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

Early in the morning, Caroline was woken up by a commotion coming from the hall. She got out of bed, pulled aside the door curtain, and saw that the lady of the household next door had come to their house and was anxiously speaking with Winnie.

Caroline asked at once, "What's going on, Mom?"

The second aunt of the Meghan family had already bragged to everyone that Caroline could speak with Mr. Rex. The worried neighbor, seeing Caroline come out, seemed to see hope and asked, "My family went to seek work on the main street this morning and found it blocked off and the hiring ceased. Caroline, do you know what's going on?"

"She rested at home all of yesterday and didn't go out. How would she know?" Mrs. Winne said.

"I don't know anything," Caroline stepped out of the room and asked with concern, "Can you explain in more detail?"

The neighbor quickly recounted what happened when her family members went to queue for work but were obstructed from going in.

After listening to the neighbor's explanation, Caroline roughly understood what was going on.

The townspeople either worried that the new lord might be in trouble and couldn't pay up for the odd jobs or that they were no longer hiring everyone that signed up, using a half-day off as an excuse to eliminate some.

While this notion might sound somewhat laughable, it wasn't funny at all as it involved personal interests. It was only normal for people to worry about gains and losses.

Caroline had seen the heaps of fabric in the town hall's store that were stacked high to the ceiling. She was very certain that Mr. Rex couldn't be short of money.

Mr. Rex was even willing to give a chance to four Weisshem youngsters with no background, allowing them to buy fabric on credit and make a substantial profit. Caroline didn't believe that Mr. Rex would be stingy with the temporary job opportunities for the townspeople, who were paid on a daily basis.

Thus, she smiled and said, "Don't worry too much. If the clerks say it's just a half-day break, then it would be fine to return in the afternoon."

"R-really? Can we go in the afternoon?" Caroline's neighbor didn't seem to believe it.

"Of course." Caroline took her neighbor's hand, patted lightly to convey confidence, and said, "My grandfather went to work at the sanitation bureau early this morning. He's cooperating with his colleagues to clean up those abandoned old houses on the west side, saying it's to eliminate some… fire hazards. Even my grandfather is continuing to work, so how could Mr. Rex possibly be fussy?"

Caroline's neighbor contemplated for a bit, and her tense facial muscles finally relaxed.

"I feel so much more relieved hearing you say that," said her neighbor, with a hand on her chest. "When I returned, I saw undead escorting those locked-up militia digging the sewers in the neighboring block. I heard those locked-up militiamen get paid for working too."

"Locked-up militia" was a general term used by the townsfolk for those in custody. The reason they used such neutral terminology was that some townspeople's family members were also locked up… Some were militia, others were bouncers, and there were even some revelers on the main street.

After seeing off the neighbor, Caroline turned to Winnie. "Mom, I'll go check the main street. Where did I put my beige linen dress?"

"You've only rested for a day. Are you going out now?" Winnie said, slightly unhappy.

"I've rested for a whole day. It's already more than enough, Mom. I wanted to visit that deli yesterday, but you didn't let me go~" Caroline coquettishly clung to Winnie's arm.

Mrs. Winnie was helpless to her daughter's charms. "It's because I'm afraid you will spend your money recklessly! Alright, alright. You're already an adult and still speak like this! Your dress is hanging in the yard. I'll bring it in later."

Caroline put on the linen dress her mother had washed and headed out to Martin Street, where she took a detour to Weisshem's main street. Due to the ongoing construction and debris from the buildings on that street, many alleys were closed off. If residents from the northern living area wanted to go to the main street, they had to either use Town Hall Street or take a detour through Martin Street.

After going through half the town and reaching the three-way intersection leading to the town gate, Caroline witnessed a scene that thoroughly shocked her…

The intersection near the entrance to Weisshem's main street was spacious, almost like a small square, and at the moment, it was densely packed with several hundred townspeople, all sitting on the ground.

These seated townspeople were very quiet, their heads inclined slightly upward, focusing on the cordoned-off zone directly in front of them.

In front of the cordoned-off zone, a square table was set up. When Caroline arrived, she saw a lady in an exquisite ball gown, with a physique more robust than a man's, standing atop the table and singing.

