Chapter 56: The residents of the labyrinth were dizzy with hunger

The *Catastrophe OL* official website.

Today, the officials were uncharacteristically quiet, but the forums were as lively as ever.

Ye Zhiqiu: "Brothers!!! The completion level of this game is even higher than we imagined! Hu Wan and I did some reconnaissance nearby and discovered that outside the labyrinth, there aren't just human cities, but realistic mountains, rivers, and even an ocean!"

Gou Shi: "Holy crap?!"

Zhu Tou Ren Qi: "For real?!"

The old man at the city gate: "Did you guys see any monsters in the sea?!"

Ye Zhiqiu: "Didn't see any of that. We just took a stroll by the coast and continued heading southwest. There's a vast, boundless marshland there, sandwiched between the coastline and the mountains, stretching all the way south. On the way, we ran into a few different breeds of lizardmen; they know how to use tools and fire."

Ye Zhiqiu: "I can only try to speculate, but that area should be outside the sphere of human influence, belonging to the lizardmen's territory..."

Ye Zhiqiu: "Oh right, I'll start a new thread in a bit and update the map there. This game doesn't have a screenshot function, so excuse my trashy hand-drawn map."

Tu Long Yong Shi: "Brother, I know you're an insider, just give me a closed beta account. T. T"

Yi Sheng Jie Ao: "I'll watch you keep making this up, let's see how long you can keep it going. (Laughs) (Sweating emoji)"

Wang Shi Ru Yan: "Any recommendations for second-hand equipment? Budget is five hundred, urgent..."

Gou Shi: "Don't know, so I'll ask: is this a reparation payment? Feels like the budget is higher than before. (Funny)"

Hu Wan: "Not really, buddy, with this budget, you could actually buy something new. (Sweat)"

"..."

The setting sun slanted westward.

Luo Yan, having reviewed his lessons for half the day, leaned back in his chair and stretched, taking a moment of leisure to peek at the silly posts on the forum.

Truth be told, these guys are quite the talents.

There were those asking to buy Netherworld currency to send to their late grandmothers, those begging for a carry but who hadn't even entered the game yet, and others posting selfies and looking for CP partners...

"The number of 'cloud players' is starting to grow; if I don't manage this, it's really not going to work."

Luo Yan pondered for a while and gave instructions to You You.

"You You, if it's possible, open a separate player section, set so that only players can post."

"Also, on the player account profile page and the floating display page, mark their soul level in the game. If they haven't entered the game yet, just write 'Apprentice'."

You You: "Mm-hmm, leave it to me, Great Demon King!"

This task naturally had to be left to her.

Luo Yan himself didn't have the operational permissions; he couldn't even post a single word on the forum.

Though, there wasn't really anything to say anyway.

In any case, the clever little players had already said everything he wanted to say for him.

Seeing that it was time for a meal, Luo Yan got up and strolled to the kitchen, humming a little tune as he boiled a bowl of salted meat porridge for himself, and casually roasted half a lizard tail on the side.

According to Professor Enuosi's experience, if you don't know which parts of a monster are edible, the tail is a relatively good choice. As long as it's cooked through, there's basically no problem.

He didn't know the principle behind it, but the adventurers of this world did the same thing.

As for the stove used for cooking, it was naturally a magic array.

Compared to a fire started with firewood, the fire generated by the magic array lacked a bit of 'soul,' but it also lacked the smoke and incomplete combustion of carbon monoxide.

This was actually a quite remarkable ability.

Perhaps due to a lack of enlightenment and liberation of thought, the people of this world didn't realize they were actually in possession of such remarkable black technology.

Including but not limited to "refrigerators without refrigerants" and "air exchangers not connected to the outside world."

Luo Yan had intentionally made a bit too much dinner, so he ordered the players to send some of the leftover porridge to the captives, while he himself went to the NPC shop counter and teased the cute cat-girl with the roasted lizard tail.

Sara belonged to the type who found everything delicious; as long as she saw food, her eyes would light up, and as long as she could eat her fill, her ears would happily twitch.

Watching the cat-girl enjoy the delicious food, Luo Yan felt the fatigue of the day being healed.

Is this what it feels like to be a zookeeper?

It would be perfect if there were a dog to come along later.

On the other side, the captives squatting in the stone prison were looking toward Sara's direction with eyes full of envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Stockholm syndrome is cultivated just like this; the birth of jealousy is an early symptom.

After several days of 'training' or rather, terror, Luo Yan had only been a tiny bit nicer to them, and they had gradually started to view themselves as members of the Great Graveyard.

Lei Kesen remained silent, Hui Gou was both envious and desperate, while Kelisi, like Amu, stared jealously at Sara.

