Chapter 65

The large cow-headed woman held a ladle and scooped up the clean holy water, skillfully pouring it over the holy mushrooms. After watering them all, she saw that there was still a little holy water left at the bottom of the bucket, so she drank it directly. The clean holy water had no taste, but it was absolutely clean, and drinking it regularly wouldn't cause diarrhea.

After drinking, the large cow-headed woman patted her belly and burped. With this pat, the fat on her waist rippled in waves.

"Huh, I've gained weight again?" The large cow-headed woman patted herself again with delight, lifted the heavy lumps on her chest, and pulled up her dress a bit to make it looser, covering the fat on her waist. After finishing, she looked around nervously to make sure no one had seen, and then sighed in relief.

It was hard-earned fat; she didn't want anyone to see it.

At that moment, a tall and slender female cow-headed woman walked over quickly. Seeing the large cow-headed woman, her eyes lit up, and she shouted from a distance: "Sister!"

The large cow-headed woman was so scared that her face turned white. She raised her hand to cover her mouth and looked nervously towards the temple, immediately seeing the silver skull lift its head to look over.

The large cow-headed woman turned and ran, heading towards the female cow-headed woman and covering her mouth to drag her away.

"You're crazy! You can't shout near the temple." The large cow-headed woman shouted loudly, her voice echoing.

The slender cow-headed woman wasn't the large cow-headed woman's real sister. In the cow-headed people's clan, who revered their ancestors, all peers were considered brothers and sisters, so she was just a clan sister. Let's call her Cow Sister.

"Seeing you, Sister, I got too excited. Sister, have you heard? The elders are going to excavate that ruin and are recruiting people to dig. They'll give two pounds of food per person per day, and those who dig more will get rewards. Do you want to go together?" Cow Sister said excitedly.

Two pounds? That's less than the sweet potato leaves I sneak and eat every day, isn't it?

"No, no, I'm working at the temple. I can't leave."

"Hey, how much does a broken temple pay you? Is it enough for you to eat? Don't get too thin. At the ruins, two pounds of food is just the minimum. If you dig more, you'll get rewards. With our cow-headed strength, it's easy to get the reward. I hear the reward is all you can eat. Oh, I've never been full in my life. Hey, Sister, have you gained weight?"

When Cow Sister said "too thin," the large cow-headed woman subconsciously sucked in her belly, trying to make her small belly smaller. When she mentioned "all you can eat," the large cow-headed woman felt ashamed, as she had been eating all she could lately and had gained some fat.

When Cow Sister said she had "gained weight," the large cow-headed woman quickly denied it: "No, no, don't be silly. This is just water retention, water retention. But I won't go. The temple has entrusted me with the sacred mission of watering and tending. Even if I starve to death, I can't abandon my mission. Take Big Cow and Second Cow with you. They have big appetites and great strength, so they can eat and work."

When the two big, fat cow-headed men were taken away, they cried pitifully, knowing they would no longer be able to eat their fill or even nibble on sweet potato leaves. From now on, they would have to work hard to earn two pounds of food.

Almost everyone in the Lich City was mobilized. From the strong and healthy cow-headed people to the elderly, weak, sick, and pregnant, whether they could work or not, they would get one pound of food just for showing up, two pounds for working, and more for those who worked the most, with the best reward being all you can eat.

This wasn't just hiring people to work; it was essentially a form of relief, nominally a work-for-relief program.

Two days later, people from the Ice City also arrived. Everyone worked enthusiastically, digging out the sand and temporarily piling it nearby. They quickly excavated a building under the divine throne and stayed in it when the Resting Wind blew at night.

More and more people came, and the excavation progressed faster. More buildings were unearthed, and more people could be accommodated.

The former world transit station had a permanent population of tens of thousands. It was abandoned years ago because the Resting Wind was too costly to maintain, but the buildings were undamaged. The quality of the buildings in the Undead Empire was excellent, and they could be cleaned and used again.

The biggest cost in maintenance was labor. Now, with so many people without food, labor was no longer a problem, and this was strongly requested by Lisa.

"This is the perfect solution. First, it solves the labor problem, and second, it gives everyone something to do. We absolutely can't just support them idly, not even the elderly and children. Otherwise, problems will easily arise. We need to keep them busy, ideally so busy that they fall asleep as soon as they lie down, leaving no time to think about nonsense."

Lisa had experience with large-scale relief efforts. After a disaster, she wasn't afraid of people being busy; she was afraid of them being idle, which could lead to chaos.

Some of the strong and experienced people would be organized to plant and water as soon as the Resting Wind stopped. Anger only needed to step on the ground once, and a miraculous change would occur.

When the crops matured, undead creatures would remove the footprints to stop the Rapid Death Aura and quickly harvest the crops.

With everyone's cooperation, Anger could plant three times a day, covering about 900 acres in total, but he could only enjoy the joy of harvesting once.

Because the Rapid Death Aura could only be active in one place at a time, once it stopped here, he could rush to the next plot to activate it, without needing to participate in the harvest.

This wasn't good, but he couldn't quite explain why.

Nigris understood his feelings: "Planting vegetables is a joy for you, but being forced to plant them is painful, and you're missing the most enjoyable part. It would be better to plant and harvest by yourself, even if it's only once a day."

"Oh." Anger thought it made sense and planted by himself the next day, without human help, reducing the planting area to 200 acres a day.

Anna was worried: "Why doesn't the master let us help? The yield is so low. The long-grain rice is so delicious, why not plant more?"

"The master must have a deeper meaning," Luther said thoughtfully. "He's using this method to tell us not to become dependent and to take control of our own fate. He's very wise. Anna, let's organize people to rebuild the burned planting areas."

Anna rolled her eyes: "We've already rebuilt them. We can plant next spring, but it's too late now."

Luther scratched his head and praised her: "You're amazing, Anna. You're so thoughtful. I'm relieved to leave the Ice City in your hands."

Anna scolded him: "Don't try to shirk responsibility. You're the first in line."

Just as Anna finished speaking, someone rushed in to report: "Report to the city lord, we've found the control tower of the teleportation array, but there's something inside that has killed two of us."

Luther immediately said: "Notify the master!"