Caroline couldn't understand the lyrics at all; it sounded like a language from another world. However, the language barrier didn't prevent her from grasping the power in the singer's voice—powerful, deep, and resonant, seemingly more forceful than her throat could handle.

Although it was just the rhythmic sense created by a simple human voice and incomprehensible lyrics, Caroline felt like it was a massive tsunami crashing on her via her hearing.

———

Rewinding back to 15 minutes ago, when Caroline had rushed out of her house, holding the hem of her skirt.

The song was chaotic and Boss Orange Cat couldn't even recall the lyrics properly. He hadn't been singing for three minutes when his "energy bar" was depleted, and the robust female warrior transformed back into a skeleton.

The bizarre tune that confounded the townspeople turned into a "KABAKABA" they were familiar with… Those who had just been laughing at the skeletons' odd dance moves were stunned.

"—It's an undead indeed!" a spectator muttered under his breath.

Others, in hindsight, commented, "It can only be an undead… Otherwise, how can she be mixing with the undead?"

"What are they all doing? Are they performing for us?" Someone made a bold guess.

Hearing this speculation, some townsfolk expressed their surprise. "Eh? This is a performance?"

"No way, how can these weird sounds be a performance?"

"The funky dance can still be counted. Their dancing is quite amusing. But that undead that turned into a human… What exactly is that!"

"Yeah, it sounds terrible!"

There was a language barrier between the players putting on the performance and the townspeople watching the show. However, it didn't mean that the two sides were entirely unable to communicate.

The townsfolk pointed at the dancing players, laughing heartily. But when they looked at the singing Orange Cat, confusion, perplexity, and helplessness could be seen in their eyes. Even a fool could see whom the townspeople favored more.

Orange Cat jumped off the table dejectedly and ran back behind the cordoned-off zone. "What's going on? Doesn't art have no boundaries? I don't speak English, but I'm still happy listening to English songs. Why aren't these NPCs appreciating it?"

Teacher Yu Chi, who originally planned to offer a few comforting words, was dumbfounded. "Wait a minute. You can't even sing 'Little Apple' properly, yet you have the audacity to call that art? Are all you wealthy folks this shameless?"

"And you are still a teacher?? How is there so much venom in your mouth?!" Orange Cat was also astonished.

A nearby player chuckled. "If it weren't for the language barrier, the two of you could make a popular comedy duo."

Orange Cat staunchly defended his artistic integrity. "I don't think it's an issue with me. It's probably because there are no microphones or speakers here. My voice wasn't loud enough and the NPCs couldn't hear clearly. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been such an awkward stage."

"I can vouch for it!" One of the dancer players raised a hand. "Boss Orange Cat sang quite well, I nearly burst out laughing several times. Even my four-year-old nephew can't produce such amusing entertainment!"

The Orange Cat nodded enthusiastically at the first part of the statement but immediately stiffened up in the latter half. Without saying a word, he unsheathed his freshly enchanted weapon, bared his teeth, and charged at the player who had dared ridicule him.

Orange Cat was quite popular, and everyone knew about his lackluster gaming skills. Not a single person intervened to stop him from chasing after the player, and they stood around, laughing heartily.

"A lack of a sound system does make it less interesting." Teacher Yu Chi took Orange Cat's opinion seriously and was troubled. "Even buskers on the streets carry a small speaker with them, but here, we rely on vocal power alone. If the NPCs can't hear clearly, then it's wasted even if someone sings well."

When Tang Jia, laughing along with Yang Ying, heard this, she immediately straightened up. "Need a loud voice? How fortuitous, let me handle it!"

Borrowing Orange Cat's Orb of Deception and looping it around her neck, Tang Jia confidently took to the stage.

Before starting her performance, Tang Jia even turned around and shouted, "No one is allowed to come out and dance. If dancers steal the limelight, no one will appreciate my singing."

Orange Cat was already dejected, and hearing this made it worse as he exclaimed in frustration, "Why didn't you say that when I was up there? Gummy, you aren't a good person at all!"

