Chapter 170

The night gradually deepened, and the evening wind blew colder and colder.

Seeing the broken snow starting to drift in the sky again, the people sitting around the fire and talking one after another accelerated the speed of eating, finished the remaining pumpkin soup in three or two strokes, returned the spoons and bowls, and hurried back to the house to shelter from the wind and snow.

As the fire in the open space went out, the curling smoke floating over Beifeng City gradually dissipated.

People who had worked all day, carrying a beautiful vision for tomorrow, fell into dreamland amidst the snoring.

And in contrast to those who fell into a deep sleep, the skeleton soldiers of the Grave had no intention of sleeping at all.

Not only that.

As "night owls," they were even more energetic at night than during the day, and didn't even have the intention of resting for a while.

At the same time as the sporadic bonfire went out, a raging flame rose in the blast furnace made of red bricks, replacing the former with a more scorching and dazzling light.

Driven by Nether script, the gas outside the furnace was continuously squeezed into the furnace and fully mixed with the high-temperature coal.

And as shovel after shovel of coal was thrown into the filler port, the rising flame became more and more fierce, melting the iron ore into molten iron.

Flying sparks rolled out of the furnace, rising upward with a hot smell of rust, like fireflies flying against the wind, even overwhelming the suddenly falling snow for a while.

Looking at the molten iron flowing like magma, the skeleton soldiers gathered in front of the furnace suddenly let out excited cheers, their soul fire swaying excitedly in their skulls.

"Damn, awesome!"

"Aoooo!!!"

This is the second steel-making blast furnace in Beifeng City!

With the experience of the first one, they incorporated more Nether script technology on the basis of the original blast furnace, and installed lifting equipment on the top of the furnace to lift the freshly baked molten iron and send it to the top of the mold for direct casting!

Although it was just a few small changes, it made the efficiency of these life class players in producing steel billets improve by more than a little bit!

And this is not all the skills of those life class players.

Centered on the steel-making blast furnace and the workshop for burning bricks and cement, more and more workshops emerged under the strange brain holes of the life class players.

And it was precisely through the continuous trial and error and efforts of these players that the area near the south leeward side of Beifeng City had already formed the prototype of a heavy industrial park.

Although this prototype is a bit sloppy and makes people unable to recognize it at a glance, who is born knowing how to walk?

You know, a month ago, there was nothing under their feet.

As for how to combine Nether script technology with production experience on Earth, both the NPCs of the Grave and the players are still exploring...

At the entrance of the Beifeng mine, Luo Yan, standing in the darkness, overlooked the sporadic lights at the foot of the mountain, with an approving smile on his face.

Although at the beginning, he didn't have high expectations for this settlement that was tentatively established, it seems to be developing well at present.

With the arrival of the displaced people in the Twilight Province, not only were the originally vacant houses filled with people, but the resources piled up in the warehouse finally had a use.

Not only that.

What makes Luo Yan most gratified is that these life class players seem to have found a suitable way to get along with those newly moved-in NPCs.

It is not just about completing the tasks he issued; even if they are separated from the guidance of the task system, both sides can form a beneficial positive cycle driven by interests.

As more and more people migrate to Beifeng City, the scale of this settlement can continue to expand and create more value!

Just when Luo Yan was enjoying the night view of Beifeng City, an elegant voice suddenly came from the darkness beside him.

"It seems that everything is developing according to your plan."

The one speaking was Queen Xixi of the Nightmare Land.

Wearing a white-based red-edged western dress, she overlapped her legs and floated beside Luo Yan, as if sitting on an invisible chair.

Although she was flying, she didn't fly very high, but controlled her height to be just one head lower than Lord Demon King.

Luo Yan glanced at Xixi slightly, and saw a complexity that was difficult to describe in words from that petite and exquisite face.

He could probably guess what she was thinking.

Emotionally speaking, she didn't like humans on the surface; after all, the previous queen of the Nightmare Land died at the hands of surface humans... and it is said that it was in a quite cruel way.

