Lind's interest was completely piqued by the hydroponics idea. It had only been three or four days, and these Undead were already bringing him unexpected gains—a real surprise.
However, he was also well aware that even with Earth's data and knowledge as a foundation, jumping from the medieval apocalypse to modern society, no matter how many shortcuts they took, the gap in the tech tree couldn't be bridged in a short time.
Distant water can't quench immediate thirst. By the time the tech tree was fully developed, he and the players might have already reached a higher level.
In contrast, what Ace M suggested – planting mutated plants – was the most suitable for the current situation.
It was plantable, it could solve the food shortage problem, and there were only two troublesome points. First, eating too much might cause mutation, but that wasn't important; being able to eat enough to get mutated was a good thing for the vast majority of people in this world.
Second, planting in the Disaster Shadow wasn't as simple as it sounded; the Disaster Shadow would constantly spawn threats.
In simple terms, farming in the enemy's respawn point was a bold move, to say the least.
Until the afternoon, no Undead came to submit quests. The process of searching for food was clearly more difficult than imagined. Lind could only hope that his "traveling frogs" would think about coming back after leaving, rather than being lured away by someone. ("Traveling Frogs" refers to an implicit analogy here, but keeping it as is helps preserve the original tone.)
The Carrion Queen's broken sword was now carried on his back, representing an increase in Lind's strength, and it also had an unexpected effect in the eyes of the players.
Having a glowy weapon meant having prestige. (Localizing "光武" to "glowy weapon" captures the sense of a powerful, visually impressive weapon.)
Appearance and decoration were also part of the job description for a service role.
Suddenly, thick smoke drifted over, stinging the eyes with the frigid wind.
His first thought was: something's wrong!
"What's going on?" Lind walked over quickly and found that the Undead surrounding the hole in the city wall were burning something; the smoke was coming from them.
However, the Undead, who were only wearing white underpants, weren't in good shape. They were all squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands.
One Undead was very experienced and held his wrists together, pointing his index finger at the nearby fire.
Lind subconsciously looked at his wrists but didn't see any silver bracelets. (This is a reference to some type of prison restraint that the player is mimicking.)
It must have been muscle memory.
The soldiers had their swords drawn and crossbows ready, prepared to pounce and attack.
"Misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!" Things were developing in a way that deviated from the Undead's expectations.
"Daring to set fire within the outpost!" The soldiers were doing their duty, strict and selfless.
"Crap, are we going to get red names?" (In a PvP game, "red name" means you've attacked another player and are subject to retribution.)
The Undead's faces changed drastically.
"Nobody said setting a fire would get you thrown in jail."
"Wait!" Lind intervened at the crucial moment. "What's going on?"
Although he didn't mind fighting with players, that was only in the case of the truly malicious ones. For players with less bad intentions, guidance and tolerance should be the main approach.
Reward mechanisms and positive feedback would guide them to do good things.
He also couldn't rule out those who harmed others without benefiting themselves, who simply liked to do evil and kill people. Fortunately, Star Dragon Outpost didn't have that type of Undead player yet.
Seeing Lind come over, the soldiers proactively stepped forward to explain the situation.
According to the soldiers, at first, only a few Undead had gathered to study how to repair the hole in the city wall. Then, for some reason, more and more Undead came... and more!
These people were saying strange things, then digging stones, digging pits, and starting fires.
When the soldiers saw the billowing smoke and realized something was wrong and came to stop them, the signal fire was already soaring into the clouds.
"Undead, what are you planning to do?"
Lind waved the soldiers back. If he could avoid using force, he would; he was a civilized person.
He always believed that most players were reliable.
But releasing a smoke signal was definitely excessive.
Even in the apocalypse, suddenly releasing thick smoke could attract the attention of surrounding settlements.
Even if the existence of Star Dragon Outpost wasn't a secret to those around it, a big fire could very well attract things other than people.
For the act of releasing the smoke signal alone, Lind would have been justified in hacking them down.
Did they think this was waiting for an airdrop or something?
No wonder the soldiers were angry.
"Lord, we were preparing to burn cement," said one of the Undead squatting on the ground with his head in his hands. "To repair the hole in the wall with cement! If we only fill the hole with stones, the structural integrity will be too low."
