Chapter 58 Strange Birds Besiege the City

Having secured a large order, Tang Zhen was naturally overjoyed. Taking a moment during a break to transmit back home, he found the phone number of a slingshot supplier online and ordered ten thousand standard cold-bent slingshots.

These common slingshots were simple to process. Because Tang Zhen had no excessive requirements regarding materials, they could be manufactured using ordinary round steel paired with a simple workbench.

After a little grinding and polishing, a slingshot was complete.

Ordinary slingshots were inexpensive; ten thousand of them cost less than one hundred thousand yuan. Immediately afterward, Tang Zhen ordered a large quantity of rubber bands and steel balls, requesting expedited shipping.

Having finished all of this, Tang Zhen returned to the Loucheng world.

The slingshots he had brought previously were completely sold out, and many people had come to inquire if there was any stock left. What Tang Zhen did not know was that around the time of his departure, another wave of Death Birds had attacked. However, because the Wanderer Town now possessed several hundred slingshots, the thousands of attacking Death Birds were quickly and completely exterminated.

To Tang Zhen's surprise, the Black Rock City special envoy staying in Wanderer Town had also sought him out, placing an order for five thousand slingshots along with a massive quantity of steel balls.

What Tang Zhen was unaware of was that Black Rock City was currently surrounded and besieged by nearly one hundred thousand Death Birds. These monsters, resembling a massive, gloomy dark cloud, circled endlessly around Black Rock City.

To prevent the Death Birds from penetrating the interior of Black Rock City, all doors, windows, and entrances had been sealed shut. Even so, quite a few residents had still been injured.

Being injured by these strange birds meant certain death, and the authorities of Black Rock City had no choice but to throw these residents, now turned into zombies, outside to prevent the entire Loucheng from collapsing from within.

The appearance of the slingshots gave this Black Rock City special envoy hope for lifting the Death Bird crisis, which was why he specifically sought out Tang Zhen, demanding that he deliver the goods as soon as possible.

The Black Rock City special envoy even promised that if this crisis in Black Rock City could be resolved, Black Rock City would certainly not forget his contribution, and might even grant him the qualification of a reserve resident!

Tang Zhen cared not at all about Black Rock City resident qualifications, but a business transaction worth tens of thousands of brain pearls was something he could not afford to ignore.

The special envoy from Black Rock City was very straightforward, directly paying ten Tier 3 brain pearls, which was equivalent to one thousand Tier 1 brain pearls.

Tang Zhen calculated the time and promised to deliver the goods in three days. Although the other party showed a trace of dissatisfaction upon hearing this, there was nothing he could do; after all, the quantity he had ordered was simply too massive, and a delay of a few days was completely reasonable.

After sending off the Black Rock City special envoy, Tang Zhen finally managed to enjoy a moment of peace.

This massive surge in slingshot sales somewhat exceeded his expectations. Tallying up the total sales, the amount actually surpassed fifteen thousand brain pearls. These brain pearls were equivalent to one hundred and fifty thousand gold coins in the application mall—quite a substantial income for Tang Zhen!

However, this time he was not in a hurry to absorb the brain pearls, instead storing them away in his storage space for any unexpected needs.

As he was deep in thought, Murong Ziyan walked into the cave. She looked at Tang Zhen, smiled, and asked with a concerned tone, "Is the matter resolved? You weren't hurt when you went out this time, were you?"

"Rest assured, I'm fine!"

Tang Zhen smiled indifferently, signaling that he had no problems.

Murong Ziyan nodded, stepped forward to hug Tang Zhen's arm, rested her head against his chest, and said, "You must be more careful if you encounter such things in the future. The last time you got hurt, it scared me to death."

Tang Zhen nodded, gently patted Murong Ziyan's shoulder, and said, "I know, I will definitely be careful from now on. Go on and make dinner, I'm a bit hungry."

Murong Ziyan obedientically nodded and turned to walk out of the cave, while Tang Zhen's expression remained relaxed.

Before long, Qian Long packed up his stall and returned. As soon as he saw Tang Zhen, he gave him a light punch on the shoulder and asked with concern, "I noticed that fellow hasn't returned for the past few days, so I figured you must have taken care of him. You didn't get hurt yourself, did you?"

Tang Zhen nodded and said with lingering fear, "The process was a bit thrilling; I almost got blindsided by that bastard. But it's fine, I've already finished him off, and his subordinates won't be coming back either."

Qian Long nodded. "Since you've taken care of the bearded man, the faction behind him surely won't let this go easily. We must remain cautious during this period. By the way, were there any bystanders around when you made your move? If there were, should we...?"

At this point, Qian Long made a throat-slitting gesture.

Tang Zhen shook his head and said, "Don't worry, nobody should have seen it. Even if someone heard the noise, they shouldn't have seen my face. It should be fine."

The topic came to an end there, and the two men began chatting about the Death Birds.

Black Rock City.

Countless Death Birds, like a massive black torrent, circled endlessly around the entire Loucheng, searching for any gaps to enter. All the windows were sealed shut, and archers fired arrow after arrow through the narrowly left-open apertures.

Yet such attacks were completely negligible to the enormous swarm of Death Birds. Furthermore, Black Rock City's supply of arrows was limited and had already been largely depleted.

The entire Black Rock City was plunged into a state of panic and bewilderment. Although the residents continued their work, they always seemed absent-minded, and low, muffled sobs could occasionally be heard from the homes of those who had lost family members.

Xiaorui left home as he usually did. His older sister had gone to work; because of the siege by the Death Birds, her workplace had been temporarily converted into an arrow-manufacturing workshop, producing arrows day and night.

However, he had heard from his sister that raw materials like arrow shafts and feather glue were almost used up. Perhaps after just one more day of production, the entire Black Rock City would no longer be able to produce a single arrow.

The Death Birds seemed endless, and their cries made it impossible for anyone to sleep through the night. Even Xiaorui had failed to get a good night's rest, as several birds periodically slammed into his windows with loud, thudding impacts.

Yesterday, the teacher had informed them that today they would head to the very top of Loucheng to relieve the long-exhausted Black Rock City cultivators and shoot down the Death Birds.

There were over a thousand students in their school, gathering all minors under the age of eighteen in Black Rock City. However, due to considerations of cultivation levels, only students with Tier 2 cultivation or above were participating in this defensive battle.

Upon arriving at the school and completing roll call at the assembly point, the group climbed the stairs together, passing through the iron door that was usually forbidden to them.

After climbing for a while, while passing through a certain floor, Xiaorui faintly heard the fellow who often bullied him boasting to a companion that there was a treasure vault at the end of this floor, and that his grandfather had once told him all the treasures of Black Rock City were hidden right here!

Hearing this, Xiaorui's heart skipped a beat, and he silently memorized this piece of information.

At the same time, the image of the mysterious, invisible man suddenly surfaced in his mind—it was this fellow who had given him a thousand brain pearls, which he had used to purchase numerous auxiliary materials, and his current cultivation had now touched the threshold of Tier 3!

I wonder how many brain pearls this important piece of information could be exchanged for from that guy?