Chapter 237: Special Response

"Don't drag the Royal Family into everything. You should know I let those people sell you the subsequent formulas on purpose," Ganseer certainly knew what profession his younger brother had awakened, "You don't think you can still trick me, do you?"

"What do you want to know from me?" Evans didn't want to waste breath on his older brother; he had always wanted him to inherit the family business from the start, and he wasn't stupid.

Doing things for the Royal Family was never that easy; even if it was just sitting in the rear without needing to awaken, he wasn't willing to do such exhausting work.

It was just that what he was doing now wasn't easy either, which made him feel a massive headache.

Fortunately, those Xiahui People were easy to manage and didn't require him to worry too much; he just needed to report the work situation on time.

"I want to know where those Xiahui People actually came from," Ganseer stared into his brother's eyes and said, "You can't possibly not feel it at all; these Xiahui People are very wrong."

He took out the bills from the past year and placed them on the table, "I have investigated the slave transport situation of the Wealth Church over the past year, as well as the transport of laborers. The Xiahui People among them don't even add up to one hundred, and many of them have already died."

"You came here just to interrogate me about this?" Evans looked at the other person as if he were an idiot, "Tana City has many stowaways. Don't think that just having those merchants from the Wealth Church is enough to transport many people. Those Xiahui People have also been bringing in laborers since they got ships, but most were taken to the Port City. That place increased its population by a full five hundred thousand in the last half of the year!"

Of course, in reality, it was impossible for there to be that many.

But Evans was now a Believer of the Calamity, and it was impossible for him not to deceive Ganseer.

"If you put it that way, I understand. It's very likely that Tana City and Port City combined have already reached a population scale of over two million, right?" Seeing that his younger brother's records were all about those Xiahui People, he instinctively assumed he knew something.

He hadn't expected the management of Tana City and Port City to be so chaotic now.

It wasn't just chaotic; there were also quite a few guys from Gannaer, and those witches would sooner or later cause some problems.

If it weren't for the fact that those Xiahui People were truly useful... Ganseer realized that he was in need of his brother, "Regardless, you should be managing quite a few Xiahui People under you, right?"

"It can't be called managing; it should be called assisting. Andrew's industry is too large, and he can't handle many things himself. This great philanthropist only needs to invest in those Xiahui People and expand his assets, but he has no way not to keep an eye on those guys, so I'm only responsible for registration. The person actually managing them should be Mr. Andrew," Evans couldn't be bothered to entangle with him, "Just say directly what you actually want to do."

Although he knew his brother was a Trickster and his brain was better than before, Ganseer still spoke the truth; after all, Evans had no conflict of interest with him.

At least he felt that, no matter what, Evans could never consider problems from the perspective of those Xiahui People.

"The Royal Capital has already discovered the changes in Tana City. The population here is growing too fast, and many people in other places have started fleeing to Tana City. Some small cities already have cases of runaway slaves, and many nobles have run to the Royal Family to complain."

"So what should be introduced is a way to manage slaves. Honestly, I think the slave system is too backward. Even in Tana City, the slaves transported here now have wages; basically, after paying off their debts, they can live like ordinary people," Evans couldn't help but say, "If you pay wages, those people's enthusiasm for work will be higher. As long as there is overtime pay, those people are even willing to work until they vomit blood."

"But doesn't that cost money?" Ganseer was stunned for a moment; he had runaway slaves on his Nongzhuang, which was why he was so angry.

In reality, the entire Tana City had absorbed quite a few runaway slaves from the surrounding areas.

In the Federal, the slave system had not been completely eliminated. Although they didn't necessarily use locals, they used a large number of slaves purchased from other regions.

For the Federal, runaway slaves had a quite negative impact. Most slave owners would rather those slaves die than have those guys escape.

"Paying slaves wages and letting them use machines to work is much more cost-effective than working a batch of slaves to death and then going to buy another batch. In fact, there have always been slaves coming to Tana City. The reason no one complained before was because these slaves were cheap enough."

