I am a demonic cultivator, not a capitalist with a conscience.

Chapter 117 Once it started, it couldn't be stopped (56)

While Liu was still pondering whether Bai Ze's words were a moral trap, the ostrich had already spotted them and charged towards them.

According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, ostriches are very timid creatures. When they see people, they will cover their faces with their wings. They are quite docile.

I never expected that the ostrich in my dream would be so aggressive.

While he was still debating whether to listen to Bai Ze, the ostrich had already pounced on him, unleashing a series of attacks that left bloody scratches on Liu Xiao's face.

Liu Xiao, in pain, grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Just as he was about to kick him again, he heard Bai Ze shout, "Well done! Throw the Demon-Subduing Ball now!"

"Is it really necessary to subdue someone so weak?!"

"Monsters can grow. See that white rhombus in the distance? That thing refreshes every morning at eight o'clock. Inside, there's the Emperor's Dew that monsters like, and the evolution stones needed for monsters to evolve. Further away, that blue one can replenish your Demon-Subduing Orb, and that red rhombus over there can provide various building materials. After that, you can find a comfortable place to build your base, and then capture monsters to work for us."

"I did everything, so what did you do?"

"I'll give you orders. After all, I'm Bai Ze, a Bai Ze who can't lift heavy loads or bend his back. Would you really let an old guy like me, who's over a thousand years old, do heavy work?"

"...Your morals are really low."

He tossed the Demon-Subduing Ball from his arms, and the bronze ball swallowed the little ostrich in front of him, then stopped moving after shaking a few times.

Picking up the Demon-Subduing Ball, Liu Xiao saw the ostrich lying quietly inside, looking around in a daze.

Compared to before, its savagery had completely disappeared, and its eyes sparkled with a clear stupidity, like a high school student who had just started high school.

Its eyes, which had originally glowed red, had turned black, making Liu Xiao feel that this monster was different from before.

Holding the Demon-Subduing Ball, Liu released the creature. It looked around blankly before finally crawling into Liu's palm and nuzzling affectionately against his hand.

Stroking the little guy's head, Liu asked in confusion, "Strange, it's not as fierce as before."

"Because this place is cursed. Most of the monsters are shy and timid, but I don't know when it started, they became violent. They attack other monsters indiscriminately, waste food, and defecate everywhere. Even rats would spit in their presence."

"That sounds really bad."

"Hmm. This is because a great demon has emerged, and its demonic energy has polluted this world. Previously, there were cultivators who could help exorcise the demon, using demon-subduing orbs to subdue monsters and remove the demonic energy. However, since cultivators disappeared, these demons have become invincible."

At this point, Bai Ze looked at Liu Xiao and asked seriously, "So, buddy, are you interested in joining me to vanquish demons and restore peace to this world?"

"I'm not really interested."

"Is that so? What a pity. I'll be going then. By the way, it's not safe here at night. There are some monsters that like to come out at night and specifically attack lone people. They like to stick their claws into your anus, then pull out your intestines and chase after their prey. Hey, they don't eat it, they just play around."

Seeing the increasing number of shadows around them, Liu Xiao immediately said to Bai Ze, "Let's go, let's go save the world."

Are you interested?

"It's not just that they have it, they can't wait!"

Forced to embark on a path to save the world, Liu Xiao didn't initially realize anything.

He's past that age; many things in his dreams no longer interest him, and now very few games can capture his attention.

In his view, "The Record of Mountains and Seas" is just a dream about catching monsters, at most with better art, more beautiful monsters, and a more mysterious worldview.

However, once he received his first building supply pack and started building, he immediately changed his mind. The building process in this dream world was just too fun!
Each captured monster has its own unique characteristics. The maximum number of these characteristics is three; each captured monster may have all three characteristics, or it may have none at all.

Traits cannot be learned or changed, and traits also have different qualities. Some traits, such as "naturally weak" or "unable to carry heavy loads," are negative traits that do not help monsters at all.

Because of their random characteristics, players are motivated to capture new monsters. Each capture feels like a lottery, with the hope of winning next time and drawing a fully gold monster.

The acquired monsters need to be nurtured and evolved to enhance their abilities and advance to the next stage, which is also the core stage of the dream.

Construction.

The construction process is complex and intricate. At first, Liu could only chop down trees himself with the axe from the construction kit. However, once the distribution workshop in the base was completed, the monsters could receive simple training there and then help him chop down trees.

Once the trees are piled up, you can capture other monsters to help process the wood and make tools. Then you can capture more monsters to use the tools to collect stones and continue developing your business.

As the number of monsters increased, the base became vibrant and full of life.

New workshops were built, new houses sprang up, and different kinds of monsters moved in, turning this place into a thriving town.

Their tools evolved from wood to stone, and then from stone to copper ore.

And Liu Xiao will no longer have to fight monsters with his bare hands.

The Monster Town began producing various bows and arrows for him, and some clever monsters could even help him make talismans. The mysterious stones found underground could also enhance some of his attributes, making him run faster, jump higher, and use heavier weapons.

Each monster could potentially impact his production line, and some monsters could even directly enhance or replace certain steps on the production line. This made Liu Xiao very curious about new monsters. After each capture, he would examine the monster's skills and special abilities and then think about what it could be used for.

Loop, optimize, loop again, optimize again...

Before he knew it, Principal Liu had forgotten his main mission and was preoccupied with how to further optimize the production line and make his supplies more plentiful.

At the same time, he is also actively building various means of transportation to travel to different ecosystems and capture more monsters.

The main storyline doesn't matter; all I want to do right now is catch monsters.

Just as Liu was about to continue catching the monsters, he was forcibly woken up.

He was furious that he couldn't catch the monsters, but upon seeing that it was Chen Yu, he excitedly exclaimed, "President Chen, this dream is amazing! This building section is especially fun; I've been playing for hours and I'm still not bored..."

"It's not a few hours, it's dozens of hours," Chen Yu said helplessly. "You've been working on the production line for two days already."

"...I've been playing for so long? No wonder I'm a little hungry. I thought it had only been a few hours. Mr. Chen, is there anything I can help you with?"

"I just want to ask you, when are you going to use the external branch?"

"Um...can I optimize one more detail of the production line?"

"Let's go open a branch!"

"Oh."

Reluctantly attaching the external sticker, Principal Liu reluctantly started the side quest.

This time, things got out of control again.

(End of this chapter)