Chapter 445: A Mushroom Cloud from One Shot?

"It's the smell of stew..."

"So fragrant, this smell..."

"The brothers are gnawing on dry rations at Shijiunya, while this bunch of dog things are living the good life first!"

"Heh... it won't last long; this bunch of scum who betrayed Kalian's cause won't have a good end!"

In the forest downstream of the Running River, an army shaped like bandits was marching, and whispers spread through the loose ranks.

They wore uniform green headscarves, bloodthirsty jealousy burning in their eyes, looking at the cooking smoke in the distance as if they were looking at their father's killers.

A week ago, they learned that "Iron Bull" Bulennan had betrayed the uprising.

That two-faced traitor not only let go of the Count of Quemubao but also shamefully colluded with the lackeys of Saint Xisi, and even changed their banner!

How blasphemous!

The great True God "Urgos" would never let these people who were not absolutely loyal go!

They would surely go to a purgatory more desperate than famine!

These people who were destined to go to the Hive City firmly believed in the ending of these traitors.

Just as anger spread throughout the camp, their boss "Executioner" Aka stood up and read the order of "Quartermaster" Silas to them.

"Our boss is too benevolent and can't bear to do things to the end, but if we let the traitors go, how can we intimidate our enemies? Brothers, listen to the order: follow me immediately to the Quemubao territory to purge the traitor Bulennan and his party! Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy!"

Although Aka looked honest and sleepy on weekdays, when it came time to kill, those fierce eyes were not confused at all.

Amidst a burst of cheers and applause, the five thousand-man teams stationed outside Shijiunya Castle left the camp under the cover of night and killed their way toward the Quemubao territory in a mighty force.

Since Aka himself was the supreme commander of the Shijiunya territory, and the main force of the Green Forest Army had already set off for the decisive battle in Dusk City, his departure did not attract the attention of any other leaders.

Along the way, they advanced along the Running River, took a shortcut straight to Quemubao, and even brought explosives for attacking the city.

And just as they marched to the Wheatfield Village area, they saw large swaths of cooking smoke rising from the plain outside the forest.

Along with it came the fragrance of food!

Aka, walking in the ranks, sniffed and licked his dry lips, a beast-like grin gradually appearing on his face.

"... It seems our 'Iron Bull' has been living well lately; I just don't know if his skills in using weapons have improved."

It had been a long time since he sparred with that guy.

Aka still remembered that when he last saw that guy, he seemed to be at the peak of Gold-tier, and later it was said he had risen to Platinum.

He hoped that he had made some progress since then, otherwise this fight would probably become quite boring.

After all, after slaughtering Shijiunya Castle, the famous "Executioner" was already Diamond-tier!

All thanks to the blessing of the Claw of Eternal Hunger...

He seemed to

This time, he wouldn't let this bunch of cowards find a chance to commit suicide; he was going to enjoy himself properly.

"Can you all smell it, brothers?" Aka bared his teeth and whispered to his subordinates behind him, "The traitors' final meal sure smells fragrant."

A burst of low, raucous laughter rippled through the group, but their fierce eyes flickered with a naked, green glint.

They had long since smelled that rich, meaty aroma.

That scent didn't just stimulate the hatred in their hearts; it awakened the craving within them!

"This is the last supper they bought with their betrayal."

Aka pointed the guillotine in his hand forward, and amidst the clanking of iron chains, he spoke in a cruel voice.

"Let's sneak over, stand behind them, and give them an unexpected surprise..."

"... What's that smell?"

By the banks of the Changhe, inside the newly built lumber processing plant, sawdust flew through the air as rows of freshly processed pine and oak were neatly stacked in the open space along the riverbank.

The dwarf, who had been looking up to inspect the timber, suddenly twitched his nose. His sharp eyes, like kerosene lamps in a mine, drifted unconsciously toward the north of Tian Yuan Village.

It was a strange, meaty aroma, mixed with the dwarf's favorite pickled vegetables, creating an unexpectedly peculiar charm.

It is worth mentioning that neither dwarves nor hell-dwarves eat pork. For one, they have no dietary habit for it, and for another, there is nowhere to raise pigs. For instance, the Calamity Fortress at Chengshan mainly raises goats and other magical beasts suitable for keeping in mines.

However, that day in Beifeng, Grace Tiechui had uncharacteristically finished two large baskets of bread and saved half his stomach for that fragrant, sour vegetable meat soup and the soft, flavorful chunks of meat.

From that day on, he fell in love with Beifeng and used it as a base to expand his business, selling products made in the Necropolis to the underground world of the Old Continent.

In short, it was a truly great place. Whether it was the food, the supplies, or those diligent and tireless undead.

To be able to build such a city where humans, undead, hell-dwarves, and various other races lived together, and to manage all parties in such an orderly fashion... the Demon King there was simply a genius!

Getting off track.

