NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42, Gold and Silver Processing Shop
Chapter 42, Gold and Silver Processing Shop
Each skeleton picked up an iron spear and held it in its hand.
It seemed that due to the weight of the iron pipes, the skeletons' shoulders drooped a bit, and their movements appeared somewhat strained.
Wu Heng had the skeletons practice thrusting movements, which were relatively smooth with no major issues.
Next, he had a few skeleton warriors pick up the hayforks he bought last night.
After confirming that they could also perform forward thrusts with the hayforks, he felt relieved.
He was really worried that these skeletons might take the hayforks downstairs to start weeding, which would be a disaster.
25 skeletons with wooden spears, 22 with iron-pipe spears, and 5 with hayforks.
When they stood together, with their spears pointed forward, they really started to look like a phalanx formation.
With the weapon situation resolved.
Wu Heng took out the map of the surrounding area and glanced at it again.
The original plan was to attack the commercial street directly and loot the gold shops and banks there, but after seeing the situation yesterday, he hesitated.
There were too many zombies.
Attacking head-on might be dangerous.
He needed to plan carefully, to come up with a way to minimize losses while taking down the commercial street.
"I remember there's a gold and silver processing shop over here," Wu Heng suddenly recalled.
In a small alley outside the western market, there was a jewelry processing shop.
The older generation liked to bring their gold and silver there to be made into bracelets and rings; it was an old shop.
Lately, business didn't seem to be doing well; young people preferred to buy finished jewelry.
Since the commercial street wasn't an option, he'd check out this place first.
With that in mind, he ordered the skeletons, "Follow me."
Clattering!
The skeletons began to move, following him downstairs.
......
On the west side, through an alley near the market.
Passing through an alley near the commercial street.
After clearing the nearby zombies, Wu Heng began commanding the skeletons to form ranks.
The hayfork wielders were at the front, followed by rows of spear-wielding skeleton warriors.
The spears pointed forward in layers, forming a spiked wall.
Once everything was ready.
Wu Heng said, "Barson, lure the zombies over."
Barson pushed through the group and ran forward.
Soon, Barson reappeared in sight, with dozens of snarling, clawing zombies in pursuit.
As Barson approached the skeleton formation, he sidestepped the spears and slipped into the back ranks.
The zombies behind him, however, crashed directly into the skeletons' spears.
The dense spears pierced through the zombies, causing them to howl in pain.
The skeleton warriors kept thrusting and withdrawing their spears, repeating the simple motion.
The front-row zombies were pushed by those behind them, forced into the layers of spears until they died.
Crossbow One and Crossbow Two occasionally fired a few bolts from the back, killing any zombies that managed to squeeze into the formation.
【Gained 4 experience points.】
【Summon - Skeleton Warrior, gained 3 experience points.】
【Summon - Skeleton Warrior, gained 3 experience points.】
【…】
【Summon - Skeleton Warrior, leveled up to Level 3, Constitution +1.】
The notifications kept coming, adding to the kill experience.
After Wu Heng reached Level 4, the experience gained from killing zombies dropped to 4 points, making leveling up slower.
Some of the skeleton warriors also leveled up during the battle, reaching Level 3 one after another.
The battle continued.
The sounds of roaring and fighting attracted more zombies, who kept charging in waves.
The number of zombies kept increasing.
Wu Heng stood in the middle of the formation, observing the battle ahead.
Suddenly, a window on the third floor beside him shattered, and among the falling glass, three dark shadows lunged from above.
Wu Heng raised his staff, and a blue 【Witch Arrow】 shot out.
It accurately struck the first shadow, sending arcs of electricity that also hit the other two shadows.
The shadows convulsed in mid-air before plummeting straight down.
With a splat, they hit the ground.
Several skeletal hounds were the first to react, quickly pouncing on the fallen shadows, clamping down and shaking their heads as they bit.
Amidst sharp 'squeaking' noises and struggles.
The skeletal hounds tore the shadows into several pieces.
After things quieted down, Wu Heng approached to examine the shadows that had tried to ambush him.
They were three fairly large black rats.
Their fur was oily and shiny, and they were about the size of adult cats.
"Not mutated creatures?" Wu Heng was curious.
The rats before him weren't as exaggerated in size as mutated creatures; they were still rats, with protruding teeth stained with zombie flesh.
Judging by their appearance, they were still rats, but they had been affected, growing larger and becoming much more aggressive.
Actively attacking humans was not a good sign.
If these rats had simply zombified and mutated, it wouldn’t be too concerning.
But if they retained their original species traits and evolved, that would be terrifying.
With the rapid reproduction rate of rats, they could soon form swarms capable of attacking any living thing.
While observing the rats, the battle ahead had ended.
All the zombies were killed, and the skeleton warriors returned to standby mode.
Wu Heng thought for a moment and decided to use 【Raise Skeleton】 on the rats.
Flesh began to peel away, and skeletal rats crawled out.
【Skeleton Rat (Level 1)】
The rating was only Level 1.
There was no soul flame in the hollow skeletons.
He used a short spear to search through the areas where the flesh had fallen off but found no sign of a 'corpse core' or anything similar.
Not giving up, he cast Raise Skeleton on the other two rats, creating more skeletal rats, but still found no corpse cores.
It seemed these rats didn’t possess corpse cores.
After a brief rest.
Wu Heng led the skeleton squad toward their target.
......
Fuheng Silver Shop.
A small shop of less than 30 square meters.
The glass at the entrance had ads for high-priced gold and silver recycling.
Inside, there was only a single display case at the front, holding a few gold and silver bracelets and rings, haphazardly piled together.
"Not a bad haul."
He opened the case and started taking out the bracelets and rings, stuffing them into his backpack.
Even without selling them as jewelry, the gold in these bracelets was worth a considerable fortune.
Bringing them back to Blackstone Town, even if he did nothing else, he could live comfortably for more than half a lifetime in the crowded district.
He could also use them to buy more weapons and equipment for the skeletons, with the only challenge being finding a justification for large-scale weapon purchases.
After emptying the jewelry from the display case, he continued searching the shop.
There should be more than this, right?
After all, it was an old established shop.
He entered the back room and found a safe under the desk.
Using a bronze key, he opened it.
Inside were gold and silver jewelry sealed in plastic.
There was much more here than in the display case.
It seemed coming here wasn’t a mistake after all.
Wu Heng immediately began packing the jewelry into his backpack.
Just as he was pulling out items and stuffing them into the bag.
Suddenly, a child's voice came from behind him.
"Uncle, what are you doing here?"
Wu Heng froze for a moment, then felt a chill down his spine, his hair standing on end.