Focusing on the coral-like device, a system pop-up window popped up at the perfect moment.
[ΦHigh-Efficiency Water Quality Optimizer]
[Quality: Bronze]
[This Zeta-created water purification device removes harmful substances from water and improves its quality.]
Excellent!
While the water from Shen Yi's well is drinkable and won't cause diarrhea, its quality isn't exactly excellent.
Add to that the inconvenience of boiling water, and it's not surprising that long-term drinking could lead to urinary and kidney stones.
Shen Yi immediately stored the system in his [Warehouse], preparing to install it in his safe house.
Not bad...
Shen Yi was pleased with it.
Even the pain in his body had subsided.
The interior of this ruin was vast, with each floor spanning over a thousand square meters.
While exploring, the two encountered another Zeta zombie.
With previous experience, Shen Yi's combat skills were improving.
He became calmer, dodging the zombie's attacks with ease. With his agility, he repeatedly attacked from the side and rear, ultimately killing it.
[Obtain Black Iron Treasure Chest*1]
The exploration of the first floor was quickly concluded, with little to show for it besides the water purification device.
In a corner of the first floor, they found a staircase leading down.
Walking through the ruins with Apollos, Shen Yi felt like Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling searching for treasure in an ancient tomb.
From time to time, they encountered zongzi.
Deeper into the ruins, on the second floor, the walls were covered in murals, their colors dull yet still terrifying. Ochre, black, and pale white, they depicted twisted limbs and breathtakingly frenzied expressions. They depicted a grand and horrific sacrifice.
The largest depicted a group of Zetas performing a ritual around a massive altar. Hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of Zetas knelt outside the altar.
A crowd gathered, and on the central platform, a priest, draped in elaborate attire and ornaments,
held a black scepter in his hand. It was no ordinary sacrificial vessel, but a dark, writhing mass.
Below, dozens of sacrificed beings, their bodies bent at inhuman angles, as if their spines had been removed, climbed upwards in an endless stream, merging into the shadowy mass.
The murals were vividly alive.
Shen Yi's face changed slightly as he noticed the priests depicted in the ancient murals seemed to be moving.
As if manipulated by some unseen force, they were repeating a ritual from thousands of years ago.
Seeing this, Shen Yi felt a strange sensation deep within him. He
felt as if he too was being affected, and he wanted to kneel down in worship.
Just then, the priest in the mural slowly turned his head, his gaze seemingly piercing the stone wall as he gazed at Shen Yi.
Shen Yi's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, his face paled, and fear washed over him.
What the hell was this thing?
The aged priest, like the Zeta zombie Shen Yi had killed, had four vertically arranged eyeballs on his head!
He looked at Shen Yi and suddenly opened his mouth, revealing sharp teeth and a long, scarlet tongue.
How terrifying!
Shen Yi was horrified.
He felt the priest's eyes were filled with an uncanny evil, and he was actually smiling at Shen Yi.
[You've been spotted by the Zeta Priest.]
[Do you accept the Zeta Priest's blessing and become a Zeta follower? Reject and you'll be marked and hunted.]
Become a follower?
What a freak!
Shen Yi's eyelids twitched. While this Zeta Priest's blessing should have given him some sort of buff, becoming their follower?
That was definitely not a good thing!
Without hesitation, Shen Yi chose... Refuse!
"You've rejected the Zeta Priest's blessing. You've been marked as an enemy of the Zetas."
"When you appear within 100 kilometers of the Zetas, they'll hunt you down."
Shen Yi cursed inwardly.
But being their enemy was better than being their follower.
He didn't want to become a monster.
Shen Yi slashed at the mural with his bone-chopping knife. Sparks
flew, but the blow failed to damage the mural.
"Let's go see what else is there." Shen Yi didn't bother to argue with the mural anymore. Since he'd already been marked, he could only deal with it as it came.
Although this thing was freakish, Shen Yi suspected it wouldn't pose a threat to him for a while.
It was really bad luck.
Shen Yi and Apollos continued to explore the second floor. In addition to the murals, there were some decorations on this floor that looked like religious totems, but Shen Yi didn't take any.
The second floor was a bit empty, and then came the bottom floor.
The space on this floor was not large, but the harvest was quite a lot!
In a room that looked like a warehouse, Shen Yi found some cloth.
[Silka Velvet*10]
[Woven using a giant fungus called "Silka". It is light, thin and soft, and has certain temperature-regulating properties. It can fine-tune the fiber gap according to the ambient temperature.]
[Light Moss Satin*15]
[Woven from the fibers of a bioluminescent moss that grows in dark caves, it has a good warming effect.]
A good harvest!
Shen Yi was overjoyed.
These cloths had surprisingly not rotted after all these years.
His clothes were already tattered, and these would be just the right amount to make a few more clothes. Especially the light moss satin, which was warm and thick enough, and could even be used to make two sets of bedding.
