[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re":3,"chapter-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-8":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Vegetable-Growing Skeleton's Foreign Land Reclamation",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2351489,4600,"Chapter 8: The Terrifying Possibility","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-8",8,"\u003Cp>Ang dragged the little zombie downward, and along the way, the “people” grew Yuelaiyueduo , many of them skeletons and zombies, either carrying wooden baskets to transport goods or turning winches to draw water, and other such repetitive tasks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On these skeletons and zombies, Ang saw his own reflection—he too was a skeleton performing repetitive labor, tending crops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With these skeletons and zombies present, Ang and the little zombie were utterly unremarkable; the “people” on the path didn’t even glance at them, each absorbed in their own work, and for some reason, every face bore a look of deep anxiety.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was Ang’s first time discovering that so many kinds of “people” existed in the world: humans like Eske, minotaurs with bovine heads, troglodytes whose arms were longer than their legs and who walked on all fours, and succubi with goat hooves and extraordinarily voluptuous figures—countless varieties, all manner of beings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the most numerous were still skeletons and zombies; nearly all repetitive labor—pulling cables, hauling water, carrying goods—was performed by them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holding the little zombie by one hand, Ang wandered aimlessly, growing ever more remote, the crowds thinning until finally, in a secluded corner of the labyrinthine underground city, he found a patch of soft, level ground and stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stopped because the soil here was soft, fertile, and moist. As a skeleton who farmed, Ang was highly attuned to soil—he could tell at a glance what land could grow things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The soil here was fertile, but overly damp, and without sunlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the farms of the Palace of Rest had sunlight; the underground city did not—but no sunlight didn’t mean no plants. Along the edge of the flat ground, the rock walls bore patches of glowing moss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This didn’t surprise Ang; moss could grow on stones of the Soil of Rest, so why not in an underground city without sunlight?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had been transported here for months and hadn’t planted anything in a long time. Seeing the soft soil and the growing plants, the farming instinct etched into his soul could no longer be suppressed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No sunlight meant no need to avoid it; no Anxi Wind meant no need to dig burrows. Ang simply began tinkering with the moss, collecting the glowing patches wherever he found them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Ang gathered moss, a heated argument erupted in the underground city’s council chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main disputants were the succubus Lina and the goblin Kleeg, and the cause was Eske’s failure to procure food—the underground city now faced existential peril and needed to make a final decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lina shouted angrily: “Your proposal is inhumane, devoid of morality—you drive these people into the wilderness, and they will die. You’re murdering them!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kleeg replied calmly: “I’m not human—why should I have humanity? Driving away some ensures others survive—isn’t that the most moral course? If we don’t do this, by this time next year, we’ll all starve to death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lina snapped: “That’s sophistry! Who gave you the right to decide who gets expelled? How many? Who gets to live? You have no authority!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kleeg replied flatly: “I don’t decide how many to expel—the food does. How many can our supplies sustain? The rest are driven out to fend for themselves. Otherwise, when all food is gone, everyone dies.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lina said: “We can try harder—extend the magic lamps’ illumination, add more mana ourselves, unite as one—we can overcome this hardship.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And next year?” Kleeg scoffed. “This world was never meant to support many people. We survived longer only because the Undead Empire’s transit hub left behind wealth that sustained us for another thousand years. Now, it’s truly over. We shouldn’t resist this fate—let it return to its rightful place.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paused, then added: “By expelling the lower classes now, we can still screen and preserve more valuable elite talent. When food runs out, even if you want to screen, you won’t be able to—the noble mages will starve like troglodytes, the clever goblin engineers will rot like those succubi who only flirt and bewitch. That would be true waste.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even in debate, he couldn’t resist trampling on the succubi—Lina flew into a rage, turning to Philin: “Lord Philin, Kleeg’s proposal is absurd and cruel. Please use your veto to reject it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Philin nodded: “It is indeed cruel. But Lina—if I were in your place, I’d suggest unleashing the Necrotic Plague.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?!” No sooner had Philin spoken than both Lina and Kleeg, and every member of the council, were jolted awake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the name implies, the Necrotic Plague is a disaster initiated by the undead—turning everyone into undead. In other words, killing every living thing in the underground city. This was far crueler than Kleeg’s proposal to expel some.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he could easily do it—all undead creatures here obeyed Philin’s command. One thought from him, and the Necrotic Plague could be unleashed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, everyone thought they’d misheard. Lina couldn’t believe it—Lord Philin, always so benevolent and kind, had uttered such a horrifying thing. Instinctively, she sought an explanation: “Does Lord Philin mean turning us all into liches?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Philin shook his head: “Not enough materials. At most, three or five. Meaningless.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then what do you mean?” Kleeg asked cautiously. He could accept expelling some—since it would never be him—but if it were the Necrotic Plague, he’d have to compete with others for those three or five lich-transformation slots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Philin sighed deeply, his tone grave: “Do you know what the greatest achievement of the underground city’s development has been?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The topic leapt too abruptly—everyone stared, bewildered, and shook their heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s the atmosphere of harmonious coexistence. When you first arrived here, minotaurs and goblins were ancient enemies, succubi were human slaves, and many races still preyed on each other. Do you know what hungry people do when food runs out?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone guessed what Philin was about to say—their faces darkened. This was a possibility none of them had ever considered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They’ll wash a newborn calf from the neighbor’s minotaur woman and throw it into the pot. They’ll skewer goblins, season them, and roast them in ovens. They’ll chop off the hooves of succubi and stew them in soup.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1023,"2026-06-21T03:18:43.177Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","233971c8e2277aff5da3fa982b588a28abaa8e59d3c27d695a33e2c5644fea51","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-9","the-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-chapter-7",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-vegetable-growing-skeleton-s-foreign-land-re-cover.jpg"]