"Now, coming to Tana City to work already pays quite a bit of money, and the price of transporting a laborer is higher than that of a slave, so those guys' cost of purchasing slaves has increased, which is why they are coming to find fault with Tana City," Evans rolled his eyes, "You might as well tell that Princess and let her say it; perhaps she can gain praise from the Royal Family. And she can also gain more support from the commoners."

"I didn't mean that." As if he had been seen through, Ganseer's ears turned red, "I only need to investigate clearly; the rest has nothing to do with me."

"I hope so. If you still want to know anything, you can go directly to the dock area to take a look. I remember you've been there; you were very interested in those guys at the time. Hmm, you were indeed very interested, and you even hired a batch of Xiahui People to go to Gannaer. They seem to be doing quite well, right?"

Evans rarely chatted about so much content with his own kin.

This gave Ganseer the feeling that it was more like his personality had undergone a certain mutation because he had finished drinking a Magic Potion.

"Forget it, it seems you don't know much either. I'd better go to the dock area and take a look," Ganseer left Evans's studio with some disappointment and headed toward the dock area under the gaze of many players.

Evans breathed a sigh of relief. He had always thought Ganseer was a genius; there was only him tricking others, never others tricking him.

He hadn't expected him to be so naive as to believe his words.

Of course, there was the effect of his ability here, making the other party mistakenly believe his words were true, and coupled with the blood relationship, it was enough to influence Ganseer's judgment.

Watching Ganseer leave, she put on her hood and turned to enter Evans's courtyard.

Although there were many new Believers present, she did not avoid anything, but instead cut in line into the courtyard and closed the door.

"Starting the plot?"

"Looking at it this way, we've already been discovered by the Royal Family. Could there be a siege by the Zheng Shen Church against us?"

"Should we go hide, or do something for the God of Calamity?"

"Don't disturb me eavesdropping on those two people's conversation!"

The players were chattering outside, but they were all using Chinese, which the NPCs basically couldn't understand.

Ignoring the noisy sounds outside, Susan said worriedly: "There have been a few too many people coming to investigate us lately."

"You don't need to worry. Those new Believers couldn't possibly betray the Lord, and of course, we won't either. Besides, this is Tana City; all the changes are good, aren't they?"

Evans wasn't worried at all; in fact, this kind of change made him feel very unreal as well.

Who could have imagined that Ganseer came to investigate not to look into the evil forces here, but because he was puzzled as to why Tana City could be more attractive, more attractive than those cities that claimed to be safer.

Who could have imagined that the Lord of Calamity was not only not calamitous enough, but had also given Tana City a new life?

And all of this was just because some Xiahui People helped out.

As for those new Believers, he knew how they came to be. In Saina's words, those Believers were made from the flesh on the Lord of Calamity's body. Although for a deity, creating life forms without consciousness like puppets was not difficult, and one could even create multiple clones.

But what was truly frightening were the thoughts of those new Believers.

Those guys didn't come to the world to spread calamity at all, so no matter how Ganseer investigated, he would never arrive at the correct answer in the end.

According to what was written in the doctrine, the Lord of Calamity was a righteous god who took all calamities upon himself. He did not bring calamity, but faced it himself, protecting his followers under his wings.

And those who did not believe in the Lord of Calamity would be destroyed by calamity because they did not believe in the Lord who blocked the calamity for them.

Although this was a bit far-fetched, as time passed, Evans inevitably believed these doctrines.

Susan was the same, so she was even more afraid of the Lord of Calamity being exposed and eradicated by some Zheng Shen Church.

"It's not just investigators from the Royal Capital; I've seen several witches come to Tana City recently. I can sense the aura on them. I mean, there are a bit too many people coming to investigate."

"So that means the Storm Church has also sent quite a few people over, and there are even Angsas from the north. They really are a group of rude guys, but they are also very easy to identify."

The development of Tana City exceeded everyone's imagination; the progress here was really a bit too fast.