That way, he wouldn't have to worry about the cold at night.
He finally had to go out and explore.
Shen Yi thought to himself that while wilderness exploration was risky, it could be a real way to make money compared to staying at base.
The three treasure chests and all that cloth alone were worth over 500 points. If the treasure chests yielded something good, the value would be well into the 1,000 wasteland points.
Shen Yi had a feeling that if he could demolish the goblin camp, the rewards would be even greater than exploring this ruin.
After receiving the cloth, Shen Yi thought his exploration was over, a complete success.
But something unexpected happened.
In the corner of another small room, he found some stones.
Pale red stones, half a foot square.
This...
Shen Yi picked it up and examined it, his eyes lit up with ecstasy!
Salt Bricks:
Salt bricks are primarily composed of crystal salt rock formed by the compression of the earth's crust. They are primarily salt. Rich in iron, calcium, magnesium, and dozens of other essential minerals, they help balance and restore energy, relax the nerves, relieve fatigue, and boost metabolism.
Great!
Shen Yi was thrilled. This pile of salt bricks numbered over a hundred, each weighing approximately thirty kilograms. He had already obtained thousands of kilograms of salt.
Furthermore, these salt bricks could be consumed directly, without purification!
With Shen Yi's current technological level, he had no idea how to purify them.
He quickly stored the salt bricks in his [Warehouse].
After storing the salt bricks, the system's built-in [Warehouse] finally displayed a full warehouse notification.
The acquisition of these salt bricks marked the success of this trip.
Three thousand kilograms of salt was more than Shen Yi could ever devour.
As he and Apollos exited and returned to the first floor, Shen Yi gazed at the shimmering walls and gave a cold smile.
"Apollos, dig these rocks up and take them away."
Needless to say, these stones were top-quality building stone. Not only were they beautiful, they were pleasant to the touch, and crucially, they glowed softly at night. Shen Yi couldn't even imagine what it would feel like to replace them with his own cabin.
"And that starry sky ceiling, take it down too. Don't damage it," Shen Yi pointed at the flowing starry sky on the ceiling.
Apollos nodded, and the robotic arm extended and began to work.
Shen Yi himself went outside the ruins to wait for Apollos.
While waiting for Apollos to work, Shen Yi began to count his gains.
Three treasure chests: [Silka Fungus Velvet*10], [Light Moss Satin*15], and [Salt Brick*105]—a true windfall.
Shen Yi opened the black iron treasure chest first.
"You have obtained: Wire*3, Bread*3."
Shen Yi shook his head. This reward wasn't ideal.
He then opened the remaining two bronze treasure chests.
"You have obtained: 5 Iron Blocks, 4 Aluminum Blocks, 3 Copper Blocks." Shen
Yi nodded. While the contents of this treasure chest weren't particularly valuable, they were quite versatile.
When the last treasure chest was opened, Shen Yi's eyes lit up.
It was a manufacturing blueprint!
[Zeta House Manufacturing Blueprint]
[Quality: Bronze]
[Zeta-style egg-shaped house structure, offering superior insulation, stability, security, and privacy]. Shen
Yi had previously been struggling with how to upgrade his safehouse, but this blueprint was a real relief.
The rewards of this trip far exceeded Shen Yi's expectations.
He was already eager to return home.
Two hours later, Apollos had mined over a dozen Zeta ruins wall stones, plus three starry sky roofs.
The starry sky roofs were too large to remove entirely, and Apollos's cargo box was a bit small, so he had to cut off a portion.
The aesthetics were somewhat diminished, but there was nothing he could do about it.
[Cloud Stone*15]
[The texture is smooth and flowing, the material is as smooth as jade, a common building material used by the Zeta people.]
Nice!
Shen Yi was extremely satisfied. The cloud stone filled Apollos's cargo box to the brim.
A full load!
Shen Yi was in great joy, and his steps felt light as he walked.
The journey back was smooth sailing. No wild beasts attacked, and no valuables were found.
The only flaw was that the traps yielded nothing.
Without sufficient bait, it was still difficult to catch prey.
Back at base, more than half a day had passed.
Shen Yi had a quick bite, rested for a while, and then returned to his busy work.
He could not afford to be lazy.
In this world full of dangers, becoming bigger and stronger was his top priority.
After discovering the goblin camp and learning about the map refresh, the sense of urgency intensified. Shen Yi wanted to develop his own safe house 24 hours a day.
During his break, Shen Yi first checked out the trading market. A constant stream of high-quality items were being added daily, with both variety and quantity increasing dramatically.
He quickly scanned the categories he was interested in and saw new blueprints, but the price-performance ratio was still low, and he wasn't sure where to start.
Shen Yi had sold a lot of high-quality items like well water on the trading market, and even sold out of the well water.
His Wasteland Points had risen to over 300 again.
