Chapter 158: Many safe houses exclusively published on Jinjiang!
Without a buffer between the hottest and rainiest seasons, the coldest season begins with a heavy snowfall.
Even the villagers who had lived in the north since childhood had never seen such heavy snow. What started as a light snowfall turned into a vast expanse of white in just a dozen breaths.
"Quickly, stop picking them up, everyone hurry back!" Li Tie shouted.
Without delay, the group quickly collected the last batch of charcoal and game before hurriedly returning to the camp.
Inside the camp, a group of kids, having finished their lessons, were running around and yelling without any sense of danger in the open space.
Less than fifteen minutes after returning to camp from the mountain, Lu Xuan glanced at the temperature alert on his weather app and saw that it had dropped to -5 degrees Celsius. In less than two days, the temperature had plummeted by more than twenty degrees. The weather changes during the cataclysmic period were truly insane.
At this temperature, the mobile shelter is clearly no longer usable.
The villagers won't freeze to death wearing bio-suits, but living in the chilly cabin won't be very comfortable.
Moreover, the temperature will continue to drop in the next few days, and there will only be a short buffer period when it drops below minus twenty degrees Celsius.
Lu Xuan first used his earth-based ability to quickly fill in the craters left by the lightning strikes around his villa. Then he began to move the safe houses he had been accumulating for a long time, placing them one by one around his villa and activating them.
To date, excluding the Lu family villa, a total of 20 safe houses have been opened from the Golden Blind Box.
There are 10 single-person safe houses, 8 double-person safe houses, and 2 villas, one a two-story villa smaller than the Lu family's, and the other a three-story villa the same size as the Lu family's.
Knowing that he would need them during the extreme cold season, and also to boost his spending achievements, Lu Xuan bought more than thirty safe houses through the daily discounts, which matched the number of households in the village, with a few extra.
More than fifty safe houses were lined up in a row, with a wide walkway in the middle. Once all the houses were in place, it looked like a modern small village.
Viewers in the live stream exclaimed: "That's all money!"
More than fifty safe houses mean tens of millions of points, which is more than 100 million Star Coins!
Although the actual price of a Star Alliance safe house isn't that high, the streamer spent a real 100 million Star Coins!
"This looks much more impressive than Yunlu Village," Grandpa Zhang remarked, squinting in the snow.
Zhang Wende wiped the snowflakes that kept hitting his face and said, "It's not just grand, it's also much more comfortable to live in X than in our old home."
Zhang Chengming, who had just packed up the makeshift hospital, said, "Grandpa, Dad, stop sighing. Let's hurry up and find a house close to the Lu family and move in."
Grandpa Zhang slapped his forehead. "Yes, yes, we can't let others beat us to it."
The arrangement for renting safe houses during the extreme cold season was something the village chief and Lu Xuan had discussed before the rainy season ended, and they had also notified the village. Therefore, everyone knew that these safe houses were prepared for them.
This time, the village chief did not use a lottery system for house selection. Instead, he let everyone discuss and decide on their neighbors, or on a first-come, first-served basis.
Everyone wants to be a neighbor of the Lu family; if you're too late, you might not get a chance.
In reality, the Zhang family was overthinking things.
The villagers all wanted to live next to the Lu family, but if people who weren't familiar with the Lu family forced their way in, who knows if it would make the Lu family uncomfortable and cause them to be disliked?
Besides, the Lu family has two safe houses on either side of them, so families with average means and small families would never have been able to choose them in the first place.
In the end, the houses around the Lu family's residence were all occupied by familiar families.
The village chief's family lived in a villa the same size as the Lu family's, the Zhang family lived in another smaller one, the rest were the Wu family (father and son), the Xiong family of three, and the Chen Rong family, which lived just one house away.
After selecting the house, everyone immediately went to the village chief to register the room number, and then sent the first month's rent to Lu Xuan.
The monthly rent for a single-person safe house is 50 catties of supplies, for a double room it's 70 catties, for a two-story villa it's 150 catties, and for a three-story villa it's 200 catties.
It's called a single-person safe house, but it's not too crowded for a family of two or three, and it's also suitable for a family of four or five to stay in a double room.