The only difference was that Kelisi would add a sentence while being jealous.

"Heh, men... they're all creatures that only care about looks, tsk."

Hui Gou silently glanced at Kelisi, then looked at Lei Kesen, who had replaced Bond as the mute.

"I suddenly feel... Kelisi is actually quite pretty too."

Lei Kesen couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids, his voice hoarse as he said.

"I think you've been locked up for too long."

Just as his voice fell, someone slammed into the stone prison like a rabid dog, grabbing the stone bars with both hands.

"What the hell do you mean—ahhh~"

"Quiet."

Watching the captives clash, Luo Yan couldn't be bothered to ask for the reason, directly casting a Soul Extraction, and only ending the discipline when someone was rolling their eyes back and slumped on the ground.

【Faith Value +1】

【Faith Value +1】

【...】

The faith value contributed this time was less than before.

But this was actually a good sign.

According to Professor Enuosi's theory, captives only stop providing faith power due to torture in two situations.

One situation is that they've been broken, and the soul has completely lost its response to external stimuli.

The other situation is that they've been tamed, and even without receiving external stimuli, they will automatically contribute faith value.

For example, Amu is like this.

Soul Extraction had almost become a reward for this guy; Luo Yan sometimes felt too disgusted to even use it on him.

Bringing this theory into the system of senior Lin Te Isaike, it was actually just temporary gains being merged into the "Daily Growth" item.

Although the one-time contribution wasn't much, it would be contributed every day from now on, so it was actually a good thing.

Thinking about how he had caused these petty thieves a lifetime of psychological trauma, Luo Yan was even more satisfied with his own 'inhuman' behavior.

Once the training was completely successful, he could release these "missionaries" and let them spread the terror of the Great Demon King in human towns.

Routine work completed, Luo Yan opened his attribute panel and took a look, discovering this unexpected and pleasant surprise.

【Daily Faith Value: 2500 (+211)】

Hm?

How did the daily growth value rise again?

And after this growth, the increase in faith value seemed to have finally stabilized; it wasn't a range value like before, and it wasn't jumping up and down either.

Of course, it was also possible that the fluctuating data had been hidden.

Although he couldn't figure out why it increased this time, Luo Yan could roughly guess a little.

It was likely that either the Brotherhood in Lei Ming City had developed new believers, or the church in Yinsong Town had already started mixing the Demon King's private goods into their prayers.

In short, everything was moving in a good direction.

Luo Yan suddenly felt that gathering the 100,000 faith points needed to upgrade to Silver didn't seem that difficult anymore.

Even with the current growth rate, idling for a hundred days or so would be enough.

Late at night.

Sara yawned and went to sleep, and the players had also logged off one after another; only some hardcore 'liver-bursting' players and night owls remained online.

Luo Yan went down to the labyrinth to grind some wild Earth Spider levels, and when it was almost dawn, he rode Arake to take a look at his future palace.

After consuming three hundred Earth Spiders, the Shadow-Weaving Nest had created an engineering miracle; without a tunnel boring machine, they had advanced a full hundred meters into the massive mountain in just one day!

To be honest.

With this ability, they weren't sent to dig the walls of Lei Ming City; Luo Yan felt the previous Demon King was truly a scrub.

Of course.

It was also possible that humans had their own countermeasures.

And at that time, the Earth Spiders didn't seem to have formed large or small tribes; guys with such strange skeletons like Gachi and Arachinos seemed to have only emerged after the Demon King died.

"Indeed, times make heroes."

The ancients never lied to me!

Luo Yan sighed in admiration, speaking his mother tongue for a moment.

Arake, being ridden by the Great Demon King, naturally didn't understand, and asked cautiously.

"Apologies, Great Demon King, what did you just say?"

Luo Yan smiled and said.

"Nothing, I was saying that your Shadow-Weaving clan is very capable; even by the standards of the Netherworld, by the standards of the Demon Capital, you are the most hardworking!"

This wasn't a lie.

Those lazy bums in the Demon Capital were only energetic when it was time to eat; even the goblins had been spoiled into looking like humans.

Hearing this praise, Arake was proudly invigorated, his energy having nowhere to release, so he went to the construction site and shouted a few more times.

Those little guys carrying earth worked even harder, their eight legs running like wind-fire wheels.

Just as Luo Yan intended to sleep and end this fulfilling day, an accident came knocking at the door again.

The little demon he had dismissed earlier had returned with the "attitude" of the Nightmare Homeland...

At the entrance of the first layer of the labyrinth, the Great Hall where the "Blood Ritual" was laid out, Luo Yan stood in the shadows as usual, receiving the envoy of the Nightmare Homeland with the previous specifications and etiquette.

