Chapter 19: The Ruthless Capitalist
To be precise, it was a sapling that looked quite cartoonish. Green leaves, brown branches. The branches divided into a body, arms, and short little legs.
On the part that formed the body, two small black beans dangled, with a thin slit beneath them, forming a simple, sketch-like little face.
Now, tears of green kept falling from those bean-like eyes, the corners of its mouth drooping on both sides as it wailed incessantly, crying so hard that the leaves atop its head curled up.
Could this be... a magical creature?
I had never seen this kind of creature in any bestiary.
As I pondered, a system prompt popped up:
[Spiritual Beast Detected.]
[This spiritual beast has lost its ability to resist. Host, please take it in promptly.]
So, it was a spiritual beast.
As for why it lost its will to resist—considering it had been bitten, scratched, and trampled by a cat and still remained intact, that was already quite fortunate.
Chu Jiu motioned for Little Can to release the sapling, then softened his voice, “Did I scare you?”
The sapling blinked, glanced at Chu Jiu, then at Little Can, and cried even louder.
Little Can: ...
Chu Jiu cleared his throat lightly, “If you keep crying like this, you’ll become a little withered tree.”
“Your leaves will all fall off!”
At the mention of the few remaining leaves on its head possibly falling, the sapling immediately stopped sobbing and pressed its mouth tightly shut, nearly forming a wavy line.
Chu Jiu said, “No more crying? How about we have some water?”
The sapling nodded.
Chu Jiu took out a cup and poured some freshly collected [Clear Lake Water] for it.
The sapling eyed the cup, rested its little arms on the rim, and its fingers transformed into thin roots dipping into the water.
The water level dropped rapidly. The sapling’s bean eyes closed, and its mouth changed from a wavy slit to an upward-curved smile.
After finishing the cup, the sapling’s bean eyes fixed on Chu Jiu and made a “glug glug” sound.
Perhaps a cup of water had raised its favorability; this time, Chu Jiu could understand what it was saying.
It was saying—“Delicious!”
Chu Jiu asked, “Do you want something to eat? What do you usually like?”
The sapling seemed shy, its voice small: “I don’t eat food, I... I only like sweet water.”
That was easy enough.
Chu Jiu mixed two drops of honey into the lake water and handed it back to the sapling.
This time, as soon as the sapling’s arms touched the water surface, its bean eyes sparkled, and its mouth stretched into a big grin: “So good! So good!”
In just a few seconds, the half cup of honey water was gone without a drop left.
Seeing the sapling’s mood improve greatly, Chu Jiu asked, “What were you doing beside our tent just now?”
The sapling shivered, glanced at Little Can timidly, lowered its head, and the leaves atop its head began to curl again.
“I…”
“I saw this tent, and I thought it was too ugly and not very useful…”
Chu Jiu: ...?
Was this little guy just bluntly telling the truth?
The sapling said, “I wanted to fix it to make it prettier, more elegant…”
“But after I made a few changes, it collapsed!”
“I’m sorry, boohoo...”
At this, the sapling almost started crying again.
Chu Jiu, whose ears were still ringing from the earlier crying, quickly interrupted, “You can fix tents?”
The sapling immediately stopped crying and proudly lifted its face, “Yes!”
“I can fix most buildings!”
“When I saw this tent was so uncomfortable to live in, I wanted to rebuild it!”
The leaves on its head fully unfolded and swayed gently in the night breeze as it cautiously asked, “So, can I... rebuild a tent for you?”
Chu Jiu: “Sure, of course.”
With permission granted, the sapling eagerly raised its arms and tugged at the leaves atop its head—
The leaves began spinning rapidly like helicopter blades, lifting the little sapling into the air. It floated lightly over to the collapsed tent.
Chu Jiu’s eyes widened: This was... a genuine bamboo dragonfly?
Doraemon had not deceived me!
The sapling landed on the ground, its legs digging into the soil. Its arms stretched out, and countless tendrils sprouted from its fingertips, some pinching the tent fabric, others gripping wooden slats, and some reaching farther to snap off branches. It waved all the tendrils with dizzying speed.
By now, the sky had turned completely dark. Using the firelight and glowing grass, Chu Jiu could vaguely see that the sapling wasn’t simply holding the tent fabric up with wooden sticks.
This little guy was weaving lattice walls from branches and vines, surrounding them in a circle, and weaving a canopy above.
Its hand speed was even faster than that of the shout-rabbit when working the fields.
Such speed, such skill in construction...
Chu Jiu thought of the dilapidated pioneer’s hut he couldn’t repair and the waterwheel that might take ages to build. He resolved to somehow trick this spiritual beast into coming with him!
Fifteen minutes later, the sapling cheered, “Glug! Glug!”—“Done! Finished!”
