---o---
March 7th gently rubbed the swollen lump on Xing's head and turned to look at Fu Zhu.
"So, is there anything the two of us need to do?"
"Well..."
Fu Zhu thought for a moment. When it came to building these various machines, there wasn't much Xing and March 7th could do. They were completely unfamiliar with things like iron farms, so even having them help place blocks wouldn't speed things up much. It would be better to let them do something else.
"It will take me at least a full day to build these machines. During that time, who knows what the Company might do to Belobog. They are fully aware that Belobog can't repay its debts, yet they still issued a final ultimatum. They clearly have other ways to make Belobog pay up. Could you two help keep an eye on the Company and Cocolia's group?"
Xing immediately snapped a salute. "Yes, sir!"
"Alright, you two get some rest. I need to go make some preparations."
"Okay." ×2
With that, the three of them returned to their respective rooms. As soon as Fu Zhu stepped into his bedroom, he began to think. Machines like the String Duplicator were relatively simple and effortless to build. The only real trouble was the Iron Farm.
Its most crucial components were several villagers and at least one zombie to ensure the villagers would summon Iron Golems out of fear for their own protection.
This was the core mechanic of an Iron Farm. Without villagers and zombies, even Fu Zhu couldn't build one.
Setting aside the zombie for a moment, just the villagers were a major hurdle. He couldn't just pick a lucky citizen of Jarilo-VI and have them sacrifice their body for the future of the planet, could he?
Although the purpose of building the Iron Farm was to save Belobog, and the people of Belobog would surely be willing, it wasn't even clear if the people of this world could trigger the villager's fear mechanic. He didn't have the time to test it.
After some thought, Fu Zhu decided it was safest to stick with the original, authentic villagers and zombies.
While this world didn't have any, the Simulated Universe did!
Furthermore, the Apotheosis Mod included an enchantment called [Capturing]. Its effect was that upon killing a mob, there was a chance for it to drop its corresponding spawn egg. As long as he killed enough of them, he could easily solve the villager problem.
However, going back to the space station now would be a hassle. Fu Zhu decided to simply input a command and switch himself into Observer Mode.
[Current Mode has been switched to: Observer Mode]
Even though this was only the second time he had used Observer Mode, Fu Zhu still found it incredibly miraculous.
It gave him the feeling that this world was two-dimensional, while he was a three-dimensional being. If he so wished, he could treat this 2D world like a storybook, freely flipping the pages to return to any point in time he desired.
Besides this ability to jump through time, Fu Zhu also tried flying towards a wall. Just as he expected, in Observer Mode, he could easily phase through solid objects.
Fu Zhu passed through the wall and into the adjacent room, where he saw March 7th sitting at a table, fiddling with her camera. To test the limits of his ability, he tried flying to her side.
"Little March?"
Fu Zhu tried calling out to her, but March 7th showed no reaction at all. She just kept tinkering with her camera, completely unaware of his presence.
"Hmm... so it seems the Ender Dragon was a special case. Or perhaps the only ones who can see me in this state are the Ender Dragon or that End King I've never met?"
As for the other Envoys of Finality, Fu Zhu suspected they couldn't perceive his presence either. He had never heard of any Envoy of Finality who could jump through time. At most, they could observe events on the timeline, much like Elio.
Next, Fu Zhu reached out a hand towards March 7th, intending to pat her on the shoulder, but his hand passed right through her body.
"Hmm, I can't interact with organic or inorganic matter. It seems this state is truly invincible. I can use it as an invincibility skill to avoid damage in the future."
Having confirmed his new abilities, Fu Zhu directly jumped back in time, returning to the moment in the Simulated Universe when he had just parted ways with Herta and the others.
However, to ensure the "future" remained unchanged, Fu Zhu flew to a different village before materializing back into a solid form. He then took out his Godfall Sword and applied the [Capturing] enchantment using a high-level enchanting table.
As luck would have it, just as he finished the enchantment, he spotted a few villagers wandering near the edge of the village. Fu Zhu couldn't help but break into a wide grin.
"Folks, I'll be borrowing your heads for a moment."
After several hours of battle and slaughtering several villages, Fu Zhu finally obtained seven villager spawn eggs and three zombie spawn eggs. He also managed to find some name tags in the villagers' houses.
"That's enough. With these materials, I have everything I need to build the Iron Farm."
Satisfied, Fu Zhu collected his things and entered Observer Mode once more, jumping back to the point in time in the hotel when he had just finished speaking with March 7th and Xing.
March 7th gently rubbed the swollen lump on Xing's head and turned to look at Fu Zhu.
"So, is there anything the two of us need to do?"
Having just returned to this moment and seeing the scene he had just experienced play out again, Fu Zhu answered casually, "Help me keep an eye on Cocolia and the Company's movements. I'm going to make a trip to the Underworld first."
March 7th was a little surprised. "In such a hurry?"
"Yeah. It's been a while since I've built things like Iron Farms, so I'm a bit rusty. The sooner I get it built, the sooner I can help Belobog. You two get some rest, I'll head out now."
With that, Fu Zhu turned to leave, leaving March 7th and Xing looking at each other.
"March, I suddenly don't feel like sleeping anymore. What do you say?"
"Let's go."
How could March 7th not understand what Xing was thinking? She was obviously just curious about what kind of Iron Farm Fu Zhu was going to build.
"Then let's go!"
The two high-fived and quickly ran after Fu Zhu.
Noticing the footsteps behind him, Fu Zhu turned to see the two of them trotting up to him with wide smiles. He couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile.
"Not planning on sleeping, are we?"
Xing put on a righteous and awe-inspiring expression. "Belobog is facing an unprecedented crisis! How could we possibly sleep at a time like this!"
"In human words, please."
"I want to see what kind of machine this Iron Farm you mentioned is! It can supply iron indefinitely, how cool is that!"