During the following week, Zhou Yi focused on sea mining every day, occasionally hunting down some small creatures that were oblivious to danger.
Unfortunately, the unnamed residential area suffered from a low number of inhabitants, and the stockpile of intact rice, flour, oil, and alcoholic beverages was limited.
Nevertheless, Zhou Yi kept working diligently with his own hands, repeatedly cultivating the resources and managing to stuff a whole container with them.
He stood in the container house warehouse, surveying the items with a satisfied gaze.
On the left side, against the wall, iron shelves were filled with various canned and plastic bottled drinks. Cola, Sprite, fruit juice, salty soda, sports drinks—neatly arranged, along with a small portion of bagged chips, nuts, and candy.
Under the iron shelves on the right wall were stacks of rice, flour, and oil, while above were pots and pans, various spices, and a small number of cigarettes.
Directly opposite the door, inside were wooden crates cushioned with straw to prevent damage, containing drinks made of glass. There was Red Star Erguotou, Niulanshan, Luzhou Laojiao, and even two intact bottles of Moutai.
A full stock of neatly arranged supplies.
Looking at them, it felt like a makeshift convenience store.
It had a certain sense of security just by the sight of it.
Zhou Yi pondered that if he were to regularly harvest from the sea floor, selling these goods alone could likely turn a tidy profit.
According to data provided by Red Kestrel, most in this Wasteland Era struggled at the line of subsistence, with only a few large cities having an abundance of resources.
Generally speaking, the production of grains and meat was low everywhere, leading to high prices. The new humans mainly subsisted on easily cultivated and obtained edible mushrooms. It's just that different places produced different mushrooms.
Zhou Yi instructed Gong Zheng at his side, "These goods are important export commodities for the company. Make sure to record every single in and out movement."
The young man on crutches looked solemn, "Chairman, every one of these Dead Sea creations is highly valuable, treasures you risked your life to retrieve from the Dead Sea. I will not let any item here fall into the wrong hands! No one but you can take anything without proper shipping procedures."
Zhou Yi had confidence in this warehouse keeper.
He inquired about another matter, "What has Ajin been up to recently? I haven't seen much of him."
"He's at Death Dune."
Zhou Yi frowned, "Only a small portion of the Antlions there has been cleared, and it's still very dangerous."
Gong Zheng's expression showed some difficulty, "I advised him against it, but Ajin believes there's something there. He's talked with the old Scavengers, saying Death Dune wasn't naturally formed and that the Antlions followed some larger creature there, turning the place into a continuous desert."
"Ajin suspects that the large creature might have died there, with Death Dune as its grave. The Antlions are guardians protecting it, so they attack anyone trying to cross the dunes."
Zhou Yi gave it some thought.
The region near Mao Valley Town wasn't fertile land, but there was an Oasis Side and rivers, with moist soil. Yet the Antlions were all concentrated at one end, firmly sticking together.
On the other side of Death Dune was Chicken Head Town, which had better water sources and soil, enabling them to breed poultry.
It was indeed suspicious for only this patch in the middle to have Antlions.
Zhou Yi asked Gong Zheng, "Have you ever heard this theory?"
Gong Zheng said, "After I moved to Mao Valley Town, I mostly stayed in the underground bunkers in the trading area. Ajin is different; he's been mixing with the Scavengers since he was a kid. Many of them wandered from place to place before ending up in Mao Valley Town. The town is poor, but it doesn't reject outsiders, no matter who they are, and doesn't require personal identification."
"The Scavengers tell all sorts of strange and wonderful tales, some true, some not."
"Ajin believes this because he knows a Scavenger who dug up funerary items from Death Dune. They weren't made of metals like copper or iron, but they were very hard and tough to damage."
Gong Zheng took out a piece of paper from his bag, with a sketch on it.
"Look, this is the funerary item Ajin talked about. I drew this based on his description; he said it's pretty much this shape."
Zhou Yi glanced over it.
It looked like an oversized PVC pipe, the kind that used to be seen on roadsides.
"But don't worry, Ajin is a professional Scavenger, and he's always been learning from you as a role model. Ajin has asked Ye Zhao to accompany him, only excavating in safe zones that have been marked."
Zhou Yi thought that was quite good.
The kid continued to do what interested him.
The Wasteland Development Company was established also to train more employees. Whether new humans or Guangna Species, getting them to spontaneously develop and transform the environment was the result Zhou Yi wanted to see.
Current development efforts on this land seemed booming but lacked depth. Ajin setting his sights on Death Dune was an endeavor worth encouraging.
"Tell him to be careful on his own, and if he needs any help, just ask."
"Yes, Chairman, I'll pass on the message when I see him."
Zhou Yi walked over to the kitchen stove, opened the pot lid, and was met with a rush of steam.
Even without a gas stove, heating wasn't a problem—the electromagnetic effect could be produced in designated areas by Jade City, and with the pumped groundwater, a bowl of rice was steamed.
Zhou Yi opened several prepared packets, adding to the bowl of rice some pickled mustard greens, chili sauce, and a bag of spicy sour bamboo shoots, then dug in with his chopsticks.
The soft and sweet hot rice, mixed with the perfect side dishes, instantly brought back the taste of the past.
Accompanied by sparkling water, Zhou Yi devoured the large bowl of rice to the last grain.
The slight downside was having to wash his own dishes.
He felt bad just tossing the bowl aside. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel✶fire.net
After all, these were antiques from the era of the Old Humans.
Next time, he would sell it to Qian Su—that would solve the problem.
Besides, there were plenty of unwashed dishes in the residential buildings on the sea floor, all the same.
After a satisfying meal and tea, Zhou Yi started reading a comic book, "Old Master Q."
What he considered a real find this time was a few sets of comic books in someone's bookshelf, all of which he had the Samurai Crab carry back.
In the era of the Old Humans, Zhou Yi rarely read paper books, but now it was like reconnecting with his childhood.
He was engrossed in reading when suddenly a voice popped into his mind.
"Energy has been restored to 30%, and memories can now be accessed."
"I now remember what happened before."
Before Zhou Yi could react, the sentient building continued on its own, "When I awakened, I was on Land, with severe damage to my body. Back then, I was located in a more remote inland area, consuming vast amounts of energy in desperate need of an energy supply."
"So I moved toward the direction of an energy response."
"In a living zone composed of plants, I discovered a strong energy reaction. I stopped and began excavating that patch of Land, consuming a lot of energy, but I also found the source of that energy."
After inquiring, Zhou Yi confirmed that the living zone Jade City was talking about was the Mushroom Forest.
Jade City described, "There, a nearly subterranean lake-like Energy Pool existed, abundant with energy, which I utilized for recharging. However, it contained many impurities, leading to low absorption efficiency, and after taking it in, I experienced confusion and haziness of consciousness."
"In the short time I was lucid at the end, I discovered that a type of mud mushroom could filter out and carry away the impurities from the Energy Pool. I could use it to collect Light Seeds. But the process was extremely slow, and I had to wait a very long time."
"The dense growth of plants there intertwined and parasitized me, drawing my energy and leaving me weaker, causing me to fall into a deep sleep."
"Until not long ago, when I was awakened once more."
Zhou Yi's gaze sharpened.
An Energy Pool beneath the Mushroom Forest?
Could it be the Angel of Death's doing, left there to cultivate mushrooms?
The most crucial point was.
Mushrooms can produce Light Seeds?
Could the mud mushroom be the... Stone Bag Mushroom?
If it's as Jade City says.
Then these mushrooms that can harvest Light Seeds could be the strategic crops of the Wasteland Era!