In those days of Plants vs. Zombies

Chapter 524 Blacksmith

There was a constant stream of homeless people queuing up to register in front of the stall in Courtyard No. 5905.

From time to time, new wanderers joined the team, and the team became longer and longer. At a glance, you couldn’t see where the end was.

Perhaps because the War Court had not come here to recruit for a long time, the wanderers in the university gathering place wanted to seize this rare and precious opportunity.

As soon as they heard that a stall had been set up in a courtyard to welcome new customers, the vagrants immediately ran out of their shacks or buildings, calling their friends and coming to this street.

Some people gather in groups of three or five to discuss and communicate in low voices, while others wait quietly in the queue alone.

In short, they are extremely looking forward to and eager to be selected to become new members of the courtyard.

Several plant spirit warriors were still working hard to maintain order at the scene to ensure that no accidents such as stampedes would occur.

Fortunately, the vagrants were very well-behaved, which allowed Owen, who was in charge of registration, to relax and carefully select suitable vagrants for the courtyard.

In Mo Chen's plan, he intended to recruit at least 5905 people in the university gathering place in order to reach the population index required for Courtyard No. to be promoted to the final level of the first stage.

So far, there are a total of 142 homeless people registered in Owen who meet the needs of the courtyard.

Including the relatives and family members who were willing to follow these 142 people to leave the gathering place, the total number reached 365.

There is still a big gap between the 500 people planned by Mo Chen.

"By the way, among the one hundred and forty-two people who meet the requirements, are there any special ones?"

Norman asked Zhao Tong to continue the registration on behalf of Owen temporarily, then pulled his brother aside and asked in a low voice.

"almost none."

Owen shook his head at his brother and told him his findings one by one:

"Most of them are weed spirits. There are also some from other races, but they are not considered plant spirit warriors."

Norman still had some hope: "Then...are there any retired federal soldiers? Those who have received military training will also be fine."

"Veterans? There are so few of them. They're all quite old, not even fit to be part of the courtyard garrison."

Owen spread his hands helplessly. "As for military training, that's out of the question. For them, just not running away when encountering low-level zombies is already pretty good."

"That's true. If the courtyard wants to train its own militia, it must submit an application to the military and ask them to send a specialist to supervise it."

Norman sighed and continued to ask, "Who are the special professionals?"

“Not many. Most of these vagrants are farmers and workers, with some being small traders and artisans.

The number of intellectuals is very small, and I estimate that there are only 20 to 30 high school graduates, and 4 to 5 who have attended college.

After thinking it over carefully, Owen added, "By the way, there are more than a dozen homeless people who have worked at the courtyard's medical center, and there are also several water and electricity engineers who have participated in the maintenance of the courtyard's facilities."

"And that's all?"

"Yes, that's all."

Norman and Owen looked at each other, and then smiled bitterly at the same time.

The population base in university clusters is large, but in contrast, rare talents are still a minority.

After all, before Courtyard No. 5905, many courtyards had come here to recruit new members.

To put it bluntly, what is left for Courtyard No. 5905 may be the leftovers from the previous courtyards.

Reality is not like a game that guarantees success. If you want to recruit the right talents, luck is the most critical factor.

"Continue to register. Let's recruit 500 people first. But don't forget, we still have a very difficult task."

Norman used the “skip topic” technique to great effect.

Owen's expression suddenly became serious. The difficult task his brother mentioned was to bring at least 500 people they recruited back to the courtyard safely.

Including all members of this team, no one can be left behind.

"But second brother, the number of wanderers is at least 500. Can we successfully escort them to the courtyard with just a few of us?"

Suddenly thinking of something, Owen's eyes showed a hint of worry.

"Don't worry about that, Owen. The owner of the house has already made preparations."

Norman took out a simple disposable transmitter and waved it in front of Owen.

"Once we've finished recruiting, we'll just need to use this transmitter, and the fleet waiting in the courtyard will immediately set off to pick us up at the university."

"I see."

Owen nodded in sudden realization, then asked naively, "But isn't it best not to use communication equipment in an abandoned city?"

"The signal from this transmitter can only be received using the encrypted channel dedicated to Courtyard 5905. There is essentially no risk of leakage."

Just as Norman was explaining to Owen the principle of the transmitter in his hand, a "heavyweight" figure appeared in front of the stall in Courtyard No. 5905.

Why is it called heavyweight? The sound of heavy footsteps continued to ring out, and it was obvious that the answer was literal.

When the wanderers saw who had arrived, they all made way, leaving a path for this heavyweight to reach the stall.

The reason is simple: all the wanderers who go out to pick up scraps in and out of the gathering place have more or less received the kindness of this person.

"Wow, that's so high..."

Looking at the tall figure walking in front, Klein's eyes were filled with envy.

"Oh my god, it's so strong!"

Kang Hong looked up and down at the craftsman passing by him and couldn't help but praise him.

Zhao Tong, who was registering in front of the stall, felt a shadow covering him. He raised his head in confusion and met the eyes of the Ural man in front of him.

"you are?"

The craftsman unloaded the overflowing basket from his back and rubbed his hands vigorously. "Hey, I heard you guys are from the courtyard, recruiting people for the university gathering place, right?"

The basket fell to the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust, causing the mushroom-headed boy following the craftsman to cough a few times.

A closer look revealed that the basket was filled with various ores and metal ingots, as well as a heavy metal flail.

"Yes, we are plant spirit warriors from Courtyard 5905. The owner asked us to come here to recruit people."

It must be said that Zhao Tong is indeed a veteran who has served for many years and has long developed a keen eye for judging people.

As soon as he met him, he quickly analyzed the other person's appearance and temperament and concluded that this was definitely a special talent that their Courtyard No. 5905 urgently needed.

"You...can forge?"

Zhao Tong keenly noticed the calluses and old wounds on the craftsman's hands and immediately expressed his guess.

Those calluses are obviously caused by holding blunt objects for a long time.

As for the old wounds, they did not look like ordinary wounds caused by swords, guns or gunfire, but rather like marks left by years of exposure to hot molten iron.

The craftsman grinned, revealing his white teeth. “Yes, I make a living by relying on this family-inherited blacksmithing skill.”

He then took out a well-tempered forging hammer from his waist and held it in his right hand, gently tapping the palm of his left hand with the hammer head. "This is my precious hammer. It's with it that I run a blacksmith shop in this gathering place."

Seeing that his guess was confirmed, Zhao Tong immediately became very excited.

The addition of an excellent blacksmith is undoubtedly a huge improvement for Courtyard No. 5905.

Plant spirit warriors like Zhao Tong who use cold weapons to fight know how important a handy weapon is.

It can be said that among the plant spirit warriors present, no one was more looking forward to the joining of this craftsman than him.