Growl, growl, growl…
On the icy winter ground, Earth Tiger’s wheels would slip and spin out of control on these kinds of roads, but the excavator’s tracks would not!
The tracks were composed of various linked teeth segments that provided ample traction on any surface it traveled on. It kept the excavator securely on track and prevented it from slipping and sliding in the icy snow.
“Earth Tiger doesn’t feel as good when compared to the excavator!”
Aside from the lack of storage space, in the wasteland environment, the excavator was pretty much a bug-like existence.
Even Oreo was very satisfied with her exclusive spot in the bucket and kept howling non-stop.
Sitting in the excavator’s driver’s cabin, Su Mo’s thoughts started becoming lively.
‘With the excavator, I can take advantage of this upcoming welfare disaster. Perhaps I can rely on the strength of this machine to excavate 10 mu or even 20 mu of land!’
Welfare disasters only indicated that the plants’ growth rate would increase and not be affected by natural disasters.
During this disaster, humans would still have to complete a series of actions, such as fertilizing, loosening the soil, shoveling snow, and irrigating in order to ensure a harvest.
Those people who dug a hole in the ground, threw seeds in there, and then simply hoped for a harvest, in the end…
They might have see roots and leaves sprouting, but they likely would not successfully germinate the fruit of the harvest!
“My five mu of Black Soil Land must be cleared out, but I can’t depend solely on this five mu of land to harvest sufficient food.”
“This time, one year—no… I have to accumulate at least two years’ worth of food supplies to feed twenty people. Only then can I ensure that I won’t be embarrassed later on.”
The spring wheat harvest could probably reach around 800 to 1000 catties. Adding on the fertility of the Black Soil Land, achieving 1100 catties per mu was not impossible.
Five mu could then yield about 5000 to 6000 catties of food.
If the welfare disaster lasted three days, if he used just regular seeds, their growth process would be shortened by 50 times and he could only plant one cycle.
If the seeds’ level could achieve good-quality, the growth process would be sped up by 200 times and he would be able to plant about three cycles in three days!
If the seeds were excellent-quality, that was an even more frightening prospect—he could plant up to six or seven cycles.
Of course, these numbers had not taken into consideration harvesting, plowing the ground, replanting, fertilizing, watering, and the series of such chores.
If these actions were included, he could plant two cycles of the good-quality seeds, and three to four cycles of the excellent-quality seeds.
“Since I have an excavator, I can save on both time and effort spent on the first tilling and intermittent tilling of the seeds.”
“As for the rest, without sufficient mechanical assistance from machines, I can only rely on people.”
“The work efficiency of a single person is nowhere close to enough, so why don’t I just…”
“Rent it out?”
A bold thought suddenly appeared in Su Mo’s mind. The shelter in the west had close to a hundred people.
These hundred people comprised mostly women and children who could not perform physical labor like tilling. That was why Chen Shen and the others would bring up the topic of going back to help with the farming process.
As for the other tasks, in reality, because they were more dexterous, women could actually plant even faster and better than men.
“What they lacked was the strength to turn the soil. Because the soil over there is fertile, even if it can’t be compared to my Black Soil Land, it can still produce quite a good harvest.”
“I might as well lend them my excavator. I’ll provide the seeds and the machinery, and then collect rent. Compared to me planting all by myself, this would definitely be much more cost-effective.”
If tens of mu or a hundred mu could be tilled in one go at their shelter and all that land used for sowing, not only could they plant a larger variety of crops and achieve having diversity in their food supplies, but they could also achieve an excellent win-win situation.
“Being around Zhong Qingshu for a while, it looks like this brain of mine is getting sharper too!”
Patting the steering wheel, Su Mo was delighted.
He had thought through the general idea. As for the specific details, including rent, seed level upgrades and other such matters, Su Mo still had to consider those thoroughly.
After recording all these into his diary, Su Mo stared at the little hill of the Deep-sea Shelter that was already starting to appear in the horizon and honked the horn, his mood lifting.
He had gone out twice at night. The first time, he got a laser tool, a core component of the laser manufacturing machine, that allowed the shelter to proceed down the pathway of creating firearms.
The second time, he obtained something even more terrifying. A divine card, a legendary card, and a golden treasure chest that still laid unopened in the storage space.
These accumulations of wealth could never be measured by time.
Most wasteland humans could spend their entire lives and never witness such a mysterious and extraordinary card, but…
Su Mo had done it!
He had flawlessly achieved the perfect outcome!
“Deep-sea, I’m back!”
The small hill covered in snow seemed to tremble and vibrate, as if welcoming Su Mo back to his own territory.
Reaching this point meant Su Mo was safely within the borders of his own kingdom.
Not rushing back home yet, Su Mo drove the excavator around, patiently cruising toward the direction where Earth Tiger had been blown away, searching for it.
While there had not been much snow piled up as he traveled over the flat plains earlier, the same could not be said for the basin, where the snow had built up significantly.
Without any obstacles to impede it, the strong wind had propelled Earth Tiger hundreds of meters across the ground, before finally coming to a crashing halt in a row of bushes.
