[Chapter 9 Visitors from Mars]

“Winter Village?” After thinking for a few seconds, David did not choose to copy it directly, but slightly “changed” it, so that the meaning was completely changed, and it should not be associated with that unlucky family.

“Winter Village? It sounds good. According to your previous description, this name reflects the characteristics of this place very well.” Lao Fo learned from David that this is a very cold area, and the winter is particularly difficult.

“Since you think it’s good, let’s call it this name!” David took out the pioneering order he always carried with him, and wrote the name of the village “Winter Village” on it: “The big river next to it can be called Winter River.”

David, who wanted to save trouble, also named the river next to it. Anyway, according to the law of the kingdom, he has the power to name the river. If two pioneering teams name the same river, it is up to the kingdom to decide which name to use as the official name.

David thought that this situation would not happen this time. No pioneering team that set out in the same batch went further north than this one. As for the river that flows from the Iron Tree Forest from south to north and finally merges into the Winter River, it is possible that it was named by another pioneering team.

Watching David write a few strokes on a scroll and carefully put it away, Lao Fo asked curiously: “Does this become a territory recognized by the Kingdom of Tilan?”

“No.” David shook his head, indicating that it was not that simple: “To become a formal village, at least there must be a stable residence, fields that can continuously produce food, and a certain number of villagers.” You

must also take the pioneering order to report to the department that specializes in handling such matters. Then the relevant department will send officials to conduct on-site inspections. After confirming the situation of the village, various information including the newly drawn map will be summarized into files for reporting.

Finally, the village chief will be issued a formal appointment. Only at this time can it be considered that new land has been truly opened up for the kingdom and become a “small lord” officially recognized by the kingdom.

“So troublesome?” Lao Fo did not expect that the “appointment” of a village chief would be so cumbersome.

“Because the situation is special?”

People who hold the development order to establish a village cannot be regarded as ordinary village chiefs, because they have great autonomy and are even qualified to expand and upgrade the village, which is completely different from the village chiefs in the kingdom. If the scale of the village can be expanded within the prescribed period and the population reaches a sufficient number, they can be directly promoted to mayor, and this land will become their territory.

“So that’s it.”

Strictly speaking, David is barely a small lord, but he has not yet become a formal one. It is precisely

because of this benefit that David joined the development team. But at the beginning, he didn’t expect that he could become a village chief. At that time, he wanted to see if he could get the identity of a knight, which was also considered to be out of the civilian class.

Now… his idea has become very simple: since this position has been taken, he must sit more steadily. He has begun to think about how to develop the village.

At present, his biggest reliance is the golden finger that will attract people from all over the world. As long as he makes good use of it, the current problems are not difficult to solve.

For example, if the land is barren and crops are difficult to survive, he can ask Crawford to buy some cold-resistant, easy-to-survive, high-yield crop seeds in her world, or even ask her to get some fertilizers to improve the land conditions.

He can also wait until he has a better relationship with Old Buddha, and ask Old Buddha to find druids for help and get some special seeds to improve the land conditions.

Even if these two methods don’t work, David is not going to give up this place – if it can’t be a food base, can’t he do something else?

As long as he can maintain the normal use of the gold finger, he may be sent a super genius one day, and it would be interesting to build an industrial base at that time.

“I just don’t know what minerals are nearby?”

After thinking about it for a while, David fell asleep in a daze, and when he opened his eyes again, the sky was already slightly bright.

Turning his head to look at the side, the fire was about to go out, and Old Buddha was lying on his bed to rest. The clean water, broth, weapons and medicines placed next to him were not touched. It seems that Crawford has not come again after he fell asleep last night.

David got up from the bed and added some firewood to the fire to make it burn more vigorously. He then hung the big pot of broth on the campfire. When he came back from washing up, the broth would be ready to eat. After

walking out of the cabin and breathing the cold air, David simply moved his body and took some clean water to wash up.

When he finished washing up, Old Buddha had also gotten up and was moving his limbs in front of the cabin like David did before. However, compared to David, Old Buddha’s movements looked much more ferocious. If he was hit by his strong arms, he would definitely not end well.

“What are your plans for today?”

