Chapter 87: Expelling the Threat – 1

As planned, Ning Yang called upon Grandmaster Zuo to go outside.
After lunch, Yang Zicang received news from headquarters: those experts he’d managed to rile up were truly getting a kick out of things—they’d already dismantled all sorts of gear, and the previous day led to three Accursia Emergences that barely missed turning into a major tragedy.
Yang Zicang listened with a great throbbing headache.
“Leave everything except the well to be dismantled after I return. Even with the recipe editions recalled, the stray memory models are insufficient for these experts to squander.”
Last night, Yang Zicang had obtained two stray memory models from that haunted gathering place, which came from the bodies of outside explorers.
That place should have long been regarded as a forbidden zone by the locals.
Psychic attacks are the hardest to deal with; ordinary blades are utterly ineffective against them. Yet even so, most of the out-of-harmony memory models inside had been scavenged by others, leaving me to find only those two.
These black, vitreous crystals left Yang Zicang in an indescribable emotional state. Perhaps this land can only allow posterity to barely survive by relying on the legacy of their forebears.
……
Zhang Yuanxin tested the recipe once more, but the results were still unsatisfactory—more precisely, it was completely ineffective.
“I remember they did it just like this back then; where exactly did I go wrong?”
With most of his helpers absent today, a disgruntled Zhang Yuanxin rose and stepped out of the small shed.
“It’s almost noon; where’s the shed master?”
“He went out with Left Master.”
Zhang Yuanxin grew even more irritable.
That sly fellow secretly digging a well—how utterly disgusting.
He strode out, intending to take a stroll by the well to clear his mind, but as his eyes swept over the rugged and imposing stone house next to Ning Yang’s residence, a sudden urge struck him to check it out while no one was home.
After all, people came into his own dwelling without so much as a greeting—so what harm could there be in his taking a peek?
Zhang Yuanxin walked over as if no one else existed. The door frame, the stone steps—they were truly beautiful. This was the house Ning Yang had once hinted would be given to him, but now he couldn’t even hope for it.
He tried the door; it wasn’t tightly shut. After all, there were no locks here, and besides the house and that coat, Lefeng had nothing valuable.
He pulled out the latch bolt and pushed the heavy wooden door halfway open.
And then he saw the most vicious scene in the world.
“This… this is, isn’t this!”
Zhang Yuanxin’s head buzzed loudly. He didn’t know how he walked into the house. When he came to his senses, his hands were already stained with a liquid that gave off a faint chemical smell.
“How could there be such an evil person?”
He confirmed it again, then looked around.
Zhang Yuanxin put down a boiler valve and muttered to himself.
Then he grabbed a curved steel tube and looked at it. Suddenly, a hot flush rushed to his head, and with a bang, he threw the polished alloy tube to the ground, shouting angrily: “How in the world can there be such an evil person! Lefeng!”
That man not only built a well, but also secretly got his hands on a boiler!!
And such an advanced semi-automatic boiler—this was going to steal his livelihood!
Just thinking about being driven out of the shanty area and cast into the wilderness made Zhang Yuanxin shudder.
I’m coveting his house, but he’s after my life!
“What to do…” His mind immediately went to that guy who was squatting with him yesterday.
When Zhang Yuanxin turned around, he found that several people had already gathered at the door.
“Are those boiler components?” The person outside the door said with eyes wide.
“Holy shit, Left Dung Master is this awesome.”
“I see, Master Zuo is truly a reclusive genius. These are obviously boiler parts, and they look like high-end stuff.”
When they saw Zhang Yuanxin standing still in the room, a mix of anger and confusion on his face, along with that pile of boiler components, the few people outside already understood what was going on.
Someone quickly went to contact Captain Jia.
Zhang Yuanxin’s face flushed red and then turned pale. He steeled his heart and decided to go all the way.
“This is mine, placed here. Xiao Zhang, Xiao Wang, help me move these components out.”
“Wait, Master Zhang, these belong to Master Zuo, don’t they?”
“This room was originally intended for me by Pavilion Master Ning, didn’t you know? So I put them here a couple of days ago. Who knew Master Zuo would coincidentally hit a well… now I’m just taking them back. Hmph, you’re not moving? Am I supposed to carry them myself?”
“Uh…”
With a blank expression, Zhang Yuanxin picked up the case containing the potion and walked past them.
The Jia, who was about to get people to clear out, realized something was wrong and quickly contacted Pavilion Master Ning Yang.
When he heard that, in Master Zuo’s room, there was actually a complete set of boiler parts capable of crafting a perfect Oblivion Engine, Ning Yang, who was crossing the wild plain, almost fell flat on his face.
Unlike Zhang Yuanxin’s shock and despair, Ning Yang was absolutely overjoyed!”
Thank goodness Gapon’s faction didn’t get their way! This Master Zuo is truly a great benefactor to my encampment; I almost misjudged him!
After grasping the whole story, Ning Yang cleared his throat and carefully weighed his words: “Well, Master Zuo.”