Fifty little demons holding white egg sacs waited quietly outside the Great Hall.

That thing looked like an ostrich egg, but it didn't have a hard shell; in its place was a tough, resilient mucous membrane.

As the representative of the mission, a little demon named Mixi walked into the Great Hall with her wings tucked in, trembling with fear.

Perhaps because there were more people this time, this timid little thing wasn't scared to the point of breaking down, just shrinking her shoulders in fear, prostrating under the majesty of the lizardman zombie.

"M-m-m-most honorable Demon King..."

Forcing back the weariness in his heart, Luo Yan patiently listened to the opening remarks, which had been doubled in length by stuttering.

Finally, they reached the key point.

Mixi, representing Queen Xixi of the Nightmare Realm, accepted the surrender agreement proposed by the Necropolis. In exchange for a monthly tribute of a certain number of imp eggs, the rebel army's status was whitewashed into that of vassals to the Demon King.

For these imps, this was the friendliest possible outcome; it counted as a smooth landing.

As for Luo Yan's side, he had also obtained what he wanted without a single drop of blood spilled.

The only thing that surprised him was one detail.

"Why fifty?"

Mixi's body stiffened, sweat once again crawling all over her face, and she nervously glanced behind her.

Seeing no other imps following, she stammered out a reply while her little brain spun rapidly.

"T-t-this is... a small token of Queen Xixi's sincerity!"

That's right!

It was sincerity!

Turning the word over in her mind, Mixi was so excited she almost cried out, giving herself a mental pat on the back for her quick wit.

At least she didn't trip over her words this time; better hurry up and gloss over this matter!

However, the Demon King standing in the shadows still gently frowned.

Sincerity?

What kind of sincerity?

Compared to such ambiguous terms, he would have preferred to hear "loyalty," an answer he should have taught them. Yet, whether intentional or not, they chose to avoid it in their diplomatic language.

If this were ordinary interpersonal interaction, he wouldn't bother nitpicking one or two phrasings, and skipping them entirely would be fine.

But this was, after all, a diplomatic occasion, especially since the other party had proposed a marriage alliance not long ago, making these words worth pondering.

The more Luo Yan thought about it, the more he felt there was something to it.

This statement was flexible—it could be used to advance or retreat.

If he didn't accept, the other party had room to maneuver. If he did accept, loyalty seemed to become a mere byproduct of "sincerity."

But when did imps become so good at beating around the bush?

Or perhaps he was overthinking it.

Luo Yan pondered for a moment, ultimately deciding to trust his intuition and gave what he considered the most appropriate response.

"Since it is a token of your Queen's sincerity, then this Demon King shall accept it."

He paused, then continued.

"Furthermore, tribute is tribute, and sincerity is sincerity. Since 30 of these imp eggs are a gift, this Demon King cannot take them for nothing. I happen to have some spoils of war here that I seized from the humans; take some back with you and say it is a return gift from the Necropolis."

Naturally, what he gave them couldn't be actual spoils of war; it was mainly pine nut oil, wine, bread, cheese, and sausages sent over from Silver Pine Town.

The Harvest Festival in Silver Pine Town was coming up soon, and that Sheriff Adlai was a fellow who knew how to handle things, even knowing to send a gift for the holidays.

Luo Yan, of course, wouldn't treat him unfairly.

During the spring plowing next year, he would produce nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer to give the residents of Silver Pine Town a little "Demon King shock" as a return gift from His Majesty the Demon King to his surface vassals.

That stuff was much more useful than magic for accelerating growth.

According to Luo Yan's observations, while nature-based spells could accelerate crop growth, they suffered from the fatal flaw of "growing tall but not bearing fruit" due to limited soil fertility.

But that could wait until the time came.

The extent to which Sheriff Adlai could control Silver Pine Town would also determine whether his strategic approach to the region would be based on "spreading fear" or "promoting development."

He still had to observe further.

Hearing that there was actually a return gift, a look of surprise immediately appeared on Mixi's face.

"Human spoils?! D-d-demon King, may this humble one ask, is it... is it food?"

Luo Yan nodded and said majestically.

"Yes."

Mixi was so excited she almost jumped to the sky, her little fists clenched tight.

"That's great!!!"

That's great?

Looking at the imp crying with joy, Luo Yan couldn't help but be speechless.

To think they could starve these guys who eat everything to this extent?

Luo Yan had thought he was already inhuman enough.

He didn't expect to lose to the previous Demon King in the competition of being inhuman...

(Harassed by a mosquito all night and didn't sleep, I'm basically dizzy now. I checked twice, but if there are still typos, brothers, please help me catch them. Thanks a lot!)