Chapter 161: Can Bai Bai Chew the Leaves of the World Tree?

You already asked Luo Ge; could he have any other idea? He'd rather kill the swindlers, let alone these robbers and murderers: "Behead them!"

The moment the words fell, the thug he was holding in his hand instantly wet himself.

Dragging the thug to the marketplace and beheading him on the spot, Luo Ge's roar shook everyone's soul:

"Foolish people, rules and laws are the only weapons protecting you. When you think you can bully the weak at will, you too will become the bullied, because there are many existences stronger than you! I do not mind killing you all and turning this place into a kingdom of the dead."

Such a blunt and bloody declaration truly fit the persona of the Emperor of the Extreme Black Knights, terrifying everyone into trembling like quails.

Undoubtedly, Luo Ge could do this; the environment of the Dark Side City was his natural home turf, and even if a Grand Meaning Mage came, he would not fear them.

"Alright, I scared them," Luo Ge said, returning with a smug look.

Lord Nai Ge said irritably, "Even if you kill half the people here, it won't help. What did I just tell you? The person who solves the food problem is here. Seeing Ange, how do we solve the food problem?"

Seeing Ange tilted his head, reached into the Palace of Rest, and pulled out Zi Hai.

Carrying a jujube-wood mace, Zi Hai roared excitedly, "Where are the enemies!?" looking as if he had been pent up for too long.

Scanning the surroundings and finding no enemies, Zi Hai disappointedly slammed his mace onto the ground, "Little Horse, come here, let me rub you."

Lightning sighed and obediently walked over.

Seeing Ange pulled again, dragging out the Great Shaman; three or five Titans stood on the ground, instantly making the surrounding space feel cramped.

Only then did Seeing Ange begin transferring the food beets; within moments, piles of grain sacks like small hills were stacked on the ground.

The grain merchant's legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, muttering, "It's over, it's over, I'm going bankrupt, I'm going bankrupt."

"Bankrupt on what!" Lord Nai Ge slapped the grain merchant's head with a claw, "How much did you usually buy your grain for? I'll give you a five-percent discount, just changing suppliers. You still sell the grain, but you can't sell it at a high price."

"Really?" The grain merchant's eyes widened in disbelief, "Really? Not selling at a high price, not selling at a high price, I'll sell at a low price, sell at a low price. Forget the five-percent discount, even the original price is fine; just saving on shipping costs will make me rich."

The grain itself wasn't expensive, but transporting it from outside made the shipping costs high; shipping was at least three or four times the price of the grain.

Lord Nai Ge shook his head and said solemnly, "We cannot sell at a low price; we must at least maintain the original price, then lower it slowly. We cannot drop the price all at once, or the already fragile economic chain here will collapse. Even a fragile economic chain is better than a collapsed one."

The grain merchant and Luo Ge looked blankly, "E... economic chain?"

Lord Nai Ge was too lazy to explain; he called Zi Hai and the others to carry the grain into the public square, and under everyone's gaze, he cut open a sack, "Grain, as much as you want, no price hikes, five for one."

The clean grain and low prices made the residents of the Dark Side City go crazy with frantic buying.

Lord Nai Ge overlooked one issue: the quality of the grain. The grain merchants of the Dark Side City could only sell old grain, eaten by worms and rats, with very poor quality.

Seeing Ange's grain was... thousand-year-old, stored in cellars for hundreds or even thousands of years, but thanks to the Rest Soil, it was merely dehydrated, not powdery, damaged, or moldy; its appearance was far superior to that of the grain merchants.

However, despite the frantic buying, everyone remained orderly because at least five Titan giants stood there holding clubs, watching vigilantly.

With grain available, the crisis caused by the explosion of the Silver Knight Corps camp was easily resolved.

While Lord Nai Ge handled the crisis, Seeing Ange flipped through the scroll the Little Angel had 'bought' from a human child; upon opening it, he found a roll of white cloth.

"Ao?" Seeing Ange pointed at the white cloth and asked it.

"Ao!" The Little Angel pointed to a small hole in her skirt.

Seeing Ange then noticed that the Little Angel's clothes were severely damaged; at least three finger-sized holes were visible on the front, and at least five on the back.

Normally, Lisa handled the Little Angel's clothes, making dozens of identical small skirts; when they broke, she replaced them. Now that Lisa hadn't followed along, no one noticed the clothes were torn.

So she bought cloth to make clothes? Seeing Ange looked at her happily; she had already learned that clothes are made of cloth?

Before, the Little Angel always thought clothes were conjured by Seeing Ange; after casting a big spell, she would find Seeing Ange to heal and 'conjure' clothes. Of course, not conjuring clothes didn't matter either; she herself didn't care whether she wore them or not.

Seeing Ange actually didn't care either, but Lisa and Lord Nai Ge did; every time they didn't dress the Little Angel, Lisa looked at whoever with eyes that seemed to view them as perverts.

Understanding that clothes are made of cloth was a huge step forward.

Seeing Ange reached out to touch it and found the cloth was a bit unusual; pulling it out, he saw the white cloth was light and thin, with fine warp and weft, clearly the material and quality were many times better than ordinary cloth.

