Chapter 220, the steward has returned
Gurgle!
The massive, bloated head rolled to the side, leaving a trail of filthy pus.
Blood Axe quickly followed the head, raising his foot to stomp on it.
"Blood Axe, don't stomp!" Wu Heng shouted immediately when he saw this.
Blood Axe's boot hovered in the air for a moment, then he put it back down without stomping.
After both mutated zombies were dead.
The other skeletons stood in standby mode, motionless.
Wu Heng first walked over to the crawler zombie.
Its head was caved in, with red and white pus spread all over the ground.
It was smashed by Skull-Crusher's hammer.
After a glance, Wu Heng cast [Raise Skeleton] on the body.
The caved-in head slowly reformed, flesh falling off as the pale bones rose from the ground.
[Skeleton Terrorclaw (Level 12)]
"Stand aside for now."
The skeleton shook itself and walked out of the pile of flesh.
Wu Heng pulled an iron sword from a nearby skeleton soldier and searched through the remains, eventually prying out a corpse core.
He let out a sigh of relief.
Skull-Crusher's hammer had a lot of force.
The use of Raise Skeleton depends on the condition of the bones before death, as necromantic magic repairs them.
But Wu Heng had been worried that the hammer might have shattered the corpse core inside the head.
"Skull-Crusher, from now on, aim for the body, and if you hit the head, hold back a bit," Wu Heng said, glancing at Skull-Crusher.
Skull-Crusher didn't respond, still holding his warhammer, standing by.
Wu Heng put the corpse core into a plastic bag and then walked toward the Big-Head Skeleton nearby.
He kicked the rolling head back to the body and cast [Raise Skeleton] again.
The flesh fell away, and the pale skeleton, with its massive balloon-like skull, slowly stood up.
[Skeleton Soul Demon (Level 15)]
[Level: 15]
[Attributes: Constitution 18, Strength 12, Agility 8, Intelligence 25, Perception 22, Charisma 8]
[Traits: Hollow Skeleton, Advanced Soul]
[Specialties: Soul Mutation, Biological Mutation]
[Abilities: Soul Commander, Hive Mind, Monster Domination, Psychic Shock]
[Monster Domination]: Controls a creature with intelligence below 12 through a mental link, fully commanding its actions and thoughts, and can perceive its feelings without harming itself.
[Psychic Shock]: Triggers an energy explosion in a 20-foot cone, dealing psychic damage to enemies in the area.
It was indeed a third-tier mutated zombie, just as Wu Heng had suspected.
Its overall attributes were higher than a regular Big-Head Skeleton.
Especially in strength and constitution, it wasn't as fragile as before.
Even its agility had reached 8, although it was still slower than a normal human, but it could walk without losing balance.
Its primary attributes were still intelligence and perception.
With an intelligence of 25, it rivaled spellcasting classes, and its perception of 22 was even higher than Wu Heng's.
It also gained two new abilities, [Monster Domination] and [Psychic Shock].
[Monster Domination] allowed it to dominate a creature with intelligence below 12. This was different from commanding skeletons, as it involved controlling living creatures.
It was somewhat like the skills of a beast tamer or ranger.
An upgraded ability, but it didn't seem particularly useful at the moment.
The second new ability was [Psychic Shock].
It caused an energy explosion in a targeted area, dealing damage.
A useful attack ability.
But during the battle, it didn't seem to have used it, or if it did, Wu Heng hadn't noticed.
"From now on, you'll be called Big-Head Commander One. Stand over there," Wu Heng said directly.
Big-Head Commander stepped out of the pile of flesh and moved to the side.
Wu Heng continued searching through the remains and found another third-tier corpse core.
He immediately packed the core and stored it in his space ring.
Today's gains were quite substantial.
They had taken over the factory and obtained second- and third-tier corpse cores.
......
"How's it going?" Li Yanhong squeezed through and asked.
"All the zombies are dealt with," Wu Heng replied.
"Then I'll have the convoy come in. It's not very safe at night," Li Yanhong said, glancing at the darkness outside the factory.
The factory was well-lit by streetlights.
But outside, it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.
"Hold on a bit."
Wu Heng had the skeletons gather all the zombie bodies from the factory.
Then he began casting [Battlefield of the Dead], and pale gray rings of light spread out, causing a large number of skeletons to rise from the ground, joining the skeleton ranks.
After leveling up to 10, the consumption of necromantic magic had greatly decreased.
With a few spells, all the corpses were reanimated.
Under the bright streetlights, the bones gleamed pale white.
"Have the convoy come in now," Wu Heng said.
"Okay." Li Yanhong spoke into the radio, and a few bright headlights suddenly flicked on in the distance.
The convoy began slowly moving toward the factory.
Soon, the vehicles entered the factory grounds.
The gates were closed again, and the skeletons stood guard.
"Sister Hong, everything alright?" a few people asked.
"All good!" Li Yanhong replied.
"Damn, I haven't seen streetlights on like this in a long time, it's making me tear up for some reason."
"Are we taking these streetlights back with us? They're enough for the prison."
Everyone stared at the streetlights, chattering.
Li Yanhong glanced up, "Why would we take down the streetlights? There are probably plenty of new ones in the warehouses. No need to use the old ones."
"There are new ones too!"
"Alright, it's too late today. Everyone will have to make do in the vehicles for now. We'll open the warehouses in the morning to check the supplies," Li Yanhong continued.
"Got it, Sister Hong."
"If you're hungry or thirsty, sort it out in the vehicles. Don't wander around at night—there could still be danger elsewhere."
"Understood."
The group responded and returned to their vehicles to rest.
Li Yanhong also returned to the bus.
