Chapter 70
Xie Xingchen: ?
Xie Xingchen: !
Staring in disbelief at the orchid in his hand—trampled and mangled until it looked like a dying weed—Xie Xingchen didn’t have time to think. He immediately began channeling spiritual power into it.
But the orchid was like a punctured tire. Every time his spiritual power flowed in, it would slowly dissipate right at the severed part.
Xie Xingchen: ?
Unwilling to give up, he kept sending more, but the power “leaked” out at the same spot again.
Xie Xingchen frowned, his expression turning unusually serious.
He tried once more—same result as before.
The tiny bit of spiritual power that went in was like water poured into a massive funnel—whoosh, all gone.
Xie Xingchen froze.
Xie Xingchen smiled.
Xie Xingchen pulled out his trump card.
“Xiao Mo, take out my [Magical Planting Potion].”
Without a word, the system silently produced the potion.
When it saw how stingily Xie Xingchen only dripped one drop, the system fell speechless.
To be honest, the system had always known Xie Xingchen was cheap. But every time it thought this was as cheap as it got, Xie Xingchen would refresh its understanding of the word “stingy.”
And yet—this time, his stinginess actually worked out!
With just a single drop of [Magical Planting Potion], the orchid revived. Its previously drooping leaves turned lush and vividly green.
Xie Xingchen actually saved the orchid!
[Ding-dong, congratulations! The player has successfully revived “Orchid.”]
[Orchid: A secluded valley orchid, standing alone beyond the world. It bears a captivating fragrance and is dearly loved by all. Though it now looks like a small weed, given time and tempering, it will become the most beautiful?? of them all.]
Before Xie Xingchen could celebrate, the system continued broadcasting:
[Ding-dong, congratulations! You have completed the exploration task—discover 10 plants. Rewards issued: Juvenile Growth Potion ×1, Breeding Factory ×1, Livestock Industry Positive Buff ×1.]
And it wasn’t done.
[Ding-dong, congratulations! You completed the task 201 hours and 32 minutes early. Because the remaining time exceeds 200 hours, the hidden points reward mechanism is triggered: points = remaining time ×10.]
[Congratulations! Points earned: 2013 (integers only).]
[System Notice: Congratulations! Level +1. Current level: LV5. Experience toward next level: 813/8000.]
The surprise hit like a meteor.
Two thousand-plus points falling from the sky left Xie Xingchen dazed.
When he snapped back, his eyes were shining.
He didn’t actually care much about points—what he cared about was that he had finally, finally reached Level 5!
If Level 4 was a small watershed, then Level 5 was a huge, massive threshold.
Crossing it meant entering a whole new world.
Only at Level 5 did the system shop truly open up to him in full.
Now, aside from a few limited high-level items, as long as he had enough turnover, Xie Xingchen could buy whatever he wanted—however much he wanted!
Xie Xingchen: “Ahhh, I’m so happy~”
Smiling with bright eyes, he hugged the orchid and spun around and around, his fair, handsome face flushed red with satisfaction.
He spun until he saw stars, then finally stopped.
Breathing deeply over and over, he calmed down the heart-pounding joy.
But the next second—
he stopped smiling.
[Ding-dong, congratulations! You have completed the added-stake challenge. The 30 billion Star-coin turnover has now been unfrozen.]
[Ding-dong, added-stake challenge completed. Reward unlocked: purchase permission for the Food Machine (Status: Owned). Congratulations! You may now purchase the already-owned Food Machine without limit.]
This sudden notification reminded Xie Xingchen of his stake challenge.
But—
Wait. He completed the stake challenge?
And the reward was unlimited purchases of the food machine he already owned?
The problem was… he was Level 5 now.
He could already buy food machines in the system shop anyway.
So… did the system just hoodwink him?
Xie Xingchen suddenly wasn’t that happy anymore.
He felt oddly blocked up inside, yet couldn’t argue back.
After all, if you looked closely, the system hadn’t actually cheated him.
He chose the stake challenge himself, and the system stated the reward clearly beforehand.
It was just that he never expected that from a single task… he’d level up.
Very happy—yet also not that happy.
With mixed feelings, his expression settled into neutrality.
After a long silence, Xie Xingchen opened his status panel to check his personal info.
[Player Info Panel]
Name: Xie Xingchen
Race: Human
Territory: Earth
Level: LV5
Companion: Fat Bunnyji (Feifei) [+]
EXP: 813/8000
Plant Affinity: ? +1
Mental Power Rank: A- (?)
Game Progress: 0.1%
Codex Progress: 0%
Infrastructure Progress: 1.5%
Ongoing Tasks: [New Planting Task +]
Three things had changed: his level, his EXP bar, and the list of ongoing tasks.
The completed [New Exploration Task] was gone. Only [New Planting Task] remained.
