Chapter Bonanza (3/10)

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Jian Xingyi and Shui Xi exchanged glances, both seeing surprise in each other’s eyes.

Could it be…?!

“Xinghe, come take a look!”

Cangshui led Jian Xingyi to one of the walls and exclaimed excitedly, “300,000 bricks!”

Reducing the number from 400,000 to 350,000 had consumed countless days and nights of Cangshui’s thoughts; he had filled an entire notebook with calculations. But this was the limit—any further would defy the laws of physics and was simply impossible.

Until…

Jian Xingyi was stunned as well.

He saw vines wrapping around the bricks, filling in the gaps and binding them tightly to prevent them from collapsing. These vines looked soft and tender, a pale green, yet they were incredibly resilient—they couldn’t be torn apart by hand, and it took several swings of a knife to finally sever them.

Cangshui said, “But zombies won’t be wielding knives to hack at the wall, nor will they bombard it with artillery—otherwise, the bricks would be pointless.”

In other words, these vines were strong enough!

The brick wall before them looked sparse, but it was impenetrable to zombies and incredibly sturdy—much like a floor covered in eggs that could bear heavy weight without shattering.

Jian Xingyi stepped forward to touch it, finding it simply amazing.

Curious, he asked, “Is 300,000 the limit?”

Cangshui replied, “For now, yes. Unless you have a stronger vine, I think this is my limit.”

Cangshui’s eyes were dark and sunken; he must have been so excited after discovering this new method with the vine that he hadn’t slept a wink, eager to quickly work out new arrangements.

Jian Xingyi nodded.

At the moment, the only plant left in his backpack that was inedible and whose purpose he didn’t yet know was the green vine. However, the green vine wasn’t very resilient—in fact, it was quite fragile—though it did have the advantage of dense foliage.

Just in case, Jian Xingyi took it out to ask Cangshui. Cangshui took the green vine and examined it for a long time but couldn’t figure out what use it had.

Even if the green vine were to harden and become more resilient, it still wouldn’t be of much use.

“It’s okay… the vines have already been a huge help,” Cangshui said. “You’re so amazing… you really are the ‘resource master’ everyone talks about.”

Jian Xingyi scratched his head sheepishly. “You’re the amazing one, aren’t you…!”

After discussing it with Jian Xingyi, Cangshui 【It’s really cold】 announced the news and shared the formula.

The public chat exploded.

【Wait, Big Shot Cangshui just turned 350,000 into 300,000? That’s insane…! Big Shot Cangshui saved our lives! How did you do that?】

【Holy crap, so it was because of the collaboration with Big Shot Xinghe!】

【Wow, it turns out it was because they used Big Shot Xinghe’s vines… What kind of magical person is Big Shot Xinghe? How does he have all these weird plants? The plant that could fight zombies before was already insane enough, and now… another one that can build walls! You resource big shots have everything, don’t you!】

【Aaaah, Big Shot Xinghe just saved our lives again! I hereby declare Big Shot Xinghe to be the savior of our apocalypse!】

Jian Xingyi has also listed the vine seeds.

Just like the Potted Sprout, he bought the Vine Seeds from the VIP Store for 100 each. But considering everyone needs so many vines, setting the price too high would be a real burden. So after listing them, Jian Xingyi set the price at 1,000 Dawn Coins.

【Aaaah, thank you so much to Big Shot Cangshui for sharing the recipe, and thank you to Big Shot Xinghe for selling us vines! I’m going to plant vines in all the guild’s shared fields right now!】

【Waaah, all I can say is, people are hard to read in this era, but there are only a few I absolutely trust—like Cangshui and Wuyun, who were willing to share the recipe; like Big Brother Xinghe, who’s saved our butts so many times; and like Ms. Bai, the president of Grape Mountain Peak, and Shan Hai, who put the collective interests of all players on the server first… Waaah, I love you all so much! What do you call this? This is what they call “heroes emerging in times of chaos”!】

【Aaaah, I’m Xinghe’s lapdog!!】

【The person above????】

After Jian Xingyi listed the vines, he found they were being snapped up at a frenzied pace—everyone was afraid they’d run out.

