Chapter 80
Regardless, triggering a special effect was something to be happy about.
Tang Yu’an quickly climbed down from the attic, only to see that Zhou Qi had already woken up at some point and was coming out of the kitchen with a pot.
“You’re awake? Come over and have some red bean soup.”
“Wow, coming!”
Tang Yu’an quickly ran to the table and sat down, sipping his afternoon snack.
“I also froze some red bean popsicles,” Zhou Qi said. “If you want one, just get it from the fridge.”
“Okay~”
Tang Yu’an nodded happily. After finishing half a bowl of red bean soup, he belatedly realized—
“The house is so cool!”
When he left the attic, he had put away the Shadow Umbrella, but when he came downstairs, he didn’t feel the unbearable heat.
Tang Yu’an looked at the clock, which showed the indoor temperature as 30?.
Although still not a low temperature, it was much more comfortable than before, not to mention the outdoors, still being scorched by the blazing sun.
“After upgrading the freezer, the heat absorption effect is pretty good,” Zhou Qi said.
Hearing this, Tang Yu’an quickly put down his bowl and eagerly went to see the upgraded freezer.
The freezer stood next to the shop door. Its old exterior hadn’t changed much, but the overall color had become a grayish-blue, as if the furniture sprite had dyed it.
A thick layer of frost had formed on the glass, and he could vaguely see the red bean popsicles Zhou Qi had frozen inside.
Tang Yu’an examined it carefully and felt that the operating noise had been reduced by at least half, and the closer he got to the freezer, the cooler he felt.
With its heat absorption, the indoor temperature had dropped to around 30?, and around the freezer, it was a few degrees lower, probably only 26 or 27?.
This temperature was already comfortable and cool.
Wang Cai and Yin Bi were already lying near the freezer. Seeing Tang Yu’an approach, they wagged their tails at him with their tongues out.
“Haha, you guys sure know how to enjoy yourselves.”
Tang Yu’an patted their heads. As for Yuan Bao… it had long since gone out and would probably return tonight.
There was no seafood at home, so Tang Yu’an put two packs of squid shreds into the freezer.
He didn’t know if it was his illusion, but after placing the squid shreds inside, the cooling effect of the freezer seemed to improve a bit.
Humming a tune, Tang Yu’an returned to the table. Having successfully solved the problem of excessive indoor temperature, the boy’s mood soared.
“Now we don’t have to worry about the plants dying from the heat!”
These plants were treasures left to him by his mother. If possible, Tang Yu’an still hoped to take good care of them and let them grow strong.
He then shared with Zhou Qi the “Hotter the Weather, Colder the Freezer (Seafood Edition)” special effect.
“BoBo was very satisfied with our hospitality, so it gave us a five-star rating, and this rating can trigger special effects,” Tang Yu’an explained.
Zhou Qi nodded, “Then let’s continue trying with the rest.”
Although upgrading the furniture was already amazing, no one would complain about having more special effects—of course, provided that the special effects are beneficial.
“Mm-hmm, I’ll continue upgrading the refrigerator!”
With the refrigerator and freezer together, at least they could ensure that the plants could grow well during the day, and the shelf life of the items placed in the shop could also be extended.
However, when Tang Yu’an placed the prepared materials on the freezer and clicked to upgrade the furniture, he saw—
[The furniture sprite has declined your order.]
[BoBo: Currently resting, will resume accepting orders in 22 hours. Please wait patiently.]
Tang Yu’an was stunned.
“What’s wrong?” Zhou Qi asked.
“BoBo is resting and won’t accept orders until tomorrow.”
Tang Yu’an hadn’t expected that there would be a rest period setting, but thinking of the sprite who got drunk from drinking beer, it seemed understandable.
He checked and found that upgrading the broom was also handled by BoBo and would also have to wait until tomorrow.
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but say, “Does that mean all furniture upgrades that require malt beer are handled by BoBo?”
After researching for a while, he found that this seemed to be the case.
