68: Chapter 68 Taking in

The desolate wind kicked up dust everywhere as more than three hundred ragged nomads, leading emaciated mutated pack horses, waited anxiously outside the gates of the Fire Seed Shelter.

"Since they've already followed those two idiots here, let's see what they're made of first."

Lin Li sighed. Wearing his red power armor and accompanied by Ironhead and Black Rat, he strode out of the camp gates.

As for those two idiots, Flash and Miracle Walker, they had long since hidden themselves away somewhere.

From the nomadic group, an elder with skin like dry tree bark walked tremblingly toward Lin Li, supported by two tribesmen.

He looked at Lin Li's imposing power armor and the dark-gold pistol at his waist, his eyes filled with awe.

The elder collapsed to his knees, pressing both hands to the ground, and pleaded loudly in a Gothic tongue mixed with an ancient dialect:

"Great Lord! Please show mercy and protect us! Our tribe was destroyed by those green-skinned demons!"

"Stand up first."

Lin Li gestured, sending Black Rat over to help the old man up.

He noticed that the elder's left arm was actually a crude metal prosthetic, and many people in the nomadic group bore various simple implants.

This indicated they weren't pure savages, but a wasteland scavenger tribe that possessed some level of old-world technology.

The elder stood up tremulously and continued:

"My Lord, many Orks have suddenly surged in from the west recently! And unlike the green-skins of the past who only carried cleavers, the Orks this time are not only numerous, but they also have fire-spitting firearms and even drive iron vehicles! We simply couldn't withstand them..."

Lin Li's gaze swept over the crowd behind the elder.

Among these three hundred-odd people, all age groups were represented, and the population structure seemed healthy, though the proportion of young and middle-aged men was clearly low; most were women, children, and the elderly.

The elder seemed to see Lin Li's confusion and explained bitterly:

"Since the green-skins appeared, our warriors suffered heavy casualties to cover the tribe's relocation. These... are mostly the widows and orphans of those warriors."

Lin Li nodded; this was a common occurrence in the wasteland.

But his primary concern was how to feed this group.

"Over three hundred mouths, plus your mutated livestock—the food consumed daily won't be a small amount."

Lin Li's tone was calm.

Hearing this, the elder hurriedly waved his hands:

"Please rest assured, Lord! We would never dare to eat your grain for free! Our original food reserves were quite sufficient, but many were separated or lost during our flight. As long as you allow us to station ourselves outside your camp walls, we will never ask you for food! We will clear land to farm ourselves, and we will go out to scavenge and hunt to trade for protection!"

"Farm yourselves?"

Lin Li's eyes lit up instantly!

"You have plant seeds that can survive in the wasteland?" Lin Li pressed.

"Yes! Yes!"

Seeing Lin Li's interest, the elder acted as if he had caught a life-saving straw. He turned around and, from a tattered cloth bag on a pack horse's back, extremely carefully brought out a rough, dark-yellow seed the size of a walnut, offering it to Lin Li with both hands.

Lin Li took the seed and squeezed it; it felt like a miniature potato, but the skin was very hard.

"Lord, this is called a Sand Potato."

A hint of pride flashed in the elder's eyes.

"This is a crop our tribe has cultivated for generations. It is extremely drought-resistant and has a very high resistance to radiation.

It can grow even in barren sandy soil. Its leaves can be used to feed pack horses, and the tubers grown underground are edible for humans. They contain only minute amounts of radiation; eating them won't kill you."

"How long is its growth cycle?" Lin Li asked impatiently.

"In a natural environment, it can be harvested once every three months. But if there is sufficient water and nutrients, it can mature in just one month!" the elder promised confidently.

"Good stuff!"

Lin Li was overjoyed.

This was practically the perfect wasteland ration!

"From today on, you will establish your Shelters on the open ground to the west of the Shelter."

Lin Li waved his hand, setting the rules. "I will arrange for people to protect your safety. In exchange, I need you to provide a batch of Sand Potato seeds."

Upon hearing this judgment, the nomads let out a thunderous cheer, thanking Lin Li profusely. They immediately began setting up their tattered tents in the designated area with great fervor.

