Whose world-class drama are they criticizing?

Without a doubt, Lawrence must have been furious at being so fooled.

The worst-case scenario is that Lawrence discovers he and Jasmine are in cahoots to cheat him out of his dog food.

How could such a flawed and cheesy report possibly fool the discerning head of the Lu family? He hurriedly chased after Miss Jasmine, asking, "Did my father say what the problem was?"

“The updates are too slow,” Jasmine replied mysteriously. “He said he’s going to start nurturing the books.”

After a brief silence.

Ryan was so angry he laughed.

What the hell?

"He told me to save up the reports and send them to him when they were more complete."

Miss Jasmine sighed inwardly, thinking that only a family of extraordinary talent could raise someone as gifted as Ryan.

Lawrence treated her report like a serialized story, even commenting that he had "never seen such an exciting report" and ordering all of Lu Ming's secret agents to write reports in Jasmine's style from now on...

The memorials submitted by the governors of Lu Ming's various provinces should also strive to adopt this style of writing.

That way he can read with enthusiasm and not get sleepy.

"During Lawrence's public funding report period, royalties, cough cough cough, and undercover funding will be suspended for now," Jasmine explained. "We'll send the money over when he wants to read it again."

"How much food do we have left?" Ryan asked. "Can it last until the end of the month?"

Food prices are very high in the land without light.

Since the local area does not produce grain, it all has to be transported from the Twilight Mountains via a magical train. The journey is dangerous and long, and the price of grain increases dozens of times over with each trip.

Without dog food, let alone further development, they will even have trouble eating.

"The bread is all gone, the red pigment bottle is empty, and there's only some frozen meat left. You've taken in so many refugees, it'll only last you half a month at most."

Jasmine gestured to the messy table, a hint of schadenfreude in her voice: "You yourself said 'all you can drink'."

Why didn't you stop me then?

Ryan breathed on it first.

"?!ha?!"

Miss Jasmine retorted with a yelp, her pointed ears twitching with anger. She shoved Ryan closer, her voice the most righteous and defiant, and raised an eyebrow: "Didn't I stop you?"

"I was choking you, elbowing you in the stomach, and yelling, 'My dog ​​food! My royalties! Stop stealing my dog ​​food!'"

Jasmine vividly imitated the scene, "Mr. Ryan, did I really not stop you?"

Ryan Hale failed.

One crisis after another, Ryan frowned. The only option now was to abandon the newly accepted refugees, otherwise they would have trouble even feeding themselves.

The most dangerous situation is that he and Melanie have just reached an agreement that this witch's appetite is equivalent to that of ten people.

Breaking the contract with the witch will lead to the worst possible consequences.

Ryan thought to himself that they couldn't count on Lu Ming's funds for the time being, and they would have to be self-sufficient.

Fortunately, he liberated Daohua Town, a small town known for its high agricultural output.

Rice is harvested twice a year. Although this rice was planted a hundred years ago, it should not cause any illness if eaten.

If we harvest before the autumn frost arrives and plant the next season's crops, we should still be able to make it in time.

At least we can be self-sufficient in food.

“The refugees should go and harvest the rice first,” Ryan instructed. “This is their first job in the Land of No Light.”

“We don’t have enough manpower to work on all these acres of land,” Jasmine shook her head. “Now that the blight is gone, they’ll probably all die when the autumn frost comes.”

If we can't stockpile food, we can only survive until this month at most, not until the next quarter.

Who knows when Archduke Lawrence will finish raising the pet? He might just abandon it after a while.

“It’s alright.” Ryan seemed confident. “We also have the help of the Dark Ones. We’ll be recruiting fifty more Dark Ones later. They can solve the food crisis.”

You mean....

Miss Jasmine's eyes lit up. "Let the Lightless help the villagers with the farming?"

The Lightless, hated by the world, and the villagers, abandoned by the light, join hands to work together in spring and summer at the ends of the earth, redeeming and understanding each other. A heartwarming pastoral scene instantly appeared in Miss Jasmine's mind.

"Oh, no, your idea is strange."

Ryan shook his head. "What I mean is... the Dark Ones can resurrect indefinitely."

Eh?

Jasmine tilted her head.

The boy's smile was equally heartwarming:

"If we run out of food, we can feed their corpses to the villagers."

Chapter 90, second closed beta test, is now open!

Are you really human?

Miss Jasmine stared at Ryan with that look in her eyes.

This young man's moral compass fluctuates wildly, sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes divine, sometimes demonic. He could be considered a saint for taking in refugees in the Land of No Light, but then he turns around and tries to feed the villagers with the corpses of those in the Land of No Light.

Whenever Ryan's mother was able to land, Ryan would personally release her into the air.

Just like a kite, sometimes high and sometimes low.

Jasmine saw Lai Mu jumping back and forth in heaven.

Seeing Jasmine's bewildered expression, Ryan sneered inwardly; Jasmine was really making a fuss over nothing.

You think I'm playing Stardew Valley?

Actually, it's about the world!

In this dark, ravine-filled land, famine was rampant, and cannibalism was not just a casual remark, but a daily occurrence.

Moreover, in Ryan's eyes, the Dark Ones were not even human.

