Want to be human, but cube-like

P.S. In case you might not remember, I briefly reiterated the process of obtaining villagers that I wrote about before. Even without this brief summary, this chapter is already over 2500 words, so it shouldn't be considered filler.

Next, we need to explore the Sky Island a bit more. More food options will lead to more interactions, such as matcha-based dishes and cucumber noodles.

Ugh, I really want to read the part where Ano goes to the Sky Island to play with Alex, it sounds like it would be so much fun!

But this can't be written before they recognize each other.

Volume 1: Chapter 118 Zombie Villagers

The sound of running water could be heard continuously coming from the bathroom.

Standing in the corridor, Xiangzi gently wiped his hair with a towel and sighed helplessly.

Because of the accident, both of them got wet, so they had to go upstairs to take a shower first.

With such cold weather, it's easy to get sick if your clothes are constantly damp.

"Actually, we can shower together, so you don't have to wait outside, Xiangzi."

From the other side of the bathroom door came Alex's voice. Xiangzi looked up at the hazy, curvaceous figure reflected in the glass, her face slightly flushed.

Some parts are reddish.

"Anyway, hurry up and finish washing."

She was too lazy to argue with Alex about it. She had only pushed Alex into the bathroom to let her shower first, just to prevent Alex from barging in while she was showering and demanding to shower with her.

It feels like I've almost figured out the right way to get along with Alex without even realizing it.

Although Xiangzi didn't want this kind of experience at all.

"It's fairly warm inside. I don't get cold easily. Oh, speaking of which..."

Let's try to distract her first. Otherwise, if this topic continues, and Alex suddenly decides to open the door and invite her in, Xiangzi really won't know how to react.

"Alex, why didn't you stop me just now?"

She was referring to why, when she grabbed Alex's wrist after they fell into the water, Alex so naturally fell down with her force.

Shoko was confident that Alex could easily regain her balance with her strength.

"Well, because I'm afraid of hurting you."

The sound of water in the bathroom paused for a moment before Alex's voice came through.

"I'm too strong. If we exert force in opposite directions at the same time, I won't be able to control the strength."

Rather than saying she was incredibly strong, it would be more accurate to say that, to her, all the creatures in this world were pitifully weak.

Alex always treated everything in this world with great care; in her eyes, many things were far too fragile.

For example, there was that time when she and Xiangzi went shopping in the mall, and she took an axe and knocked down the entire shelf with one blow.

It has to be said that Xiangzi's angry expression back then did leave a deep impression on Alex.

She remembered that she needed to be careful at all times and control her strength to prevent any serious consequences.

If it's just accidentally demolishing some buildings or items, that's fine. But if someone is accidentally injured or even killed, then as Xiangzi said, he'll be wanted throughout the city—although that sounds pretty cool.

But Alex didn't want to hurt the people important to her because of her mistake. Besides, Xiangzi would definitely be very angry if she did.

"Besides, it's quite safe to fall into the water."

Unlike the unexpected incident this evening when Aine was pulled into Alex's arms twice, that slightly urgent situation forced Alex to take the initiative to protect the person around her.

She genuinely felt that it wasn't a big deal that the two of them had just fallen into the water together.

Just like before when Aine pulled her and threw her onto the bed, and when Aine pushed the two of them into the fitting room.

Falling into the water was, in Alex's mind, far safer than anywhere else.

"..."

Although she didn't understand why water was necessarily safe, Xiangzi knew that there were too many rules in the world of Sky Island that she didn't know, and she wasn't the kind of person who had to interfere with or correct other people's thoughts, so she could only remain silent.

Moreover, if Alex doesn't have the confidence to fully control her strength, then this might indeed be the best choice.

"Click."

Alex was indeed quite fast at taking a shower. In just a few minutes, the sound of water in the bathroom had stopped. With a soft click, the glass door opened inward, and the steaming mist dissipated. Alex, wrapped in a bath towel, walked out with a splash.

"Xiangzi, you can go take a shower now."

She took another towel, wiped the water droplets off her neck, and then said.

"Ah."

His eyes involuntarily glanced at Alex's rounded shoulders a few times, and Xiangzi nodded gently, inhaling the rich fragrance emanating from her after her bath.

"Alex, are you going to the Sky Island to create that... Merchant? Is that right?"

Just as Xiangzi walked past Alex into the bathroom, he suddenly turned around, looked at Alex who was about to go back to the bedroom to change her clothes, and asked.

Clearly, she was still thinking about the conversation they had just had on the sky island.

"I don't know how much loot the mob farm dropped today. If I collect enough gold nuggets, then I just need to wait for one more zombie villager."

After tilting her head and thinking for a moment, Alex said that she didn't really expect any villagers to appear on the sky island today. After all, based on past efficiency, it would probably take at least a few more days to obtain these few gold nuggets.

Besides, the spawn rate of zombie villagers is quite dependent on luck. Before, because the day when she could collect enough gold nuggets seemed far away, and Alex didn't have a name tag, she never left behind a single zombie villager.

"If we've gathered enough, can I watch it with you before we start?"

Xiangzi really wanted to know how those villagers Alex had mentioned had come to be, so she tentatively asked.

"of course can."

Alex blinked, and trembling water droplets dripped from her long eyelashes.

"However, I feel there's no chance today. There are still quite a few things I'm missing."

