Chapter 42: The Ghost King and the Poor Student 07

The next day, Tang Bin was woken up by Cheng Hongyi.

It was exactly 6 a.m., and the sky outside was just beginning to lighten.

“Mm, I’m up,” Tang Bin mumbled, rubbing his eyes, feeling groggy. He had slept early the night before, but somehow still didn’t feel fully rested. He sat up, pouting slightly, looking confused and innocent.

However, Cheng Hongyi’s handsome face appeared in front of him, and in that instant, Tang Bin realized where he was.

He scrambled to sit up and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Time to get up. The mission has already started,” Cheng Hongyi said, pulling him up from the haystack. “The phone repeatedly emphasized the mission’s timeline. I think it’s an important piece of information, so we need to hurry.”

“What does that mean?” Tang Bin, still half-asleep, asked in confusion.

“It means that although we have three days, it’s likely that we won’t be able to complete the task. Do you remember what it said? It mentioned that the task was set to officially begin this morning as a reward?”

“Oh…”

Tang Bin suddenly understood.

The system in this world had given them the reward of time, indicating that time was precious for this mission. Combined with the task requirement of “cut as much wood as possible,” the word “possible” became significant—it meant they would have to work extremely hard to stand a chance at completing the task.

After understanding Cheng Hongyi’s point, Tang Bin looked over at Lao Diao and the others, still deep in sleep, and hesitated about whether to wake them up.

He really didn’t like them! But it wasn’t as though he wanted them dead. And in this unknown world, the more people, the more strength they had. Despite their flaws, these people weren’t bad enough to intentionally sabotage them or slow them down…

After weighing it over, Tang Bin decided to wake them up.

While they were still groggy, he and Cheng Hongyi had already gone to the backyard to wash up and chop wood.

By the time the night had passed, the kitchen had a large basket of freshly baked dry bread. It tasted the same as yesterday, but there was at least three times as much—seeming like it would be their rations for the day.

Lao Diao’s underlings, who had either eaten or hidden the bread yesterday, now had fresh bread again today. Those who were worried about the food running out the night before now faced a new problem: they weren’t excited at all. Instead, they were filled with anxiety.

—Why did the bread keep appearing? If the place was providing them with food for free, could they change the variety? They didn’t want to eat bread again.

Amid their complaints, Tang Bin quietly told Cheng Hongyi about what happened when he woke up in the middle of the night, then asked, “Could someone… or something, have given us food while we were all asleep?”

Cheng Hongyi thought for a moment and confirmed, “It’s possible.”

Tang Bin felt pleased that he had come close to figuring it out, smiling at Cheng Hongyi with a satisfied expression.

He was happy to be able to make deductions and discuss things with Cheng Hongyi.

However, Cheng Hongyi had once said that whatever had brought them to this space didn’t seem to want to harm them, at least not in a way that would kill them.

Since the goal wasn’t clear yet, they could only take it one step at a time. So, today’s main task was to use axes to process all the wood in the yard.

Tang Bin had carefully measured the wood in the yard, and found that most of the logs were thicker than the standard size. This meant that their task was simply to smooth the rough logs into the specified diameter, rather than chopping trees on the mountain with axes. This seemed much easier.

However, “easy” was relative. Using an axe to trim logs evenly wasn’t as simple as it sounded. They weren’t professional carpenters who had done this for years.

Tang Bin lifted the heavy axe and tried to “fix” a log that was irregularly shaped. Before striking, he went over all the seemingly logical steps in his mind. He even took some of the leftover coal from the fireplace the night before, placed the template on the log, and drew a circle as a guide. Then, he carefully chopped at the log’s edges. But despite his efforts, the result was a failure because some parts weren’t cut with enough force, while other parts were overcut.

Cheng Hongyi also tried his hand at it, but he too failed. Afterward, he suggested they work together to trim a log. After some effort, they finally managed to trim a log with both ends approximately level, though it was still far from perfect.

