RoleplayNovel Chapter 1164 - 917: Shepherding_2
Chapter 1164 - 917: Shepherding_2
"Next, follow my command. Use the wood and stone you have to build cover—so long as it can block that hook, we win. Then use cultivation techniques, blueprints, and such as bait. As long as he gets a bit closer to us, we’ll contaminate him and turn him into one of the weird. The outside world is vast and boundless—we’ll have great prospects out there!"
"Nice idea! Then we just have to put on a show, right? No need to actually write any more cultivation techniques or pill formulas?"
"No. Not only do we have to write, we have to write them seriously. That kid is sharp as hell—we absolutely cannot slip up and anger him."
The weird ones huddled together, busy chopping trees and hauling rocks to build fortifications; they also rushed about copying and drafting cultivation techniques, pill formulas, and various blueprints, so busy they were running around like headless flies.
Jiang Yuan, meanwhile, went back into the Immortal Shuttle, took materials out of his Storage Bag, and began making a paper model Gundam.
The scenery outside the window felt like it would never change: a pure black backdrop with dim light, dotted with stars that shimmered, giving one the illusion that the Immortal Shuttle was standing still.
In this kind of environment, the flow of time became very blurred.
Fortunately, the Void Detector didn’t just show the time; it also displayed the route and the ETA for the Immortal Shuttle reaching the target coordinates, which was very handy.
"Look, that seems to be a world fragment up ahead!" Tang Qin sensed it first, got up to confirm, then reminded them, "It doesn’t look very big. Right now we can only see a tiny dot, but we’ll be closing in soon."
Ling Di twitched her ears and leaned over to look. "Woof woof! Such a tiny fragment, and it looks like there’s nothing on it."
[Approaching target ahead, estimated arrival in two minutes]
The system also issued a timely alert; Jiang Yuan was very curious about this first distress coordinate that was closest to them.
At a glance, the bare, dirt-yellow fragment looked like a magnified clod of earth. He couldn’t see a trace of green, nor any sign of human activity.
"There are houses!" As they drew closer, Yun Shu exclaimed, "And people! Living ones... well, in this situation, if they’re still ’living’ they might not be human anymore."
Tang Qin said gently, "I’ll slow the Immortal Shuttle down to the minimum. We’ll just glide past and take a look, and it’d be best not to meddle. Miss Yun Shu is right—on a fragment this lifeless, there isn’t even water; it’s impossible for humans to still be alive. They’re almost certainly weird."
At the same time, someone on the fragment also noticed the strange thing flying toward them from the horizon.
The parched ground had cracked open into huge fissures, and clumps of soil at the edges kept crumbling and falling away. The elderly Priest was prostrated on the altar; she lifted her head slightly, staring blankly at the massive object slowly approaching, forgetting even to recite the prayer.
"What is that thing?"
"Li Shuiwang, hurry up and ask your grandma what that is!"
"This is bad, this is bad. The Sun Star Monarch can grant us food and drink, but if we run into a monster, can He still come save us?"
"A pale yellow... doesn’t look like stone or wood, and it doesn’t really look like a monster either..."
......
The people taking part in the prayer were both shocked and frightened, whispering among themselves.
Ever since the heavens collapsed and the earth cracked, there hadn’t even been night for a long time. The blinding white sun shone on the land, and the well water quickly dried up; they couldn’t draw a single drop anymore. But they were fortunate that the village’s old Priest survived; she prayed to the god with utmost devotion and finally received a response.
Although the village had some conflicts over the food that fell from the sky, ever since the lightning struck from above, everyone had been very well-behaved.
After all, there were no fields left to till, nothing to do. In their free time the villagers gathered to shoot the breeze, and everyone felt their current life was pretty good.
No work, no worries; every few days they just had to pray once to receive enough food and water, with fresh vegetables and occasionally fragrant meat. It was far better than the old days when they slaved over the fields and still couldn’t get enough to eat!
Lately the sun had disappeared, but that didn’t affect their continued prayers to the Sun Star Monarch for food.
When it turned cold, there were brand-new cotton quilts, cotton jackets and pants, new shoes and socks, and everyone got a share! With food in their bellies and clothes on their backs, life was carefree; the villagers spent their days either sleeping or chatting, finding new ways to amuse themselves.
No villager dared to step out of line, and the old Priest’s timid grandson, Li Shuiwang, gradually grew a backbone. Not long after, under the banner of his grandma the High Priest, he started managing everything in the village.