Showing the cloth to Lord Nai Ge, he was also startled, "This isn't cloth, not cotton or hemp; this is silk, a silk-woven cloth?"

Fetching that human child, Lord Nai Ge asked, "Who wove this cloth?"

The child pointed at himself.

"You? Impossible." Lord Nai Ge sized him up from head to toe and shook his head in disbelief.

The child grew anxious, using his language skills which he had just recovered and was not yet proficient in, "It was me—I wove it. The worms I raised wove it. You send me, I'll take you to see the worms."

The child originally had very strong vigilance; when selling goods, he only dealt with simpletons like the Little Angel. Seeing the grain, he knew how to weigh options, willing to abandon two sacks just to drag away one, but unfortunately, he had been targeted long ago.

Now, however, he was willing to lead Seeing Ange and the others back, obviously trusting that Seeing Ange and the others would not harm him.

After winding through nine turns and eighteen bends, everyone finally arrived at a remote rock cave; the cave's entrance was cleverly hidden in a depression at the top of a dead-end alley.

If one poked their head out, saw the dead end, and retreated without going to the very inside, it would be very difficult to discover this entrance.

Entering from this entrance, one quickly reached a semi-open pit; half of the pit was covered, while the other half could see the sky. The child lived under the covered half; even if an airship flew overhead, no one could see anyone below.

Hidden, ventilated, and with sunlight; in the Dark Side City, this was practically a mansion.

On the ground of the pit were arranged some flower pots; the pots were those roughly molded mud pots dried in the sun, inside which some grass was planted.

Between the flower pots and the wall was a row of shelves; on a small section of one, some grass was spread out, and some white, plump worms crawled on that grass, gnawing at the leaves.

Seeing these worms, Lord Nai Ge exclaimed in surprise, "You are also an Insect Driver, a follower of Hemeltos?"

The child replied in confusion, "I am—an Insect Driver. Hemel—Tuo, who is that?"

"Uh, then what is your name?" Lord Nai Ge asked; after all this time, he hadn't thought to ask the other person's name.

"Clyde." Clyde replied. While speaking, he ran to a pile of miscellaneous items in the corner and helped up a thin, dried-up woman.

"My—mother." Clyde introduced her to everyone, then quickly poured a bowl of water to feed the thin woman.

This thin woman cowered, her gaze wandering, constantly shrinking backward; both mentally and physically she appeared abnormal. Only when she heard Clyde speak did she look at him with some surprise.

After feeding his mother water, Clyde began to busy himself again; first using tools to crush the grain, separating the husks from the germ.

He didn't waste the husks, carefully collecting them, while he stuffed a germ into his mouth, chewed a few times, confirmed it was dry, then began grinding it into flour, adding water to knead it into dough.

While busy, Clyde said, "Mother—her spirit is not good, she cannot—speak, but she can command the Silkworm Babies to weave cloth. These, I call them Cloth-Weaving Silkworms."

Lord Nai Ge sized up Clyde's mother, finding her features quite delicate; she must have been a beauty once, but she was extremely malnourished and had gone mad, likely driven mad by severe mental trauma.

She only reacted to Clyde's voice; her gaze occasionally fell on Clyde, but at other times she either looked at the sky or the ground, never focusing on Seeing Ange and the others.

Lord Nai Ge sighed; it was no surprise that a beautiful woman living with a child in such a place would suffer whatever hardships came her way.

With nimble hands, Clay quickly mixed the dough and said to Lord Nai Ge, "I'll go bake the flatbread first. Please look after my mother, my lord; just ignore her."

"Wait, where will you bake the flatbread?" Lord Nai Ge asked.

Clay didn't need to speak; Luo Ge could answer, "In Darkside City, there are places where rocks emit heat. The temperature is extremely high. Press food against these hot rocks, and it bakes quickly. We have little here to start a fire; to eat cooked food, this is the best method."

"I see, no need to go; Seeing Ange knows magic," Lord Nai Ge said.

Not only did he know magic, but he also possessed fine control. Seeing Ange manipulated the fire element, precisely baking the flatbread to a golden hue. A rich wheat aroma spread, making Clay involuntarily swallow his saliva.

Clay's mother, who had been huddled in the corner wrapped in rags, crawled over, hugged her knees, and squatted on the ground, staring blankly at the flatbread as saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth.

Clay looked at his mother's unexpected action in surprise, somewhat at a loss. Normally, his mother barely moved from her spot; let alone strangers, even a live rabbit would make her hide far away. Was it because of the food?

Once baking was finished, Clay tore off roughly one-sixth of a piece and handed it to the little angel. The little angel took it in hand and was about to bite, but Seeing Ange slapped him on the head.

"Ow!" The angry little angel stuffed the flatbread back into Clay's arms, hugged his knees, and squatted away in the corner.

This left Clay at a loss. Did my lord disdain his flatbread for being unclean?

Lord Nai Ge smiled and explained, "None of us are 'human'; we don't need to eat. You eat yourselves. So you baked our portions too? How thoughtful. Had I known your intentions, I would have spoken sooner."

