Chapter 372: Flourishing

【Employee count -1】

As if seeing the number floating out of the box, Ji Jue rolled his eyes and sighed helplessly.

Turning back, he looked at Lu Feng, not even bothering to ask.

Anyway, he could guess whatever Lu Feng said.

———He was like this as soon as I walked in, he fell accidentally, our security team is also not easy, then go talk to the water ghosts, we are all living hard...

Forget it, beef balls are beef balls, at least they are still alive.

It's fine as long as it can be used.

Fragments have the uses of fragments. With such a large portion, and the spiritual meat mixed so evenly, it could almost be used as a biological spiritual quality battery. After it's used up, the remaining residue could be used to feed that piece of sin-tainted fish scales.

"To be a person, one must be diligent and thrifty."

Ji Jue, who had finished his great cause of making people, looked at the results in front of him and let out a relieved sigh.

Only Isis, who had coldly witnessed the whole process, reminded him indifferently: "No, sir, I feel that when you chose to be a person, you already chose not to be a person..."

"Is this some kind of tongue twister?"

"This is a cold joke written specifically for you. It aims to satirize your actions. Through the two uses and two meanings of the word 'be a person,' the joke vividly depicts your face and mocks your actions, making people unable to help but laugh."

"..." Ji Jue was stunned.

"What's wrong?" Isis was curious: "Is it not funny?"

"No, it's just that this joke feels colder than the last one." Ji Jue was speechless: "Maybe you actually have a talent for this."

Isis said indifferently: "Thanks for the compliment."

Ji Jue sighed, having nothing to say, let her be, as long as she likes it.

Occasionally losing a few employees, he no longer took it to heart.

At least it wasn't the early days of entrepreneurship, where he had to treat employees like cattle and horses. Now the employees of Coastal could enjoy salaries and subsidies close to those in the city. Although it wasn't much, it was more than enough to support a family in the wilderness.

This wasn't because Ji Jue had discovered his conscience, but because the underground park of Coastal now had too many free cattle and horses!

They were just like things growing out of the ground; after a rain, they popped up one after another. Especially since there were too many anthropomorphic creatures in the wilderness. Excluding those who were evil and deserved to die, there were countless others who needed to be modified.

By now, if you wanted to get on the assembly line to tighten screws, you had to be carefully selected!

Those without special skills or basic culture could only engage in heavy manual labor on the construction site. Fortunately, the gap needed by Outside Xinquan now was not small. In addition to the expansion of the underground park, the reconstruction and expansion of buildings had also been put on the agenda.

Ji Jue wasn't a devil either. According to his estimation—if everyone worked zero-zero-seven like this day and night for about twenty years, everyone could have a good rest.

Now everything on the ground in Outside Xinquan was flourishing, and the structure of the underground park was becoming increasingly complex.

It's good to have Chosen Ones; you don't have to worry about the house collapsing. Just find a ruin and reinforce it. What's more, there were spiritual quality circuits extended from the workshop and the influence, and everything was under control.

Master Jianyuan could create a Stagnant Rot park in his own workshop, why couldn't we Remnants?

If it got out, wouldn't people laugh at us?

This is a matter of saving face for Big Brother Remnant. How can we hesitate or retreat? Big Brother never softens his hand when rewarding, so shouldn't we give back to the number one old man?

By the way, the underground shelter used by Outside Xinquan residents to take refuge was just Ji Jue's makeshift underground workshop that hadn't been modified yet.

Regarding the building quality, those who used it said it was good, sturdy, stable, and safe. The only drawback was that it seemed a bit haunted.

When sleeping in the middle of the night, one could always faintly hear people crying and screaming.

But it didn't matter. Everyone lived outside the city, and everything was about making do. If you can make do, it's a good review; if you can't, you can make do hard.

There is a ceiling, a floor, and walls. It doesn't leak wind or rain, and it's free for you to use. Even if there really is a ghost, everyone treats it as having an extra neighbor. Why so many things?

After a round of secret friend transactions before, not only were new industrial channels opened, but the problem of production capacity becoming increasingly excessive had also been perfectly solved.

The number of orders was increasing.

Enough for Coastal to digest for a long time.

Flourishing! Flourishing indeed.

Just the ship repair yard cooperating with the Wilderness Market was enough to keep Ji Jue busy for a long time, and there were also collaborations with the Northern Border and the Seven Cities, as well as the final payment from the Red Faction in the Central Plains.

