The tavern was open, but there were no customers inside. Just a little boy in a sheepskin jacket moving between tables with a cleaning rag.

  After wiping down the tables, the boy walked behind the liquor cabinet and pulled out a square wooden board from under the counter. He used a charcoal pencil to darken the faded patterns on it.

  Luo Wei folded her wings, dropped her invisibility spell, and walked into the shabby little tavern.

  "Hey kid, what are you drawing?"

  The boy jumped at her voice. He gripped his charcoal pencil and looked up. When he saw her face, his eyes went wide and he shouted excitedly, his voice cracking: "It's you!"

  "You know me?" Luo Wei was surprised.

  The boy's face scrunched up, looking a bit angry. "You forgot me!"

  "Uh..." Luo Wei studied him for a while but still couldn't place him.

  She'd saved too many kids to remember them all. She'd just assumed he was one of Norma's new believers from the mainland.

  Seeing she really didn't recognize him, the boy's eyes dimmed. He sniffled and said, "My name is Yage. Yage Augustnaya. I used to live in the stone fort on the frozen plains. When I was about to starve to death, you saved me."

  As soon as he said his name, Luo Wei remembered. After all, just last night the God of Wisdom had visited her dream specifically to thank her for saving their descendant.

  "I remember you, Yage," she looked at the boy. "Sorry, you've grown a lot taller. I didn't recognize you right away."

  "You don't need to apologize to me," Yage said, looking up stubbornly. "If I can't make you remember me, that's my own lack of ability. I can't remember every idiot I've only met once either."

  Luo Wei was about to say something comforting when he put down his charcoal pencil and stood the board upright.

  "But right now I can make you remember my name again," Yage turned the board around to show her the patterns. "If you'll give me three minutes."

  Luo Wei's interest was piqued. "I'll give you ten minutes. Take your time."

  "Thanks." Yage nodded, his small finger pointing at the patterns on the board. "You just asked what I was drawing. Now I can answer you."

  "The patterns on the left are beer, bread, sea fish, prawns, lumber, stone bricks..."

  "The patterns on the right are back scrubbing, bone setting, changing burial shrouds, tooth fixing, storytelling..."

  "Customers with money can buy the goods and services directly. Customers without money need to trade with the things listed here."

  Luo Wei realized his board included the island's undead too.

  The goods on the left—the buyers were humans, the suppliers mainly undead. Marine resources like sea fish and prawns could only be easily caught by the undead.

  The services on the right—the buyers were undead, the service providers were humans. Humans could obtain the food and building materials they needed through labor from the undead.

  Though this tavern was still called a tavern, it was actually a trading post. Through bartering, it had built a bridge of communication between humans and undead.

  "I have a question," Luo Wei said with interest. "Do the island's undead actually come here to spend?"

  "Of course they do. The undead are regulars here," Yage said proudly. "The longer an undead has been dead, the more brittle their bones get. Lots of undead have fractured bones that need people to fix them with nails or metal plates."

  "Plus their burial shrouds are rotted and too long—they're always tripping over them. They love coming to exchange for new shrouds."

  Luo Wei: ...

  She'd thought the undead didn't care about material comforts, so they ignored her carrots. Turns out she'd been dangling the wrong carrots!

  Look at Yage—with the right incentive, the undead rushed forward just like humans!

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  But she still had a question. "Bone setting and changing shrouds require close contact. Aren't the people providing these services afraid of the undead?"

  Yage said, "They were scared at first. After being together a while, they got used to it. Plus the undead chop trees and quarry stone way faster than people. Who doesn't want to save some effort?"

  Luo Wei couldn't help but sigh. These kids—each one smarter than the last, all with great business sense.

  If she put Yage and Roman together, would they team up to build a business empire?

  Seeing Luo Wei stay quiet, Yage couldn't help asking, "Aren't you curious why I did this?"

  "To give the undead more motivation to develop this island," Luo Wei looked down at him. "Right? What I'm more curious about is how you convinced Steward Grey to send you to the island to open a tavern. I remember the job I arranged for you guys was cutting grass to feed horses behind the lumber mill."

  Yage raised his chin proudly. "Cutting grass and feeding horses is work for idiots. Smart people have to be different!"

  "I figured it out a long time ago. Nobody buys the boards and furniture the lumber mill produces, but they disappear regularly. Steward Grey often goes to town to buy tons of food, and after he brings it back to the yard, it vanishes just like the lumber."