Surprised, he opened the chat channel and scrolled through it, only to find someone scolding the young soldier, claiming he'd given him diarrhea after drinking his water.
So that's what he was talking about.
Shen Yi smiled slightly. Some players probably couldn't even boil water for daily life, so they simply bought cold water. Diarrhea was common with weak stomachs,
but the well water he was selling was marked as clean by the system, and it immediately became a sought-after item.
Shen Yi paid special attention to information related to the ruins and the goblin camp.
Occasional players mentioned finding something within the ruins, but the information was scarce, but it was clear that the ruins did offer a wealth of valuables.
No one mentioned the goblin camp at all.
The only similarity was that a player named Sun Dahai reported a centaur tribe near his safehouse, which made him uneasy.
Shen Yi still had no idea how to deal with the goblins.
He struggled out of bed and began the second half of his workday.
First, he fetched water and put it on the market.
To maintain sales, he didn't take advantage of the situation and raise the price, as that would be unethical.
After days of hard work, Shen Yi felt his strength and endurance had increased. Fetching dozens of buckets of water didn't feel like a struggle.
The constant supply of water was sold at the auction for Wasteland Points,
a feeling that brought him joy.
There was still some wood and stone left, but Shen Yi had assigned Apollos to gather some, trying to accumulate as much as possible before the map refreshed, in case of emergency.
Thirty meters from the safehouse was where Shen Yi was currently storing his materials. Neatly stacked piles of wood and stone were the fruits of Apollos's labor.
It was all wealth...
Shen Yi had reaped a rich harvest on this trip.
The item that most intrigued him was the Zeta House Crafting Blueprint. He had originally wanted to upgrade his safehouse directly, but this required not only 10 Cloudstones, 15 Stones, and 5 Wood, but also 1,500 Wasteland Points.
Of course, Shen Yi could also use the blueprint to build a completely new house, but the materials and Wasteland Points would be doubled.
Therefore, Shen Yi had to upgrade his existing cabin,
another significant point-consuming option. He
only had two days to upgrade his safehouse.
With the blueprint, the point cost was significantly reduced, which was good news.
Unable to upgrade his house, Shen Yi had to continue improving his living space.
He took out some fabric and, using the crafting panel, crafted two sets of sheets and quilts using Silk Fungus Velvet and Light Moss Satin.
Silk Fungus Velvet, with its light, smooth texture, was used as a sheet to lay on lizard skin, while Light Moss Satin, with its thickness exceeding 1mm, was used as a quilt.
Simply because there was no filling, the fabric Chen Yi crafted from light moss satin wasn't so much a quilt as it was... a quilt cover.
He tried to buy some cotton or down for filling at the market, but none were available, so he gave up.
Even so, with these two sets of sheets, lonely nights would be less unbearable.
Seeing he still had plenty of fabric left, Chen Yi decided to make himself two more sets of clothing.
Silk fungus velvet and light moss satin were both very dark in color. The manufacturing panel only had the simplest Zhongshan suit style, and the designs weren't particularly attractive. Putting them on made him feel like he'd been transported back decades.
"The quality's pretty good. I hope it lasts longer." Coming to this world wasn't without its advantages. At least I no longer had to
worry about my appearance. Chen Yi thought, finding a way to make peace with himself.
Before arriving in this world, buying clothes was a considerable expense.
He tried on the silk fungus velvet garment. It was very thin and smooth, perfect for summer wear. It
could be worn as an inner layer, though.
The light moss satin garment was warmer and more suitable for this temperature.-+ At night, sleeping on a wooden bed covered with lizard skin and sheets, Shen Yi felt incredibly soft and comfortable.
That night, he fell into a deep sleep.
Google search for TWKAN .
This was the best night's sleep Shen Yi had ever had since entering this world.
He didn't even hear the wild beasts' roars that disturbed him at night.
He was woken by the cold.
The unstuffed quilt was still a little too thin.
[January 4th, Wasteland Era]
[Congratulations, you've made another busy and fulfilling day (Wasteland Points +10)]
[You discovered a goblin camp and conducted some observations (Wasteland Points +80)]
[You explored the Zeta ruins and killed three zombies, improving your combat power and combat experience (Wasteland Points +125)]
[You sewed sheets, improving your living conditions (Wasteland Points +10)]
Daily settlement, you earned 225 Wasteland Points.
You successfully sold 34 well water, 13 wood, and 12 stone items on the trading channel, earning 682 Wasteland Points.
Yesterday, you earned a total of 907 Wasteland Points.
The balance from the day before yesterday was 700.
You've spent 780 Wasteland Points
, bringing your total to 827.
Shen Yi felt a surge of excitement.
The increase in Wasteland Points indirectly demonstrated that his development was secure.
Everything was steadily improving.
Besides these points, he also had some considerable assets, such as machine tool blueprints and Zeta housing blueprints, each worth thousands of points.
Not to mention the over a hundred salt bricks in Shen Yi's warehouse, which were incredibly valuable.
