212: Chapter 208 Vegetables materialized into reality

Then, his gaze slid back to the second major item.

［2. Farm Realm vegetable manifestation feature.］

［Select the vegetable-patterned button in the bottom right corner of the farm owner panel to spend the corresponding karma points to materialize mature crops within the Farm Realm onto your person, into your hands, or into any available storage location within your Spatial Backpack.］

Zhou Liang's hand paused in mid-air.

He read this passage once.

Then he read it again.

He read it a third time, word for word.

"...Manifestation?"

He spoke aloud. In the vast, empty grassland farm, his voice sounded exceptionally clear.

"Vegetables... manifestation?"

What did that mean?

A giant question mark popped into his head. He stayed crouched next to the chicken coop, holding the hammer in a frozen pose, as if someone had pressed a pause button on him.

Manifestation? Vegetable manifestation? Virtual vegetables turning into real vegetables? The kind you can eat?

Was it for real?

He hadn't even had time to digest this information—the life ring began to vibrate continuously, like it had gone crazy.

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.

The four or five small groups for farm owners he had joined in the last three days had all exploded with activity.

Among them, the [Farmer Alliance (12-person group)]

had already been flooded with over thirty messages.

［Old Chen by the Creek: !!!! Brothers! Vegetables can be withdrawn now!!! I just tried it!!!］

［Old Chen's Water Celery: [Image]］

It was a photo.

A bunch of impossibly verdant water celery, its stems glistening with water droplets, lay on a rough Houseboat plank. Beside it was Old Chen's rough, large hand, fingers spread wide to show the scale.

That wasn't a virtual image.

It was a real-life photo taken by the Fate Platform's camera function.

The group chat instantly exploded.

［Little Prince of the Grassland: Fake, right??? Photoshopped, right???］

［Auntie Pumpkin: I tried it too!! It really comes out!! My pumpkin! A three-pound pumpkin! Solid! It feels heavy in my hands! [Image]］

［Green Pepper Warrior: I ate a small tomato raw... It's sweet. Really sweet. It's that kind of sweet that's a bit tart, a bit sugary, with a hint of earthy flavor. I almost cried.］

［Old Chen by the Creek: One karma point can manifest three pounds! Three pounds, brothers! A meal at the food god shrine costs 1.5 karma points. My one karma point gets me three pounds of vegetables, enough to last me two days! Long live the Fate Master!］

［Mushroom Hunter: Fate Master is the best!!!］

［Cornfield Watcher: I've achieved vegetable freedom, wuwuwu! Finally, I don't have to gnaw on the food god shrine's basic meal plan every day!］

［Little Prince of the Grassland: It's a pity that eggs and chickens still can't be manifested... Animal types probably can't be done. If you want to eat meat, you still have to rely on the expensive meal plans from the food god shrine. Freedom to eat chicken, duck, fish, and meat remains a dream.］

［Old Chen by the Creek: Be content! It's good enough to have vegetables to eat! It's been almost a month since our Transmigration, when was the last time you ate fresh vegetables?］

［Little Prince of the Grassland: Hehe, just yesterday. I spent karma points to buy them at the food god shrine.］

［Old Chen by the Creek: You detestable rich person...］

Zhou Liang watched the rapidly scrolling group chat, his fingers trembling slightly.

Just as he was preparing to go and try it himself, a notification suddenly popped up on his farm owner panel.

［Request to Enter: Old Chen by the Creek］

Zhou Liang was stunned for a moment, then glanced at the location marker of the applicant on the large farm map—it was indeed from the direction of Old Chen's Creek-side Farm.

He clicked approve.

The light screen flickered, and a man in his forties with a square face and dark skin appeared at the entrance of his farm.

He was holding a large bundle of things in his arms.

Water celery, water bamboo shoots, lotus roots, water chestnuts—all specialty crops of the creek-side terrain, their roots and stems still glistening with wet water droplets.

"Old Chen?" Zhou Liang asked suspiciously. "What are you doing here? You haven't been stealing my vegetables lately, have you? Or did you steal them without me noticing? What's the meaning of carrying such a big pile of vegetables?"

Old Chen grinned, his face wrinkling up.

