Dark Magician Isekai: Return and make Fantasy World into a VR Game

Chapter 112: Chapter 111: Undead Cultural Arts



Earth time, November 5, an ordinary Monday.

Yang Qiu returned to Earth, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and, as usual, sat down in front of his computer to check his emails.

It had only been three days (Earth time) since he sent the deposit, and "Director Lu" had already delivered all the road construction equipment.

All of it was large-scale machinery, so it couldn't be delivered to the suburban cottage where Yang Qiu lived. "Director Lu" directly sent him the address of a civilian warehouse outside the city and had the keys delivered by local express, instructing him to pick it up himself.

After having a bowl of noodles nearby, Yang Qiu obtained the keys from a courier locker in the vicinity and immediately called a ride-hailing service to the warehouse.

Right now, he was still using the identity he had previously purchased online. "OtherWorld" had been open for a month now, and even the "beta" had completed a full month. It was impossible that the authorities hadn't uncovered the truth of this purchased identity. But since they were intentionally turning a blind eye, Yang Qiu saw no need to delve into conspiracy theories.

On arrival, Yang Qiu indeed found that the warehouse arranged by "Director Lu," which originally belonged to a certain agricultural machinery factory, was unexpectedly quiet. There wasn't any ambush nor surveillance, and when Yang Qiu scanned the area with his mental field, the largest living creatures within a kilometer radius were no bigger than mice. Even the security guards that were supposed to be watching the warehouse had been cleared out in advance.

"Cooperation is all about trust for it to go the distance!" Yang Qiu praised "Director Lu," whose true identity he still didn't yet know, and confidently entered the warehouse.

Moments after the warehouse door was closed, all signals from the wiretaps and cameras set up by professionals inside the warehouse were cut.

Half an hour later, Yang Qiu strode out from the converted civilian rental warehouse empty-handed, hailed a DiDi on the roadside, and swiftly returned to the suburbs.

Shortly after the DiDi departed, a van approached from the opposite direction and stopped outside the warehouse. Several immaculately dressed men jumped out and sprinted toward the warehouse.

In the spacious, old agricultural machinery factory building, all the road construction equipment, mining diesel generators, and Dongfeng trucks loaded with barrels of diesel had vanished without a trace.

Field agents stared blankly at the squeaky clean warehouse, where not even a coiled wire was left behind, and quickly took out their phones and reported the situation…

At five in the morning, Ji Tang dragged Rex to the countryside to continue their survey. After a half-day of running about, they arrived at the final destination—Back Mountain Village, farthest away from Weisshem, located on the north side of a large mountain.

When they arrived around four in the afternoon, the most scorching period of the day had passed. The villagers had all come out of their homes and were working in the fields at the foot of the mountain.

Ji Tang and Rex, who had been on the road all day, were stunned upon seeing this typical late summer and early autumn farming scene…

Although they had already heard some information about Back Mountain Village from nearby villages, seeing it in person was still shocking.

Back Mountain Village, with a population of just over two hundred, consisting of fewer than 40 households, had dozens of men and women working in the fields, all completely naked.

Seeing outsiders, the villagers of Back Mountain knew enough to be shy. Other than the elders, who were largely nonchalant, the younger ones quietly turned away.

Ji Tang heard Rex gasp sharply beside him. Without looking, he could guess what expression the young man was wearing now.

A rather aged-looking man, with a sunburned face and body, yet wasn't over forty, jogged over to the edge of the field. He picked up a… piece of rag, wrapped it around his waist, and stared at the clothed skeleton (Ji Tang) and Rex, who were still pushing bicycles along. He appeared confused for quite a while and, after a long bout of hesitation, walked toward them—Rex's attire appeared decent in the eyes of the rural people.

Due to Ji Tang's presence, this man didn't dare to approach too closely. Keeping a distance of 20 meters, he made a series of chirping sounds toward Rex while nodding and bowing down. It seemed like he was inquiring about Rex's background and intentions.

Rex nodded at the man, turned to Ji Tang, and said stiffly, "He claims to be Walk, the head of Back Mountain Village."

Ji Tang patted Rex's shoulder in understanding.

On the first day of their rural survey, Rex harbored the naive idea that changing the village head could transform a poor and struggling village into a prosperous and wealthy one. Although he realized later that this idea was way too naive and stopped saying such things… seeing this village head without even a decent pair of pants left Rex feeling rather embarrassed.

Next up was the process that the two were already proficient in. Rex declared his identity as the new Weisshem lord and made Walk, the village head who was bowing, lift his head. He then handed a lapel badge to Walk and instructed the village head to lead them to understand the village's situation.

As they went through the less than forty households densely settled on the mountainside to defend against wild beasts, Rex became even more depressed…

The adobe houses made of mud and straw were each family's most important possessions. No one had any common glassware, and even the village head's house only had clay jars and shiny wooden bowls.