Revealing a female warrior figure similar to Orange Cat's, Tang Jia wasted no time showcasing her extraordinary talent—an in-built, booming voice that resembled a sound system. With full confidence, she began to roar, "Vigorous, when facing the beatings of ten thousand heavy waves!" [TL note: the song is 男儿当自强 (A Man Should Strengthen Himself), a popular kung fu anthem in movies.]

Teacher Yuchi: "…(°A°`)"

Players: …"(° △°(° △° (° △° )"

Tang Jia's powerful voice was a menace to anyone who crossed paths with her; a mere casual greeting by Tang Jia could be like a sudden and thunderous shout that could leave one dizzy and disoriented.

This often disruptive vocal prowess, when employed for singing songs that exuded heroic and ambitious sentiments, surprisingly yielded remarkable results. Pronunciation and enunciation became rhythmic, akin to having a built-in drumbeat. It was especially heart-stirring—not necessarily better than a professional singer, but undoubtedly hardcore.

Before Tang Jia even completed two lines, the hushed whispers of the town's NPCs quieted down. Midway through the performance, the mesmerized town NPCs even silently took their seats, utterly focused on appreciating the spectacle.

"Art truly has no boundaries; you can appreciate it even if you can't understand it." Teacher Yu Chi nodded approvingly.

Orange Cat: "…" Are you mocking me?!

Tang Jia's "energy bar" seemed to have no end in sight as she maintained the illusionary performance for over half an hour. After the rousing manly anthem, she launched into another stirring song.

This girl had never learned to sing, but her naturally powerful voice, combined with a lack of concern for straining her throat—thanks to the "game"—allowed her to unleash high notes without any restrictions.

The effect was astounding, and even the indigenous locals, who were far from connoisseurs of soulful entertainment, as well as players accustomed to various genres of popular songs, were left dumbfounded.

"Amazing! She's even more engaging than the live performance by the singer my old man hired!" Orange Cat gasped in surprise. "How does Little Gummy, this silly and noisy girl, have such remarkable special talent?!"

"What sort of opinion did you have about Tang Jia?!" Yang Ying looked over wryly.

"Your dad hires a singer for live performances? Damn, so what I read in web novels about rich folk inviting celebrities to perform at their homes is true?" Another player focused on this discovered nugget.

"What nonsense! It was a commercial performance for the opening of a shopping mall." Orange Cat quickly waved dismissively. "Who the heck bothers inviting people to sing at their homes. Isn't vinyl music pleasant enough?"

"Your family owns a shopping mall, and you use vinyl records!"

"…Are you guys done?"

As Tang Jia sang "A Man Should Strengthen Himself," the windows of the family inn close to the main street were pushed open. Mrs. Doyle, her husband, and the guests staying at the Doyles' inn all appeared at the windows.

The penetrating melody reached the adjacent Martin Street, attracting many residents and shopkeepers to come.

When Caroline arrived, Tang Jia, atop the table, was already singing the third song, "March of the Volunteers."

The song was entirely different from the previous two entertaining pieces. To natives who couldn't understand the powerful and unfamiliar tones, it was no longer just a soul-stirring experience. It was as if someone was using a sledgehammer to pound on their hearts and souls, and each one of them listened intently, forgetting everything from before…

Half a block away, in the former mayor's house, Inspector Lowell, who was wondering where Yang Qiu had obtained the "miniature" generator from, suddenly sensed a subtle oppressiveness for a brief moment.

This sensation, second only to Yang Qiu's, made the seasoned ascetic hesitate. Not believing he was mistaken, Lowell stepped out of the hall into the courtyard, releasing his mental field, carefully and cautiously sensing the energy fluctuations in the surrounding space.

There weren't any anomalies whatsoever. It was as if the brief and subtle oppressive sensation was merely due to his hyperactive nerves.

After contemplating for a moment, Lowell instructed Wagner to watch over the house. Changing into his shoes, he left for the town hall.

When seeing Yang Qiu in the town hall's archive room, the latter spoke before Lowell could say anything, "You sensed it too, Inspector?"

"What was that?" Inspector Lowell asked.