  "Last month, shocking news came from Nakisese Bay. Everyone was talking about it. I heard them say there's an island in the Demon Sea with a witch on it. That's when I knew where Steward Grey was sending all that lumber and food."

  "So I told him I already knew Demon Island was your territory, and I wanted to come see it."

  "He didn't agree at first. I said Demon Island would definitely have lots of people eventually, and opening a tavern here would make tons of money. Then he agreed."

  Yage had always thought Luo Wei was a witch, so when the news came, he immediately guessed she owned Demon Island. Lucky guess.

  The shocking news he mentioned was something Luo Wei had deliberately spread.

  When she'd first become Demon Island's owner, Luo Wei's own power wasn't strong enough yet. She'd ordered Patrick to blockade the island for three months. She'd also had the mercenary Matt carve a stone monument to be erected on the coast once the blockade ended, announcing it to the world.

  The news Yage heard about a witch on the island was actually a mistranslation. They'd gotten the monument's content wrong.

  The original inscription read: Demon Island shelters all the world's witches and non-human intelligent races, shelters homeless women and wandering children, shelters the red-haired and followers of the God of the Undead.

  Unfortunately, even though this news had been out for a month, few people had entered the island. The Demon Sea's fearsome reputation kept mainland people watching and waiting.

  But this was fine. If too many people flooded Demon Island at once and the undead couldn't screen them thoroughly, letting in people with ulterior motives would be trouble.

  Right now the island had fewer people, but everyone was working together to build their home. With undead labor joining in, infrastructure development would only get faster.

  The improved undead motivation was thanks to this little guy in front of her. Luo Wei didn't hold back her praise. "Yage, you've successfully made me remember your name."

  Looking at the boy's confident expression, she smiled. "I also have good news for you. The God of Wisdom entered my dream last night. They said thank you for saving you."

  Yage couldn't believe it. "The God of Wisdom entered your dream? They really said that? Why don't they answer my prayers?"

  "They don't answer your prayers because you were disrespectful to the God of Death and Time," Luo Wei said seriously. "The God of Wisdom and the God of Death and Time are good friends. You called the God of Death and Time an evil god before, so the God of Wisdom got angry."

  "What!" Deep panic flooded Yage's face. "I—I didn't know. I'd never heard of the God of Death and Time. I thought..."

  Luo Wei: "If you confess your sins to the God of Death and Time, perhaps both deities will forgive your offense."

  Yage's body trembled. "I understand!"

  He clenched his fists and said firmly, "I'll go to the God of Death and Time's temple right now and confess!"

  "Good kid." Luo Wei raised an eyebrow. "Remember to be sincere in your confession. I have things to do, so I'll go now."

  "Yeah!" Yage put down the board and answered solemnly.

  After messing with the little guy and clearing her god position's name, Luo Wei left the tavern. She spread her wings and flew toward the stone wall prison in the north.

  The old guy in that prison wouldn't be as easy to fool as Yage. Zachary was stubborn, arrogant, and violently cruel. But the value he held made her reluctant to give up on him.

  Dealing with Zachary always felt like punching cotton—no satisfaction.

  She'd already locked Zachary in prison and starved him half to death, but she still felt unsatisfied.

  The most satisfying revenge was to first break down an enemy's psychological defenses—make them regret, fear, beg, and mentally exhaust themselves. Then make them feel guilty toward you, worship you, try to please you. Only after that should you physically torment and eliminate them.

  To truly defeat someone, you had to defeat their spirit. Only then could you establish your superiority.

  Luo Wei obviously hadn't defeated Zachary yet.

  Zachary was too arrogant, looking down on everyone. He'd rather die than admit defeat, rather starve than give in. The more you tortured him, the more petty you looked. Killing someone like that wouldn't even be satisfying.

  Given enough time, Luo Wei could slowly wear him down, breaking him like a hawk. But the protective Fire God had interfered, forcing her to stop that plan.

  How to put it—Zachary did have reason for his arrogance. His skills were strong, his backing was solid. With those conditions, she'd be arrogant too.

  But that's exactly why defeating someone like him would feel so satisfying, right?

  Everyone has weaknesses. Find his weakness, and you could easily tear him down.

  Luo Wei's lips curved up. Today she was in an exceptionally good mood.

  Originally she couldn't grasp Zachary's weakness. But the Fire God's appearance had delivered it right into her hands.

  She could already picture Zachary's breakdown.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  patreon.com/BZDXG - Unlock a HUGE stash of advance chapters now!

  Dive deeper into the story ahead of everyone else!