Cement?
Lind hadn't expected them to be so efficient.
But what did making cement have to do with releasing a smoke signal? It was obvious they used unseasoned firewood to start the fire.
Could it be... these Undead were all talk and no action?
Living in civilized society, not many people actually know how to cook or do practical things. Most are just armchair experts.
Even knowing the armchair theory is a form of life experience. Some are so out of touch they can't even tell the difference between crops and weeds in a field.
What else could he do? He'd worked so hard to bring them here, so he had to indulge them.
"You can also use cement to build houses!" an Undead immediately added.
"I also discovered a very strong mutated bamboo. We can directly arrange for bamboo-reinforced concrete. Theoretically speaking..."
"If you ask me, we should just start making steel, using primitive methods. I crammed a lot of short videos on it beforehand. We happen to have the materials, and there's also a DIY cannon. Aren't you guys interested in a dwarven alchemical cannon? It'll send people flying."
"You better be talking about a dwarven cannon."
They might look like the lamb being led to slaughter, squatting on the ground with their heads in their hands, showing a pious attitude, but that didn't mean the Undead were afraid. (The phrase "人为刀俎我为鱼肉" translated to "lamb being led to slaughter" captures the feeling of being at someone's mercy).
Lind just felt that these people were very excited in their discussion, but their practical skills were probably... waiting to be developed.
But, support was definitely necessary.
Players who liked farming, players who liked construction, and players who liked exploring were all valuable assets.
They have the knowledge of the real world backing them up; what they lack is just the technique and experience. Even life-threatening danger is no longer an issue.
Slowly experiment, and they'll eventually succeed.
Only the "socializers" are the real headache – pure freeloaders, unable to create any value whatsoever. ("纯纯混子" is localized to "pure freeloaders" to convey the sense of someone contributing nothing.)
After mentally dismissing the social players as useless, Lind nodded. "The territory needs stronger walls and more houses. I've felt your enthusiasm, and I will allocate an area for you to use for construction and modification."
Cement isn't that difficult a technology, but reinforced concrete, laying foundations, and building houses were all in Lind's blind spot. He also didn't have time to research those things.
If they really mastered construction techniques, he, the soldiers, and the women and children could all live in new houses with better insulation and higher defense.
Putting aside the further benefits brought by researching the construction materials tech tree, simply having a group of Undead honestly working as construction workers, staying here and not wandering around, was worth it.
Find your own work, do whatever, just don't run around.
Openly, he certainly wouldn't tell the Undead to research reinforced concrete. Instead, he said: "The sturdier the houses are built, the better the environment, the higher the rewards I will give."
After speaking, worried that the Undead wouldn't take it seriously, Lind added, "As long as it's up to standard, I will offer 200 Rand gold coins as a reward. The better it's done, the higher the reward."
The Undead's breathing quickened.
200 Rand gold coins! How long would they have to collect food and kill monsters to get that much?
"Long live the Lord!"
"Don't worry, Lord. I'll definitely build you a good house."
"What style should we go for? European, Chinese, Nordic, or Japanese?"
Looking at the Undead discussing excitedly, Lind felt he had to give them a warning in advance: "Researching materials and construction planning should all be done outside of Star Dragon Outpost. Don't affect the normal operation of the territory."
"Don't affect the normal operation of the territory," in plain language: "Don't burn my house down."
After giving the instructions, Lind left with the soldiers.
The smoke signal might attract some trouble.
As everyone knows, players don't have static vision. If someone with malicious intentions really sneaks close, relying on player patrols to catch them is very unrealistic.
The super long time required also meant that players didn't have the patience to do that kind of thing.
That type of work could only be done by Lind and the soldiers under his command. That was also why Lind was very keen to recruit more native NPCs to his cause.
"It shouldn't... cause any problems, right?" Lind stood on the city wall, gazing into the distance. Then, a puff of smoke was carried by the wind and, as if it had eyes, rushed right towards him.
Using a scientific explanation, the air pressure is lower when a person moves, causing an imbalance between internal and external pressure, so the surrounding air will move closer, and the smoke will naturally approach the person.
However, right now Lind didn't have scientific knowledge in his head, only a feeling of unease.
These Undead... are they really going to be okay?