71: Chapter 71 The Dog Goes Online

"Beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!"

The sudden sound interrupted Zhou An's daydreaming.

He straightened up, frowned slightly, and waved away the holographic screen in front of him. The moment he saw the sender's name, his eyebrows arched slightly, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

[City Lord Zhao Tianyu].

Clicking on the message, City Lord Zhao Tianyu's words were as concise as ever:

"Are you there? I have a batch of supplies I need to flip."

Zhou An returned to his room, pulled over a chair, and sat down, his fingers tapping rapidly on the virtual keyboard to reply:

"I'm here. What's the situation? How much junk has City Lord Zhao Tianyu collected this time that needs my refined processing? Are we still using the agreed-upon 2.4 to 1 ratio?"

"Yes, the same old rules."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu replied instantly, clearly eager to conclude this transaction.

"The volume is quite large this time; see if you can handle it. I want it all converted into Level 4 materials."

"Large volume is great. As long as you don't mind me earning the price difference, I can handle any amount."

Zhou An replied with a smile, thinking to himself, "The larger the volume, the more I earn, you sucker."

"Give me the numbers, let me have a look."

"800 million units of Level 1 materials, 200 million units of Level 2 materials, and 200 million units of Level 3 materials. That's a total of 1.2 billion units. Purify them all into Level 4."

Zhou An was a bit shocked, but it was within his expectations.

The surprise was the 1.2 billion units of supplies!

What kind of concept was this? At the current stage, having a few tens of thousands of units of resources would be considered quite good for an ordinary survivor.

Even if it were just the trashiest, least valuable Level 1 iron blocks and wood, 1.2 billion units piled together would definitely be enough to fill several mountain peaks!

It was within expectations because their guild had tens of thousands of members; if everyone contributed a little, 1.2 billion could be scraped together. He estimated these weren't even all their supplies.

"What exactly do you need so many Level 4 materials for?"

Zhou An asked tentatively.

"It has a major use, it's confidential."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu maintained that mystery, his lips sealed tight, giving Zhou An no chance to probe for information.

"Just tell me if you can take it or not. If you can't, I'll go find someone else to figure out a solution."

This was the truth; if City Lord Zhao Tianyu let word out that he had 1.2 billion units of supplies to process, every synthesis-talented person in District 997 would go crazy.

"Take it! Why wouldn't I take it!"

An idiot wouldn't earn money when it's right in front of them. Whatever City Lord Zhao Tianyu wanted to do, increasing his own fortress's strength was the real priority.

"Trade the supplies over directly. But I'll say this upfront: the workload is too huge, you have to give me some time. Even though I do 'refined processing,' it still requires a process."

"Good, happy to cooperate. I trust your reputation."

City Lord Zhao Tianyu did things efficiently.

Before long, the supplies were traded into his system space.

Looking at the long list of astronomical material quantities in his backpack, Zhou An let out a long breath of stale air.

The tiered exchange ratio he and City Lord Zhao Tianyu agreed upon was 2.4:1. In other words, for every 2.4 low-level materials, he only needed to deliver 1 high-level material.

Zhou An silently calculated in his heart.

First, the full 800 million units of Level 1 materials. According to the agreed ratio, to turn them into Level 4, they needed to go through three such progressive exchanges.

This was like a huge funnel; it would shrink by more than half with each layer. 800 million Level 1 divided by 2.4 gets Level 2, then divide by 2.4 to get Level 3, and finally divide by 2.4 again... After this whole cycle, he only needed to deliver about 57.8 million units of Level 4 materials to City Lord Zhao Tianyu.

Then, the 200 million units of Level 2 materials.

This was slightly simpler, requiring only two 2.4 reductions. After dividing by 2.4 twice, this batch of supplies would eventually become about 34.7 million units of Level 4 materials.

Finally, the 200 million units of Level 3 materials. This was the most direct, only needing one division by 2.4. Calculating it out, this portion of supplies corresponded to about 83.3 million units of Level 4 materials.

