Hearing Chang Yi's call, Xing Shi also quickly stood up and walked over with his wolf.
The other idle miners also gathered around, their eyes sparkling.
Before Xing Shi could speak, a miner eagerly asked,
"Deputy Captain Chang Yi? Is the exploration of Mine Shaft No. 5 complete? Can we go down to the mine now?"
Chang Yi paused, then shook his head, "No, Conqueror of Demons hasn't returned yet, it's not about Mine Shaft No. 5."
"Then, is a strong enemy attacking?!"
At the mention of this, everyone grew even more excited, without a hint of worry.
"Then you'll have to speed up! We must defeat the enemy before that iron golem does."
"Right, right! Last time, seven or eight zombies and skeletons attacked, but before we even met them, those two iron golems smashed them away!"
"Although we understand the adults' good intentions, we also have combat power! The passion of Liyue citizens has never extinguished!"
The clamor made Xing Shi's face drop. He immediately reprimanded them in a deep voice,
"Quiet! What's all this noise about! Our duty is to acquire resources for Liyue! As for fighting, the Millelith brothers haven't mentioned it, so we can't interfere!"
"Each to their own duties, that is the rule we must abide by!"
Hearing this, the miners complained repeatedly.
"Deputy Captain Xing Shi, you have your own wolf, but you have to consider your brothers too!"
"We also want our own wolf!"
"Yeah! Deputy Captain Xing Shi, we're so envious of how close you are with your wolf every day!"
Hearing everyone mention his wolf, Xing Shi proudly stroked the wolf by his side.
"Don't talk nonsense, this is a reward from Madam Ningguang and the others for me. As long as everyone works hard, you'll have one too, sooner or later!"
"Besides, the number of wolf packs isn't large right now, so they must be prioritized for combat units."
"What's more, your current wages are already the highest in Liyue, don't be too greedy!"
A miner next to him scratched his head honestly.
"To be honest, Brother Xing Shi, even if you gave me gold now, I'd still prefer a wolf."
Hearing this, Xing Shi laughed and scolded,
"You rascal! Are you so dizzy from the abundant resources in the mine? Gold for you! These are Liyue's strategic resources. If the adults find out, you'll have to write a self-criticism!"
The miner awkwardly scratched his cheek.
"I was just joking! Besides, we're all for Liyue's development, how could I do such a thing?"
"Alright, alright, Deputy Captain Chang Yi, what urgent matter do you need our help with?"
Xing Shi interrupted the commotion and looked at Chang Yi seriously.
Chang Yi scratched his head and smiled,
"It's nothing major, we were just on patrol and thought about the lookout towers we built before."
"We feel that wooden material is too easy to ignite, so we'd like to ask you to help us replace them with stone lookout towers."
Hearing this, one of the miners immediately patted his chest and said,
"Hey! That's a small matter, no problem! Leave it to us!"
"The brothers are just bored anyway, so it's good to have something to do."
Seeing everyone easily agree, Chang Yi smiled and nodded.
"Then I'll leave it to you. How about… you take some wood and grain from our share afterward?"
The Millelith and miners stationed in this world.
Aside from receiving top-tier wages in Liyue, each person also had two shares of resource allocation.
Each person could take out half a stack of wood and grain.
If sold, it would be at least hundreds of thousands of Mora in income.
At first, everyone was very enthusiastic, always taking out a lot of wood whenever they left.
But over time, fewer and fewer people did this.
They simply didn't have the leisure.
After all, if they wanted to sell, they had to collect it themselves.
With that free time, they'd rather study the unique features of this world and build houses.
Moreover, because Liyue was continuously pouring various resources into the market, their wages kept increasing.
Even if they didn't earn as much as merchants, they could at least easily buy a house in Liyue.
These Millelith and miners didn't have grand ambitions.
Furthermore, being able to work with Adeptus and Qixing here, they clearly understood their importance to Liyue's development.
For them, this was the most important thing, something that could get its own page in their family genealogy in the future.
It was far more important than any money-making.
Therefore, once humanity resolves its survival needs, what it seeks is spiritual fulfillment.
Of course, if they still had any material pursuits…
A wolf of their own, or an enchanted weapon.
Rejecting Chang Yi's offer of reward, the miners eagerly picked up their tools to modify the lookout towers.
In fact, the original plan was just to modify the lookout towers, but everyone put their heads together.
Since there were enough hands, they might as well do a complete overhaul.
Stone walls, lookout towers, fortifications…
Even their own houses and farms began to be renovated.
In the end, the Millelith temporarily put down their weapons and enthusiastically joined the era of grand transformation with their tools.
As for security…
To be honest, they were just the last line of defense.
In front were iron golems, and behind them were wolf packs.
If those two couldn't hold up, they wouldn't fare much better either.
They even started building fish ponds and fountains for aesthetic purposes under the guidance of the Millelith who had visited Jiang Xuan's Manor Villa.
Overall, everything went smoothly.
Xiao, after placing torches all the way down and finding no particularly dangerous creatures in the mine, led his team back.
…
Two days passed in a flash.
These two days, Teyvat remained as before.
In Mondstadt, the Anemo Archon began his bardic deception, having Lumine and Jean collect Dvalin's tears.