He closed the personal panel, opened the system codex next door, and finally nodded with satisfaction.
Narcissus, chamomile, and orchid icons were now unlocked—only a few flowers remained locked.
He also opened the companion panel and saw that Feifei had been traveling diligently, which lifted his mood again.
Closing the system interface, Xie Xingchen opened system mail and claimed the rewards.
[Ding-dong, congratulations! You have come to claim your task rewards.]
[Juvenile Growth Potion: A magical potion made specifically for younglings. It contains essential growth essence—just one drop can help a youngling grow fast and tall. P.S. Some younglings may mutate after using this potion. If you observe a mutation, please do not be alarmed.]
[Breeding Factory: The most professional breeding factory! Why “professional”? Because our standards are high and our requirements are strict. Our slogan: Everything must be executed according to the highest standards! Our goal: Produce the best meat in the entire universe!]
[Livestock Industry Positive Buff: As the name suggests, this is a positive buff for livestock farming. With this buff: youngling health +10, livestock fertility +20, forage planting difficulty -10.]
Both the [Juvenile Growth Potion] and the [Livestock Buff] were unexpectedly powerful. The growth potion came with an “unknown” side effect, but that didn’t stop them from shining in Xie Xingchen’s eyes.
With these two things, what was there to fear about developing animal husbandry?
Haha—what a joke!
With them, Xie Xingchen felt that as long as he had enough time, he could dominate the entire interstellar world.
And as for the [Breeding Factory]?
In Xie Xingchen’s eyes, it was practically gold-plated.
“Highest standards, strictest requirements”? Great! That meant high-quality output, easy to sell, easy to profit from—and he wouldn’t even have to manage it himself…
What a mature, perfect factory!
He just didn’t know—no matter how much you beat him to death—that this so-called “high-standard breeding factory” would later become a pit that trapped him… an absolute bottomless pit.
Yes, system products being top-tier was true.
Yes, the factory’s product quality being amazing was true.
Yes, the factory being strict was also true.
But success and failure both came from the same source.
Its strictness wasn’t only aimed at the product—it demanded equally high-quality raw materials too.
So… the happier Xie Xingchen was now, the sadder he’d be later when the factory rejected the materials he delivered.
But that was for later.
Back to the present—Xie Xingchen’s delighted reaction after receiving the rewards:
“Get-Rich, Prosperity—this time we’re really going to get rich!” Xie Xingchen beamed.
But Get-Rich and Prosperity had heard this “pie in the sky” speech too many times. This time, they didn’t even bother smiling.
They were used to it: the master would be thrilled like he’d found money… then not long after, he’d cry poor like he’d been robbed.
Maybe that was just the suffering of being a planet lord.
Building a planet was hard. It took absurd amounts of money. As things stood, their master still hadn’t even saved up enough to build interstellar routes.
Unaware the two robots were internally roasting his “poverty,” Xie Xingchen happily pocketed his gains, issued a “regroup” command to the eight exploration teams in the forest, then rode in Prosperity’s hovercar to pick everyone up at the jungle entrance and head back.
When they returned to the tropical plantation on Qiong Island, Xie Xingchen decided he wouldn’t leave anytime soon—he planned to do breeding and propagation work here.
The new plants were found here, so raising them here made sense.
And since this area was already being developed, he didn’t mind stepping up development further.
He’d found 10 new plants this time. In terms of priority, lighting up the codex came first.
Among the three flowers—narcissus, chamomile, and orchid—only chamomile was certified by the system as “high vitality,” but it was also labeled “finicky,” needing to be planted next to narcissus.
Given that, if he wanted chamomile, he had to establish narcissus first.
After planting narcissus, he’d alternate rows of narcissus and chamomile like zebra stripes, keeping consistent spacing.
As for orchids, the system didn’t say whether they were easy to grow, but after that messy rescue, Xie Xingchen personally concluded they were probably difficult.
So the planting order was clear:
First narcissus, then chamomile, and only after that would he deal with the orchid.
With the order set, Xie Xingchen took out the narcissus bulbs he’d collected.
Narcissus weren’t planted from seeds, but from bulbs. As they grow, the bulb grows too, and eventually produces many new small bulbs. For propagation, you’d ideally select intact, large bulbs.
Because Xie Xingchen had been very careful while digging them up, none of the bulbs were damaged.
And since narcissus can be grown both in soil and in water, when Xie Xingchen soaked some bulbs in plant growth solution, the bulbs visibly plumped up as if they’d absorbed water and nutrients, becoming fresh and glossy immediately.
He checked the time—still early before the soaking would be “done.”
Stretching, he took out the remaining bulbs, divided them into several containers, placed bulbs into each, and poured in plenty of plant growth solution.
Then—he went to eat shengyan (raw marinated seafood)!
The batch he’d made from yesterday’s beach foraging!
