Chapter 344, Get Him Down
The two skeletons stood up from the pile of flesh.
They shook their bodies and moved to the side.
Counting these, the old factory now had five skeletal blacksmiths and five skeletal wyverns.
The number of skeletal blacksmiths wasn't small. In another world, it would be enough to maintain the operation of a small blacksmith shop.
As for the skeletal wyverns, even though there were already five, their main role on the battlefield remained aerial bombardment.
Their combat style was quite singular.
Wu Heng had considered diversifying their combat strategies, but so far there hadn't been any major breakthroughs.
Bombarding the zombie hordes with "Lazy Dog Bombs" was, after all, the simplest and most efficient method.
So, things continued like this.
The two skeletons moved aside, and Wu Heng's gaze fell upon the "Flame Furnace."
The entire furnace was a cylindrical iron-black object over three meters in diameter, with a one-meter-wide oval depression in the center.
It resembled a particularly thick metal tub.
Complex, deep carvings adorned its sides and top, giving it a round, altar-like appearance.
Given his experience with the "Burial Grounds" formation, Wu Heng wasn't particularly surprised.
The special effects of the structure were entirely dependent on these engravings.
After taking a look, Wu Heng picked up his radio, pressed the button, and said, "Qi Hancai, come to the back of the factory."
"Received!"
...
Not long after, Qi Hancai quickly walked over.
She was wearing an anti-stab vest, with a radio strapped across her chest, looking quite sharp.
She glanced at the two skeletons, then at the iron-black furnace.
She frowned slightly.
It seemed like this wasn't here before.
After scanning the area, she retracted her gaze. "What do you need?"
Wu Heng said, "The workshop I asked you to prepare last time, is it ready?"
"There's still plenty of space in the workshop. What do you need it for?"
Wu Heng looked at the furnace, "This is a smelting furnace, I need to set it up in a workshop to melt metals."
"Oh, no problem, the workshop has lots of space."
"Get a truck and move this over there, then have someone melt five hundred grams of gold for me—I'll need it in a bit."
"Understood!" Qi Hancai replied and immediately used her radio to issue instructions.
Soon, a crane truck came over.
The crane hoisted the Flame Furnace and transported it to the factory warehouse.
Arriving at the workshop.
The furnace was placed in a chosen spot, and the melted gold was poured over several key points of the furnace.
Activating the effects of the formation.
Wu Heng continued, "Let the skeletal blacksmiths work here from now on, and increase the production of solid iron bombs."
"Got it!" Qi Hancai agreed.
...
Once the blacksmith skeletons were transferred over.
Wu Heng and Qi Hancai walked back together.
"Is everything okay at the market?" Wu Heng asked.
Walking beside him, Qi Hancai replied, "Yes, yesterday Captain Yang from the military came by again. He wanted to discuss exchanging military equipment for food. You weren't around, so I told him we weren't planning to change the prices."
Wu Heng raised an eyebrow.
Yang Long came again to discuss this?
Why were they so eager to sell their goods—were they really short on food, or was there some other motive?
He couldn't figure it out, but it didn't really matter to him.
Right now, food was the only valuable thing—nothing else was more important.
As long as he controlled the food supply, anything he needed could be traded for later.
"No need to adjust the price," Wu Heng said directly.
"That's what I thought too," Qi Hancai nodded, adding, "Yesterday we got some more gold and corpse cores, I'll have them brought over."
"Okay."
Wu Heng waited in the room for a while, and Qi Hancai brought the gold and corpse cores over.
"A bit over five kilograms of gold, quite a bit of silver this time, over twenty kilograms, and three level-one corpse cores and one level-two corpse core," Qi Hancai said.
Did a shelter really sell a level-two corpse core?
"Was it the military who sold the level-two core?"
"No, it was from a shelter called Weiwu. They used explosives to kill a mutated zombie."
"Preparing in advance—it's definitely a good approach," Wu Heng noted.
Qi Hancai smiled, "He told me about it voluntarily, and then tried to sell us their explosives. It felt like he was just advertising."
"He's got a good head for business."
"Yeah."
Wu Heng put away all the gold, silver, and corpse cores and continued, "Produce more solid iron bombs in the next couple of days. We're going to clear the road to the county."