Adding it all up, after flipping this entire 1.2 billion units of low-tier supplies, the total Level 4 materials City Lord Zhao Tianyu was entitled to would be around 176 million units.

This was already a fortune rich enough to rival a nation.

The corners of Zhou An's mouth couldn't help but curl up crazily.

His synthesis ratio was 2:1!

Those 800 million units of Level 1 materials. Every two could synthesize one Level 2, and every two Level 2s could synthesize one Level 3... After three consecutive compressions at this 2:1 ratio, what was produced in Zhou An's hands wasn't 57.8 million, but a full 100 million units of Level 4 materials!

Those 200 million units of Level 2 materials, after consecutive synthesis, were not 34.7 million, but a solid 50 million units of Level 4 materials!

Finally, those 200 million units of Level 3 materials became a full 100 million units of Level 4 materials!

Calculating this to the end, Zhou An's true total output was a full 250 million units of Level 4 materials!

"Hiss—"

Even though he was mentally prepared, when Zhou An arrived at this final figure in his mind, he still couldn't help but gasp.

He would have 74 million units of Level 4 materials left in his hands; in other words, his own resources would double again!

"Cooperating with large guilds is the way to go."

Zhou An calmed his agitated emotions and took a deep breath.

Whatever City Lord Zhao Tianyu was thinking, as long as these supplies entered his pocket, he had to keep some of them.

For the next five full days, Zhou An basically welded himself into the cockpit.

Outside the fortress was the endless rainy season with thundering and heavy rain, while inside the fortress was Zhou An's boring, mechanical life of "blacksmithing."

Accompanied by the colorful light of [Level Up!], the 1.2 billion units of low-tier "junk" were gradually transforming into high-tier Level 4 materials.

Just as Zhou An was looking at the high-grade building materials all over the floor, dizzy with fatigue, the door was pushed open with a "bang."

"Boss! Stop rubbing materials! Come out quickly!"

Muzi was flushed with excitement, clutching a small shovel stained with black soil in her hand.

"Our 'rear area' has completely taken shape, and Old Zhang's side has produced goods too! You need to come and see!"

Zhou An rubbed his sore temples and let out a long sigh of relief.

The high-intensity labor definitely needed a break. He stood up and followed Muzi to the cultivation space.

As soon as he stepped through the space door, the rich spiritual energy and the fragrance of wheat waves rushing to his face made Zhou An's spirit suddenly perk up.

In this vast 5,000-square-meter space, one part had already been managed by Muzi into an extremely spectacular paradise!

On the outermost edge, there was [blood crystal spirit wheat] swaying in the wind like a red ocean, with nearly 5,000 epic-grade wheat ears emitting a warm red light.

And at the intersections of the wheat fields, nearly 5,000 purple [wind spirit berry] plants were planted, their fruits like crystalline cyan gems.

Walking further to the central area, it was the core production area carefully cultivated by Muzi.

Over a hundred [Legendary blood crystal spirit wheat] and [Legendary wind spirit berry] plants emitting a faint golden light were isolated in a precise micro-ecological greenhouse cover, guarding the three "ancestors" in the very center like sentinels.

Those three Moon-Glitter Grade mother plants!

The Moon Soul Bone-Sculpting Flower petals appeared translucent moon-white, like jade carvings.

The Star Spirit Marrow Rice had nebulae flowing inside every grain.

The Radiant Jade Dew Fruit had a fruit hanging from it that emitting a gentle halo, like a small sun.

Under the radiation of these three Moon-Glitter Grade plants, the crops in the entire 5,000-square-meter plantation were growing violently.

"This is too spectacular..."

Zhou An looked at this farm, which could be called a miracle in the apocalypse, and couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

"Boss, the spectacular part is still to come!"

Old Zhang walked over at this moment.

"With the unlimited high-tier ingredients provided by Muzi, our food has achieved a comprehensive upgrade!"

Old Zhang took out a few metal cans and medicine bottles, handing them to Zhou An like a treasure.

