บท 79: Chapter 78: Harvest Begins
Early the next morning, the entire defense camp began to stir.
Under the command of Panglai, the Millelith Army stationed themselves at various key points. They did not participate in clearing the monsters from the fields. From the start of the harvest, they would remain stationed on the defense line to prevent anyone or any outside monsters from charging into Qingce Village.
Meanwhile, members of the Adventurers' Guild began to cooperate in clearing the monsters from the fields. One by one, the Whopperflowers were lured out, and then the adventurers would eliminate them.
Round and plump Slimes were either defeated or captured by the adventurers.
Following behind the adventurers were the hired farmers of Qingce Village. These people were mostly day laborers from Liyue who didn't have steady jobs. Every year at this time, they would be hired by Qingce Village to come and help with the harvest.
In addition to the harvesting farmers, there was another group of people following behind the adventurers. These were representatives from various merchant guilds. Whenever the adventurers cleared out a field of monsters, they would step in to purchase the materials left behind by the monsters.
Although they came to Qingce Village to purchase this year's crops, monster materials were also a lucrative business.
With merchants buying materials behind them, the tangible benefits boosted the morale of the adventurers, and their actions became more efficient.
Standing atop the massive warehouse of Qingce Village, Wang Daoyi and Keqing stood side by side. Below them, a whole team of Millelith Army soldiers were stationed in the warehouse area.
Their gazes covered the entire area, and with seamless coordination, Wang Daoyi nodded to himself. This miraculous method of harvesting gave him a sense of grand movement.
From eight in the morning until six in the afternoon, today's harvest came to an end. A steady stream of crops was delivered to the outermost warehouses.
Those were storage warehouses, and these crops would undergo threshing before being purchased by the guild.
A day's labor had left a brown scar on the golden sea. Wang Daoyi estimated the efficiency and concluded that at the current pace, it would take at least five or six more days to complete the harvest of the entire farm.
"You go rest first, I'll guard the first half of the night, and you guard the second half!"
After having dinner sent by Xiangling, Wang Daoyi stated that he would guard the first half of the night.
Since the start of the harvest, he and Keqing had been watching over the warehouse area to prevent any tampering. Additionally, the Millelith Army would patrol the entire warehouse area regularly.
Last year's events had embarrassed the Tianquan, so this year they had devised even stricter inspection protocols.
At Wang Daoyi's arrangement, Keqing did not speak, just nodded. With a flicker of her lightning, she disappeared.
As night fell, Wang Daoyi sat atop the huge main warehouse.
"Hmm? Little mice on the first day?"
Suddenly, a suspicious figure was caught by Wang Daoyi's divine sense.
A person who looked like an adventurer was evading the patrols of the Millelith Army, stepping cautiously through the darkness, quietly approaching the warehouse area.
Unfortunately, before Wang Daoyi could act, a patrolling Millelith Army soldier seemed to hear something, turned to look at the shadow on the side of the road, called out to his companions, and a few of them surrounded the shadow.
The next moment, realizing they had been discovered, the treasure hoarders members who sprung up hastily scattered some strange powder and then turned to flee.
Several Millelith Army soldiers acted swiftly. When the shadow sprang up, a sharp whistle sounded from the leading Millelith Army soldier.
Other patrolling Millelith Army soldiers heard the whistle and quickly moved in to surround the area. Soon, the shadow was surrounded, and in the end, was captured.
Wang Daoyi casually glanced over, retracting his gaze. Such a level of treasure hoarder didn't require his intervention at all.
However, the powder the treasure hoarders scattered just now seemed a bit off, as if it were elemental powder.
With a flicker, Wang Daoyi appeared where the shadow had been discovered just now, sensing the colorful powder on the ground.
The surrounding Millelith Army soldiers were startled by Wang Daoyi's sudden appearance, but then realized he was one of the people guarding the warehouse area along with Keqing, so they lowered their white plume spears, which had been pointing at Wang Daoyi.
"Sir, it's just an ordinary treasure hoarder member who has been caught!" The leading Millelith Army soldier thought Wang Daoyi had been attracted by the whistle and explained.
Wang Daoyi nodded slightly, pointing to the powder on the ground. "Report to General Panglai. These treasure hoarder have brought elemental powder. They might use this elemental powder to attract monsters to attack the camp!"
After saying that, he flashed back onto the top of the huge warehouse.
Hearing Wang Daoyi's words, the leading Millelith Army soldier's eyes narrowed. He crouched down to collect the colorful powder from the ground, which was clearly mixed with soil, indicating it had been collected from the ground.
Then, he signaled to the other Millelith Army soldiers and ran towards the main camp.
Millelith Army Main Camp.
Inside the largest tent, Panglai was also not resting. He was receiving a report from a scout.
"You're saying that the Fatui' people are causing trouble this time?"
There was no emotion in Panglai's voice, just a sense of heaviness.
The chief logistics officer's scout nodded, "Yes, we found that the Fools have transported some unknown items to Minlin. Lady Yelan is worried that the Fatui will interfere in this year's Harvest Festival, so she sent me to inform you!"
Panglai nodded, indicating that he understood. "The Fatui always like to do this kind of thing. When we were in Lengyan Giant Mountain, I even cooperated with them once. Let's see what surprises they'll bring me this time!"
At this moment, the voice of a guard came from outside the tent.
"Halt! This is General's camp. What business do you have here!"
The person who came was the Millelith Army captain who had received Wang Daoyi's warning.
"We caught a treasure hoarder near the warehouse. They were carrying some elemental powder. The officer guarding the warehouse said this powder might attract monsters, so I came to report to the General!"
"Wait a moment, I'll report to the General!" The guard at the door glanced at the elemental powder in the other's hand. It was mixed with soil, obviously collected from the ground.
"No need, let him in!" Panglai's voice came from inside the tent.
Hearing Panglai's voice, the guard at the door stepped aside, indicating that the Millelith Army captain could enter.
Entering the tent, the Millelith Army captain recounted Wang Daoyi's words and handed over the elemental powder to Panglai.
Examining the powder on the table, Panglai revealed an interesting smile. "Heh, it seems the Fatui have intervened. The elemental technology of the treasure hoarder from before couldn't produce such refined elemental dust."
Panglai had dealt with treasure hoarders too many times. Just by looking at the quality of this powder, he knew it wasn't made by treasure hoarders. In the past, treasure hoarders made everything crudely.
"Someone!"
"Yes!"
"Inform Lady Keqing and the steward of the Adventurers' Guild to be vigilant about this powder. If it appears, remove it immediately!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Millelith Army captain went out and ran towards Keqing's resting tent first. He would inform Keqing first and then go to inform the steward of the Adventurers' Guild.
Inside the tent, Panglai turned to look at the secretary sitting on the side. She was the record keeper for this operation, responsible for recording various merits of this operation. After the mission ended, the merits recorded by her and the Millelith Army would be compared to prevent anyone from taking undue credit.
"Secretary, this discovery is worthy of giving that young man guarding the warehouse some credit, isn't it?"
Panglai was a good general. If someone contributed, he would acknowledge it, even if that person only temporarily belonged to his command.
The secretary was a young girl. Perhaps she wasn't young, as she also had a blue Hydro Vision at her waist. It was difficult to judge the age of the owner of a Vision based on appearance.
The secretary nodded, "I will record this incident, but the specific merit needs to be judged by the Tianquan."
Panglai nodded. As long as she was willing to record it, the Millelith Army would give a major credit. Even if the Tianquan disagreed later, it would only be demoted by one level, still considered a commendable deed.
(End of this chapter)
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