To prevent Xiangzi from being disappointed, Alex explained the situation to her first.

"Hmm... unless a zombie with a gold ingot or a few gold nuggets in its backpack and a zombie villager spawn at the same time?"

She thought for a moment and then added, somewhat jokingly.

……

"Alex, is this what you just said?"

On the floating island, the two, having showered and changed their clothes, stood in front of the mob farm, somewhat dazed.

"Is this a gold ingot?"

Xiangzi took a grayish-green backpack, opened it, and peered inside for a while before hesitantly asking a question.

This just fell off a zombie.

"um, yes."

"Does that mean there will be merchants?"

Xiangzi continued to ask, somewhat excitedly.

"...Should be, yes?"

She looked at the zombie villager sitting on the boat with his arms outstretched, and then at the backpack that Xiangzi was holding beside her.

In short, now we've finally gathered everything we need.

…………

PS: If you were to stack the boxes, including the items in the backpack, Alex's strength could be stacked almost without limit. However, considering that ordinary people like Xiangzi need to be able to interact on the Sky Island, only tools, clothing, and equipment are set to have weight.

Small blocks and dropped items that are held in hand but not placed are weightless, so that other people can also pick them up. Tools, on the other hand, are weighted according to the crafting materials.

Excluding unrealistic elements, gold is the heaviest item in the entire game, weighing 19.32 tons per cubic meter. Since there are nine gold ingots per cubic meter, one gold ingot would weigh approximately 2.15 tons.

The heaviest tools in the original version were the gold pickaxe and the gold axe, weighing 6.44 tons (three gold ingots).

This is the minimum weight Alex can bear with one hand. With a full set of gold equipment, that's 24 gold ingots, giving Alex a body weight capacity of 51.52 tons. That's basically it; there's no need to stack it too high.

Volume 1: Chapter 119 The Desire to Be Needed

Sitting in a small wooden boat, the white-haired girl stood in front of Xiangzi, with a passenger behind her, traveling on dry land.

Literally.

She rowed the boat slowly, carrying the howling zombie villagers, starting from beside the mob spawner and moving across the ground.

"The screams were a little... scary..."

Xiangzi, who was standing beside him, observed the completely immobile zombie villager with a mixture of curiosity and fear, and whispered something.

Of course, this wasn't the first time she'd heard a zombie's cry; after all, Xiangzi had accompanied Alex to the bottom of the monster-slaying tower many times. But this was indeed the first time she'd gotten so close to such a monster, and had walked such a long way while listening to its cries.

The zombies that fell from the mob farm wouldn't have survived for this long in front of Xiangzi and Alex.

Hearing that terrifying roar so many times can be quite chilling.

"Alex, aren't you scared?"

Seeing that Alex was sitting just a few dozen centimeters away from the zombie villager, and that the scream came directly from the back of her neck, Xiangzi put himself in her shoes and immediately hugged his arms, his face turning pale.

"You'll get used to it. It's not a big deal if you hear it a lot."

While still leisurely rowing the boat, Alex casually replied upon hearing this.

This state of being certain that she wouldn't be attacked by monsters was much more relaxed than before, when she was in a deep mine, listening to roars coming from who-knows-where, and constantly on guard against her surroundings.

Besides, it's just moving zombies; this isn't the first time Alex has done this.

In the past, when I was moving witches, they would throw potions at me all the way, and even after moving dozens or hundreds of blocks, I would not change my expression.

"awesome……"

Sighing softly, Xiangzi accompanied Alex, who was rowing a small boat, all the way to the stairs leading to the upper floor before stopping.

"This is it."

If you go any further, you'll have to leave the area covered by the upper floor. Otherwise, the zombie villagers will be burned to death by the sunlight, so it's best to stop here.

"Stay away from the mob farm, so that the villagers won't be scared and run around by the monsters that spawn after they've been successfully healed."

That would be quite troublesome, especially if the villagers accidentally fell off the edge of the sky island while escaping.

After briefly explaining why they had to row such a long distance in a small boat, Alex took out a glass bottle containing a golden liquid from her bag.

"these are……?"

Looking curiously at the glass bottle in Alex's hand, Xiangzi asked.

"The Banker Witch's Tears, should it be tears?"

She shook the bottle in her hand, watching the viscous liquid flow slightly along the bottle wall, and answered uncertainly.

In her understanding, this should be something similar to dragon's breath, but produced in a way that resembles tears.

It can't really be called something similar to Ghast Tears, after all, it's a solid material and a drop from Ghasts when they die, and the way it's obtained is different, so the two are quite different.

"Do witches...shed tears too?"

Slowly opening her eyes, Xiangzi looked somewhat surprised. She recalled the huge roulette wheel head and could hardly believe it.

That monster doesn't even have eyes, does it?

"I don't know, but this liquid does look like it came out after I beat the witch to tears."

Alex, who had witnessed the witch's barrier being submerged by these liquids twice, replied.

Does that monster also possess the rich emotions of a human?

Xiangzi frowned slightly as she recalled the first time they met the witch while being chased by the familiar.

At that moment, the way the huge roulette wheel faced down at them did indeed seem like an act of staring out of curiosity.

So, it cries too?

But when the image of the banker witch going berserk flashed through his mind again, wantonly destroying everything around her and showing no mercy to Alex, Xiangzi was once again caught in a dilemma.