The canning machine didn't come out whole, but in several boxes of parts.
Jiang Ye consulted the manual and tinkered for half an hour before he finished assembling it.
The machine wasn't very large and looked much like a water dispenser. However, the place where the water bucket usually went was replaced by an inlet for ingredients, and the water outlet was used for placing cans.
Jiang Ye went to the warehouse and found half a sack of fruit remaining.
"Time to make preserves!"
He picked out some fruit, brought it back to the base vehicle, washed it, peeled it, and cut it into small pieces.
Following the instructions in the manual, he poured them into the canning machine.
He also bought several empty cans and fixed them into the machine's slots.
"Start!"
With a humming sound, the cans were made.
The first can was watermelon preserves, with large chunks of watermelon floating in a light red liquid.
Jiang Ye opened a can and tasted it.
The taste wasn't great, mainly because no sugar was added, making it exceptionally bland.
However, the watermelon was preserved well.
So, without sugar, these cans were essentially tools to extend shelf life.
Jiang Ye busied himself for half an hour, turning all the remaining fruits and vegetables into preserves.
They were neatly arranged along the wall on the first floor, a colorful display of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, and purple.
He also tried to can bear meat by putting it into the machine.
The first attempt failed; the bear meat chunks were too large and got stuck inside the machine.
Jiang Ye had to disassemble the machine to remove the mashed bear meat.
The second time, he cut the bear meat into small pieces. The attempt was successful, and he made meat preserves.
Of course, they couldn't be eaten directly because the meat was raw.
Jiang Ye canned the remaining tens of pounds of bear meat. After all, as the temperature rose, meat would spoil quickly.
Once all the cans were made, Jiang Ye scanned them one by one into the trading bay, just to see.
The prices scanned were interesting.
Whether it was vegetable, fruit, or bear meat preserves, the official price given by the trading bay was the cost price plus 50 yuan.
For example, for fruit preserves, the fruit was worth 20 yuan, the can was worth 10 yuan, making the total cost 30 yuan. The trading bay gave a price of 80 yuan.
For bear meat preserves, the meat was worth 60 yuan, the can was worth 10 yuan, and the trading bay's guide price was 120 yuan.
This 50 yuan was likely labor costs.
Jiang Ye suddenly had an idea: he could hire other colony leaders to be canners and split the profits, similar to the model of raising chickens.
This kind of passive income was always welcome, so he quickly opened the chat channel and sent a message to Cao County Citizen.
Jiang Ye introduced the canning machine he had and shared his idea.
Cao County Citizen: "Feasible! Although it's a small business, if you hire enough people, you can earn a good amount daily. But where will the raw materials come from?"
Jiang Ye: "You've hit the nail on the head. Meat preserves and vegetable preserves have the same profit margin, so vegetable preserves are definitely more cost-effective. We definitely can't personally till the land; we'll need to hire people to open up plantations."
Cao County Citizen: "Opening plantations requires a water source. So, we need to find people near bases with water. We'll provide them with seeds daily, take the harvested crops, and pay them a small reward."
Jiang Ye: "Exactly. I'll have to trouble you with this."
Cao County Citizen: "In a couple of days, when the weather warms up and crops can grow, I'll handle this."
Jiang Ye: "Okay, if you forget, I'll remind you."
Cao County Citizen: "I won't forget; I'm a seasoned money-grubber. I dream about making money."
In the following days, Jiang Ye experienced firsthand the strange climate of this planet.
The south wind blew day and night, and the temperature soared by eight to ten degrees Celsius every day!
The snow oil grass withered in large areas by the next day. Without the snow oil grass, the blood kangaroos were so starved they stumbled and could barely hop.
Jiang Ye went out with his assault rifle and happened to see a blood kangaroo digging a hole.
After finishing the hole, the kangaroo crawled inside, curled up into a red ball, and fell asleep soundly. It would likely sleep through spring, summer, and autumn, only to emerge and hop around again in winter.
Earth animals hibernated; animals on this planet seemed to estivate.
The wolf pack came to the base area at night to eat the dead kangaroos. Jiang Ye didn't shoot to scare them away. Humans and wolves maintained a policy of non-aggression.
After the wolves left, Jiang Ye took his shovel and went to build a waterproof wall around the cattle pen.
On the third day, the temperature approached zero degrees Celsius.
It was no longer necessary to wear two layers of cotton-padded clothes; one layer was enough. Going out became much easier.
On the third night, the snow began to melt!
A little bit of melting snow was beautiful, poetic.
The melting of the thick snow covering the entire planet was a catastrophe!
At two in the morning, Jiang Ye was awakened by a rumbling sound.
Upon waking and looking outside, he realized the sound was the flow of floodwaters. Yellowish-black muddy water, carrying ice chunks and snow debris, was surging across the vast plains!
He threw on his clothes and rushed out, quickly inspecting the surrounding walls.
The water outside was about half a meter high, carrying many ice chunks and grass clippings.
In the distance, several black animal carcasses were floating. They were too far away to identify.
Not a single living creature was visible, only floating corpses. The floodwaters were astonishingly destructive, advancing like a mobile army, unstoppable and fast, sweeping across the entire continent, inundating most of the land, and causing widespread death and destruction!
The dirty water continuously washed against the walls, causing clumps of soil to peel off.
Jiang Ye returned to the base and, sparing no expense, frantically purchased over three hundred bags of coal.
He directly piled the bags of coal outside the walls.
They completely encased the walls, used to slow down the erosion of the wall's structure.
Jiang Ye walked around the walls, anxiously watching their condition.
He stayed on guard until dawn and finally felt relieved: the walls could withstand the water!
The area inside the walls was temporarily safe.
Back at the base, he cooked two corn ears for breakfast. While they cooked, he opened the chat channel.
As expected, there were many new messages in the channel.
The only noob in this channel: "Holy crap, my base is flooded! I'm typing this to you all while standing in waist-deep water."
Xiao Qiao: "I built a dam, but it's useless. The water is so cold, it's giving me stomach cramps. I might miscarry."
Long Zhan San Qian Li: "What the hell! There are blood-sucking insects in the water, like balloons. They bite my thigh and suck blood until they inflate! When I pop them, they're full of bloody water! I feel so dizzy, I think I'm anemic."
Xiao Xiong Xu: "I'm catching crabs. There are so many crabs in the water; they can feed me for a long time."
Only Earns Three Yuan a Day: "Oh my god, there are water snakes! Several meters long! Red and blue patterned, super terrifying!"
Jiang Ye silently read the messages from others, feeling increasingly fearful.
"Thank goodness I built the retaining walls. Otherwise, if the floodwaters rushed in, with blood-sucking insects and water snakes, how could I possibly hold on!"
A private message suddenly came in.
Cao County Citizen: "Are you okay over there? The whole world is flooding; it's like the apocalypse."
Jiang Ye: "I'm doing great; the floodwaters can't get in here. How about you?"
Cao County Citizen: "Don't even mention it. I've suffered heavy losses. All the goods I stockpiled were washed away during the night. Moreover, the base vehicle got flooded, and the panel just popped up a notification saying I need to top up 2 million to clear the water from the engine. All my hard work over the winter is gone overnight."
Jiang Ye: "As long as you're okay, it's just a natural disaster; losing money is a way to avert disaster. Are you hungry? Shall I send you some food?"
Cao County Citizen: "Thank you. I still have some provisions in my base. Be careful. I'm going to sleep for a bit; I haven't slept all night."