“When the Lightless One dies, their body will quickly sink to the ground, right?” Jasmine tried to sway Ryan’s broken kite.

“Then the villagers will have to eat fresh food,” Ryan replied immediately.

"No, no, no..."

Miss Jasmine crossed her arms in front of her chest, striking a serious protest pose. "Wouldn't it be more reliable to let them farm?"

As an advisor to Chuguang City, she naturally had to protest strongly. How could the villagers be allowed to eat the corpses of the Lightless? This practice was simply too barbaric.

The food safety standards are not met.

“The people without light are covered in germs,” Miss Jasmine said, pinching her nose in disgust. “Let them farm instead.”

Half-elves are all germaphobes.

Farming gameplay... Ryan fell into deep thought.

Actually, this idea isn't bad.

Farm games were very popular in the first half of the world, and Ryan would occasionally dig out his old console to relive the classics, but as the gaming industry entered the VR era, Farm Idyll declined.

The reason is simple: VR is just too realistic.

Older farming games, while demanding, were also easy to play, mostly pixelated and requiring only a few clicks with the mouse. Most players didn't actually enjoy farming; rather, they wanted a relaxing and comfortable pastoral world to escape from after get off work.

But when it's moved to VR, this dreamlike filter is shattered.

Everything felt so real.

It's just as boring and tedious as farming in real life.

Do you work during the workday and then have to work after get off work?

As a result, farm games gradually declined and disappeared in the tide of time.

Ryan thought about it more and more and felt that it was a promising opportunity.

Currently, the audience attracted by "Eden" is mostly drawn by its challenging combat, exquisite character designs, and storyline. This audience consists of pure combat-focused players who have a tolerance and expectation for high-difficulty games.

To put it bluntly, these players are all masochists.

If Ryan focuses on increasing the difficulty of the battle, the negative effects will be minimal.

I'm tired of the same old routine.

We need to find a new approach and do something new.

His second test was a complete betrayal of his roots, selling these war fanatics into farms as slaves, where they have to endure a long and arduous farming experience while working alongside a group of politically correct Dei villagers... This is quite a promising project.

Players aren't deterred by the difficulty, but rather by the boredom and aversion they feel.

Even in the worst-case scenario, perhaps a very small number of farming enthusiasts will be attracted.

But this is just like natural selection.

The aggressive players who enjoy combat have been driven away, leaving only gentle, casual farming players in Eden. The latter type of players are not dangerous at all; they only want to farm aggressively, and there will be no serious consequences for them even if they stay in Eden.

"Yes, Miss Jasmine, your ideas are indeed unconventional."

After brainstorming for a while, Ryan nodded, "But it is actually quite feasible."

Right, right, Jasmine automatically ignored the 'different from ordinary' assessment. She gave up arguing with Ryan about the difference between ordinary and normal. "So let's not let the villagers eat the lightless ones. It's too unhygienic."

Even the cursed villagers have human rights.

Miss Jasmine expressed this sentiment sullenly, even though she had suggested to Ryan that morning that they set up a quarantine zone.

“That makes sense,” Ryan said. “But Idyllic countryside definitely requires raising pigs and ducks. We can turn the corpses of the Dark Ones into feed and then sell it to the Dark Ones.”

"The perpetual motion machine is complete!" He felt like a great inventor who deserved the Nobel Prize.

It took Jasmine a full three seconds of deep thought to understand Ryan's long, connected sentence.

This idyllic pastoral style is way too dark and bloody!

Okay, okay.

Jasmine reluctantly agreed to Ryan's plan as a second choice.

The general strategy for the second test was set: reduce combat, prioritize farming, stockpile food, and develop territory.

The game uses a boring and complicated slave system, coupled with politically correct fat pig NPCs, to deter new players.

With players mostly farming and not killing monsters, Ryan might be able to collect fewer blessings.

But this is,

A mindset of wasting time.

Ryan didn't really care.

If Ryan can only become stronger by relying on the blessings of other players, then he doesn't deserve to be the strongest in this world, let alone be the strongest.

Moreover, to put it bluntly, all the players' blessings are obtained by killing monsters.

They can kill fewer people, and Ryan can kill more; there's no middleman taking a cut.

It's just a little troublesome.

Moreover, in this game, you can get blessings not only by killing enemies, but also by farming and forging, although these are rare.

Compared to blessings, in the Dark Territory, which is blocked from the outside world, food is the real hard currency.

Not only do human towns need food, but also the cult groups entrenched here, or fugitives, mercenaries, adventurers, and other outlaws—creatures from countless factions—need to trade for food.

Ryan possessed the only grain-producing town in the Lightless Territory, which was a hidden gold mine. Controlling the grain meant simultaneously possessing money, an army, and popular support.

Store up grain and delay declaring yourself king.

With the plan set, Ryan and Molly went their separate ways to prepare.

Jasmine went to register the immigrants' names and population, then allocated houses in the town and divided up farmland; Ryan asked the old blacksmith to use the remaining materials to make some useful farm tools, which was the most important thing.

Of course, hoes and similar items cannot be given to players for free.

Upgrading requires money, materials, and blessings.