SWNOVELS Chapter 111.1: Undead Cultural Arts
Chapter 111.1: Undead Cultural Arts
Earth time, November 5, an ordinary Monday.
Yang Qiu returned to Earth, took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and, as usual, sat down in front of his computer to check his emails.
It had only been three days (Earth time) since he sent the deposit, and "Director Lu" had already delivered all the road construction equipment.
All of it was large-scale machinery, so it couldn't be delivered to the suburban cottage where Yang Qiu lived. "Director Lu" directly sent him the address of a civilian warehouse outside the city and had the keys delivered by local express, instructing him to pick it up himself.
After having a bowl of noodles nearby, Yang Qiu obtained the keys from a courier locker in the vicinity and immediately called a ride-hailing service to the warehouse.
Right now, he was still using the identity he had previously purchased online. "OtherWorld" had been open for a month now, and even the "beta" had completed a full month. It was impossible that the authorities hadn't uncovered the truth of this purchased identity. But since they were intentionally turning a blind eye, Yang Qiu saw no need to delve into conspiracy theories.
On arrival, Yang Qiu indeed found that the warehouse arranged by "Director Lu," which originally belonged to a certain agricultural machinery factory, was unexpectedly quiet. There wasn't any ambush nor surveillance, and when Yang Qiu scanned the area with his mental field, the largest living creatures within a kilometer radius were no bigger than mice. Even the security guards that were supposed to be watching the warehouse had been cleared out in advance.
"Cooperation is all about trust for it to go the distance!" Yang Qiu praised "Director Lu," whose true identity he still didn't yet know, and confidently entered the warehouse.
Moments after the warehouse door was closed, all signals from the wiretaps and cameras set up by professionals inside the warehouse were cut.
Half an hour later, Yang Qiu strode out from the converted civilian rental warehouse empty-handed, hailed a DiDi on the roadside, and swiftly returned to the suburbs.
Shortly after the DiDi departed, a van approached from the opposite direction and stopped outside the warehouse. Several immaculately dressed men jumped out and sprinted toward the warehouse.
In the spacious, old agricultural machinery factory building, all the road construction equipment, mining diesel generators, and Dongfeng trucks loaded with barrels of diesel had vanished without a trace.
Field agents stared blankly at the squeaky clean warehouse, where not even a coiled wire was left behind, and quickly took out their phones and reported the situation
At five in the morning, Ji Tang dragged Rex to the countryside to continue their survey. After a half-day of running about, they arrived at the final destinationBack Mountain Village, farthest away from Weisshem, located on the north side of a large mountain.
When they arrived around four in the afternoon, the most scorching period of the day had passed. The villagers had all come out of their homes and were working in the fields at the foot of the mountain.
Ji Tang and Rex, who had been on the road all day, were stunned upon seeing this typical late summer and early autumn farming scene
Although they had already heard some information about Back Mountain Village from nearby villages, seeing it in person was still shocking.
Back Mountain Village, with a population of just over two hundred, consisting of fewer than 40 households, had dozens of men and women working in the fields, all completely naked.
Seeing outsiders, the villagers of Back Mountain knew enough to be shy. Other than the elders, who were largely nonchalant, the younger ones quietly turned away.
Ji Tang heard Rex gasp sharply beside him. Without looking, he could guess what expression the young man was wearing now.
A rather aged-looking man, with a sunburned face and body, yet wasn't over forty, jogged over to the edge of the field. He picked up a piece of rag, wrapped it around his waist, and stared at the clothed skeleton (Ji Tang) and Rex, who were still pushing bicycles along. He appeared confused for quite a while and, after a long bout of hesitation, walked toward themRex's attire appeared decent in the eyes of the rural people.
Due to Ji Tang's presence, this man didn't dare to approach too closely. Keeping a distance of 20 meters, he made a series of chirping sounds toward Rex while nodding and bowing down. It seemed like he was inquiring about Rex's background and intentions.
Rex nodded at the man, turned to Ji Tang, and said stiffly, "He claims to be Walk, the head of Back Mountain Village."
Ji Tang patted Rex's shoulder in understanding.
On the first day of their rural survey, Rex harbored the naive idea that changing the village head could transform a poor and struggling village into a prosperous and wealthy one. Although he realized later that this idea was way too naive and stopped saying such things seeing this village head without even a decent pair of pants left Rex feeling rather embarrassed.
Next up was the process that the two were already proficient in. Rex declared his identity as the new Weisshem lord and made Walk, the village head who was bowing, lift his head. He then handed a lapel badge to Walk and instructed the village head to lead them to understand the village's situation.
As they went through the less than forty households densely settled on the mountainside to defend against wild beasts, Rex became even more depressed
The adobe houses made of mud and straw were each family's most important possessions. No one had any common glassware, and even the village head's house only had clay jars and shiny wooden bowls.
Most households couldn't put together a complete piece of clothing. Only the village head and a few older villagers had a set or half set of patched "traveling clothes"; when the villagers needed to exchange soybeans for salt with other villages, those who could produce "traveling clothes" would deliver the soybeans.N♡vεlB¡n: Unleashing Imagination, One Read at a Time.
