Chapter 39

"I do need some manpower," Mali said. "But it might not be until two or three months later that we set off."

"That's just right. My brother's arm will take about that long to heal completely. We will stay in the village first. Sleeping here is at least cheaper than sleeping in an inn in Yingzui City."

"Are you very short of money?"

"It's okay," Melissa paused. "Alright, the money we have on us is almost spent, leaving only the eight Silver Shields earned from the subjugation mission and some small junk found in the goblin lair, and that money is still in the Adventurer's Guild in Yingzui City."

"If you are very short of money, I have a ready-made job here," Mali said. "But it's manual labor."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Xia'er again. "Not just them, villagers of Baimu Cun who want to do it can also come to do it. In fact, this job requires a lot of manpower."

"What exactly do you want us to do?" Melissa asked suspiciously.

"Cut down trees."

"Cut down trees? For firewood?"

"No, in fact, it's to build a road. I hope you can help me open up a road in the forest, from Black Stone Canyon to Baimu Cun. The width should be at least enough to accommodate two, no, three carriages passing side by side, which means the wooden stakes cannot be left behind."

The straight-line distance from Black Stone Canyon to Baimu Cun is not far, but because it is all forest in the middle, Mali was forced to take a lot of detours last time.

This was because he was driving an off-road vehicle. If it were a larger vehicle, it would probably be more difficult to drive. And he estimated that he would often travel between these two places later, so building the road well could save a lot of time and trouble.

Not only outside the Red Mist, but also inside the Red Mist.

When he returns to Luoyang, he will start to deal with this matter. And the part outside the Red Mist can be entrusted to the villagers of Baimu Cun. If both sides work together, it can be faster.

He earned sixty Gold Eagles on this trip to Yingzui City. Excluding the fifteen Gold Eagles for the alchemist assessment fee, and subtracting the eight Gold Eagles spent on shopping and some sporadic expenses, he still had thirty-six Gold Eagles and ninety-five Silver Shields on hand.

Among them, he planned to use twenty Gold Eagles to purchase goods, and leave five Gold Eagles as reserve salary and travel expenses.

That is to say, the funds he could use now were about ten Gold Eagles.

According to the reward of thirty Copper Keluns per person per day, thirty people would be nine Silver Shields, and a little over eight Gold Eagles for three months.

The money was definitely enough, but he didn't know if the road could be built well. Mali didn't have a very accurate estimate of the workload either.

But no matter what, starting work early is better than starting work late, and it can also create income for the village. Usually, after the autumn harvest, it enters the slack farming season, and there will be more manpower available then.

Mali appointed the half-elf girl as the contractor, took ten Gold Eagles from the money bag and gave them to her. Before leaving, he also went to see Lievre once.

The old alchemist was actually the first person in the entire Baimu Cun to know about Mali's plan.

As early as when he was in Yingzui City, he had made the decision that wherever Mali went, he would go. Now that only a few days had passed, this decision of his had ushered in a harvest, and it also made his idea of following Mali more firm.

What's more, the latter also promised that the next time he came out of the Red Mist, he would bring him some books recording ancient alchemy, as well as more new ancient alchemical creations, which also made the old alchemist look forward to the next meeting even more.

In order to see those precious ancient books as soon as possible, he planned to guard in Baimu Cun.

After saying goodbye to everyone, Mali drove the G300p and embarked on the return journey.

Compared to when he came, the canned food, compressed biscuits, and purified water he carried were almost gone, but the car weight hadn't decreased much.

To express their gratitude to him, the villagers of Baimu Cun sent a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits grown by themselves when he left, almost filling the carriage.

This trip was not quite the same as Mali imagined, and he didn't know if it was good or bad.

The only thing that was certain was that he should spend a lot of time outside the Red Mist in the future, so the preparation work for this return became very important.

There were many things he had to do. Besides building the road, he also had to master the reading and writing of the mainland common language as much as possible. In addition, he was also very interested in alchemy. Lievre's "Introduction to Alchemy" was definitely something he would watch repeatedly after returning.

Besides that, he also had to continue exploring the city to find new vehicles and weapons and equipment.

Mali was thinking and calculating these things all the way, and didn't even notice the small figure in front at the first time.

Fortunately, he finally reacted, stepped on the brake hard, and plus the speed in the forest wasn't fast, the off-road vehicle moved forward for about six or seven meters and stopped completely.

At this time, the bull bar at the front of the car was less than three steps away from that figure.

Mali breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring the chest pain caused by the seatbelt, opened the car door, and jumped down. "Are you okay?"

At first, he thought it was a child from a villager's family in Baimu Cun, picking mushrooms or picking up firewood in the woods.

But when he looked carefully, he found that the child in front of him was a bit strange.

She was actually barefoot. More accurately, she only had a tattered linen garment on her whole body, and that garment obviously didn't fit well, and the hem was almost dragging to the ground.

It was already autumn, plus the humidity in the woods was very heavy, so a single garment was obviously not enough to keep out the cold.

Mali took a blanket from the car and draped it over her, then asked, "Where are your mom and dad?"

The little girl didn't answer.

Is she mute?

The effect of the animal communication potion hadn't passed, and logically speaking, the other party should be able to understand his words.

Mali tried again, "Where do you live? Do you want me to send you back?"

Still no response.

The little girl just stood there quietly looking at Mali. Her height was about 1.4 meters, and she looked like she was just over ten years old.

Mali looked up at the time on his phone. She couldn't walk out of this forest before dark by herself.

"Alright, since you don't want to speak, then I will take you to Baimu Cun first. Maybe someone there recognizes you."

To his surprise, the girl actually reacted this time. She shook her head.

"You can't stay in this forest alone," Mali warned. "Although those goblins are gone, there is still a bear here, or a monster that looks like a bear. I don't know what that is, but it will eat you."

The girl didn't know if she understood or not. Anyway, after a while, she walked to the off-road vehicle.

Mali opened the passenger door for her. She was about to climb up, but the next moment Mali had already picked her up and placed her in the passenger seat.

The girl frowned, but still didn't say anything.

Afterward, Mali also got into the car and was about to turn around, but the strange girl pointed forward.

"What do you mean? Do you want to go back with me? No, no, Xia'er said that the Red Mist is fatal to the life of this world."

The girl shook her head again.

"Your home is also ahead? If that's the case, I can give you a ride," Mali said, shifting gears.