Chapter 19: Heartless Capitalist
To be precise, it was a very cartoonish sapling.
Green leaves, brown branches. The branches were divided into a body, arms, and short legs.
On the branch that formed the body, there were two small black beans, and a thin line below the beans, forming a stick-figure face.
Now, green tears were constantly falling from those bean-like eyes, and the corners of its mouth were turned down, wailing and crying, making the leaves on its head curl up.
Was this…a demon?
He hadn’t seen this kind of demon in the encyclopedia.
Just as he was wondering, a system prompt popped up:
[Spirit Beast Detected.]
[This spirit beast has lost its ability to resist. Please take it into custody as soon as possible.]
So it was a spirit beast.
As for why it had lost its ability to resist—being bitten, scratched, and stepped on by a cat, it was fortunate it was still intact.
Chu Jiu signaled Little Can to release the sapling, and said gently, “Did we scare you?”
The sapling blinked, looked at Chu Jiu, then glanced at Little Can, and cried even louder.
Little Can was speechless.
Chu Jiu cleared his throat and said, “If you keep crying like this, you’ll turn into a little dead tree.”
“Your leaves are going to fall off!”
Upon hearing that the few remaining leaves on its head might fall off, the sapling immediately stopped wailing, its mouth tightly pursed, almost forming a wave shape.
Chu Jiu said, “No more crying? How about we have some water?”
The little sapling nodded.
Chu Jiu found a cup and gave it some of the freshly collected Clear Lake Water.
The little sapling glanced at the cup, put its little arms on the rim, and turned its fingers into slender roots that dipped into the water.
The water level in the cup quickly dropped, and the little sapling’s bean-like eyes closed, its mouth changing from a wavy slit to an upturned curve.
After finishing the cup, the little sapling stared at Chu Jiu, making “glug glug” sounds.
Perhaps the cup of water increased its favorability, because Chu Jiu could now understand it.
It was saying, “So tasty!”
Chu Jiu asked again, “Do you want something to eat? What do you usually like to eat?”
The little 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 to the little sapling again.
This time, the little sapling’s arms barely touched the water before its little bean-like eyes lit up, and its mouth turned into a big smile, “So tasty! So tasty!”
In just a few seconds, most of the honey water was gone.
Seeing that the little sapling was in a much better mood, Chu Jiu asked, “What were you doing near our tent just now?”
The little sapling shuddered, glancing timidly at Little Can, its head gradually drooping, and the little leaves on its head began to curl again:
“I…”
“I saw this tent and thought it was really ugly and not very practical…”
Chu Jiu was speechless.
What was this little guy talking about?
Little sapling: “I wanted to fix it up, make it look nicer and more spacious…”
“But after I made a few changes, it collapsed!”
“I’m sorry, boo hoo…”
At this point, the little sapling was about to cry again.
Chu Jiu, whose ears were still ringing from the previous crying, quickly changed the subject, “You can fix tents?”
The little sapling immediately stopped crying, proudly raising its face, “Of course!”
“I can fix most buildings!”
“Seeing such an uncomfortable tent, I just wanted to build a new one!”
The leaves on its head fully unfurled, swaying twice in the night breeze, and it asked cautiously, “So, can I…build a new tent for you?”
Chu Jiu said, “Yes, of course.”
The little sapling, delighted with the permission, raised its arms and tugged at the leaves on its head—
These leaves started spinning rapidly, lifting the little sapling into the air like a propeller, and it floated to the collapsed tent.
Chu Jiu’s eyes widened: This was…a real bamboo-copter?
Doraemon did not deceive him!
The little sapling landed on the ground, its legs sinking into the soil, and its arms began to extend outward, with countless tendrils branching from its fingertips. Each tendril either gripped the tent cloth, held the wooden planks, or reached further to break off a branch, all while waving at a dizzying speed.
By now, it was completely dark, and by the light of the fire and the fluorescent grass, Chu Jiu could vaguely see that the little sapling wasn’t simply propping up the tent cloth with wooden strips.
The little guy seemed to be weaving lattice walls with branches and vines, and then weaving a roof over the circular lattice walls.
Its hand speed was as fast as, if not faster than, the Rawr Rawr Rabbit’s when planting crops.
Such speed, such building skills…
Chu Jiu thought of his dilapidated Pioneer’s Hut, which he couldn’t repair, and the waterwheel that would take forever to build, and decided that he had to lure this spirit beast back with him!
Fifteen minutes later, the little sapling cheered, “Glug! Glug!”—”It’s done! It’s built!”
The gray, simple tent was gone, replaced by a spacious and simple single-person yurt.
Chu Jiu, marveling, walked over with a cold-light torch—
The yurt even had a door curtain and windows!