The villagers' daily food was potatoes.
Usually, they ate mashed potatoes with wild peppers, sometimes with wild fruit when they were in season on the mountain and just a little salt for seasoning.
On the rare occasions when a wild animal was trapped in the large pits dug around the village, or if someone caught a field mouse, rabbit, or snake, the villagers could have some meat and animal fat in their wooden bowls.
The entire village was extremely primitive. So primitive it was hard to imagine that 15 kilometers away was Weisshem, where some neighborhoods had electricity, and Indahl, with electricity and gas and housed hundreds of thousands, was less than 50 kilometers away.
Having already visited 21 villages, Rex could see the "root of poverty" in this village, even without Ji Tang pointing it out: a lack of water and good land.
The territory of Weisshem didn't lack water. There was abundant groundwater and a river due to its proximity to the Sorensen Mountains.
However, abundant water resources and the ability of the people living in this territory to make full use of water resources were two different matters. Back Mountain Village, the farthest village from the densely populated area (Weisshem town), had been established on the mountain to defend against wild beasts, and fields were cultivated down the mountain.
The village was a distance away from the main river that ran through Weisshem territory, so the villages could only use a small stream to get water. As a result, without irrigation, wheat couldn't be grown, so drought-resistant potatoes and soybeans were cultivated instead. Also, the only safe area for cultivating these crops was at the foot of the mountain. Villagers couldn't practice crop rotation and fallow to replenish the land. Instead, they had to rely on the experience passed down by their ancestors to rotate soybeans and potatoes on the same piece of land.
Listening to the nervous and incoherent Walk speak about the obscure and difficult-to-understand circumstances, Rex expressed that he wasn't here to conscript laborers, and Weisshem didn't engage in wars.
It seemed that the previous Weisshem lords had all given up considering taxing this village and wouldn't even remember there were people here unless they were conscripting commoners for war.contemporary romance
Having roughly understood the situation in Back Mountain Village and getting an estimate of the population, Ji Tang said to Rex while they were on their way back, "It's too difficult for this village to escape poverty right away. Water diversion projects are too costly, and I estimate we won't have the funds for such undertakings in Weisshem territory for several years, given the financial situation. The only way to solve Back Mountain Village's dilemma is to relocate the entire village."
Rex nodded silently and let out a long sigh.
"I always thought that people led difficult lives because the officials weren't upright enough. Ji Tang, it seems I was way too naive."
"Your line of thought wasn't entirely wrong," Ji Tang consoled. "It's just that poverty has different factors in different regions. It's not something that can be entirely solved by having upright officials. Integrity and morality aren't a cure-all; the ability and determination to get things done are the most important."
Rex nodded, then shook his head, letting out another sigh.
Ji Tang could very well understand Rex's reaction.
Regardless of whichever plane it was, the issue of poverty was both the "easiest" and also the most challenging problem to solve.
It was considered the "easiest" to solve because, in the eyes of some, addressing poverty seemed simpleengaging in charity work would do.
For example, on Earth, charitable organizations of developed countries delivered food, medicine, and clothing to the impoverished people of third-world countries. The grateful smiles of these poor folk receiving aid were often published in the media, which gave people a sense of spiritual satisfaction. Any ordinary citizen could fulfill their obligation to the impoverished and return home to enjoy their lives in the civilized world.
However, such charity activities, which didn't even address the root cause of poverty, weren't particularly effective. International charity organizations had been sending food and medicine to undeveloped countries for decades, yet the people there still remained hungry and sick.
Of course, this wasn't saying that such relief-oriented charity was entirely meaningless. At least, the impoverished could still benefit a little while helping certain charitable organization members or wealthy individuals legally evade taxes.
Some might argue that these charity organizations have good intentions, and there are indeed many remarkable individuals within these organizations doing great things, so it's unfair to condemn the entire sector. However, the question arises: Do those among the small portion of people in these organizations who genuinely make a difference and sincerely try to solve poverty really not understand the root causes of poverty in third-world countries?
Humanity on Earth had since moved beyond the stage of monopolizing knowledge as a resource. Anyone who bought a cheap smartphone and found a place with internet access could easily learn about the outside world. Could International humanitarian organizations, with their abundant resources, broad perspectives, and the ability to send food, drugs, and even medical teams to third-world countries, genuinely not understand what those impoverished locals needed?
In short, it was the advantage of taking the easy path rather than the difficult one; the success of Chinese-style poverty alleviation was visible globally, yet what did these international organizations, which had been doing charity for decades or even centuries, learn from such experiences?
Rex was an idealist willing to get things done. At least, as the nominal owner of this land, he genuinely wanted to improve the lives of Weisshem's people. He didn't categorize the remote rural population as burdens of civilization or society that urgently needed to be eliminated. The easiest means of "poverty alleviation," which involved sending some supplies and leaving after self-satisfaction, certainly didn't occur to him.
With this mindset, he had visited over 20 villages in Weisshem territory, deeply understood the situation, and became more and more frustrated and disheartened.
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