“Then why not try upgrading other furniture?” Seeing that Tang Yu’an was a bit disappointed, Zhou Qi suggested.
After all, these pieces of furniture would need to be upgraded sooner or later. Now that their levels were low and they had plenty of points, upgrading would be simple.
“Sure, sure!”
Having just unlocked the furniture upgrade function, it was like getting a new toy for Tang Yu’an, and he was still excited. He readily agreed to Zhou Qi’s suggestion.
Seeing his eyes regain their sparkle and energy, Zhou Qi slightly curved his lips.
Meanwhile, Tang Yu’an had already opened the furniture upgrade list and was looking through it. He said, “So, which one should we upgrade?”
“The cabinet,” Zhou Qi thought for a moment and suggested.
So Tang Yu’an looked at the information for the cabinet.
[Upgrade Requirements: Points x200, Wooden Planks x10, Metal Blocks x10, Any Energy Stone x1, Any Mutant Fruit x1]
[Effect: After upgrading, it becomes a very sturdy cabinet that can bear up to 1000 kg. Even bullets cannot penetrate it. Seeds placed on the lowest shelf have a chance to mutate.]
It becomes sturdier and can increase the mutation rate of seeds?
Then he heard Zhou Qi say, “Since bullets cannot penetrate it, if necessary, we can use it as a shield in combination with the Remote Item Retrieval skill.”
Tang Yu’an: 0.0
An unthought-of path appeared!
He thought for a moment. Although it might be tough against mutated creatures, it seemed quite practical for dealing with bad people in the wasteland…
Looking at their old cabinet, which had doors and removable shelves, he said, “Then when needed, we can also hide inside the cabinet, so we won’t have to fear attacks.”
Zhou Qi smiled and nodded.
So, Tang Yu’an made up his mind, “Alright! Let’s upgrade this cabinet.”
Tang Yu’an began to prepare the upgrade materials.
Since it required ten wooden planks, he planned to go outside and chop down a tree.
This wasn’t difficult, as there were trees growing near the grocery store, and he didn’t even need to do it himself—
“Yin Bi, Wang Cai, time for you to help!”
“Woof woof woof!”
“Meow~”
The two animals, who had been lying near the freezer enjoying the coolness, immediately got up when he called.
At around two in the afternoon, it was still scorching outside. As soon as Tang Yu’an opened the door, he felt a wave of heat coming in, and the freezer placed by the door instantly started working harder.
Standing by the door, it felt like being in two different worlds of ice and fire. He quickly took out the Shadow Umbrella.
“Need help?” Zhou Qi asked.
“No need, Brother Qi, you continue making the clothes.” Tang Yu’an poked his head out from under the umbrella and waved, “We can handle it!”
“Woof woof!”
After leaving the grocery store, Wang Cai and Yin Bi returned to their original forms, barking twice at Zhou Qi to indicate that with them around, there would be no problem.
So Zhou Qi let them go.
After all, the dangerous creatures near the grocery store had been cleared, and the most dangerous mutated creatures were these two big dogs.
Soon, under Tang Yu’an’s direction, Wang Cai knocked down a short tree closest to the grocery store, biting it with his mouth and pulling it out along with the roots.
Although Wang Cai wasn’t as smart as Yuan Bao and Black Pearl, he felt reliable when in his original form. Moreover, after eating the Dark Green Spider’s blood, Tang Yu’an felt that it seemed more intelligent.
As for Yin Bi…
Well, it was fine for it to continue being a happy dog.
In a short while, Wang Cai dragged the small tree back to the grocery store entrance, with a wilted Yin Bi following beside him, already exhausted from the heat but not running off on its own.
“Quick, let’s go back inside.”
Tang Yu’an patted their heads. When he dragged the small tree back, the “Wooden Planks x10” in the upgrade materials lit up automatically, so he didn’t need to process the wood himself.
Next was the metal blocks…
*
While Tang Yu’an was busy preparing other materials, Chi Hao had also entered the first outpost of Jufeng Mountain.
