After successfully harvesting this batch of crops, they finally got what they had been waiting for, the farm upgraded once again.
[Congratulations to player Dawn for upgrading to a Level 4 farm. You may receive the following benefits]
1. Unlock one plot of land
2. Expand the range for stealing crops by ten meters
3. Purchase Level 4 seeds
Alright then, the same three-piece land upgrade set again.
They could practically recite it by heart.
However, after this pop-up notification, another one appeared immediately.
[Please continue working hard to level up!]
[Next task: Upgrade the farm to Level 5, required experience points: 200]
[Task reward: Level 5 Gift Pack (Secret)]
“Don’t you think we’re basically like that donkey?” Luo Mushi squatted in front of the floating game panel, her face twisted as if constipated. “The game just dangles a carrot in front of us, and we keep chasing after it non-stop.”
Duan Minmin offered a timely bit of self-comfort. “At least the game’s promised reward might actually be attainable. A boss’s promises not only can’t be fulfilled, they’ll just give us indigestion.”
During the summer break, Duan Minmin had gone out to do part-time internships for a while, so now she felt this particularly deeply.
Since they had already received the game rewards [Beginner Gift Pack] and [Harvest Gift Pack], they could only choose to believe that once they reached Level 5, they would indeed receive the promised [Level 5 Gift Pack].
Ying Ran also made a guess. “The earlier system notifications mentioned that more gift packs would be obtained after leveling up, but we didn’t see any during the past few upgrades. I think maybe the trigger condition is reaching levels ending in 5 or 10.”
In fact, many games followed this kind of reward pattern, so if that was the condition, it would not be surprising.
And with a clear goal in sight, they were energized again.
They needed 200 experience points to reach Level 5. Based on the previous rate of gaining experience from planting and harvesting, as long as they made sure no other players stole their crops, they would probably reach Level 5 by tomorrow night.
Then they would be able to obtain the [Level 5 Gift Pack].
In truth, Luo Mushi had not been wrong just now.
They really were not much different from a donkey being lured forward by a carrot.
But now that they had reached Level 4, they first went ahead and unlocked the fifth plot of land.
Then they bought five mulberry seedlings and planted all of them in the soil.
The planting time for mulberry seedlings was twenty-six hours.
However, mulberry plants yielded fruit in two harvests, and the first batch could be collected at 11:30 tonight.
After they finished dealing with the latest updates in the “Farm Game,” the porridge in the pot began bubbling, releasing the fragrant aroma of rice.
Ying Ran brought out the cleaned green beans in a basin, while Chen Jianwei started heating oil in another pot. She poured the beans into the pan, stir-fried them until they were just cooked through, then added oil, salt, and soy sauce, tossing everything evenly before taking them out of the pan.
The moment they smelled the aroma, they all sniffed eagerly, feeling that it was irresistibly fragrant.
If this had been in normal times, they would have wanted to drink ten bowls of porridge in one go.
“When the day comes when there are no more zombies, we have to celebrate properly,” Duan Minmin said excitedly to her companions. “Each of us will cook a dish we’re best at, and we’ll celebrate that there are no more zombies.”
Although the idea was beautiful, the zombie outbreak had only just begun, and no one knew when it would truly end.
Nor did they know whether they would still be alive by then.
As they started eating breakfast, they also scrolled through their phones, checking various group chats and online updates.
The Lanzhou Garden Building 2 dorm group chat was in constant chaos every day.
Yesterday’s conflict had been about a large group of sick students wanting to leave the dorm building to go to the hospital.
Today’s conflict was about garbage.
It had been four days since the zombies appeared. Trapped inside the dorm, unable to go out and too afraid to do so, the issue of how to deal with the daily trash had become a new problem.
When there was only a small amount of garbage, they could leave it on the balcony. But once it piled up, even the balcony became unlivable.
So some people tried throwing the trash into the corridor, and the stench drifted into the neighboring dorm.
The two dorms immediately started arguing in the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat.
Dorm A scolded Dorm B for throwing garbage into the public corridor outside the dorm, saying it was a complete lack of social responsibility.
Dorm B fired back in the group, saying that talking about that now would not fill anyone’s stomach. Keeping garbage inside the dorm would breed bacteria, and if everyone in their dorm got sick again, what then? At least putting it outside meant there was a door in between, and with air circulation, it was less likely to create anything strange or hazardous.
A third party, Dorm C, tried to mediate in the group.
Meanwhile, Dorm D asked in the chat how the dorm manager planned to solve the garbage issue. Surely they were not expected to stockpile all the trash inside their rooms until it piled up like a mountain. They would not even need zombies to kill them, living in a mountain of garbage would probably make them all sick within a month.
Watching the heated arguments in the group, Chen Jianwei looked around their own dorm and felt that this was indeed a real problem.
In fact, over the past few days, they had already tried to minimize the amount of waste they produced, but some trash was unavoidable.
