Chapter 38: District 2 Player

Chapter 38: Chapter 38: District 2 Player

The window on the south side of the courtyard transformed in an instant.

Night fell quietly, and Shi Zhile slipped into the Planting Space again. She was really craving sweet potatoes.

She kept five of the ten sweet potatoes and shallowly buried the other five in the soil.

After a little while, once the sweet potato vines started to grow, she could plant the slips.

When she was done, she dusted off her hands and squatted down to check the eggs in the incubator.

What she saw gave her a start.

Quite a few of the eggs were showing cracks.

These weren’t cracks from the eggs going bad; the chicks and ducklings inside were about to hatch.

Shi Zhile picked one up for a closer look. Peering through a small hole, she could faintly make out a few strands of damp, yellow down.

One of the eggshells was halfway broken, and a small, fluffy head was stuck in the opening, looking adorably dazed.

Shi Zhile picked up the entire incubator and entered the Breeding Space.

[Breeding Space has detected a consumable resource: Incubator x1. Would you like to consume it: Yes or Absolutely?]

"’Yes or Absolutely?’"

’Does that even give me a choice?’

[Consumption successful. Breeding Space current Level: Basic.]

Shi Zhile was already used to this.

Remembering she hadn’t used today’s Wish Drifting Bottle, she exited the space and took it out.

"I want a handgun with infinite ammo."

An axe alone wasn’t enough for self-defense. While she was handy with the axe, a melee weapon just couldn’t match the destructive power of a firearm.

She needed a gun. Having a gun meant needing bullets, and bullets eventually run out. A gun that could fire infinitely wouldn’t have that problem.

A golden light flashed. When it faded, a colorful plastic Water Gun appeared in midair.

Shi Zhile froze, completely numb.

"Dammit, I wanted a handgun, not a Water Gun!"

[Wishes, once made, are non-refundable and non-exchangeable!]

Shi Zhile hesitated to accept it, but the Water Gun zipped into her backpack with a PLOP and occupied one of her infinite slots.

She took it out and studied it, trying to figure out what was special about it.

But there was nothing special about it at all. It was just a perfectly ordinary Water Gun.

The only difference was that Shi Zhile couldn’t see a reservoir for water.

She aimed the nozzle at the wall and gently squeezed the trigger. A tiny trickle of water squirted out—less than a mouthful of spit.

The stream hit the floor before it even reached the wall, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

She sighed and, in the end, placed the "pistol" on the sailboat.

"It may not do any physical damage, but it’s a critical hit to my psyche. How is something this insulting not considered a form of damage!"

The three keys sat forlornly together in her backpack. Remembering the three metal chests she had shelved, she immediately sprinted to the basement.

She found the chests among her other items and set them on the floor. Shi Zhile took a deep breath, inserted a key into the lock, and turned it. With a soft CLICK, the metal chest popped open.

[Obtained: Island Area Doubling Card x1, Shelter Expansion Card x2, Backpack Expansion Card x3.]

[Island Area Doubling Card: Doubles the area of your current island. While this card is being used, the island will be inaccessible.]

’An Island Area Doubling Card?’

Shi Zhile was delighted. ’If I build the shelter big enough to cover the whole island later, could I use the area doubling card to get a massive shelter for free?’

But considering the system’s usual bullshit, she figured that was probably unrealistic.

Her power was too low in the early game. Rashly doubling the size of the island wasn’t a wise choice, so it seemed the card wasn’t suitable for use right now.

She put the three types of cards back into the chest and stored it in a corner along with the key.

She inserted the second key into another metal chest. It turned, and the chest opened.

[Obtained: Unlimited Cowhide Bow and Arrow Diagram x1, Body-changing Soft Armor Diagram x1.]

[Unlimited Cowhide Bow and Arrow Diagram: A particularly Rare Blueprint. With sufficient materials, an upgraded workbench can be used to craft Cow tendon bow and arrow.

When fully drawn, the crafted bow can shoot nearly a thousand meters.]

[Body-changing Soft Armor Diagram: A particularly Rare Blueprint. With sufficient materials, a workbench can be used to craft Body-changing Soft Armor.

The crafted Soft armor can change its size, color, and insulation state to adapt to the weather and environment (infinitely upgradeable).]

She still had the Python Snake Scales from the giant python she’d killed. She had tried to craft with them while she was recovering, but she couldn’t because the workbench interface kept saying she was missing materials.

She put the two diagrams aside, deciding to open the last metal chest before crafting the Soft armor.

The last metal chest opened to reveal several types of rare tree saplings.

This time, the system panel didn’t provide any information, and Shi Zhile couldn’t identify all the species. She decided to put them back in the chest and plant them after her wheat and corn were harvested.

After leaving the basement, she ran to the workbench on her sailboat and looked for the Soft armor on the interface.

The crafting recipe for the Soft armor was now unlocked.

[Materials required for Body-changing Soft Armor: Soft Armor Diagram x1, Python Snake Scale x500, Iron Ingot x1. Do you wish to craft?]

"Yes!"

The materials were deducted, and the workbench started crafting automatically.

Shi Zhile didn’t stand around waiting. She started arranging things inside her Research Institute.

The workbench and the furnace were too far apart; putting them together would save a lot of space.

However, if she moved the workbench off the sailboat, it would mean she could only fish when she went out to sea.

Then again, the main reason to go out to sea was to fish, so keeping the workbench in the shelter was probably safer anyway.

Soon, a message popped up from the workbench.

[Body-changing Soft Armor has been crafted. Please collect it!]

Shi Zhile reached out and tapped to collect. A suit of black Soft armor appeared in midair. With a light touch, the armor vanished from the air and instantly equipped itself to her body.

She moved around a little, feeling no sense of restriction whatsoever.

Now that the Soft armor was made, the diagram was useless to her. Shi Zhile decided to sell it to Jiang Yuxing for a high price.

She sent a message to her friend: [Jiang Yuxing, do you want a Soft armor diagram?]

Jiang Yuxing replied quickly: [I do.]

[Contentment Brings Happiness: Great. Fifty iron ingots.]

Jiang Yuxing’s island had an iron mine on one side. Although she had never been there, she had noticed his huge smelting furnace.

He didn’t try to haggle and sent the resources over directly.

Before Shi Zhile could even see what he sent, another message arrived.

[Jiang Yuxing: I’m sending you the raw iron ore. You can smelt it yourself. If it’s not enough to make the ingots, ask me for more. If there’s extra, you can keep it.]

’What a deal!’

She immediately accepted the raw iron ore.

While the ore was smelting, she checked her private messages.

She was used to the "99+" notification by now. She closed her eyes and randomly tapped on one of today’s lucky senders.

[Ma Xiaoya: Boss Shi, I have a friend who wants to buy vegetables from you. He needs a very large quantity. He’s a player from Sector 2. Want to consider adding him as a friend to discuss the price?]

’Only an idiot turns down business.’

Shi Zhile agreed immediately. Before adding him, she asked Ma Xiaoya a question.

[Contentment Brings Happiness: Are you familiar with the Sector 2 players? What are they like? They seem pretty organized, don’t they?]