Man Datou glanced at the villagers from Stone Village, completely unconcerned.
'A bunch of pushovers,' he thought. 'I could take on hundreds of villagers this scrawny!'
Wang Yi's expression, however, brightened. He drove the Crossbow Machine Carriage over to the villagers and said, "You must be the people from Stone Village. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wang Yi, a great Chaos Lord, and this is my territory. I'm currently recruiting temporary workers. Anyone willing to work here can stay; those who aren't are free to leave. I promise that if you work for me, you'll get to eat Golden Roasted Chicken. Work hard, and there will be other rewards!"
"I'll do it!"
Zhang Xiaohu immediately raised his hand and shouted, then turned to the crowd behind him. "Mom, Dad, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, Second Aunt, see? I wasn't lying! The roasted chicken is delicious! I've never eaten anything so good in my life! Let's hurry up and help the Immortal Master, then we can get some roasted chicken to eat!"
With a THUD, a white-haired old man dropped straight to his knees, muttering, "I, Old Zhang, must be dreaming!"
A young boy about Zhang Xiaohu's age stared at the roasted chickens piled on the ground, drooling. He tried to run over but was held back by a woman grabbing his collar. He burst into tears, wailing and mumbling, "I want roasted chicken! I want roasted chicken!"
Another white-haired, hunchbacked old man also stared intently at the roasted chickens, saying, "If this old man can have just one bite of roasted chicken, I can die happy!"
A few of the braver ones tentatively questioned Wang Yi.
"Sir, are you serious?"
"As long as we work, we can really get roasted chicken?"
"What kind of work do you need us to do?"
Wang Yi raised a hand to quiet the crowd. "Those who want to stay and work, come over and report to me."
A middle-aged man gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and knelt before Wang Yi with a THUD. "I'm Hu Zi's father! I'm willing to stay and work!"
"Good!" Wang Yi was delighted. He asked, "What's your name? Do you have any special skills?"
"My name is Zhang Dashan. I... I don't have any special skills!"
"Then you can go move stones and gather wood. Big Head, give him a roasted chicken first. Let him eat his fill before he starts working!"
"You got it!"
Man Datou grunted in acknowledgment and casually tossed a roasted chicken to the middle-aged man. "Eat up. Once you're done, get to work!"
Zhang Dashan froze for a moment, then was overcome with joy. He clumsily tore open the roasted chicken's packaging, took a bite of the meat, and his eyes lit up. But he didn't continue eating. He ignored the grease and carefully tucked the roasted chicken into his robes, then quickly kowtowed to Wang Yi. "Sir, I can start working now!"
"Go bring some stones over here!"
"Right away!"
Zhang Dashan immediately got busy.
When the others saw that there really was roasted chicken to be had, they scrambled madly to kneel before Wang Yi.
"Sir, my name is Zhang Mazi! Give me a roasted chicken, and this old life of mine is yours!"
"I'm Yang Xiaobao! I want to work too!"
"My name is Liu Cuihua. Can I work here too?"
"You're too generous, Sir! Whatever you want this old man to do, I'll do it..."
Seeing how honest and simple these villagers were, Wang Yi was pleased. "Good, good, good. You can all stay and work. Eat your roasted chicken first, then get to it!"
"Alright!"
"The Lord is generous!"
The villagers cheered excitedly and immediately surrounded Man Datou, waiting to be given their roasted chickens.
Wang Yi felt a sense of satisfaction. 'These villagers are so wonderful. Give them a meal and they're endlessly grateful. Compared to them, the lazy, scheming employees at my own company all act like they're kings.'
Soon, the villagers of Stone Village got to work. They had happy smiles on their faces, and although every one of them was sallow and emaciated, they worked with all their might.
Wang Yi drove the Crossbow Machine Carriage around the site, directing the villagers to collect nearby wood and stone.
The wood was difficult to collect.
Although the desolate mountains were covered in trees, they had no tools like axes or saws, so all they could do was pick up branches and twigs.
As for stone, while there was no quarry, the wilderness had plenty of loose rocks, so Wang Yi had the villagers carry them back to his territory.
Wang Yi also chatted with the villagers, learning about the surrounding area from them.
The villagers were vaguely fearful of Wang Yi, but whenever he asked a question, they told him everything they knew without holding anything back.
Wang Yi soon learned that two li south of his territory, there was a river—the Jade River.
Following that river for 100 li would lead one out of the river valley and to Kaiyuan County.
Within the Jade River valley, there were three other villages similar to Stone Village, named Pottery Village, Huangni Village, and Gourd Village.
The situation in those three villages was much like that of Stone Village. Each had about a hundred people who were starving all day and living harsh lives.
Through these brief conversations, Wang Yi gained a preliminary understanding of this game world.
The villagers, however, were actually very confused.
'Move stones? Pick up firewood?'
'What kind of work is this?'
They had no idea what this lord named "Wang Yi" wanted to do.
If someone had told them they could trade moving stones and picking up firewood for roasted chicken, they would never have believed it in a million years.
'How could something so good possibly exist?'
But today, it had actually happened to them.
However, these villagers had been starving for a long time. Malnourished and with extremely poor stamina, they collapsed from exhaustion after just a few hours, groaning and unwilling to move.
Wang Yi motivated them with more roasted chicken, driving them to work until their hands were covered in bloody blisters. By nightfall, they had finally gathered 1 unit of wood and 10 units of stone.
In the process, Wang Yi also came across some of the Otherworld's "wild vegetables."
Zhang Xiaohu and the others had gathered them while picking up stones. They were scarce, called "Ji Cuisine," and resembled chicory. In total, there were only about ten plants—probably not even enough to fill one person's stomach.
Wang Yi traded half a roasted chicken for the wild vegetables and tossed them into the Gourmet Processing Plant. They were automatically processed into 6 cups of "Vegetable Soup."
The Vegetable Soup came in 500-milliliter sealed paper cups. It was warm, delicious, and on the salty side. Wang Yi and Man Datou downed it all.
"This Vegetable Soup gives a pretty high yield!" Wang Yi remarked, then turned to the crowd and announced, "It's getting dark. Let's call it a day. Come back first thing tomorrow morning, and bring more people. If any of your families have axes or saws, bring them. We're chopping down trees tomorrow! Big Head, give them each another half a roasted chicken!"
Wood and stone were both resources.
'Although I now have enough to build the Chaos Warehouse, I think it's necessary to stockpile some more. That way, I won't have to worry about materials when I get more Construction Drawings in the future.'
The villagers, meanwhile, were cheering and jumping for joy.
They had worked hard all day and hadn't been this tired in a long time. But when they thought about how a day's labor had earned them a whole roasted chicken, they felt like they had struck it rich and were completely satisfied.
"Thank you, Sir! We'll be back tomorrow!"
"You're a true saint, Sir, saving us from our suffering!"
"Haha, we can finally eat our fill!"
The villagers kowtowed, then returned to their village, laughing cheerfully.