Another World: When a Necromancer Possesses the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls

Soul Power +0.1… +0.2… +0.5… +0.3 … +0.1…

Tiny numerical feedback jumped directly into Li Xingyao's consciousness. Extremely weak! The soul power provided by a single soul fragment was far less than the 10 soul power he gained by summoning and absorbing a complete skeleton warrior in the world of death, and even less than the 5 soul power he gained by killing an electric rabbit.

Moreover, the energy in these fragments is mixed and far less pure than that of the star beasts he killed. Most of them contain negative information such as the fear and pain of the animals before they died, like inferior rice mixed with sand.

"The efficiency is a bit low," Li Xingyao thought to himself, but his face remained expressionless. He walked slowly forward, silently keeping track of the time while sensing the absorption range of the Myriad Soul Banner.

As he walked through the viewing corridor near a large slaughterhouse, he could clearly "sense" that the number of soul fragments floating near the slaughter line on his side of the factory had increased significantly, and their color was slightly darker. However, as he moved further away from the factory, the number of fragments he could absorb decreased dramatically.

The 20-minute countdown has ended.

Li Xingyao stopped in his tracks, his mind sinking into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

[Soul Power Reserves: 2104 → 2175.8]

In twenty minutes, while staying as close as possible to the core slaughter area, he only gained 71.8 points of soul power! This efficiency was even lower than he had expected.

The security robot, its green indicator light flashing, quietly followed behind him.

Li Xingyao showed no disappointment; on the contrary, he felt a sense of satisfaction with the result. The verification was effective! The Myriad Soul Banner could indeed passively absorb the soul fragments scattered when living beings in the real world died. Although inefficient, it proved the feasibility of this path.

Moreover, he successfully tested the absorption range—a radius of two kilometers is the theoretical limit, but in the complex environment of a factory, the effective range may only be a part of the slaughter area.

"Verification complete. Proceed to the next point." With that thought in mind, he didn't linger. He turned around and retraced his steps, leaving the Seventh Alliance under the "escort" of the security robots.

Li Xingyao got into the same vehicle he had come in and headed to the next star beast processing factory.

In the afternoon, Li Xingyao appeared in the northern suburban industrial zone. The atmosphere here was completely different from that of the Star Beast Breeding Farm. The air was filled with a more complex smell: a faint smell of disinfectant, the smell of oil, the aroma of burning food, and a trace of the smell of finished food that could not be completely eliminated even after being filtered by a large air purification system.

The massive factory roof is densely packed with air circulation and equipment cooling systems, emitting a low hum. On the wide roads, enclosed freight trucks loaded with raw materials or finished products shuttle back and forth.

Instead of heading straight for the largest processing plant, he began a thorough, door-to-door search, like a teenager on a field trip. With his Level 3 citizen privileges, he easily entered the industrial park's public areas and selected several factories with "paid tour access" for on-site inspections.

Visitor access to "Shengyuan Poultry Processing Plant".

Through the thick double-layered glass, Li Xingyao saw the high-speed, modern assembly line. The conveyor belt, like a relentless river, transported thousands of cleaned white-feathered chickens forward. Hanging, stunning them with electric shocks, automatically cutting their throats to bleed them, scalding them to remove feathers, gutting them, cutting them up, washing them, quick-freezing them, packaging them... the entire process was highly efficient, cold, and extremely mechanized.

Workers in sterile gowns are like cogs in an assembly line, repeating precise operations at their respective posts. Life here is broken down into standardized products.

Li Xingyao stood in the middle of the visitor passage, silently communicating with the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

hum...

Ten times denser than in the Star Beast Breeding Farm, tiny, dust-like gray-white specks of light, like dust drawn by a storm, drifted up from various stages of the production line, especially the bloodletting, scalding, and cutting areas, and gathered together. Their numbers were enormous, but each speck was pitifully insignificant.

[Soul Power +0.05... +0.05... +0.05...] The numbers flashed rapidly in my consciousness like a screen being refreshed.

Ten minutes later, Soul Power Reserve: 2175.8 → 2272.1. An increase of 97 points.

"Hongfeng Meat Consortium (Pig Production Line)".

The scene was even more "spectacular." The large, improved pigs were electrocuted and then hung upside down on the assembly line, where high-speed rotating blades precisely performed processes such as bleeding, hair removal (for some breeds), and evisceration.

In the cutting workshop, the huge carcass was broken down into standard-sized ribs, tenderloin, and trotters by the swinging of robotic arms... Even with the air purification system running at full capacity, it couldn't suppress the strong smell of blood and fat.

The suction force of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner enveloped them.

More grayish-white specks of light surged in, slightly brighter than those of birds, but still faint. Occasionally, a few fragments, appearing somewhat brighter due to their robust size, were interspersed among them.

Soul Power +0.06... +0.06... +0.06... +0.06...

Ten-minute countdown: Soul Power Reserve 2272.1 → 2348.2. An increase of 75.4 points.

"Golden Bay Seafood Quick-Freezing Plant".

The conveyor belt no longer carries poultry and livestock, but countless sea fish, freshwater fish, and even shrimp and shellfish. Machines scale, gut, wash, and flash-freeze. The "death" here is quieter, but the sheer number is equally staggering.