Most households couldn't put together a complete piece of clothing. Only the village head and a few older villagers had a set or half set of patched "traveling clothes"; when the villagers needed to exchange soybeans for salt with other villages, those who could produce "traveling clothes" would deliver the soybeans.

The villagers' daily food was… potatoes.

Usually, they ate mashed potatoes with wild peppers, sometimes with wild fruit when they were in season on the mountain and just a little salt for seasoning.

On the rare occasions when a wild animal was trapped in the large pits dug around the village, or if someone caught a field mouse, rabbit, or snake, the villagers could have some meat and animal fat in their wooden bowls.

The entire village was extremely primitive. So primitive it was hard to imagine that 15 kilometers away was Weisshem, where some neighborhoods had electricity, and Indahl, with electricity and gas and housed hundreds of thousands, was less than 50 kilometers away.

Having already visited 21 villages, Rex could see the "root of poverty" in this village, even without Ji Tang pointing it out: a lack of water and good land.

The territory of Weisshem didn't lack water. There was abundant groundwater and a river due to its proximity to the Sorensen Mountains.

However, abundant water resources and the ability of the people living in this territory to make full use of water resources were two different matters. Back Mountain Village, the farthest village from the densely populated area (Weisshem town), had been established on the mountain to defend against wild beasts, and fields were cultivated down the mountain.

The village was a distance away from the main river that ran through Weisshem territory, so the villages could only use a small stream to get water. As a result, without irrigation, wheat couldn't be grown, so drought-resistant potatoes and soybeans were cultivated instead. Also, the only safe area for cultivating these crops was at the foot of the mountain. Villagers couldn't practice crop rotation and fallow to replenish the land. Instead, they had to rely on the experience passed down by their ancestors to rotate soybeans and potatoes on the same piece of land.

Listening to the nervous and incoherent Walk speak about the obscure and difficult-to-understand circumstances, Rex expressed that he wasn't here to conscript laborers, and Weisshem didn't engage in wars.

It seemed that the previous Weisshem lords had all given up considering taxing this village and wouldn't even remember there were people here unless they were conscripting commoners for war.

Having roughly understood the situation in Back Mountain Village and getting an estimate of the population, Ji Tang said to Rex while they were on their way back, "It's too difficult for this village to escape poverty right away. Water diversion projects are too costly, and I estimate we won't have the funds for such undertakings in Weisshem territory for several years, given the financial situation. The only way to solve Back Mountain Village's dilemma is to relocate the entire village."

Rex nodded silently and let out a long sigh.

"I always thought that people led difficult lives because the officials weren't upright enough. Ji Tang, it seems I was way too naive."

"Your line of thought wasn't entirely wrong," Ji Tang consoled. "It's just that poverty has different factors in different regions. It's not something that can be entirely solved by having upright officials. Integrity and morality aren't a cure-all; the ability and determination to get things done are the most important."

Rex nodded, then shook his head, letting out another sigh.

Ji Tang could very well understand Rex's reaction.

Regardless of whichever plane it was, the issue of poverty was both the "easiest" and also the most challenging problem to solve.

It was considered the "easiest" to solve because, in the eyes of some, addressing poverty seemed simple—engaging in charity work would do.

For example, on Earth, charitable organizations of developed countries delivered food, medicine, and clothing to the impoverished people of third-world countries. The grateful smiles of these poor folk receiving aid were often published in the media, which gave people a sense of spiritual satisfaction. Any ordinary citizen could fulfill their obligation to the impoverished and return home to enjoy their lives in the civilized world.

However, such charity activities, which didn't even address the root cause of poverty, weren't particularly effective. International charity organizations had been sending food and medicine to undeveloped countries for decades, yet the people there still remained hungry and sick.

Of course, this wasn't saying that such relief-oriented charity was entirely meaningless. At least, the impoverished could still benefit a little while helping certain charitable organization members or wealthy individuals legally evade taxes.

Some might argue that these charity organizations have good intentions, and there are indeed many remarkable individuals within these organizations doing great things, so it's unfair to condemn the entire sector. However, the question arises: Do those among the small portion of people in these organizations who genuinely make a difference and sincerely try to solve poverty really not understand the root causes of poverty in third-world countries?

Humanity on Earth had since moved beyond the stage of monopolizing knowledge as a resource. Anyone who bought a cheap smartphone and found a place with internet access could easily learn about the outside world. Could International humanitarian organizations, with their abundant resources, broad perspectives, and the ability to send food, drugs, and even medical teams to third-world countries, genuinely not understand what those impoverished locals needed?