Opening the door, she saw Wu Heng had laid out a blanket on the floor and was covered in a large black bear pelt.
Wu Heng lifted a corner of the bear pelt, and though a bit hesitant, Li Yanhong took off her jacket, turned off the vehicle's light, and crawled in.
She snuggled into his arms.
"Those skeletons sitting there, it's kind of creepy!" Li Yanhong glanced at the skeletons sitting in the bus seats.
"You'll get used to it. I have," Wu Heng said.
"Alright then!" Li Yanhong said, then added, "Stop touching me, it feels weird... Ah!"
Before she finished speaking, Wu Heng grabbed her and flipped her onto him.
"What are you doing?"
"Shh, keep it down. No one will know."
......
The next morning.
After having breakfast in their vehicles.
They all headed to the warehouse area.
Creak~!
With a screeching noise, the warehouse doors were slowly opened one by one.
Inside were neatly arranged shelves, holding different models of blue solar panels and electrical equipment. Two warehouses were full of slender streetlight poles.
Everything was in place, and the quantity was staggering.
"Damn, there's so much!"
"These must have been for export, right? Why are there so many?"
"Export my ass, these are barely enough for our province. Every park and neighborhood uses these solar streetlights now."
"This factory only makes these things. They must make a ton of money."
"Who cares about that? They're ours now."
Qiangzi and the others stared at the warehouse, their faces full of excitement.
When they had come, they were only planning to add another power source to the prison in case something went wrong with the generators.
But now, these solar panels far exceeded their expectations.
Forget the prison; these could power several prisons over.
On the other side.
Wu Heng was also surprised by the sheer number of solar panels.
At the same time, he was thinking about where they should be used.
He glanced at Li Yanhong and asked, "Do we have workers who know how to install these?"
"We do!" Li Yanhong shouted to the group discussing nearby, "Wang Chengang, Wang!"
Wang Chengang, who had been chatting with Qiangzi and the others, ran over when he heard the call, "What's up, Sister Hong?"
Li Yanhong asked directly, "Is there any difficulty in installing these solar panels?"
"As far as installation goes, it's not hard. The wiring is built-in; you just need to connect it. I helped install solar lights in Yimin Park before," Wang Chengang said.
Wu Heng then asked, "Can these solar panels power air conditioners and other appliances?"
Wang Chengang thought for a moment and said, "The solar panels store energy in batteries, and with an inverter, you can power those appliances. Some can even be used directly, depending on the appliance."
Wu Heng understood the gist.
The solar panels could indeed provide power for all sorts of appliances.
It was just a matter of adding inverters.
Not too difficult.
"Hold on a second." Wu Heng said to Wang Chengang, then walked through the group of skeletons.
He selected ten level 5 skeletons with decent intelligence.
"You'll follow him and learn how to assemble these solar panels," Wu Heng ordered.
Wang Chengang's eyes widened at the command.
Teaching skeletons to install this stuff?
Before he could say anything, Wu Heng continued, "These skeletons will follow you from now on. Teach them how to assemble and identify solar panels and appliances within three days."
"Teach them?"
The prison already had skeletons taking over the production of spears and javelins.
They no longer needed Li Yanhong and the others to make them.
The skeletons worked non-stop, like automated machines.
Now that he thought about it, Li Yanhong and the others had probably taught the skeletons to use welding rods and cutters as well.
"Any problems?"
"No, we'll get it done," Wang Chengang immediately replied.
Wu Heng nodded, "Good."
Li Yanhong then said, "You take a team and pick out the equipment. We'll load up the trucks and take the solar panels to the county bus station."
Last night, Wu Heng and Li Yanhong had discussed their plan.
They would first transport some of the solar panels to the bus station to resolve the power issue there.
Then they would send more to the prison.
"Got it."
Wang Chengang agreed and led the skeletons over to Qiangzi and the others.
......
Everyone started working.
Trucks were driven over, and the solar panels and electrical equipment were loaded onto them.
They worked until noon, when everything was finally loaded.
Li Yanhong walked over and said, "Everything's loaded. I've left you one military truck, and the radio frequencies are set. Contact us if anything comes up."
"Alright, I know how to use the radio."
Li Yanhong smiled and added, "If Flame God Prison asks, should we tell them we've taken the factory?"
Wu Heng thought for a moment and said, "Sure, if they need solar panels, they can trade resources for them."
"What kind of resources?"
"Flame God has armored vehicles and firearms, right? Those are good. Otherwise, food, gold, or silver. I haven't decided on the exchange rate yet, we'll figure it out later," Wu Heng said.
"Alright!" Li Yanhong checked the time and didn't linger.
She waved goodbye to Wu Heng and boarded the bus.
The convoy drove off.
Wu Heng arranged the factory's defenses, having the skeletons reinforce the perimeter.
Once everything was secure.
He headed to an office building, opened the gate, and returned home.
......
At that time, Minnie and Andviel were not home.
Wu Heng washed up briefly and left the house, heading to the Guild.
The Guild was more lively than usual today.
It seemed to have returned to its former state, with many mercenary groups appearing in the hall, looking at the bulletin board.
He pushed open the door to the lounge, where Marta was inside, mending some beast-taming armor.
When she saw Wu Heng enter, she immediately said, "Captain, the steward has returned."
Wu Heng paused, "Gomez is back? When did he return?"
"I heard he came back to the Guild yesterday afternoon, but I don't know the exact time," Marta replied.
It had been a few days since the Warhammer Party incident.
Thinking about it, if Gomez wanted to continue as steward, it made sense for him to return.
"Anything going on with our squad?" Wu Heng asked.
"Nothing."
"Alright."
Wu Heng didn't go inside, heading straight to the steward's study.