Actually, in Chen Zhi's view, this progress was far too slow; even the players were complaining that the version updates were too slow.

Because the research and development of industrial products themselves required cycles, and the players didn't want to wait.

Even with things like Runes and Charms produced by the Wisdom Church to accelerate the industrialization process, the players still felt it wasn't fast enough.

Of course, there were also players who didn't care.

Looking at the few people marked in his mind, Chen Zhi also felt very helpless.

He would have liked to change his form and get himself out of the Sewers, but it was not that easy.

Up to now, Chen Zhi could only manage to retract a few arms, unless someone sent him some more big gift packages or something.

However, as far as Chen Zhi felt, even if the Red Moon Goddess went crazy, she would not send him any more express deliveries.

That feeling of being far away from danger was excellent; his intuition had never reminded him to worry about anything ever again.

Even if Ganseer came, he did not think there would be any problem; after all, no matter how he investigated, it was impossible for him to investigate his way.

Evans, on the other hand, did not attach much importance to finding Believers to proselytize to, and so far, he had not developed any suitable Believers.

By comparison, the progress of Heinke and Saina surprised him a little.

As for Andrew, proselytizing was originally this guy's primary job. Some time ago, Chen Zhi even met in person with the few Believers Andrew had developed within a dream, making those few Believers even more pious and terrified.

Thinking about it this way, Chen Zhi felt it was necessary to send dreams to Lijia and Mofate to tell them of his existence and strengthen their intent to believe.

……

Before night had even arrived, Lijia and Mofate had already entered a state of sleep.

Lijia was tired, while Mofate, due to the characteristics of the Blood Clan, preferred to sleep during the day and go out at night.

"Remember my doctrine, but do not pretend to be my tone when speaking these doctrines; speak these doctrines with your own understanding, so that the Believers may understand them more deeply."

"You are people favored by the Calamity, which does not mean that you yourselves also imply misfortune..."

"To wear the crown, one must bear its weight. The heavens bestow suffering upon you, tire your bodies, make you unable to eat or sleep in peace, and make everything you do go unsmoothly—not to harm you, but because there are more important things to entrust to you. You are the followers who have come to save this world and open the door to a new world."

In the dream, Chen Zhi kept playing the charlatan, transmitting his own doctrine to the two Believers.

An Oracle!

This was a true Oracle!

In the second half of the night, Mofate, who had been startled awake, gasped for air; he had actually been praying to a deity and had received a response!

One had to know that even the old ancestors of the family did not really respond to Believers much anymore.

It was said that within the Orthodox God Churches, there were also many deities who did not respond to their Believers.

Situations like Gannaer, where there was always someone responding to Believers, were in the minority.

Mofate, who originally did not believe in the Calamity with particular sincerity, was now much more pious; he believed that he was favored by a deity, which was why he had been able to escape a disaster.

For this reason, Mofate walked straight into the courtyard in the second half of the night and said to the players who were chatting: "I don't know which deity you believe in; I seem to have never heard of any deity that the Xiahui People believe in."

"We certainly have our own faith, but does the Blood Clan only believe in its own clan?" The players did not think that much; even if Heinke wanted to spread faith to Mofate, the players had no interest in participating.

After all, this was not their job, and the players did not truly believe in any Lord of Calamity.

It was just because this NPC had brought them to this world that they had the idea of wanting to suck up to this initial NPC to see if there were any benefits.

Mofate shook his head, "Those old antiques at home wouldn't respond to me. I mean, if you were responded to by a deity, what would you think?"

"That would be like thinking your ancestral grave is smoking with green smoke, right?" Apart from the Lord of Calamity, it seemed there were no other deities that had direct contact with players.

Yes, even with the Wealth Church, the players only contacted the Wealth Captains and members of the chamber of commerce; they had no qualifications to contact the God of Wealth at all.

Mofate did not understand the players' way of speaking, but said to himself: "I am now someone who has received an Oracle; a deity has responded to me!"

(End of this chapter)