novelraw Chapter 58: You Haven’t Paid Yet
Chapter 58: You Haven’t Paid Yet
In the evening, Wang Yi went to the Chaos Warehouse to take inventory of his supplies. He found three sets of General Armor and two Iron-Clad Bows in storage.
He took out an Iron-Clad Bow and equipped it to the Heart of Chaos.
The Heart of Chaos was almost useless when equipped with the Sha River Overlord Spear, but it was a different story with the Iron-Clad Bow. It was fully capable of drawing the bow and firing arrows.
However, just equipping an Iron-Clad Bow was not enough; it also needed arrows.
Arrows also took up an equipment slot, though at least they could be stacked!
Wang Yi experimented with some Bamboo Section Arrows, and the Heart of Chaos’s Attribute Information immediately updated. It showed that the Heart of Chaos could now automatically fire arrows at a rate of one per second, with an effective range of three hundred meters.
However, the Heart of Chaos could only attack freely and could not be controlled by the Player. As the Chaos Lord, Wang Yi could only enable or disable its auto-attack function.
’One arrow per second. That’s much more consistent than an archer. Too bad the Heart of Chaos has so few equipment slots. If only it could be equipped with the Crossbow Machine Carriage...’
Wang Yi shook his head. He had already tried; the Heart of Chaos couldn’t equip the Crossbow Machine Carriage. Apparently, the Crossbow Machine Carriage was no longer considered equipment.
A moment later, Wang Yi headed to the Artisan Armory to have Bamboo Section Arrows crafted.
Pang Damao and the others had been busy all day, but they hadn’t brought back many bamboo poles. They had no Storage Items, so they had used Rock Giant Scorpions to carry them back. The load was about the size of three bundles of firewood, and after processing, they only yielded a total of 425 Bamboo Section Arrows!
’Only 425 arrows... The Floating Mountain would use those up in six minutes!’
Wang Yi shook his head, thinking, ’Old Mo wiped out that reconnaissance squad from Black Mountain Stronghold. Since their leader won’t get a report back, he’s bound to make a move. He might even send more people. I can’t just play defense; I have to strike first, and the sooner the better. Three or four hundred Bamboo Section Arrows a day is too slow. At this rate, when will I ever save up enough arrows to attack Black Mountain Stronghold?’
After pondering for a moment, Wang Yi left the Artisan Armory. He picked up two bags of braised beef and went to the Foreign Affairs Department—that is, Yang Wanli’s small courtyard.
Yang Wanli had been busy all day. He had recruited 16 reliable villagers from Pottery Village and Gourd Village and had just settled them in the former Stone Village. He still hadn’t figured out what work to assign them tomorrow.
Wang Yi’s sudden visit, especially with two bags of braised beef, left Yang Wanli feeling overwhelmed by the favor.
"This little hut of yours is still so simple. The infrastructure in our Eggshell Village is still too basic. We can’t even produce any decent furniture!"
Wang Yi sighed as he looked around Yang Wanli’s eggshell hut.
"It’s already great, just great!"
With an obsequious smile, Yang Wanli reported his day’s work to Wang Yi.
After listening carefully, Wang Yi said, "You’ve done a decent job. How about this: tomorrow, have those 16 people join the Production Team first. Go find Dashan in a bit and tell him to manage them well... It’s just that our resources are limited right now. Otherwise, it would be best to conduct some on-the-job training or something."
"Tra-training?"
Yang Wanli didn’t understand, but he nodded with a smile and said, "Yes, that makes sense!"
"Minister Yang, I came to see you about something else!"
"Go ahead, Boss!"
"If I asked you to procure arrows, could you do it?"
"Procure arrows?" Yang Wanli frowned and thought for half a minute before stammering, "It... it should be fine. I’ve done business with the Government Office before. I sold those pearls to the Kaiyuan County Magistrate last time. If I go back to him to buy arrows, it might just work out!"
Hearing this, Wang Yi smiled with relief and said, "I knew I could count on you! Alright, I’ll give you 10 Gold Coins. Head out first thing tomorrow morning to procure the arrows. Take the waterway; you can use the three Hardworking Turtles. Have a Barbarian Guard accompany you. You should be able to make it back the same day. How does that sound?"
"Alright!"
Yang Wanli agreed as if possessed.
Wang Yi reminded him, "You two caused quite a stir last time. If you go to Kaiyuan County again, you need to be careful. The County Yamen might have a warrant out for your arrest."
"Don’t worry, Boss, I’ll be careful!"
"Good. I’ll be waiting for your good news. If you can successfully bring back a large quantity of arrows, I’ll recognize it as a great service!"