The number of single and double safe houses is the same, 25 each. Including the two villas, Lu, the newly minted landlord Xuan Guang, received 3,350 jin of supplies just from rent.
After paying the rent, the villagers moved out in a flurry of activity.
When the cave collapsed, they only stayed in a safe house temporarily for a few days, but this time they are staying there long-term, and they may even buy it outright someday.
The villagers readily decorated the safe house as if it were their own home.
The furniture in the space, which was crammed full of various supplies, could also be taken out and placed in the safe house.
Anyway, if something happens, we can shrink the entire safe house and take it away, since in a sense, the safe house itself is also a space.
The elderly and women are mainly responsible for arranging the home, while the men have more important things to do.
—Build a heated room.
According to the original plan, the planting scale will definitely be reduced during the extremely cold season.
Having experienced the thrill of earning three to four thousand catties of grain a month, no villager could bear to return to the days of only being able to harvest seven or eight hundred catties.
It's not even enough to pay off the debt for the evolution fluid!
Similarly, Lu Xuan's most important task right now is to rack up spending achievements. If he makes the housewarming party bigger, he can spend more points at once.
Finally, after discussing with the villagers and consulting with Lu Xuan, the village chief decided to enclose all 200 acres of land in greenhouses, and Lu Xuan's share was increased to 50%!
Although the amount of grain received would be less, it would still be at least not less than three digits. Even a family that only cultivated three mu of land could get 1,300 to 1,400 jin.
The coldest season is longer than the rainy season, enough for them to harvest grain three times, totaling more than 4,000 jin, which is quite a lot.
Having made his decision, Lu Xuan opened the system's shop and bought enough materials to build a greenhouse covering 200 acres.
He ultimately chose not the material for the rain shelter, but a slightly more expensive glass canopy with better insulation.
At a price of 150 points per square meter, buying 200 acres of land would cost nearly 20 million yuan.
Consider the extra cost as a benefit to the village.
The 30% share he received from the previous two harvests already exceeded the actual price of the waterproof greenhouse. If he didn't put in more effort for the greenhouse, the share would be too much for him to handle.
The greenhouse can be used not only during the coldest season, but also during the hottest season of the following year.
Once the costs are recovered, he plans to gradually reduce his share until he recoups the costs and makes a small profit, at which point the greenhouse will belong entirely to the village, and he will no longer take a share.
Compared to the 20 million yuan worth of heating materials, the 200 air conditioners installed in the heating system, which cost only 1 million yuan in total, are just a drop in the bucket.
However, this small amount is still a significant burden for the villagers, so they can only choose to rent it, just like with safe houses.
Ownership belongs to Lu Xuan; public goods are used to pay for energy consumption.
As soon as the materials arrived, the able-bodied men quickly began assembling the equipment.
The glass canopy is made of large glass panes and stainless steel rods, which are quite heavy, making it difficult to move or assemble.
Fortunately, everyone's strength had increased significantly, and those with strength enhancement abilities were able to contribute even more. With dozens of people working hard and Lu Xuan assisting with his wind-type abilities, the greenhouse on one acre of land was quickly built.
Standing inside the fully enclosed greenhouse, everyone could clearly feel that the temperature inside was completely different from that outside.
When Lu Xuan took out the air conditioner and turned it on, the warm air quickly spread throughout the greenhouse, making the room feel as warm as spring.
Li Jingxi said, "It's so warm! Now the crops in the fields definitely won't freeze to death."
Zhang Chengming said, "They not only won't freeze to death, they'll grow very well!"
Liu Chun suddenly had a bright idea, "It's so warm here, people should be able to move in, right?"
The others paused for a moment, then exchanged glances.
It seems... there really isn't a problem?
The glass greenhouse has transparent walls and a transparent roof, but with curtains hanging on all four sides, it doesn't really get in the way.
Someone even specifically asked Lu Xuan, "If you were to buy a greenhouse that's big enough for four or five people, how many supplies would you need?"
Lu Xuan said, "Four or five people, based on 100 square meters, that's about 1500 jin of supplies."
Everyone was shocked, "So cheap!"
It's ten times cheaper than a safe house!
Viewers in the live stream: ?
Are they serious?
[Who would be so kind as to live in a glass greenhouse? It's freezing in winter and scorching in summer; wouldn't that be unbearable?]