The logs they had trimmed with the heavy axes still had sharp edges. Cheng Hongyi thought for a moment, then went inside the small cabin to search. He eventually found five sharp sickles in a wooden cabinet that resembled a kitchen.

The sickles had long wooden handles, and just like the heavy axes, they were still cumbersome to use.

But it was better than nothing.

After spending most of the morning working, Tang Bin and Cheng Hongyi finally managed to finish trimming one log.

With this experience, trimming the next log was much easier. At least they knew they could do it, and that gave them confidence.

They immediately rolled up their sleeves and started working on the next one.

Meanwhile, Lao Diao and the others weren’t making much progress.

“Ah! Damn!” Huang Xiaomeng, who was also trying to trim a log, accidentally cut her finger with the sharp sickle. Blood started pouring out, quickly soaking into the ground and merging with the dirt.

Huang Xiaomeng winced in pain and jumped up, but her expression was more of anger than pain.

She cursed, “Why do we have to waste our time and energy on this crap? Just because that stupid phone said so? Who does it think it is?!”

Yang Yi and Lao Diao quickly rushed over to check on her injury. The sickle had cut too quickly, and even a light stroke caused a deep wound. The wound was clean, but the blood wouldn’t stop flowing.

The worst part was that there were no medical supplies, not even bandages. Forget about infection—just stopping the bleeding was a challenge.

Someone suggested using dirt to stop the bleeding, but the idea was quickly rejected by the others. After all, it could easily lead to infection.

As a group of students who had never experienced real-life situations, no one could think of a better solution. Huang Xiaomeng’s blood kept flowing everywhere, so Tang Bin finally used the sickle to cut a piece of his school uniform lining and handed it over for Lao Diao to wrap it around her finger.

The lining of the school uniform was made of cotton, with a net-like structure that was breathable.

At this point, Tang Bin couldn’t think of anything cleaner to use to bandage the wound.

The wound was tightly wrapped, and the bleeding finally stopped, but Huang Xiaomeng’s finger still throbbed with pain.

She stopped cursing and began to sob quietly. The others couldn’t help but feel the despair and helplessness spread around.

Only Tang Bin felt confused. Although Huang Xiaomeng had bled a lot, the wound wasn’t on a part of her finger with major blood vessels, so there was no risk of excessive blood loss leading to shock.

The sickle was new, and it had only been used on wood. With all the blood that had been spilled, it was unlikely to lead to tetanus.

As for other possible infections, even if they occurred, they wouldn’t cause irreversible damage. As long as the three days passed, they could escape and get medical help.

There really wasn’t much to cry about.

After calmly analyzing the situation, Tang Bin still couldn’t quite understand, but this time, he didn’t feel the need to point it out to the others as he had done before.

After all, these people were still just high school students, unlike him, who was no longer a naive beginner in the world.

And, in this case, Huang Xiaomeng hadn’t picked on him.

Instead of dwelling on it, he thought he might as well focus on doing more work.

Since Huang Xiaomeng couldn’t work due to her injured finger, the others continued to figure out how to handle the logs, and the entire yard fell into a strange harmony.

Tang Bin and Cheng Hongyi worked together and managed to finish trimming a log before noon. They were both drenched in sweat. After drinking some water and having some dry food, they started on the next log.

Tang Bin was used to this kind of work, once he started on something, his mind could no longer focus on anything else, not even the exhaustion or the difficulty.

Cheng Hongyi seemed to be someone whose will was as firm as iron. So even though both of their hands were almost raw from the work, neither of them suggested stopping.

On the other hand, the situation with Lao Diao and his group was the complete opposite.

They had spent the whole morning trying to figure out how to trim the logs and had finally mastered the technique. However, being required to sit and work on the logs for long periods was too much for some of them. Lao Diao and his subordinates quickly grew impatient, and even Zhao Xiaoguang and Yang Yi weren’t spared. They grumbled and complained almost every time they worked, and by the end of the day, their progress was minimal.

