Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Haven't even finished one task, and now there's this huge, long-haul mission—I'd probably die a hundred times and still not get it done.

Lu Yunqi lay down on the edge of the field and said, "I'm out! I can't do this job. I've got at most a year left to live, and if I'm not careful, it'll be two lives for the price of one. Go find someone else more capable—I'm going back to being a lazy bum."

With that, Lu Yunqi got up and was about to head back to his room through the Anywhere Door.

The System Sprite yelled, "Master! Don't! I've got a foolproof way to keep you alive!"

Lu Yunqi, who was about to turn away, froze and asked, "Oh? What trick?"

The System Sprite replied, "As long as you raise the civilization level to 0.65 within a year, you'll unlock the cloning function, which can clone a body that looks exactly like yours."

"A body? A cloned corpse?"

"Yeah, only a corpse can be cloned, because the system has its own rules—cloning is banned for ethical reasons. So only a corpse can be cloned, but that's enough. When the time comes, you can use the corpse as your stand-in, escape to Wanping Wasteland, change your name, and live the life you want."

Lu Yunqi was intrigued and asked, "Why a year from now? Can't we do it now?"

Xiao Jiu replied, "That won't work, Master, because your conquest progress hasn't hit fifty percent. If you escape the conquest target before hitting fifty percent, it counts as an automatic failure."

He remembered—yeah, that restriction was real.

Damn world conquest task. They really went all out to keep conquests from slacking off.

Lu Yunqi asked, "So, if my conquest progress is above fifty percent after a year, I can fake my death and leave? As long as he can't kill me in this lifetime, it counts as a successful conquest, right?"

"Bingo!" Xiao Jiu snapped his fingers. "Master, you're a genius! So, what do you say? Will you actually do our tasks now? As long as you raise the civilization level to 0.7 or higher, the rewards will be seriously generous. Not to mention, there's no way you're getting back to your original world now. Miss your computer, phone, and tablet? Miss your online games, anime, and big-screen movies? Miss your short dramas, short videos, and AI comics? As long as you raise the civilization level above 0.7, all that can come back!"

Lu Yunqi was finally sold—not for any other reason, but because doing this conquest task meant he could survive!

He rubbed his chin and slowly nodded, but to make sure the system wasn't setting a trap, he still said, "What if, when the time comes, my world-line conquest progress is above fifty percent, but you can't find a way to save me?"

Xiao Jiu replied, "We can sign a system contract. If your conquest fails, you'll take my place as the System Sprite! You know, Master, we System Sprites can't die and can't be destroyed. That way, you'd live on in another form."

Lu Yunqi thought about it—sure, System Sprites had to hop between world lines, but at least they were part of the Great Sovereign's crew.

Lu Yunqi finally nodded and said, "Fine! Let's keep conquering then! But your points are way too stingy. I've been doing tasks for ages and only earned ninety points total. I used thirty, so I've got sixty left. What can this tiny bit of points even do? Look, isn't everything here bought with points?"

Xiao Jiu replied, "Master, don't worry. Points from tasks are just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start producing and the system collects your crops, your points will keep piling up!"

Lu Yunqi got it and asked, "Then why does the system collect these crops? What's the point?"

Xiao Jiu said, "Of course they're useful. You'll find out when the time comes."

Lu Yunqi clicked his tongue. "Still being all mysterious!"

But whatever—he'd already conquered this insanely hard world line nine times in a row. At this point, he could deal with just about anything.

Once Lu Yunqi was calmed down, Xiao Jiu kept issuing tasks. The system chimed in: "New task issued. Please designate a residential area of at least 10,000 square meters."

Lu Yunqi went "oh"—no wonder they needed a big chunk of land. It seemed this system was really playing the long game.

So he opened the map and marked out a riverside area near the fields as the residential zone.

The system chimed in: "Residential area planned. Reward: 10 points. Please build a small wooden cabin in the residential area. It requires two Level 1 NPCs and one Level 2 NPC: Lumberjack x1, Carpenter x1, Level 2 Architect x1."

Lu Yunqi pressed his lips together. With his current points, he could only hire two Level 1 lumberjacks. A Level 2 architect cost sixty points—no way he had that much.

Just as Lu Yunqi was scratching his head, the system chimed in again: "Step one of the small wooden cabin construction task: please place the cabin blueprint in the designated empty area."

Lu Yunqi: "Oh ho, walking me through it step by step? That's pretty user-friendly."

The System Sprite chuckled and asked, "So, Master? Isn't our system pretty great?"

Lu Yunqi: "...Yeah, just great."

