Fortunately, there was no one around Li Xingkong's farm. After lying there for half the day, he struggled into the kitchen and wolfed down a meal.
He rested for quite a while longer before his body recovered, and then the system took over.
Li Xingkong watched helplessly as his body moved toward the secret chamber, grabbed a tube for storing materials, and walked inside.
The dust from the explosion had long since settled, leaving the entire floor of the secret chamber covered in a thick layer of powder.
Finding a piece of material with a suitable particle size in this environment would undoubtedly be like panning for gold in sand if Li Xingkong did it himself-utterly impossible. Even the system had to devote a large portion of its energy to scanning before it could find the right material.
After searching the chamber for a while, Li Xingkong felt the energy in his body draining rapidly. If there had been a battery indicator in front of him, he would surely have seen it dropping from full at the speed of flowing water.
Finally, just as the battery was about to run dry, the system moved. He lightly patted one spot with his hand, then swung the tube in his other hand over it and put the lid on.
"All right, now we're only missing the last few materials."
The system was a little happy too. Every additional material they collected brought Li Xingkong one step closer to starting his cultivation. And for the system, it meant less time suffering the torment of possession.
"Damn, what you just did to me left me more exhausted than going three days without food."
The fact that Li Xingkong still had the leisure to joke around could only mean that he was slowly growing accustomed to his current state.
He climbed out of the secret chamber, grabbed a handful of high-energy bars, and ate them one per bite. In just a few seconds, he had finished more than a dozen. Only then did the color slowly return to his face.
"Would it be better for me to put on some weight now? That would count as an energy reserve too."
Li Xingkong asked the system as he ate. He ate so much every day and still couldn't keep up with the system's exertions. By now, eating was almost becoming a form of torture for him.
He couldn't help recalling the people he had seen chewing betel nut in the south of the Divine Land. Because they chewed betel nut constantly, all day long, their chewing muscles became extremely developed. Like rabbits in cartoons, they had a large bulge protruding from each cheek.
The first time he saw someone like that, he thought they had some kind of illness, like a tumor. Only later did he learn that the betel nut really had caused it, and that the bulges were chewing muscles developed to the extreme.
Li Xingkong ate a great deal now too. He needed at least five meals a day, as well as snacks in between, or he simply couldn't sustain the energy the system consumed while possessing him.
He was terrified that one day he would wake up and discover he looked like that too. That would be a little hard to accept.
"With how much you eat now, putting on weight would be difficult."
The system spoke bluntly. "Every time I use your body, I have to handle it with the utmost care. Do you know what it's like when a person picks up an ant? Too little force and you can't hold it; too much and you crush it to death."
"All I can say is, the more you eat, the longer I can use your body."
"Well, thank you so much for not crushing me to death!" Li Xingkong said irritably to the system as he ate.
"Hey, if I crushed you to death, I'd have to find someone else and teach him kindergarten for another dozen years or more. That would wear me to death."
The system grumbled.
"So, let's just take our time cultivating!"
After eating, Li Xingkong tidied up the area around the house, which had been left in a terrible mess that day, and then prepared to rest and attend class.
As for farming, Li Xingkong had only used it as an excuse to find a secluded place. He had never actually planned to grow anything, at least not at this stage.
After nearly another busy week, the daily blasts to open the secret chamber had almost become Li Xingkong's everyday entertainment. Other people did ten-pulls on their phones; he did a single pull for materials in the chamber every day. They really were a little similar.
That day, Li Xingkong had just finished a blast and once again gotten nothing. He was about to tidy up and go inside when three cars approached from a distance.
Li Xingkong was sure he had never seen the three cars before. It was rather unusual for cars to come his way at this hour.
The cars pulled up in front of Li Xingkong's house and stopped. Several people in suits got out. A woman emerged from the middle car, while those who got out of the other two looked more like her security personnel.
"Hello, are you Mr. Li Xingkong?"
The woman wore a very formal suit with a small square badge on her chest. Her blond hair was tied in a long ponytail that hung down her back, and she wore gold-rimmed glasses.
"That's me. And you are?"
Li Xingkong searched his memory and confirmed that he had never met the woman.
"Xierlin Laming. I'm an office worker with the Prisoner Continent Agriculture Bureau. The next sowing season is almost here, and we noticed that your farm hasn't registered what it intends to plant. So we're visiting and surveying farm owners who have newly joined Prisoner Continent."
The woman stepped forward and extended her hand to Li Xingkong as she explained why she had come.
"Li Xingkong."
Li Xingkong stepped forward, shook Xierlin's hand, and briefly gave his name.
"This is my first time living on Prisoner Continent. I didn't know farms here had to file a registration."
Li Xingkong explained. He thought the Agriculture Bureau was rather too dedicated, coming all the way out to such a remote place.
"Yes, which is why we came," Xierlin said. "Won't you invite me in for a cup of tea, sir?"
"Of course, please come in." Li Xingkong led the way to the living room of his little house, welcoming the visitors inside.
"Sorry to have you all come calling in person when you're so busy."
After inviting the visitors to sit down, Li Xingkong rummaged through the kitchen, found a few tea bags, and made some tea.
"You jest. It's our job." Xierlin sat upright on one side of the sofa and began searching for documents in the bag she had brought.
By the time Li Xingkong came out carrying the tea, she had found all the documents he needed to deal with.
"I should remind you that we will record what crops you intend to plant this season, and someone will conduct occasional inspections afterward. If there are other crops on your farm, you will be fined."
Li Xingkong took the documents and glanced over them. There was a crop survey form, a seed source registration form, and an agricultural insurance policy.
"Agricultural insurance? Is this part of your job too?"
Li Xingkong pulled out the insurance policy and spoke to Xierlin.
"Of course. This is purchased under a unified arrangement by the Prisoner Continent Government. Every farm has to buy it."
Xierlin blinked and took a sip of tea as she spoke.
Li Xingkong noticed her involuntary little gesture and got a general idea. This insurance was definitely her own side job.
After looking over the policy, Li Xingkong found nothing excessive in it. To put it plainly, it was a standard, legal insurance policy. The only difference was that it cost more than the ones he had found online.
Of course, Li Xingkong wasn't short of money. Annoying an Agriculture Bureau official over that little bit of money would only be asking for trouble. Before long, he had decided what crops to grow and filled out the forms.
As for the seeds, Mike had left them behind. Fortunately, the transaction records were still there, or Li Xingkong really wouldn't have known what kind of seeds they were.
He handed the documents back to the woman from the Agriculture Bureau, who was equally swift and decisive. She took one look at them and put them away.
Everyone in the room soon stood up, ready to leave.
"Pleasure working with you. I hope you have a bountiful harvest this year!"
After giving Li Xingkong one final well-wish, the Agriculture Bureau party hurried away. From the looks of it, they still had quite a few places to visit.
"So I really do have to farm this land."
After the Agriculture Bureau left, Li Xingkong looked up Prisoner Continent's agricultural policies in detail. Every year, he had to register what he was planting, and he had to plant something; the land couldn't be left fallow. If the land lay fallow for two consecutive years, the Prisoner Continent Government had the right to reclaim it.