"... Mr. Grace Tiechui, may I ask what you just said?" Looking at the dwarf who had suddenly frozen in front of him, Thomas, standing to the side, asked in a kind voice.

As the only merchant in the entire Quemubao territory who understood how to do business, Thomas was quickly highly valued by the upper echelons of the Salvation Army.

Now, the first task given to him by the Saintess was to develop sales channels for the Tian Yuan Village lumber mill.

And soon, he waited for the first merchant from the prophecy. And just as the prophecy said, this friend who had come from afar was a dwarf.

"... Nothing."

Grace twitched his nose.

Of course, he couldn't admit he had been daydreaming, so he put on a serious expression again and said, "I mean, this timber of yours has a funky smell... I was wondering if a rat had peed on it."

"...?" Thomas was stunned for a moment.

Before he could react, Grace extended his thick knuckles and tapped on the oak timber in front of him. Listening to the dull sound, he continued in a deep, resonant voice.

"There are some knots here... and the grain is too coarse; it won't work for our dwarf axe handles. It feels damp to the touch, and I don't think it's good enough for wooden railway ties either. Are you sure this is your best material?"

After picking a series of faults, Grace stood up and reached out to scratch his hair... or rather, his wig.

The low-quality glue made his scalp itch, and he was always worried the wig wouldn't stick and would fall off.

According to the Demon King, if they wanted to keep the business going for a long time, they had to follow the local customs and wear wigs while doing business with them.

At first, he felt awkward, but for the sake of the Netherworld coins, he was completely relieved.

As soon as Thomas heard what this guy said, he knew it must be his first time doing this kind of business.

He had never heard of dwarves using high-quality timber to make axes; weren't those always made from the scraps left over from making mine beams?

Anyway, the expensive part wasn't the handle; the good steel was all in the axe head.

Seeing this guy pretending to be an expert, Thomas couldn't help but laugh and explained.

"Knots... those are traces of the timber's growth, just like scars on a man's body; they don't affect their quality! As for the grain... that doesn't affect its use either. You can rest assured; whether you use them for ships or as load-bearing beams in mines, they are top-tier material!"

Grace, having his thoughts seen through, didn't blush; he just snorted through his nose.

"Is that so? Although I haven't decided what to use it for yet, since you say so, I'll take your word for it. You humans know the consequences of deceiving a dwarf; we will carve you into the Book of Grudges!"

"Yes, yes! How could I dare to offend you? I couldn't possibly deceive you, even if I deceived anyone else." Thomas smiled and went along with him, "I can swear in the name of Shengxisi!"

He had never heard of anyone ending up in the Book of Grudges over such a trivial matter; this dwarf merchant from the countryside probably hadn't even seen what a Book of Grudges looked like.

Although he didn't intend to scam this dwarf friend—after all, the Twilight Forest was never short of high-quality timber; real, solid materials were everywhere, and it would actually take effort to find fakes.

In fact, Thomas had guessed half of it right—this dwarf brother had indeed never seen a Book of Grudges.

After all, this fellow wasn't a proper dwarf at all, but a hell-dwarf wearing a wig!

The Changhe, which passed through Quemubao and flowed south, was the only tributary that entered the depths of the Wan Ren Mountains and passed by the dwarves' doorstep, and it also connected to the notorious Cuiyan Peak in the dwarf world.

The lords living there were all famous names in the High Mountain Kingdom's Book of Grudges; they had no ability to put others on it.

"Is that so?" Grace snorted through his nose, smacking his lips as if weighing it in his heart.

That was clearly an expression of being tempted.

Thomas, who had been doing business for many years, saw through this guy's mind at a glance.

After all, if he really weren't interested, he wouldn't have bothered to put on such a show; he would have just turned and left.

Interested, huh... then that's easy to handle!

In the entire Twilight Province today, only Quemubao could do this business.

Other places were either empty of people, at war, or simply lacked the proper channels to transport goods.

As Thomas expected, after Grace picked and chose for a while, he finally said the words he had been looking forward to for a long time.

"Our demand is very large, and we need long-term procurement. Quality, stability, and output are all things we value... I'll say the ugly things first: if you want to keep this business going for a long time, you must agree to these conditions."

A pleasant smile appeared on Thomas's face.

"Respected Mr. Grace, please set your heart at ease! The requirements you mentioned are the most basic bottom line for us!"

He paused and continued without stopping.

"Then, for the sake of our long-term interests, let's talk about the price and the method of cooperation... If you intend to purchase long-term, my proposal is that we can sign a contract and then agree on the time and place for delivery and payment—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the dwarf brother standing in front of him suddenly coughed, interrupting him.

"There is one more thing I forgot to tell you: I have no money."

The smile on Thomas's face froze.

No money—

Are you kidding me?!

"Then, then what do you mean?"