In areas with underdeveloped productivity, the profits from producing and selling salt were tantamount to printing money.
Without a stable source of salt, Shen Yi had no plans to sell any of it at the moment. He would only sell a small amount until he discovered a salt mine.
With nearly a thousand Wasteland Points in hand, Shen Yi routinely browsed through the trading floor. If there were any blueprints or finished products related to guns, cannons, or gunpowder, Shen Yi wouldn't hesitate to pay a high price for them.
However, nothing particularly appealed to Shen Yi at the trading floor today.
The only item that struck him as worthwhile was the Bear Trap blueprint, now marked down to 450 points. He
hadn't caught any prey with it yesterday, but the blueprint still tempted him.
Now with salt bricks in hand, he could capture a large number of wild animals, curing and bacon them to store as food.
Considering the limited practicality of the Bear Trap, Shen Yi decided to hold back during this early stage of development when points were scarce.
The number of people in the chat channel was decreasing daily, with 152 fewer people yesterday compared to the day before.
Shen Yi frowned upon seeing this number.
These people, with the system-given beginner's food and water, certainly didn't die of thirst or starvation; they were likely victims of accidents in the wild.
Another warning to Shen Yi:
Be cautious in this world!
"Another busy day!" Shen Yi got up and washed up.
He put on his new clothes.
His mood lifted.
Checking the trading floor and chat channels before waking up in the morning had become a must-do for him, much like checking TikTok and Weibo before arriving in this world.
It felt like he was being overwhelmed by messages.
Today's chat channels were rather lifeless, with few people talking.
Shen Yi guessed it was because they weren't in the mood.
Hungry, cold, and constantly worried, no one would be in the mood to chat.
Many messages were pleading with the food and water vendors to offer lower prices.
Many mentioned Shen Yi.
Of the few water sellers on the trading floor, his was the only one selling well water, the cleanest.
Diarrhea from drinking unclean water was a near-fatal disaster in this wilderness.
Shen Yi thought for a moment and decided to lower the price of his bucket of water by one Wasteland Point.
After all, a one or two point discount wouldn't make a difference.
The more players who survived, the better his stone, wood, or other goods would sell.
He had to understand the principle of steady progress.
Moreover, the lowered price will lead to increased sales, and he may make more money in the end.
Seeing that Shen Yi lowered the price, many people thanked him in the channel.
Shen Yi remained silent.
He was more concerned about the information he didn't know about this world.
After getting up, Shen Yi still did his routine work, fetching water, checking the charcoal kiln...
These actions have made him feel accustomed to them.
After finishing these things, Shen Yi started to work on something new.
Food is enough recently. In addition to the food given to novices at the beginning, he also has canned fish with fermented black beans and bread obtained from monsters.
With the addition of dried lizard meat, there is no need to rush to hunt for the time being.
Without the right hunting tools and weapons, it is difficult to catch those agile animals.
The demand for weapons is becoming more and more urgent.
As for how to get advanced weapons, Shen Yi is also at a loss.
But there is no point in being anxious.
He can only calm down and slowly look for opportunities.
Chen Yi looked at his warehouse inventory. He wanted to make a machine tool, but unfortunately, it required 10 units of cast iron, 5 units of stainless steel, 2 units of aluminum alloy, 1 unit of copper, and 1 unit of rubber.
He had some iron and aluminum blocks, but making cast iron required a furnace, and no one was able to obtain one right away.
He could only wait for someone to sell it at the market.
No wonder they were even selling the machine tool blueprints. Just those 10 units of cast iron alone would be enough to make a fortune.
After building the machine tool, he still had to solve the power problem. Once all that was done, production would be ready...
The whole process was incredibly long, and there was a chance it would never be completed.
But Chen Yi had no regrets.
Despite the enormous expense, the machine tool would bring surprising returns.
One must take a long-term view and not be concerned with short-term gains or losses.
Yesterday at the Zeta ruins, Chen Yi dismantled a water purification system called the [Φ High-Efficiency Water Quality Optimizer].
Today, Chen Yi would install it.
The entire water purification system measured approximately 1.5 x 1.5 meters. With such a large unit, Shen Yi's already small cabin suddenly felt even more cramped.
The desire to upgrade the safehouse grew more urgent.
The Zeta people's water purification system was biological and didn't require electricity. It was covered in coral-like organisms, which covered a large black stone similar to activated carbon.
Water was poured into the system's inlet, where it was drawn into the black stone and then seeped out through the coral-like organisms' skin.
The purified water dripped into a pool below the system.
It was a very interesting design.
With the help of Apollos, Shen Yi placed the water purification system in a corner away from the toilet to minimize floor space.
Even so, the cabin still felt even more cramped.
After securing the water purification system, Shen Yi filled a bucket of water into the inlet, and the system began to work slowly.