"I don't know." Yang Qiu shook his head in slight displeasure. "Some unknown entity cast a glance at Weisshem. Such an overbearing gaze is rather impolite."

Lowell: "…"

In a stoic manner, Lowell said, "You felt offended just because an unknown entity was observing?"

"A feeble existence so weak that even its gaze is barely detectable; paying this much attention here would seem rather improper."

What he said made sense. An unknown entity's observation that was barely detectable had no way of affecting the material plane. It was far inferior to the elder gods in the midst of their resurrection.

However, Lowell still thought Yang Qiu was too optimistic and expressed his disagreement, "Don't you think that perhaps this unknown entity came because of your peculiar undead?"

Invading the material world with fearsome monsters from the boundless void was no easy task. It also required the assistance of unstable spatial rifts to penetrate the barriers of the material world. It was different from the Dimensional Realms, especially those incomplete realms without even a demon lord, which became the playground for void demons.

Yang Qiu chuckled. "Absolutely impossible!"

The world barrier of the Earth plane was much more formidable than this magical plane! Even the tentacles of elder gods couldn't pass through, and even a target marked out had to be dragged over here!

Had Yang Qiu not been fused with the tentacle of the damned elder god and tainted with its aura, making it easy for the damned elder god to locate and drag him back, he would have long gone into hiding on Earth, living out his retirement!

Inspector Lowell stared at Yang Qiu for a bit, then said softly, "Are you certain your undead won't be influenced by entities of the void…? After all, your undead aren't from the Dimensional Realm."

Yang Qiu smiled but didn't say anything more.

At the time when Yang Qiu utilized the portion of eldritch power obtained from fusing with the elder god's tentacle to transport the void aura to Exile Town, he no longer cared whether this holy inspector would see through the players.

Roughly getting it, Inspector Lowell didn't delve deeper into the matter. He merely cast a profound glance at Yang Qiu. "You… are too confident. Your undead aren't protected by the profound rules of this world; they do not belong to this realm."

"Thank you, Inspector." Yang Qiu understood that Lowell was accustomed to concealing concern behind a solemn facade, and he accepted his goodwill with a smile. "I'm afraid I cannot reveal the true origin of our undead friends to you. But I can tell you that if everyone else is susceptible to mental corruption, they absolutely wouldn't."

Spiritual projections had to be impervious to contamination, much like a person wearing immaculate clothes standing before a grimy mirror. No matter how tarnished the reflection in the mirror, the individual facing it couldn't be affected in the slightest.

Inspector Lowell frowned, shaking his head in silence. Then, he turned to leave.

"Wait first, Inspector." Yang Qiu stood up, halting Lowell with a gracious smile. "If you have the time, why not come and witness the efforts our undead friends are making to enhance the quality of life for the people of Weisshem?"

While players were organizing a concert to soothe the townsfolk, Ji Tang and the others hastened to lay electrical wires and install the generators. They prioritized providing power to the town hall, Lord Yang's residence, two resettlement points, the Undead Merchants Association canteen branch, and the first completed oil mill.

This oil mill was proposed by Ji Tang, the player mayor, immediately upon Rex's return from the countryside investigation on the first day. Due to the underdeveloped livestock industry in Weisshem, there was a substantial demand for edible oil among the locals. Venturing into livestock farming was impractical, so Ji Tang discovered that local farmers had a habit of using soybeans for crop rotation. Every household stored a considerable amount of soybeans for bartering or as emergency provisions, making soybean oil extraction a natural consideration.

Easily convinced by Ji Tang, Rex visited Yang Qiu on the same day. Through a challenging negotiation (primarily because Rex couldn't comprehend why Ji Tang believed Yang could acquire sophisticated machinery not even found in the Kenyan Empire), Yang Qiu agreed to their request, unapologetically adding the bill for the oil mill to Rex's account.

Rex incurred the debt, and the originally refurbished "Lover Club" now housed an oil mill, featuring a made-in-China manufactured fully automatic spiral oil press (produced by H Province Machinery Factory, with a factory price of 23,000 yuan, similar to the generator but more compact), a steaming and roasting pot, and two fully automatic multifunctional tofu machines (with a factory price of approximately 13,000 yuan).

