoulder all the defenses by himself?

After thinking for a moment, Li Wei looked at the three-star blacksmith Clyde, this seemingly taciturn middle-aged man with calm eyes.

"Clyde, I need you to report on the construction of the steelmaking blast furnace, as well as the stockpile of iron ore and charcoal. If we want to guarantee the supply of these two, how much manpower is needed!"

"In addition, I need specific numbers, including the family's iron consumption under normal circumstances. If we concentrate on smelting molten iron for one month, how many months can it supply the family? Furthermore, if we face an attack from fifty robbers, how many weapons, armors, and shields does the family need to stockpile?"

Hearing Li Wei's words, Clyde immediately stood up and bowed slightly, maintaining standard etiquette and respect. Although they were family, he belonged to the status of a servant. If Li Wei hadn't become the Head of Household, it might have been fine. But now that he was the Head of Household, encountering Li Wei inside or outside the Camp from now on required bowing and greeting him.

This applied to Braised Egg Pete and Sophie as well. Otherwise, it wouldn't match the logic of the plot.

"Reporting to My Lord, the Firebricks have been fired, but building the Steel Furnace requires a certain amount of lime. There's currently a shortfall, but it's not a major issue. I can guarantee that the Steel Furnace will be built and dried within twenty days. Every month, the furnace can be ignited once, producing for five to ten days each time. The remaining twenty days will be used for maintenance and material stockpiling. If the supply of iron ore and charcoal is plentiful, we roughly estimate we can smelt 1,500 to 1,800 kilograms of molten iron per month."

"At the lowest standard, producing 1,500 kilograms of molten iron per month, deducting losses and consumption during the steelmaking process, we can eventually obtain 400 to 500 kilograms of steel ingots. This should meet the current family's needs for six months. However, in reality, within at most two months, there will be more dependent subjects arriving to follow My Lord. Therefore, my recommendation is to undergo production for one month and halt production for three months."

"However, the mining and transportation of iron ore, the burning of charcoal, and the search for coal cannot stop. At least four people must be allocated every month to mine iron ore and burn charcoal."

"As for the amount of steel the family needs each month, it depends on the specific circumstances. For a hunter hunting daily, about five arrowheads are consumed. The logging axe needs repair every five days. Including the steel chisels for mining stone, the pickaxes for mining iron ore, and the wear and tear of daily tools, about twenty-five kilograms of steel ingots are needed every month."

"But if we want to prepare for a war, we need to prepare weapons and armor for a squad of at least ten people. A standard piece of Chainmail weighs about 8 kilograms, so we need to prepare ten sets."

"A fine steel longsword weighs about 1 to 1.5 kilograms, so we need to prepare ten swords!"

"The main material for the shields can be oak, but iron bands are still needed."

"Additionally, there are spears, arrowheads, javelins, and iron nails needed for defensive fortifications."

"However, manufacturing the aforementioned weapons and equipment takes quite a bit of time. It requires at least two or three artisans working together for two to three months to complete."

"In summary, igniting the furnace once this month, without considering other factors, should be able to supply the family for three months and allow us to cope with a small-scale war."

"My Lord, I have finished speaking."

Having spoken, Clyde bowed and saluted again before sitting down. His entire demeanor was irreproachable.

But as soon as he spoke these words, the expressions of the four Freelance Players shifted. According to Clyde's statement, just the Steel Furnace and Blacksmith Shop itself required three artisans, and mining ore and burning charcoal required four. There were eight people in the family in total, and this side alone took up seven. What kind of joke was this?

They all shifted their gazes toward Li Wei in unison, but Li Wei couldn't even be bothered to pay them any attention. He was pondering.

Clyde had indeed given him a difficult problem.

Were seven people responsible for this mess too many?

Not too many. The new Steel Furnace was definitely a One-Star Quality facility. Without that many people tending to it, it was better to just let it blow up on its own.

However, if all seven people were assigned there, what was the point of him being the Head of Household this month? Wouldn't it still be the family's Three Musketeers calling the shots?!

So now it all depended on his choice.

He could either prioritize the big picture of the family—the sooner the Steel Furnace was built and the steel ingots smelted, the more subsequent operations they could have.

Or, he could directly halt the construction of the Steel Furnace and have the three-star blacksmith Clyde go mine iron ore. They would only ignite the furnace once they gathered enough iron ore.

Li Wei pondered for a long time before ultimately choosing the former.

He wouldn't fight for a temporary advantage. This month he had income from the winter wheat, so he still had a chance to be re-elected as Head of Household for another month. By the third month, if the position of Head of Household was snatched away, he could also accept it.

In short, this group of people could only stay for six months. But as long as he didn't make any mistakes, he still had over a year left.

(End of this chapter)