Inside, there were mats woven from grass leaves, perfect for putting sleeping bags on!
Most importantly, a person could stand up and turn around inside without feeling cramped!
The previous tent had no doors or windows, and people had to squeeze in and out, unable to do anything but curl up once inside.
Seeing this yurt, Chu Jiu suddenly understood why the little sapling disliked the simple tent so much.
He turned around and exclaimed, “Your building skills are amazing!”
The little sapling swayed happily, its bean-like eyes narrowing, “Glug, glug, I love building houses the most!”
Chu Jiu glanced at the system panel, which still didn’t show “Capture Successful,” and tentatively asked, “If there was a place where you could build lots and lots of houses, would you like to go?”
The little sapling stared blankly at Chu Jiu, hesitating, “Huh?”
“But…I can build lots and lots of houses here too…”
Chu Jiu didn’t give up, “Have you ever seen a house without stairs?”
The little sapling was even more confused, “Huh?”
Chu Jiu: “I have a house with a second floor, but no stairs to go up—wow, imagine, a two-story house without stairs!”
Hearing this, the leaves on the little sapling’s head stiffened: What?! A two-story house without stairs? That was too uncomfortable to even think about!
Chu Jiu, seeing the little sapling’s reaction, realized that this little guy was indeed a perfectionist, unable to tolerate such incomplete buildings.
He pressed on, “Do you know what I’m here to do? I’m looking for bamboo. Do you know what bamboo can be used for?”
“It can be used to build a waterwheel—to lift water from the river and let it flow through the channels.”
“This kind of building sounds difficult, right? Only the most skilled architects could build it, right?”
The little sapling made an ambiguous “glug” sound.
Chu Jiu played his final card, “Would you like to take on the challenge of fixing this house without stairs and building this amazing waterwheel?”
The little sapling’s leaves trembled, and it whispered, “You, you guys…”
“You really…want me to fix it?”
“You’re willing to let me do such an important thing?”
Chu Jiu looked serious, “Of course!”
“If you’re willing, you can find many other things to build there!”
“Mills, windmills, greenhouses…there’s a lot.”
The little sapling’s arms twisted together, as if it were too excited to know what to do, “Really, really?”
Chu Jiu said righteously, “I mean what I say!”
The little sapling “glugged”:
“You’re such a good person!”
“You’re willing to let me build so many things!”
“Please, please take me to that place!”
The system finally gave a prompt:
[Capture Successful!]
[Spirit Beast Basic Information:
Species: Unknown
Skills: Architectural Design, Enhance Building Quality
Likes: Various trees; desserts and vegetable juice
Dislikes: Incomplete buildings]
[Note: Spirit beasts with the “Enhance Quality” skill can proactively make reasonable modifications to existing facilities without the host providing recipes.]
“Proactively make reasonable modifications”—no wonder the little sapling could upgrade the tent to a yurt. That was its innate skill.
Chu Jiu was overjoyed to receive the prompt:
Success! He had successfully lured this naive laborer into his grasp!
…Come to think of it, when he first summoned Little Can, he was worried that it might be cruel to make such a small kitten work.
Now he was sending a sapling less than 10 centimeters tall to a construction site…
He was now completely at ease, even resorting to unscrupulous means to trick people into working for him.
Was this the erosion of humanity?
The newly born black-hearted capitalist Chu Jiu sighed to himself.
*
Arsa Star.
Lu Qingyan walked out of the conference hall, accompanied by his adjutant.
This was the first time in nearly half a year that he had attended such a meeting in person.
Lu Qingyan boarded his private aircraft and slowly closed his eyes.
He wasn’t resting, but exploring his spiritual landscape.
The large black cat was still asleep.
Recently, this frequently out-of-control spiritual entity had rarely taken the initiative to hibernate, which somewhat eased his extremely tense mental energy.
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 spiritual landscape, so naturally, no one could analyze what state Lu Qingyan’s spiritual entity was in.
A moment later, the aircraft landed on the helipad of his private residence.
As soon as he stepped out of the helipad, he saw Doctor Sun rushing over, “Marshal!”
Lu Qingyan paused.
Doctor Sun bowed, “Your Excellency! I need to report the latest situation of Colonel Tu and Major Shu to you.”
Tu Mingyuan, Shu Yiheng, and several other young officers, like Lu Qingyan, suffered from out-of-control spiritual entities.
But their mental strength was not enough to allow them to endure like Lu Qingyan. A year ago, as their spiritual entities were about to go berserk, they fell into a coma.
Doctor Sun’s face was filled with unconcealed joy, and his voice trembled, “These two, they, they both show significant signs of improvement!”
These creatures are so cute and sweet and innocent and this little baby sapling is the best. He just wants build buildings ?????????