"Alright, I'll have people speed things up."
They chatted for a bit.
Qi Hancai went back to her work, and Wu Heng returned to Golden Island.
...
Back at his residence.
Wu Heng delivered the corpse cores to the alchemy room and went downstairs.
Andviel was feeding the baby owl on the first floor, while Minnie was polishing a vase on a display shelf.
When they saw Wu Heng come down, both of them greeted him.
The baby owl also turned and chirped twice.
Wu Heng nodded and asked, "Viel, anything going on with the guild?"
"Nothing at all. After you left, everything was quiet. I saw nothing was happening in the afternoon, so I came back," Andviel said.
"Good, as long as there are no issues." Wu Heng still worried a little that the inspector might target Andviel after failing to find any fault with him.
But it seemed that wasn't the case.
Minnie put down the vase and asked, "No news from Philipa, either—just buying things, equipping pirates and such."
Wu Heng nodded, "Good, keep an eye on it."
"Got it!"
After dinner.
Wu Heng returned to his study.
He let the two spirits out to do their own things.
He also sat at his desk, pondering the events of the day.
The position of Inspector Special Envoy within the guild is a special supervisory one.
They oversee and inspect various branches of the guild to root out spies.
Wu Heng was certain he hadn't met this middle-aged man before, so why had he been so targeted with his questioning?
"Personal grudge? Or is it prejudice against my profession?"
Two guesses surfaced in his mind.
One was that this person bore a grudge—maybe he was friends with someone Wu Heng had killed.
The second guess was that he was prejudiced against necromancers.
The question had asked if he had ever conducted necromancy experiments—clearly targeting necromancy specifically.
But his purpose was also clear.
He was trying to get Wu Heng to give a damning answer and get him suspended from his position as Deputy Steward.
"I'll find an opportunity to figure out his motives."
After all, he had no shortage of enemies.
He should figure out what this person's true aim was.
Knock, knock~
While he was thinking, the door was lightly knocked on.
Minnie's voice came through, "Master, the bath is ready."
"Mm!" Wu Heng got up, opened the door, and went to the bathroom to freshen up.
...
The next day, at the guild.
Wu Heng was sitting in the study, yawning, as he flipped through the latest bounty notices.
Philipa's bounty had reached 650 silver coins, almost as much as a fourth-rank fugitive, except without a third-level merit reward.
The higher the bounty, the more famous she would become among pirates.
But it also increased her danger.
Even if the guild didn't go after her, some mercenaries or bounty hunters would target her.
Low level, high bounty.
Who wouldn't be tempted?
After sitting for a while, there was a knock at the door.
Andviel opened the door, and Steward Assistant Moya peeked through the gap.
"Deputy Steward Wu Heng, the inspector will be reviewing archives today. If you're free, could you accompany him?" Moya asked.
Wanting him to accompany the inspector to the archive room?
"He's still going through the records?"
"If needed, he's allowed to."
"If I go, what do I need to do?" Wu Heng asked further.
"All you need to do is accompany him," Moya said after closing the door. "He is the Inspector Special Envoy of the guild after all, and we need to maintain appearances. Sheila Grey is too blunt, so the Steward wants you to go."
"Alright, I promise I won't hit him."
Moya rolled her eyes at him, "Don't be late at the archive room. No one else will be assigned to accompany him, and they can't enter without someone else. Oh, and his name is 'Kalema.'"
"Got it!"
After Moya left, Wu Heng gathered his things and also headed out.
...
Archive room.
The middle-aged inspector from yesterday and the two investigators were already waiting by the archive room.
Seeing Wu Heng approach, the middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, then his expression returned to normal, "Deputy Steward Wu Heng."
"Inspector Kalema." Wu Heng smiled.
"Alright, let's not waste any time."
Wu Heng nodded, glanced at the staff behind him, and took out a key to unlock the archive room.
The dim room held row after row of wooden archive shelves.
The middle-aged man entered and immediately started searching based on time and guild personnel.
Wu Heng stood a short distance away, watching him conduct his inspection.
He thought for a moment, and placed an invisible sensor in a far corner of the room.
The other man was a mage too.
To avoid detection, Wu Heng placed the sensor at a distance, allowing an overhead view of the inspector's examination of the archives and the two investigators taking notes.