The system panel popped up:

[Blood Crystal Rampage Special Combat Canned Food (Epic Grade Compressed Rations)]

Main ingredients: Epic-grade blood crystal spirit wheat, beast meat.

Effect: After consumption, instantly replenish physical strength and satiety, and provide an extremely strong anti-fatigue state for the next two hours, slowly repairing minor internal organ injuries.

[wind spirit spirit-stabilizing special drink (Epic Grade Tactical Beverage)]

Main ingredients: Epic-grade wind spirit berry, Legendary-grade spiritual energy spring water.

Effect: Rapidly calm SAN value fluctuations, remove most primary mental pollution, and increase dynamic vision and nerve reflex speed by 30% for one hour after drinking.

"Because the yield of epic-grade ingredients is huge, I can now produce over a hundred of each of these two cans and drinks every day!"

Old Zhang patted his chest proudly.

"Not only is it enough for our team to drink like water, but the excess can completely be taken to the Trading House to exchange for materials!"

Zhou An nodded with satisfaction: "The attributes of this basic ration would definitely make those guilds outside who are still eating synthetic nutrient paste fight to the death. What about the Moon-Glitter Grade ones?"

Mentioning the Moon-Glitter Grade, Old Zhang and Muzi's expressions became extremely solemn at the same time, even carrying a hint of piety.

Old Zhang carefully took out a micro-nutrition tube only the size of a fingernail from a password-protected cold storage box at the bottom of the dining cart, as well as a bottle of white jade potion emitting shimmering moonlight.

"Boss, the Moon-Glitter Grade plants take a long time to grow, and the yield is really too low. For those two edible types, we can only harvest about 100 grams every three days now. I didn't dare to waste it, so I condensed them into this tube of nutrient paste."

[Star Radiance Jade Dew Source Concentrate]

Yield: 100g produced every 3 days.

Effect: After consumption, permanently slightly increase the user's four-dimensional attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit. Due to the small quantity, long-term consumption is required for a qualitative change.

"Food that permanently increases attributes?!"

Zhou An's eyes lit up. Although it only increased a little each time, with this logistics support that could be produced without limit, this was equivalent to enabling a "physical ascension" cheat for everyone in the team with no side effects! As long as there was enough time, even Muzi and Lin Qing, who were not good at fighting, could be forcibly stacked into superhumans!

"And this, the main event!"

Old Zhang handed the bottle of white jade potion to Zhou An.

"This is a potion brewed using [Moon Soul Bone-Sculpting Flower] as the main medicine, combined with various high-tier auxiliary materials. This flower also blooms once every three days, so this potion is only produced once every three days."

Zhou An took the potion, and the moment his eyes fell on the attribute panel, his breathing stalled.

[Moon Soul Reshaping Healing Potion (Legendary Grade)]

Yield: 1 bottle produced every 3 days.

Effect: After consumption, powerful Moon-Glitter vitality will circulate in the body for 35 minutes. During these 35 minutes, as long as there is no irreversible fatal injury such as an instant headshot or heart destruction, any other severed limbs, penetrating wounds, or large-area burns can obtain an extremely abnormal body reshaping and rapid healing effect!

Evaluation: As long as there is still a breath left, it can drag you back from the hands of the Grim Reaper!

"Good stuff!"

Zhou An held this bottle of potion tightly, his eyes burning.

He originally only had a few extremely precious healing injections in his hands, using one meant one less, and he hadn't been willing to take them out even when he was tortured so miserably by mental pollution last time. But now with this [Moon Soul Reshaping Healing Potion], the team's fault tolerance rate has been raised infinitely!

Being able to get a "life" for free every three days, in this dangerous endless rainy season and future exploration, this was simply putting an invisible resurrection armor on everyone.

"Old Zhang, Muzi, well done!" Zhou An did not skimp on his praise, patting their shoulders in a great mood, "Store the potion directly as the highest-level strategic reserve, and let everyone eat the ordinary canned food to their heart's content!"