The potato harvest took the entire morning.
His back ached, and his hands were covered in mud.
But it was all worth it. After selling the potatoes, he had exactly ten thousand yuan!
Jiang Ye sat in his base, gulping down water as he clicked on the control panel to upgrade the base.
[Deducting 10,000 yuan. Base will be upgraded to Level 3. Do you agree?]
He decisively agreed.
Instantly, the personal assets column in the bottom right corner of the panel turned to zero!
Jiang Ye felt a pang of pain. The money he had painstakingly saved was gone.
But he had to spend it. It was like playing a game; if you didn't upgrade your base quickly in the early stages, you'd just get crushed by others later.
The previous base upgrades had been uneventful, just a notification message and that was it.
But this time, the spaceship actually buzzed to life!
It was as if some energy was being channeled into the ship, activating this broken vessel that had been dead for days!
[Please remain seated and still. The base is about to expand.]
A line of text suddenly popped up.
Jiang Ye was startled and sat up straight.
Then, a magical scene unfolded. The messy wires and various buttons in the cabin retracted into the cabin walls, instantly making the entire base much tidier. That wasn't all; the cabin wall made a crisp sound and suddenly pulled apart to the sides, expanding! In the blink of an eye, the base, which was originally the size of a small car, expanded to the size of a bus, and even a bed, several seats, and a table appeared.
Everything was changing so fast he couldn't keep up!
Two minutes later, the base finally stopped transforming. The effect was significant, with the space expanding several times over!
It felt like moving from a toilet cubicle to an affordable housing unit!
[Congratulations! Base has been upgraded to Level 3!]
[New function unlocked: Galactic Mall]
[Galactic Mall: Through this mall, you can purchase various items from the Galactic Empire Merchant Association. Official channel, quality guaranteed, invoices provided.]
Seeing this new function, Jiang Ye slapped his thigh.
Here it is!
As expected, a Level 3 base allowed him to buy things!
I'm going to order a rocket launcher right away!
With an excited heart and trembling hands, Jiang Ye returned to the function interface of the control panel and clicked on the newly appeared Galactic Mall.
As soon as he opened it, his smile froze on his face.
He had expected that after this function was activated, the interface would be similar to the online shopping interfaces he knew from his past life, with a dazzling array of products, all sorts of advertisements, clear categories, and the freedom to browse and buy whatever he wanted, indulging in impulse purchases. Perhaps there would even be promotions like "spend X and get Y off," flash sales, or group buys, as was typical for online malls.
But, to his utter surprise, the interface was completely empty, with only one product!
That's right, only one!
Jiang Ye was shocked. How could they call this a mall with only one item? This wasn't just a case of selling dog meat under the guise of beef; it was practically selling dog feces under the guise of beef! They were disgracing the entire galaxy!
Perhaps anticipating Jiang Ye's thoughts, a small prompt slid down from the top of the panel:
[The Galactic Mall has strict product level controls.]
[Customers of different levels can purchase different quantities of goods.]
[The higher your level, the more products you will unlock.]
Jiang Ye understood. It was about upgrading to unlock!
He clicked on the only purchasable item to view its details.
Jiang Ye's motivation for upgrading the base was the anticipation of being able to buy weapons.
His wish had come true. The only item unlocked was indeed a weapon, but this weapon was rather bizarre, even beyond Jiang Ye's comprehension!
[Item: Blood Grenade]
[Item Description: Insert the needle at the bottom of the grenade into a vein in your arm, and repeatedly squeeze the handle to push your own blood into the grenade. The more blood, the greater the grenade's power. After removing the pin and pulling the fuse, the grenade will explode in five seconds, so throw it promptly.]
[Price: 100 yuan]
Jiang Ye read the item description back and forth three times, confirming he wasn't seeing things.
Infusing a grenade with his own blood?
What kind of operation was this?
But no matter how difficult it was to understand, the product manual stated it as it was. He couldn't figure out the specific principle, likely some black technology. Jiang Ye mainly found the usage method too ridiculous. If he had to fight a war, wouldn't he become anemic if he used too many grenades?
He didn't have the money yet, so Jiang Ye decided to quickly save up to buy a Blood Grenade and try it out.
Tucking the samurai sword into his belt and slinging the mining shovel and pickaxe over his shoulder, Jiang Ye pushed open the cabin door.
The weather was good, with not a cloud in the sky.
He first cautiously observed his surroundings, saw no wild beasts, and then set off.
As he walked, he kept taking deep breaths.
Sensing the scents in the wind.
After walking more than five hundred meters from the base, a faint aroma finally entered his nostrils.
Got it!
Jiang Ye stopped, closed his eyes to carefully discern the source of the scent, and then started to jog excitedly.
Indeed, the scent grew stronger and stronger.
The mineral scent he detected this time was relatively simple, like the fresh fragrance of pears. Closing his eyes and smelling it, he could imagine a large, pale-skinned pear in his mind.
Jiang Ye ran for over a hundred meters, and the scent became even more intense.
It was no longer a single pear, but a large basin of pears.
It seemed like this was a big mine!
After running another hundred meters, the scent gradually weakened.
Jiang Ye knew he had run past the mineral deposit and slowly retreated, carefully identifying the spot with the strongest scent.
After a few minutes of searching, he was close.
A seemingly ordinary patch of dirt, with no large stones on the surface, clearly indicated that the mineral was buried underground.
Jiang Ye used his shovel to draw a large circle with a diameter of five meters on the ground. His movements were similar to Sun Wukong drawing a circle with his Ruyi Jingu Bang.
Sun Wukong drew circles to protect Tang Sanzang, while Jiang Ye was marking the mining location.
With the spot marked, Jiang Ye planted his feet firmly, swung his shovel, and dug with all his might!
It had rained yesterday, and the soil was watered, making digging easier.
Jiang Ye clearly felt that his digging speed had increased.
What used to take ten minutes to dig out half a bathtub of soil, he now dug out in just five minutes.
It took him over an hour to dig a meter deep.
His shovel hit a hard bone and couldn't dig any further.
Jiang Ye dropped the shovel, squatted down, and dug away a layer of dirt with his hands, revealing black stones. They weren't small stones, but large flagstones, almost like paving stones.
Was this the mineral?
He leaned down and sniffed the black stones.
Unfortunately, the black stones were not minerals, as they had no scent. The real mineral fragrance was still below.
Jiang Ye stood up and switched to the pickaxe.
The heavy, refined steel pickaxe was designed specifically for hard stones.
He raised it above his head and smashed down!
*Crack!* With a teeth-grindingly crisp sound, the black stone slab directly cracked.
His hands were also shaken numb, and the tiger's mouth turned red.
Gripping the pickaxe tightly, Jiang Ye began to strike it again and again.
Gritting his teeth, his expression contorted, as if he were killing someone.
After about forty-odd blows, he finally smashed the black stone slab, prying out the broken pieces and tossing them aside.
He switched back to the shovel and continued digging.
After digging half a meter, he encountered hard stones again.
By this time, it was evening. The blue sky had turned red, with a layer of golden light, making for a beautiful sight.
Jiang Ye lay down and dug away the dirt with his hands.
As soon as he saw the stones beneath the dirt, he froze, immediately concluding that he had definitely hit a mineral deposit!
The reason was simple: the stones in front of him were too beautiful!