"Whoosh! Crack!"
"Do I really have to whip you before you start moving faster?"
"Don't you understand the principle of 'to get rich, you must first chop trees'?
If you don't work hard, how am I supposed to live in a better house?"
"Don't give me that look!
If you don't want to work, there are plenty of Hilichurls who will!!!"
"Whoosh! Crack!"
Another lash landed, and the Hilichurl yelped in pain, baring its sharp teeth.
But it didn't dare lower the tool in its hands.
It knew all too well that if it showed even a hint of weakness—
the next moment, it would be thrown into that strange machine and vanish into thin air!
"Thud~ thud~ thud~"
The axe kept swinging into the trees.
The Hilichurl had entered a manic working state.
The young man holding the whip watched for a moment, nodded slightly, and slowly walked away.
His name was Liang Chuan.
Twenty years old, one meter eighty-five, with a solid, muscular frame.
Years of training had sculpted his body into near perfection.
Even with a face handsome enough to make gods jealous, the broad shoulders beneath his open shirt lent him a distinctly masculine edge.
Just as Liang Chuan left the logging area, he heard a clattering sound coming from the quarry.
Turning his head, he saw a Hilichurl collapse mid-swing, its pickaxe clattering to the ground.
"Oh?"
With a faint smile, Liang Chuan walked toward it.
The fallen Hilichurl looked up at him, terror flashing in its eyes.
It raised its pickaxe weakly, chattering in its strange tongue—
probably trying to say it still had strength left, that it could keep working.
"I understand, I understand…" Liang Chuan said sympathetically.
"You don't want to work anymore. Let me set you free."
Hilichurl: "!!!!!!!"
Liang Chuan grabbed it by the scruff and dragged it toward a massive canister-like device.
The closer they got, the more terrified the Hilichurl became, thrashing wildly!
Feeling the resistance, Liang Chuan raised a brow.
The [Basic Control Collar] around the Hilichurl's neck flared with blue light—
Zzzzt!
An electric surge knocked the creature unconscious.
He tossed it into the chamber and, with a thought, activated the machine.
A blinding flash erupted—
and the Hilichurl was gone. Vaporized in an instant.
Only the metal collar clattered to the bottom, proof that a living being had once been there.
A moment later, a data window appeared in Liang Chuan's mind.
[Bio-Energy Terminal]
Level: 1
Conversion Efficiency: 10%
Bio-Energy Storage: 8 → 9
Players Summoned: 0
Bio-Energy Required to Summon (Revive) a Level 1 Player: 10
Terminal Upgrade Mission: Accumulate 1000 Bio-Energy (9 / 1000)
Upgrade Materials: Wood ×100, Stone ×100, Metal ×100
Upgrade Effects: Conversion Efficiency +10%, can construct 2 player bodies simultaneously, unlocks a second [Bio-Energy Terminal]
"Just one more point of bio-energy," Liang Chuan muttered.
"Then I can summon a player."
"With a player's help, I can start hunting higher-grade monsters for more bio-energy.
That'll speed up the terminal upgrade.
Once upgraded, summoning new players will be faster.
The [Workbench] can reach Level 2, and I can finally start making mid-tier control collars."
As he spoke, his gaze swept over the working Hilichurls—
watching carefully for signs of exhaustion.
Liang Chuan was a pragmatic man.
He lived by one rule: use everything to its fullest.
He would squeeze every ounce of labor value from these Hilichurls
before turning them into energy.
To waste usable workers for the sake of summoning players faster—
that would be far too inefficient.
The eager gleam in his eyes terrified the remaining Hilichurls.
They threw themselves into their work with frantic energy—
chopping, mining, desperate not to be next.
Having just converted one, Liang Chuan was now short a worker.
He walked over to an iron cage and released another healthy Hilichurl.
The creature shrieked and tried to resist,
but one-on-one, no small Hilichurl could hope to beat a grown man—
especially not a man like Liang Chuan, built like a soldier.
The moment it lunged, a crisp smack! rang out.
"Crack!"
Liang Chuan's backhanded slap sent the Hilichurl reeling, eyes dazed.
He slipped the [Basic Control Collar] around its neck and kicked it toward the quarry.
The Hilichurl staggered to its feet and seamlessly joined the mining line.
After completing his routine base maintenance, Liang Chuan returned to his makeshift wooden cabin.
He munched on a few Sunsettias gathered by the Hilichurls and muttered,
"Primitive life is so boring… If no players show up soon, I'm gonna die in Natlan at this rate…"
A month ago, Liang Chuan had been comfortably playing Genshin Impact at home.
When the new Natlan banner dropped, he couldn't resist doing a ten-pull—
and got a five-gold pull.
The screen went dark—
and when he opened his eyes again,
He was inside Teyvat.
Specifically, the Natlan region—
now overrun by Abyssal corruption and infested with monsters.
For an "ordinary human" with no elemental power,
It was a nightmare-tier start.
Fortunately, he had received the standard cheat for transmigrators—
a System.
His was the [Fourth Calamity System],
which could create physical bodies and summon players' souls into this world through the medium of a "game."
He even had a personal upgrade panel—
and 99% of every player's growth or rewards would be his cut.
In other words—
The players were all his laborers.
But to summon them, he first needed energy.
And that energy came from one source only—
the bio-energy of slain monsters.