Chapter 304: Whoever Blocks Me from Making Money, I'll Kill Them

"Or was it because races everywhere were currently recruiting, so people had choices?"

"That was actually highly likely."

"What about the women, then? It makes sense if the men are scared, but more women should be coming here."

"This was the Witch Clan, after all. It should have been a given for women to come here for the Evolution Items, yet the numbers were still this low?"

"That hardly made any sense."

"Uh... there is a high probability that this is related to the rumors on the world channel."

"Rumors?"

"Someone has been spreading a rumor on the world channel claiming that the Witch Clan's Evolution Items are mixed with some sort of mind-control material. They are telling people that, if they have a choice, they should avoid evolving into a Witch at all costs."

Diana stepped forward at this moment.

"So the vast majority went to the succubi, the Forest Elves, the Medusa Clan, and the Merfolk. Those are the races with high aesthetic appeal, as they put it."

Shang Chuan added.

Well, it seemed they were still being shunned.

Even though she did not know which bastard was spreading the rumors, dwelling on it now was useless. She could only say that anyone who chose not to come to the Witches' Forest was the one losing out.

"Forget it. The Witch Clan inherently loves freedom, so there is no need to clarify anything. They can come if they want, and if they do not, they can get lost. There is nothing to explain."

Lan Qingyou waved her hand dismissively.

"By the way, speaking of the succubi and Forest Elves, did Gu Xiaobei and Frena end up choosing the Golden Plains and the Cursed Corridor?"

Because Lan Qingyou had previously mentioned that the Golden Plains were suitable for Forest Elves, while the Cursed Corridor was perfect for succubi.

Thus, Lan Qingyou asked this in passing.

"Oh, about that. Gu Xiaobei and Frena naturally went to claim them, but the Supreme Council did not agree."

Shang Chuan continued to explain.

It was a joke to even ask. Both of those locations were major food-producing regions; what would the rest of them do if they were just handed over?

As a result, the two races became part of the minority that owned two separate regions as their Autonomous Domain.

To say she was envious would be a stretch.

After all, the total population was only so large right now. Each region was actually quite expansive, easily capable of housing tens of millions of people without any issue.

The key issue lay in technology—or more accurately, in securing safe living grounds.

Therefore, all the major clans were frantically scrambling to hire Witches who could draw magic arrays to construct their settlements.

However, since the Supreme Council also needed Witches to build the Adventurer's Guild, there were actually very few Witches available to take on outside commissions.

Prompted by this reminder, Lan Qingyou finally pulled out the Card she had not touched in a long time. She saw a constant stream of people tagging her.

These messages had all popped up after Lan Qingyou finished her chat with Frena.

No, actually, people had been tagging her for days before that brief conversation; Lan Qingyou just had not noticed until now.

She only had eyes for her experiments.

Because there were other people in the habitat now, Lan Qingyou had not even eaten the food Gu Xiaobei usually sent over. She had solely been eating what Diana brought her.

Although the food cooked by the chefs in the Witches' Forest was nowhere near as delicious as Gu Xiaobei's, it did not matter to Lan Qingyou, who only cared about completing her experiments.

Chariot: "@Tower, you finally showed up. How are the experiments going?"

Star: "@Tower, do you have any spare Witches? Lend me a few."

Sun: "@Tower, can the core of the magic array be reduced from two points of light and dark down to just one?"

Emperor: "@Tower, Boss Lan, do you take outside commissions? I have all the materials ready over here."

...

Every Clan Head in the group chat was looking for Lan Qingyou. What could she possibly do about this?

The ten thousand Witches at the Supreme Council were all currently working to pay off their debts. Even though she was the Clan Head, it was not in her nature to arbitrarily boss people around.

In fact, in her mind, the Witch Clan was inherently a loose, free-spirited group. Everyone could do whatever they wanted and live wherever they pleased.

It was not some strict hierarchy of superiors and subordinates.

That would be far too rigid.

And it held absolutely no benefit for her research.

It was precisely because of this that Lan Qingyou agreed to Diana's plan to scatter the Witches across the entirety of The Abandoned Land.

Because even Diana knew that the Witch race was naturally inclined to act this way.

After all, in such an expansive territory, let alone one kilometer, you could walk five kilometers and still be hard-pressed to run into a neighbor.

She could not exactly explain why. There was no mention of such a racial temperament in the species introduction, but whether it was Lan Qingyou, Diana, or any other Witch, they all simply felt this way and acted as they pleased.

Of course, it might also have had something to do with the concept of 'freedom' that Lan Qingyou had kept in mind when she originally created the Witch's Potion. Who could really say?

Tower: "I can perfectly understand the others, but Sun, what is your deal?"

Ingrid had still been a Blue Star Earthling back when they first visited the ship graveyard. She had not evolved at all, nor were there any signs of her purchasing Evolution Items from anyone.

'Could it be that Jörmungandr's Blood allowed this girl to research and develop something?'

Sun: "Thanks to that blood, I have now evolved into the Medusa Clan."

Tower: "The Medusa Clan? Snake people?"

Sun: "No, my hair can just turn into snakes, and my eyes possess a petrification ability similar to the Magic Eye of you Witches."

Tower: "I see. In that case, please hand over the copyright fees."

Since the other party mentioned an ability similar to the Magic Eye, Lan Qingyou, as the Clan Head of the Witch Clan, made a rare, lighthearted joke.

Sun: "...Give me a break. Do you have any spare Witches over there? Send a few my way. I will pay triple the Supreme Council's wages."

Tower: "I do not. The Witches all have their own matters to attend to, and my research is still far from complete. However, I can pass the message along to them for you. Do you have an address?"

Sun: "I do. I am at..."

Seeing Lan Qingyou say this, Ingrid immediately provided the name of her teleportation point.

Seeing this, the other Clan Heads quickly followed suit and called out the names of their own teleportation points.

They even declared they would offer wages three times higher than those of the Supreme Council.

Tower: "Alright, got it."

With that said, Lan Qingyou forwarded all of these locations to the tea party group, instantly igniting the atmosphere inside.

After the previous 101 Witches had returned, they spread the word about the tea party to the Witches in their respective areas and invited them to join.

So, in a very short amount of time, the number of people in the tea party surged from just a handful of individuals to eight or nine thousand.

It was safe to say that, aside from a few Witches who refused to join or had not yet been notified, almost every Witch on the continent was now part of the tea party.

"What! Triple wages!"

"I am almost done with my work here. I will head over as soon as I finish."

"The smart ones have already dropped their current tasks and teleported over, while the idiots are still shouting in the chat."

"You always move so fast."

"Dropping the work right out of your hands? Are you not afraid of the Supreme Council's judgment tribunal?"

"To hell with the Supreme Council. Whoever blocks me from making money, I will kill them."