On the 12th day of the third chapter, Ming climbed out of the giant bear's embrace. He didn't know why, but he always felt that the little bear lacked a sense of security. Last night, the bear fell asleep only after hugging him.
What comforted him was that the frogs finally stopped sleeping on his face. At the moment, they were burrowed deep in the thick fur around the bear's neck, sound asleep. It was great.
After washing up and going outside, Ming noticed that the city seemed to have undergone some renovations. Moreover, near the outskirts of the city, there were rows of oddly shaped houses of various sizes.
Smoke from cooking rose slowly in the air, forming a small living circle in just a few days. To be more specific, it had become a small village. A paved square brick road ran through the center of the village, leading directly to Jingcheng in the distance.
Ming walked on the square brick road, and at the entrance of the village, he saw a man and a woman cooking outside a small house.
"Good morning."
"Morning, cooking?"
"It's almost done, want to join us?"
"No, thank you. I had a big breakfast. You guys carry on, I'm heading to the center."
Ming waved with a smile as he walked past. The simple, peaceful scene was inexplicably comforting. However, he wondered how people could still recognize him despite wearing sunglasses, a mask, and a hat. Did they all have X-ray vision?
Sniff, sniff~ It was Treeman.
"Morning."
"Morning... I've wrapped myself up so tightly, and you can still recognize me at a glance?"
"In the entire area, you're the only one wearing this crocodile leather coat, aren't you?" Hawkins reached out, wanting to touch the leather.
"Get away." Ming slapped away the vine-like hand reaching towards him, looking surprised, "How did vines grow on your hands? Are those flower buds?"
"Yes, as my level increases, the changes become more and more apparent. But it's not a big deal. Once the flowers bloom, I'll have a natural fragrance, which will save me from using perfume. What happened to your left hand?"
"It's nothing, just scraped the skin when I fell." Ming casually waved his left hand.
"Scraped skin?" Hawkins was somewhat surprised. Did scraping a little skin warrant such a thick and tight wrapping?
No, it couldn't be just scraped skin; it must be a deep wound...
"Did you guys remodel the city again?"
Ming wanted to change the subject and didn't want to discuss anything about his left hand.
"Yeah, last time when the shared descent happened, some alien beasts fell onto the walls and walkways. Although there was no damage, we added a sloping steel plate on top to prevent similar incidents. If anything falls again, it will fall into the city."
"You guys are really clever."
"Last time, you helped other puppeteers tame the mantis puppet, and their strength has greatly improved. Now many people want to choose puppeteer as a secondary profession."
"Uh..." Ming nodded, not finding it strange. Some people would probably have the same approach as him during the apocalypse—starting with a low-difficulty profession and choosing a suitable secondary profession in the mid-term to assist their main profession. Puppeteer was one of the options.
However, it couldn't be said to be the best choice because he found that the awakened talents of the same profession were not the same.
For example, among the known hunters, only he had awakened the eagle eye. The same was true for puppeteers, such as Alan, who was quite different from most puppeteers.
Choosing a secondary profession is also a gamble. After becoming a puppeteer, the awakened talents are generally not as good as those from other professions. Moreover, to control puppets, one must be able to mentally suppress the puppet.
A barrier warrior who focuses on vitality and strength cannot give up their main profession's development for a stronger puppet as a secondary profession. In the end, not excelling in either the main or secondary profession wouldn't be a good choice.
Zombies and mutated creatures are also growing and evolving, so the challenges ahead will be even greater, and there won't be much time to readjust.
Given this, it's better to choose a secondary profession that can strengthen one's main profession since all secondary professions exist to better assist the main profession.
"Hi," as they approached the center, David walked over from a distance, handed Ming a blue psychic bracelet, and said, "This is the bonus."
"Thank you, great benefactor, ~" Ming took the bracelet and put it on.
"Hey~"
David smiled and said, "I'm no great benefactor; I just made some pocket money. Most importantly, our method has been successful, and much of it is thanks to you. Besides, we're only charging other districts a little money, so it's reasonable to save their lives, right?"
"I heard you have a luxury version of the blueprint?" Ming was quite curious about what the luxury version looked like.
"Let's go, you'll know when you see it on the city wall." David turned and walked shoulder to shoulder with Ming and Hawkins.
Hawkins said, "The money David made, I divided it into two parts. The first part is distributed to everyone who contributed to the construction of Jingcheng. The second part is used to optimize Jingcheng's defense. Every penny will be spent on the important"
"Sounds good." Ming nodded, thinking that the little tree person's planning and coordination abilities were strong; he was truly talented.
David glanced at Ming, looking surprised, "How did you hurt your hand?"
"I fell, scraped the skin."
Why does everyone have to ask? Each time they ask, it feels like a sharp knife stabbing my chest. No, I need to find a way to divert their attention.
"You wrapped so much gauze, the wound must be severe. Come on, I have a special ointment for bruises and injuries." David took out a tube of ointment and handed it to Ming, "10 units of psychic stones."
"Is it useful? Let me see."
"Very useful, I use it often."
"Alright, thank you." Ming smiled and casually put the ointment into his inventory.
Hawkins watched this interaction, looking at David's happy expression, and thought to himself, people are only truly considered part of the Ming's friend when they have been tricked. It seemed he still needed to work harder.
"Do you have time tonight?" Ming turned to look at Hawkins.
"Yes, yes, yes~"
"Then... come to my house tonight?"
"..."
Hawkins was momentarily stunned. At night? But Guttmann must have important matters to discuss with him.
"Alright, what time? Should I prepare anything?"
"..."
Ming leaned back slightly, thinking that the little tree person's strange expression was quite intriguing. He said, "Just bring yourself."
Afterward, the three of them continued walking forward and arrived atop the city's wall.
David pointed inside the city, "Look, this is the luxury version."
"!!!" Ming looked down and was immediately overwhelmed with shock. Inside the city, a maze had actually been built!!
This was his intellectual property!
However, the style of the maze seemed a bit different.
"This is inspired by what I learned from watching Ming's live streaming of instances. I made some modifications." Hawkins said with a proud smile on his face.
Hawkins continued, "Look, the top of the walls that form the maze is covered with thick fine gold spikes. If the descending creatures are unlucky, they will fall and be impaled. Even if they aren't impaled, after falling into the maze, we can stand on the city wall and use ranged attacks to weaken them first."
David said, "I won't lie to you guys, I'm currently trying to sell the blueprint to other districts. They seem to be very interested in the luxury version. When the time comes, we can split the money. After all, Ming has money, and we also can't find where he is."
"Hehe~"
Ming looked at his left hand, "Yeah~ You're right~"