The coral-like organisms immediately became vibrantly colored.
After entering the inlet, the water was initially filtered by the large black rocks, then entered the coral-like organism from the inside and seeped out the other side.
After more than ten minutes, some water had accumulated in the pool below.
[ΦActive Water]
[Extremely clean water, optimized by the ΦHigh-Efficiency Water Optimizer. Drinking it can improve your health and strengthen your constitution.]
Seeing the system's note, Chen Yi's mouth curled up.
Can drinking it improve your constitution?
I wonder if it's like a health supplement?
But... the system wouldn't be so boring, would it?
Chen Yi scooped up a cup and poured it into his mouth.
Sweet and refreshing!
Chen Yi's eyes lit up. He had never tasted water so delicious before. It
was like drinking a light beverage.
The feeling was simply wonderful.
More importantly, after drinking a cup, he felt refreshed and full of strength.
The pain in his injured shoulder and collarbone was actually easing...
Could this idea of improving your health and strengthening your constitution be true?
Chen Yi was overjoyed.
He immediately fetched two more buckets of water and poured them into the inlet.
The ΦHigh-Efficiency Water Quality Optimizer's purification speed wasn't fast, purifying about five liters per hour.
This output was not only sufficient for Chen Yi's use, but also gave him plenty of activated water to sell on the market.
Chen Yi had a vague feeling that this water might be even more effective than he'd imagined.
However, his safe house didn't yet have running water, so he had to use a wooden bucket to fill the water purifier. Even flushing the toilet required him to fetch water repeatedly.
This was very inconvenient for Shen Yi, who was used to simply turning on the faucet and having water pour out .
Shouldn't he build a water storage tank?
After installing the water purification system, Shen Yi immediately set to work on his next task.
Today, he wanted to further improve his living environment.
According to the system settings, actively renovating the safe house, including crafting furniture, would earn bonus Wasteland Points.
And right now, Shen Yi was desperate for points.
First up... a shower.
Shen Yi had originally wanted to make a showerhead, but unfortunately, the system didn't have a recipe for one within the crafting panel.
To make a showerhead, one either had to roll one by hand or purchase a blueprint.
Since neither option was currently feasible, Shen Yi had no choice but to build himself a bathtub.
Hmm...
Between a large wooden tub and a granite tub, Shen Yi chose the bathtub.
The main task was entrusted to the brave and skilled Apollos.
A raw stone bathtub.
This wasn't a simple matter of quarrying stone; it was a struggle between man and nature, an artistic practice of transforming eternal hardness into gentle curves.
The entire process was filled with the coarseness of stone dust and the echoing roar of machinery.
First, the final form of the bathtub: a neat rectangle, an elegant oval, or a modern, unusual shape?
Shen Yi decided on a spherical shape, similar to a pebble.
Without drafting tools, precise curves and angles were impossible, so he had to rely on verbal instructions.
The selection of the stone was the most crucial step.
Not all granite is suitable.
Large, uncut stones from the mine must be selected, free of natural cracks.
Even the slightest flaw could lead to catastrophic cracking during later processing and use.
Shen Yi selected a stone with a uniform texture and no cracks.
After Apollos mined the stone, he performed the initial cutting.
According to Shen Yi's specifications, the stone was cut into a spherical shape approximately 2.2 meters.
Next came the most crucial and time-consuming step: hollowing out.
Using a large drill bit, Apollos drilled a series of dense holes in the center of the rough material, creating a continuous contour, like the holes in a postage stamp, to initially remove the "waste material" within.
After removing the waste material, Apollos used his own milling cutter to "chip away" at the inner stone, layer by layer, carving out the bathtub's interior.
This process requires immense patience and precision, and sufficient wall thickness must be reserved.
Apollos handled this effortlessly,
like a CNC machine tool, with exceptional precision.
After milling, the bathtub had taken shape, leaving only polishing and installation.
After a simple polishing, a bathtub was complete.
Made of natural stone, the bathtub possessed a unique beauty within its roughness, a quality unmatched by ordinary porcelain bathtubs.
Shen Yi was eager to soak in it, but the cabin was too small, so he had to wait until the safehouse was upgraded.
Halfway through the charcoal burning process, Shen Yi wanted to build a stove for cooking and heating the safehouse.
Unfortunately, granite couldn't be used directly in a stove, either in contact with an open flame or as the inner wall of the combustion chamber. Under constant high temperatures or direct flames, the pressure built up within the granite could cause it to crack violently or even explode.
Shen Yi didn't have the right materials on hand, so
he had to postpone the project.
While working today, Shen Yi felt restless.
The threat of the goblins hung over him like a dark cloud.
If only I had a gun...
Shen Yi thought to himself.
He instinctively opened the trading platform and was browsing the weapons section when he suddenly shuddered and stopped.
[Ordinary Longbow]
[Range: 300 meters, with strong lethality. (Crafted by Wang Lin)]
This bow costs only 80 Wasteland Points.