Lin Li traded some purified water for a full cloth bag of Sand Potato seeds and handed them to Ironhead behind him.

"Ironhead, take these seeds and go directly to the hydroponic farm on the third basement level to wait for me."

...

Ten minutes later, Fire Seed Shelter, third basement level.

Lin Li stood at the entrance of the sci-fi-looking hydroponic farm.

A moment later, a player came running over excitedly.

This guy was a hardcore farming-sim player.

Lin Li had checked his background in the system; in reality, he was a farmhouse resort owner, and his playtime in a farming game called "Stardew Valley" was a staggering five thousand hours!

"Reporting, Lord Manager! You were looking for me?" [Penny Is My Wife] stood at attention and gave an extremely clumsy military salute.

"Very good, quite spirited."

Lin Li suppressed a smile and said with a straight face,

"I have a sacred and vital mission for you that concerns the survival of the Shelter. We have just obtained a batch of plant seeds capable of growing in the wasteland."

Lin Li pointed to the hydroponic room door behind him.

"This advanced hydroponic room will be fully open to you. The intelligent temperature control and full-spectrum lighting system inside can triple the plant growth speed. Your task is to turn these seeds into food in the shortest time possible!"

As soon as he finished speaking.

On Penny Is My Wife's pv terminal, a golden, exclusive personal quest immediately popped up.

[Epic Life Quest: Wasteland Farmer!]

[Quest Objective: Successfully plant and harvest the first batch of Sand Potatoes in the hydroponic room.]

[Quest Rewards: Massive Core Points! Unlock the 'Senior Agricultural Consultant' title! And obtain the extremely rare, server-unique title: [Shelter Founder]!]

"Holy crap! An exclusive hidden quest! And a server-unique, limited-edition title?!"

Penny Is My Wife was so excited he nearly jumped for joy on the spot.

For a Liver Emperor player, this kind of unique sense of honor was even better than being given money!

He snatched the seed bag from Ironhead's hand, clutching it tightly to his chest like his own son, and yelled at the top of his lungs:

"Boss Dawn, put your heart at ease! Give me a month! No! With this advanced equipment, give me ten days! Even if I have to sleep in the dirt, I guarantee I'll make food grow from this ground! Mission guaranteed!"

Watching the guy rush into the hydroponic room like he'd been injected with chicken blood, Lin Li nodded with satisfaction.

"With this batch of Sand Potatoes, the Shelter's food crisis is effectively solved."

But distant water couldn't quench immediate thirst.

The fastest harvest for Sand Potatoes would still take over ten days. How would he provide meals for over two hundred people in the meantime?

He would still have to rely on this group of energetic players to shine out in the wasteland.

Lin Li returned to the control room and immediately adjusted the point reward ratio for turning in natural food in the system backend.

At the same time, he took the [Plasma Pistol] emitting a faint blue light that he had gotten from the Dwarf Vaughn yesterday and listed it at the very top of the Armory Mall.

[Votann Special: High-Frequency Plasma Pistol (Legendary)] [Price: 20,000 Core Points.]

[Note: A divine tool that can instantly melt Space Marine ceramite armor. You deserve it!]

As soon as this gun was listed, the entire player forum exploded. Everyone was drooling over this energy weapon that could dominate everything.

But Lin Li soon discovered a problem.

The slightly valuable exoskeletons in the mall had long since been sold out.

Most veteran players still stockpiled a large amount of Core Points with nowhere to spend them, which was not conducive to stimulating their motivation to continue working.

"I have to find a way to drain the spare cash from these beasts of burden."

Lin Li rubbed his chin, and a sudden Flash of inspiration hit him.

"I've got it! Is there any business in this world more profitable than selling land?"

Lin Li immediately had 73 divide the land within a five-kilometer radius of the Shelter into detailed grid-like sectors on the system map.

A brand new [Camp Land Management Regulations] was instantly released server-wide:

Inside the walls, the private shacks players had built themselves with wooden boards and scrap metal could be kept, but starting today, they would be considered rentals.

A monthly rent of 5 points per square meter must be paid to the Shelter.

The safe zone land within five kilometers outside the walls was officially up for sale!