High temperatures were not a limitation for a fire-type ability user like Chi Hao; instead, they made him even stronger. After leaving the grocery store, his physical condition had remained good.
He had already eaten more than half of the steamed buns and bread Zhou Qi had prepared for him, with the rest in his backpack.
He didn’t need to worry about the food spoiling now—thanks to Tang Yu’an’s suggestion, he had become a very qualified “human air conditioner.” Even while walking, he constantly absorbed the heat from his backpack.
In this way, the fresh food in his backpack always remained at a lower temperature and could be preserved longer!
Chi Hao could imagine that Hong Li would be surprised to know about this method.
After all, who would have thought that a fire-type ability user could actually cool things down?
Thinking of this, Chi Hao wished he could fly to the mountaintop, but unfortunately, the narrow and difficult mountain paths slowed him down. He estimated that he would not reach Jufeng Town until evening.
He took a sip of water and entered the outpost under the blazing sun, just about to rest a bit before continuing up the mountain, when he heard the sound of gongs and drums.
At this time, quite a few people who had gone out to find food had returned to the outpost. They were attracted by the sound and looked in the direction of the gongs and drums.
Chi Hao glanced over curiously.
It was a squad of guards, clearly elite sent by the town based on their spirits.
After attracting everyone’s attention by beating the gongs and drums, the leading guard loudly announced: “The Mountain Lord is preparing to open up land around each outpost to plant wild vegetables and mushrooms. Anyone interested can sign up with the guards.”
“All the harvest belongs to the individual. The rent is included in the protection fee.”
“Wives, families with elderly or children are given priority. During the trial phase, land is limited, first come, first served!”
Upon hearing that the authorities were organizing residents to farm, everyone couldn’t help but discuss, but most held a negative attitude.
In such a large Jufeng Town with thousands of people, it wasn’t that no one had thought of opening up land to plant wild vegetables, but until today, no one had successfully farmed on the mountain.
It wasn’t because of natural disasters but mainly due to human factors.
If you worked hard to grow wild vegetables and mushrooms, but before you could enjoy the results, they were stolen or robbed, would you still want to be that sucker?
Those who had properties in Jufeng Town could grow some at home behind closed doors, but outside, those who farmed couldn’t possibly last until harvest.
Everyone listened to the guards’ announcement with numb expressions, and no one wanted to do such a thankless task.
As a result, the guards announced another rule:
“Anyone caught stealing or robbing from the fields will be flogged forty times and expelled from Jufeng Mountain!”
This rule caused an uproar among the crowd.
Forty lashes—that was almost a death sentence! And being thrown outside Jufeng Mountain meant not even leaving a whole corpse!
This rule was definitely a heavy-handed move, showing the authorities’ determination.
It seemed the Mountain Lord was serious!
Some originally expressionless faces in the crowd finally showed a hint of different emotions.
Chi Hao saw a woman carrying a basket and holding a little boy, who immediately squeezed out from the crowd and rushed to the guards.
“Me! I want to sign up! Will I get land after signing up?”
He heard people around whispering to each other, but this time their discussions were about the mother and son.
“Isn’t that Mingzhu from the seventh outpost?”
“The one who makes people laugh and cry?”
“Seems like it…”
Mingzhu who makes people laugh and cry? Chi Hao was puzzled, but those people quickly returned to discussing the matter of farming the land.
“You can only use the allocated land for planting, not for building houses,” the leading guard emphasized.
Some people who had been interested lost their enthusiasm upon hearing this. The land in the mountain wasn’t as valuable as in the town, so they weren’t too disappointed.
The guards began repeating the rules.
After Mingzhu and her son, a few more people stepped forward to sign up with the guards, but most people remained on the sidelines.
Although they knew that the authorities were genuinely trying to implement this policy, the majority still didn’t believe in it.
Because those born and raised in the wasteland, who hadn’t left Jufeng Mountain, had never farmed land and couldn’t believe this model would succeed.
They were used to living off the land and had never experienced the benefits of farming and harvesting.