The Inazuma war continued tirelessly, and Beidou's shipment of iron ore was on its way.
The Fatui stationed in Liyue Harbor, after being dealt with once more, behaved themselves and purchased coal and iron ore.
As for whether they secretly started investigating the source of these high-quality resources…
The Ministry of Civil Affairs couldn't be bothered. What could they find out, no matter how much they investigated?
The small courtyard at the foot of Mt. Tianheng?
If they weren't afraid of death, they could go there. Ningguang and Keqing still had two wolves each, a pack of four wolves in total.
Even an entire reconnaissance team would be hard-pressed to return intact.
On the other hand, the Sumeru Akademiya was in a panic due to the sudden price increase and the Ministry of Civil Affairs' strict investigation.
But the Sages were all unreachable at the moment, and they didn't know what to do next.
They could only grudgingly endure being severely exploited.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs initially estimated a Mora income of less than 30 billion, but their final calculations showed a potential profit of nearly 50 billion Mora this time.
Everyone walked with a spring in their step, overjoyed.
After all, money gives people confidence!
The Minecraft World was also normal. The miners resumed mining, and Xiao was called by Cloud Retainer to help her flatten the land on the back mountain.
She was preparing to renovate Jueyun Karst.
If there was any significant event…
Jiang Xuan and his team discovered a Nether Fortress.
Two days ago, after collecting resources, everyone built an aerial walkway made of Netherrack and began traversing the Lava Ocean to collect resources.
These two days, they harvested a good amount of Magma Cream and Ghast Tears.
They even killed two Endermen and made several trades with Piglins, obtaining many important materials.
During this time, they also witnessed the Piglins' victory dance after hunting Hoglins.
Compared to the villagers in the Overworld, Piglins seemed more like nomads.
Everyone also believed that Piglins were indeed the only intelligent creatures in the Nether.
The result of all this was…
Hu Tao failed to sell coffins, leading everyone to be chased by the Piglins.
But as the saying goes, misfortune can be a blessing in disguise.
It was after being chased the previous afternoon that they found the Nether Fortress.
After collecting a good amount of Soul Sand nearby, Jiang Xuan prepared to lead the team into the Nether Fortress.
At this moment, standing in the air, observing the distant Nether Fortress.
Zhongli parried a Ghast's fire charge with a single sword stroke, causing another Ghast Tear to drop.
Everyone was used to this by now.
After all, they had killed many Ghasts these past two days.
Hu Tao grinned, hands on her hips, and looked at Jiang Xuan.
"See! It's all thanks to me, the Director, and my trade with the Piglins. Otherwise, we'd still be searching for the Nether Fortress for a long time!"
Jiang Xuan chuckled and shook his head, saying nothing more.
The Nether Fortress looked unchanged, floating on the Lava Ocean, appearing dangerous and eerie.
But Jiang Xuan knew it was truly dangerous.
He clearly saw two black sword-wielding skeletons wandering aimlessly on the fortress bridge.
Wither Skeletons!
A disgusting monster that inflicts the Wither status effect.
Aside from that, a quick glance revealed over a dozen Blazes wandering around.
They emerged from a small room not far away, clearly a Blaze Spawner.
But in reality, Jiang Xuan had no intention of fully developing the Nether Fortress this time.
Blazes and Wither Skeletons were both very important monsters, especially the Wither Skeleton Skulls dropped by Wither Skeletons.
These were almost essential for Jiang Xuan to obtain.
But for now, Jiang Xuan only wanted Nether Wart and more Soul Sand.
If there was an opportunity, he'd raid the Chests in the Nether Fortress!
He was eighty percent sure there would be plenty of Diamonds, and even Diamond Equipment inside.
At the very least, there would be Horse Armor.
This Chest was very rich, but the difficulty of obtaining it was also very high.
Two Wither Skeletons were wandering around the Chest.
The Wither effect from the Wither Skeletons was too nasty.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xuan had only brought one bucket of Milk this time, and the shield was half-broken from dealing with Magma Cubes, leaving only Zhongli's half-durability one.
The main issue was that killing Wither Skeletons without a Wither Skeleton Skull drop would be pointless.
Moreover, with so many Blazes outside, being surrounded would be quite troublesome.
The best solution was to come back next time with enough shields, then they could even farm indefinitely inside the Nether Fortress without issue.
Pondering, Jiang Xuan's gaze focused on the Nether Wart in another room.
There was a good quantity, and once brought back with Soul Sand, he could cultivate them himself.
After some thought, Jiang Xuan pointed to the room filled with Nether Wart.
"Let's go over the battle plan!"
Everyone quieted down, listening intently to Jiang Xuan's plan.
"Soon, we'll build a bridge with Netherrack directly to the Nether Wart room. After we dig a hole, I'll immediately go in to block the entrance, and you just need to dig up all the Nether Wart and Soul Sand."
"If there are Blazes inside…"
Zhongli spoke up,
"I will eliminate them."
Jiang Xuan nodded.
"Be careful. After you've cleared it, we'll leave immediately, then continue building a bridge to the Blaze Spawner room."
"This time, we need to collect at least one stack of Blaze Rods. Is that clear, everyone?"
Everyone immediately nodded seriously. Jiang Xuan said no more and whispered,
"Operation start!"
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