Shopping Spree

Ming Jiu opened the system shop page, precisely located the Gene Optimization Potion, clicked purchase, checked the 50% off coupon—payment successful.

The 14,220 gold coins in her account dropped to just 10,220.

[Gene Optimization Potion: Optimizes genes and strengthens the body. Note: The first three days after taking the potion are a critical period. During those three days, the user must maintain prolonged, high-intensity exercise. Please prepare a large supply of high-energy nutrient solution or food supplements in advance. From the third to the thirtieth day after taking it, the potion's effects will weaken in stages until its active ingredients are fully absorbed.]

Ming Jiu knew she could not use it yet. She still had too many things to do and simply could not spare three full days to use the potion, but she bought it anyway.

After storing the potion separately in a backpack slot, Ming Jiu's heart raced.

For no other reason than being able to look at it whenever she wanted. Forget the side effects of activating her mental domain—even if she lost an arm or a leg, she could endure it.

After buying the potion, Ming Jiu closed her eyes and activated her mental link—she still needed more practice with this. At the very least, she had to reach the point where she could open the space instantly without anyone noticing.

The fused space had not changed much. On the broad, level grassland by the river stood an enormous metal warehouse, and not far from it were four small plots of already reclaimed system farmland.

Ming Jiu directed her mental power toward the warehouse. It had no door. Its silver-gray metal walls seemed to have been cast as a single piece, without the slightest gap.

One wall bore a massive screen, which was completely blank.

The sensation was similar to every time Ming Jiu checked her system backpack. She tried taking out the storage boxes filling her backpack and placing them into the warehouse, and she could clearly see the scene inside it.

The screen on the warehouse wall changed accordingly. In one corner of the screen appeared more than a hundred storage boxes, stacked neatly together.

Ming Jiu tested it. Her mental power could enter the warehouse directly and reposition the storage boxes, or she could control them through the external screen.

There also seemed to be no gravity inside the warehouse. The storage boxes could float in midair. Ming Jiu tried stacking them all the way to the warehouse ceiling. The box at the bottom showed no signs of being crushed under the weight, and when she pulled out the bottom box, the boxes stacked above it did not fall.

This discovery thrilled Ming Jiu. Without gravity, the seven-meter-high space could be utilized to the fullest.

And with time frozen... Good heavens. If the time were right, she would have charged straight for Zuo Junhao's supply depot.

After figuring out the warehouse's functions, Ming Jiu called the system directly.

[Sis System, buy land!]

Ming Jiu made a grand gesture. Well, she had not actually spent that much—she converted one hundred farm plots, spending two thousand gold coins.

Including the system reward from merging the space, she now owned a total of one hundred and four farmland plots.

Even at her wealthiest in her previous life, she had only owned forty-six plots. During the period before her rebirth, aside from eating, sleeping, planting vegetables, and harvesting them, nearly all her time had gone into digging underground cellars.

System: [Two thousand gold coins have been deducted from the host. Farmland conversion in progress... Conversion will take one hour and forty minutes.]

[The host may select seeds first.]

The system thoughtfully popped up the shop page for Ming Jiu.

The types of crop seeds and seedlings offered by the system shop were very similar to the crops on Blue Star before they underwent mutation. The grains, vegetables, and fruits they grew tasted more or less the same, though the system's versions were of somewhat better quality.

Each category of seeds in the shop had a simple description on its details page.

Most of the seeds came from the system's home world—an "advanced" interstellar world—where scientists had restored and improved them, ensuring that the crops retained traits such as being non-toxic, nutritious, and tasty while also adapting to the relatively harsh natural environments of system worlds.

But this still could not change the fact that interstellar worlds lacked high-quality natural food. Thus, the farm system, capable of traveling through various "low-level" worlds, came into being.

Seeds and seedlings were broadly divided into two types—single-use varieties and seed-producing varieties.

With the former, one packet of seeds could only be planted in one system farmland plot, and after one season of crops matured, they had to be purchased again. Accordingly, they were cheap. Seeds that could produce their own seeds, on the other hand, were much more expensive.

For example, a packet of single-use lettuce or tomato seeds cost 10 silver coins, while seed-producing varieties cost 5 gold coins and 8 gold coins per packet respectively.

After harvesting one farmland plot, the seeds obtained could at most plant 1.5 plots. It was not as though she could get however many seeds she wanted.

Though she would eventually earn back the cost of seed-producing seeds, the cycle was quite long.

The farm was very strict when it came to profits. There was basically no way to exploit loopholes or farm benefits, at least not that Ming Jiu had discovered so far.

With only a small number of farmland plots, making money easily was impossible. She could only grind.

Take tomatoes and lettuce. One farmland plot could harvest one thousand to one thousand two hundred kilograms of tomatoes. Tomatoes took one hour to grow, and the system's purchase price was 1.5 copper coins per kilogram.

In other words, one season of tomatoes brought in 15 to 18 silver coins. After deducting the 10 silver coins spent on single-use seeds, the profit for one hour was 5 to 8 silver coins.

Lettuce, meanwhile, yielded around five thousand kilograms per plot, but its purchase price was a pitiful 0.25 copper coins. Planting one crop of lettuce only earned 2.5 silver coins.

But lettuce had a shorter growing cycle. After one-click planting, it only needed fifteen minutes to mature and be harvested, equivalent to earning 10 silver coins per hour.

Growing lettuce seemed more profitable than growing tomatoes, but it had to be harvested and replanted every fifteen minutes, requiring more effort.

Other crops were roughly the same. The difference in net profit between different crops did not exceed 6 silver coins.

In her previous life, Ming Jiu had barely ever slept through the night in order to make full use of every farmland plot.

This time, with money in hand, Ming Jiu spent one thousand gold coins on seeds and seedlings. They were all seed-producing varieties, leaving 7,220 gold coins in her account.

From now until the early days before the natural disaster arrived, Ming Jiu did not plan to spend any more gold coins expanding the farm.

She had to save this money.

What if Zuo Junhao had stockpiled a great deal of supplies that required refrigeration or freezing?

Things like fresh food and medicine. She had to be ready at any time to expand the warehouse's capacity, so she had to keep gold coins on hand.

Over the next ten-odd days, she also needed to purchase a huge amount of supplies herself. She would need the system's help—for example, listing supplies and concealing records of her spending.

The monthly service only covered surveillance. She had to set aside enough to pay the system's compensation...

The system panel showed that the purchase was complete. A pile of boxes appeared on the grass in front of the spatial warehouse, all filled with seeds and seedlings.

There were more than a hundred types of staple foods, vegetables, and annual fruits. The moment the system finished creating the land, Ming Jiu tore open the packages and planted them all with one click.

Farm upgrades also required gold coins. The condition for upgrading from level 0 to level 1 was for the system's total purchase value to reach 100 gold coins. Ming Jiu did a rough calculation—she only needed to grind for five or six hours for the farm to level up smoothly.

Having lots of land was amazing!