Chapter 179: The Necropolis

"Catastrophe OL" official forum.

Beast Senior: "Brothers, what to do about carbon monoxide poisoning?! Waiting online, very urgent! (Terrified)"

Sharking Things: "???"

Gou Shi: "Damn, hurry up and go to the hospital! You come here to ask about this kind of thing????"

Drank a Pool of Chemicals: "Selling wreaths in the front row! Don't miss it when passing by!"

Beast Senior: "It's not me! It's an NPC... (Embarrassed)"

Hu Wan: "The finger dialing 120 stopped subconsciously. (Sweat)"

Minotaur Warrior: "Sigh, I knew it."

Pig-Head Knight: "Contact the Internet Addiction Treatment Center; this guy is hopeless."

Beast Senior: "Don't! I feel it can still be saved; it can't just die like this! qaq"

Little Wan Can't Eat Enough: "How about trying to contact the Demon King? At least it won't be wasted... my meaning is, he seems to be able to turn dead people into ghouls."

Sharking Things: "Damn, talent!"

Whale Falls South and North: "Emmm... actually, it's not an option; I feel the difference between ghouls and living people is really small."

Beast Senior: "!! I'll go try."

Deep in the Beifeng mine, the Demon King's magic workshop, Aikudi Luoye, lying on the stone bed, had her eyelashes move, and finally woke up from her deep sleep.

The pitch-black environment around made her shoulders tremble subconsciously, and she dragged her heavy body up from the cold stone bed.

At this time, a majestic voice came from the darkness not far away.

Obviously, from the moment they just stepped into the vicinity of this forest, the lord here had already noticed this group of uninvited guests.

Aikudi looked toward the direction the voice came from subconsciously, only to see a figure wearing a pitch-black cloak standing there.

That angular face, like a sculpture, was none other than the ruler of the labyrinth, the Demon King of the Necropolis.

A touch of reverence rose in Aikudi's pupils; she soon got up from the stone bed, nodded slightly, and knelt on one knee respectfully.

"Meet the Demon King..."

"Exempt from ceremony."

Before she could touch the ground with one knee, Luo Yan waved his hand lightly, indicating she didn't need to be overly polite.

At the same time, a gentle airflow blew toward her, lifting her from the ground while letting her sit back on the stone bed behind her.

Looking at that flattered face, Luo Yan continued.

"Answer my question first; what do you feel now?"

Aikudi calmed down, closed her eyes, and entered meditation, carefully feeling the changes in her body, before opening her eyes a moment later and saying.

"I feel much better."

When she said this, she paused for a moment and asked urgently.

"May I ask what happened to me?"

Luo Yan didn't hide it from her and answered truthfully.

"You were poisoned and fainted just now."

"Poisoned?"

An expression of surprise appeared on Aikudi's face; she looked at the Demon King in front of her in disbelief and continued. "But how could that be... we have the blessing of the Ancient Tree on us; ordinary toxins can't hurt us at all."

The blessing of the Ancient Tree was actually the blessing of Gray Wind, a protection integrated into the bloodline, which had the same effect as the protection of the Blood Clan.

Luo Yan had heard Gray Wind mention this matter before, so he could naturally understand why she would be so surprised when she heard she was poisoned.

After pondering for a moment, he explained this problem using language as easy to understand as possible.

"There are many kinds of poisoning; I guess the toxin resistance flowing in your bloodline is mainly aimed at organic toxins like snake venom and spider venom, as well as general nature-type curses. As for carbon monoxide poisoning, it shouldn't be in this category... that's more like suffocation; you can understand it this way."

As for the solution, it was also very simple.

Luo Yan fed her a bottle of Life Potion directly, accelerating the metabolism in her body to metabolize the red blood cells combined with carbon monoxide, and that was it.

The vitality of Night Elves was originally stronger than ordinary humans, and she had the strength of the Bronze Tier. When the Life Potion stimulated the life potential in her body, she soon relied on her own recovery ability to wake up from the coma.

If it were an ordinary human without extraordinary power, they would probably have lost half their life.

Aikudi didn't understand what the Demon King was saying at all, just as she couldn't understand at all why burning some charcoal could solve a problem that the Gray Wind Tribe hadn't been able to solve for hundreds of years, but this didn't prevent her reverence for the Demon King from adding another point of gratitude.

