Chapter 148: The Uneasy Hell

“Your Majesty, King of the Water River Kingdom, we thank you for your generous hospitality. Today, we have come specifically to bid farewell to you and your subjects.”

Outside the grand hall of the kingdom, the rest of the field army waited, but only Iron Nose entered to say goodbye to the King of the Water River Kingdom.

“The mighty Water River Kingdom will always be your friend.”

Many block people had established kingdoms nearby, and after a long time, the discovery of new block kingdoms no longer stirred the same excitement it once did. The King of the Water River Kingdom showed little enthusiasm for Iron Nose and his group’s impending departure, offering only a formal farewell out of courtesy.

“Wishing you good health…”

With those words, Iron Nose turned and left without delay. Their next destination—the Meat Kingdom—was only a few hundred blocks away from the Water River Kingdom.

“Redstone ore truly is a captivating resource…”

Holding a small pile of redstone dust flat in his palm, Mo Fangyuan let the cold wind scatter it, sighing softly.

“Individually unremarkable, but assembled together, they wield devastating power…”

It was now mid-February in the third year of the Block Calendar, nearly a month after winter break ended. Mo Fangyuan’s “Textbook Compilation” project had been completely finished.

The new editions of “National Studies,” “Redstone Basics,” and other textbooks had officially been put into use. Although students’ learning still showed some shortcomings, the results were remarkable.

The Ministry of Education could handle the remaining issues. Mo Fangyuan needed to focus on other tasks.

At this stage, his main attention and energy were directed toward two monumental projects: the “Redstone Mining Plan” and the “Currency Plan.” Implementing either would bring revolutionary changes to the Block Kingdom.

The primary obstacle to the “Redstone Mining Plan” was the mysterious cobblestone pillar at the center of the magma lake and the enigmatic experience orb creature residing inside it.

Particularly, the mysterious experience orb lifeform posed the greatest uncertainty. Until this was resolved, Mo Fangyuan would not proceed with the redstone mining.

From the Block Kingdom’s understanding, this creature had the power to grant strength and might itself possess enormous destructive capabilities.

However, after careful observation and analysis, it showed no hostility toward the block people… it even seemed somewhat friendly.

Therefore, Mo Fangyuan’s strategy was to try persuading it to join the Block Kingdom’s side, to contribute its power.

If that failed, only passive methods remained—to kill it if possible.

This mission was entrusted solely to Zhang Lingyun.

Within the Block Kingdom, she was the only one capable of swimming in magma.

Thus, until Zhang Lingyun completed her task, the “Redstone Mining Plan” would remain on hold. Mo Fangyuan would continue refining the “Currency Plan.”

Currently, he was tackling how to create uniquely Block Kingdom-style banknotes that were easy to produce.

The Block Kingdom possessed relevant technology that could utilize pistons to print paper currency, but piston printing was still immature, inefficient, prone to errors, and required the dyes for the banknotes to be simple to apply.

Therefore, to increase currency production speed and reduce waste, the design of the banknotes had to be simple.

This troubled Mo Fangyuan greatly. The idea that his own currency couldn’t bear his portrait because the image was too complex was a painful irony.

“How on earth can I design currency with simple yet elegant beauty…”

Brushing off the remaining redstone dust particles from his palm, Mo Fangyuan stroked his now smooth chin, stripped bare of whiskers, and sat deep in thought.

Hours passed in this contemplation.

Centuries later, the great sculptor Auguste Rodin would immortalize this very moment in the world-shaking nude sculpture “The Thinker,” pioneering a unique aesthetic of the naked form.

“What exactly are you?”

Deep within the Block Kingdom’s underground, in the vast magma lake, Zhang Lingyun—naked as ever—repeated her question.

“Ah! Not you again…”

The experience orb, freshly emerged from the stone pillar, hastily ceased its flight to avoid colliding with Zhang Lingyun’s two formidable weapons.

“…Do whatever you want; I give up struggling…”

The colorful experience orb floated quietly in place, motionless and silent, as if truly surrendering.

Indeed, being watched incessantly by the same person every day would unsettle anyone, no matter how beautiful that person might be.

“If you tell me what you are, I won’t watch you so closely for a while.”

Facing the orb’s demeanor, Zhang Lingyun swung her legs casually.

His Majesty the King had said: “Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated.”

Understanding someone’s weaknesses is the most effective way to defeat them.

Likewise, understanding their desires and goals is the surest path to winning them over.

Zhang Lingyun’s current task was to uncover what this colorful experience orb truly was, to better grasp its nature, and then analyze it.

“As you see, I am merely a weak, pitiful, helpless, adorable little experience orb…”

“I don’t buy it for a second. You’re a crafty old devil!”

A weak experience orb couldn’t possibly teleport itself to the island in the lake using some kind of teleportation, then turn into Zhang Lingyun.

“I don’t believe a word of what you say. You need to show me something more convincing…”

Zhang Lingyun remained unmoved by the orb’s nonsense.

“…”

The colorful experience orb fell silent, then darted back into the stone pillar standing in the center of the lake.

The magma lake returned to its eternal silence.

Meanwhile, above another vast magma sea, a war crucial to the fate of two races erupted once more.

This war had already raged for several hell months. The colossal fortress standing atop the sea of seas had withstood twelve waves of assault under the technological oppression of the Pigman Empire.

Now, this ancient fortress was about to face the thirteenth fierce offensive from the Pigman Empire.

Above the red ocean, countless massive white undead creatures floated in the air near the fortress. Their eyes closed, their thick, square-shaped white tentacles rhythmically swaying in the air beneath them.

“General, the reinforcements of monsters for the fortress have arrived. It will be difficult for the Empire to quickly breach them.”

Inside the steam-powered giant ship sailing the magma sea, a short Pigman holding a thin golden tablet reported to the chief commander, who wore golden earrings and had flared nostrils.

“Then wear them down. Send in the zombie Pigman troops—they’re expendable.”

The war drums echoed once more.