Huh? Not human? Clay instinctively glanced at the pink, cute little angel, finding it hard to believe.

After confirming repeatedly that Seeing Ange and the others truly did not eat, Clay tore the flatbread in half and gave one half to his mother.

Clay's mother, already drooling from the flatbread's aroma, grabbed it and began gnawing fiercely, crunching loudly with loud smacking sounds.

Clay said somewhat sadly, "These years I couldn't even get my mother full. Thank you, my lord, for the food."

"No need to thank me. You exchanged this for silk cloth, right? Is it silk? Woven by the silk these silkworms spun, correct?" Lord Nai Ge asked.

Clay shook his head and reiterated, "It is woven by these silkworms themselves. They are called weaving silkworms."

As he spoke more and more, Clay's words grew increasingly fluent, and communication became smoother. After a round of conversation, Clay had clearly explained his situation.

Clay is an insect driver, though his ability was self-taught. Few people guard against a mute who looks seven or eight years old, so he learned various things bit by bit. However, lacking a lineage, he possesses no insects.

Thus, he devised ways to drive various strange and peculiar insects, eventually discovering that silkworm babies could be raised. He then became utterly absorbed on the path of raising silkworms.

To raise silkworms, he devised ways to obtain many plants to feed them, but silkworms would not eat many things. After many attempts, he found a few items the silkworm babies would eat, among which grass was the easiest to grow.

This pit was also a good place, suitable for growing grass and raising silkworms. Yet as he raised them, Clay discovered that raising silkworms was useless. The plump, white silkworm babies had no combat power; they did nothing but eat and sleep, and they would not even pupate.

Perhaps their only use was supplementing protein. So the raised silkworm babies were often roasted and eaten by Clay under excuses like "too hot, heatstroke," "sick from not eating grass properly," or "ate too much, can't afford to keep them."

After eating them all, only the individuals Clay carefully selected remained—those that ate the least and grew the fastest. He planned to raise them well and make them his staple food in the future.

Who knew that one night upon waking, he found his mother staring at those silkworm babies all night. Early the next morning, he discovered a length of cloth on the rack, a cloth spun by the silkworm babies and woven by themselves.

From that day on, he named these silkworm babies—Weaving Silkworms.

These silkworm babies could only weave cloth under the control of Clay's mother; otherwise, they would only spin silk, and the spun silk would knot and stick together, finally forming a lump.

However, Clay's mother was sometimes mentally unclear and sometimes manic, so she rarely controlled the silkworm babies. After great difficulty, a bolt of cloth finally emerged. Clay took it to the market, intending to exchange it for some food, only to encounter Seeing Ange and his group.

Clay, who grew up in such an environment, was very clever. He knew how to choose customers with purchasing power and which customers were easy to deal with. So he quietly approached the little angel.

He merely misjudged these customers' purchasing power. When Seeing Ange directly produced a bag of food, it nearly stunned him. With his age and size, he could not possibly carry home so much food alive.

But before he could refuse, three bags of food were dumped down. Clay couldn't help but want to take a risk. The offer was too generous. Unfortunately, it failed. If Seeing Ange had not saved him, the thugs' kick alone would have been enough to kick to death a malnourished boy like him.

"Sigh, it's truly no small feat that you survived this long," Lord Nai Ge said with pity.

A ten-year-old child not only survived but also supported his mother, self-taught the art of insect driving, and cultivated some new silkworm varieties. He was truly remarkable.

Under such harsh conditions, he still achieved this. If conditions were slightly better, what miracles would he create?

"Just so happens, we here lack someone who can drive insects. Are you willing to accept our employment? We cover food, lodging, medical care, and education. Perhaps we can even cure your mother's illness," Lord Nai Ge said.

Earlier, in the Stone Gate cavern, when that cloaked person claimed he could raise insects, Lord Nai Ge was already tempted. Who knew he merely wanted to stall for time?

Just so happens, Clay also raises insects, and even valuable ones like silkworms. Coincidentally, the leaves of the World Tree keep growing more and more. Necessary trimming allows it to sprout more tender shoots, and tender shoots stir-fried with eggs taste delicious.

For the tender shoots, old leaves must be pruned. Discarding old leaves is a pity. Using them to feed silkworms—wonder if the silkworm babies will eat them?

Although silk cloth has little value, for the tender shoots...

Just as he thought this, Lord Nai Ge suddenly sensed a burst of firelight. Turning his head, he saw Seeing Ange holding a ball of fire, burning the silk cloth. Yet the silk cloth showed no reaction at all, as if that ball of fire did not exist.

"Uh, could this silk be fire-immune?" Lord Nai Ge's eyes couldn't help but flash with the gleam of gold coins.

If it were fire-immune, the tier of the silk cloth would immediately change, transforming from a common item into a magical artifact, its value rising at least ten or twentyfold.

Just as Lord Nai Ge wanted to ascertain whether it was fire-immune, a cry of pain suddenly came from the corner. Clay's mother clutched her belly, her face turning iron-green with sweat, rolling on the ground.

Clay looked at his mother in panic, at a loss.