Tang Bin, on the other hand, had been completely focused on the work all day, almost like a hardworking, diligent dwarf from a fairy tale living in the forest.

Although the work was tiring, at least he felt fulfilled, especially since he was working alongside the male lead, which allowed him to subtly increase his favorability.

After spending the entire day together, he and Cheng Hongyi had become very in sync, and their efficiency was high. By the end of the day, they had successfully trimmed over ten logs.

As a result, Cheng Hongyi’s favorability had increased as well, from 1 to 6…

Great, it was good that the male lead wasn’t completely heartless.

After returning to the haystack to rest, Tang Bin felt at ease. He stretched comfortably, stretching his arms and legs. Just as he was about to drift into sleep, 3376 informed him of the situation regarding the mines and other matters for the day.

Tang Bin listened to the numbers… there were surprisingly many! He couldn’t help but think again… what exactly determined the amount of this reward?

Because of the system’s interference, his memory was somewhat fragmented, and Tang Bin had long grown accustomed to this state.

… He had always been a bit clueless about life, so he had no trouble adapting.

But that didn’t stop him from pondering and raising questions.

Although he couldn’t come up with an answer.

Suddenly, a part of the dry and fluffy haystack sank down, and Cheng Hongyi, who had finished washing up, lay down beside him.

When Tang Bin saw his handsome face, he suddenly thought that Cheng Hongyi’s intelligence might be able to help him find some clue regarding the answer. However, the system wouldn’t allow him to reveal to anyone in this world that he was actually a player…

Tang Bin once again found himself in a difficult situation.

“What are you looking at?”

Tang Bin, lost in thought, hadn’t realized he had been staring at Cheng Hongyi for longer than intended, and this was enough to catch Cheng Hongyi’s attention.

“Nothing,” Tang Bin quickly said, still not good at lying.

“Go to sleep,” Cheng Hongyi said.

“Okay.”

After agreeing on the wake-up time for the next day, Tang Bin fell into a deep sleep.

Perhaps because he was so tired that day, he slept soundly through the night without waking up, so he had no idea if anyone came during the night.

However, the bread in the kitchen was replaced, that much was true.

Yesterday, to test things out, Cheng Hongyi had deliberately left a piece of bread, shaping it into odd and distinct forms for easy identification, and then he threw it into the bread basket.

Today, that piece of bread was no longer in the basket. It seemed to have been entirely replaced.

Although the basket was filled with fresh bread, after two consecutive days of eating it, everyone’s mouths had started to taste bland.

Among those present, besides Cheng Hongyi and Tang Bin, everyone else had complained about the bread again today.

“So, we’re stuck here, not only having to work but also being given lousy food! How can we keep eating bread every day? I see this stuff now, and it makes my teeth hurt!”

“Who knows? If they’re going to send us food, can’t they be a bit more generous? Who can eat bread every day?”

Tang Bin chewed a small piece of bread as he listened to the complaints around him.

He then subconsciously glanced at Cheng Hongyi… but Cheng Hongyi didn’t react. His expression remained calm, as if he were eating something that could sustain life, not the same dry bread day after day. The food’s nature didn’t seem to matter to him.

—

A day had passed since the phone had mentioned three days, and clearly, due to the low efficiency on the first day, the second day was also spent working hard.

By the end of the day, Tang Bin had grown used to the constant complaints from across the yard. The image of Lao Diao and his group swearing and sulking had almost become background noise in the yard.

It wasn’t lonely, though.

Another day passed, and Tang Bin and Cheng Hongyi had already finished more than thirty properly sized logs, while Lao Diao and his eight subordinates hadn’t even finished as many as Tang Bin and Cheng Hongyi together.

“Didn’t that damn phone say we need to build a bridge? We already have more than fifty logs. Isn’t that enough…?”