Since it's player-made and relatively inexpensive, Shen Yi bought it without hesitation.
Bows and arrows were a highly useful weapon in the era of cold weapons.
Their advantages and disadvantages are clear. Their advantages are a range exceeding 100 meters, allowing them to attack enemies from behind cover. Their biggest disadvantage is that they're difficult to master, requiring both a precise crosshair and considerable strength.
Ancient archers were often strong men, while ordinary people couldn't even draw a powerful bow.
Without extensive training, becoming an archer is impossible.
Surviving in this wasteland, Shen Yi relies on the shelter of a safehouse, and the bow and arrow are a very useful weapon. Imagine, during an enemy attack, he hides in his safehouse and fires arrows. Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Enemies are all shot down...
Archery is good, and archery must be learned.
He spent another 20 Wasteland Points to buy 100 arrows, and Shen Yi finally acquired his second weapon since the Bone-Chopping Knife.
This bow is about 1.7 meters long and weighs about one and a half kilograms. Its style is the most primitive bow and arrow in costume dramas. The bowstring is made of the tendon of an ox or some other animal, and it is very elastic.
Shen Yi pulled it lightly, and it was very tight, requiring a lot of force to pull it open.
Shen Yi tried it carefully.
He felt that his strength seemed to be much greater than before. I wonder if it was because he kept working in this world.
Before coming to this world, Shen Yi had never drawn a bow, but had seen it on TV. He knew that if the bow was drawn in the wrong way, it might hurt his fingers.
After thinking about it, Shen Yi asked anonymously in the chat channel.
"Can any big guy explain to me how to use a bow and arrow? Thank you very much."-+ After a moment, someone answered.
"Yang Hua: When shooting, stand sideways with your feet level with your shoulders. Hold the bow in one hand, wearing a protective shield. Release the arrow with your other hand. Hook your index, middle, and ring fingers on the string and pull back, resting the arrow on the bow's auxiliary rod, with the nock hooked on the string.
Raise your bow arm and align it with your shoulder. Keep your backhand, which is holding the bow, in line with your bow arm. Pull the string to the corner of your mouth, and then begin aiming.
Keep your arms steady when releasing the arrow, and be careful not to injure your fingers with the bowstring's pullback. It's best to use a sheath on your arrow-gripping finger."
Chen Yi couldn't help but exclaim in admiration: "Professional."
He wanted to thank Yang Hua in the chat room, but the one-sentence-a-day limit meant he couldn't express his gratitude. He
silently memorized Yang Hua's name, intending to express his gratitude again someday.
He Googled TWKAN
, cut a small piece of lizard skin into a finger guard, and took his new bow and arrow to test it.
This bow had an effective range of approximately three hundred meters. Shen Yi wasn't aiming for a hit that far; if he could hit the enemy within a hundred or two hundred meters, he'd already achieved his goal.
He fashioned a target from a piece of wood and, holding the longbow, moved to a position about a hundred meters away and began shooting.
He held the bow in his left hand, drew the string with his right, and held the arrow's tail between his index and middle fingers.
The entire movement wasn't difficult, but it was challenging to execute correctly, especially the distance between his arms and chest, as well as the placement of the bow and arrow. Without professional guidance, it was difficult.
Yang Hua's instructions were simple text, after all, and many key points needed to be pointed out in practice.
Shen Yi could clearly feel his arms were much stronger than before, especially his hands, which were much more stable.
This was good news,
Shen Yi thought to himself.
Archery is undoubtedly a test of arm strength. The ancient bows that could reach a thousand paces required only the most skilled of men to pull them off.
Recalling the movements of archers in television dramas and sports events, Shen Yi drew the bow with his right hand, pressing the bowstring against the right side of his cheek.
He tried to connect the three points: the tail, the arrowhead, and the target—a straight line.
Three points converge, shoot!
Shen Yi shouted softly, his fingers loosening.
The arrow, at a speed barely perceptible to the naked eye, whizzed towards the target.
And then... it missed.
It was a bit far off, missing the mark by a good five or six meters.
Shen Yi gave an awkward smile, then re-stringed the bow, making fine adjustments based on the position of his last shot.
With that as a guide, Shen Yi's shot was much more accurate this time.
Whoosh!
The arrow transformed into a glazed star and shot out.
Excellent!
Shen Yi missed the target again, but only by a meter.
Then came the third and fourth arrows.
Again, they missed, but Shen Yi's accuracy was slowly improving.
Finally, with the fifth arrow, Shen Yi finally hit the target.
Shen Yi was a man of observation and learning, memorizing the angle of his shot and the position of the arrow to hit the target.
Although he still missed the target with the next few arrows, his hit rate continued to improve.
Thus, Shen Yi practiced over and over again.
All one hundred arrows he had purchased were used up.
He returned to the target and began collecting them.