Jian Xingyi hurriedly restocked nonstop, thinking to himself, “Now I’ve got another way to make money—yay!”

The guild chat in “Long Live” was also buzzing with excitement.

【Aaaah, being in the same guild as Big Shot Xinghe is so awesome!】

【Now we’ve got our first defensive wall sorted!】

Black Night and Daylight mentioned they were already studying the blueprints Cangshui had released.

But Cangshui was, after all, a professional. Even with Wu Yun’s help simplifying the diagrams as much as possible, most people still couldn’t quite make sense of them. It would take a while to grasp the underlying principles, so those staying behind at the guild were given a new task: helping to build the walls.

Lone Wolf: 【Just you wait! Our team up in the Snow Mountains can learn the ropes directly from Cangshui. Once we’ve mastered it, we’ll come back and teach you all.】

Akita: 【Can’t wait, can’t wait. But you can forget it—let’s just have Hihui do it. I really can’t trust a guy who needs tutoring even for math problems.】

Lone Wolf: 【Grr!!】

Seeing everyone so enthusiastic, Jian Xingyi felt infected by their energy and was quite happy.

Just then…

【Ding!】

【Congratulations to player 【Xinghe】 on achieving a Savior System achievement! Please open the Savior System to view details!】

Huh?

Jian Xingyi opened the terminal in confusion. The Savior page displayed a profile, mission achievements, and the Wish Shop. A small red dot had appeared next to the “Quests & Achievements” section.

Jian Xingyi clicked on it and discovered he had unlocked another achievement.

【Gained gratitude from half of all players on the server. Reward: 66,666 Dawn Coins, 6,666 Savior Experience, 【Wish Bottle】 x1】

【Achievement Trigger: Detected a surge of positive emotions—gratitude, admiration, trust, and loyalty—from half of all players on the server.】

Jian Xingyi: “……!!”

It could be said that every time Jian Xingyi claimed a Savior reward, he had only one reaction: Huh? It works like that??

He’d accidentally unlocked another achievement!

Oh my god…

And he never would have guessed that emotions from players actually counted.

Jian Xingyi was overjoyed—now he had two Wish Bottles!

Although the ambitious wishes in his Wish List remained unfulfilled, and the less ambitious ones—like obtaining an SS-rank seed—hadn’t budged either, and he currently had no immediate need to use a Wish Bottle, it was certainly better to have as many of these wonderful items as possible!

After returning to his room, Jian Xingyi happily began organizing his backpack and inventory, tallying his resources.

Two more days had passed, and he was ready to list another batch of items.

He currently had 1,006 Essence Points. To have gained so much in an instant was all thanks to the plants in the Snow Mountain Saint Son dungeon. Thank you, Saint Son!!

So Jian Xingyi upgraded his Pig Farming Zone 6 to Grade B. Now all his farming zones were Grade B.

After the upgrade, he was left with a pitiful 6 Essence Points.

After taking care of the livestock zones, Jian Xingyi headed to the backend to check on his fields.

After harvesting, Jian Xingyi began listing his items one by one.

Unlike last time, Jian Xingyi listed quite a few dishes this time: stir-fried lamb, braised beef, and roasted pork.

General Chat once again: ???

【Where did Big Shot Xinghe get all that meat…!】

【I thought it was expensive at first, but seeing this bonus made me shut up instantly, folks… a 50% weapon bonus!!】

【Sigh… don’t even mention the bonus—just looking at it is making my mouth water…】

Jian Xingyi didn’t list too many items; after all, they were expensive, so he still managed to sell out.

Orders came in from players across four maps and six guilds. Last time, Jian Xingyi made 20 million when all his items sold out; this time, with the meat bonus, he’d make at least 25 million. Plus, the vines in the shop were bringing in more and more revenue—in the blink of an eye, it had reached 5 million, and the figure was still rising.