The one who spoke was Zhao Xiaoguang. He had been pricked by wood splinters more than once, his hands were blistered, and the main issue was that the work was simply too boring. He no longer wanted to continue.

Obviously, he wasn’t the only one with this thought.

Or rather, their minds seemed to lean toward believing Zhao Xiaoguang’s words: these logs were enough.

So, many people agreed, and under Zhao Xiaoguang’s lead, they all put down their axes and sickles, slumping down and not moving.

At this moment, Cheng Hongyi was “disagreeing” with them: “The task is to make as many logs as possible. How many exactly we need, no one knows.”

That was all he said, after all, he couldn’t force anyone to work.

During this time, Tang Bin had been using the sickle to shape the logs. This work wasn’t physically demanding but required precision and skill. For the past two days, Tang Bin had been doing this job, while Cheng Hongyi handled the initial shaping with the axe.

Because he was so focused and had grown used to the constant complaints from across the yard, Tang Bin didn’t pay much attention to what they were complaining about this time.

So when he and Cheng Hongyi pushed hard to process 50 pieces of properly sized wood, the others across the yard had only barely finished 30.

Fifty was already the limit for the two of them. That night, lying on the haystack, Tang Bin felt a vague sense of pride.

He thought less than the others, which made it easier for him to immerse himself in the task.

In fact, before coming to this world and meeting Lao Diao and the others, Tang Bin had never thought about questioning the existence of the system or the task…

He had been brought here and told that he had to complete the task in order to be set free, so he accepted it without hesitation. Of course, when he first became conscious, he didn’t understand anything and was completely driven by fear. Every day, he was terrified, and never once considered resisting.

But now… after observing Lao Diao and the others, Tang Bin realized… in this situation, normal people would probably resist, right?

Had he been too passive?

Tang Bin blinked, feeling a little wronged.

“What are you thinking about?” Cheng Hongyi, lying beside him, asked.

Cheng Hongyi was even more focused when working than Tang Bin. The two of them worked in perfect coordination, but they hardly exchanged words, and there wasn’t a single unnecessary remark.

So when Cheng Hongyi suddenly asked him this rational question… Tang Bin wasn’t sure how to answer.

He instinctively wanted to shake his head, but as his gaze swept over Lao Diao and the others, who were about to sleep, he actually thought of a question. He leaned in and whispered, “Do you think that by tomorrow morning, when the time is up, Lao Diao and the others will try to take our logs? They’ve only done a little bit tonight.”

It wasn’t that Tang Bin was overthinking, but Lao Diao and his group’s expressions tonight seemed a bit strange.

Usually, at this time, they would already be asleep from exhaustion. But now, they were all lying on their “beds,” and it was clear that none of them had actually fallen asleep.

Although he didn’t know exactly how these standard-sized logs would be used, judging by Lao Diao and the others’ personalities, they would probably feel safer keeping these logs on their side.

So it was perfectly normal for Tang Bin to ask this question, but unexpectedly, Cheng Hongyi whispered, “No.”

“Why?”

Cheng Hongyi explained, “Because there are five logs placed next to the well in the yard. It was always intended for the two of us to work on them together.”

“And when I asked them earlier… they told me that each of us will have a personal space, so I believe that only the person who worked with the wood will be able to use it. Otherwise, the logs by the fireplace, which are being used as templates, could have been freely taken by us, and we wouldn’t have had to work so hard.”

“Oh.” Tang Bin roughly understood. For some reason, he liked how Cheng Hongyi used “we” to refer to their small group of two. A pleased smile spread across his face. “So you mean only the people who’ve worked with these logs can use them?”

“It’s not just about handling them. The system has thought of everything. It seems unlikely to make a mistake that would cause us unequal distribution,” Cheng Hongyi added instinctively. “Five axes, five sickles, two people per group. It seems that only the two people who did the most work on a particular log would be able to use it.”