Archery practice eased Shen Yi's anxiety.
With a bow and arrow, he could attack enemies from a distance, placing Apollos at his side as a guard. This
gave him strategic depth.
Archery, a highly difficult attack method, wasn't something that could be mastered overnight. While bows and arrows were effective for sneak attacks or defending a city, they were far less effective against prepared enemies or moving targets.
However, acquiring this bow was already a major step forward.
From then on, Shen Yi practiced tirelessly.
This was a life-saving skill.
He had only been in this world for a few days, but he had already encountered danger numerous times.
And more importantly, he had yet to truly engage in combat with powerful enemies...
Archery practice would become one of Shen Yi's most important priorities for the time being.
While Shen Yi practiced, Apollos continued to toil.
While mining granite, he discovered a common industrial raw material: saltpeter.
Shen Yi had learned a great deal about saltpeter in high school chemistry.
It can be used to make nitric acid, gunpowder, and fertilizer, making it a valuable mineral.
Shen Yi was naturally delighted with Apollo's discovery.
The potential applications of saltpeter, especially for Shen Yi, far surpassed those of wood and stone.
Thus, the tirelessly diligent Apollo, in addition to wood and stone, now had a new mission: mining saltpeter.
Of course, given Shen Yi's current conditions and understanding of chemistry, he couldn't yet refine or apply the saltpeter. He could only store it and sell it at the trading market for Wasteland Points.
As Shen Yi practiced archery, the water purification system continuously produced activated water.
This sweet and delicious water, with its endless aftertaste, delighted Shen Yi.
He even hung a few liters at the trading market to test it out.
And so, the day passed in a flurry of activity.
Shen Yi had spent another day in this world.
[Wasteland Era, January 5th]
[You successfully completed another day (Wasteland Points +10)]
[You built a bathtub and installed a water purification system, improving your quality of life (Wasteland Points +20)]
[You obtained a second weapon: a longbow, strengthening your safehouse's armament (Wasteland Points +30)]
From the daily settlement, you earned 60 Wasteland Points.
You successfully sold 35 Well Water, 10 Wood, 11 Stone, and 5 Living Water on the trading channel, earning 510 Wasteland Points.
Yesterday's total was 570 Wasteland Points.
The balance from the day before was 827 Wasteland Points.
Consuming 100 Wasteland Points
brings the current total to 1297 Wasteland Points.
The daily settlement yielded only 60 Survival Points, a pitiful sum.
If it weren't for the vast quantities of resources he could sell at the trading market, Shen Yi would be quite poor right now.
Despite holding over 1,000 Wasteland Points, Shen Yi wasn't exactly happy.
Because...
those points might be gone before he even gets to warm them up.
Chen Yi didn't know how to spend his days like other players.
A new day began.
Chen Yi, feeling the weight of another day's profit.
Covered in a quilt without a quilt, the nights were still a bit chilly.
The wind that seeped through the cracks in the cabin in the latter half of the night was especially torturous.
But that was going to change today.
After completing his routine of surfing the various channels, Chen Yi got out of bed.
After a quick wash and the last can of black bean fish and bread, he plunged back into work.
In the past few days since arriving in this world, Chen Yi had been busy from morning till night, feeling even more like a slave than before.
But...
life had to go on.
The dried lizard meat was ready, hard and dry, ready to be eaten after steaming.
However, without any seasoning, the taste was simply indescribable.
Chen Yi stored it in his warehouse as a backup ration.
He didn't dare sell the little meat he had left, fearing a shortage of food after the map refresh.
No one knew what the world would look like after the refresh.
So, even though Shen Yi absolutely disliked lizard meat, he treasured it.
The [Warehouse] was nearly full due to the salt bricks, and Shen Yi was considering selling some salt to the trading market.
Someone in the chatroom was already clamoring to buy salt.
After drying and drying the lizard meat, it weighed less than half its original weight, leaving about thirty pounds. If eaten sparingly, it would basically provide a month's supply.
Shen Yi planned to go hunting soon, hunting a few reindeer or wild goats.
These animals were more suited to Shen Yi's taste than lizard meat.
The active water sold at the trading market wasn't very popular, with only five units sold on the first day.
But Shen Yi wasn't in a hurry.
The taste and strength-boosting effects of the active water made it hard to give up once you tried it.
January 5th in the Wasteland was a day of great significance to Shen Yi.
He had gathered the materials and Wasteland Points needed to upgrade his safehouse.
"Would you like to upgrade your safehouse according to the [Zeta Housing Construction Blueprint]? The upgrade will cost 10 Cloudstones, 15 Stones, 5 Wood, and 1500 Wasteland Points." Shen
Yi naturally chose "yes" without hesitation...!
The moment he made the choice, a rumbling sound rang out, and barriers rose around Shen Yi's cabin, acting as a barrier to block the dust.
This just happened to block
Shen Yi's time, leaving him a little speechless.
