"Alright, then you two can focus on protecting them with peace of mind." I glanced at Yaoyao again, climbed down the ladder, and Chen Lu and Bing Bing, after taking a look each, followed me out of the cave.
Standing on the small platform outside the cave entrance, I began to ponder how to protect the fairies.
The first step was to close all their caves. Currently, all nine cave entrances had a crack open.
Seeing the tower crane resume its work, I had an idea and called Xingyao, who had been watching me from below, to come up.
Xingyao the monk climbed to the cave entrance and curiously peered inside. It was too dark to see anything.
"Master Xingyao, could you ask the tower crane operator to swing its large operating hook over to my side—do you have a walkie-talkie?" I asked.
"Their engineering team does. Please wait a moment." Xingyao ran downstairs and quickly returned, handing me a black walkie-talkie. I noticed it even had the Shakespeare logo on it.
Xingyao, sensing my change in mood, explained, "This construction team is an affiliated construction company of Fucheng Shakespeare."
So they were their own people. That made things even easier.
I used the walkie-talkie to instruct the tower crane operator to turn the large iron hook over. I adjusted its height and angle. Since all nine cave doors had handles, I connected them with ropes to the large iron hook. With the strength of the tower crane, it was easy to close all nine doors.
The noise was quite considerable. After closing the doors, I asked the tower crane operator if they were on a tight schedule. If not, I suggested halting operations for a while to avoid disturbing the 'immortals' resting in the caves.
The tower crane operator said it was fine. He climbed down and left with the entire engineering team. Perhaps they were glad for the break!
Xingyao, understanding the situation, asked if he and his junior disciple should also leave.
"No need for that. You are all old friends of the 'Nine Immortals'," I said with a smile. "Could you get some food for the three of us? Do you have any?"
It was already past noon, and we hadn't eaten.
"We need to eat heartily to have the energy to help them get food!" I said.
"Uh... we haven't prepared anything, but this humble monk will call the town and ask them to make it and deliver it. What would you like to eat, Benefactor Wu?"
"Just ordinary food?" I looked at Chen Lu and Zheng Bingbing.
"I'll have a portion of thinly sliced beef!" Zheng Bingbing declared. It seemed she wanted to replenish her strength. Beef is excellent for vitality, providing human protein more directly than chicken.
Xingyao the monk went to order food. Zheng Bingbing, guessing I might go hunting, called her father to ask him to send over some hunting crossbows.
"...Do you have hunting crossbows at home?" I asked, confused. When I went to her house to buy things last time, I hadn't seen any, only a bow and arrow, which was more of a decoration than a real weapon.
"Yes, but we only sell them to acquaintances, hehe!" Zheng Bingbing chuckled.
"Are they good?" I asked, having never used a hunting crossbow.
"They have scopes and are idiot-proof to operate. I bet even Sister Lulu could shoot accurately with one!"
"Hmph, who are you looking down on! I've shot a bow and arrow before, you know!"
No need to ask further. Just hearing the words 'shot a bow and arrow' told me Chen Lu wasn't a professional.
The food situation was arranged, but the defense of the Nine Immortals Cave was still unresolved. Fucheng Shakespeare would likely come later, bringing medicine and possibly some helpers. However, I had witnessed Fucheng Shakespeare's strength, which was quite average. After all, Fucheng was a small city, and Shakespeare's scale was not large. Otherwise, the headquarters wouldn't have transferred Shen Xingyue from Jinling to temporarily manage Fucheng Shakespeare's affairs—mainly to deal with me, the wood thief.
Besides the Shakespeare forces, the only other helpers I could think of right now were two...