Just today, the first batch of civilian-type exoskeletons specifically prepared for heavy manual laborers produced by Coastal had been shipped to the Thousand Islands.

Regrettably, Ji Jue had just received news that perhaps Pacquiao's death had stirred up the psychological unity of the pirates, and as soon as they entered the high seas, they were robbed and retaliated against by water ghosts, and the entire batch of goods was hijacked!

It was hateful and sigh-worthy, making Ji Jue furious, expressing that Outside Xinquan and this group of lawless elements were irreconcilable!

The fortunate thing in misfortune was that the cargo ship and staff returned intact, without suffering any abuse, only two bullet holes and a few scratches on the ship's side.

It's a good thing they came back early; if they were any later, they might not have been able to see them.

In order to compensate for the First Party's loss of time, Factory Manager Ji decided to continue fulfilling the contract, carry forward the spirit of the contract, and double the delivery quantity for the second batch next week!

It's impossible to be targeted by water ghosts again, right?

Then I really can't help it.

And before this, a batch of strange accessories and parts that didn't look like civilian equipment had already arrived in the Central Plains through Chen Xingzhou's path, using the Wilderness Market's channels.

As for what these things were used for, Coastal was just an OEM factory, so how could they manage so much?

If you insist on assembling them like this and then using a machine tool to cut a few rifling lines, then besides serious protest and reserving the right to sue, we can't manage it either, right?

And just after cleaning up all the settlements in Haizhou during these days, and driving all the water ghosts who dared to go ashore to extinction, before the rainy season ended, Coastal Industry's news was sent to everyone again.

This time, it wasn't some hair-raising bad news or a strong and rude order, but just a notice: in order to facilitate the transportation of goods and products, give back to consumers, and facilitate various settlements in the wilderness, Coastal Industry's wholly-owned subsidiary—Messenger Logistics—officially opened.

The main business, besides transporting goods, also provided convenient online shopping for various settlements.

In addition to ordering on the official website, there was also a thick product catalog sent to every settlement, which, besides Coastal's own products, also included many products in the city, whether it was daily department store, medical supplies, or vegetables and fruits, everything was available.

In terms of quality, although it couldn't be called very good, it was definitely worthy of its price.

As long as you dial the 24-hour hotline on it to order, the next day, or at the latest three days, there would be a delivery person wearing a striking red uniform and riding a Coastal little tricycle to deliver the goods.

Besides this, while recruiting delivery people, another business was about to open, which was the "cross-city express" that was more convenient and cheaper than the fleet, focusing on suburb-to-suburb.

Currently, it only opened the interconnection between the two central cities of Chaocheng and Yacheng, and later it would include small cities like Jiangcheng, Chuancheng, etc., to realize a cheap logistics network covering the entire Haizhou.

Although the express fee was still not cheap, it was much more convenient and cheaper than large fleets and airships, and the main business was also cheap handicrafts or small items, fragmented letters.

As for losing items, there was no need to worry.

In the past, no one could do this business because the anthropomorphic ecology in the wilderness was really untrustworthy, but now, in the wilderness of Haizhou, there was no credit guarantee harder than the brand of Coastal Industry.

For any lost or damaged items, Messenger Logistics would compensate according to the agreed amount.

As for friends who wanted to make trouble or junk collectors who ignored the rules and wanted to make some extra money... then you'd better be able to escape the eyes of Aether.

With Ji Jue's relationship with the Tong family, hiring a few Aether Chosen Ones to take a look regularly was definitely not a problem.

As for whether it was profitable or not, he didn't care, as long as it didn't lose too miserably.

When Gou Er proposed this concept and idea at the meeting, Ji Jue adopted it decisively and handed it over to him to promote. It just so happened that such a large amount of working capital had nowhere to be used.

It just so happened to hook up with the Tong family and the Lou family to join in, everyone working together to do big things!

Profit was secondary; the key was a stabilized wilderness that had the possibility of development.

Although the big cleanup was refreshing, if left alone, surely new poisonous fruits and evil fruits would pop up from the wilderness again. Then it would be better to give those who were limited by conditions and couldn't survive without doing evil a new choice.

It's tiring, it's bitter, but can it be more tiring than starving, eyes red, holding a gun, waiting for the fleet to come and die?

Is it more bitter than digging into a mine to gamble with your life?

