Chapter 111: Chapter 111

She took Professor Su on a tour of the quarry camp, starting with the housing. The buildings were all connected, resembling the Chinese character for “country” (国)—many small rooms.

“These houses are for the quarry workers to rest in. The largest room at the entrance is your benefit as supervisor, and it’ll make managing the quarry easier for you.

The single rooms behind are for the workers. The rent is much cheaper than the treehouses. Anyone can apply to be a quarry worker, but efficiency varies. You can select and train a few. If we ever discover a mineral vein, these people will be useful. Once you’re a supervisor, the benefits are the same.”

“This is the quarry tunnel. To save space and ensure safety, only the entrance is inside the camp, so quarrying can’t be done in the open. How to dig inside without causing a collapse is something you’ll need to watch out for.”

“And outside the camp are petrifying lizards. Their powers are strange—their gaze can turn people to stone. The territory shield now has a visual barrier, so people outside can’t see in. Be sure to warn everyone not to go out lightly. Without the shield blocking their gaze, just one look and you’re petrified. In severe cases, it’s irreversible,” Mu Ying said, pointing out the stone bird she’d stepped on before.

Professor Su’s expression grew serious and he nodded solemnly.

“Lastly, I’d appreciate it if you could help keep my identity a secret,” Mu Ying said, a little embarrassed.

Professor Su nodded. “With your strength, many suspect you’re the lord. Even if it’s revealed, no one would dare do anything.”

“I just don’t like dealing with all the social stuff, and I don’t want to stand out too much. Even with this strength, it’s not really safe,” Mu Ying said with a sigh. “I’ll keep it secret as long as I can!”

“Oh, and I’ve given your wife teleportation access too. You can both move in tonight. The quarry camp will be fully open tomorrow…”"

"‘The stone quarry camp is open!’

‘Let’s go check it out!’

‘Let’s go, let’s go!’

The opening of the stone quarry camp caused a commotion almost as big as when the Mushroom People’s Theater was recruiting. Anyone with a couple of spare copper coins wanted to join in the fun.

Recruitment at the Mushroom People’s Theater had long since ended. The mushroom folk were now cooped up inside rehearsing every day, and even their young ones rarely came out to play at night anymore.

People’s interest in the underground glow-forest had already faded. Aside from buying mushroom specialties from the mushroom folk, few people went there anymore.

The quarry camp had become the latest hotspot, because, after all, money dangling in front of you is always more tempting than pretty scenery.

Mu Ying teleported over as well, blending into the crowd to observe the first day of mining.

Professor Su led everyone to the tool shed. ‘As you can see, there are only so many tools here—there’s no way everyone can have one. So, we’re going to hold a stone quarry competition. Those who work efficiently will get priority access to the tools. The top three will also win the right to rent a room in the rest area at a low price—just two copper coins a day.’

Two copper coins was an absolute bargain, instantly igniting everyone’s enthusiasm.

This idea was both fresh and practical. It livened up daily life and also helped identify the best miners. It was actually Professor Su’s wife, Du Jinlan, who came up with it. She was also a university professor, though she taught business.

Yesterday, Professor Su had already consulted Mu Ying, who immediately hired Professor Du as well, giving her the same official resident status and salary. Her position was territory business manager, and for now, she was helping Professor Su manage the quarry camp.

As the territory’s only dual-official-resident family, the professors’ household was the envy of many.

Those signing up for the competition were quickly divided into ten groups of a hundred people each, competing in different time slots. Each group would mine for one hour, and rankings would be based on the amount of stone each person collected.

The first group received brand-new tools and followed Professor Su into the mine. Inside, he’d marked out mining spots with sand, so all they had to do was dig at those points. There was no limit to the size of the stones; it was all tallied by weight.

After an hour, first place in the first group went to a barbarian warrior known for his strength, who collected eight units of stone. The lowest was Dong Xiaogang, who was just a kid and an agile ranger by trade—he only managed half as much as the winner.

The competition continued into the evening. Many people grew impatient waiting and wanted to try their luck outside the camp. After all, the quarry camp’s barrier only blocked outside views; people inside could see out, and they soon noticed a group of petrifying lizards wandering around the stone forest.