"Thank you for saving my life from the hands of the God of Death."

Luo Yan shook his head lightly and said in a solemn voice.

"You encountered an accident while contributing your strength to the Necropolis; curing you is our duty; I cannot bear this word of thanks."

"Additionally, this accident also gave me a wake-up call; we cannot only pursue efficiency while ignoring safety. You don't need to worry about the rest; I will handle it well and give you an explanation."

Aikudi hurriedly opened her mouth to say.

"Thank you for your concern; I appreciate your kindness, but please do not punish those undead... they are all your loyal subordinates, and everything they did was for the future of the Necropolis; I believe they didn't intentionally put me in danger."

How could there be no sacrifice on the road to exploring truth?

Compared to those explorations that cost lives and even souls, she only fainted for a while; this little injury didn't count for anything.

Moreover, the desire of those undead to explore the mysteries of life deeply moved her.

She didn't want those cute little skeletons to be punished because of her, or even have their enthusiasm for exploring truth extinguished because of this.

Luo Yan looked at this Night Elf mage in surprise, seeing that the expression on her face was serious, and then nodded lightly.

"Since this is the request of the person involved, I will pardon the mistakes they made due to rashness this time, but it won't be so easily revealed next time."

Pausing, he continued in a gentle tone.

"You should rest for these two days; I will arrange for someone to temporarily take over your work."

Aikudi looked at the Demon King gratefully and nodded respectfully.

"As you command, Demon King."

The cutscene ended.

The ghosts floating outside the door breathed a sigh of relief one after another.

Before, they were banned by the system for 72 hours and couldn't "log in," so they could only move as ghosts within the range covered by the Demon King's core.

Although scaring adventurers in the dungeon was also fun, it was really uncomfortable not to have a body that could be operated.

Especially when thinking that they couldn't farm for 72 hours, they felt itchy.

Legendary Liver King: "Scared me to death; I thought I was really going to squat in the small dark room for three days!"

Legendary Dry King: "Wuwuwu... the Elf young lady is too kind; I want to..."

Legendary Liver King: "No, you don't."

Beast Senior: "Sigh, the living body is still too weak; it's gone if you're not careful."

Legendary Liver King: "Indeed, undead are more durable."

Xie Bu Rou's Homie: "Damn! If only skeletons could use nature-type magic too."

Beast Senior: "They can use it; didn't say they couldn't, it's just that your level is too low to learn it, right?"

Legendary Liver King: "Sure enough, to forge iron, one must be strong oneself; relying on NPCs for everything is unreliable!"

Xie Bu Rou's Homie: "Brothers, I plan to go to the frontline for advanced studies for half a month! Wait for me to return strongly with the Bronze-tier Skeleton Mage badge!"

Legendary Liver King: "Go, go, hurry up and go."

Legendary Dry King: "Go for it, brother! We'll wait for you to return!"

Regardless.

It seems the small dark room time ended early.

The next day.

"Catastrophe OL" official website, an announcement was pinned to the top of the forum homepage.

【Server Announcement: The "Necropolis Production Safety Law" is promulgated; please read it carefully when life-profession players hire NPCs to carry out production activities! 【"Necropolis Production Safety Law" Article 1: Prohibit burning charcoal in a closed space where NPCs (non-undead units) exist! (Example: "Beast Senior", "Legendary Liver King", "Legendary Dry King" and other players caused a Night Elf to suffer mild carbon monoxide poisoning while experimenting with greenhouse planting...)

Violation Penalty: A fine of 50,000 to 1,000,000 Nether Coins will be imposed on production and operation facilities according to the accident level, and a daily income penalty of 7 to 180 days will be imposed on the production responsibility account; if the fine is insufficient, contribution points will be deducted.】

【Article 2: To be determined.】

Ye Zhiqiu: "To be determined is okay..."

Gou Shi: "6666."

Drank a Pool of Chemicals: "Is this thing a limited achievement? Can it still be unlocked? (Stunned)"

Legendary Liver King: "Damn! Why was my name hung up?! (Angry)"

Xie Bu Rou's Homie: "Why was my name omitted?! (Angry)"

Little Rabbit Juice: "Good guy, are you actually proud of it?! (Surprised)"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Judging by eye, this announcement will not only fail to reduce safety accidents, but will instead cause all sorts of flashy operations to become even more frequent. (Squinting)"

Gotham Good Citizen: "Gaga! Brothers! I've got this second article to be determined!! (Bad smile)"

=9+Shu_ba

Los Santos Law-Abiding Citizen: "NPC: Don't come over here! (Funny)"

Hu Wan: "I have already foreseen what kind of smoky picture the server will be in these two days. (Cover face)"

"..."

