Alien Knights

Winter has passed and spring has come, and the scars left by the war on the earth have not yet faded, but people's lives have gone on as usual.

The snow melted, the roads were cleared, and the civil war in the kingdom was on the rise. These factors gave the tribes and slaves under the control of Ulster the best time to migrate and escape.

At night, looking down towards the forest from a high altitude, you can see the light of torches everywhere.

More and more barbarians, taking advantage of the darkness, escaped from their residences and came to Shuangshi for their fame. Many of them came to seek asylum with a longing for freedom and tranquility just after hearing about the "legend of the demigods".

However, with the rapid increase in population, the originally narrow basin was completely unable to accommodate all the residents.

Due to the abundance of labor, the camp began to build a large number of buildings, a large number of forests were cut down, and fertile land was reclaimed.

Equipment from the Holy Acropolis was continuously transported into the camp, and group after group of barbarian warriors began to practice the art of army formation and coordinated combat under the instruction of the "Knight of Death".

Everything is on the right track, except for one small problem.

Yes, small problem...

"The wall in the room was collapsed by you again!" Rachel looked at the big hole in the wall, wanting to cry without tears.

Todd smiled wryly and shook his head: "I don't know why, as long as I fall asleep recently, I will trigger the evolution state inexplicably."

Deirdre gestured the size of the hole with her hand, nodded and said, "This time the hole is bigger than last time."

Todd looked at his body, trying to evolve. As the monster form unfolded, his body gradually occupied the entire first floor, but the changes still didn't end.

Rachel heard the ear-piercing "whining" from the floor, and quickly said loudly: "Stop! Stop! If you keep getting bigger, this building will collapse!"

The helpless Todd terminated the tyrant's evolution and returned to human form.

Rachel looked at the solid wood floor full of fine cracks, and said to Todd distressedly: "What have you been doing recently? How come your evolved form is getting bigger and bigger?!"

Todd thought about it carefully, and thought of one thing: "I've been studying the tyrant virus since the end of the battle. When I was in the laboratory, I more or less inhaled some of it into my body. Could it be related to this?"

"Then reduce the number of times you go to the laboratory, and try to minimize exposure to the tyrant virus!" Rachel pressed her temples with a headache: "You also said that the virus is an unstable substance for living organisms, and it may lead to unpredictable consequences!"

Todd is a little bit embarrassed: "My experiment has now reached the critical point. During the battle last winter, I discovered a new parasite-"spore". It grows in the belly of a war beast, and looks like a thick leather-wrapped sphere. It stores a substance similar to nitroglycerin. As long as it is stimulated by the outside world, it will..."

Rachel didn't care about Deirdre's existence at all, and said with emphasis: "Your Majesty! This is not Muxi Kingdom! You must restrain your personal interests! Look at those people outside the door. They come from many different tribes and have different interests. It is impossible to handle and coordinate affairs spontaneously like Muxi City. This camp seems to be growing, but in fact it is a mess! The only person who can integrate and lead them is you!"

"You gave these people hope and a home, but Muxi City's self-government method of the kingdom simply won't work here! If you don't manage these people, in the end, this place will only end in internal strife." Perhaps feeling that her tone was too harsh, Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, and slowed down her speech: "These people gather by your side, and they value your strength and reputation. You need to find a more suitable path to rule them."

Todd sighed lightly: "I understand what you said, after I won the battle, I did feel a little... relaxed."

Rachel glanced at Deirdre, who was beside her with a stiff expression, and said viciously, "Sometimes I worry, if our conversation is leaked..."

Seeing Deirdre's appearance about to cry, Todd said helplessly: "We have discussed this matter a long time ago. Deirdre's doing so will not do her any good."

Rachel gave Deirdre another meaningful stare, and then continued to say to Todd: "Agatha's fleet has arrived at the temporary port, and the latest batch of food supplies is being unloaded. But the population of the camp is increasing, and the amount of food transported can hardly keep up with the consumption."

Todd nodded: "I have thought about this issue. The transportation cost of the grain transported from Muxi City is too high, and it can only be used for emergency relief in the early stage, not a long-term solution."

"You don't want to make an idea of ​​the neighboring tribes, do you?" Rachel looked a little nervous: "Let me say something in advance, although looting the neighboring tribes can temporarily solve the food problem. But this approach will completely destroy our long-established good reputation, and quickly turn against other tribes, and even affect internal stability!"

Todd smiled and gave her a look of "you can rest assured": "I really want to hit the idea on the neighboring tribes and neighboring countries, but not in the way of war, but... trade."

"trading?!"

Rachel and Deirdre shouted at the same time.

"You should know that the Froststone Camp doesn't have any decent specialties at all, so why talk about trade..." Rachel suddenly had an idea: "No, there are so many sites that can be used to build camps, why did you choose this place?"

Todd took some dry grass leaves from his body and put them in front of Rachel and Deirdre: "The reason why I chose this place as a camp is because of this thing—tobacco leaves."

"The Froststone Camp is located in a basin with high altitude and good sunlight; the soil is red soil, which is rare in the northern region, rich in iron oxide; there is abundant rainfall and the soil has a strong water storage capacity. These three conditions make this place able to produce the best tobacco leaves."

Deirdre picked up a tobacco leaf and looked at it carefully: "I know this thing. The old people in the family often chew it to refresh themselves. I tasted it once, and it was bitter and choking. Would anyone really trade food for this?"

Todd crushed the dry tobacco leaves in his hand, put them in front of his nose and smelled them, and said, "Tobacco leaves cannot be used directly, but must go through a series of processes of material selection, impurity removal, fermentation, grinding, flavoring, and storage."

Rachel nodded: "It sounds complicated, so what is the use of this thing called 'tobacco'?"

"It's similar to alcohol. It's an expensive consumable." Todd recalled that he spent countless nights in the institute, relying on cigarettes to get through it. Later, after making a girlfriend, he finally quit smoking.

"Because of technical problems, finished tobacco products couldn't be made into high-grade processed products such as hookah, dry tobacco, and cigarettes at the beginning. We can only find a way to tinker with snuff." Todd put his chin on his hand, thought for a while, and said: "I still need Muxi Kingdom to make a batch of exquisite crystal snuff bottles temporarily. I will hand over this to Huggins in the soul space..."

Deirdre's eyes shone with admiration: "You know a lot..."

Todd was a little embarrassed: "I studied tobacco mosaic virus at the beginning, and I usually like to smoke a few cigarettes. Therefore, I have a general understanding of the history and craftsmanship of tobacco, but I didn't expect it to come in handy now."

Rachel first glanced at the two of them sideways, then looked at the unremarkable blade of grass, and asked suspiciously: "How much is the snuff you mentioned worth? Is it worth our effort to make it?"

"value?"

Todd recalled the literature he had read.

Snuff flowed into China in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, in the market in Beijing, the price of a pot of high-quality snuff ranged from 300 to 800 yuan, which was between 90,000 yuan and 240,000 yuan.

After doing some calculations in his mind, Todd gave Rachel an answer: "50 grams of good snuff is about three hundred silver months."

After hearing this, the latter opened his mouth slightly and froze there.