He originally had 60 million; adding it all up now brings his total to just over 100 million.

A single wall no longer requires 400,000 Dawn Coins. If calculated at 300,000 per wall, Jian Xingyi would need 300 million Dawn Coins—and he’s still far short of that amount.

Jian Xingyi was a bit troubled. He checked the guild’s records.

Wood: 435,000

Zombies Killed: 7,110

As it turned out, they now had enough wood for the first wall, but they were still far short on Dawn Coins and zombie kills…

Especially the number of zombies killed.

Jian Xingyi rubbed his temples, suddenly realizing the fundamental flaw in their guild’s current setup.

Dawn Coins and wood were resources—Jian Xingyi could easily lead the charge on these, and the guild members followed his lead without question, obediently working together to gather them.

Resources were something you could acquire through hard work. But zombie kills didn’t fall into that category; they were a measure of combat strength.

No matter how hard their guild tried, their combat strength was what it was.

Next, their guild might need to focus on how to tackle the zombie-killing problem… while he’d have to worry about where to scrape together the remaining two hundred million.

Aaaargh… seriously! No wonder Ling’s temptation in the Snow Mountain Saint’s dungeon was asking him if he wanted to just give up—these resources are truly never-ending!

Jian Xingyi glanced at the guild’s accumulated real estate—from the very beginning up to now—and saw it had become a long, long, long… endless string of numbers.

If this were real life, he’d already be a billionaire!

Jian Xingyi opened his backpack with a sigh of frustration.

After organizing the fields and breeding areas in the backend, he wanted to tidy up his backpack before bed.

His inventory was now bulging with meat, and he was running out of slots, so he had to spend money to expand it.

Fortunately, he’d recently earned several 66,666 from quests, so his personal funds were still plentiful.

After expanding his inventory, Jian Xingyi spotted the rock-hard potion inside and froze.

Wait a minute…!

Rock-hard…

Rock-hard!!!

A light bulb went off in Jian Xingyi’s head, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Cangshui had said that unless there was a harder vine, 300,000 was the absolute limit.

But…

What if there was?!

Jian Xingyi now understood why the Rock-Hard Potion was the answer the dungeon had given him!

He’d said he wanted a solution to his current predicament—the dungeon wouldn’t just randomly give him something completely unrelated, would it?!

Jian Xingyi was thrilled. He immediately harvested the single Snow Lotus in his backpack.

Grade A fields can self-sustain and provide Essence. Jian Xingyi not only harvested 50 points of Essence but also obtained 20 Snow Lotus seeds.

Jian Xingyi clasped his hands together and reverently placed the snow lotus and the agricultural pesticide into the synthesis station’s slots, then clicked 【Synthesize】.

【Hard-as-a-Rock Potion】 x5 Synthesis Successful!

Wow…!

Five bottles, no less! I have to say, the system is actually pretty considerate!

Jian Xingyi poured the potion onto the vines. Each bottle held very little, barely enough for the vines in a single plot.

After he poured it, he could see with his own eyes that the originally tender green vines slowly turned a deep green. They looked as if they had aged significantly, becoming much harder, yet their toughness remained undiminished. Sharp thorns even began to grow along the vines.

Jian Xingyi: “……!”

It really works!!!

If the number of bricks could break through again…

Ahhh!

Overwhelmed by immense joy and this unexpected discovery, Jian Xingyi was so thrilled he nearly jumped for joy. He stumbled to his feet and left the office.

Outside the office, the lone wolf sleeping on the floor watched Jian Xingyi’s frantic retreat and asked in confusion, “Where are you going? Aren’t you going to sleep?”

The only response was Jian Xingyi’s figure vanishing into the distance as fast as the wind.

Sleep my ass!

Jian Xingyi couldn’t wait to carry these vines over to the wall to find Cangshui.

He was sure Cangshui hadn’t gone to sleep yet!