The feedback from the Myriad Soul Banner: The absorbed soul fragments are extremely weak (around +0.1-0.2), and the energy is even more sparse and chaotic.

Ten minutes: Soul Power Reserve 2,348.2 → 2,384.5. Very little, only an increase of 36.3 points.

Li Xingyao quickly explored several factories of different types, including a large egg product factory (which mainly processes unfertilized eggs and has very few soul fragments) and a large dairy product factory (where there are almost no direct deaths).

The data clearly confirmed his hypothesis: the poultry and livestock slaughter line is the most efficient source of soul power, with the pig line being slightly better than the poultry line, and the aquatic product line being the least efficient.

As the sun set, long shadows were cast by the factory buildings and massive gas storage tanks standing in the industrial park. Li Xingyao stood at the edge of a small square in the central area of ​​the industrial park, where workers rested, surrounded by workers hurrying home after their shifts. He pulled up his personal terminal and quickly integrated and analyzed the data he had collected that afternoon:

A single large poultry processing plant (such as Shengyuan) absorbs an average of about 0.5 points of soul power by staying in the visitor corridor (not the best location) for ten minutes.

A single large-scale pig slaughterhouse (such as Hongfeng) absorbs an average of about 0.7 points of soul power by staying in the visitor corridor for ten minutes.

It is speculated that if the absorption efficiency could be increased by at least 2-3 times if the absorption could be located closer to the core slaughtering area inside the factory (such as in the workers' rest area or the quality inspection office).

Within the food industrial park, there are more than twenty large-scale processing plants that meet the requirements for efficient absorption (mainly poultry and pigs).

Ideal model estimation: Enter a factory and stay for one hour (6 10-minute units).

Poultry processing plant: 0.9 points/unit * 6 * quantity approximately 600 points/hour

Pig farm: 1.8 points/unit * 6 * quantity approximately 500 points/hour

If routes are planned reasonably, and slaughtering time is utilized during processing intervals, moving between multiple factories and taking park shuttle buses, it is conservatively estimated that the average effective "soul-farming" time per day can reach 6 hours.

The estimated daily total Soul Power gain is conservatively estimated at 2700 - 3300 points. This is equivalent to 80%-98% of the Soul Power gained from painstakingly summoning and devouring Skeleton Warriors in the World of Death every day! And it doesn't require consuming one's own Star Energy or a large amount of Spiritual Power!

In comparison, spending twenty minutes outside the Seventh Star Beast Breeding Grounds only yielded 71.8 Soul Power (mainly due to the small number of Star Beasts), which is far less efficient.

Looking at the data calculated on the terminal, Li Xingyao's eyes lit up. Although the soul power fragments absorbed each time were as weak as dust, when these "dust" gathered into a sea of ​​sand, the total amount was enough to accumulate! Thirty factories were thirty continuous streams of soul power, which, when gathered together, became a new source of growth for his soul power!

So, given enough time, his daily soul power growth would almost double while he was in Tianjing City. He could achieve the 10000 soul power required for the third level of the Myriad Soul Banner in just one day.

More importantly—safety! Stability! Sustainability!

These factories operate day and night, their slaughter lines running non-stop. Therefore, the generation of soul power is continuous and massive. As long as anyone is inside the factory, the Myriad Soul Banner acts like an invisible black hole, silently devouring all the scattered fragments of souls. Although there are surveillance cameras inside the factory, they focus on production safety and procedural compliance; who would pay attention to Li Xingyao?

He immediately accessed the industrial park's public information network and focused on checking the information of the more than twenty target factories. As he expected, he found the "non-confidential production schedules" of several large factories through the system.

The table clearly shows the daily slaughter plan batches, estimated quantities, and peak times for each production line.

"Perfect." Li Xingyao turned off the terminal, a barely perceptible smile curving his lips. A clear and efficient "soul-farming" path had been laid out.

Li Xingyao wasn't in a hurry to move on to the next product category. It was getting late, and more importantly, he needed to verify the final step—whether the actual absorption efficiency inside the factory could truly meet the estimates.

Based on previous information, he is now eligible to apply for entry into the factory to observe experiments. This is because necromancers are involved in the power of death. Applying to observe the slaughter of ordinary creatures is within the scope of professional experimental requirements, and the government permits it as long as it doesn't violate any regulations.

My gaze swept across the square to a brightly lit, large factory building. The sign read "Shuanghui Fengtai Meat Processing Plant (Phase III)," which primarily focuses on pig slaughtering. The visitor access to this factory was closed, but a small door next to it served as the employee entrance, where workers finishing their day shift were emerging one after another.

Li Xingyao walked to an inconspicuous corner by the factory wall, where several lush ornamental trees stood. He leaned against the wall, looking like a young man who had just gotten tired and was taking a break.

With a slight thought, he carefully controlled the suction force of the Myriad Soul Banner in his sea of ​​consciousness. Unlike when he was visiting the passageway, he no longer let it out completely. Instead, it moved precisely, like an invisible probe, through a distance of about fifty meters and the alloy outer wall of the factory, enveloping the core slaughtering area that he had identified through the production schedule within the factory.