Chapter 9
Cheng Dalei, after years of gaming, knows that opening boxes can be a game of luck. You might end up with a plain item or a top-tier orange weapon, and of course, there's always the possibility of an empty box.
But given his lucky streak today, that surely won't happen.
He tidied up, burned incense, and bowed three times to the sky, then moved a wooden box over and forced it open.
"Everyone, pay attention! It's time to witness a miracle!"
All eyes were on the box, only to discover it was completely empty. Cheg Dalei was embarrassed, "Didn't anyone ever tell you, you can't win on the first try. The good luck is yet to come."
The second box was just as empty. Despite this, Cheng Dalei continued to open ten more boxes, each one yielding nothing. Especially the last one which felt unusually heavy and got his hopes up for a potential big win. However, upon opening it, he found it was filled with rocks.
This left him so disappointed he didn't dare open another box. Even if he had exploited the system's bugs, it shouldn't be this vengeful.
"Leader, let me open one." suggested Xu Shenji.
"Go ahead, your luck can't be worse than mine."
Xu Shenji excitedly moved a box over. Although he had no expectations, Cheng Dalei still handed over a magnifying glass.
"There's something, there's something..." Xu Shenji exclaimed, then paused, "What is this?"
The box was filled with a powdery black substance. Cheng Dalei grabbed a handful and suddenly realized, "This is gunpowder."
"What's gunpowder?" Qin Man, Xu Shenji, and Xu Ling'er all asked, puzzled.
Cheng Dalei didn't answer. He always wondered about the level of production in this world. But based on his judgment, there was almost no chance of industrial development. After all, he wasn't equipped with the ability, and this world lacked the necessary productivity.
Seeing the trio's unfamiliarity with the black powder, he surmised that although Mount Qingniu was in informational seclusion, it at least suggested that gunpowder has yet to be massively employed.
With this gunpowder and the advantages offered by the terrain, there might be a way to resist the attack from Black Stone City.
Cheng Dalei had a sudden realization. "Quick, open all the boxes and see how much of this stuff we got."
Xu Ling'er and the others started to enjoy the box opening game, each finding generating an enthusiastic shout. Cheng Dalei could only stand by, drooling with envy. But with his bad luck, he didn't dare to gamble.
In the end, they got ten boxes of gunpowder. The other boxes were empty. Cheng Dalei needed to figure out how to maximize the value of the gunpowder.
"Keep the boxes, I'll find a use for them."
"Leader, you're insightful. This is good quality wood. We can use it for firewood in the winter."
"I really want to burn you instead. Take care of them, if you damage even one, you're screwed." Cheng Dalei sighed and asked, "Think Tank, where are our fields?"
"Up on the hill behind us. They went to waste a few years ago. I sowed some wheat there last spring, but nothing grew. Why are you asking?"
"Let's go check it out."
"It's almost dark. Why would you want to walk that far? It's several miles away."
Xu Shenji was lazy and tired from moving the boxes, but seeing Cheng Dalei so persistent, he had no choice but to lead the way.
But upon reaching the hillside, Xu Shenji was stunned. Ten acres of connected wheat fields were now filled with golden wheat stalks, and the mountain spring which had dried up was flowing crystal clear water.
Everything was as Cheng Dalei expected; he could already see the best reward the system could give him.
"Blessed be the gods!"
Xu Shenji ran into the wheat field with a delighted expression on his face, an emotion he hadn't shown despite all the loot acquired from the fortress. Qin Man also broke out into a grin, laughing cheerfully.
Cheng Dalei was shocked, staring at this scene blankly.
"Ling'er, don't run around, you'll knock off the wheat."
"These can all be harvested, we can get thousands of pounds of grain, enough to get us through the winter."
"We can use the wheat straw for heating in winter, it'd save us from some freezing nights."
"We need to hurry to harvest though, the rainy season is fast approaching."
The three of them stood in the wheat field, engaging in a heated discussion. They knew what they were talking about.
"Chief, we ought to harvest the wheat overnight. If it rains, our efforts will all be for naught," Xu Shenji suggested as he came over.
"Sure, go ahead and get busy. When the people from Black Stone City come, they can haul it away."
Xu Shenji was speechless. Suddenly, he knelt down and prayed, "Bless us, almighty gods, we owe you a great debt."
Cheng Dalei was speechless. It was just a few acres of wheat. Was all this necessary? What shocked him even more was seeing both Qin Man and Xu Ling'er kneeling, repeating the same words.
Looking at the devout expressions on their faces, Cheng Dalei began to understand something.
The Mountain Fortress wasn't what he had imagined. It wasn't full of ruthless and evil people who killed without blinking and regularly swept into the villages to pillage, eat meat, and drink wine. Sometimes, it was more like a village with elderly people and children, where people cleared land for planting, and still went down the mountain to buy necessities.
As for the three people in front of Cheng Dalei, calling them bandits was a compliment.
Take Xu Shenji. Cheng Dalei had figured out his backgrounds in the past two days. Xu Shenji used to be a private tutor in a village. But even calling him a tutor was a bit over-the-top as he barely knew how to read. His greatest pleasure in life was to save some copper coins for a pot of wine, then drool over the cleavage of the widows in the village.
He was always despicable and annoying, whether in the village or on the mountain.
Then one day, a bully in the village set his sights on Xu Ling'er. He wasn't particularly tough, but was somehow related to a city-dwelling nobleman's servant. No one in the village dared to offend him, let alone the bony Xu Shenji.
One day, Xu Shenji dressed up Xu Ling'er real pretty, invited the bully to their house, bought wine on credit, and slaughtered the old hen that laid eggs for their home...
"Ling'er, if you marry him, you'll be blessed. And I might share in that good fortune."
"Look at how handsome my Ling'er is, how fair her skin is. I'm sure she'll please you well."
"Go ahead and consummate tonight. Don't worry, I'll guard the door... hahaha..."
...
...
When he got the bully drunk, Xu Shenji decapitated him with a kitchen knife, took Xu Ling'er and ran away. After numerous setbacks, they ended up at Frog Fort.
This was probably the first time in his life Xu Shenji displayed such cunning, and it was definitely the only time he succeeded.
They didn't leave the wheat field until sunset, and all four of them returned to the fortress together.
Cheng Dalei pulled out the huge flag he was given as a reward by the system and waved it in front of Xu Shenji.
"Hey, isn't this the old flag of our fortress? I thought it was made into pants by someone. I didn't expect to find it today."
"I just want to ask, who designed this? A toad carrying an egg on its head. Is it supposed to symbolize the Frog Fort carrying an egg."
"That's not an egg, it's the moon. This is a picture of the 'Sky Toad Swallowing Moon', but when you put it like that..."
"Hang it up!" Cheng Dalei tossed the flag to Qin Man.
Agile as a monkey, Qin Man climbed up the flagpole and hung the banner at the top.
When he came down, all of them looked up at the flag fluttering in the night wind. The toad on the flag seemed to come alive in the wind, looking greedily at the moon overhead. It seemed to express an idea:
Even if I am just a toad, I want to swallow the moon and taste the swan meat.
Something in their hearts seemed to connect. The fortress had food, they could survive this winter. As long as they could get past this crisis, a flame seemed to flicker in their eyes, kindling a conviction to protect this place.
"Is this... starting a revolt?" Cheng Dalei mused to himself. Just then, he got two prompts from the system.
Beep, young man of justice, your flag has been raised. Heroes from all directions will be drawn here to join you.
Beep, you have received a mission to increase the population of the fortress to 100. The reward is one lottery draw.