The previous gray, shabby tent vanished, replaced by a neat and elegant single-person yurt.
Chu Jiu clicked his tongue in admiration and approached with a cold-light torch—
This yurt even had a door curtain and windows!
Inside were mats woven from leaves, perfect for laying a sleeping bag.
Most importantly, a person could stand upright and turn around without feeling cramped!
The old tent had no doors or windows; one had to crawl in and out with great effort and could only curl up inside, unable to do anything else.
Seeing the yurt, Chu Jiu suddenly understood why the sapling disliked the simple tent so much.
He circled around, exclaiming, “Your building skills are truly amazing!”
The sapling happily swayed on the spot, its bean eyes squinting, “Glug, glug, I love building houses the most!”
Chu Jiu glanced at the system panel, still without the prompt [Capture Successful], and tentatively asked, “If there were a place where you could build many, many houses, would you want to go there?”
The sapling stared blankly at Chu Jiu, hesitating, “Hmm?”
“But... I can build lots of houses here, too...”
Chu Jiu remained persistent: “Have you ever seen a building with no stairs?”
The sapling looked even more bewildered: “Hmm?”
Chu Jiu: “I have a house with a second floor, but no stairs to get up—imagine, a two-story building without stairs!”
At this, the leaves atop the sapling’s head stiffened: What?! A two-story house without stairs? Just thinking about it was unbearable!
Seeing the sapling’s reaction, Chu Jiu thought this little guy must have OCD, unable to tolerate incomplete buildings.
He pressed on: “Do you know why I came here? I came looking for bamboo. Do you know what bamboo can be used for?”
“It can be used to build waterwheels—to lift water from the river and channel it away.”
“Those kinds of structures sound difficult, right? Only the best architects can build them, right?”
The sapling made an unintelligible “glug” sound.
Chu Jiu played his last card: “I wonder if you’d be willing to take on the challenge—fix that stairless house and build this amazing waterwheel?”
The sapling’s leaves trembled as it whispered, “You... you all...”
“You really... want me to do that?”
“Such an important task, and you want me to do it?”
Chu Jiu nodded solemnly, “Of course!”
“If you agree, you can find many things to build there!”
“Mills, windmills, greenhouses... so many things.”
The sapling’s arms twisted together, overwhelmed with excitement: “Re-really?”
Chu Jiu said earnestly, “I promise!”
The sapling “glugged” once more:
“You’re such a good person!”
“You actually want me to build so many things!”
“Please, please take me to that place!”
Finally, the system prompt appeared:
[Capture Successful!]
[Spiritual Beast Basic Info:
Species: Unknown
Skills: Architectural design, quality improvement of structures
Favorite things: Various trees; sweets and vegetable juices
Dislikes: Incomplete buildings
Note: Spiritual beasts with the “quality improvement” skill can actively and rationally modify existing facilities without host-provided blueprints.]
“Active rational modification”—no wonder the sapling could upgrade a tent into a yurt; it was its innate talent.
Receiving the prompt, Chu Jiu’s heart swelled with joy:
Success! I’ve successfully tricked this innocent laborer into joining me!
...Speaking of which, when I first summoned Little Can, I worried it might be cruel to make such a tiny kitten work.
Now, sending this sapling, less than 10 centimeters tall, to carry bricks on a construction site...
I feel completely at ease, even resorting to trickery to get it on board.
Is this the degradation of humanity?
Thus mused the newly minted black-hearted capitalist, Chu Jiu.
*
Planet Arsa.
Lu Qingyan exited the conference hall accompanied by his adjutant.
This was the first time in nearly half a year he had attended such a meeting in person.
Lu Qingyan boarded his private flyer and slowly closed his eyes.
He did not rest, but probed into his mental landscape.
The large black cat still lay sleeping.
Recently, this frequently uncontrollable mental entity had, unusually, begun to enter hibernation on its own, easing his tightly stretched mental strength.
No one knew why.
Neither Lu Qingyan himself nor the empire’s top physicians could find a definite reason. After all, in the current empire, no one could enter another’s mental landscape, so no one could analyze the state of Lu Qingyan’s mental entity.
After a moment, the flyer landed on the helipad of his private residence.
As he stepped off, Dr. Sun hurried over: “Your Excellency, Marshal!”
Lu Qingyan halted.
Dr. Sun saluted, “Sir! I need to report the latest on Colonel Tu and Major Shu.”
Tu Mingyuan, Shu Yiheng, and several other young officers suffered the same mental entity loss as Lu Qingyan.
However, their mental strength was insufficient to sustain themselves like Lu Qingyan. Since a year ago, when their mental entities began to rage, they had fallen into comas one after another.