“Oreo, stop! We have to do stuff now!”
Calling for Oreo to hop out of the bucket, and staring at Earth Tiger that was still lying upturned on the ground, Su Mo began to operate his excavator for the first time ever.
After manipulating the controls for some time, the result was gratifying.
Aside from half of the car’s paint being scraped off by the bucket, and accidentally losing the left side mirror, Earth Tiger had been righted succesfully.
“Since Earth Tiger has a name, to be fair, I’ll give you one as well then. I’ll call you…”
“King Kong!”
After quickly naming the excavator and seeing the name appear on the vehicle panel, Su Mo laughed out loud twice, then climbed out of the excavator, driving Earth Tiger back first.
After this battle concluded, there was plenty of time to make future arrangements. Before he had enough supplies to upgrade Earth Tiger, it was more convenient to use the excavator.
Returning back to the base, Su Mo was not frantic either and drove leisurely.
When he could see the open gates of the Underground Shelter in his field of vision, as well as the figures of Big Spark and Little Spark who were already waiting at the doorway, Su Mo stomped on the gas to speed up.
Big Spark and Little Spark had been lonely and snuggled up quietly, awaiting Su Mo’s return.
However, when the sounds of Earth Tiger’s roars traveled over, Big Spark and Little Spark were startled!
Flapping their wings, they did not wait for Su Mo to park the car and hopped up immediately, flying affectionately into Su Mo’s arms and expressing their concern.
“Okay, okay! I just went out for one night. Don’t act as if I’ve been gone forever.”
“You two hung out with Oreo too long and learned how to watch the door, huh? Not at all behaving like a chicken!”
The obedient Big Spark and Little Spark had been completely influenced by Oreo’s “naughtiness” through repeated interaction and exposure.
After enjoying Su Mo’s embrace for a good few minutes, Big Spark and Little Spark reluctantly jumped down, cooing as they cleared the way for the car’s entrance.
After parking Earth Tiger into the garage, Su Mo rushed back to the excavator’s side and drove it back as well.
Compared to Earth Tiger, the excavator that was around four meters high could not fit into the garage at all, so Su Mo could only give up and park it near the shelter.
Calling Oreo into the garage, he glanced at the “fire-red” sky outside, and the irrepressible feeling of exhaustion finally flooded over him.
He had not slept for an entire night and had traveled for hours on foot; not to mention that he had undergone a ife and death situation, killing off the pseudo god in front of the four billion people in the live broadcast.
It was this unending excitement that had kept Su Mo’s adrenaline up and kept his mental state at its peak.
Now that he had returned to his own little nest, he felt a sense of security as well as the pangs of hunger washing over him.
Su Mo took off his damp combat uniform, closed the garage gate, as well as the main stone door, and then returned to the third floor.
He took some food out, boiled water in the pot, took a shower, and cooked porridge, cherishing the minor joys of an ordinary life.
Compared to the people in normal shelters who had to work twelve hours, while they did not have to run around fighting enemies at the frontline, they had lost the right to enjoy such ordinary joys in life.
“Ah—ss—!”
Lying comfortably in the bath barrel, Su Mo looked at Oreo, Big Spark, and Little Spark, who were also cozily relaxing beside him.
With a thought, Su Mo excitedly looked at the survival points that he had received, but yet to read through today.
[Doomsday Calendar Month 1, Day 24]
[Ordinary people have ordinary joys in life; the strong have the pride of the strong. It’s an honor to have you bravely take the first step on the path of the strong. (Survival points +100)]
[A night without sleep. Your mental state has been affected, but you feel that it was worth it. (Survival points +10)]
[For some reason, your sixth sense has been slightly strengthened and your consciousness has become sharper. (Survival points +50)]
[You were very angry but, at that key moment, you still didn’t lose your sense of reason. You know what you have to do very clearly. (Survival points +100)]
[You successfully recruited more than “ten people” with combat ability. You’ve formed your prototype team. (Survival points +100)]
[You started the first “thousand people” war between humans and foreign races. You won very cleanly and nobody from your small team was hurt. (Survival points +500)]
[Under the gaze of four billion people, you successfully completed the live broadcast and received epic-level treatment and respect. (Survival points +500)]
[You successfully killed ??? level enemies. The weak winning against the strong is something to be celebrated, but because you used the system’s power, the survival points have been reduced. (Survival points +10000)]
[Scanning host survival environment. Survival points evaluation in progress. 335 survival points gained today.]
…
Total calculation: Survival points +16195
Survival points remaining: 16195
[It has been detected that your total remaining survival points exceeds 10000 points. The Doomsday Survival System is officially entering an update.]
[Update progress: 1.0%… 5.0%… 20.0%… 100%]
[The Doomsday Survival System has been updated with a third function. You automatically receive one prize draw function.]
[May the host live longer in the doomsday world and become even stronger.]
“Giving me ten thousand points in one go and opening a third function?”
Seeing the update notification prompts that popped out of the system panel, Su Mo was a little dizzy.
He was not dizzy from bathing, but rather dizzy from “happiness”!
This adventure was worth it!