With so much idle time and nothing to do, his hands itched; he secretly prayed to the Sun Star Monarch, asking for a set of dice so he could gamble a bit for fun, but sadly, he never got a response.
So he made a compromise: he married a wife, took concubines, and indulged day and night; the young women actually began getting pregnant one after another.
They had only just conceived, and when they prayed for gifts from the god two days ago, they actually got several extra bolts of cloth and some rare fruits.
Li Shuiwang started mulling it over: the Sun Star Monarch must be issuing supplies based on headcount. The more children they had, the more food and daily necessities they’d receive. He felt he had grasped the essence, and once he inherited his grandma’s position as High Priest, he planned to get every woman in the village pregnant with his own kids!
But before his grand cause of spreading his seed could formally begin, some unknown thing suddenly flew over from the sky. His heart leapt with nameless panic, afraid a real monster would show up and ruin his wonderful life.
"Miss Tang, please stop the Immortal Shuttle." Jiang Yuan was close enough now; after skimming through the detailed analysis the system popped up, he knew these were refugees the charity orders had been supporting all along.
He immediately instructed, "Yun Shu, they’re all mortals, not weird. This land is too barren and useless. Go explain the situation: anyone willing to leave, you’ll reach out and guide them away."
Tang Qin had her doubts, but she still followed the order and brought the Immortal Shuttle to a halt.
Yun Shu had served as a Guiding Envoy before, so she was very familiar with the process. Since sir only wanted the people and not the land, all she had to do was touch them with her hand to guide them to the place he had arranged.
She nodded in agreement, then nimbly flew out of the opened Immortal Shuttle, drifting above the parched ground. She spoke gently: "You are adrift in the Void with nowhere to rely on. My master has specially sent me to guide you to a safe and beautiful new world. Are you willing?"
When the fairy-like beauty flew over, Li Shuiwang’s eyes went wide and dazed.
He swallowed secretly, his mind wandering to indecent places, but when he heard talk of going to a new world, he instantly became wary. "Who is your master? What does he want to take us away for?"
The old Priest stood up shaking and said excitedly, "Shuiwang, can’t you see? This is a fairy sent by the Sun Star Monarch—she’s here to save us!"
She straightened up and bowed. "I’m willing to follow you to the new world. I just don’t know if these old bones of mine can take it."
"Don’t worry, elder. The guiding process is very quick; you won’t feel the slightest discomfort." Yun Shu smiled and extended her hand.
The old Priest turned to look at her grandson and those few pretty granddaughters-in-law, and said patiently, "Our lives aren’t worth much—no one would go out of their way to come here and swindle us. We pray day in and day out for the Sun Star Monarch to grant us a safe and joyful new home. Now that God’s envoy has come, how can we not hurry to follow?"
The few young women had absolute faith in her and quickly got up to stand behind Grandma.
Over half the villagers, having gone through the prayer incident, trusted the old Priest deeply as well; they immediately lined up behind her, waiting to be guided.
"Grandma, don’t let a monster trick you!" Seeing this, Li Shuiwang panicked at once. He hadn’t yet become the uncrowned king, sitting on all the women and commanding the winds and rain—how could everyone just leave?
He demanded, "Who prayed for a new home? I never asked for that! You, girl—this ’new world’ you want to take us to, what’ll it be like when we get there?"
Yun Shu explained patiently, "There are fertile fields there, villages, and rich forests. Once you arrive, you can reclaim farmland and grow crops, hunt, build houses, and live proper lives. You’ll no longer have to live in fear out here in the Void..."
Before she could finish, Li Shuiwang shouted, "Everyone, think this through. We’re under the protection of the Sun Star Monarch here. We just pray every few days and we have food and drink; we don’t have to do anything, just lie around and enjoy life.
Even if what she says is true and she’s not some man-eating monster, we’d still have to go back to toiling in the fields like before, scraping by off the land. What for? And if she is a man-eating monster, we’ll be dead as soon as we go with her!"
With his shouting, some people really did start wavering.
"Shuiwang, you’ve gotten addicted to living the easy life. You only want to enjoy blessings and don’t want to rely on your own two hands to live anymore." The old Priest looked at him coldly and said in a low voice, "To receive God’s mercy, you also have to pay the corresponding price.
Look around you. This piece of land is shedding fragments every moment, getting smaller and smaller. If we stay here, even if we can eat and drink our fill every day on God’s grace, once the land completely collapses, we can only wait for death.
I’ve been praying every day: begging the Sun Star Monarch to grant us a new home. After all this time, this is the one and only chance at survival we’ve encountered. If you won’t go, I will."