pdf-ebookys Chapter 4 Upgrade
Chapter 4 Upgrade
Yang Ming chased after the girl out of the small restaurant, looked around, and saw her running figure getting further and further away. He quickly followed after her.
Having spent over a year in this big city, Yang Ming's enthusiasm had long been worn down, but he couldn't just watch a girl walk away like that. What if she committed suicide? If this girl really couldn't think straight and took her own life, even though it wasn't directly related to him, he would never have peace of mind for the rest of his life. At the very least, he had to see her safely return home.
The girl had amazing stamina; she kept running without stopping, eventually turning into a small alley, running to a small house, opening the door, and slipping inside. It seemed she had arrived home.
call!
Yang Ming followed behind her and disappeared into the alley. He was panting heavily from the run.
It was already dark. The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow, but couldn't reach the alleyway. Yang Ming, bent over with his hands on his knees, was panting heavily, muttering, "How far is it? About... about ten kilometers, right? This girl... she's really something, such a long distance, and you... you didn't even take a taxi..."
Looking around, Yang Ming's heart skipped a beat. He recognized it; this was Wuyi Lane in the western part of the city. It was a narrow, secluded alley paved with blue bricks. The houses here were all old, small, blue-brick bungalows. On the weathered walls of those old bungalows, a large character for "demolish" was written, clearly indicating that they were houses slated for demolition.
These small bungalows were left over from before the liberation. A few years ago, they were a popular tourist attraction in S City, but their popularity cooled down after a building collapse injured several tourists. These bungalows are so dilapidated that they have become dangerous buildings. Since the beginning of this year, the municipal government has been vigorously rectifying the city's appearance, and this place has become the first to be demolished. It is said that a commercial park will be built on this site.
Today, many of the better-off residents of Wuyi Lane have already moved away, leaving only a very few families struggling financially behind, waiting for government assistance in resettling them.
Yang Ming rubbed his aching legs and slowly walked out of Wuyi Lane. He reached the main street, hailed a taxi, told the driver his destination, and slumped into the back seat. He was exhausted, not only physically but also emotionally. Wuyi Lane, oh Wuyi Lane, truly lived up to its name. Even now, recalling the feeling of looking around in that alley, Yang Ming felt a pang of sadness and a stirring in his heart. Wuyi Lane was narrow, with high walls on both sides. During the day, it didn't seem particularly dilapidated, but at night… Yang Ming felt as if he were in the old society. It was quiet, without the noise of the city; it was a desert, without the glittering skyscrapers. The warm evening breeze whistled through the alley, like an ancient call, and clumps of wild grass swayed on the walls…
It was truly terrifying. After just a short while, Yang Ming felt a cold sweat breaking out on his back.
The taxi stopped, and Yang Ming remained leaning back in his seat until the driver got out and pushed him, waking him up. Startled awake, Yang Ming looked around blankly before realizing they had arrived at their destination. He quickly got out of the taxi, paid the fare, and headed towards his rented room.
Lying on the tattered bed, covered with a towel, Yang Ming let out a long breath, and his mood recovered. Now that he thought about it, the place was really quiet. If he could live in such an environment, it wouldn't be bad. In this noisy society, such quiet places are rare. The reason Yang Ming felt creepy was just because he was unfamiliar with the environment.
"If I could live in such a quiet place, that would be pretty good," Yang Ming imagined. "I'd build a small bungalow, not too many rooms, three would be fine. Ideally, it would be made of adobe bricks with a layer of bricks on the outside, with a heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed). In the dead of winter, I'd sit on the kang, and yes, there would be two big tabby cats on the kang. Outside would be a large yard with a flock of speckled chickens and a few dogs—yes, the kind of silly country dogs. I'd also plant grapevines in the yard, and on hot days, I'd sit under the grape trellis, fanning myself with a big palm-leaf fan. Oh, and I'd also dig a well, and on ordinary days, I'd put a couple of watermelons on the ice, enjoying the cool air while eating watermelon—that would be so refreshing..."
Tonight, Yang Ming had a dream. He dreamt that he came to a paradise, with mountains and rivers, and a farmhouse courtyard. The hardworking male head of the household worked from sunrise to sunset, while the beautiful and virtuous female head of the household led a group of children, cooking and doing housework. In their spare time, they would spread out a mat under the old locust tree in front of the gate, cut two watermelons, grab a handful of dates, and tell stories to the children. Their silvery laughter echoed through the valley...
"If only it were true..." In the morning, Yang Ming was awakened by a series of "beep beep beep" reminders. It was the reminder from the farm space when the crops were ripe, and it was ringing in his mind.
"My wife, why does she look so much like that girl from yesterday?" Thinking of that girl's face, Yang Ming couldn't help but shudder. He dared not think about it anymore and his mind entered the farm space.
This time, the potatoes and sweet potatoes were ripe. Yang Ming directly clicked "harvest" and stored them in the warehouse. When he opened the warehouse to check, he found that these potatoes and sweet potatoes were indeed high-yield crops. The two crops together weighed a total of 30 kilograms.
Yang Ming materialized two of each of the two agricultural products. The size of the two items startled him even more. The sweet potatoes were as thick as an adult's thigh, and the potatoes were as big as footballs.