Though the petrifying lizards looked tough and dangerous, with so many people and the camp so close by, they figured if they couldn’t win, they could always run back in time.

Fortunately, Professor Du noticed the situation in time and used the petrified bird to issue a warning, preventing any major casualties.

Of course, those who ignored the warning and boldly tried to be the first to ‘eat the crab’ paid the price—getting a taste of nearly being petrified. If their teammates hadn’t carried them back, they might have ended up as lizard food.

With a human-shaped statue standing motionless out there, no one dared take another step forward.

That person probably had low constitution and poor defense, and was petrified even longer than Mu Ying had been that day.

Luckily, they were still within the safe zone and not fully petrified; after some time, they recovered.

The competition continued into the night, and the results were posted on the rest house’s outer wall. Tool allocation would follow the rankings: those near the top got priority, while those lower down might have to bring their own tools if they wanted to mine.

Professor Su also announced that those with high monthly mining output could become official quarry workers. As long as they maintained their output, they’d get the privilege of renting a rest house at a low price.

No one dislikes special privileges—especially now, when most people are crammed together in treehouses. A cheap rental house made those who did well today clench their fists, determined to give it their all.

Maybe this enthusiasm would be temporary, and eventually, like the Mushroom People’s Theater, only a few would stick with it. But it was a good start, at least, and would help speed up road construction.

By Mu Ying’s calculations, even counting the stone she’d mined before, it would take over two months to gather enough materials for the road. But with this boost in enthusiasm, maybe it could be done in less than two months.

With the quarry now running smoothly, Mu Ying could relax and start thinking about how to deal with those petrifying lizards.

She still couldn’t let go of what Copper Coin 559 had said about raising petrifying lizards. After all, why kill the goose that lays golden eggs when you could keep it alive for more eggs?

If ghouls weren’t undead with rotting bodies and non-regenerating claws and tongues, she’d consider raising them too. After all, ghouls only eat out of compulsion—they won’t die if they don’t eat. That’s practically a money-making machine.

The petrifying lizard’s real power lay in its eyes, which were also valuable. Mu Ying didn’t want to waste them.

How could she harvest their blood repeatedly and sustainably?

She considered setting up a camp just for raising petrifying lizards, but living creatures like these couldn’t be easily contained by her camp boundaries. If they resisted, the camp wouldn’t accept them.

The territory’s rules only worked on those who understood and wanted to stay, since the penalties were confiscation of property or expulsion—neither of which worked on lizards.

She’d have to tame the petrifying lizards step by step.

Maybe she could put sunglasses on them?

No, that wouldn’t work. She didn’t have the materials to make sunglasses, and even if she bought them, they probably wouldn’t work as intended. With so many lizards together, they’d just knock them off, and sunglasses wouldn’t fully block their gaze anyway.

Besides, safely drawing their blood was another big problem. After thinking it over, the only way was to find a way to knock them out.

That meant working on potions. She’d have to check the library during the trial, find a low-cost potion recipe, and ideally grow the necessary herbs herself to cut costs.

She also needed to research the lizards’ diet to find what they liked best, so she could lure them into getting used to being fed and gradually domesticate them.

It was a complicated and tedious process, but fortunately, she still had time before all the stone was gathered. She only had two second-circle spells left to learn, and was still a ways off from reaching level 5, so she had time to work on this. If she succeeded, it would be another profitable industry and create more jobs.

By then, once the road was finished, it would be another highlight to attract new residents."

"“Nightshade, datura, rosemary…”

Mu Ying carefully sorted the herb seeds she’d brought back from the trial world. These were the ingredients she’d found for the coma potion—each of the main herbs was poisonous.

She set aside a small plot in her plantation specifically for growing the ingredients needed for the coma potion.

“Don’t touch anything growing in this patch, got it?” she warned Yuan Gun Gun.

Yuan Gun Gun gnawed on an iron bamboo shoot, completely uninterested in the tiny seedlings: Those little sprouts? No way I’d bother with them!

Every day, Mu Ying watered the herbs with spring water and cast plant magic on them. After two weeks, they’d grown a lot, but they still weren’t mature—the parts needed for the potion hadn’t developed yet.