Late Ming Dynasty: Summoning players from Liaodong to support the Ming Dynasty

[Epic Preparations: Guangning City Fortress Transformation Plan]

confirm.

release!

The next second, all the players in the city, whether celebrating their victory or feeling weak from hunger, simultaneously saw a huge, golden scroll pop up in their field of vision.

On the scroll, rows of task lists shimmered with a dazzling light.

[Epic Preparation - Battle Series Quests Now Open]

[Task 1 (Civil Engineering): Excavate and reinforce the South Gate barbican. Task requirements: Excavate a deep pit in the designated area. 1 merit point will be awarded for each additional foot of depth. There is no upper limit.]

[Task Two (Biohazard Defense): Assist the cooks in preparing the "Golden Juice" for city defense. Task Requirements: Collect the specified materials and complete the cooking process. 20 Merit Points will be awarded for each barrel of finished product submitted.]

[Task 3 (Armament Manufacturing): Assist the Armory in manufacturing the 'Thunderclap Bomb' (inferior version). Task Requirements: Provide an effective technical improvement plan or successfully manufacture a more powerful version. You will receive the City Lord's Special Contribution Medal and a large amount of merit points.]

[Task 4 (Logistics Support): Repair all buildings in the city, reinforce city defenses, transport supplies for the city's defenses...]

……

The list is so long it seems to stretch on forever, and the tasks are incredibly varied, but they all share one common characteristic.

The reward is outrageously high!

After a brief silence, the entire player community exploded as if a lit bomb had been thrown into it!

"Holy crap! They're giving away so many merit points! Has the official team gone mad?"

"Digging holes? Counting merit by the foot? Brothers, don't stop me, my ancestors dug through the earth!"

"What's 'Golden Juice'? It sounds delicious, and the reward is so generous!"

"Hey upstairs, don't go there! That's fucking septic! Boiled up! I just checked the forum!"

"Ugh... But twenty merit points, I'll do it! Fortune favors the bold, and life is tough!"

One second the players were celebrating their victory, the next they turned into a group of sharks that smelled blood.

The South Gate barbican instantly became the busiest construction site.

Shi Dali took off his shirt, revealing his muscular physique thicker than a city wall. He stood on the edge of the newly planned pit, carrying an entrenching tool, and raised his arm to give a shout.

"Brothers! We've got a job! Just digging holes is boring! Let's get started! The 'First Guangning Excavator Competition' is now beginning! In one hour, whoever digs the shallowest hole will hand over all the credit for today!"

"Holy crap! Meat Bro is awesome!"

"Let's do it! Anyone who chickens out is a coward!"

A group of shirtless, burly men jumped into the pit with shouts, wielding shovels and sending dirt flying. The scene was bustling with activity; anyone who didn't know better would have thought it was a construction team rushing to meet their year-end targets.

Meanwhile, in a corner of the logistics cooks' camp, another hellish scene was unfolding.

Qian Lele pinched her nose and stood in front of a large pot bubbling with eerie bubbles, looking as if she were going to her death.

She even started a live stream, all the while.

"Family members, does anyone know this?! Welcome to the special episode of 'A Bite of Guangning,' titled 'The Legend of Gold'! Today we're challenging ourselves with a long-lost imperial secret dish: Golden Sauce! It's said that drinking it can strengthen the body and ward off all diseases!"

She stirred the indescribable, viscous liquid in the pot with a long spoon, suppressing the urge to gag, and forced a smile that looked worse than crying at the camera.

"Brothers, let's get this gift over with. After I drink this, I'll either become an immortal or end up in a box!"

The live stream chat was instantly flooded with comments.

[Hey streamer, something's wrong! Turn it off! I can smell it through the screen!]

[Reported; the content is extremely inhumane!]

[Ugh... You'd risk your life for twenty merit points?!]

The veteran NPCs in charge of watching over them hid far away in a corner, watching the group of "heavenly soldiers" who were retching and laughing wildly, gesturing wildly at the air, their faces full of awe.

These heavenly soldiers are not only fearless of death, they're not even afraid of shit!

Horror!

Driven by Chu Ze's mission, the entire city of Guangning was transformed into a huge construction site filled with a joyful atmosphere.

However, amidst this tumultuous frenzy, there was only one place permeated with a low-pressure atmosphere of defeat.

West of the city, next to an abandoned brick kiln.