Leading Inspector Lowell to the oil mill, Yang Qiu, accompanied by Ji Tang, Rex, and Zhao Zhenzhen, found three individuals, along with several orc assistants, tuning the machines in the workshop. As the two of them swaggered in, besides the orc personnel Rex had set to oversee the oil mill, who appeared somewhat nervous, the others didn't spare them much attention.

Yang Qiu handed a lapel badge with a cuckoo flower pattern to Inspector Lowell, who hesitated for a moment before accepting it.

The Mind Imprint matrix wasn't an original creation by Yang Qiu. When a spellcaster decided to set up a mage tower in a certain location, they would set up the mage tower as the matrix core, creating a semi-permanent mind matrix that covered the entire territory. Locals who possessed the token bestowed by the spellcaster could join the matrix, gaining assistance in times of danger. In the unfortunate event of being murdered, they could also leave behind mental information in the matrix to expose the true culprit.

In simple terms, it was a magical version of a regional local area network, providing a certain level of security. That's why all lords in different regions eagerly hoped for a spellcaster to come and build a mage tower and were willing to offer generous benefits.

Building a mage tower consumed both time and money and restricted the spellcaster's personal range of activities. Yang Qiu directly used his own body as the matrix core, something that only a three-hundred-year-old monster like him could pull off.

The moment Inspector Lowell grasped the lapel badge in his hand, he noticed that Ji Tang and Zhao Zhenzhen's peculiar "KABAKABA" sounds had transformed into a clear, organized conversation between a young man and a woman.

Surprised, he shifted his gaze to Zhao Zhenzhen, distinctly hearing the reliable and warm female voice emitted by the skeleton—

"…Newly harvested soybeans can't be pressed straight away; they have too much moisture. Did you set up the steaming and roasting equipment?"

A deep and steady male voice came from the other skeleton—

"That one over there… The biggest issue now is that the soybean varieties planted here aren't great. I estimate the oil yield is only around 10%."

Zhao Zhenzhen remarked, "10% is acceptable; it's better than not getting any oil. Use the leftover soybean cake to make tofu directly; it won't go to waste. Given the current weather, making dried tofu is more suitable, allowing for longer storage… Oh, we also need to find a place for the tofu residue. Didn't they say there are some abandoned houses concentrated northwest of Martin Street in the town? I think it's a good idea to gather those empty houses to raise some chickens and ducks, providing more sources of meat and eggs. It will also diversify the quality of food for the townspeople. What do you think, Rex?"

Lord Rex of Weisshem clearly couldn't keep up; he was utterly bewildered and didn't understand how the conversation had transitioned from soybean oil pressing to raising chickens and ducks. After a momentary daze, he finally said, "This… should be possible. Those two alleys over there are empty, only a few households live there. Uh, do we need to go and get some hatchlings?"

"No need. Naturally hatched chicks and ducklings have too high a cost and aren't cost-effective or scalable." Zhao Zhenzhen waved her hand. "Just gather some fertilized chicken and duck eggs. We can hire people for incubation and breeding, and it will also create a few more job opportunities."

Rex shot a puzzled look at Ji Tang. Hatch ourselves? What was Ms. Zhao Zhenzhen talking about? How do you hatch eggs without mother hens?

"Oh, I can handle that. No problem. I'll teach the workers when the time comes," Ji Tang responded casually.

Rex: "…"

Rex silently wiped off the beads of sweat on his forehead and became even more cautious while assisting these two individuals. Both of them surpassed him in skill and had much broader knowledge. Trying to maintain the lordly air without embarrassing himself was already considered a careful approach on his part.

Rex, who could barely understand some parts, had this look on him. As for the orc Ossirian and his compatriots who were learning as well, they couldn't mask their expressions as well…

Yang Qiu chuckled as he watched the two national team members who were exceptionally skilled at training people. He turned to Inspector Lowell and said, "Our undead friends are truly remarkable. I'm really not boasting, don't you think so, Inspector?"

Inspector Lowell: "…"