Chapter 264 - Rebuilding The Village, A New Start
Chapter 264: Rebuilding The Village, A New Start
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The lioness’s reaction was extremely intense. After crying out the name “Old Devil Su”, she began struggling hard even though she was tied up very tightly.
She twisted and turned. The expression in her eyes was not one of hatred, nor was it to pounce on Su Mo and attack. Instead, it was…
Dread!
The lioness was afraid, and she wanted to escape from Su Mo’s “devil clutches”.
Oreo, who was taking stock of her surroundings, displayed an understanding expression when she saw the lioness in such a state and heard her involuntary whimpering.
However, Oreo did not approach her to communicate. Instead, she lay down quietly behind Su Mo and kept a watchful eye on the lioness.
The area fell silent for a while, except for the sounds of the rope chafing against the lioness’ body as she struggled. Su Mo stood there like a specter and expressionlessly stared into the lioness’ eyes.
Having an aura was very important.
Su Mo had verified this during many previous fights.
Even if the lioness was bold, after locking eyes for over a minute, Su Mo’s gaze still unnerved her, and she stopped moving.
“I’m seeing you in a different light now—you actually learned to speak human language in such a short time!”
Su Mo pulled at the knots that bound the lioness and loosened them a little. He did not sound like he was talking to a captive.
As the lioness’ former working partner, although he detested what she had done at the time, some of his hatred had dissipated by now.
The lion clan definitely had to die.
However, before this, while there was still time, Su Mo would try his best to wring out every scrap of information about the true purpose of foreign races coming to this world, as well as the offerings, portals, and all their survival secrets. That was the top priority.
“Old Devil Su, stop pretending to be nice. Your heart is blacker than the most wicked sorcerer in the lion clan!
“Don’t think that you can tempt a loyal lion priestess, and don’t think you’re going find out any information!”
Nobody knew where the lioness had managed to have been influenced by the most recent human culture. She spoke in an erudite manner and gave off the sense that she was unafraid of death.
Still, from her evasive eyes, Su Mo was able to see that she did not want to die at all.
“Fine, fine, fine. It’s alright if you don’t tell me. I won’t force the issue, but… there’s not much time left for you.”
“After the next disaster strikes, if I still can’t get the information I want from you, then I guess…
“There’s no need for the lion clan to continue to exist!”
Su Mo reached out and stroked the lioness’ head with a “friendly” smile on his smile. He behaved nothing like the demon she had accused him of being.
However, it was this very behavior that made the lioness’ entire body shiver with fear. She was so terrified, she was bereft of speech.
Killing a pseudo god might be a heroic act in the eyes of Su Mo and the other humans.
However, in the eyes of the foreign races who personally witnessed it…
That was an act no less than that of a god.
In the eyes of the lioness, Su Mo’s status was the same as that of the Lion God. How could she not be afraid of such a personage?
“Keep an eye on her. Provide her with her usual quantity of food, there’s no need to decrease it.
“I want to make sure she’ll survive past the twenty days!”
“Yes, sir!”
When the two militiamen who were guarding the lioness heard Su Mo, they stood to attention immediately and answered, saluting.
Su Mo gestured, signaling for them to take the lioness to someplace cooler, then continued heading toward the center of the platform.
The area of the platform was around five hundred square meters. It could not be considered large, but it was not small either.
Currently, excluding the walkway at the outer edge of the circle, the three hundred square meters in the center now had a pit dug out of it one level deep.
All the Candlelight Village refugees had only used half a day to dig half a meter down into the ground. Their efficiency was astonishing.
Only three to five more days were needed to rapidly build a shelter that was hidden under the platform.
The villagers down there worked even harder when they saw Su Mo observing things as he walked along the path. The clang of pickaxes increased rapidly; the sound was clear and melodious as if they were forging iron.
The ordinary people were working; the management was working as well.
Even Wu Feiguang, the leader of the Candlelight shelter, chief security officer Qi Qin, and Chen Shen were sweating it out in the pit.
Su Mo was satisfied as he watched them.
There were no rules in the doomsday wasteland. What he feared most was the formation of different hierarchies.
Once these hierarchies had consolidated, the most visible result would be the rapid decline in the team’s progress. Everyone would slow down and slack off.
Currently, since the management was leading them by example, the villagers’ efficiency was completely understandable.
However, there was still one problem with this construction project.
Reality was no game. To hollow out a suitable mountain to live in, it was not just the stability of the structure that had to be taken into consideration. There was still drainage, lighting, distribution, and a whole series of other issues.
Su Mo, a semi entry-level expert, observed for a while, then pointed out a few obvious problem areas. After he had given a little guidance in correcting these issues, Chen Shen, who had been giving instructions below, climbed up onto the small path and approached him happily.
“Brother Su, that lioness is a stubborn one. I heard the other brothers telling me she was cursing all the way back here!”
Unlike everyone else, Chen Shen was the one who initiated contact with Su Mo the most. In fact, Su Mo would sometimes consciously or unconsciously minimize his aloof aura.
The relationship between the two was not tense. Instead, it felt like the interactions between a superior and a junior in the military on Earth.
As he mentioned the lioness, inquisitiveness flared up in Chen Shen’s eyes. He was obviously extremely curious about the world here.
