Chapter 140: Please Beat Again

Zuo Feixian and Zhou Liren crouched by the earthen stove, continuously fanning the flames.
Amidst the smoke, Zhou Liren turned his head and squinted:
“Why wouldn’t it be Old Wang? It should have been Old Li… Hmm, maybe he misidentified the portrait—it must have been Old Li.”
Having just emerged from the mountains, Zhou Liren firmly believed Wang Chaoguang was dead, yet he couldn’t shake the doubt that it might all be an illusion of his own making.
By the cooking pot, Zuo Feixian grumbled unhappily with a couple of “hmmphs” and fanned even more vigorously, blowing soot ashes straight into Zhou Liren’s face, provoking a burst of coughing from him.
“Ahem, ahem, Old Li, cough, cough, you actually survived? Hey, go easy on me!”
Puff, puff, puff~
“Limp—hey, the guy wrapped in bandages seems to have figured out how to get inside,” Zuo Feixian shifted his crouching position and said, “Otherwise, that strange vine wouldn’t have shown up. It is definitely one of the treasures from within those mountains.”
That mountain is unreachable by anyone, yet Zhou Liren’s teammates, who underwent the surgery, could enter and even brought out such a powerful plant from within the pit—a plant strong enough to defeat even those beasts.
……
On the barren plains, a team of carts hauling water tanks slowly moved into the distance. Behind it, in another direction, there was a similar team.
They all came from a well next to the Dajia cargo convoy, a well that could ceaselessly produce clear, sweet spring water.
By the well now, there was a constant clamor. People with water ladles and wooden buckets queued up, chatting happily. A small, glowing orb floated in the sky above, propping its tiny face up with its hands as it looked down.
Thirty to forty meters north of the crowd, a middle-aged man in a thick, knee-length robe and two attendants guarding him scanned the terrain beside him. Not far from this person, a lady appearing to be about fifty-something looked toward him.
“Overlord Yuan, are you really going to place the engine—which we only managed stabilize with great difficulty through our collaboration—right here?”
“Assistant Overlord Xin, are you feeling a bit reluctant?”
The middle-aged man had thin, faint whiskers at the corners of his mouth. He turned to look at Wang Xin, smiled, then pointed at the crowd behind him. “Listen.”
Wang Xin moved her eyes to focus and faint sounds drifted over.
“Free! Don’t push. Oh, damn it, stop shoving. This well doesn’t charge…”
“…Get in line! Hey, you, spit your phlegm farther away!”
“Ouch, I’m gonna go take a piss real quick, bro. Save my spot for me, my bucket’s here…”
Wang Xin withdrew her gaze and took a soft breath, her eyes a little distant as if lost in thought.
“If only things could be this peaceful everywhere,” a young man standing next to Shed Master Yuanlong couldn’t help but sigh.
That’s right,” the middle-aged man said with a nod. “Although Squad Leader Jiazi’s original intention was to earn time sequence, his care for these people is genuine. Can you all see what kind of potential this place has if its bustling atmosphere endures?”
Wang Xin shook off her thoughts and said:
“That may be true, but this forest will likely be completely gone by January or February next year. Then all this so-called vitality will vanish along with it.”
“Do you think Squad Leader Jiazi hasn’t thought about that?” Yuanlong said with a smile. “That young man buried this well the very day after he first arrived here.”
“So that’s why you want to bury the engine here? I still advise you not to rush it. After all, a stable otherworldly building, one that can last for many years without turning into a nightmare, has the potential to become a major shed, even a small shed zone only needs one such structure as its foundation.”
She softly glanced at the crowd gathered around, drawing water and laughing like wandering refugees, and said indifferently:
“Placing it here will serve those who draw water in the future, but it’s hardly worth such a large building. I pity them too, but that house, as the backbone of a shed zone, could be far more valuable and protect many more people.”
Upon hearing this, the young man beside Yuanlong looked at the compact engine in his own hand.
Within the crystalline engine, adorned with three tiny cylinder heads, a misty mountain backdrop set the scene where a brick-and-stone house, slightly battered and worn, stood as if it had existed for centuries.
The engine’s image slowly surfaced, showcasing its presence like a subtle plea, as if seeking a new land to be reborn in.
This was one of the relatively intact otherworldly structures stabilized in the mountains over the past few days by his shed zone and the crew of the Dusk Shed. Yet this terrain-type engine, valued at several thousand or even tens of thousands of Time-Ordinals, was declared by Boss Yuanlong as a gift to this settlement.
“Boss.” The young man looked at the middle-aged man, hesitating to speak fully, “Deputy Shed of Dusk is right, turning it into a shed zone could give it real value…”
Yuanlong shook his head and pointed ahead, saying, “Place it down, right there.”
“Boss Yuanlong, think twice.”
“My mind is made up. Go.”
“Sigh.” The young man glanced at the other follower beside him. One held the crystal-clear engine and a small hoe, while the other carried a wooden box filled with collected clusters of metal and earth magic crystals.
With a few blows of the hoe, he dug a small hole in the ground. Once again, the young man eyed the crystalline, crystal-like engine, a pang of reluctance flashing in his gaze toward the sturdy house structure within it, then he buried it in the earth and tamped the soil over it with his hoe.