Exactly! The air conditioner can be used, but it consumes twice the normal energy. Will the villagers be willing to use it?
Lu Xuan also discussed the energy consumption issue with them, and then confirmed, "You want to buy? I can buy some more materials while I'm at it."
"No, no." Liu Chun and the others, who had just been so excited, waved their hands repeatedly. "We were just talking. It's safer to stay in a safe house."
A greenhouse doesn't look as sturdy as a safe house. It also doesn't have the hot water and indoor latrine features of a safe house, and it can't be shrunk down.
It may seem cheap and good in the short term, but it is actually not suitable for long-term residence.
Since we already have a safe house, why choose a greenhouse that's a step below?
Lu Xuan said, "Then stop talking nonsense. If we don't hurry up and cover the 200 mu of land, the seedlings in the field will freeze to death."
Everyone snapped out of their daze and quickly got back to work.
...
Two hundred acres of greenhouses is a huge project. Even with Lu Xuan's help, a group of young men worked until dark and only managed to build one-fifth of it.
Fortunately, the waterproof tarpaulin in the field was not removed, and the temperature in the next few days will not drop too drastically, so the crops will not be greatly affected for the time being.
On the way back, the group discovered that the snow on the streets around the safe house had been swept aside by the villagers who stayed behind.
As soon as Li Jing and Li Tuo returned home, Miao Jinfeng poured them a cup of hot ginger soup. They sweated after only a few sips.
Li Jing took the towel Wu Yinyin handed him and wiped the snowflakes and sweat off his face, saying, "I see the snow outside the village is almost up to our calves. If no one sweeps the snow tonight, it will probably block the doors tomorrow morning."
Li Tie said, "Starting today, the number of people on night watch will be doubled. They will also shovel snow while on watch, and we estimate we'll have to shovel two or three times a night."
Because of the extra work, the night watchman's pay will naturally increase accordingly.
·
That night.
Lu Xuan opened the backend to check the latest data.
More than half a month has passed since the pop-up recommendation on the capital star.
The increase remained relatively high for several days after the recommendation ended. Later, two more special ability users appeared, and the data also showed a significant improvement during the lottery.
After half a month of accumulation, the peak online viewership reached 580 million, the number of fans reached 150 million, and the total balance of points reached 120 million.
The points increase was only ten million because I just spent over twenty million today. Including the safe houses I bought in the past, which totaled six or seven million, plus the miscellaneous energy purchases and the cost of evolution fluid...
As of tonight, his total spending has reached 70 million.
We're only 30 million short of spending 100 million.
Based on his fixed daily expenses, this achievement should be attained in no more than two months.
But... it's been too long.
It's fairly certain from the occasional hints from viewers that the next new feature to be unlocked will be very useful.
If possible, it would be best to find a way to speed things up.
Lu Xuan opened the daily discount page, glanced at today's items, and discovered that there was a single safe house at 30% off.
Lu Xuan clicked to purchase directly.
I bought out all the nutrients and energy stones, and then started manually refreshing.
The second time, only consumables were useful, so I kept farming.
The third time, I found a 40% off safe house for two people.
Click to buy.
Try again, and get a 10% discount on a single-person safe house.
Hmm... the discount wasn't ideal, but oh well, the original price wasn't expensive either, so I'll buy it!
[Is the streamer drunk again?]
[Weren't there enough safe houses already? I remember the streamer had several spares, why did they buy more?]
Lu Xuan said, "Keep it and sell it to other wealthy noble families later."
A safe house that can be kicked and moved at will, with showers and toilets, would definitely be loved by noble families.
Just like with space, it's easy to sell it for two or three times the price, and you don't have to worry about buying several and ending up with nothing.
On the fifth try, the Evolution Fluid finally appeared, along with two other decent items in the same row.
A sled perfect for the extreme cold season, with a cool-looking black and red snowmobile in the front and a two-seater covered by a glass dome in the back;
The other one is a larger black aircraft than his XM-430, which can carry four people, just enough for the four people in his family.
The sled originally cost 300,000, but after a 30% discount, it's only 210,000. The aircraft is more expensive; originally priced at 3.2 million, it's 2.56 million after a 20% discount.