Things like tissues, which were biodegradable, could be thrown into the toilet. But non-degradable waste had to be packed up and stored.
For example, the instant noodle wrappers they had used, and also the sanitary pads Ying Ran had changed during her menstrual period.
People in the group were still asking whether drones delivering food could also take out the garbage, or if there was any other way to deal with it, because they could not keep accumulating trash inside the dorm any longer. Sooner or later, it would cause problems.
Dorm Manager Auntie Lian did not give a direct response, only saying that she had reported the situation and their needs to the school. As dorm staff, they could only act after receiving instructions from the school.
According to reliable information from other dorm areas, the zombies in Meiyuan had already been mostly eliminated by the formidable “Kitchen Knife Squad,” but there were still two or three wandering zombies over in Zhuyuan.
As for Lanzhou Garden, where they were, it was the dorm area farthest from the school gates. On the other side of Lanzhou Garden was the school’s artificial lake, which served as a kind of natural barrier.
Because they had not yet had direct contact with zombies, most of their information about them came from the internet and various group chats. Coupled with the victory of the Kitchen Knife Squad in Meiyuan, some people’s fear of zombies had begun to diminish.
Although the zombie outbreak had begun, most of the zombies that reached Haishi University appeared in small scattered groups of three to five, and they had been easily dealt with before.
As a result, some people began to think that zombies were not as terrifying as imagined, and that even if they encountered one, they could just smash its head with a kitchen knife.
After witnessing the diversity of human intelligence in the various group chats, Duan Minmin sneered, “I think for some people, even if a zombie cracked open their skull and took a look, it would still feel disgusted.”
Chen Jianwei agreed with her analogy. “Zombies are picky eaters too, they don’t just eat any brain.”
However, the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat continued to erupt, giving them a full morning’s worth of drama.
In the apocalypse, conflicts between people were indeed intensified. Those who already had good relationships might still get along, but it was impossible for every dorm to remain harmonious.
There used to be places like study rooms and libraries to go to, but now that everyone was confined to their dorms, it became a catalyst for escalating conflicts.
Following the garbage dispute on the fourth floor, another argument broke out in a second-floor dorm.
The cause was that one of the roommates was an extremely dependent “mama’s girl.” During these days of being trapped in the dorm, she had been complaining to her mother on the phone about not being able to eat on time, and also said that her relationship with her roommates was poor. Their dorm had already argued several times over the past few days.
Her mother, equally irrational, directly called the roommates and started berating them, from personal attacks to moral coercion.
The roommates naturally did not accept this treatment. They immediately recorded the call and posted a four-minute audio clip in the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat, demanding a dorm transfer.
Just yesterday, Dorm Manager Auntie Lian had posted an announcement in the group saying that students living alone could apply to move into temporary dorms. Now, instead, people were starting to request transfers because of dorm conflicts.
The exact situation was unclear, but once the call recording was posted in the group, it caused a huge uproar.
Everyone in the group began taking sides and arguing loudly.
Everyone had already been in a bad mood these past few days. Seeing something so infuriating in the group chat only made them angrier, to the point that if they did not vent, it felt like they would develop breast hyperplasia.
“This is outrageous!” Ying Ran sat on a cushion hugging her knees. She had originally planned to strike up a connection with the girls in Dorm 617 next door, but accidentally got sucked into the gossip storm in the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat, and after watching for a while, she completely forgot what she had been about to do.
However, bringing Dorm 617 into their alliance went surprisingly smoothly.
While Luo Mushi was hanging clothes on the balcony, Dorm 617 next door was also doing the same, making some noise.
So Luo Mushi started chatting with them across the wall.
It turned out that offline communication was much more effective than online communication.
Luo Mushi told Chen Xiaoqi about their idea, and Chen Xiaoqi brought her roommate Liu Ruyan over.
The two sides quickly reached an agreement.
After Chen Jianwei spoke with Liu Huan from Dorm 619, they added Liu Ruyan and Chen Xiaoqi from Dorm 617 into their group.
Meanwhile, Liu Huan was still talking with Wu Zhenyi and Ye Wan from Dorm 620, though there had not yet been further progress.
However, during the time they were communicating, another explosive piece of news dropped in the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat.
Lin Hewan from Dorm 108 said that it seemed someone had just left the dorm building.
Since the dorm entrance was locked, and it could not be opened without a manager’s access card, and there had been no news of teachers or administrators returning, everyone became curious about what had happened.
Then Lin Hewan sent another message.
[108 Lin Hewan: Did anyone on the second floor hear anything? Did someone climb down from the second-floor corridor with a rope?]
After Lin Hewan sent this message, it was followed by a string of shocked emojis.
Everyone reacted in much the same way.
No one had expected such a method.
Chen Jianwei discussed it with her roommates in astonishment, her first reaction being that whoever did this was incredibly bold.
Who on earth had come up with such a outrageous idea of tying a rope and jumping down from the building?