"High yield! Really high yield... Two acres, and these two crops only take up half of it. Although they are planted a bit densely, it shouldn't yield 30 kilograms per acre, right?" Yang Ming was stunned.
With the potatoes and sweet potatoes harvested, an acre of land was now available in the farm space. Slightly recovering from his shock, Yang Ming once again immersed himself in the farm space and selected 'Plant'.
Yang Minggang clicked the planting button, and a dialog box popped up: The system automatically scanned the warehouse and found agricultural products that can be used as seeds. Please select the type of agricultural product.
Below are three agricultural product options: tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. At the very bottom is a "Confirm" button. Yang Ming planned to use tomatoes to earn his first pot of gold, so he directly clicked on the tomato option.
The number of seeds that can be planted per acre is automatically displayed after the tomato option. To plant tomatoes on one acre of land, you need to extract seeds from four tomatoes.
Yang Ming finally clicked "OK," and then a blue light flashed on the screen, followed by a notification sound saying "Planting complete."
"It seems that taking seeds directly from the warehouse is different from obtaining seeds from the outside world. It's simpler to do this..." Yang Ming thought to himself.
This large landowner's farm space does not provide a detailed description of its functions; Yang Ming will have to figure it out himself.
Yang Ming clicked the "Harvest" option. Since the crops were not yet mature, no dialog box appeared, and he directly entered the harvest interface. On the harvest interface, there were two buttons: one for materialization and one for selling. Yang Ming had been wondering about the sell button for a while, since there was also a sell option on the main interface.
Yang Ming clicked the "Sell" button, and a dialog box immediately popped up on the screen: Sell agricultural products to the system in exchange for gold coins, with two buttons below: "Yes" and "No".
"Yes!" Yang Ming tentatively clicked "yes".
Then a list appeared on the screen, showing the options for three agricultural products in the warehouse, along with their weight and price:
3280 kilograms of tomatoes, at 0.5 gold coins per kilogram.
170000 kilograms of sweet potatoes, 0.6 gold coins per kilogram.
130000 kilograms of potatoes, 0.8 gold coins per kilogram.
Below the three options is a numeric table for entering data.
At the very bottom is the "OK" button.
Of these three agricultural products, potatoes are the most expensive. Yang Ming directly selected the potato option, entered the number 3000 kilograms, and finally clicked "OK".
"Beep beep beep..." A notification sound rang out, and then a dialog box popped up on the screen: Transaction successful. You sold 3000 kilograms of potatoes to the system at a unit price of 0.8 gold coins per kilogram. You have received a total of 2400 gold coins. Please check and confirm as soon as possible.
Yang Ming clicked "OK," and the screen switched to the main interface, which displayed his personal information. Sure enough, his account balance on the personal information form already showed 2400 gold coins.
Furthermore, the word "upgrade" appeared after "Level: 0".
Yang Ming quickly clicked "Upgrade". The screen flashed blue light for a moment, and when the blue light faded, the screen returned to normal. However, the level had changed to "1" and there was a parenthesis that read: "After this product is upgraded, new features will be available. You are 997600 gold coins away from the next upgrade."
The "Sell" option on the main interface has also become available.
Yang Ming tried clicking on 'Sell,' and the screen switched to the selling interface. The interface displayed a large message: "Welcome Level 1 Landlords to the selling space. We hope you can exchange ideas with your counterparts from other regions here."
Below is a "Enter" button.
Yang Ming clicked "Enter," and the screen flashed, revealing a menu with the code name Level 1. This menu was divided into two parts: the left side was the purchase menu, and the right side was the sales menu. The purchase and sales menus were further divided into three sections: "Farm Tools," "Seeds," and "Labor."
The purchase menu is filled with product serial numbers, product names, and product prices, while the sales menu is completely empty.
"Heavens! No. 0001, Beixiaohuang brand fully automatic planter, 35 gold coins each; No. 0002, Harry brand fully automatic intelligent harvester, 25 gold coins each; No. 0003, Tiantianjian brand insect repellent, 2 gold coins each; No. 0004, Meiyouhaichong brand insect repellent, 45 gold coins each..."
Tree of Life (0001): 25 gold coins; Tree of World (0002): 15 gold coins; Tree of Wisdom (0003): 20 gold coins...
#0001, Bio-engineered Human, 15 Gold Coins; #0002, Planting Robot, 30 Gold Coins; #0003, Intelligent Robot, 45 Gold Coins; #0004, Plant Sprite, 10 Gold Coins…”
The dazzling array of goods was overwhelming, and Yang Ming already felt dizzy.
(I'm currently working on two books at the same time, so I'm working on them quite quickly. I have some drafts for my previous book, "Spark," which should last me a while, but I don't have many drafts for "The Landlord," so I can only guarantee one update a day (except in case of emergencies). Each update will be around 3000 words. I'm currently working hard on writing...)
(This book is a rural novel; it has nothing to do with time travel, interstellar travel, or smuggling. It's just a down-to-earth story of rural life. The preceding paragraph is just a prelude.)
P.S.: Please recommend and add to your favorites...