Price per square meter: 200 Core Points. Players could purchase it as permanent private territory where they could build houses or transfer ownership.

Limit of 100 square meters per person.

Warning: As the Shelter continues to expand, future land prices will continue to rise based on prosperity! Buy early to enjoy early!

Once this regulation came out.

The veteran players, who had experienced the magical real estate markets of the real world, instantly boiled over!

"Holy crap! Buying land! This game actually lets you speculate on property?!"

"Any idiot knows this Shelter is definitely the future main city center! Current land prices are a steal!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Take all the points I earned at the Food Factory! Give me a hundred square meter foundation for a semi-detached villa!"

Veteran players immediately began clicking frantically on their pv terminals to snap up land, their eyes red with greed.

Meanwhile, the penniless newbies who had just logged on beat their chests and stamped their feet on the forum, crying and complaining about why they hadn't gotten internal testing access sooner.

In just half an hour, Lin Li had easily recovered nearly eighty percent of the players' idle points through land sales.

Looking at the suddenly enriched system account, Lin Li smiled like a capitalist who had successfully harvested his crop of leavings.

But on the other hand, the announcement of increased food rewards led some imaginative players to start thinking of crooked ideas.

"Right now, you can't even find a single non-mutated blade of grass in the wild, and mutated beasts are a pain to kill."

[Wanna Sleep with Slaanesh] rubbed his chin and pondered,

"But the system announcement said that as long as it's non-toxic natural food, it can be traded for high points..."

His eyes suddenly lit up, and he slapped his thigh:

"In the Warhammer setting, aren't Orks basically spawned from a type of advanced fungus? To put it plainly, they're essentially mushrooms! Since they're mushrooms, what are we waiting for? Let's eat the damn things!"

The execution power of The Fourth Calamity was terrifying.

It didn't take long.

A few veteran players worked together to drag back a recently deceased, relatively intact Ork Boyz corpse from yesterday's battlefield corpse pile.

They didn't hand the corpse over for system recycling but instead set up a chopping block right there in the square.

With a Flash of blades, they dismembered the Ork's limbs, throwing the remaining torso into the recycling bin.

Then, they stuffed those thick green legs into a Carbon Matter Purifier for deep sterilization and toxin filtering.

Finally, they built a bonfire in the square, skewered the filtered Ork legs on rebar, and started grilling!

As the fat dripped, a strange and extremely rich meaty aroma actually began to permeate the camp.

Many curious players gathered around, swallowing their saliva wildly.

[Lao Ba Canteen], being a professional cook, was the first to pick up a piece of grilled Ork meat and took a bite with his eyes closed.

"Chew, chew... Holy crap! It's actually good!"

Lao Ba Canteen opened his eyes, his face full of surprise.

"This taste... it's not like eating meat! It's a bit like a high-end geoduck! No, like a thick king oyster mushroom! But it's very chewy, like chewing cooked cowhide! If you took it back and braised it in a pressure cooker, it would definitely be top-tier!"

Hearing the professional's review, a group of players who looked like reincarnated starving ghosts immediately swarmed forward, scrambling to feast.

Of course, there were also many female players and newcomers with weaker stomachs who, seeing these human-like biological limbs being grilled and eaten, instinctively felt a wave of nausea and ran to the corner to vomit.

In the underground control room.

Lin Li, watching the players' outrageous operations through the monitors, was also dumbfounded.

He even felt a hint of curiosity: just what kind of divine flavor did this Ork mushroom meat have?

But logic ultimately triumphed over curiosity.

In the Warhammer universe, eating random things usually ended very badly.

It was fine if players courted death, but he and the natives only had one life.

Lin Li unhesitatingly rejected the players' request to treat grilled Ork meat as a regular food item to be traded for points.

"This stuff is too sinister. Who knows if eating it will cause infection with WAAAGH Energy and turn you into an Ork?"

Lin Li issued a stern warning in the system backend, "All Ork biomass must undergo secondary decomposition and be processed into harmless industrial protein powder before it can be used as food!"

But for that group of players who weren't even afraid of death, such a warning was at most a breeze past their ears.