Hu Wan's premonition was not wrong.

Almost on the same day the "Necropolis Work Safety Law" was promulgated, all kinds of flashy operations appeared in Beifeng City.

Including but not limited to smoking in the flour mill, catching steel bars with bare hands in the hot rolling mill, working at heights without safety ropes, and washing feet in the cement ground.

This point was still where the civil engineering dogs were more awesome, contributing twenty typical cases of illegal production in just one day, so much so that the bone ash content in the cement houses under construction was quite high.

After all, many players who were keen on building houses in the game had really worked on construction sites in reality; they knew too well those operations that could make the "little white hats" have high blood pressure.

However, "Production Safety Law" was ultimately law; sending the ID to the "Glory List" was not without a price, so many players didn't dare to go too far, and many were mainly posing, restoring to the original state after taking pictures with the recording crystal.

Although these flashy operations caused a certain degree of economic loss, the players' act of testing the law with their own bodies also inadvertently taught the residents of Beifeng City a lesson.

Seeing the various fancy ways of dying of the Demon King's claws, the residents who newly joined Beifeng City were shocked, and couldn't help but keep those fancy ways of dying firmly in their hearts.

In a sense, this could also be considered a kind of alternative safety education of "personal trial."

Since then, many construction workers in the Necropolis not only had an extra sense of awe but even formed a habit of praying to the tools before using them.

But that was a story for later...

In the south of Beifeng Forest, a fully armed caravan was slowly advancing.

The whole team was nearly two hundred people, protecting more than thirty wagons pulled by pack horses in the middle, moving forward in the forest along a muddy road stepped out by footprints.

The man riding on the horse looked at the map in his hand and frowned slightly at the mountains in the north.

His name was Soke Duo, the boss of the Soke Duo Chamber of Commerce, and also a famous merchant in the south of the Ryan Kingdom, mainly doing timber and fur business, occasionally dabbling in some ore import and export trade.

This time, the crisis broke out in the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng, and the refugee wave affected multiple direct provinces and Duchies around the Kingdom, especially the coastal Campbell Principality.

Sensing business opportunities, he predicted that famine would break out in Lei Ming County, or at the very least, food prices would soar, so he immediately purchased a batch of grain in the south of the Ryan Kingdom, crossed Twilight Castle, Torrent Castle, and Cold Crow City, and arrived at the Campbell Principality all the way.

However, man proposes, God disposes; the arrival of refugees indeed pushed up the rise in food prices, but it didn't bring serious famine to the local area.

When he arrived at the local market, he almost couldn't believe his eyes, and even once thought that the locals were joining hands to pretend to be fat to fool them, these out-of-town merchants, until he camped near Lei Ming City for a few days and found that this place really didn't lack food.

There were quite a few merchants who encountered the same situation as him.

After some exchange and field investigation and visits with peers, he discovered that he had ignored an important factor, which was that almost all the land in the Campbell Principality was in the hands of the lords!

This had a significant difference from most regions of the Ryan Kingdom.

In most regions of the Ryan Kingdom, including direct provinces like the Twilight Saint Saint Xingsheng, a considerable proportion of the agricultural population were self-cultivating farmers, and in many places, the ratio of self-cultivating farmers to tenant farmers was even half and half.

Those self-cultivating farmers who worked in family units had a very high attribute of self-sufficiency; the grain produced mostly met their own needs, and the production level was uneven, so nearby towns were naturally easily affected by fluctuations in food prices.

And in the Campbell Principality, the land in the countryside was basically in the hands of large and small rural nobles, and almost all the agricultural population were tenant farmers. With the passage of time and the accumulation of wealth, the production tools in the hands of these rural nobles had almost developed to the level of full ironization.

Many places even used steel tools and improved steam engines, which was unimaginable in most regions of the Ryan Kingdom!

Against this background, the agricultural land of the Campbell Principality would produce a large amount of grain surplus, constantly driving down the food prices of the Campbell Principality.