Anyway, I have plenty of little tricycles, the opportunity is right in front of you, whether you want to live with your head held high or be self-deprecating, it's all up to you.

At the same time, through the existence of Messenger Logistics, he could gradually enhance Coastal Industry's influence in the wilderness and make this mud better...

Why not do it?

As for the future, it's hard to say. Anyway, if it succeeds, it's good; if it doesn't, it doesn't matter. Ji Jue didn't have the energy to stare at this kind of project that took a long time to prepare every day, so he handed it all over to Gou Er to promote.

That afternoon, the Northern Wind Workshop's ship arrived in Outside Xinquan. The apprentice who came to run errands brought back the soul of Pacquiao after it was used, and also brought several copies of news from the Seven Cities.

One was more exaggerated than the other, something like "A generation of culprits died in the Seven Cities," "Colonel's foresight and decisive capture of the bandit leader," "Seven Cities joint defense makes water ghosts tremble with fear," and so on.

It seems that the family of Lu Feng's friend had begun to exert force to create momentum. If everything went smoothly, by the end of the year at the earliest, a young general would take office in the naval fleet of the Seven Cities Joint Defense.

Lu Feng dared to bet that this was absolutely the most cost-effective "Grandpa" his grandson had ever called in his life.

And by comparison, what was more concerning was the ambiguous stance of the Seven Cities Alliance when calling for support in the northern cities. It could only be said that they provided vocal support... I don't know what kind of deal they reached with the Northern Border. It seems Huang Xu didn't run for nothing this time.

Another day later, Falling Leaves sent news.

In distant Yacheng, the Tong family called...

Your goods have arrived, when are you coming to get them?

The last piece of the puzzle for Chunjun—————【Seeing Simplicity and Embracing Plainness】, was in hand!

The excited Ji Jue didn't sleep all night, and as soon as the sky brightened, he brought two chickens to the door... I don't know why, but he didn't see the Old Grandpa again. The one who came out to receive him was still Tong Ting.

Seeing the two chickens in his hand, Tong Ting's expression became even more numb.

There was always a sense of PTSD tension.

Last time you brought chickens over, and then you ate and took and scheduled so many things. This time you brought chickens over again, you couldn't really be wanting to kill Xu Chaoxian, right?

"Everyone is so familiar, next time you come, don't... be so distant."

Tong Ting looked down at the chicken in his hand and sighed softly: "Chickens are not easy either."

With such a small body, how could it support such a big thing?

This time he didn't pretend to be cool and make tea or chat, Ji Jue hadn't even sat down yet, and the blessing was stuffed into his hand. As for money, he didn't even mention it.

Since we are so familiar, why be distant?

Although "Seeing Simplicity and Embracing Plainness" is rare, it's not a trouble for the Tong family. Human favor is accumulated back and forth like this.

Besides, the Old Grandpa seemed to be very optimistic about Messenger Logistics. Tong Shengnian directly accepted the shares sent by Ji Jue, and besides the Tong family's own channels, he also made an additional investment.

The Lou family was the same, and they also helped Ji Jue clean up quite a few loose ends.

After all, in this day and age, there are many people with talent, and people with potential are not sparse, but it is too rare to find someone who has talent and potential and is willing to take the initiative to stand up and deal with the garbage heap, solve troubles for everyone, and dig a market out of the garbage heap.

The more stable Haizhou is, the more comfortable, relaxed, and profitable everyone is.

Who doesn't like clean money?

When he returned to his studio from the Tong family, Ji Jue finally looked at the blessing in his hand.

Inside the amber-like crystal, a simple trace like an ink mark was constantly winding and flowing, changing indefinitely. But no matter how it changed, it always exuded a sense of simple beauty that was almost indescribable.

After one look, what one could feel was purity.

【Seeing Simplicity and Embracing Plainness】, its effect is to remove all decorations and pretenses, erase all interference and distortion, and return to the essence of the object as much as possible.

Used on external objects, it can see through their original appearance and state.

Used on oneself, it can correct deviations, eliminate distracting thoughts, and at the same time, easily find traces of curses or Heart Pivot interference. Even the smallest symptoms can't escape its power.

Regrettably, whether it's negative effects or positive effects, it will clean them up, absolutely without distinction or bias.

This is its most precious part.

As long as it is there, the Chosen One will not lose the original appearance of themselves and will always be able to grasp their own changes most objectively.

