Richest Man: Divine-Grade Reconstruct System Chapter 1238 - 1130: Lin Yi Arrives in Person (Part 2)

"Are the walls we stacked up front also in the same state as this one now, where they’ll topple at a touch?"

The worker who heard this wore a face full of bitterness, then, suddenly terrified, bowed to the steward and spoke:

"Reporting to my lord, just yesterday after work I went over there specially to take a look at those walls. They’re just like this side here.

They may not collapse at a touch, but you can still easily pry up the bricks on top with your hands."

As these words fell, the steward’s heart instantly gave a thump, his vision went black for a moment, and he almost toppled headfirst to the ground.

Good grief, they were still like that last night. And it’s already been several days. If that’s really the case, then he was probably finished.

After all, the Emperor doesn’t reason with you. No matter what you say, no matter whether this material came from somewhere else, there’s one point: the city wall hasn’t been properly built, and that’s your responsibility.

Trying to reason with the Emperor? Heh, that’s really not being afraid of dying early.

Even if he had a bit of reason on his side, he still wouldn’t dare to say it.

Stumbling a little, supported by several workers, he followed in Lin Yi’s footsteps all the way toward that section.

At last, this stretch of not-so-long road came to an end. Standing at the first section of wall they had stacked, Lin Yi looked at the cement on the wall surface, which had already begun to turn white, and couldn’t help nodding in satisfaction.

"How long has it been since this wall was finished?"

Hearing Lin Yi’s question, the person in charge immediately answered cautiously:

"In answer to Your Majesty, this wall has been completed for four days."

At these words, Lin Yi simply nodded. Four days—the cement should have set by now. That amount of time was enough; the cement at this point ought to be able to bear some weight.

Even if it hadn’t reached its peak performance yet, it shouldn’t be too bad.

Thus, under the nervous gaze of the person in charge, Lin Yi’s voice rang out again, and what he said made the man freeze on the spot, his heart giving another jolt:

"Go find a hammer. I want to see the effect."

This sentence made the person in charge’s heart truly skip a beat. What he feared most came true. If Lin Yi only observed from the outside, maybe he wouldn’t say much, but if they actually hammered the wall a couple of times, the wall might not even last two blows—one blow and it might collapse.

You have to understand, this is a city wall they’re building, and not just any city, but the Capital City.

Everyone knows how important the Capital City’s walls are. If you dare cut corners on a wall like this, the consequences are self-evident.

But since the Emperor had already spoken, they naturally didn’t dare say anything, nor did they dare refuse, so someone hurried off to fetch a hammer.

In less than a moment, a big iron hammer was brought over.

When the person in charge saw this hammer, his vision went black again and he nearly fainted.

Good grief, he really wanted to rush up and beat the worker who went to fetch it.

The Emperor told you to bring a hammer—you could’ve brought a small one. Why did you bring such a huge one?

With a hammer this big, even a large stone would definitely crack open with a single blow!

Yet things had already come to this, and the hammer was already in front of them. It was obviously impossible to swap it out now.

They then saw Lin Yi walk forward and size up this hammer, then nod in satisfaction, and point at the person in charge:

"Go. Hit this wall with all your strength, twice."

Though his legs were a bit weak, imperial orders couldn’t be disobeyed, so he could only heft the big hammer with difficulty and walk toward the wall.

Once he reached the base of the wall, he realized his arms had no strength; he even found it hard to swing the hammer up.

But since the Emperor was watching from the side, if he struck he might die later, yet if he didn’t strike, he’d probably die right now.

Precisely because of that, he gritted his teeth in the end, shut his eyes, and lifted the hammer to smash it toward the wall.

At the moment the hammer swung down and hit the wall, he shut his eyes and didn’t dare look, already imagining what would happen next.

Surely the hammer would pass easily through the wall and fly toward the back, and a large portion of the wall would collapse instantly.

In his eyes, this stuff now wasn’t even as good as yellow mud.

Originally, when you mixed yellow mud with straw and other things, its adhesion was quite strong. Even if four days weren’t enough for it to fully harden, it could at least withstand blows from a small hammer.

But this thing now was different. He had already tested it—after it dried, it practically had no bonding effect.

Yet just when he was prepared for this blow to land in empty air, he suddenly felt the hammer in his hands crash into something incredibly hard.

Then came a clang, and immediately his arms flared with pain, while the hammer rebounded backward.

Fortunately, his grip was tight enough that the hammer merely pulled him into a stagger, and he almost fell headfirst.

Though that blow had jarred him, leaving his arms numb and even making his waist ache, his expression froze on the spot.

He put the hammer down, still in disbelief, and hurried back to the spot on the wall. When he looked at where he’d struck, his eyes widened at once.

On that wall surface, there was only a small, shallow mark.

And that little pit wasn’t even on the gray-black material; it was on the brick itself, where the hammer had knocked off a tiny corner.

What was going on? His mind instantly filled with question marks. What on earth was this?

Why had his hammer blow had no effect?

Shouldn’t this wall have collapsed directly?

Why was it still standing there perfectly fine?

Lin Yi, however, was not surprised at all by this scene. He and Xiao Zihan exchanged a glance, then walked up to the wall. When their eyes fell on the surface and saw what was there, they both nodded in satisfaction:

"About the same as we expected. Looks like this really is quite workable.

But there’s one thing: the bricks seem to be of somewhat poor quality. Tell the people over there to increase the firing temperature a bit when they’re burning them, make the bricks harder."

After Lin Yi finished speaking, the person in charge was still in a daze, nodding mechanically.

And not just him—the workers around them were all dumbfounded, each staring wide-eyed in disbelief at that little dent on the wall.

If Lin Yi weren’t standing there, they would have already rushed over in a crowd to inspect it.

They couldn’t understand what was going on. Yesterday the wall could still be pushed over with a shove—why was it now so incredibly solid?

Seeing their expressions, Lin Yi naturally realized they had misunderstood something, so he explained it to them.

When they heard that this material needed time to harden, they found it quite easy to accept. After all, even yellow mud walls had to be left to dry.

But what Lin Yi said next left them puzzled again, completely confused.

"Remember, from now on, pour water on these walls every day.

Let me put it this way: starting from the fifth day after each wall is completed, assign people every day to splash water on it, and keep doing that until all of them are fully cured. Continue for five to ten days."

As soon as Lin Yi said this, everyone grew confused. They couldn’t figure it out—why water the walls?

[To be continued...]