However, she was a rational leader after all, and would not be dominated by emotions, so even if she felt bothered, she maturely expressed understanding—the Grave needed to win over these marginalized people abandoned by mainstream human society.

This is a strategic need.

It is also a realistic consideration.

Luo Yan pondered for a while, suddenly smiled, and continued her words in a chatty tone.

"You might not believe it, but I didn't actually plan for what you see at first, or rather, I didn't think they would do so well."

"Oh?" Xixi glanced at him slightly unexpectedly, her crimson lips slightly opened in surprise, "Is there anything you can't foresee?"

That voice was not entirely teasing, but more of respect.

After all, in the various events that happened before, Lord Demon King always left her with the impression of being omniscient, even facing the chaos that made people talk about it, he could deal with it calmly, calmly dismantling moves, and almost never showed any flaws.

This is also what she admires most about him.

From others, she had never felt this sense of security.

Looking at Xixi, who showed a surprised expression, Luo Yan laughed, looked at the sporadic lights in the distance with a bit of pride, and said slowly.

"There are too many things I can't foresee. For example... I didn't think before that those displaced people wouldn't be completely unable to accept undead creatures; I once thought they would use suicide attacks to exchange for an admission ticket to heaven. For another example, I found that surface humans and demons are not unable to get along harmoniously, as long as they find that they and the demons are both under the constraints of order. There are many other things, and I actually only understood them after I came into contact with them."

Xixi was stunned for two seconds, then let out a silver bell-like pleasant laughter, and said in a teasing tone.

"Incredible, I didn't expect that the omnipotent Lord Demon King would have things he couldn't foresee, hee hee hee."

Luo Yan joked.

"Is it very surprising?"

With an elegant and calm smile on her crimson lips, Xixi continued in a proper voice.

"It's not very surprising, I just didn't expect you to let me see another side of you that is usually hard to see. No offense, I just think... it's a bit of a contrast."

"Do you like it?"

At first, she didn't hear this sentence clearly. Xixi, who came back to her senses, had her brain shut down for two seconds, and then her fair face was instantly covered with red clouds.

"Li, like?! What are you talking about, me? Ho, how is that possible! Ple, please be more dignified..." The elegant and proper social rhetoric completely turned into gibberish.

Flustered and explaining, she stepped into the air without paying attention, as if the chair behind her had been pulled away, and almost fell from mid-air.

Flapping her wings to stabilize her figure, she bit her crimson lips angrily, and glared shyly and angrily at the culprit who caused all this.

However, the latter just laughed, imitated her teasing tone and said.

"I'm asking if you like this kind of surprise? Not about the evaluation of me personally."

Realizing that she had misunderstood, Xixi's face was almost bleeding red.

She wanted to bite this guy who caused the misunderstanding, but finally resisted the urge to do so, and turned her face to the side in a huff.

"... It's, it's okay, please change to an expression that is not so easy to misunderstand next time, or let me have some psychological preparation."

Looking at Xixi, who revealed her true emotions, Luo Yan couldn't help but curl his lips.

No doubt, he did it on purpose.

Without taking off the mask she wore on her face, he would never see the truest thoughts of this little demon queen who wrapped herself tightly in aristocratic etiquette.

=9+Book_Bar

And similarly, as long as she is handled, basically all the little demons in the Nightmare Land are handled.

After all, they who were born in the same nest are of one mind.

"If I made you feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry. But please believe that I didn't mean to tease you, I just wanted to understand your true thoughts."

Looking at Xixi, who seemed to have accepted his apology, Luo Yan paused for a moment, pondered his words and continued.

"And, I hope to share the joy of this unexpected harvest with you."

Xixi, who had calmed down, was slightly stunned.

"... Share with me?"

"That's right," Luo Yan nodded with a smile, cast his gaze back in the direction of Beifeng City, and continued in a gentle tone.

"Haven't you noticed? The little demons of Beifeng City and the surface humans actually get along quite well. And this is also something that was beyond my expectation."

"This... I really didn't observe so carefully." Xixi opened her eyes slightly, subconsciously looked in the direction Luo Yan was looking, and said in an uncertain tone.

