After hanging up the video call, Zhang Shi became diligent again, clearing out all the land within the entire greenhouse area and planting all the preserved seeds.
After all that, it was almost sunset.
It was still snowing lightly outside, and the temperature continued to drop. Zhang Shi had been working in the greenhouse all day, and he was covered in sweat. A gust of cold wind made him shiver.
"It must be close to minus 30 degrees Celsius."
Back in the stone house, Zhang Shi added new charcoal to the fireplace, and the temperature in the stone house slowly rose, making him feel a little better.
When you're hungry and it's cold, a pot of meat soup is both warming and convenient.
Zhang Shi placed the pot on the stove, added pork chops and vegetables, poured in well water, and then ignored it.
Slumped in his chair, Zhang Shi opened the regional chat channel and lurked, only to learn that many of the survivors who went out today had opened new items from treasure chests.
Wang Wu: I went out for a walk today and successfully obtained a high-level treasure chest. Guess what? There were some items inside that I'd never seen before! Everyone, guess what's inside?
Cheng Xiaobai: Brother, stop buying the coffin! Tell me quickly, what good stuff did you find?
Wang Wu: [Cement (White) x1] [Gold Coins x10] [Toilet Paper (White) x1]
Zhu Dachang: Brother, do you sell toilet paper? I've been using leaves to relieve myself these past few days, it's been so painful.
Ge Dalong: Cement is an important material for building the next phase of the shelter, and it is currently extremely expensive on the market. I suggest you keep it.
Hou Kun: By the way, what are these gold coins for? I remember there were these as a system reward last time. Even the survivor at the very bottom of the rankings got a reward of 10 gold coins.
No one replied in the chat channel. Zhang Shi smiled slightly, thinking that Ge Dalong wasn't so pedantic after all.
However, the conversation among the group reminded Zhang Shi that he could take this opportunity to make a move.
Switching to the trading market, Zhang Shi was sure to find a number of novel items on the shelves. He also noticed that quite a few survivors who weren't doing so well were selling their gold coins at low prices, with 1 gold coin for 10 pieces of wood.
Everyone knows that these gold coins should be very useful, but the current severe cold weather is not yet over, so there is no time to think about the future.
Zhang Shi had no shortage of wood, so he swept through the trading market and earned a total of 200 gold coins.
Afterwards, Zhang Shi bought some common household items, such as toilet paper, towels, mops, and brooms. Since he could get them, Zhang Shi didn't hesitate and bought them all.
After all, in this wilderness, no one can guarantee that nothing bad will happen, so it's best to try to live as comfortably as possible.
Zhang Shi was a bit busy today, and he just remembered that he hadn't checked in yet. He opened his cheat code and clicked "Check In."
The system notifies you that you have received the following rewards for checking in:
[Rural Luxury Two-Story Villa Design Blueprint (Purple) x1: An essential blueprint for upgrading your shelter; you can't do without it.]
[Resource Generation Card (Green) x1: After use, you can generate a random number of resources of your choice.]
Zhang Shi was overjoyed. It was exactly what he needed. He carefully examined the resource generation card and found that its selectable options included minerals, wood, water, and so on.
After some deliberation, Zhang Shi decided to keep the card for now and use the resources when the time was right.
His gaze fell upon the villa's blueprints, confirming that they were indeed those for a Level 4 shelter. A strong urge surged within Zhang Shi; he resolved to gather all the materials needed to upgrade the shelter that very night, striving to move into a luxurious two-story villa.
"We have the glass, cast iron, and wood; what we're missing are the bricks and concrete."
Zhang Shi pondered that he could slowly fire the bricks himself in a charcoal kiln, the only cost being time. So he turned his attention to concrete, preparing to first obtain enough cement from the trading market.
A quick glance at the prices revealed that one unit of cement required approximately 10 charcoal to exchange for, with some even demanding an outrageous 10 gold coins.
After a heated debate and expending considerable resources, Zhang Shi finally managed to gather enough cement, but he felt utterly exhausted.
The concrete has been successfully made in the construction interface. Now, only the square bricks are not yet collected.
The charcoal kiln outside was still firing continuously, but Zhang Shi wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he sat down at the table and enjoyed his dinner.
The charcoal kiln has been firing square bricks continuously since last night. At the current firing rate, it shouldn't take long to gather the required quantity.
After taking a sip of meat soup, Zhang Shi felt a wave of comfort. He opened the trading market and found something useful again.
[Farmland Improvement Card (Blue) x1: Can upgrade ordinary quality farmland to advanced quality.]
Upon clicking, the seller listed the selling price as gold coins, suggesting they weren't actually planning to sell. The item's description stated that the seller only trades, not sells, and interested parties should send the item information to the seller via private message.
In Zhang Shi's greenhouse, the farmland plots were of only average quality, with limited crop growth. Therefore, Zhang Shi was determined to obtain the farmland improvement card.
He opened the seller's private chat interface and saw that the seller's trading market ID was "Ronghua Fugui," which gave Zhang Shi the impression of a rather pragmatic person.
"Hello, I've taken a liking to your farmland improvement card. Name your price; as long as it's not too outrageous, I'm willing to accept it."
The other side responded quickly and even recognized Zhang Shi.
"Wow, are you a VIP? I've seen you in the chat channel before, but I never expected to meet you in person today. To be honest, I'm a huge fan of yours..."
"Okay, let's get down to business first."
"Oh, I got this improved card by opening a box in the wind and snow. I suffered a lot of hunger and cold for it."
Seeing that Zhang Shi did not react, Ronghua Fugui continued to add.
"I saw you were collecting seeds earlier, so you must have started planting. You should know the value of this card. It might increase crop yield and growth rate. You could say this card will ensure that survivors never have to worry about food again."
The other side was clearly trying to raise the price, and Zhang Shi was getting impatient, so he spoke bluntly.
"Just tell me what you want in exchange. I like to get straight to the point."
Zhang Shi was prepared to spend a lot of money on this improved card, but unexpectedly, the other party sent a trade request, and the item for the trade was none other than the improved card itself.
"Hey, bro. I don't need this card for the time being, so I might as well transfer it to you. After saying all that, I just wanted to be your friend so that you could think of me first when you release new items and give me some discounts. I would be extremely grateful."
Zhang Shi was amused, not expecting that Ronghua Fugui was such a shrewd person, knowing the difference between being full at one meal and being full at every meal.
Zhang Shi accepted the improvement card and sent a friend request. A person named Hu Yingjun accepted the request.
Zhang Shi replied.
"Okay, thanks bro. I'll give you a discount next time you buy something from me."
After shutting down the system, Zhang Shi was in a great mood. He got dressed and went into the greenhouse.
After considering that the upgrade effect of the "Courageous Vanguard" title might backfire, such as turning the improvement card into an upgrade of advanced farmland into refined farmland, Zhang Shi decided to use it directly.
"Whoosh~"
A flash of blue light appeared, and Zhang Shi used the improvement card on the farmland where the seeds were first planted.
After the improvements, the farmland did not change significantly; instead, the vegetables that were already close to maturity ripened completely in an instant.
Looking at the lush green vegetable garden, Zhang Shi was overjoyed.
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