Following the system's instructions, Lu Yunqi placed the cabin blueprint he'd gotten earlier on the empty spot near the farmland, and a holographic projection of the cabin immediately appeared.

The same cabin icon showed up on the system map. Clicking it displayed the construction requirements, with all the needed materials and NPCs listed out.

Building a small wooden cabin required fifty regular pine trees from Taiyan Mountain, each about as thick as a bowl. He immediately hired a lumberjack and sent him into the mountains to chop trees. The NPC's name was Li Qiang.

As luck would have it, the guy was bald too, so Lu Yunqi affectionately nicknamed him Bald Qiang.

The carpenter wasn't urgent—Lu Yunqi planned to wait until the timber arrived.

Looking at the zero percent on the cabin blueprint, Lu Yunqi felt like he was playing a base-building game. It was actually pretty fun.

Bald Qiang showed up with his own axe and a trailer. He was big and burly, nothing like the Bald Qiang from the cartoons—clearly a tough, strong guy who'd be a beast at chopping trees.

His salary was also three thousand, and Lu Yunqi felt he needed to get the other plot planted quickly, or he wouldn't even be able to pay the NPCs' wages.

So he used points in the seed shop to exchange for a pack of spinach seeds and directly planted one acre of spinach.

Another system task came through: "Please expand the planting area to ten acres and plant crops on all ten acres."

Lu Yunqi: ...They're cranking up the difficulty this fast?

Fine, ten acres. Zhang Wei alone might struggle a bit. Just as he was considering hiring another NPC, the system chimed in again: "Due to intense sunlight, your land has dried out. Please irrigate the dried land."

Lu Yunqi scrambled, instructing Zhang Wei to continue clearing wasteland while operating the limited-time drone to water the previously cleared acre, and also watering the land where he'd just sown the spinach seeds.

Twenty points earned—now he could hire a Level 2 NPC.

He didn't hire an architect, though. Instead, he hired a Level 2 planting technician, because managing ten acres required more than just a brute-force NPC.

And just like that, the points he'd painstakingly saved were gone in an instant. The Level 2 planting technician's monthly salary was six thousand yuan, which gave him a nagging panic that he might not be able to pay wages.

Fortunately, the Level 2 planting technician was highly professional. Pointing at the adjacent plot, he said, "Master, we can build a vegetable greenhouse here. The return rate of a greenhouse is three to ten times that of regular farmland. That way, you can have fresh vegetables all year round."

Lu Yunqi gave him a thumbs up. "That's what a Level 2 technician brings! Great, let's get started!"

Level 2 technician Li Na: "Alright, please purchase a plastic greenhouse for me."

Lu Yunqi was dumbfounded. "Huh? I need to buy it?"

Li Na expressed her opinion of Lu Yunqi quite tactfully: "Master, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world."

The implication was clear: you're a real fool.

Fool Lu Yunqi regretted his decision—he had no money now, so why did he hire a Level 2 technician so early?

Every day hired cost money, twice as much as a regular NPC.

Fortunately, the Level 2 technician didn't sit idle. He went with Zhang Wei to clear wasteland. With the limited-time farming tools, they managed to clear and cultivate ten acres in a single day, earning ten points and a pack of chive seeds.

Those chive seeds were just enough to plant ten acres. Without hesitation, Lu Yunqi planted all ten acres with chives.

Man, chives are the best!

You cut them, and they regrow—three harvests total, one-time investment, three months of payoff.

The technician said it wasn't exactly rocket science, but he also added: "While you're away, master, I'll wholeheartedly guard this farmland. I'll take care of any farm issues right away."

Lu Yunqi asked, "Can you help me make some money?"

Li Na gave him a kind smile, and Lu Yunqi understood—she was calling him a dumb idiot again.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Lu Yunqi stood up from the fields, dusted himself off, said goodnight to the NPCs, and stepped through the Anywhere Door back to his room.

The room was quiet, the bed had been neatly made, incense was lit, a new carpet was laid, and new bead curtains were hung.

Lu Yunqi changed out of his dirty clothes, opened the door, and told Yun Hua to prepare his bathwater.

Yun Hua looked puzzled: "Young master, didn't you go out? When did you come back? No, when did you leave?"

Lu Yunqi grinned: "Guess?"

Yun Hua: "I can't guess. Just now, Eunuch Fu came by, saying that the Prince Cang's mansion has been approved and is right next door."

This was within Lu Yunqi's expectations, and he asked again, "What about Prince Cang?"

Yun Hua replied, "He's been at the Prince Cang's mansion all along. Would you like to see him, young master?"

==========Author's Note:==========

Hehe, new chapter! Guys, please send flowers~