Lu Xuan tapped his phone three times in quick succession, consuming the evolution fluid along with it!
This cost more than three million yuan.
Don't consume too quickly.
The audience was thrilled.
Has the streamer finally figured it out and decided to go on a shopping spree to farm achievements?
Just as I was thinking this, I saw Lu Xuan close the discount section.
audience:?
Lu Xuan: "That concludes today's consumption."
[Wait, why is it ending so soon after we got into it? Keep refreshing and buying!]
[Exactly! Streamer, you're not short of points. Over 100 million points aren't going to accrue interest just sitting there.]
Lu Xuan said, "I can't be too happy with what I've already spent. Today's total expenses have already broken records. That's enough. Even if it's just to rack up achievements, we should use the points in a meaningful way."
"I use the gift points you give me to buy a bunch of useful and useless luxury goods. Do you think your gifts are worth anything?"
Audience: ...That sounds like it makes some sense?
The streamers used the points earned from the gifts sent by the viewers to buy more goods that would help the disaster victims and improve their lives. In doing so, they indirectly did a good deed, rather than simply entertaining themselves by watching the live stream.
Thinking about it this way, even some fans who don't usually send gifts are starting to feel the urge to send some.
Lu Xuan hadn't expected that his casual banter would turn him into a lot of freeloaders. After finishing his daily blind box draw, he quickly logged off.
·
The next morning, the able-bodied men went to build the greenhouse without even having breakfast, while the elderly who stayed at home took brooms and went out to sweep the snow.
The able-bodied men on night watch swept the snow twice, and there was only about a fist-thick layer of snow in front of each house and on the street, which was not too difficult to sweep.
The snow on the roof is the most troublesome thing.
"Grandma, let me do it." Lin Man wiped her mouth after brushing her teeth, took out her homemade bamboo ladder and broom, and climbed onto the roof.
Grandma Lin said, "Be careful."
Lin Man: "Don't worry, nothing will happen."
Seeing that he was standing steadily, Granny Lin took out an empty large plastic box from her space and said, "Sweep the snow here."
Lin Man obediently swept all the snow into the plastic box.
The night watchman didn't sweep the roof, and the snow that accumulated overnight filled three large boxes.
Grandma Lin first put the box into her spatial storage, and then took it out and placed it in the corner of the living room after entering the house.
Once the snow inside melts naturally into water, it can be stored in the water tank of the safe house. The filtered water can then be used in the kitchen, bathroom, and all other places that need water, which is very convenient.
After shoveling the snow, the grandfather and grandson had a simple breakfast of meat buns, fish soup, and stir-fried meat and mushrooms.
Grandma Lin said, "You get ready to go to class, I'm going to the general store."
Lin Man asked疑惑地, "Classes start this afternoon, I'll stay home. Grandma, is there anything you need to buy?"
He thought back and realized that he still had some seasonings at home, and he didn't seem to be lacking any other daily necessities.
His grandmother was always very frugal, so why would she go to the grocery store for no reason?
Grandma Lin said, "Go and replace it with a waterproof shed that's about twenty square meters."
Lin Man exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you changing that? Are you going to grow vegetables? The waterproof shed isn't warm enough, I'm afraid they won't grow."
Moreover, they have a vegetable garden on the hill, and the vegetables they grow are enough for the two of them to eat.
Grandma Lin said, "We definitely can't grow vegetables, but it can keep out the snow. If we build a stove inside the shed, we can cook outside."
Lin Man suddenly realized what his grandmother was planning.
The safe house does have a kitchen, but it's not equipped with appliances, and cooking requires energy.
On the ship, the restaurant's kitchenware is readily available and shared by everyone. Once you've rented a safe house and approved your individual accommodation, you'll have to bear the costs yourself.
Many of the wealthier families in the village have traded in small appliances such as kettles, meat grinders, and rice cookers at the grocery store, but Grandma Lin has always been frugal and hasn't even bought a kettle, naturally unwilling to waste energy on cooking a meal.
Building a stove inside a safe house would be a complete waste of good stuff; you can only build a shed outside.
Grandma Lin said, "We happen to have a lot of charcoal stored at home. If we don't use it now, when will we?"
Lin Man couldn't help but give a thumbs up, "You really know how to manage money."