The system indicated that the upgrade would take 12 hours. Seeing nothing to see, Shen Yi threw himself back into his toil.
Besides the items in the safehouse and the [Warehouse], Shen Yi currently had the following assets stored outside the safehouse: 50 Wood, 80 Stone, 20 Saltpeter, a charcoal kiln, and a well.
Saltpeter requires a cool, dry, and well-ventilated environment, so Shen Yi, with the help of Apollos, built a shed to store it.
With sufficient reserves of wood and stone, Apollos's current focus has been on saltpeter mining, preparing for future industrial production.
The safehouse hummed with activity, and Chen Yi couldn't resist checking out the progress of the upgrade.
He'd seen the blueprints; the entire safehouse would be upgraded to a two-story structure, with the upper floor for living and several basements below for storage. It was a very
practical structure, and it was well worth the wait.
The charcoal burning in the kiln was nearing completion, the smoke turning a pale blue and its density decreasing.
Chen Yi was very satisfied; the charcoal from this furnace seemed to be burning smoothly and would be ready for use soon.
After fetching dozens of buckets of water and hanging them at the trading floor, Chen Yi's routine was largely complete.
It was still early, so he began archery practice. He used
the same target from yesterday, using recycled and leftover arrows.
After yesterday's practice, 30 arrows were damaged and could no longer be recycled.
Chen Yi could only practice with the remaining 70 arrows.
For some reason, Shen Yi felt that his body was changing after he came to this world. In addition to his physical fitness improving, his five senses also became sharper, including vision and hearing.
I wonder if this is a system-given benefit to these time-traveling players.
After all, modern people lack physical exercise, living a life of luxury. Without some enhancements, they wouldn't last a few days in this wilderness.
Today's shooting had clearly improved significantly.
Shen Yi rarely missed the target, with a hit rate exceeding 90%.
This was quite impressive, hardly befitting someone who had only just started on the second day.
Shen Yi felt that his archery talent was likely enhanced by the system.
"Descendant possession!"
Shen Yi continuously drew his bow and shot, his wrist and arm aching from the repetitive drawing and shooting.
But driven by survival, he was like a tireless warrior.
Shen Yi's accuracy was rapidly improving.
From missing the target nine out of ten times at first, now he never missed even once out of dozens of attempts. He
was basically at a decent level of combat effectiveness...
Shen Yi looked at his arrows and nodded secretly.
He now had to focus on improving his accuracy and shooting at moving targets, including in windy weather.
These weren't things that could be acquired overnight.
All Shen Yi could do was to practice diligently.
He spent the entire morning training.
Almost all of the 100 arrows he'd purchased were broken.
Without hesitation, he bought another 100 at the market.
Shen Yi was resolute in his investment. After
a morning of practice, Shen Yi's proficiency with the bow and arrow had improved, both in his speed and his ability to accurately predict the trajectory of his arrows.
Archery might seem like just standing there aiming and shooting, but it's a significant amount of exercise.
After several hours of practice, Shen Yi felt exhausted and hungry.
The ideal food for this situation was naturally a combination of fat and protein.
Shen Yi pulled out a pound of dried lizard meat.
It was still raw, tough, and
the best way to cook it was by steaming or boiling it.
Shen Yi had no utensils or stoves at hand, and the few available at the market were extremely expensive.
He had to make his own way.
He took out a piece of iron he'd found in a treasure chest and had Apollos shape it into a circular shape.
Shen Yi attached a wooden handle to it, turning it into a simple pot.
He used branches to build a fire, set the pot on top, and boiled water to cook.
With the pot and wooden spatula, Shen Yi finally felt like he had entered civilized society... even if his spatula looked rather crude.
The dried meat was lowered into the water, its aroma wafting through the air.
When the meat was almost done, Shen Yi knocked a small piece of salt off the salt brick and dropped it into the pot.
The reddish salt quickly melted in the bubbling pot.
The meal was ready.
The cooked dried meat had a pleasant texture, chewy but not tough, and quite fragrant, especially with the salt, making it truly delicious. As
each piece of meat fell into his mouth, Shen Yi felt a deep sense of enjoyment.
For the entire day, except for meals and rest breaks, Shen Yi spent every moment practicing archery.
His accuracy improved even further.
Shen Yi's target had originally been a plain wooden board, but as his archery skills improved, he transformed it into a shooting range-style target with a scale of 1 to 9 rings.
He was no longer content with simply hitting the target, and was striving for even more precise shooting.
"One ring!"
"One ring!"
"Three rings!"
Shen Yi's target was certainly not standard, but as long as he could hit the 10th ring, nothing else mattered.
After an afternoon of diligent practice, Shen Yi's accuracy improved, and he could now occasionally hit within the 5th ring.
Just as he unexpectedly hit the bull's eye with an arrow, the system notification came.
[You have obtained: Basic Archery]