The people gathered at the door of the abandoned inn had dispersed, and only the undead were still busy in the entire Beifeng City. She could almost no longer see the traces of surface humans.

However, if she recalled carefully, she seemed to have some impression—

It was probably around the time before night fell, a group of surface human cubs seemed to be chasing each other with a few little demons in that open space, playing hide-and-seek in the snow.

Honestly, it was her first time seeing this situation too.

Looking at Xixi, who was lost in thought, Luo Yan continued.

"It doesn't matter if you didn't notice, there is still a long time ahead, you have enough time to observe, you might as well pay attention to it then."

"I will pay attention, just... I don't understand what the significance of doing this is," Xixi looked at Luo Yan and asked in confusion. "We are demons, no matter how we get along, we ultimately have to feed on the negative emotions of surface humans..."

"That's just a rhetoric, not a fact."

Luo Yan shook his head and continued.

"Even in the Demon Capital, no demon can live solely by eating negative emotions. Mortals ultimately eat mortal food, and the negative emotions you mentioned—that is, what we call the power of faith—are actually the food of gods."

"Is there any difference?" Xixi looked at him in confusion and said, "Serving His Majesty the Demon God is our inherent duty, don't you think so?"

Luo Yan pondered for a moment and said.

"This question can be answered in two parts. As for whether serving His Majesty the Demon God is your inherent duty, this is something you need to judge for yourself. As for the second part of the question, about the method of serving His Majesty the Demon God, there has actually always been another solution."

More than a thousand years ago, the Underworld King Hagen fell, and the believers of the Underworld God were forced to sneak underground, from which the surface and the underground were divided into two distinct worlds.

In the early days, the Saint Xisi Church, in order to consolidate its own rule, depicted the underground where the believers of the Underworld God lived as hell, and crowned the creatures living there with the name of demons, using the power of fear to reap people's prayers.

And the Underworld, based on the idea of joining if you can't beat them, took the initiative to claim the identity of the villain, and in turn used the fear in people's hearts to divert the power of faith from the Saint Xisi Church.

Luo Yan has also lived in the Underworld for eighteen years. If he were to evaluate it objectively, it is indeed a harsh jungle society, but it is far from being evil by nature.

Releasing malice and spreading fear are merely means of obtaining the power of faith.

Besides releasing malice and spreading fear, they of course have other means, such as acolytes spreading the faith of the Demon God through direct preaching.

Just like what the acolytes he sent to Beifeng City are doing, this is also a way to serve His Majesty the Demon God.

Although he also admitted that he mixed in a lot of his own things, almost changing the original doctrine into a "new religion," almost packaging himself as the spokesperson of the Demon God, the incarnation in the mortal world.

Xixi looked at him half-understandingly, seeming to be carefully pondering his words again.

She is the queen among the little demons after all.

Although her brain circuit is not long, she is not as brainless as You You and Mixi, and can still sort out the logic.

"I probably understand what you mean. You hope we try to change our original way of life and look for the possibility of getting along with surface humans... is that so?"

Luo Yan shook his head.

"You don't need to change your way of life, just continue to be yourself. I just provided you with another possibility on the original basis. For demons and undead who hope to try another way of life, they can choose here outside the labyrinth."

Xixi asked in confusion.

"Is there any difference between this and Mist Town? Humans and monsters live together there... it doesn't seem to be any different from here."

Luo Yan said with a smile.

"Of course there is a difference. That is on our turf after all, it's not us adapting to the people outside, but the people outside adapting to our way of life... and most of these people are adventurers and mercenaries. As for Beifeng City, this is outside the labyrinth, and strictly speaking, it is not our home court. Most of the people living here are free people or tenant farmers of the Kingdom of Ryan, on the contrary, we are in the position of 'adventurers' here."

Speaking of this, Luo Yan paused for a moment and confessed another thought in his heart to her.

"We have already proven that there can be a place for surface humans in the Underworld."

"I want to take this opportunity to try to explore whether we can find a place for 'us' on the surface."