Smack! The lid of the wooden box flipped open, and with a clattering sound, a pile of earth-yellow and warm-gold magic crystals tumbled out. The noise drew the attention of those nearby. A dozen or so people who had been chatting by the well shuffled over, hands shoved deep into their sleeves, observing the commotion.
“What’s going on here?”
“Are those magic crystal stones piled on the ground? Is some engine about to be started?”
The young man who had previously kept the lost-memory engine safe now crouched on the ground, one hand propping himself up on the earth. His eyes were slightly closed.
“I… begin the activation of the lost-memory engine.”
The model on his chest flickered faintly.
[I, the Mysterious Triangle, begin to interface with the lost-memory engine.]
[Triangular engine, let your heart beat once more… in the realm of lost frequencies.]
Thump…
It seemed everyone present heard a fleeting auditory hallucination, as if something beneath the ground was awakening. Then, the very next second,
Boom!
Amidst rolling dust and smoke, a sturdy brick-and-stone house sprang up from the earth! The onlookers felt as if the ground they had just been standing on had been torn open by an invisible giant hand, revealing the ancient rock structure hidden within.
“Wow! It’s a house!”
“Who are you people? Is this your sturdy house?”
Seeing these enthusiastic people, Wang Xin shook her head silently. Not far from her, Yuanlong, the shed master, turned around and nodded with a smile. His gaze then fell on a group of people hurrying over from the market area, among whom was Zheng, the master of that market—Yang Zicang.
“If I’m not mistaken, you are Yuanlong, the head of Lijiang Canopy?” Yang Zicang leaned in, observing the house.
Recently, there had been too many people arriving, but Yang Zicang still paid attention to the names of figures like canopy heads and deputy heads who came in person, and Teacher Chen was specifically brought in by him to handle reception for these individuals.
“That’s right. This is Wang Xin, deputy head of the Twilight Canopy. This house was jointly stabilized by us in the mountains, and from now on, it belongs to you, Captain Jiazi and your team.”
“What, you’re giving us a building from another world?”
Teacher Chen, standing beside Yang Zicang, was startled and pushed up his glasses, taking a good look at the house. By now, many people had gathered around to examine it closely, and some had already couldn’t resist ducking inside.
“This house…” Yang Zicang glanced at the structure, which, though only one story tall, was quite spacious. “In the canopy district, its value would be much greater.”
Every year or so, the canopy district had to renovate their wooden huts; otherwise, they might one day turn into man-eating nightmares. But a stabilized house built by an Oblivion Engine wouldn’t have such problems.
“Yes, theoretically, in small to medium canopy districts, its value is even higher. Basically, in every large canopy I know of, there are at least one or two such houses. They represent the foundation of growth from small to large—the history and origins of the canopy district.”
After some exclamations, a few came over and said, “Lord Yuanlong, what a generous move, giving away such a building just like that.”
“Truly worthy of a boss from a large canopy district.”
“It’s a pity that the mountain forest will be destroyed in half a year; otherwise, it would be great if a canopy area could be established here.”
“With a well here and houses that can stand for thousands of years now, tsk tsk, maybe a big canopy area, or even a small town, will emerge here in the future.”
Amidst constant discussions, everyone fantasized about the future of this place. The only regret was that the human activity here was bound to disappear sooner or later, at least after January or February next year.
Amid such voices, Yuanlong approached Yang Zicang and said in a low voice:
“Captain of the Jiazi freight team, have you ever considered building a canopy area here?”
“Me?” Yang Zicang looked around at the people nearby and whispered back, “Frankly speaking, I already have a stable piece of land of my own, so I have no intention of building a canopy area here.”
More importantly, this place was still a bit far from Hub Town. Having a train was no problem, but for those without a vehicle, five to six hundred li was far too distant.
A glint of light flashed in Yuanlong’s eyes. “Does that mean I, Yuanlong, have the chance to be the one to take over a canopy area here?”
“What does Boss Yuanlong mean by that?”
“Captain Jia, to be honest with you, I have a request.”
After he whispered by Yang Zicang’s ear, Yang Zicang’s eyes widened in disbelief.
If Yang Zicang’s earlier plan to gather herbs from the surroundings and make medicinal pills for sale shocked Zuo Feixian, Xu Xiuchuan, and Wang Chong, then this proposal from Yuanlong was another shock—but this time to Yang Zicang himself.
“You… can manage that? That’s not a small amount.”
Yang Zicang’s heart quivered as he glanced at the distant mountains in the distance.
“Of course, I can’t do it alone. But if we pool everyone’s efforts together, it’s not impossible. I just hope you could convene a meeting in the name of Leader Jia.”
“Alright, I’ll call a meeting right away. As for the location… this room will do.”
Yuanlong paused, a look of surprise on his face, then burst into hearty laughter.
“Haha, great, great! Truly worthy of Leader Jia—you’re quick to act!”
……
“What? A meeting?”
Yuan Kun pointed to himself and looked at the shed master on the sensor screen, asking, “Zhang Ao is already here, so why isn’t he the one going to the meeting?”
{Are you the cargo team leader, or is he? It seems you’re regressing the longer you live.}
Yuan Kun shrugged his neck, shrinking back.