Grandma Lin said proudly, "These are all the wisdom of life. You're still young, so you have a lot to learn. I'll also buy some hand warmers. Although the bio-clothes keep you warm, your face will still get cold if it's exposed."
But when Grandma Lin finally arrived at the safe house next to the village chief's house, which was being used as a general store, she discovered that there were far more things to buy than just waterproof awnings and heat packs.
Should I buy lightweight, warm gloves to prevent frostbite and fleece socks?
Should I buy a windproof helmet that blocks the wind but doesn't obstruct my vision?
A self-heating blanket, you can use one as a mat and one as a cover-up, and you won't feel cold even without air conditioning. Would you buy one?
These are all useful items for the household. Grandma Lin is thrifty, not stingy. When she discovered these practical products, how could she not buy them?
Later, she bought several kilograms of cotton, intending to make a cotton quilt.
The quilt at home was made when Lin Man was born, and it's been used for ten years. It's time to replace it with a new one.
The self-heating blanket was too thin and light, and you could hardly feel it when you covered yourself with it. Grandma Lin still cared about a bit of ritual and always felt that in winter, you had to cover yourself with a quilt that was heavy enough to make you feel at ease.
After buying everything they needed, several more women came to the grocery store to buy things as well.
"Grandma Lin, what did you buy?"
The young women greeted Grandma Lin with smiles and asked her questions.
Grandma Lin listed the items she had bought one by one. The younger women didn't think much of the other items, but they were all surprised when they heard that she had bought a waterproof awning.
Grandma Lin then explained her plans to them.
The women, lacking life experience, exclaimed in disappointment, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Even if not everyone is as reluctant to cook in a safe house as the Lin family, building a shed can increase the family's activity range and make it easier to handle game that is inconvenient to process inside the house.
Several women immediately replaced their own waterproof canopies with ones of suitable size, and also notified their other sisters who were close to them. As a result, more and more people were inspired and took action.
Old Man Wei hadn't expected so many people to buy waterproof awnings. The grocery store didn't have enough stock, so he asked two other villagers who had filled in after Xu Wenze and Lin Man left to watch the store, while he went to Lu Xuan to restock.
When the young and strong returned home, each household had already erected a waterproof shed of varying sizes in front of their door. Through the transparent shed, one could see the women or elderly people busy setting up stoves.
Some families happen to have earth-elemental ability users, or have found earth-elemental ability users to help them, and they have already set up the equipment and are burning charcoal to dry it.
·
The able-bodied men worked from dawn till dusk for five days and finally finished installing the greenhouses on the two hundred acres of land.
By this time, the temperature had dropped to minus fifteen degrees Celsius. Fortunately, the mutated seeds were relatively frost-resistant, and the waterproof shed had not been removed before the greenhouse was renovated. Lu Xuan also used his wood-type ability to replenish their energy, so there was no damage to the ground where the greenhouse was built.
In addition to fields and lotus ponds, livestock sheds were also built, and the cattle, sheep and more than 100 chickens that had stayed on the cargo ship for five more days were finally moved to their new home.
For the past five days, Lu Xuan has been checking his spending achievements every night.
Safe houses and flying machines – choose whether to buy them or not based on the discount.
Although it wasn't as exaggerated as spending over three million every day, it accumulated to over eight million.
At this rate, it will take another half month to achieve the goal.
The audience was actually quite surprised.
It wasn't that I was surprised by how fast Lu Xuan spent money, but rather that it was one thing to buy a lot of safe houses, but why buy flying vehicles in bulk as well?
Although we've only bought four units so far, which isn't a large quantity, does buying so many mean we're planning to sell them?
The audience imagined a future ancient era filled with flying machines flying everywhere—it was hilarious and kind of exciting.
Isn't this level of technology a bit too leapfrog?
Lu Xuan said, "I'm not selling them; I'm just stockpiling them for unforeseen circumstances."
Lu Xuan couldn't quite put his finger on what this "unexpected need" was, but his intuition told him that it would come in handy in the near future.
After working non-stop for five days, the village chief gave the able-bodied men two days off so they could rest.
Lu Xuan also wanted to relax, so he called all the able-bodied men who were free to go to the training room for a lesson.
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