Wang Yi left the Gold Coins, smiled, and departed from the Foreign Affairs Department. Once outside Eggshell Castle, he called out, "Old Mo." Qin Mo’s figure materialized beside him, as if he had been following Wang Yi the whole time.
"Tomorrow, you will also go with Yang Wanli. Same as usual, protect him from the shadows. You can use certain methods. Make sure this deal goes through, no matter what!"
"Understood."
Qin Mo respectfully acknowledged the order, and his figure vanished once more.
Wang Yi looked at the moonlit sky. ’There’s really no one else I can use,’ he thought. ’Old Yang isn’t actually that reliable, but it’s a case of picking the best of a bad lot. Compared to the others, he’s decent enough. At least he can read, and he’s a smooth talker.’
As for the others, like Zhang Dashan... Wang Yi had seen him counting on his fingers. He probably couldn’t even do addition or subtraction with numbers over ten.
’Old Mo is very reliable, though. If all goes smoothly and we get the arrows, I can lead a team to attack Black Mountain Stronghold.’
Wang Yi thought silently.
The night passed without incident. The next morning, the 16 villagers Yang Wanli had recruited from Gourd Village and Pottery Village were sent to the Production Team. Zhang Dashan was very happy, giving them a half-hour-long speech before finally assigning them their work.
Yang Wanli and Man Datou also set out early in the morning. Both wearing General Armor, they sat cross-legged on the backs of the Hardworking Turtles. Following the Jade River, they reached Kaiyuan County in just two and a half hours.
Kaiyuan County also had a small dock. The appearance of Yang Wanli and Man Datou riding giant turtles quickly caused a sensation, and a squad of saber-wielding Government Officials soon surrounded them.
When Qiao Meng received the news, he didn’t even have time to finish his breakfast and rushed to the scene.
This County Magistrate had been troubled for the past two days. Duan Hu was dead, and he had been a Standard Fourth Grade Cavalry General, the Commander-in-Chief of the Red Tiger Camp. This was no small matter. The Prince Mansion of King Dongsheng had sent a secret order posthaste, demanding Qiao Meng capture the killer within three days, or he would be stripped of his position and have his entire household’s assets confiscated.
How could Qiao Meng possibly have the ability to catch the killer? To protect his comfortable life, he followed the advice of his Master, Xu Liang’an, and picked two scapegoats from the prison. They were beheaded yesterday, and their heads, along with a report to the Court, had already been sent off.
But why have these two troublemakers shown up again?
If someone from the Red Tiger Camp sees them and reports me for fraud and deceiving the emperor, wouldn’t I be finished?
’Damn it, these two are going to be the death of me!’
Qiao Meng’s heart was racing with anxiety. But when he arrived at the dock, he was immediately overcome by a wave of nausea and began to vomit uncontrollably.
The air was thick with the stench of blood. A dozen or so Government Officials lay dead on the ground, their blood pooling around them.
His gaze then fell on the two men. They were riding giant turtles the size of horse-drawn carriages.
’Huh? Yang Wanli, Chaos Lord, Village Chief of Stone Village! So he’s a Player, too!’
Qiao Meng had also seen Yang Wanli’s identity information, which suddenly made everything make sense. Still, his heart was filled with unease.
This Player was powerful. He killed without batting an eye, far more ruthless than that pretty-boy Duan Hu.
He didn’t dare to make a rash move and even considered running away.
In reality, Yang Wanli was just as anxious as Qiao Meng, if not more so. The hair on the back of his neck was standing on end. Just moments ago, when those government officials had tried to attack him, they had all suddenly dropped dead. He had no idea what had just happened!
’Could it be the Boss’s protection...?’
Yang Wanli was terrified, but he put on a cold expression and shouted at Qiao Meng, who looked like he was in charge, "I am the Grand General of Divine Might! I am here to procure arrows! You lot, bring them to me at once, otherwise, I’ll teach you a lesson!"
Qiao Meng didn’t know how to respond and cast a pleading look at the Master beside him.
That Master’s name was Xu Liang’an. He was in his fifties and had a weaselly face. He quickly said, "Your Excellency, we cannot afford to slight them! I believe there’s a batch of Feathered Arrows in the storehouse. They’re just gathering mold there anyway. We should quickly fetch them and send these two gentlemen on their way! Otherwise, if the men from Red Tiger Camp hear about this and come to investigate, our use of scapegoats will be exposed. It’ll be a dead end for us then!"
"Right, right, you’re right! We can’t afford to provoke these two!" Qiao Meng nodded and hurriedly shouted, "Someone! Go to the storehouse and get the arrows! Bring them here as fast as you can!"