Chapter 40: Cooperation with District 2

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Cooperation with District 2

[Planting Space Prompt: Living creature detected. Devour?]

"No!"

’This isn’t just some living creature—this is my God of Wealth!’

She carried the little chick into the vegetable patch, putting it down to peck whenever she spotted a bug. Before she knew it, another half a day had gone by.

In the afternoon, Shi Zhile opened her private messages.

The number of private messages from Jiang Jing in District 2 had already surpassed 99+.

She tapped them open. The most recent few had been sent today.

[Jiang Jing (District 2): Friend, please sell me some greens! I’m begging you! We’re having a really hard time in District 2, with the elderly and the young to look after. Our oldest member is seventy, and all he wants is a taste of fresh vegetables.]

[Jiang Jing (District 2): Waaaah~ Add me as a friend so we can talk about it~]

[Jiang Jing (District 2): Friend, you’re not still asleep, are you? Friend, time to wake up!]

’He’s such a motormouth!’

Shi Zhile started to doubt the information she’d gotten from Ma Xiaoya.

She replied: [Hello, I just got free. How many greens do you need?]

The other party replied instantly, as if they’d been waiting right in front of their screen: [Thirty pounds! Twenty-five pounds would work too, if that’s all you have!]

Shi Zhile: "..."

’Wait, what?’

’Are the people in District 2 that rich?’

’Everyone else buys vegetables by the piece, but they’re buying by the pound.’

[Contentment Brings Happiness: I don’t have that much at the moment.]

’Her ten-square-meter Planting Space was pitifully small. The section allotted to vegetables was only two square meters. Even counting the newly planted ones and those she’d already harvested, she doubted it would all add up to thirty pounds.’

’He wanted so much at once; it was practically her entire supply.’

She set the chick down on the black soil, quickly harvested the mature vegetables, then scattered new seeds and watered them.

Another message from District 2 popped up: [We’ll take whatever you have. We can trade fish or seafood, or even medicinal herbs, wood, or seeds.]

’The alchemy station is with Jiang Yuxing. The islands that respawn every three days present opportunities, but also great danger.’

’He provides her daily seafood, but one person’s abilities are limited. If Jiang Yuxing ever entered an instance alone or encountered some disaster, her stable supply would be gone.’

’The server merge means they could cross paths at any time. That being the case, it’s better to have another friend than another enemy.’

’As long as she keeps a firm grip on her two spaces, she will be the master here.’

She replied: [I want seeds. The more, the better. One pound of greens for one batch of seeds. Let’s start with a trade for ten pounds. Also, if you have any kind of farmable soil, I’m willing to trade for it.]

’If the Breeding Space can be upgraded, then the Planting Space must be able to as well.’

’Without any farmable soil on hand, she’d have to experiment with different things one by one to figure out how to upgrade the space.’

[Jiang Jing (District 2): Deal! Can we trade right now?]

’A trade now would be in time for dinner prep.’

Shi Zhile sent over the trade agreement. Once the other party signed it, she sent over ten pounds of greens.

The other party quickly claimed the items and sent the seeds in return.

[Player "Jiang Jing" has sent you ten batches of seeds and two portions of soil. Do you wish to claim them?]

’The soil wasn’t part of the agreement. He might be trying to build a good relationship, but it was impossible to know if he had some other motive.’

Shi Zhile was very cautious when trading with a stranger for the first time. She sent a message back: [You sent two extra portions of soil. I don’t have enough greens to trade for them.]

[Jiang Jing (District 2): Please, accept it without worry. The soil is a thank-you gift from us, and we hope we can cooperate more in the future. The people of District 3 just went through a blizzard and don’t have many resources. A lot of players from District 1 are hostile toward us. You’re the only person who’s been willing to trade supplies with us for a reasonable price.]

District 2 had the highest number of surviving players. This wasn’t because they hadn’t faced any crises, but because they were able to rely on their years of experience to pull through.

They had also lost many of their own, and they had grieved and mourned, but dead was dead. Nothing more could be done to change that outcome.

It was precisely because they had the most survivors out of all three districts that players from the other two servers saw them as cruel and ruthless.

Others were either wary of them or openly hostile, so in the end, no one was willing to trade resources with them.

Shi Zhile didn’t hesitate any longer and accepted the resources he’d sent.

’As far as she was concerned, as long as someone wasn’t a mortal enemy, they were a potential business partner.’

The moment the soil entered her inventory, a panel materialized in mid-air within the Planting Space.

[Planting Space Prompt: Devourable Soil x2 detected. Devour?]

"Yes!"

[Devour Successful. Current area of Planting Space: 11 square meters.]

’Two portions of soil for one extra square meter. As long as the space could be expanded, she could just keep upgrading it indefinitely.’

Thinking of the chick she’d brought inside, she ducked her head and began searching for it among the cornstalks.

A moment later, she finally spotted a stray chicken feather. She followed the trail of dropped feathers, and when she finally found the "chick," she was dumbfounded.

’Was that majestic-looking rooster really the same little chick she’d brought in?’

"Little chick?"

The red-feathered rooster let out a couple of clucks, as if answering her, or perhaps crowing in triumph at having found a snack.

She reached for its leg, and the large rooster didn’t shy away.

"My goodness, you got this big in just half a day? What have you been eating, growth hormones?"

The rooster clucked again, then lowered its head and began scratching at the soil by the roots of a cornstalk, unearthing a bug and gobbling it down.

"It seems the bugs that come from the plants in the Planting Space can make the animals from the Breeding Space grow faster."

At this thought, she returned to the Breeding Space and gathered up all the remaining chicks.

’She didn’t grab the ducklings because she was afraid they, being accustomed to eating vegetables, would devour her crops.’

After placing the chicks in the Planting Space, the system prompt sounded again.

[Planting Space Prompt: Multiple living creatures detected. Devour?]

"No!"

Worried the Planting Space might not listen to her command, an uneasy Shi Zhile decided to stay and watch. Besides, she wanted to see for herself just how the chicks grew so quickly.

She followed a single chick, watching with her own eyes as it pecked around, looking for bugs to eat.

With every bug it consumed, the color of the chick’s yellow down seemed to shift slightly.

Gradually, as it ate more and more, its body grew larger and its coloring became more vibrant.

In just half a day, a young hen finished maturing. The Planting Space was filled with the sound of squawking, and it sounded somewhat distressed. Fearing something was wrong, Shi Zhile rushed toward the source of the loudest cries.

In the vegetable patch, near a head of napa cabbage, a very large hen was squatting on the ground.

It was straining, its backside contracting and relaxing rhythmically. She couldn’t tell if it was trying to poop or lay an egg.

"Judging by its size, it should be about time for it to lay eggs. Let’s hope it’s not just trying to take a dump."

She couldn’t help but inch a little closer. Suddenly, a plump, round egg dropped to the ground.

Shi Zhile pounced on it excitedly. The startled hen scrambled away, but she paid it no mind. She picked up the egg; it was still warm in her hand.

"With over thirty chicks, if even half of them start laying eggs daily, I’ll have more than I can eat. The chickens lay eggs, the eggs hatch into chickens... the cycle is complete."

"I can also trade the eggs for more resources. First, I’ll trade for a ton of soil to upgrade the space. It’d be great to expand the Planting Space to 20 square meters.

I’ll plant crops in the black soil. As the crops grow, they’ll spawn bugs. The chickens will eat the bugs, grow up, and lay eggs. Then, when the crops are mature, I’ll harvest them.

The Planting Space and the Breeding Space are finally connected, complementing each other perfectly."