"Trade!" He dumped the vegetables he was holding onto the ground. "I just tried the manifestation function and ate a raw water bamboo shoot—hey, it was so fresh and tender! But I want to try a few more varieties. I'm craving the purple cabbage and small tomatoes from your grassland farm, so how about we trade?"

Zhou Liang's heart stirred.

He had actually been pondering the manifestation matter since reading the announcement, but he hadn't had the chance to try it yet.

"Is manifestation expensive?"

"It's terrifyingly cheap." Old Chen held up a finger. "One karma point for three pounds. Think about it: a regular meal at the food god shrine costs 1.5 karma points, and the taste is always the same. One karma point gets you three pounds of fresh vegetables; you can take them back and stir-fry, boil, stew, or make a cold salad—eat them however you want."

Zhou Liang didn't hesitate any longer.

He turned and walked into the purple cabbage patch, deftly picking two plump heads of purple cabbage. He also picked a handful of fully ripened small tomatoes from the tomato rack, snapped off three ears of sweet corn, and dug up a few fist-sized potatoes.

The amount was about the same as what Old Chen had brought.

The two of them crouched at the farm entrance and took stock. Both were satisfied, exchanging vegetables hand-to-hand.

"Deal." Old Chen clapped his hands, gathered up Zhou Liang's vegetables, and grinned from ear to ear. "Alright, I'm heading back. Tonight, I plan to stir-fry your purple cabbage with some meat—although I still have to buy the meat from the food god shrine, at least I'll have a decent dish to go with it."

Zhou Liang saw Old Chen off into the teleportation light screen and watched his figure disappear.

Then, he immediately opened the farm owner panel.

Bottom right corner.

Vegetable-patterned button.

Select.

［Please select the crop and quantity to manifest. Currently manifestable crops: Purple Cabbage (mature), Small Tomato (mature), Sweet Corn (mature), Potato (mature).］

［Manifestation cost: ___ type / ___ quantity.］

［Manifestation cost: ___ / karma points］

In reality, even though three days in the outside world meant fifteen days in the Farm Realm, it was still too short a time.

It was simply not enough time for these vegetables to mature, but the problem was that he didn't know when the Farm Realm would open up.

Therefore, to upgrade the farm faster, he and almost all the closed-beta farm owner players had, with a tacit understanding, chosen to spend karma points to accelerate the growth of vegetables and poultry, thereby speeding up the farm's upgrade rate.

This was also the reason why he had managed to cultivate these vegetables to maturity and raise the chickens in just over ten days of game time.

He took a deep breath and selected one pound of mature purple cabbage, one pound of mature small tomatoes, and one pound of mature potatoes.

Confirm.

Notification indicated a cost of one karma point.

Confirm again.

Then, the farm panel popped up a notification.

［Please return to reality and silently focus your consciousness to select the location for manifestation.］

He did not hesitate; the next moment, he returned to the bed in his farm room, lay down, and logged out of the Farm Realm.

The moment he returned to reality, he silently focused on the vegetable manifestation location, and the air above his palms distorted slightly.

Three types of vegetables appeared out of thin air in his hands.

The purple cabbage was very plump; he could see the layers of leaves, with a ring of light purple frost on the edges. The small tomatoes were rosy and translucent; when he pressed them with his fingertips, they bounced back slightly, the flesh plump. The potatoes were quite large, their surfaces still stuck with fine bits of dirt, emitting a faint, earthy scent.

Real.

They were all real.

Zhou Liang stood on the deck of his Houseboat—he had already exited the Farm Realm—holding three pounds of vegetables in his hands. The salty, humid sea breeze of the Magic Sea blew onto his face, mixing the fresh scent of the vegetables with the briny smell of the sea.

His nose stung.

It had been twenty-eight days since his Transmigration.

Twenty-eight days without seeing soil, without touching vegetable leaves, without smelling this kind of living scent that grew from the earth.

He sniffled, turned, and ducked into the cabin. He rummaged out a set of simple "cooking" utensils he had used back when he was alone and began to prepare a meal.

What he didn't know was—

Less than a minute after he exited the Farm Realm.

Outside the perimeter of his grassland farm, a figure emerged from the teleportation light screen.

Old Chen.

He looked around left and right.

Making sure no one was there.

The guard dog was dozing off next to the chicken coop.

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. His footsteps were as light as a cat's. He hunched over, bypassed the fence, and headed straight for that patch of golden-thread pumpkins.