Chi Hao observed for a while and then shook his head, leaving the outpost.
He felt that Hong Li would face great difficulties in promoting this policy. These people, accustomed to living by the sword and depending on the whims of nature, wouldn’t settle down to farm for her.
And since all the harvest belonged to individuals… what was she getting out of it?
Although the guards were obedient under her iron-fisted rule, making them do more work without benefits would eventually lead to rebellion.
Chi Hao couldn’t understand what benefits Hong Li could gain from this policy. To him, it seemed purely thankless. Even if she wanted to do charity, she shouldn’t use such a foolish method.
He silently continued towards Jufeng Mountain and found that along the way, every outpost was promoting this initiative, and he could hear the mountain people discussing it.
By the time Chi Hao reached the fifth outpost, the guards were already leading the registered mountain people to farm.
Saying they were farming was actually just marking out a piece of land near the outpost, and each person claimed a plot. Then the mountain people were left to their own devices.
Chi Hao couldn’t help but observe and found that the best one had simply turned over the soil, planted wild vegetable roots, and watered them.
Could they really grow wild vegetables this way?
Recalling his experience of watering potted plants in the grocery store every day, Chi Hao felt that the method was probably roughly correct, but they shouldn’t water under such scorching sun.
The water would cook the vegetable roots!
He looked around, then shook his head and continued towards Jufeng Town.
*
Back at the grocery store, Tang Yu’an finally prepared all the materials needed to upgrade the cabinet.
Among the upgrade materials this time, the most precious item was probably any attribute energy stone.
“So should we use a Water Crystal or a Fire Crystal?”
Thanks to Chi Hao’s “sponsorship,” they now had a total of six Fire Crystals. As for Water Crystals, they had one large and two small ones—one given by Old Li, and one that Tang Yu’an picked up.
Although in terms of quantity, it was better to choose a Fire Crystal, in terms of size, the Water Crystal he picked up was the largest among all the stones.
After struggling for a while, Tang Yu’an still chose the Fire Crystal.
“I feel that the Fire attribute is stronger.”
This cabinet could increase the mutation rate of plant seeds. Choosing a Fire Crystal might enhance them in the Fire attribute direction?
Zhou Qi also agreed with his choice.
So…
[200 points deducted successfully!]
[Furniture sprite is reviewing your order…]
[Sprite YaYa has accepted the order ^^]
[YaYa: “Cabinet” is being upgraded, estimated time: 3 hours. Please wait patiently ^^]
As the system messages refreshed, the materials placed on the cabinet by Tang Yu’an, along with the tree he had left outside the grocery store, disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Under the expectant gazes of him and Zhou Qi, a luminous green light appeared above the cabinet.
Then, a palm-sized little person wearing a green dress appeared in front of them, flapping her wings.
Unlike the aloof BoBo, YaYa smiled and waved at Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi as soon as she appeared, which could be considered a greeting. She then flapped her wings and flew around the cabinet, sprinkling luminous green stardust.
Moreover, YaYa didn’t immediately go off to enjoy herself after sprinkling the stardust like BoBo did.
They saw the sprite fly over to the Mutant Lantern Fruit, first tentatively sniffing the fruit’s fragrance, then taking a deep breath, showing a blissful expression.
Just when Tang Yu’an thought she was going to eat it, the sprite flapped her wings again and flew around above the cabinet.
[YaYa is full of energy and has dropped more furniture stardust. Upgrade time reduced by 10 minutes.]
Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but laugh.
Haha, this is too cute!
So each sprite has a different personality? YaYa seems polite and energetic.
Tang Yu’an took out the previous pack of squid shreds, picked out a piece, and tried to feed YaYa as he did with BoBo. However…
[YaYa is working, please do not disturb ^^]
The luminous green light enveloped the cabinet, and a gentle force pushed Tang Yu’an away.
Well, rejected.
Tang Yu’an had to give up.
“Brother Qi, do you think YaYa would like to drink red bean soup?” He looked at the flying sprite, his gaze falling on the bowl next to the Mutant Lantern Fruit.