As long as the food price in Lei Ming City rose slightly, the nearby rural nobles would impatiently open the granary to take the opportunity to make a profit, so not only would famine not break out here, but they even had the spare capacity to export grain when facing the refugee wave.

As for the price, it was that the vast majority of tenant farmers tied to the land might not be able to see what a silver coin looked like in their whole life.

But what did that matter?

Anyway, their pursuit was just to be full; the only ones who were uncomfortable were those out-of-town merchants who tried to make money from them.

As for the industrial and commercial operators in Lei Ming City, they didn't expect to sell the goods produced to those livestock who would farm at all; they only needed to be responsible for providing cheap food, so that the laborers in the workshops and factories of Lei Ming City could endure the monthly salary of less than 30 Au-Silver, producing goods with higher added value.

These high-quality and inexpensive goods would be transported to the ports of the Aus Empire and its colonies to earn Au-Silver.

Under such an economic system, Soke Duo desperately discovered that it was almost inevitable that the grain he brought couldn't be sold; he simply couldn't find his place in this entire supply chain.

Perhaps he could make some money by transporting a batch of wool over, which was almost one of the few goods in Lei Ming County with a decent profit margin.

As for things like cotton and flax, the colonies of the Empire produced them well and in large quantities.

Watching the grain worth millions of silver coins about to be smashed in his hands, Soke Duo naturally wasn't reconciled to going bankrupt like this, so he followed the direction of the refugee migration with the caravan, intending to go north to try his luck.

According to past experience, not all refugees who were driven to a dead end would choose to camp near the city to wait for the relief of the lords and the church; there would also be some wealthy households with strength who would choose to take risks to open up new settlements.

If he could exchange the grain in his hands for timber and drag it to the south of the Ryan Kingdom, he could also recover some of his capital.

However, what Soke Duo didn't expect was that the footprints of that group of refugees didn't lead him to any village or city already marked on the map, but instead led him to the border of Baron Gess's territory, deep in Yinsong Forest.

If he continued to walk north, he would have to walk into the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain range.

That was not a good place.

Any place in the Aus Continent that had mountains only had ghosts or goblins, and if he was unlucky, he would encounter Ogres.

At this time, a guard riding a horse rode to his side and reined in the horse, stopping the horse's hooves.

"... Ahead is Beifeng Mountain; that was once the mine of the Andi family, but it is said that when they were digging for coal, they accidentally dug into the labyrinth, so later it became a paradise for adventurers."

Soke Duo grinned at his cracked corners of the mouth, and white mist drifted out of his frozen nostrils.

"Entrance to the labyrinth, it seems these refugees picked a good place."

The guard riding on the horse shrugged his shoulders, dispelling the optimistic idea of the boss in front of him.

"I said these were things from 10 years ago; in my impression, when the Demon King Lei Ji Dragon hadn't died, that place was already abandoned, and now it is ruled by the undead... out of safety considerations, I suggest you'd better avoid that place."

"Undead can't light a fire." Looking at the black smoke rising in the distance, Soke Duo stubbornly said, "I heard the version is that a magician with high magic power came to the north of Yinsong Forest, and that guy used forbidden magic to help the homeless wanderers, summoning the dead from nearby mass graves as servants... perhaps the magician in the rumor is there."

Although doing business with a Necromancer had risks, it didn't sound like that guy was a bad person.

They might be able to reach some trade, and at the very least, he could take out a portion of grain as a bargaining chip to exchange for the friendship of this magician.

Regardless, it was better than losing everything.

He came here, which was already trying his luck, so naturally, he had no reason to turn around and leave at this time.

The guard leader looked at the boss in surprise.

"Are you serious?"

Withdrawing his gaze from the distant cooking smoke, Soke Duo struggled for a long time and ultimately gritted his teeth and said.

"I want to go take a look, at least let me give up."

Seeing that the boss had said so, the guard leader ultimately didn't persuade him anymore and sighed.

"Fine... but I suggest we take fewer people, so that even if the other party suddenly attacks, we won't be in a hurry when we retreat."

Soke Duo nodded and agreed to his proposal, but stubbornly said.

"I also think so... but this is not a preparation for retreat, but to show our sincerity."

The guard leader didn't want to argue anymore and replied casually.

"You have the final say."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 180 =====