In short, it was the advantage of taking the easy path rather than the difficult one; the success of Chinese-style poverty alleviation was visible globally, yet what did these international organizations, which had been doing charity for decades or even centuries, learn from such experiences?

Rex was an idealist willing to get things done. At least, as the nominal owner of this land, he genuinely wanted to improve the lives of Weisshem's people. He didn't categorize the remote rural population as burdens of civilization or society that urgently needed to be eliminated. The easiest means of "poverty alleviation," which involved sending some supplies and leaving after self-satisfaction, certainly didn't occur to him.

With this mindset, he had visited over 20 villages in Weisshem territory, deeply understood the situation, and became more and more frustrated and disheartened.

Returning to Weisshem before dark, Ji Tang separated from Rex and, as usual, sought out Zhao Zhenzhen. He first reported today's investigation findings to her—Zhao Zhenzhen wasn't part of the expert task force, so the two didn't meet offline.

On hearing Ji Tang's detailed introduction of the last village visited today, Zhao Zhenzhen nodded and said, "The poverty in this world isn't the same as in China."

Ji Tang wholeheartedly agreed.

In China, poverty was mostly illness-induced poverty and elderly poverty.

The former was understandable, while the latter, though harsh, was also rather understandable; there was a significant portion of those living below the poverty line, and the main reason being that they were abandoned by their children.

The low-income support, pension for the elderly, and even the groceries brought by street offices, village committees, and poverty alleviation officials for condolence were often taken away by their children and grandchildren. This was a harsh reality.

As for those who became impoverished due to drug addiction or laziness, they weren't worth the consideration of Zhao Zhenzhen and Ji Tang.

The loss of ability to work was the primary cause of poverty in the lower strata of Hua Xia society.

However, the situation in this world was different. After several days of visiting, Ji Tang and Rex mainly saw impoverished groups consisting of young and middle-aged individuals, with hardly any sickly or elderly people in sight.

The reason was simple and brutal: those in their prime years were already struggling below the poverty line, so how could the sick and elderly even cope?

In a poverty-stricken village like Back Mountain Village, the oldest person Ji Tang and Rex saw was a woman in her early forties.

Where had all the older people gone? The answer was self-evident.

"There's a large number of impoverished young and middle-aged people. It's no wonder the people here are so calm when talking about war and see territorial wars as normal," said Zhao Zhenzhen, shaking her head. "Our people who can come over are us and the two old masters. There may not be much we can do, but what needs to be done, we must do. As for the consolidation of villages, it's best to start before winter."

Weisshem had a considerable amount of arable land for local farmers. Even though the contiguous and well-leveled land was mostly distributed to the Rhine nobles and occupied by their manor farms, the remaining land, if appropriately managed and gradually reclaimed, shouldn't have any problems feeding the twenty-thousand mouths of both farmers and townsfolk.

"The expert task force suggested this as well," Ji Tang said. "Advice from above is to seize the opportunity, pool enough local currency, and consolidate grain purchases to create a model village that attracts farmers to settle—"

Before Ji Tang could finish his sentence, a notification chime sounded, and a large block of yellow text popped up in his information panel…

Zhao Zhenzhen noticed Ji Tang tilting his head, as if looking at something diagonally downward, and immediately understood. "Lord Yang issued you a quest?"

Ji Tang stiffly raised his head and said wryly, "Lord Yang asked me to immediately organize manpower to install generators and lay power lines…"

The expert task force had set today as the deadline for Lord Yang's "delivery," and Zhao Zhenzhen found it somewhat amusing, saying, "This guy is really efficient. He's wasting no time the moment he gets the stuff."

The old wires the former Weisshem mayor installed on the town's main street were an eyesore to Lord Yang, and even less so to Ji Tang. During the construction and renovation works, they had taken the opportunity to eliminate these fire hazards and left gaps for laying cables according to the plan.

Lord Yang's request, which came late in the evening (it was only noon on Earth; the sky had turned dark in OtherWorld), was to immediately install generators and lay power lines. Ji Tang had no choice but to quickly log out and summon back Old Geng and Master Liu, who had finished their day's work and had gone offline. Together with Rex, Ban, Ossirian, Brook, and Lyka, who were classified as natives on their team, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

Having power lines exposed outside could easily lead to safety issues and theft. When renovating the main road of the town, Ji Tang had already instructed clerks to arrange for townspeople to dig underground spaces along both sides of the road to accommodate cables; after all, the roads in this world weren't prone to being crushed by heavy trucks, so there was no need to worry even if they were buried relatively shallow.

The 100 kW diesel generator taken from a mining facility could generate 100 kWh of electricity per hour, consuming around 30 liters of fuel. If only used for lighting in specific areas and powering small motors, two units would be sufficient for Weisshem. Indeed, Lord Yang asked Ji Tang to only install two.