Before choosing to upgrade, he had already cleared all items from the cabinet as per the system prompt, leaving only the upgrade materials and a bowl of red bean soup he selfishly wanted to keep.
Since BoBo could eat squid shreds, maybe YaYa could drink red bean soup? Just didn’t know if she would like it…
Zhou Qi couldn’t say for sure, so he just comfortingly patted his head, then looked outside.
It was already after four in the afternoon, and the sunlight outside had finally softened a bit.
“Do you want to go check out the giant lizard’s nest?”
Tang Yu’an opened the map and carefully looked at the location of the giant lizard’s nest—no red dots!
“Then let’s go take a look!”
They still needed to move those nearly forty lizard eggs back.
So leaving Yin Bi and Wang Cai to guard the house, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi took the Shadow Umbrella, and after casting the Lightness Technique, headed towards the giant lizard’s nest.
Until they arrived outside the swimming complex, there were still no red dots indicating dangerous creatures on the map.
Zhou Qi carried Tang Yu’an and circled around the outside, finally arriving outside the hole blasted by the mother lizard, only to see fine vines hanging down, falling outside the hole.
A gust of wind blew, and the vines swayed silently, appearing serene yet carrying an indescribable eeriness.
Recalling the harsh and terrifying environment inside the swimming complex, Tang Yu’an couldn’t help but feel a bit creeped out.
“Brother Qi, let’s quickly move the lizard eggs and then go back!”
“Okay.”
Zhou Qi carried Tang Yu’an, and under the cover of the Shadow Umbrella, they once again silently entered the swimming complex.
The mountainous figure of the mother lizard was nowhere to be seen, but the creatures in the pool were particularly active, with the sounds of water and animals squeaking echoing throughout the hall.
By the faint light, Tang Yu’an seemed to see the figure of the mother lizard in her big mouse form in the water.
A day and a night had passed, and she was still in the form of a mouse.
At this moment, she was being chased by her former stored food, struggling to climb up the pool edge, only to be dragged back into the water—there seemed to be octopuses in the pool!
Tang Yu’an saw those slimy tentacles and felt his scalp tingle, while Zhou Qi had already quickly approached the lizard eggs with him.
They began to transfer the lizard eggs to the grocery store warehouse. The eggs piled in the mud could be transferred together, but the scattered ones had to be picked up one by one.
“Zhi!”
When there were only four lizard eggs left to transfer, a sharp screech suddenly erupted from the pool, startling both Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi.
They turned to look and saw that the huge figure of the mother lizard had suddenly appeared in the pool.
Had the mother lizard reverted to her original form?!
But before they could react, a system prompt popped up on Tang Yu’an’s panel—
[Congratulations! You have completed the special task “Clearing the Giant Lizard’s Nest,” Points +100, Seven-Day Special Sale Refresh Card +1, Lucky Draw Wheel Spins +3, Pet Slot +1, “Eggs on the Tip of the Tongue” +1]
Tang Yu’an was stunned.
They hadn’t finished collecting the eggs; why was the task completed? Could it be… the mother lizard had died?
He looked towards the pool and saw that the mother lizard’s body had flipped over, belly up, and the creatures in the pool were gnawing at her flesh.
While Tang Yu’an was observing, Zhou Qi had already collected the remaining lizard eggs and picked him up.
“Let’s go, leave here quickly!”
Zhou Qi’s voice carried urgency and panic.
Clinging to Zhou Qi’s back, Tang Yu’an nervously checked the map. There were no dangerous creature markers. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he noticed a red dot suddenly appearing on the map.
That red dot seemed to have appeared out of thin air, in almost the same location as the dangerous creature that appeared suddenly yesterday.
Could it be the same one?
Tang Yu’an hugged Zhou Qi’s neck tightly. The exit was right in front of them, but…
He suddenly widened his eyes, staring in horror at the hole.
He saw that the vines hanging down the outer wall were growing wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye, and in the blink of an eye, they had sealed off the entire exit!