You have to know that the Aether Path is complicated. The more you see, hear, and perceive, the easier it is to lose yourself.

It's just like ordinary people who are used to luxury, indulgence, and paper-drunken gold scenes, they will unconsciously become extravagant; after seeing various large-amount transfer transactions in the bank, they will also feel that hundreds or thousands are just small money; after eating too many fruit plates in KTV, they will want to change a batch when they see people queuing; after playing too many mobile games, they will feel that G is too poor...

People

At the same time, one is often influenced by the external environment without realizing it.

For other chosen ones, it is merely a shift in perspective, but for the Ether, this day-by-day, unconscious change is often fatal, and may even cause one to go astray, lose one's sense of self, and develop delirium and hallucinations.

I have seen too much.

Whether it is Name, View, or Solution, all must start from the chosen one's own perspective. If one's own position shifts or even contradicts itself, then seeing hallucinations is a good thing; if you really see some messy, chaotic things, then you won't be able to be saved.

Sin-taint is formless and silent.

Just like foreshadowing.

This Great Sin corresponding to the Ether hides in every tiny, day-by-day change, and when you notice the distortion and contradiction emerging from your heart, everything is already too late.

Low-rank Ether perceives the truth, but high-rank Ether can weave reality.

Over a hundred years ago, an Empire Ether Heaven-Human was sin-tainted for seven years, and no one even noticed.

The people of an entire city all fell into a 'book', becoming characters, yet the passersby who walked into it didn't feel there was any problem at all.

For seven years, everyone in the city, regardless of gender, age, or even cats and dogs, lived as if they were in a novel, movie, or animation.

Romance, workplace, campus, murder, suspense, horror, and even fantasy—they served as different supporting characters and protagonists in different genres, reincarnating and evolving. Finally, when countless contradictions overlapped and erupted, amidst hysterical madness, they welcomed the final grand climax.

Countless corpses covered every inch of land in the city. Only the final protagonist walked out of the city gate, and when he looked back on the past, it felt just like a nightmare without an end.

And when he turned his head, he could no longer see any traces of everything that had once been.

Even today, this disaster of the Book-Wielder continues to appear in the present world, continuing the broken chapters. After one night, it disappears again with the continued story, leaving no trace.

The details within it are enough to make Ji Jue's skin crawl just looking at them.

If it weren't for the fact that every disaster of the Book-Wielder inevitably leaves behind a protagonist who witnesses the whole process, I fear that until now, no one would have been able to detect its existence.

And even more terrifying is that the Heaven-Human who was sin-tainted back then also had the blessing of Seeing Simplicity and Embracing Plainness...

If the blessing of Supreme Good were truly omnipotent, how could Great Sin possibly exist?

Relying on blessings to solve all problems is the true fantasy.

However, this effect is real and certain.

At this moment, with Seeing Simplicity and Embracing Plainness in hand, even without spiritual quality communication, Ji Jue felt a sense of clarity and peace in his heart. Everything he had done in these days appeared clearly before his eyes, surging through his heart like flowing water.

It was as if he had returned to his origin and original heart.

After viewing everything he had done from the most objective perspective, he discovered... he had unknowingly wasted so much material?!

Not to mention the other scraps—he clearly had the inheritance of the bacterial colony and the scar in his hands, so why didn't he sacrifice the dead water ghosts and trash to exchange for materials?

It was a loss caused by his conscience!

Ji Jue immediately beat his chest and stamped his feet, feeling truly heartbroken.

He had already decided that before Chun Jun was finished, he would play with this thing a bit more.

I examine myself three times a day!

Fortunately, before it was his turn for the second self-examination, he received a message from Ye Chun.

The teacher was finally done with her work!

After receiving the message, Ji Jue got up without hesitation and headed straight for Tide Sound, racing against time.

These days, he had been almost suffocated.

Too many questions had no answers.

Now that he had finally waited for the teacher to have time, he had to seize the opportunity!

Thus, five minutes later, it was Ye Xian's turn to be silent after finally finishing her work, coming out of the workshop, and not having rested for even a moment.

In the dead silence, Ye Xian held her teacup and quietly watched the shy Ji Jue on the other side of the table.

Suddenly, she really wanted to pry open this dog's skull to take a look...

—I only closed the door to do research for a month, how did you manage to stir up so many things?!