Grace gestured with his fingers and said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I mean exactly what I said. We don't use the Empire's currency there, so I propose bartering." Thomas was stunned upon hearing this.

It was true that dwarves had their own currency, but he had never heard of dwarves not doing business with the Empire?

How could they not have Imperial currency!

However, this flexible-minded merchant didn't dwell on it for long, because he soon came up with a reasonable explanation—

That was that the tribe where the dwarf in front of him lived was located deep in the Wan Ren Mountains.

If that were the case, it was indeed possible they hadn't done business with the Empire; after all, ordinary Imperial merchants wouldn't go there, and most goods from the dwarf world could be bought at Huang Tong Pass.

"Then... what about gold? You must have gold, right?"

"Uh... that's also a bit difficult; our gold is all kept with our neighbors."

"Neighbors?!"

"That means the tribe next door!"

Looking at the human who seemed very disappointed, Grace also felt a bit embarrassed, touched his red, bulbous nose, and said.

"My idea is to barter... anyway, you guys have no use for money, right? Compared to Imperial gold coins, I have something better that you will definitely be interested in!"

As he spoke, Grace beckoned to his attendant, and from the hands of the fellow whose beard was braided into many plaits, he took a rifle the size of a club.

At first, Thomas didn't even see that this thing was a gun; he thought it was a hammer.

He saw that the pitch-black muzzle was as big as an adult's fist, and the dark blue barrel was as thick as a thumb. Rather than calling this thing a musket, it was more like a short cannon held in the hand?!

Thomas swallowed his saliva.

"What... is this?"

Speaking of the thing in his hand, Grace immediately became excited, spitting as he spoke.

"Hand cannon! You can understand it as a piece of artillery held in the hand! Our soldiers can use this thing to throw fist-sized grenades two or three hundred meters away! The only side effect is that the shoulder is prone to dislocation, but that's not a big problem; we'll install a rune on the leather holster, and it will be solved. We'll sell it to you together then!"

As he spoke, he insisted on demonstrating it to Thomas, so he took a bronze-colored "cannonball" from his companion's hand and was about to load it into the chamber.

Thomas was startled by the madman's actions and hurriedly reached out to stop him.

This was the Salvation Army's lumber mill!

If one shot set this place on fire, he might not be able to afford the compensation even if he sold his entire caravan!

"No, wait a minute, Mr. Grace! Please calm down! We don't doubt the power of the thing in your hand at all, it's just that we... don't have a use for this thing for the time being."

Grace's eyes widened until they almost popped out.

"No use? How can you have no use for it? Aren't you guys at war?"

He couldn't understand what these humans were saying; in a land ravaged by war, could there be any hard currency harder than arms?

Thomas gave a wry smile and said.

"That's true, but the war is mainly between the Kingdom's regular army and the rebels, and it... has nothing to do with us for the time being. Compared to weapons, we need production tools like steam engines more... oh, and fertilizer."

The word "fertilizer" was also something he had only recently heard of.

It was said to be a magical potion formulated by alchemists that acted on crops, which could be used as a supplement to compost and greatly increase crop yields!

Although he remained skeptical about the true effect of this thing and didn't know where to buy it, one thing was certain: at the moment, they needed tools for development more than weapons.

Grace's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he was overjoyed.

"Steam engines and fertilizer? You should have said you needed those things earlier; we have them all!"

"You, you have them?!" Thomas widened his eyes in surprise, staring at the dwarf brother in front of him in disbelief, "Are you sure? Do you know what fertilizer is?"

Even he himself had only recently heard the word, but he hadn't expected the dwarf in front of him to have heard of it long ago?

Grace laughed heartily and said.

"I've seen that stuff in Beifeng... cough, in the human town north of Cuiyan Peak! Don't worry, you can find any kind of cargo there. As long as you transport the timber to our agreed location, we can definitely transport the things you need! The price is absolutely fair!"

If that were the case, it wouldn't be unacceptable.

It was indeed as this dwarf brother said; with their current situation, they probably couldn't spend money even if they had it, so bartering might not be a bad solution.

As long as the other party had enough goods, these things were acceptable.

Looking at Thomas, who seemed tempted, Grace chuckled and struck while the iron was hot.

"You can give us a list! We will calculate the value of the goods using Imperial currency, but we won't use currency at the time of delivery; we'll settle with goods instead!"

Thomas pondered for a long time, not giving a decision immediately, but spoke up.

"I think your proposal is good, but I can't make the decision personally; I need to ask the Saintess for instructions."

"No problem!" Grace knew that was just a formality, so he laughed readily and said, "But you'd better be quick; I won't stay here forever. Time is gold!"

The two finally reached an agreement.

Grace enthusiastically grabbed Thomas's hand and shook it vigorously for a long time, then insisted on demonstrating the power of the dwarf grenade launcher to him.