Sure enough, Cangshui was still scribbling away by the wall, with Wu Yun standing beside him, his face full of worry.

Wu Yun was still muttering to himself. He brushed the thick snow off Cangshui’s shoulder and said, “Bro, you’re really into this… but you’ve gotta get some rest, no matter what.”

Cangshui was at a loss for words, “You’re younger than me, yet you’re better at lecturing than I am? That’s backwards… Hey? Xinghe?”

Jian Xingyi ran up to Cangshui, panting heavily, and finally managed to say, “T-there really is something harder than vines… No! It’s still a vine, but a harder one!”

“?!?”

With a clatter, Cangshui’s notebook fell to the ground.

“Really…!”

Cangshui’s eyes lit up, but since he couldn’t stand or walk, he could only raise his hand high. “Let—let me see!”

Wu Yun stood up to pick up the notebook for him, then took the vine from Jian Xingyi and began examining it closely with Cangshui.

Wu Yun exclaimed in shock, “This… is probably five times as hard as the original vine.”

Five times…!

That’s no small feat!

Cangshui pushed his wheelchair over and tied the vine to a brick. Then something astonishing happened—

The vine suddenly extended outward as if possessed of its own consciousness and vitality, clinging to the brick in front of it.

Jian Xingyi: “……!”

This hardening potion really is a magical potion.

No, perhaps because it came from that mysterious dungeon, maybe this potion had been blessed by some spirit?

Having experienced it firsthand, Jian Xingyi couldn’t help but start believing in spirits and holy sons.

In any case, whether it was true or not, he had definitely benefited from it!

“It can even actively seek out targets and bend.” Wu Yun marveled, “This way, we don’t have to worry about getting cut by the barbs while we’re building.”

Cangshui nodded. “The hardness has increased, but the toughness remains the same—it’s even more flexible and supple. This will definitely take us to new heights!”

Since Cangshui and Wu Yun needed time to figure things out, Jian Xingyi didn’t disturb them.

Besides, he was tired. After returning to his room to wash up, he leaned against the headboard, wondering why Shui Xi hadn’t come back yet.

While waiting for Shui Xi, Jian Xingyi began to ponder a new problem.

—So what about the snow lotus?

If the vines required a hardening potion, then he clearly didn’t have enough snow lotus!

Jian Xingyi had no choice but to allocate all his Grade A fields to the snow lotus, but he only had 20 seeds.

Jian Xingyi scratched his head.

He didn’t know how many snow lotuses there were in the snow mountains… or if he could collect any more.

Just then, Shui Xi returned. Jian Xingyi skipped over to him and shared tonight’s discovery.

Shuixi asked, “So, you need to gather Snow Lotus?”

“Yep!”

Shuixi: “Well, I’m afraid I can’t help you there. Aside from the one we stumbled upon by accident that day, I’ve never heard of Snow Lotus growing anywhere in the Snow Mountains. It’s an extremely rare ingredient. But you could ask other players in the Snow Mountains—maybe they know more.”

“Oh…” Although she’d suspected it was a long shot from the start, hearing the answer and confirming just how rare the snow lotus was still left Jian Xingyi feeling a bit disappointed.

Shuixi reached out to pat Jian Xingyi on the shoulder, but paused and withdrew his hand.

“Xinghe.”

“Hmm?”

“I have something to tell you.”

“Hmm…?”

Jian Xingyi paused.

Shui Xi lowered his gaze. “I’m leaving.”

He had returned so late tonight because he’d been meeting with the council members from Grape Mountain Peak. They’d devised a new plan to tackle several high-difficulty dungeons together to gather wood and boost their zombie kill count—a mission that would take at least four or five days.

Jian Xingyi froze.

Shui Xi said, “I’ve already briefed Wu Yun. He’ll ensure your safety from now on, and there will be skilled players to guide you as you continue your climb to the summit.”

Jian Xingyi continued to stare blankly at Shui Xi.

Oh, is that so…