“Encampment chief, why are you being so formal again? Look at my pathetic state, do I look like a master to you?”
Ning Yang let out a dry laugh: “If you’re not a master, who is? That Zhang Yuanxin just went into your house—sorry, we didn’t notice him. He said he might have lost something, so he was looking around.”
Zuo Feixian’s expression shifted.
Seeing Master Zuo’s reaction, Ning Yang felt even more certain that this old fox had cooked up another sneaky scheme.
You hid your intentions well, but you’re still exposed, huh? Though for Zhang Yuanxin, this is quite a blow.
Ning Yang mused, Did those ancient emperors setting up left and right chancellors or Eastern and Western Factories feel something like this?
Indeed, letting subordinates check and balance each other is the basic maneuver of the monarch’s art.
Zuo Feixian stammered, “He… must be really angry, right?”
“No problem, I’ve got this.”
Ning Yang patted Zuo Feixian on the shoulder with solemnity.
Zuo Feixian wore a helpless smile—didn’t he know Zhang Yuanxin’s temper? There was no way to explain now.
But… his shoulders were already burdened with more than one black mark; he’d taken the title of Biological Modification Master—what was one more?
“Good thing it’s not too bad, but the issue now is that Squad Leader Jia didn’t catch on at first, so he’s already started brewing the Forniss Engine…”
“What?!” Zuo Feixian took a deep breath. “Damn it! This is it, now my reputation is totally ruined.”
“Hahaha, Master Zuo has been wholeheartedly dedicated to the shed area. How could I ever doubt your character? If I’d known earlier that you could build this, why would I have let Zhang Yuanxin make such a mess for months?”
For that person to entrust such precious components to him under these hellish circumstances… and now someone else has taken them!
Zuo Feixian urgently said, “No, that’s not mine. He… left them with me.”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to say it was—the guy who built the Well-pump Unconscious Engine and gave it to you for free?”
“Err…” Zuo Feixian bit his lip and nodded, forcing a smile.
A heavy hand patted him on the shoulder.
“Stop talking nonsense. From now on, you’re the second-in-command of the shed area. As long as I’m alive, as long as my children are alive, you’ll be the second-in-command. Stop overthinking things, alright, our Deputy Shed Chief Zuo?”
Bewildered, Zuo Feixian shook his head, then slowly nodded with a bitter, teary smile.
“I… I’ll try my best to learn at least those two… crafts from him.”
“Now that’s better.”
Ning Yang was overjoyed. On his chest, a projection flickered.
[Drive away the Akisama group immediately! Use Mental Link to contact Master Zuo. Do not give the Akisama group any chance to speak with him.]
[I’ll handle it now.]
A crowd was gathered in front of Zhang Yuanxin’s shed, which was surrounded by piles of materials.
He who forcibly started the refining was now unstoppable, for any intervention would waste the materials and models already invested, leaving Captain Jia to stare helplessly.
“This is mine, these are all things I had them collect for me!”
Zhang Yuanxin, as if possessed, kept muttering loudly like a broken record while tossing boiler components into his makeshift workshop.
Onlookers craned their necks. Among the crowd, Yang Zicang rubbed his head, and beside him, Xu Xiuchuan whispered, “Aren’t those our components?”
“I knew that Zuo Fei Bai was unreliable; I’m going to find him and give him a piece of my mind.”
“Shh, don’t talk like that at a time like this,” Yang Zicang cautioned his companion.
He never expected that just temporarily storing something would lead to such an outrage that shook Zhang Yuanxin to his core.
Xu Xiuchuan said, “Think about it, doesn’t this let him have a free ride? Those materials are very precious, definitely enough to get an order letter.”
“Yeah, even A-Ge would probably have a tough time getting materials that haven’t spawned evil spirits like these.”
Yang Zicang’s eyes darted around; about a dozen people outside the crowd had quietly formed a circle around him.
A person squeezed through the throng and said in a low voice, “Brother Jia, can I step outside for a moment?”
Wang Chong, Xu Xiuchuan, and a few others were also summoned out.
“What’s up, Captain Jia?” the gathered crowd asked as they reached the door.
“Sorry, folks. As you’ve seen, there have been some changes in the shed area, so starting today, we’re cutting back on personnel. We’re about to renovate the shed grounds here. You’ll have to find somewhere else from now on.”
“Huh?” Xu Xiuchuan and the others were taken aback.
“Meaning you can start packing your things and get the hell out of here right now,” the man beside Captain Jia said coldly.
The group’s expressions shifted. The largest among the six of them said angrily, “What does that mean? We just gave you a big gift.”
“Yeah, that well was built by us.”
“Enough, no need to say more,” Yang Zicang stopped them.
The big guy was full of anger, and he said to Yang Zicang with grievance, “But the boiler parts were clearly brought by Brother Yang… I mean, you.”
“Yeah, and the engine for the well was obviously made by us too.”
Captain Jia found it both surprising and absurd.
Even at this moment, these people were still foolishly trying to use such utterly unbelievable nonsense to earn the right to stay!