Yang Xu had barely gotten a few hours of shut-eye when the village rooster screamed its morning battle cry.
"Seriously... that rooster's got more energy than I do."He rubbed his face and staggered out of bed, stepping over a mess of scrolls, half-burnt blueprints, and the remains of yesterday's failed bamboo mixer. The room smelled like sawdust, charcoal, and ambition, an oddly familiar scent at this point.
Outside, the village was slowly waking up.
A group of villagers stood around confused, holding buckets of water and awkwardly stirring ash and lime. Some looked like they were about to start cooking. Yang Xu climbed onto a platform made of leftover planks and bamboo, raised a ladle like a commander's baton, and bellowed:
"Hey! Don't just dump the lime straight into the water! Mix the dry stuff first, then add water! Unless you want your face powdered like a Beijing opera singer!"
A few villagers jumped and exchanged nervous looks.
"This really turns into stone?" one of them muttered.
Yang Xu pointed at a nearby slab.
"That's called cement. Not magic. Just science. Trust the process, and move those hands faster!"
After days of tinkering, and a small explosion that singed his sleeve, he'd finally nailed a usable recipe: quicklime, fine clay, and ash, mixed with water in the right order. When it dried, it became hard as rock and tougher than village gossip.
Today, it was time to go big.
Not just "pot-sized batch" big. Factory big.
Well, factory by ancient standards. It was basically a large shed with stone troughs, wooden paddles turned by a crank system, and fire pits. But for this remote mountain village? It might as well have been a heavenly palace of industry.
Yang Xu thumped his bamboo staff on the ground.
"Remember, this isn't some backyard cooking session! This is our first real workshop. We're laying the foundation for the entire village's future today. Let's go!"
Excitement rippled through the workers. They'd seen what the stuff could do. Just yesterday, Old Zhao tried to smash a dried cement block with a hammer and nearly hurt himself. That block was still sitting there like a smug little monument to progress.
As fire pits roared and the first batches of cement thickened, Yang Xu felt a sudden tug in his chest—no, not an emotion. Something else.
Ding!
A blue screen appeared before his eyes, invisible to the others.
[System Notification]Congratulations, Host! You've successfully produced your first large-scale factory output!Achievement unlocked: Industrial PioneerRewards unlocked:– Blueprint: Brick Kiln Workshop– Basic Construction Designs (3-Story Building, Stone Bridge, Dirt Road)
Yang Xu's eyes lit up.
"Aha, I knew you were holding out on me!"
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Bricks meant durability, mass production, and a future full of walls, homes, and infrastructure. No more mud huts and cracked tiles.
His gaze turned to the empty patch of land near the forest edge.
Perfect.
He raised his voice again.
"Tie Zhu! Stop pretending you didn't hear that! When you're done with this batch, grab a few strong lads and come with me. We're setting up a brick kiln!"
From near the mixing trough, a burly man with cement all over his beard looked up and grinned.
"New project? I like these busy days!"
As they gathered tools and workers for the next phase, something else was quietly happening in the background.
Away from the main construction, behind a stack of split logs, a man moved silently. He carried a heavy load of firewood, his shoulders steady and posture upright. His clothes were patched but tidy, and his movements were precise.
A few villagers nearby whispered.
"Isn't that Uncle Liu Man?"
"Yeah. Used to manage records at the township office before he moved up here. Smart fellow. Quiet but sharp."
Liu Man didn't say much. He adjusted a beam with practiced ease, corrected the angle of a support log, and helped fix a rope that had come loose. No one had asked him to do anything—but somehow, his corner of the site was running smoother than the rest.
He glanced at the mixing station, eyes calm and calculating.
Still, he made no move to approach Yang Xu.
That meeting would come later.
By midday, several molds of cement were drying in neat rows, and a new clearing had been prepped for the brick kiln. Iron Zhu stood next to a pile of stones, scratching his head.
"So... how do we build a kiln?"
Yang Xu flashed the blueprint that had materialized in his inventory.
"You'll see tomorrow."
As the first stake was driven into the ground for the new kiln, the workers cheered.
Behind the noise, Liu Man wiped his brow with a quiet nod and went back to his firewood stack. Another log. Another quiet correction. Another step in a much bigger story.
And so, the kiln's construction began.
But what it would lead to? well, that was a surprise for another day.