He’d somehow forgotten last night.
But eating now wasn’t late—
it was even better, because it had marinated longer and tasted more deeply infused.
Opening the basin, a rich sweetness of seafood mixed with the marinade sauce rushed out.
Xie Xingchen subtly swallowed, then grabbed a prepared king crab leg and went to town—squeezing, sucking, chewing…
The texture slid down his throat like ice cream.
The icy shengyan carried a summer-like freshness, while the thick sauce was like warm sunlight—giving that blissful feeling of eating watermelon in an air-conditioned room.
“So good!” Xie Xingchen couldn’t stop.
Bite after bite, piece after piece—by the time he finally stopped, half the basin was gone.
He popped a stomach-digestion tablet, then reluctantly sealed up the remaining shengyan, put it into the fresh-keeping cabinet, and planned to finish it later tonight.
Speaking of which—Star Alliance medical tech was truly insane.
As long as it wasn’t instant death, or a genetic disease-level incurable illness, most problems were easy to treat—take a pill, get an injection, at worst lie in a medical pod for a year or so.
As for minor issues like overeating or stomach discomfort, one “candy” was enough.
The medicine Xie Xingchen jokingly called “digestive tablets” was one of those “candy medicines.”
Why “candy medicine”?
Because the main users were children.
Adults who lived on nutrient solution daily didn’t really have weak stomachs or overeating issues.
Only kids—whose digestive systems weren’t fully developed but were extremely greedy—would run into this after drinking milk, consuming nutrient solution, and experimenting with other natural foods.
When Xie Xingchen first learned this, he was dumbfounded.
Especially when the seller thoughtfully sent him an “infant medication guide”—he’d been so embarrassed he wanted to flee Earth.
But… the food here was too good. In the end, he thick-skinnedly bought a bunch and renamed them “digestive tablets,” which helped his embarrassment fade.
“Boss, your digestive tablets are almost gone. Should I buy more?” asked Get-Rich, the shopping manager.
Xie Xingchen was surprised he’d used them up so fast, but… he didn’t have to buy them himself, so who cared?
He nodded without thinking.
Then Get-Rich added: “Boss, our plant growth solution, plant nutrient solution, and plant disinfectant solution only have about half a month left. Should we restock?”
Xie Xingchen blinked. “So soon?”
He could’ve sworn he’d bought a lot before.
Get-Rich frowned. “Soon? I think it’s slow. We’ve reclaimed a lot of new land recently, and Qiong Island’s tropical plantation consumes a ton of solutions too.”
Xie Xingchen: “…”
“Fine. Buy it.”
Get-Rich continued: “Boss, we also have a big shortage of planting robots. Should we purchase another batch?”
Robots too?!
Xie Xingchen couldn’t help glancing at his account balance. He felt it might soon become zero.
After holding it in for a while, he said bleakly, “Buy them.”
Seeing Get-Rich still had more to say, Xie Xingchen embraced the philosophy of “let it kill me quickly” and said, “Anything else we need to buy, just say it all at once.”
But Get-Rich actually shook his head and earnestly lectured him: “Boss, we can’t be so extravagant. We must spend responsibly. You can’t buy things just because you want them, you know?”
Xie Xingchen: ?
Wait—what? Aren’t you the one who wants to buy things?!
Why are you dumping the blame on me now?!
A sky-falling blame-pot isn’t supposed to fall like this!
They stared at each other, big eyes to big eyes, until Xie Xingchen gave up.
He changed the subject: “Alright then, go bargain with the shop owner.”
And just like that, he coaxed Get-Rich away.
Xie Xingchen sighed, brushed his teeth, and lazily flopped onto the bed for a nap.
Before sleeping, he poked the system: “Xiao Mo, how many drops are in that [Juvenile Growth Potion]?”
Now that he was obsessed with thrift, he didn’t even ask for milliliters or grams—he went straight to “drops.”
Clearly, he planned to measure it drop by drop.
[System: 300 drops.]
Xie Xingchen was mildly surprised. “Still 300? Are all system potions this size?”
[System: The potions currently owned by the player follow a standardized size.]
Xie Xingchen asked, “What about potions I don’t own yet?”
[System: Please explore on your own.]
Ugh, no fun.
He switched topics: “Xiao Mo—does it cost money to build the [Breeding Factory]?”
[System: Yes.]
He expected that; building Chang’an Workshop had cost money too.
So he asked casually, “How much?”
[System: 30 billion turnover.]
Xie Xingchen shot upright. “Huh?! How much? Thirty billion? Not three billion?”
[System: Building one Breeding Factory requires 30 billion Star-coin turnover.]
Damn it—30 billion?!
Why don’t you just rob me?!
Chang’an Workshop was huge—how much did that cost again?!
This Breeding Factory is tiny—does it even deserve that?!