“She’s right there. If you’d like to know anything, just go over and ask her!”
Su Mo clapped Chen Shen on the shoulder and did not avert his gaze. With a faint smile, he continued guiding the refugees on how to chisel out the drainage grooves.
The refugees below were slightly envious when they saw how close he was with Chen Shen.
After getting his orders, Chen Shen might have verbally said he did not want to do it, but his body language betrayed him. He hastened in the direction of the lioness, very obviously intent on seeking information.
When Su Mo saw this, a slight sense of anticipation stirred in his heart.
Interrogation was a technical skill; it was also something that could try someone’s patience.
When faced with Su Mo, the lioness had strenuously resisted.
Perhaps if Chen Shen took over, the results might be a little better.
After this small episode, construction was still proceeding in a hurry. It was hot during the daylight hours in the wasteland; the temperature was around thirty degrees Celsius.
However, when night fell, the temperature would drop drastically until eight or nine degrees Celsius before stopping. The next day, the temperature would go up again.
Therefore, a prototype had to be finished by tonight to make sure everyone had a place to sleep. They could leave carving any details for tomorrow.
After guiding them for a while and realizing that there were too many things being omitted, then coming up with a temporary makeshift solution, Su Mo took the opportunity to sit down off to one side when the refugees were taking a break.
Instructing Oreo to be on the alert, Su Mo opened the system’s training ground and used his mind to enter it.
There were no academic tutorials involved in the training ground, but in terms of technical skills, there was always something to learn.
Su Mo spent 100 points and randomly picked a basic tutorial for digging a hole. He then fully immersed himself into the learning of that skill.
This took him from the basics of digging a hole to basic excavation, then from the structure of the drainage system to maintaining the stability of the structure.
This only cost him 400 survival points. After receiving a set of normal-quality tools as a reward for passing the four basic training tutorials, Su Mo exited the training ground with a mere thought.
In the training grounds, he had spent four hours learning the skill, but in the outside world, only a moment had passed.
“That’s to be expected from a function that costs 10,000 points to unlock. Unfortunately, I have too few disaster points for that now. The second stage requires 1000 points; I can’t afford that at all.
“But I can try taking this naval pilot tutorial that only costs 1500 points when I go back the next round!”
Su Mo seldom used the training ground function. To put it another way, so far, he had only used it a few times in the beginning, just to see what the novelty was about.
The main reason was that it was too expensive.
The time currency could offset a certain amount of survival points spent.
However, once Su Mo realized that the time currency for a day could only offset 100 points, he decided to deduct the survival points in the end.
Currently, a set amount of between 600-1000 survival points could be collected daily, but to obtain any more time currency, he would have to wait until the ruins of time opened again the next time.
Su Mo continued to sit for a while. After the refugees were done resting, he cast his mind back to the things he had mastered in the training ground just now and sorted them out.
Su Mo put away the whiteboard tools that the system had rewarded him with. This time, when he stood up and looked down at the structure of the cave that the refugees were building, he suddenly realized…
There were so many mistakes and potential dangers in their construction of the mountain pit.
Not only that, when he saw these illogical shortcomings, his mind would automatically generate various ways to improve them.
“Not bad at all. Spending those 400 points was worth it!”
Just like everyone said, knowledge was priceless. Su Mo stood up and began guiding the refugees anew to begin a new round of modifications. By doing so, he was also able to more thoroughly master what he had learned earlier.
At the same time, once the mountain pit below had been modified, aesthetically it looked better as well.
From top to bottom, there was a sense of a different kind of architectural beauty.
With an expert to guide the construction, the sunset hours seemed much shorter. Everyone was so involved in their work that before they knew it, night had come, and the torches had been lit.
Moore, who had been transporting goods the entire day, came up the mountain slope like a refugee, rubbing his stomach and complaining of hunger.
The bear washed his face, brushed off the dust on his body, and waited for the shelter’s cook to serve him a simple yet “lavish” dinner.
When he saw Moore unabashedly sitting down with the refugees and eating his dinner, Su Mo sat down as well at the same table with the Candlelight Village’s management team.
There were soft, white, yet toothsome steamed buns.
There were savory, refreshing, crunchy pickled radishes.
There was bold-flavored, yet aromatic spicy cabbage.
For the finale, there was soup… Chinese cabbage and tofu soup!
This simple meal with just two dishes and a soup had been an ordinary home-cooked dinner on Earth when people were too lazy to go out to eat.
However, in the wasteland, these were rare delicacies.
No one had dared to pick up their chopsticks since Su Mo had not done so. Everyone turned expectant gazes to him, from the ordinary refugees to Wu Feiguang and the management team.
“Hey, where’s Leader Chen? Hurry and ask Leader Chen to come back, it’s time for dinner!”
The thought suddenly occurred to Qi Qin when he noticed that Su Mo was looking around. Standing up, he turned and gave the militiamen behind him these instructions.
However, before the militiamen could take any action, Chen Shen’s sprinting figure had appeared on the distant path.
Chen Shen was still very far away, so the others could not see his expression clearly, but Su Mo saw the excitement on his face at a glance.
Good heavens!
Had he really managed to get some information out of the lioness?