Generators, transformers, and transmission cables were all Chinese products with excellent quality. The loss during the electrical transmission was so low that it could be practically neglected. However, to minimize the loss as much as possible, Ji Tang installed both generators on the main street to facilitate nearby electrical transmission.

Due to the shortage of manpower, they hadn't finished by the time dawn came (in OtherWorld). Ji Tang instructed the clerks to halt the temporary hiring of part-time laborers for half a day. The main street was sealed off, and they continued working.

The townspeople who came early in the morning to queue for work didn't know what was going on and were worried. They gathered outside the main street and refused to disperse.

Shirley nervously came to report the situation to Rex. Hearing that several hundred people were camped outside, Rex was also puzzled and looked to Ji Tang.

Ji Tang: "…"

"…Arrange a cultural performance for them!" Ji Tang, annoyed by the urgency, said. "Go find out if anyone with talent in singing and dancing is willing to perform near the street intersection. They can perform anything; the goal is to quiet down those people!"

Shirley, looking bewildered, rushed off to find performers, while Ji Tang used his authority as player-mayor authority to assign a quest to players that were online…

The players who were farming mobs, completing quests, or just idle chatting, saw the mayor's quest on the quests or their player panels and burst into laughter.

"Participate in a stage performance to pacify the restless townspeople? What sort of quest?"

"I can sing 'Little Apple,' but will the NPC townsfolk understand what I'm singing?"

"Ji Tang has been in office for so long without issuing quests that I thought he forgot about it. Seems like he's been saving up to unleash this ultimate move!"

Complaints aside, there were still quite a number of players who casually teleported to Weisshem, laughing and joking as they came to find Ji Tang…

"The heck! Are cables being laid here?" a player that had arrived immediately exclaimed when he saw the work site. "Look at you, Ji Tang. Sneaking around doing a hidden quest while letting the rest of us go dance?"

"It's just manual labor, there aren't any rewards! Can't you see everyone here is using tool accounts?" Ji Tang knew exactly how to shut these guys up and immediately struck with a decisive blow.

Hearing there were no rewards, the players present were dumbfounded and started talking all at once.

"Then how should we do this quest? Can I sing 'Little Apple'?"

"Forget about singing; the NPCs won't hear it." Ji Tang saw the players coming and immediately had the natives take off their lapel badges so he could speak without reservations. "Is there anybody that can dance? And someone who can organize a performance to appease the townsfolk will get double the rewards!"

With the promise of a generous reward, a brave player raised their hand immediately. "Me! I'll do it!"

———

The townsfolk, who had been crowding the intersection of the main street for almost an hour, anxiously looked toward the makeshift stage of wooden bricks.

Having received stable daily wages for the past few days, everyone greatly hoped for these days to last longer. Yet, this morning, they were suddenly told to stop working for half a day and return in the afternoon. Most townsfolk found it hard to feel at ease if they were to return home.

"Why did they suddenly say to stop working? Could it be that Mr. Rex doesn't have money to pay wages anymore?"

"Could it be those people the undead caught and brought back yesterday caused trouble?"

"O Lady Gold Coin, bless us…"

The townsfolk were exchanging uneasy whispers when suddenly, there was a commotion at the front.

People tried to tiptoe and look only to see a… muscular female warrior, dressed in a gorgeous gown, carrying a table around the cordon tapes and placing it in front of the crowd. She then climbed on the table and stood still.

The female warrior standing on the table scanned the hundreds of townsfolk blocking the intersection and raised her hand. "Hello, everyone!"

It wasn't the strange KABAKABA sounds but clear standard Mandarin.

However, the townspeople still couldn't understand and just stared at this person in confusion.

Although overly muscular, this person was clearly a woman, but why was a man's voice coming out from her?!

Players at the cordoned-off area shouted, "Don't waste time, Boss Orange Cat! Your transformation can't last much longer!"

"Yeah! While you can still produce vocal accompaniment, hurry up and sing!"

The RMB player with the ID "Orange Cat" had just reached level one, and his mana bar was very short. His illusory disguise couldn't be maintained for too long. He shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands out, striking a pose like a tenor, and began singing, "You are my little, ah, little apple—"

"F*ck, hahahaha!"

"Damn, he only knows how to sing 'Little Apple'!"

Teacher Yu Chi, who took on the task of organizing the performance, held onto her belly. "Stop laughing, stop laughing, dancers, hurry on up!"

The townspeople in the front row saw undead pouring out from behind the cordon tap and quickly squeezed backward, voluntarily making space.

Several players who came to the front formed a line in front of Boss Orange Cat's table. With arms slung and pelvis tilted, they started a rather uncoordinated line dance…

Teacher Yu Chi, who had just told everyone to stop laughing, was now rolling on the ground behind the cordon.


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