As long as you believe, you can

Everyone said the Orks were a happy race, so why did Cheng Mingrui feel as though trouble was always finding him?

The main quest to build statues of Gork and Mork was the most urgent. The construction itself was fairly simple: the framework was already up, with two enormous Ork heads mounted at the top. Giving them Golden Bodies was the troublesome part. No Gold Mine had been found on this lousy rocky planet yet!

If he failed to finish them properly and in full, Gork and Mork really would come down and beat him up.

The Golden Bodies weren't the only problem. There weren't enough drills or mines, either. So far, the Boyz had found one metal deposit, but its reserves were probably only enough to equip the newborn Boyz. There wasn't nearly enough to build warships and armor.

Ultimately, the problem was a small population and insufficient production capacity. They didn't have enough workers or Mekboys.

Large numbers of Gretchin, Orks, and Squigs were born in the Mushroom Farm every day, and production kept increasing, but the rate of growth still didn't satisfy Cheng Mingrui.

Orks grew quickly, but humans already had a huge population. Cheng Mingrui clearly remembered that this was a human star system, and the habitable planet had at least hundreds of millions of inhabitants.

If the humans came out in full force, they could drown the Orks in sheer numbers.

In the distance, a mob of Ork Boyz and a mob of Gretchin were brawling. Every so often, some unlucky fellow had a whole mouthful of teeth smashed out.

The newborn green monsters didn't seem to get along very well with the older ones. These mass brawls happened nonstop, every day. Violent as they looked, the green monsters thoroughly enjoyed them.

Of course, under the rules laid down by their boss, Cheng Mingrui, the losers had to work in the mines. That was also why they fought so hard.

These worries about the future seemed to trouble Cheng Mingrui alone. They did nothing to disrupt the green monsters' happy lives.

Besides settling their differences through brawls, some competed by racing. Those Orks loved ever higher speeds and ever faster rides. That meant crashes happened every day, and with all the Mekboy repairs they had to pay for, the Speed Freeks never managed to grow back a full set of teeth.

Rat-tat-tat! Gunfire rang out.

Behind Cheng Mingrui were the gun-loving Shoota Boyz. Their competitions weren't what one might expect. They didn't compete over accuracy, but over who had the biggest Shoota and fired bullets the fastest!

In the Orks' minds, as long as they fired enough shots, they were bound to hit.

A group of Shoota Boyz in yellow clothes lost. Grumbling that it wasn't their fault, but their guns', they trudged dejectedly toward the Gretchin overseers to collect tools and head down into the mines.

Being a Boy was great, a truly happy life. Being a boss, especially a boss who worried about everything, was exhausting.

Ding-dong! Mork seemed to have favored Cheng Mingrui again. Inspiration struck him: if he didn't have enough workers, he could improve the workers' productivity!

Wasn't that exactly what the books called freeing up and developing productive capacity?

Mekboys had excellent eyesight and were damn good shots with Shootas. Shoota Boyz were also good at shooting. As long as they fired enough, they were damn accurate too.

Since Shoota Boyz and Mekboys were both damn good shots, that meant Shoota Boyz were Mekboys!

Cheng Mingrui stood and walked toward the group of yellow-clad Shoota Boyz. As usual, he started by slapping their bald heads, smack, smack, smack, leaving them dazed.

"Boss, what're you doing? We didn't cheat! Why're you hitting us?" the yellow-clad Boyz complained indignantly.

"Uh, I just haven't hit anyone in ages. Got the urge to slap something... my hands were itching..." Feeling guilty, Cheng Mingrui shook out his hands. "Don't those shovels, pickaxes, and carts feel awkward to use?"

The yellow-clad Boyz looked at one another, their eyes lighting up as though they'd found someone who truly understood them. "Yeah, Boss, really awkward! Just holding 'em feels wrong. You really get us, Boss."

"I reckon the shovel's all right..."

"Shut up! I'd rather have a Big Shoota! Keep yapping and I'll shoot you later."

"I want a Big Boom! One you carry or one you load shells into, either's fine."

"Boss... does this mean we don't have to go down the mines?"

The Boyz all started arguing at once.

A shovel was drawn onto the Magnetic Explosion Coil. The powerful magnetic field softened it and reshaped it into mechanical tools and materials: wrenches, gears, screws, and the like.

Then he placed those mechanical odds and ends in the Shoota Boyz's hands.

"Don't these feel better to hold? Doesn't just holding them make ideas pour into your heads, make you want to build something?"

The Shoota Boyz exchanged bewildered looks, glancing awkwardly at one another. One Boy hit another over the head with a wrench, and the two immediately started fighting.

All the Shoota Boyz seemed to have figured out what their tools were for. So wrenches, pliers, and the rest were meant for bashing heads!

Fortunately, Cheng Mingrui reacted quickly and pulled every tool back onto the Magnetic Explosion Coil. Otherwise, the whole mob would definitely have started fighting.

Ork Boyz were far too simple-minded. Cheng Mingrui felt a little drained...

"All right... let's try something else." Two screws, one large and one small, floated before the Boyz, held in place by magnetic force.

"Tell me which one's big and which one's small."

Looking puzzled, the Boyz pointed at the large one, then the small one. "This one's big, this one's small."

Then Cheng Mingrui brought out two nuts and again asked which was big and which was small.

The Boyz weren't idiots. They could obviously tell, and they answered correctly this time too.

"Good. Screw these big and small nuts onto the matching screws." After saying that, Cheng Mingrui couldn't help curling his lips into a slight smile.

Sure enough, most of the Shoota Boyz completed the task Cheng Mingrui had given them.

"Clap, clap, clap! Congratulations, congratulations. You've just finished your very first creation. You're excellent Mekboys now, ready to tackle harder jobs," Cheng Mingrui said as he applauded.

The Shoota Boyz stared at Cheng Mingrui, mouths hanging open in utter bewilderment.

The Magnetic Explosion Coil went to work again, shaping dozens of parts. Then Cheng Mingrui's hands began picking them up and assembling them at a dizzying pace.

Parts of various sizes became a receiver, a stock, a barrel, and a magazine, finally coming together into one imposing Ork Shoota.

The moment they saw the Shoota, every Slugga Boy's eyes locked onto it! An Ork's love for something he liked far surpassed his love for his own life.

Waving the Shoota back and forth, Cheng Mingrui asked wickedly, "Like it? Want one?"

Watching the Shoota Boyz's eyes follow the swaying Shoota, Cheng Mingrui felt that his scheme had succeeded.

"See? Building a Shoota like this is easy. You can make one just like I did, just as easily. I've got blueprints and materials here. You can give it a try."

"But... I reckon it looks really hard," one Slugga Boy interrupted.

Cheng Mingrui hauled that Slugga Boy up and covered his mouth with a hand. In his most rousing tone, he said, "No, you can do it, as long as you believe you can. Don't you want an awesome Shoota you built yourself?"