323: Chapter 121: Human Bone Candle, Ether Spirit Fire 323: Chapter 121: Human Bone Candle, Ether Spirit Fire The lights in Sun Family Town naturally attracted all the wandering undead from every direction.
They followed their instincts, gathering towards the source of the flame.
This time, Li Mumu didn’t adopt a strategy of eradication and intimidation.
It had been proven that these things couldn’t be completely killed off, nor could they be frightened away.
Wendy provided her with a new strategy, which was to share.
A muddy horde of walking corpses slowly climbed up the hill, led by a giant figure with heavy iron chains wrapped around his hands.
As he rounded the boulder blocking his path, he saw the bright lights and instinctively stopped in his tracks.
It was a Human Bone Candle, with a wick made from hair soaked in an Ether Substance stuffed into the femur, quietly burning in the palm of a girl in red.
The Ether Substance was the foundation of creation from the creator, the Primordial Particles.
It was said to be transformable into anything in the Real World, but the catch was you had to know how to use it.
Everyone knows that computer programs are based on the binary code of 0s and 1s, but how many people in the world can create a complete software program from binary code?
According to the witch knowledge passed down in Wendy’s family—she herself wasn’t interested in learning it, only looking it up when necessary, belonging to a laid-back, inconsistent study method.
Although she recognized it as Ether, she couldn’t really do anything particularly clever with it.
At most, she could transform it into something combustible like she was doing now.
This was no different from lighting a cigarette with money, and not just any money, but the kind of bearer bonds with many zeros on the end, rolled up and shoved under the stove to burn for two minutes before using them to light a cigarette.
It was an utter waste of resources.
But in times like these, you couldn’t consider the value of things, only whether they were useful and could be put to use.
Otherwise, you’d find yourself dead with money unspent, which would be really frustrating.
A Human Bone Candle made from Ether Substance might not burn forever, but burning for ten or eight years would definitely be no problem.
“Give… to me…”
The giant instinctively reached out his hand, making a low and hoarse sound.
Under the light of the fire, his brain was slowly recovering clarity, but the fire was also burning his soul, causing him to feel agonizing pain.
Pain mingled with pleasure.
This was the feeling of being alive.
“Do you want it?”
Li Mumu held the Human Bone Candle in front of him and asked softly, “What’s your name?”
The giant nodded dully and spoke with difficulty, “Dashuan… Big Dashuan…”
“Big Dashuan?
A very simple and unadorned name.
I’ll give you this candle.
Would you like to stay and be my gatekeeper?”
“I… am willing…”
The giant bent over, his hands trembling as he reached out, “Give to me…”
Taking the candle from Li Mumu’s hand, he endured the intense pain of the close-range fire burning him, turned around, and raised the light high for his tribe who had followed him, letting out a thrilled and ecstatic howl.
One night passed… or maybe two, in this damned place there was no accurate measure of time.
Li Mumu ran through West Spring Mountain, gifting seven Human Bone Candles in total, recruiting a tribe of Nomads whose size was no less than that of Sun Family Town.
These Nomad tribes were settled at the outskirts of Sun Family Town, forming a perfect protective network.
The Nomads’ demands were actually quite modest, they could endure all other hardships as long as they had a flame to awaken their Spirit Intelligence.
Despite still suffering from hunger, there wasn’t much to eat in this ghostly land anyway, and since one couldn’t starve to death here, it didn’t matter.
During this time, a wandering Rebel Army appeared at the foot of West Spring Mountain, who, compared to the ordinary walking dead, seemed to retain some partial consciousness, or perhaps something else.
Faced with the Human Bone Candle in Li Mumu’s hand, greed flashed across the Rebel Leader’s face, but he was not willing to be recruited by Li Mumu, nor was he satisfied with just the light from this one candle.
He wanted it all.
And then he was dragged off his horse and beaten to death by the furious Nomads.
This time, Li Mumu didn’t even need to take action herself; in every Tribe she had recruited, there were Tribe leaders like Dashuan.
Their strength was not much less than that of the Rebel Leader.
With seven people swarming him, the Rebel Leader had no power to resist and was torn to pieces along with his horse.
With corpses at hand, whether human or horse, there was food, and the hungry Nomads finally had a feast.
Whether it was safe or hygienic wasn’t an issue; after all, you wouldn’t starve if you didn’t eat, and you wouldn’t die from poisoning if you did, so it didn’t matter.
A joyful atmosphere spread among all the Tribes, and the leaders selected what they thought was the juiciest meat to offer to the Shroud Empress who had given them all of this.
Thank you, but no need!
Li Mumu politely declined; she had not fallen so low as to compete with the dead for their flesh.
With full bellies, the Nomads became even more loyal and their minds sharper.
As they gradually adapted to the burning sensation brought by the light, they also slowly felt the warmth they had long missed.
They grew stronger, smarter, more like living people.
So Wendy got a large number of free laborers to implement the plan she had long been hatching.
With the labor force from a total of eight Tribes, including those from Sun Family Town, under her command, they began leveling the land, transporting stones, and constructing buildings.
“Are you planning to build a church?”
Li Mumu was very curious.
Wendy shook her head, “Haven’t I told you?
I’m going to open a Bank.”
“Heaven and Earth Bank?”
“Good name, but wouldn’t that name offend some taboo on your side?”
“If you’re only doing Netherworld transfer services, then there would definitely be no problem with that name.”
Although it has been a traditional custom to burn Paper Money for the deceased in the country since ancient times, Li Mumu was certain that before the broadcast of Journey to the West, large denominations of Heaven and Earth Banknotes had never been popular in the market.
How should I put this, it indeed belongs to the products of a new era.
“What benefits will Nyarlathotep give you for accomplishing this for her?”
In Li Mumu’s memory, Wendy wasn’t the type to be so diligently active.
“No benefits to speak of…
but don’t you find it interesting to persuade a dying person to deposit their unspent money in the Netherworld?”
“Not really.”
This was Wendy’s peculiar death aesthetic quirk; from a young age, her greatest pleasure was to appreciate the art of people dancing on the line of death.
That was an art that Li Mumu couldn’t appreciate.
Even if you transfer money over, what’s the use?
There’s nothing in this damned place.
What can you possibly buy with money?