Advancing from Level 3 to Level 4 brought another significant boost to his physical constitution. Since he was unable to awaken his special ability, Jiang Le’s improvements manifested in his base stats: strength, speed, and defense.

He was essentially a combination of a strength-type, speed-type, and defense-type superpower user. What set him apart from other superpower users was that he couldn’t enrich himself by seizing others’ nucleus crystals, because his body simply didn’t contain any. Unless he made a move, other superpower users would treat him as just an ordinary person.

After giving the last of the sheep’s milk to the little wolf, Jiang Le checked the farm system backend.

Over the past five days, the farm’s accumulated experience had reached its maximum, successfully meeting the requirements for a level 3 upgrade. Now, a blinking cursor appeared in the Lizheng, prompting Jiang Le to proceed with the upgrade.

The details of this upgrade are as follows:

First, the usable area would double compared to the current size. However, this wasn’t the most crucial aspect. The key point was that, based on the current land area, after reaching Level 3, he could purchase additional farm area using gold coins to unlock an equivalent amount of land. In other words, as long as he accumulated enough gold coins, he could skip the land-clearing phase and directly obtain neatly divided plots of usable land from the system. You can then purchase corresponding facilities to define the land’s function—whether for farming, livestock, or construction.

Second, the number of employees you can hire has increased from 3 to 16, and as you purchase more land, the number of employees you can hire will continue to rise.

The staff dormitory has also been upgraded. The supply vending machines in the dormitory hallway have been upgraded to an unmanned convenience store, offering a variety of goods similar to those found in modern convenience stores.

Third, farm security has been upgraded. The farm’s bamboo fence will be replaced with brick walls, and a metal gate has been added to separate the interior from the exterior.

Fourth, the Creature Compendium.

This is further divided into the Common Creature Compendium and the Mutant Creature Compendium.

Ordinary creatures are species for which seeds, seedlings, or young are directly sold on the farm, while the Mutant Creature Encyclopedia requires Jiang Le to defeat a specific mutant creature and successfully extract its crystal core before the information for that mutant creature can be unlocked in the encyclopedia.

At this point, the encyclopedia contained information on various crops grown on the farm, domesticated poultry and livestock, as well as several types of mutated plants that Jiang Le had previously defeated, such as the blood vine.

Jiang Le’s gaze lingered longest on this feature, as there was a line of text below it: “Please acquire enough High-Level Mutant Exploration Points to unlock more advanced farm features~.”

Below this line was a progress bar displaying the “Exploration Points” mentioned by the system. Taking into account the mutated creatures Jiang Le had previously killed or tamed, the progress bar was already halfway full.

Fifth, Portable Planting Trays x3. Each tray was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, roughly the size of a watch face.

This feature allows Jiang Le to treat the planting dish as a portable plot of land that he can hold in his hand and place wherever he pleases. He can plant whatever he deems suitable in the dish; as long as he keeps the lid closed, the plants—no matter how large they’ve grown—will automatically shrink back to fit within this watch-face-sized vessel.

This feature is clearly designed for tamable mutant plants, effectively solving the problem that mutant plants often lack flexibility and are difficult to transport from one place to another, thereby indirectly enhancing Jiang Le’s combat effectiveness.

Sixth, pet function expansion: Current pets (1/3)

Seventh, warehouse functionality upgrade: the number of warehouses that can be established is tripled

Unlike the time-stopped warehouses within the expanded space, these additional warehouses do not pause the flow of time, but they still allow harvested fruits and vegetables to be stored for several times longer than in standard refrigeration.

Eighth, a new two-story building has been added to the office complex.

Once he had sorted through the details of this upgrade and had a clear understanding, Jiang Le clicked to proceed, then exited the spatial realm.

This upgrade added quite a few buildings. Once Jiang Le confirmed the upgrade, the system displayed the usual message that the construction crew had been dispatched.

This upgrade conveyed an important message to Jiang Le: the farm system did not merely want him to rely on it for a stable livelihood, but rather encouraged him to actively engage in the struggle. 

This aligned perfectly with Jiang Le’s own philosophy. Having experienced setbacks in his previous life, he knew all too well that in a world where the strong prey on the weak, it was like rowing against the current—if you didn’t move forward, you would fall behind.

It was noon in the real world. When Jiang Le arrived at the farm, three employees were sitting together on the steps of the staff dormitory, eating boxed lunches.

After five days of work, Kong Shuya and Luo Mian had gradually grown accustomed to life here. Upon waking up in the morning and washing up, they would buy something to eat from the supply vending machine for breakfast, then head to the farm’s bulletin board to check their assigned work areas. As long as they completed their tasks within the day, they could finish early and rest, earning a daily coin bonus.

The daily tasks displayed on the bulletin board were linked to the system’s assessment of the employees’ mood and physical condition. For Kong Shuya and Luo Mian, who had been in poor physical shape at the start, the assigned workload was light at first, but it had gradually increased over the past couple of days.

Having not seen them for five days, Jiang Le’s first impression upon seeing them was that, well, they looked much healthier than before. Today, they were already able to sit down and eat the system’s standard boxed meals alongside Mao Xiaofei, and their cheeks weren’t as sunken as they had been.

