Chapter 14: Factory Worker’s Safety Helmet
On the dim lawn, Shangshan Che sat up shakily, clutching his head.
Another head had suddenly appeared on his neck, which made his body somewhat unaccustomed.
Shangshan Che had probably died naturally.
But before being smashed to pieces, he activated Death Rattle and took out two Sturdy Farmers, harvesting a full 60 Soul Ash—already a huge win.
As for why it wasn’t 90 Soul Ash?
—A full-force hoe from behind came down directly, exploding the head that Shangshan Che had bitten into another farmer’s neck, leaving him now sitting in place savoring the aftertaste.
“It hurts, it really fucking hurts.”
Shangshan Che carefully touched his neck and sighed in relief after discovering it was still the original 99% new.
He was afraid the thing on top would suddenly burst open.
However, after this death, his Soul Ash reserves had reached 135 points, enough for a ten-pull with some to spare.
Not only that.
【You experienced combat, Ki-Gong Technique Fragment proficiency +6!】
【You experienced combat, Natural Reason School proficiency +3!】
After the final deadly fight with three farmers, the proficiency of both skills had risen significantly—quite a bountiful harvest.
Now Laughing Hannya’s upgrade progress had also reached 20%. In less than a day, Shangshan Che felt his future had turned into a thriving landscape.
“Let’s draw once first.”
After a simple single draw, Shangshan Che happily obtained Soul Incense Ash +1.
However, he had come specifically for Soul Incense Ash, and now this thing had become consumable for practicing Natural Reason School.
As for why it couldn’t be used when training Ki-Gong Technique, Shangshan Che didn’t know the principle—he could only assume the Ki-Gong Technique Fragment was too low-level and didn’t meet the usage conditions.
The next resurrection count recovery would have to wait ten hours.
Shangshan Che decided to go home for a meal first, then sleep blissfully until he woke naturally.
……
“Dad, I’m back.”
After greeting his dad who was still watching the game, Shangshan Che thought it was good that the other wasn’t a fan of his old home team—otherwise, he couldn’t watch the match so quietly; it would have been red-temper warning long ago.
Not getting a reply from his dad, Shangshan Che didn’t mind. He directly took out the 1,000-yen pork cutlet bento from the Convenience Store and wolfed it down.
After dinner, Shangshan Che took out the Nanjo Doll from his schoolbag and hung it at the room door.
Staring at the cloth doll with its slightly exaggerated expression, Shangshan Che was a bit dazed.
Normally, he shouldn’t remember such a small thing so clearly—why did he remember today to take the doll out of his schoolbag and hang it up?
“Strange…”
Shangshan Che looked at the cloth doll a few more times—was it exerting a mental influence on him?
Faced with this abnormal situation, Shangshan Che didn’t think to puzzle it out alone; instead, he directly messaged Nanjo Emi twice on Line.
【Moon Sand Sauce: Sister Nanjo, does the doll you gave me exert mental influence on me?】
After waiting a while without even a “read” receipt, Shangshan Che shook his head—probably Nanjo Emi was still busy with work and had no time to check her Mobile Phone.
“At this point, let’s sleep first.”
After a good sleep, he should be able to see Sister Nanjo and the netizen “Work to Die”‘s reply.
The time in deep sleep passed like a white steed flitting by.
If Shangshan Che hadn’t confirmed on his Mobile Phone that it was already the next morning, he would have kept sleeping.
Waking up in the morning, groggy.
Naturally, that meant entering the Eternal World to wake up with the smell of thatch and sulfur.
After putting on the Laughing Hannya Mask, Shangshan Che immediately took an Epic Grade lungful, then shouted:
“Refreshing!”
With the dual help of the Eternal World and Laughing Hannya, he booted up successfully in just about ten seconds—much more decisive than being tormented by the alarm three or four times in the past to get up.
For this life, Shangshan Che decided to temporarily change his exploration strategy.
Not trading life for life to gain Soul Ash, but exploring as much of the Aragawa Ghost Village Map as possible while trying to stay alive, ideally encountering a few NPCs that could be talked to.
Because the Eternal World had no sun in the conventional sense, Shangshan Che couldn’t judge directions like southeast or northwest by time at all.
And the side quest mentioned the “Ksitigarbha Statue south of the village”—the premise of doing the quest was at least finding the quest location, right?
“Head toward the factory direction first.”
Shangshan Che’s guess was that since the map had “Polluted Farmer,” there should naturally be Demons and Monsters related to “industry.”
And the higher the industrialization, the greater the possibility of encountering communicable beings…
Yeah right.
Standing in the shadow of a narrow townhouse, Shangshan Che looked at the two 【Oppressed Factory Workers】 not far away, draped in “tube-sleeve haori” and roaring as they wrestled—then sighed.
He listened for a long time but couldn’t understand the language coming out of these two’s mouths.
Shangshan Che gripped the Woodcutting Knife tightly.
If that’s the case, then you can only be turned into useful Soul Ash for me.
Observing a bit longer, it seemed both workers were exhausted; they released each other and slumped on the gravel ground, but still “affectionately” staring each other down, apparently still not convinced.
Shangshan Che knew the opportunity had come.
Now the faint yellow Qi floating above both workers’ heads had turned into thin white mist, meaning they could hardly threaten him anymore.
He stuck to the blind spot, held his breath, and stealthily approached.
When the distance closed to about ten meters, Shangshan Che deliberately kicked a piece of gravel with his toe, instantly drawing both workers’ gazes toward him.
Thus, Laughing Hannya’s ever-present smile took effect.
Immediately after, Shangshan Che fully activated Ki-Gong Technique, aligned the angle for two heads in a line, and thrust out the Woodcutting Knife.
A sticky sensation came from the blade.
However, the worker minibosses clearly didn’t have the Vitality of farmer minibosses; one strike sent both minibosses away together.
“The blade is too dull.”
Shangshan Che shook his head— if he hadn’t gone all out regardless of consequences, the blade would probably have gotten stuck in the first worker miniboss’s skull.
【You killed Scattered Wandering Soul “Oppressed Factory Worker,” obtained 10 Soul Ash.】
【You killed Scattered Wandering Soul “Oppressed Factory Worker,” obtained 12 Soul Ash.】
【You obtained “Factory Worker’s Safety Helmet（Damaged）.”】
“Too bad no skill proficiency gain.”
Sighing, but with no regret on his face, Shangshan Che opened the attributes of the newly dropped equipment.
【Factory Worker’s Safety Helmet】
【Quality: Damaged】
【Effect: None】
【—One of the factory worker’s work gear; besides this, there is also the top, Trousers, and boots.】
Junk with no attribute bonuses—if this were in reality, no one would take it even if given for free.
But for now, keep it—who knows when it might come in handy.
Glancing again at the factory ablaze with activity, Shangshan Che decided to retreat first.
No joke—at a glance, there were dozens of factory workers; going in now would only end in being smashed to bits.
If this were really a game, it would probably say “The level of the area ahead is too high; please explore later.”
Shangshan Che deliberately took a different route back from the one he came.
After walking some distance, just as Shangshan Che was about to look for the large fields and “white Scarecrow,” he unexpectedly heard a “thump thump thump” sound.
He turned his gaze and found the sound was coming from an elegantly decorated townhouse.