[System: High standards and strict requirements lead to high funding!]
Xie Xingchen: (unprintable swearing)
His pocket had barely gotten fat—now it was about to be emptied again.
He was 100% convinced the system was targeting his wallet. Otherwise, how could it always time things so perfectly to make him spend everything?
[System Notice: Alternatively, the player may choose to abandon the reward.]
Even more depressing.
He worked so hard for the reward—now he should just throw it away?
Even an idiot wouldn’t do that!
Fine. Looks like he’d definitely be paying this 30 billion.
In that case—
Xie Xingchen suddenly got energized. “Xiao Mo, show me the blueprint for the Breeding Factory?”
He swore he was going to see whether this thing was worth 30 billion.
But—
[System: Sorry. Construction engineers have not been recruited for the Breeding Factory yet, so blueprints cannot be provided at this time.]
Xie Xingchen’s mind turned quickly. He frowned. “So is it that there are no blueprints because there’s no engineer to draw them—or the system has blueprints but won’t show them because no engineer has been recruited?”
Both led to the same result—he couldn’t preview them.
But the difference was huge.
If the system provided the blueprint, it would definitely be premium.
If the blueprint came from a recruited engineer… who knew if they were a true master or a fraud?
[System: Except for special buildings, all system building blueprints are produced by recruited engineers.]
That made Xie Xingchen even more uneasy.
Now it was down to luck.
If his engineer was unreliable, what would he do with a Breeding Factory he spent 30 billion on?
[System Notice: Would the player like to recruit an engineer in advance?]
Xie Xingchen asked anxiously: “If I recruit one, can I see their background first? Or do I have to randomly pick someone I know nothing about? And if I don’t like their blueprint, can I change engineers later? Also, if the construction team builds something that doesn’t match the blueprint, what do I do—can I get a refund, or demand they redo it?”
The more he spoke, the more questions piled up—until all he could think about were old news stories about “unfinished projects” and “tofu-dreg construction.”
[System: Please rest assured. System engineers are all strong! They will not produce mismatched work. Final inspection is handled by the system; if issues occur, the engineer will face enormous penalties from the system.]
[System Notice: Recruit an engineer in advance? [Yes] [No]]
Xie Xingchen thought about it and tapped [Yes].
The panel popped up automatically.
The light screen turned into a rolling slot machine.
After a moment, he pulled the obvious red lever. The machine stopped.
Five empty slots appeared, each with a photo and a name underneath. One of them was Xiaoxiao—the engineer from the last time they built Chang’an Workshop.
[System Notice: Please select your preferred engineer to recruit.]
In the five frames:
- Xiaoxiao, someone familiar to Xie Xingchen.
- A dwarf-like middle-aged man from a Western fantasy game, with a thick beard—bottle in left hand, blueprint in right.
- A mechanical-race male who looked somewhat like Nanyao.
- A strange, pitch-black mass.
- A weird, multicolored mass.
Xie Xingchen was especially curious about the last two. He asked the system: “Xiao Mo, what are the fourth and fifth engineers?”
[System: They are Dark Cloud Engineer and Rainbow Cloud Engineer.]
Literally “black cloud” and “rainbow cloud.”
Xie Xingchen: ?
Xie Xingchen smiled: )
“I’ll pick Xiaoxiao.”
Sure, Xiaoxiao had a bad temper—but the work attitude was good.
And the Chang’an Workshop it supervised was excellent. So far, Xie Xingchen hadn’t found a single thing he disliked.
[System Notice: Confirm recruitment of Engineer Xiaoxiao? Recruitment fee: 1 million turnover.]
Xie Xingchen frowned. “Why do I have to pay an extra 1 million recruitment fee? I didn’t have to last time.”
[System: Because Chang’an Workshop is a special building, while the Breeding Factory is a normal building. For special buildings, the system provides the blueprint; for normal buildings, engineers provide the blueprint.]
Xie Xingchen froze. “Chang’an Workshop is a special building?”
[System: Correct.]
Xie Xingchen: Fine. It was special—just that giant ginkgo tree in the middle made it special enough.
He quietly paid the 1 million recruitment fee, and the familiar engineer Xiaoxiao appeared.
It glanced at the player recruiting it, snorted arrogantly, then vanished.
The system notified him that Xiaoxiao had arrived at the designated construction coordinates and was surveying the terrain and surrounding environment.
Xie Xingchen had been a bit worried, but hearing that, he relaxed immediately.
He hugged his blanket, rolled around a couple times, and drifted into a nap.
In his dream, he kept exploring—until he woke up and realized it had all been a dream.
Staring blankly at the ceiling, Xie Xingchen was about to get up—
when the system message arrived again:
[System Notice: Engineer Xiaoxiao has successfully produced the “Breeding Factory Blueprint.” Would the player like to view it? [Yes] [No]]
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