Seeing Jiang Le return, all three showed signs of surprise, with Mao Xiaofei being the most excited. Although he acted like a seasoned veteran in front of Kong Shuya and the others and spoke knowledgeably about farm affairs, Jiang Le was still the backbone of the group. With Jiang Le gone for five days, Mao Xiaofei couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.

“Brother Jiang, you’re back?”

Jiang Le told them the news that the farm was set to expand, and a construction crew from outside would be arriving soon. Before the three of them had a chance to process this, their gaze was drawn to the massive wolf strolling leisurely into the farm. Luo Mian even sucked in a sharp breath.

“Brother Jiang, is that still the same…” Luo Mian wasn’t sure how to address the young wolf. He stopped mid-sentence just as the wolf turned to look at him, and under its icy stare, all words choked in his throat.

Jiang Le turned around and saw the young wolf sauntering in like a street urchin. Its massive frame, fluffy fur, and cold gaze certainly made for a striking sight, but only Jiang Le knew that this was actually a creature so lazy it wouldn’t even bother to wipe its mouth after drinking goat’s milk. He had to turn to his employees and explain, “It’s the same one as before, just with an upgraded constitution, so its appearance has changed a bit. Its temperament is still as stable as ever.”

Mao Xiaofei: “……” Steady?

Brother Jiang’s pet filter was definitely turned way up too high.

But he had to admit that after Jiang Le’s explanation, Mao Xiaofei and the others felt much more at ease. Although the little wolf looked terrifying, based on their previous interactions, as long as they didn’t provoke it, the little wolf wouldn’t attack the farm’s employees. In fact, having such a powerful mutant beast that didn’t view them as targets actually increased the employees’ sense of security whenever it roamed the farm, as if patrolling its territory.

The construction crew arrived at the farm shortly thereafter. Due to the increased scope of the project, the system had dispatched a larger number of workers. After a brief confirmation of the construction sites with Jiang Le, as was customary, the workers began their silent labor. Mao Xiaofei tried to strike up a conversation, but the foreman stopped him each time, citing the need to focus on the work.

Bricks were stacked layer by layer like Lego blocks. Whatever the material was, once a wall was completed, the joints fit together so seamlessly that not a single trace of the construction was visible.

From tearing down the perimeter fence to clearing the land, building sheep pens to expanding the pond, installing glass doors for the store, and stocking the shelves with various goods—these workers labored in every corner of the farm for three days before finally finishing up and leaving.

The staff dormitory was expanded and raised from its original two-story structure, transforming into a three-story building. The washrooms and restrooms on the ground floor were also expanded to accommodate a larger number of people.

The staff cafeteria and convenience store were built next to the staff dormitory, while the office building is located behind it. A fence over two meters high was erected around the farm, enclosing the newly acquired land, with four gates opened in the north, south, east, and west directions.

The main gate consists of heavy-duty metal sliding doors. In the spots where modern society would typically place a pair of stone lions, the system has instead placed empty flower beds in front of the north and south gates and feeding troughs in front of the east and west gates.

Although this arrangement seems peculiar, the system explains that it is part of the upgraded security measures. Jiang Le can choose crops, poultry, livestock, or even fish and shrimp to serve as security guards.

This isn’t entirely unreasonable; after all, the creatures on the farm actually level up faster than the mutated plants outside. Take the lettuce planted at the beginning, for example—through repeated planting, it’s now nearly crossed the Level 3 threshold. Even though ordinary crops aren’t particularly aggressive, they’re still effective at deterring the mutated creatures from outside.

Moreover, the system informed Jiang Le that such “duty shifts” could be treated as battles, granting the corresponding ordinary creatures combat experience that would accelerate their leveling up—a great benefit to them.

As for plants, Jiang Le chose lettuce and cucumbers. The level progress bars for these two crops were closest to completion, and they were among the first crops he had planted, so he felt a bit more fond of them. He followed a similar logic for animals, selecting chickens and ducks.

All Jiang Le had to do was operate the system’s backend; after clicking “Confirm,” the corresponding crops and poultry would appear in their designated spots.

The next day, as Jiang Le passed by the farm entrance, the lettuce leaves swayed slightly the moment they saw him, looking as if they were overjoyed, in a flattering manner.

And with the farm upgrade complete, the words “Plantable” glowed faintly at the bottom of the blood vine entry in the creature encyclopedia.

Jiang Le thought of the seed he had extracted, took it out of the warehouse, and planted it on an empty plot within the space. Unlike ordinary crops that require watering and fertilizing after planting, the blood vine seed transformed from a seed into a sapling the moment it was tossed into the soil, with the words “Awaiting Feeding.”

The slender, frail vines twisted gently in the air, resembling seaweed drifting on the ocean floor.

Feed the blood vine? Based on its natural habits, it would only hunt creatures with fresh flesh and blood for food, but now that it was planted obediently in the ground, it couldn’t very well feed on meat, could he? Jiang Le wondered.

He took a piece of fresh beef and held it in front of the young vine for over ten seconds, but the blood vine showed no reaction.

As Jiang Le pondered, he suddenly remembered the pile of zombie nucleus crystals stored in the warehouse. Figuring it was worth a shot, he took a dozen or so zombie nucleus crystals and tossed one onto the patch of ground where the young vine was growing.

To his surprise, a vine immediately wrapped around the nucleus crystal, whizzing it underground. At the same time, the hunger bar dropped slightly, and a vine even gently curled around Jiang Le’s fingertip, appearing docile and affectionate.