Zhou Qi continued explaining to Gu Jiaqi that even places covered in yellow sand could still be used to grow some simple crops. The secret was to put in a type of earth-yellow crystal core, also known as an earth-type crystal core. Once an earth-type crystal core was added, crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes could be grown in the sandy soil.
However, perhaps because the yellow sand was too overbearing, several batches of earth-type crystal cores had to be replaced every time a crop was planted. Since these crystal cores were dug out of the heads of various mutated animals, plants, and zombies, the attributes of the crystal cores within each creature were originally uncertain. Having to sort out a large number of earth-type crystal cores from them was extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive.
“Then how do you solve the problem of water?” Wouldn’t that basically mean living in a desert? The most important thing probably wasn’t food, was it?
Zhou Qi said, “There are two water-type ability users among us. All the water we use is produced by them.”
Gu Jiaqi naturally understood how difficult this small team’s daily life was. She also understood that Zhou Qi was telling her all this so that she would ask for less compensation.
She had just fought those so-called zombies, and their skulls were extremely hard. It truly took a great deal of effort to pry them open.
This showed that the people in this team were actually quite capable. To have survived safely until now in such a godforsaken environment without looking particularly thin meant that they were at least able to maintain adequate food and clothing in their daily lives. Although they had stolen her potatoes, Gu Jiaqi had to admit that she had always had a favorable impression of people who could be self-reliant and strong-willed.
What was more, they had some backbone. There must also be quite a few Asian people in those damned white people’s bases who had been driven to such places by the need to survive, but these people were not among them. That alone made them rather unusual.
“Does each of you have your own unique ability?” Gu Jiaqi thought of the red crystal core she had attached to the flashlight.
Yes, it was just a flashlight, a little tool Gu Jiaqi used to test whether a crystal core contained energy.
If earth-yellow was an earth-type crystal core, then red was probably a fire-type one.
“Yes. There are roughly a dozen types of abilities, and the probability of each one appearing is different. At present, the most common are strength-type and speed-type abilities. Most people only have one ability, but there are also some people who have two.”
It seemed that the power each ability could unleash was different, but what Gu Jiaqi was more concerned about at the moment were the crystal cores that contained energy.
“What types of crystal cores can be used as energy?”
Zhou Qi did not say anything. Instead, he took out the cloth bag he had brought out earlier and poured all the crystal cores inside onto the table between them.
“You can try again. After all, the two worlds are different, so I don’t know if there will be any changes.”
That actually made sense.
Gu Jiaqi took out the mysterious machine again, at least in Zhou Qi’s eyes, and then tested every colored crystal core on the table one by one. Very good. Aside from one transparent crystal core, all the others could provide energy to the flashlight, and the operating time displayed on the flashlight was more than thirty-six hours for every one of them.
It was just that Gu Jiaqi did not have a machine specifically designed to test energy-bearing minerals. Otherwise, she could have determined which type of crystal core could provide more energy and thereby gain the upper hand as quickly as possible in her future dealings with the post-apocalyptic team.
Sigh. Actually, after learning that she had a planet, Gu Jiaqi had made a list of everything she needed to do after arriving on the planet: what to explore, what to build, how to plan everything… Originally, she could have prepared everything before coming here if it weren’t for that bastard Sois Lahr.
But things weren’t too bad now either. Gu Jiaqi’s flashlight was military-grade, and it could even be used as a weapon at critical moments. Its energy consumption was about the same as a robot’s. In other words, if these crystal cores could power the flashlight, they could also power robots.
Gu Jiaqi frowned slightly before smiling. “Mr. Zhou, all of these crystal cores except the transparent one can be used… So, I accept your proposal to exchange crystal cores for food.”
Gu Jiaqi changed her wording, which also meant that she was completely tempted by the deal. An energy box cost eighty star coins, and eighty star coins could buy twenty ordinary nutrient solutions. One ordinary nutrient solution could sustain one person’s energy for one to two days.
Wasn’t this much better than buying energy boxes? She could use the remaining funds to buy automatically constructed houses. If she accumulated things this way, she could slowly build up the planet.
The expression on Zhou Qi’s face when he heard Gu Jiaqi’s words was practically one of delighted surprise. In fact, Gu Jiaqi’s attitude had always been difficult to figure out. It was hard to say that she had a particularly good attitude, but she was also very polite, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
But her personality actually wasn’t important. What mattered was that his side was at a disadvantage, and now they had a chance to cooperate and obtain the food they relied on to survive. It was practically a pie falling from the sky.
