Chapter 15: The Heart is Too Dark

With Zhuguli setting the example, the other few laborers had no choice but to carry two baskets each.

To their surprise, following Zhuguli's method was not nearly as tiring as they had imagined.

The shoulder pole at both ends balanced their strength perfectly, making the load feel not as heavy as they had thought.

The group's work efficiency increased significantly, and they finished the job by dinnertime, well before dark.

Taking out seven pieces of black bread, the foreman Forman patted Zhuguli on the shoulder with satisfaction, "You did well, this is your pay."

Unlike the other workers, Zhuguli received one extra piece of black bread.

The other workers immediately cast envious glances at Zhuguli.

One extra piece of black bread meant Zhuguli wouldn't have to work tomorrow!

If he did work, he could even save up two days' worth of pay! If he didn't rest at night and found some odd job to do, he could earn quite a bit more.

This way, he could soon rent a single room and wouldn't need to sleep on the floor with everyone else.

"You should thank him; if it weren't for him, you might not have finished the work so early today," Forman said to the few workers, "Don't let me catch you slacking off again!"

"Yes, yes." The few strong laborers packed up their things and left quickly, all thinking they must come earlier tomorrow so they wouldn't run into such a demanding foreman again.

Only Zhuguli stood there, staring blankly at the black bread.

How is one supposed to eat this stuff!

It didn't look very clean either, especially since this foreman hadn't even washed his hands just now, and had tucked all the pieces of black bread under his armpits.

And the ones in his hand were the two that had been tucked the deepest; they already had a smell to them.

Of course, it was better than the smell in the Sewers, but this was food.

"Why aren't you leaving? No need to thank me, come earlier tomorrow, and if I see you, I'll give you work again, with meals included!" Forman said with a chuckle; he finally had more time to go to the bar to unwind today, the chicks in Tana City had fiery personalities, as long as you paid enough, you were their master!

Looking at the bread in his hand, Zhuguli really wanted to say that he wanted to exchange the bread for Tana.

But he couldn't speak the local language at all, so he had to tearfully take the two pieces of black bread.

As soon as he left the construction site, he saw two other players who were also busy working on the site; because everyone was dressed the same, he could quickly identify them as his own kind.

"Do you have food here?" The taller player discovered Zhuguli first.

The shorter one on the side simply ran up to Zhuguli and asked, "I'm truly starving to death, can you share some with us?"

"If you don't mind, you can have it all." Zhuguli was eager for someone to take these two pieces of black bread off his hands; although he was hungry, he had money on him and had no need to eat this kind of thing.

He had already heard that fifteen Tana could buy a simple meal at a nearby restaurant; although most people were only willing to spend five Tana to buy a piece of black bread to fill their stomachs, Zhuguli was clearly not that frugal.

After all, he didn't need to find a place to live, he could rest in the Sewers, and he didn't need to worry about not finding work tomorrow, since Forman had already given his word.

After receiving the black bread, the two players devoured it, and one of them even let out a satisfied burp.

"It's a bit choking, the taste... it actually really has a taste."

"It's like eating kraft paper, the taste is really, kind of unpleasant, and there's some sand in it too." The tall player commented, then looked at Zhuguli, "Thanks, brother, if it weren't for you, we would have had to log off on empty stomachs."

"Didn't you find work?" Zhuguli asked, feeling a bit puzzled.

They were already near the Train station; finding some manual labor shouldn't be difficult.

"Work? That was just too grueling. Can you imagine? You have to move goods back and forth in the same place, get bossed around by people, and be tossed about for a full five or six hours, just for one meal!"

"Those foremen are all too dark-hearted, only giving thirty Tana. Five or six hours for just that little bit of money, what is that enough for?"

The two players began to complain.

However, seeing Zhuguli, the two showed embarrassed expressions.

"Sorry, we aren't talking about you, just saying, brother, you really have perseverance." The two weighed their words, their expressions very vivid.

This was the first time Zhuguli had seen players like himself; he didn't mind their offense, but instead said, "Your expressions are just like... just like yourselves. I mean, this game is too realistic; you actually seem like you're living as a different person."

"Indeed, this game is truly epoch-making. I heard it uses some advanced brain-pulse technology that can transmit game content through micro-pulses in the brain or something." The short player seemed very knowledgeable, "In short, this is very advanced stuff; they say the military is using it too."

"Really?" Zhuguli didn't think the other party was spouting nonsense at all; such technology should indeed be applied to other fields rather than just playing games.

The three of them soon became teammates; the short player's game ID was: "Don't Spit Out the Skin When Eating Grapes", and the tall one was more normal, with the ID: Chimu.

The two had met just after coming out of the Sewers; they had also gone to look for work during the day, but after working for two hours, they felt they couldn't finish it, so they ran off.

It was estimated that it would be hard to find suitable work in the future; the two were currently worried, thinking they should try their luck at the Nongzhuang next time they logged on.

"If there's a way, you could try making handcarts." Zhuguli said, pinching his chin, "When I was moving things today, I noticed they didn't even have shoulder poles; they had to rely on baskets or basins to transport supplies, and having a back basket was considered good. I think if we could sell these tools, maybe we could make money, and if it were handcarts, the foreman might even purchase them."

"Are you sure?" "Don't Spit Out the Skin When Eating Grapes"'s eyes lit up, "That's more like it! This kind of game is for doing business; when would you ever make money doing manual labor?"

"Just in time for the closed beta to see if the trading system is working properly, and I can write a review later. I wonder if the creation function is complete in such a high-freedom game." Chimu was also full of confidence, but then he lost heart, "But we don't know how to make carts."

"Let's go, hurry back to the Sewers, let's go learn!" "Don't Spit Out the Skin When Eating Grapes" seemed to have found a direction, not forgetting to turn back and say to Zhuguli, "Brother, the sales channels will depend on you; we'll split the profits 40/60 later!"

Thinking that if they really made them, it would be their credit too, Zhuguli nodded, "No problem, then you guys go back first, I still have something to do."

——

I will strive to write another chapter; if I can't, I'll save it up and post an extra one tomorrow.

Everyone, please keep following the updates; only with follow-up reads can I get recommended.

(End of this chapter)