"Big brother, don't you like drinking water?"
Clara, holding the tray, stood beside Fu Zhu, cautiously glancing at the untouched cup of hot water.
Hearing her voice, Fu Zhu glanced over. Clara flinched in fright and quickly bowed in apology, "I'm sorry, big brother, we don't have tea or coffee at home... Life in the Underworld is harsh, those things are rarely seen. But milk... we still have some. Would you like some, big brother?"
The milk at home was originally prepared by Svarog for Clara's growth. But now, for Mr. Svarog's safe return, Clara was willing to offer all the precious things in their house.
"Oh? Milk? Sure."
Hearing there was milk, Fu Zhu perked up. He wasn't worried about Clara adding anything to the milk; he had the system's conversion ability anyway.
There was no such thing as 'spiked' milk in MC. As long as it could be converted, it would definitely become normal milk.
"Okay, big brother, Clara will go get it right away."
Hearing Fu Zhu wanted milk, Clara immediately ran happily to the kitchen to fetch it for him.
In her eyes, as long as Fu Zhu was happy, he would definitely release Mr. Svarog!
In just a short while, Clara came running back with a glass of milk, placing it in front of Fu Zhu, her eyes full of anticipation.
This time, Fu Zhu reached out and grasped the glass of milk on the table. He wasn't sure if one glass's worth of milk could be directly converted into a full bucket of milk like in MC.
[Milk]
[Currently Convertible: Milk]
It worked!
Fu Zhu was pleasantly surprised and directly converted the glass of milk in his hand into a full bucket of milk. Incidentally, the glass cup was also converted into an iron bucket along with it.
Fu Zhu glanced at the full bucket of milk resting quietly in his inventory, and his mind couldn't help but race.
Since exactly one glass could be converted into a whole bucket of milk, didn't that mean he could infinitely get free milk and iron buckets?
Thinking this, Fu Zhu immediately called out to Clara.
"Clara, bring me a larger basin."
"Okay, big brother."
Clara pattered away and then pattered back, holding an empty basin. She placed it on the floor and called out sweetly to Fu Zhu.
"Big brother, here's the basin you wanted. Is this big enough?"
"It's plenty big."
Fu Zhu took the milk bucket out of his inventory and tried tipping it over to pour into the basin. However, contrary to his expectations, the milk inside the iron bucket seemed to defy gravity, stubbornly refusing to leave the bucket no matter what.
This made Fu Zhu mutter "what a pity." But on second thought, milk itself could be infinitely produced with just one cow, so there was no need to be greedy for such a small gain here.
Maybe later he could discuss with the Conductor about raising a cow on the Express?
"Big brother, is there not enough milk?"
Clara, standing nearby, couldn't help asking when she saw Fu Zhu shaking his head and sighing.
Fu Zhu sighed and nodded, "Yeah, you can never have too much milk."
Just based on milk's ability to remove all status effects, he wouldn't complain even if he had tens of thousands of buckets.
Although he couldn't stack milk right now, there would surely be mods later that could achieve that.
Hearing Fu Zhu's answer, Clara pursed her lips, then seemed to make up her mind.
"Clara understands! I'll go buy milk for you right now, big brother!"
Mr. Svarog had given her quite a bit of allowance before, and she had been saving it up. Now she could use it to trade for some milk from the merchants in the Underworld!
Having made her decision, Clara pattered off again, giving Fu Zhu no chance to stop her.
"This little girl really is impulsive..."
Fu Zhu shook his head with a sigh, then turned his gaze to the deactivated Svarog nearby.
"Time to get down to business."
Instead of discussing adult matters with a still somewhat naive little girl, it was better to talk to this clearly highly intelligent robot.
Fu Zhu didn't wake Svarog up immediately. First, he used cobblestone blocks to tightly enclose it, leaving only a one-block window at head height for subsequent communication.
Even so, Fu Zhu still felt it wasn't secure enough. He crafted a wooden fence post using the workbench and placed it over that one-block opening, then equipped his shield again, just in case.
After making sufficient preparations, Fu Zhu finally reconnected Svarog with Redstone and pulled the stone lever once more.
With a beep system notification sound, Svarog's dim bulb-like eye lit up again with a scarlet glow.
"System reboot successful. Analyzing surroundings..."
Svarog muttered to itself for a moment, then its gaze fell on Fu Zhu. It glanced at its surroundings, confirming it was firmly trapped, and then assessed the situation.
"Conclusion: Plan to expel intruder failed. Question: Is Clara safe?"
"Relax, the little girl is very safe," Fu Zhu replied, then remembered something and added, "However, I can't guarantee her wallet's safety."
He had no idea how much milk cost in this underground city. Judging by that little girl's tendency to overthink things, her wallet was probably done for.
Upon hearing that Clara was safe, Svarog's large bulb-like eye flickered slightly.
"Intruder, since I have failed, according to system assessment, I must pay a corresponding price in exchange for my own safety and your departure from this place. State your demands."
Fu Zhu couldn't help but look at Svarog with renewed respect upon hearing this. "Although I don't really like how you address me, I have to say, you're quite perceptive. In that case, I'm going to ask for a lot.
Palm-sized diamonds, Netherite blocks, Lapis Lazuli, a large quantity of books, sugarcane, obsidian..."
Fu Zhu rattled off a long list of item names in one breath, not caring whether Svarog could understand or not.
Even if Svarog didn't understand or didn't have these things, he wouldn't let himself suffer a loss. At worst, he would just dismantle various blocks and items in this villa to see if he could convert anything good.
After listening carefully to Fu Zhu's demands, Svarog analyzed them for a moment.
"Analysis: Unable to find items matching your requested specifications. Alternative proposal: We offer mining rights to ore veins and various books. Is the transaction agreed upon?"
"Tsk, looks like you don't have those things... Fine, that works too."
Svarog not being able to provide diamonds and Netherite blocks was within his expectations. As long as it was willing to offer compensation and express apology, his objective was achieved.
Of course, if Svarog had actually managed to injure him earlier, the outcome would have been very different.