Zhou Keke squatted on the ground, her face, which was always slightly flushed due to social anxiety, was now covered with black kiln ash.

In front of her was a pile of cooled, shattered slag.

Some of them were yellowed, some were black, but none of them had the hard texture she remembered.

"Failed again..."

She muttered to herself, a deep sense of frustration welling up inside her.

She clearly remembered the theory of cement: clay, limestone, high-temperature calcination... but why did it all turn into a pile of useless garbage?

"Coco, how about we go dig a hole too?" a player who was following her said listlessly. "Meat Bro and the others have earned dozens of merit points in half an hour. We're just playing in the mud here, we can't even afford to exchange our saliva for anything."

"Yeah, what's the point of studying this junk? It's just a game, why take it so seriously?"

Her teammates' complaints were like needles pricking Zhou Keke's heart.

She wasn't unaware of this; she was simply unwilling to accept it.

Just as she was about to give up and prepare to lead her people to join the digging army, a soft golden light suddenly bloomed before her eyes.

[Triggering a special exploration quest: The Lost Art]

Zhou Keke's breath hitched.

It's this mission again!

[Quest Description: The great city lord has always been watching your extraordinary endeavors. He discovered a fragmented record in an ancient text: '...If the heat is uneven, the structure of the ventilation system can be altered to draw in energy from all directions...If the material is not firm enough, black iron powder can be added to strengthen it...']

[Task Hint: Try changing the tuyeres structure during calcination and adding a small amount of iron ore powder.]

These few lines of text were like a wake-up call, instantly dispelling all the confusion in Zhou Keke's mind!

Modify the air duct! Add iron powder!

Yes! It's due to unstable temperature! It's because the conditions for tricalcium silicate formation are lacking!

One second Zhou Keke was dejected and dispirited, the next second she jumped up on the spot as if she had been injected with chicken blood.

She pushed up glasses that weren't actually on her nose, and a startling light burst forth in her usually evasive eyes.

"Don't just stand there! Quick! Break those bricks over there and change the air vent to this shape!"

She picked up the charcoal and quickly drew a diagram of the renovation on the ground.

"And you! Go! Crush those reddish-black stones we found last time into the finest powder and bring them to me!"

The teammates who were just complaining looked at Zhou Keke, who had instantly transformed into a foreman, and exchanged bewildered glances. But under her unquestionable command, they still started moving while grumbling.

Several hours later.

Everyone held their breath when a new batch of sintered blocks was taken out of the renovated brick kiln.

The finished product this time has a uniform gray-black color.

Cool and crush.

Zhou Keke personally brought over a basin of water, her hands even trembling slightly with excitement.

Water was slowly poured into the grayish-black powder.

Under everyone's gaze, the familiar mortar, imbued with the feel of modern industry, appeared!

Zhou Ke poured the mortar into a mold that had been prepared beforehand.

wait.

A quarter of an hour.

Half an hour.

When Zhou Keke picked up a hammer and carefully tapped the solidified ash block.

"when!"

A crisp, metallic sound!

The gray patch was completely intact! Only a faint white spot remained on its surface!

It worked!

"Holy crap! It actually worked!"

"What is this thing? It's harder than stone!"

Zhou Keke could no longer hear the cheers of her teammates.

She excitedly picked up the cement block, which was harder than steel, and her dusty face shone with an almost fanatical radiance.

She turned around, ignoring everyone's shouts, and rushed out like a madwoman towards the garrison commander's mansion!

She's going to find the city lord who issued the quest!

She wanted to tell him that a great miracle had been born under his witness!

The guards at the gate of the garrison commander's mansion only saw a filthy, crazy woman rushing over with a rock in her arms, and they were about to draw their swords to stop her.

Zhou Keke, however, was like a nimble female leopard, flashing through the gap between them and rushing directly into the gate of the garrison commander's mansion!

She kicked open the study door.

Chu Ze was standing in front of the sand table, deducing something.

He looked up and saw the disheveled female player, whose eyes shone with an alarming brightness, slam a heavy gray stone onto his desk!

"City Lord!"

Zhou Keke's voice trembled with excitement, yet it carried an unprecedented firmness and fervor.

"We did it! We did it!"

She reached out and stroked the rough yet hard block of cement, as if she were touching a priceless treasure.

"Give me enough lime and clay!"

She raised her head, her burning eyes fixed on Chu Ze.

"I can turn the walls of Guangning into a wonder that will never fall!"