Thomas couldn't handle his enthusiasm, so he reluctantly agreed to follow this dwarf brother and a few attendants to the small woods outside the lumber mill.

The test site was chosen on a small mound by the Changhe. The view here was wide, and one could see two or three hundred meters downstream, and there were no villagers active, making it the perfect place to test the power of this grenade launcher.

Thomas even thought to himself that if a fire broke out, he could find someone to put it out in time.

Carrying the large gun with a muzzle about the size of a fist, Grace put on the leather holster with runes, pressed the stock against his leather-protected right shoulder, and winked at Thomas.

"Brother Thomas, you watch closely. With this one shot, I can take down at least two trees that two men can hug! When you go to your Saintess, just demonstrate it to her like I did!"

"I understand... please start." Thomas nodded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Grace didn't waste words. Aiming downstream, he pulled the trigger. With a "bang," the muzzle flash was like a torch, and a black shadow flew toward the woods four hundred meters away like a speeding meteor!

The sound was like a thunderclap, startling Thomas, who was standing to the side. He thought the musket had exploded and instinctively bent down to hide, only to find the dwarves nearby laughing out loud.

Thomas's face flushed red. Pretending nothing had happened, he coughed and stood up straight again.

"Seems like I shot a bit too far." Grace, lowering the muzzle, chuckled, his voice tinged with a hint of showing off, waiting for the explosion to sound.

However, just as his voice fell, a scorching fire rose into the sky from the woods four hundred meters away, and the deafening roar was like ten thousand thunderbolts falling to the ground, with a mushroom-like cloud vaguely drifting upward!

"Boom——!!!"

The shockwave of the explosion didn't just blow down two trees; it swept the surrounding trees into a mess!

Hearing the commotion, not only were the workers in the logging camp startled, but even the dwarves, who had been mocking Thomas a second ago, were so frightened that they sat on the ground like overturned wine barrels.

"... Shengxisi above, since when did you dwarves' weapons become so terrifying?!" Thomas stared in astonishment, looking at the cloud drifting in the distance and the crooked treetops; his bewildered gaze was like witnessing a miracle.

Even a full broadside from an Imperial warship probably wouldn't have this kind of power, right?!

Measured by magic, that was at least Bai Yin-tier magic! It might even be Gold-tier!

"No... not mine..." Grace's face turned pale; his expression was like seeing a ghost.

Meeting Thomas's confused gaze, he swallowed his saliva and whispered in a difficult tone.

"We, we might have hit something..."

Before his voice fell, an uncontrollable roar suddenly came from the forest ahead, like a wounded lion letting out a cry.

Then the forest seemed to boil, and shouts of a charge came through.

"Damn it, we've been discovered—"

"It's an ambush!"

"Kill!!! Charge!"

"Those traitors! Chop them to pieces!"

Traitors?!

Ambush?!

Thomas's brain buzzed, and for a moment, he didn't react to what was happening.

But his legs moved instinctively, and he ran for his life toward the lumber mill, shouting loudly as he ran.

"It's mountain bandits! Go notify the garrison!"

The hell-dwarves knew they couldn't outrun this long-legged guy, so they simply did the opposite, diving into the Changhe and swimming for their lives downstream.

They all knew how to swim from frequent mining; after all, hitting an aquifer was the most common thing for them.

Meanwhile, at the Rock Hotel in Tian Yuan Village.

Gante, who was slightly tipsy, suddenly opened his eyes, and then his eyes narrowed slightly in a dangerous way.

The Chaos Apostle he had been searching for for over a month had actually delivered himself to his doorstep.

This is great!

It saved him a lot of trouble.

"Don't stop, buddy, let's have another cup! This one is on me, hiccup—" Old Hanke, who was drunk, pulled him, trying to pour him another cup, but was gently pushed away by his thick palm.

"I'm going out to take care of something; I'll come back to drink in a while."

After speaking, Gante pushed the table and stood up. With one step, he was standing in front of the door ten steps away. At the same time, a greatsword was already on his back, though no one knew when it got there.

Old Hanke looked around blankly, but couldn't see Gante's shadow. Muttering "Strange," he continued to drink.

At the same time, the bells in the west of Tian Yuan Village rang loudly, and the patrolling sentries ran toward the barracks in a panic.

The thousand-man squad stationed in Tian Yuan Village quickly assembled, and those Holy Spirits also threw down their pots and pans, grabbed all sorts of weapons, and rushed toward the direction where the smoke was rising.

Although most of the people active in this area were life-profession players, they basically all possessed Black Iron, Bronze, or even Steel-tier transcendent power!

There were even a small number of first-tier players who had already reached the Bai Yin tier!

"Grinding mobs, brothers!"

"Awoo!"

"Experience! My experience! It's all mine!"

Tian Yuan Village was in chaos.

No one noticed a figure passing by them, heading straight toward the direction of the Chaos Apostle...