“One of our team members was in the wrong before, so we’ll compensate you. After that, we can discuss the exchange…”
Zhou Qi said this partly out of courtesy. It was like when a younger member of the family did something wrong and the elders always wanted to apologize on their behalf. Unless they were unreasonable parents, most people would do the same.
But Gu Jiaqi did not really understand this kind of culture. Or perhaps this culture had already become outdated in the interstellar era. People pursued more direct and efficient ways of reaching agreements.
Gu Jiaqi looked at him strangely. “So, do you actually want to cooperate with me or not? You’ve already taken the food. Whether it’s compensation or an exchange, you have to give me a certain number of crystal cores now, don’t you?”
“Uh.” Zhou Qi coughed lightly. “We do. Shall we discuss the price now?”
Meeting such a straightforward person was also a kind of good luck, Zhou Qi thought.
Thus, the lucky Zhou Qi quickly settled on a price with Gu Jiaqi for the one ton of potatoes and one and a half tons of tomatoes they had already taken away.
“Payment in installments. Two thousand crystal cores in total!”
It was basically equivalent to one crystal core per pound of vegetables, and Gu Jiaqi thought that was quite reasonable.
“I’ll go back and sort and select them right away. Thank you very much for your understanding.” Zhou Qi remained extremely respectful toward Gu Jiaqi. One reason was the seemingly terrifying mecha she had, and another was that they had just gone to look at the pile of zombies Gu Jiaqi had taken down. Every single one had been shot dead with a single shot to the head, something that was practically impossible for them.
How could one determine whether they could defeat someone? Aside from fighting them directly, another way was to compare them against a common enemy. And now, it was obvious that Gu Jiaqi was not someone they should make an enemy of.
If you could not learn to bow your head to survive in the apocalypse, the only thing waiting for you was to lose your head.
After discussing the details, Gu Jiaqi returned to her planet. It was already noon there.
Seeing the worried Xiaoshu, Gu Jiaqi rubbed her head. “It’s fine. New people sometimes appear through this hole… And now, I can also pass through it.”
Xiaoshu’s eyes trembled, and her body actually shuddered.
Gu Jiaqi crouched down. Seeing the fear in Xiaoshu’s eyes, she said, “Xiaoshu, there’s nothing to be afraid of. There is no enemy you cannot defeat, except your fear.”
Looking at Xiaoshu’s bewildered expression, Gu Jiaqi knew that she could not understand it yet.
In fact, many people could not understand it either.
She led Xiaoshu to the side and saw the Tata meat still sitting on the table, already completely cold.
Although Gu Jiaqi could not cook, she had once impulsively bought a tool for reheating food. Why call it impulsive? Because she had absolutely no use for it among the Zerg. Wasn’t that the very definition of an impulse purchase?
Gu Jiaqi reheated the food, and the two of them successfully finished their meal this time without anything unexpected happening.
“If only this hole were controllable. It could stay open for twelve hours a day, and we could use the rest of the time to rest…”
She checked the time, had the somewhat tired Xiaoshu lie down for an afternoon nap, and then went to study the black hole again. No matter how many times she tried, she could not pass through it.
Without someone from the other world leading the way, she had once again become the useless Gu Jiaqi.
With nothing better to do, she replaced the crystal cores she had on hand for samples with the humanoid robots she had bought at the beginning, planning to see which ones would last longer.
Mainly because machines related to mining were very expensive, and she did not want to waste money buying them.
Just as Gu Jiaqi was considering whether there were other ways to test the energy in the crystal cores, a notification suddenly sounded in her mind.
“Master, your vegetables have been purchased.”
Gu Jiaqi looked at the anonymous buyer who had purchased the vegetables and marveled at how many rich people there were nowadays. On the other side, she happily packed the vegetables into boxes and shipped them out, moving with great efficiency.
Selling vegetables was nothing. Once you got the hang of it, it was easy!
After thinking about it, she went onto StarNet and bought more than a dozen boxes of nutrient solutions. She then organized several mechas before climbing into her red mecha, preparing to hunt a few Tata Beasts to make some extra money.
There was no other reason. She had just checked StarNet and found that an automatically constructed house with a full set of equipment cost two million star coins. She was still nowhere near being able to afford one.
“After wandering half my life, I’ve come back to being a slave to a mortgage…”
Meanwhile, in a conference room in Ming Country, several people were gathered around a table.
“Comrades, we now have four mechas. I hereby announce that the Rise Plan will officially begin implementation. Let us give it our all and achieve great results together!”