Facing Klegg's doubts, Feilin went to the temple first and secured Ange's approval, then took the entire management team to Ange's Luminous Moss field.
"So, that's how it works. By using different substrates and broken stone as a drainage system to drain excess water. My goodness, such a simple method allowing two distinctly humid-demanding things to grow in the same field. It really is remarkable," Klegg conceded, admitting defeat with admiration.
"Master Feilin, the owner of this field possesses farming techniques far superior to ours. Could he possibly be a druid? Can he come help us manage and improve our fields?"
"In your dreams," Feilin smirked in satisfaction and replied, "You all can't stay here for long, so take a good look, record the details and then leave. This area has already been declared a restricted zone by me. Without permission, even I cannot enter."
He really was clueless when it came to technology and was frequently stumped and silenced by Klegg's professional questions. Now, he had finally gained the upper hand. See, Klegg did not outshine everyone else in all technical aspects.
Everyone's nerves were on end after hearing that there were restricted zones in the Underground City, which even the City Lord couldn't freely access.
At this moment, a soldier ran over to inform Aisike, "Sir, a plague has broken out in the Upper City Zone. More than a dozen people have diarrhea and are vomiting. A corpse was found in the pond."
Hearing the words "Upper City Zone", Aisike's expression grew serious. He asked, "Has it been quarantined and sealed off? Where is the body?"
The Upper City Zone is a wealthy sector and is located at the top of the slope in the Underground City. Water flows downwards, meaning the higher the area, the cleaner the water.
In this dark, damp Underground City that has never seen sunlight, with its incomplete drainage system, human and animal waste, as well as various other types of sewage, flow freely. The lower one goes, the worse the sanitary conditions, with the risk of plague spreading increasing.
The Underground City already has a well-established emergency plan in place: to isolate and seal off the area, then have a mage treat those afflicted. This generally manages to control the epidemic within a short span of time.
What worried Aisike, though, was that the epidemic had broken out in the most hygienic part of the city, the Upper City Zone. The sewage from homes would naturally flow downhill toward the lower parts of the city. Only a dozen cases had been discovered now, but they had no idea of how many more were lurking undetected.
A group of people hurriedly arrived at the site in the Upper City Zone where the body had been found. A rotten corpse lay on the ground. Lena took one look and hurriedly turned away, nauseated.
Feilin examined the corpse closely and seemed surprised, "The time of death should only be two days ago, so why has the body decayed so much? There is also no trace of a soul left behind. Something's fishy."
Hearing Feilin, Lena boldly mustered up her courage to take a second look at the corpse. The sight forced her to ask, "My Lord, could you open up his abdominal cavity?"
Upon doing so, everyone's faces turned pale: "A Demon Knot? It's those bastards from Demon Valley."
The emergence of Demon Valley and the outbreak of the plague made the whole Underground City fall into a tense atmosphere. All living creatures were ordered to stay indoors, and nobody was allowed to leave their residence. Only the Undead could move around freely.
This was an even more effective measure than what humans would have done in their society. After all, the Undead couldn't get infected by the plague, which allowed the society to function normally.
Ange noticed that the temple has quietened down. All the people were quarantined in their homes and no worshippers were visiting. The Undead Temple had reverted to its former desolate state.
The Silver Skeleton continued its tireless cleaning. Everything within the boundaries of the temple was swept meticulously clean, without a speck of dust left.
The only thing that had changed was that ever since Ange began forming the Soul Heart, every time the Silver Skeleton encountered him, it would stop working, stand up holding the broom, lower its head and bow respectfully.
Ordinary Skeleton Zombies, upon encountering another of their kind with a more powerful soul, would run away – only those that were programmed with rules would act this way.
Ange attempted to communicate with it, yet he only managed to elicit very basic responses such as 'cleaning' and 'quiet'. Logically, the Silver Skeleton should have possessed a certain level of intelligence and should have been able to communicate much more than it was doing..
With no one coming over, Ange didn't mind as he preferred the quiet. Meanwhile, there had been major changes near the temple - the entire vicinity had been densely filled with Luminous Moss.
Initially, he wanted to plant the moss within the temple's boundary, but it would be swept away by the Silver Skeleton overnight.
Due to good care and a suitable environment, the Luminous Moss thrived and multiplied rapidly, quickly filling up all available space around the temple.
After the quarantine measures, Ange had more time to take care of the Luminous Moss. Unfortunately, there was very little soil near the temple. The minor amount that was available was an aggregation of dust with complicated components and didn't contain much nutrition; it couldn't be used to grow crops the way a proper soil field could.
But he didn't care, as long as he could grow the Luminous Moss, that was enough. After all, the Minotaur family even ate moss; the Luminous Moss could be considered a type of food, he supposed.
The Luminous Moss didn't require soil or sunlight, so Ange decided to bring in stone slabs, stacked them layer upon layer, and planted the moss in between the layers.
What the Underground City lacked was not stone slabs. Certain areas contained shale which, with just a gentle tap, would produce neat stone slabs.
After constructing a seven- or eight-layer rack, he planted Luminous Moss between each layer. These didn't require light to grow but just the right amount of humidity.
On these stone slabs, Ange planted the sturdiest, fastest-growing, and largest moss plants that had been specifically selected.
Selective breeding is a fundamental skill in farming. If he didn't even know this, Ange wouldn't have been able to farm for thousands of years, as the seeds would have degenerated a long time ago.
Just as Ange was quietly growing his moss, the sound of hurried footsteps approached from a distance. In the lead was a teenage boy, who carried a four or five-year-old girl in his arms. He was sprinting barefooted, with blood flowing from his foot where it seemed he'd stepped on a sharp stone.
However, the boy seemed to be oblivious to the pain as he ran towards the temple with all his might. Close on his heels were four or five skeleton soldiers brandishing weapons. They were about to catch up and cut the boy down, as their orders were to kill any living creature that moved around freely.
As the temple came into view, hope shone in the boy's eyes. He whispered, "Please save my sister, Undead Lord."
With his words, a Soul Flame, thicker by at least ten times than that of an average human, shot towards the distant altar.
However, with just faith alone, it was impossible to overcome physical limitations. Just as they were about to enter the temple's boundary, the skeleton soldiers caught up. One of them swung its sword at the boy's back.
Ange had been attracted by the thick Soul Flame. Seeing the boy on the brink of being hit, he subconsciously shouted out, "Roar!"
He wasn't quite sure why he chose to shout 'roar'. Maybe he had been influenced by spending too much time roaring at Little Zombie. All he wanted to do was halt the skeleton soldier's attack.
The roar, transmitting through the soul's vibrations, startled the skeleton soldier trying to strike the boy. It blitzed, looking at Ange in terror.
An undead king, who had formed the Soul Heart and was about to transform into a Golden Skeleton, was bellowing. It was more than enough to scare low-level skeletons out of their wits.
Not much slower than the sound, a figure rushed out, howling madly. It rammed into the stunned skeleton soldier, sending it flying. It smashed onto the ground, breaking into pieces instantly.