He returned to the doorway.
Using the sensor's perspective, he watched Kalema review the records.
Wu Heng could see that the man checked other members' records.
Including his and Sheila Grey's.
It wasn't until noon that the middle-aged man came out of the archive room, his expression as stern as ever, "I'm done reviewing. Deputy Steward, you may go about your business."
Wu Heng gestured for the staff to lock up, "Alright then, you may proceed as you see fit."
After that, they each went their separate ways.
After they split up.
Wu Heng went straight to Steward Imiro's office and reported everything.
Then he returned to his own office.
...
After sitting at the guild for a bit.
Wu Heng left and returned home.
After telling Minnie something, he went directly to the zombie world.
In the open space outside the dormitory building.
"Stay still!" Wu Heng commanded.
The skeletal wyvern, which was wriggling, calmed down a bit and stood still.
Wang Chenggang and the others were installing 3D-printed parts into the chest cavity of the skeletal wyvern.
Zhang Chi held the blueprints and directed from below.
The printed ammunition bay was being assembled piece by piece into the wyvern's chest.
It looked like a large plastic toy, completely filling the chest cavity.
Seeing that it matched the blueprints well, and the ammunition bay fit seamlessly, Zhang Chi wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He turned to Wu Heng and said, "My lord, once we wrap it in another layer of leather, it'll be even sturdier."
Wu Heng looked at it, satisfied.
The color was a bit flashy, but it was well made.
The material was light and filled the space well, much better than wooden boxes.
"Not bad," Wu Heng nodded.
Zhang Chi smiled.
Wu Heng continued, addressing Qi Hancai, "Have the leatherworkers make a covering tonight, and we'll test it out tomorrow."
"Alright!" Qi Hancai nodded.
With this taken care of.
Wu Heng strolled around the market.
Checking out the shelters trading goods.
After finishing his walk.
He returned to the dormitory, releasing both Xiaoxiao and Glenda.
Xiaoxiao went to see Zhao Yanqiu.
Wu Heng took out a dictionary and taught Glenda some of the language and writing of this world.
...
The afternoon sun remained glaring.
A horse-drawn carriage creaked as it arrived on Lighthouse Street.
The door of a tavern at the street corner stood open, and two scantily clad women leaned against the doorway, eyeing the passing guests.
The carriage slowly approached.
The women's eyes lit up, both staring at the carriage.
If it was a man getting off, they would pounce on him to showcase their assets.
The carriage stopped in front of the tavern.
Kalema, dressed in a purple robe, stepped down from the carriage, accompanied by his guards.
"Need some service, sir? You look like you've got endless energy."
The other woman pulled out her chest, "Want a drink of fresh milk? Or maybe I could drink yours?"
The two women were stopped by the guard before they could get close.
They stumbled back.
Kalema walked into the tavern without any expression and went directly upstairs.
"You stay out here," Kalema said.
The guard nodded and stood by the door.
Kalema opened the door and walked inside.
The room was small, with a round wooden table and four chairs.
Opposite the door sat the captain from the cargo ship Kalema had arrived on.
"Inspector Kalema," the captain stood up and greeted him with a smile.
Kalema made a silencing gesture.
The captain then took out a sound-blocking device and placed it in the center of the room.
A faint light enveloped the room, preventing any sound from escaping.
"Mr. Kalema, you must have brought good news, right?" The captain asked, his smile still intact.
Kalema sat down across from him and shook his head, "No good news, that guy's clean. I couldn't find anything during questioning."
The captain's smile froze for a moment, and he frowned, "He's a necromancer, rising in ranks quickly. How could he be clean? Are you having second thoughts, or are you dissatisfied with our terms?"
Kalema glanced at him, "I agreed to your terms, and I'll keep my word. But when I say he's clean, it means he's clean."
"Didn't you ask if he conducted necromancy experiments? Necromancers always do."
"I asked, and he hasn't."
"What about body theft or live experiments?"
"I asked under the Ekor Kingdom laws, and he hasn't done those either."
This...
The captain fell silent for a moment, "How is that possible?"
"That's the way it is. There's nothing I can do."
The captain frowned, then said, "Maybe we can find a way to get him off that position."