After the activities, Old Buddha asked David about his plans while wiping his face with clean water.

A lot of wood was cut yesterday, and David also hunted several gray wolves. There was no shortage of food or wood. Maybe he should consider building a house?

“Or, dig a well first?”

“To build a well, you need stones, right?” Old Buddha was not very clear about how to make a well, but he had the impression that a well needed stones.

When it came to professional stonemason work, both men fell silent.

“Let’s build a shelter first!”

Anyway, there are only two people living in the village for a long time, and going to the river to fetch water is just a little troublesome, not an urgent problem to be solved.

As for the house, if we can’t build a sturdy and warm house as soon as possible, we will suffer again in winter.

Just when David was considering whether to wait until Crawford solved this trouble and returned to her home in England, and asked her to send cement, bricks, glass and other building materials to David to build a beautiful and comfortable house directly, the vague figure appeared in his sight again.

“Crawford?”

When David and Lao Fo saw this situation, their first reaction was that Crawford came again, but it didn’t take long for them to realize that they had guessed wrong.

The figure gradually became clear, and both of them had good eyesight, and they immediately saw clearly that the person coming was not Crawford, but a man.

“It seems that there is a new person.” Lao Fo knew that there was only Crawford in front of him, so this stranger was the first new person to appear.

Looking carefully at the newcomer, the other party was of ordinary height, his appearance was not surprising, and his dress was a little strange. At this time, he was looking around with a confused face.

Soon, the other party noticed David and Lao Fo standing in front of the wooden house, and walked over without hesitation: “Hello, where is this place?”

“Hello, this is Winter Village, I am the village chief David.” David was still looking at the other party. This person had a ‘familiar’ appearance, but he couldn’t be sure of his identity for a while.

“Hello, I’m Mark Watney!” Mark Watney stretched out his hand and shook David’s hand. As if to confirm something, he shook David’s hand a little harder, and a little doubt flashed across his face from time to time: “Who is this…” “

My name is Lao Fo.” (David served as the translator)

“Hello.” Mark shook hands with Lao Fo again, and then turned to David and asked: “Winter Village… May I ask where it is?”

“This is the northernmost area of the Kingdom of Tilan… I know you want to ask where the Kingdom of Tilan is. Next, I will briefly explain the various situations.”

After telling Mark Watney about the situation, the newcomer immediately fell into a huge self-doubt. He felt that he was crazy, or he was dreaming.

Looking at the reaction of the man in front of him, David carefully recalled the information about Mark Watney: from the other person’s face, David judged that this Mark Watney was the protagonist of the movie version of The Martian.

In the movie The Martian, Mark Watney, a botanist, landed on Mars as a member of the Mars exploration mission. As a result, he was thought to be dead by his teammates in an accident, so he was forgotten alone on Mars.

The whole movie tells the story of how Mark Watney survived and waited for rescue in the harsh environment of Mars.

As for the Mark Watney in front of him, David could be sure after observation that it should not be Mark who struggled to survive on Mars for a while. At that time, Mark was thin and had many symptoms due to insufficient nutrition.

“Is this a joke? Or am I dreaming! If this is another world, why do you speak English?” Mark rubbed his temple and kept asking, still not believing that he had come to another world inexplicably.

“This language called English is something I just learned not long ago. Before you, there was an English-speaking person who came to me.” It sounds too incredible to suddenly learn a new language. David just changed the way of describing it, and it became much easier to accept.

Sure enough, with just this explanation, Mark stopped worrying about the language and continued to be shocked at how he came to another world.

“But it doesn’t seem to be a bad thing for me.” Thinking about the predicament he was about to face, he felt that maybe God was helping him and giving him a new chance.

After figuring this out, Mark, who was optimistic by nature, stopped worrying about it. A smile reappeared on his face, and he reintroduced himself in a slightly solemn manner: “Mark Watney, a botanist, an astronaut from NASA, was working on Mars exploration before coming to you. I encountered some minor troubles and may need your help.”

David listened to Mark’s introduction and guessed what state Mark Watney was in at the moment – the time when he was just forgotten on Mars.

“Can you tell me in detail what kind of trouble it is?”

“If possible… I would like to live in your village for a while.”

(End of this chapter)