First, he had only one last pack of biscuits left, and after finishing it, he would have to start eating corn.
The corn harvested earlier had already shriveled, resembling cobs. If he tried to eat it raw, he'd likely lose half his teeth.
But having a pot changed everything; he could directly boil it into soup!
Therefore, he needed a pot for cooking.
Besides cooking, a pot could also be used to purify water.
The water stored in the base was enough for a little over a week, so there was no immediate shortage.
Currently, there were only two ways to obtain water: buying from others or collecting rainwater.
Buying from others was not cheap, and more importantly, the quality was not guaranteed.
If there were unscrupulous merchants selling dirty water, or even poisoning it, Jiang Ye would be in trouble.
Collecting rainwater was limited by the containers available.
With several large pots, he could collect tens of liters more water!
Most crucially, if the Dragon King took a nap and it didn't rain for months, the rainwater supply would be cut off. When the rainwater stopped, everyone would face a water shortage.
Therefore, he had to find other ways to get water.
Jiang Ye had an idea a few days ago: digging for groundwater.
In other words, drilling a well!
But digging for groundwater wasn't easy, and even if water was found, it was difficult to guarantee it was free of bacteria.
Now that he had a pot, he could boil any groundwater he found to kill bacteria!
Jiang Ye realized he should try to drill a well in the next couple of days. He couldn't wait until the water ran out to start, as that would be too late.
Pushing open the cabin door, Jiang Ye placed the large pots outside.
Rainwater immediately poured onto the pots, making a crisp sound.
The downpour was heavy, and within minutes, all the pots were filled with water!
Jiang Ye carried the pots back into the base and placed them in a corner. He covered them to prevent evaporation.
Now that he possessed the powerful "blood grenade," he theoretically shouldn't fear mountain monsters or earth beasts.
However, Jiang Ye firmly believed that survival was victory and decided not to go out during the rain.
He didn't want to confront alien creatures head-on. If he could win, fine, but if not, it would be the end.
He always felt that grenades had a suicidal quality, which made him uneasy.
Lying on the bed, Jiang Ye listened to the rain in silence.
His eyes were fixed on the base's window, watching the rain wash over the glass.
Staring.
Staring.
Staring.
Since arriving on this planet, he had been constantly busy trying to survive. This was the first time he had had such a leisurely moment to lie down.
Jiang Ye recalled his past.
His memories were all fragmented, blurry, like water stains on a window.
His previous life seemed very peaceful: eating, sleeping, growing up carefree and healthy. Until he was suddenly diagnosed with a terminal illness, frozen, and his pig-like comfortable life came to an abrupt end. Everything happened so suddenly, as if cut off by a sharp blade.
He always felt something was wrong.
The turn of fate seemed too sudden, too unreal, like a movie, like artificially implanted memories.
Jiang Ye always felt he had experienced something thrilling, but that memory had been erased. Yet, it wasn't erased cleanly, like stubborn stains on clothes that, no matter how much you scrubbed, left a mark. Or like an old soldier's gunshot wound, where the skin heals over, but it aches faintly on rainy days, reminding you that you were once shot through the body on the battlefield.
Was his feeling correct?
Could current technology truly alter or erase a person's memory?
If his memory had been altered, what was the motive of the manipulator behind the scenes? Who was he in the past? What did he do that required his memory to be changed?
His head suddenly started to ache.
A needle-like sharp pain forced Jiang Ye to stop thinking.
A voice faintly echoed:
Stop thinking nonsense! The most important thing is to survive on this planet!
There's no such thing as memory alteration! You're just going crazy from being alone for too long!
Jiang Ye nodded secretly, thinking the idea was right. If he couldn't remember the past, so be it. The most pressing matter now was to survive well on this planet.
The rain continued until night, so he stayed inside.
He spent half the day inventorying supplies and cleaning the base.
At eleven in the evening, feeling sleepy, Jiang Ye went to bed as usual.
At eight in the morning, Jiang Ye was woken by the sunlight streaming through the window.
He got up, stretched, finished the last half-pack of biscuits, and ate two oranges for breakfast.
The physical enhancement serum injected yesterday afternoon hadn't worn off yet; his body was filled with energy!
Carrying the blood grenade, samurai sword, and mining tools, he forcefully pushed open the cabin door.
The fresh air after the rain was invigorating.
Jiang Ye leaped out of the base and ran wildly.
He felt an inexhaustible supply of strength!
He soon reached the mine pit and looked down, feeling dumbfounded.
The mine pit had accumulated a considerable amount of water.
His new pants and shoes couldn't get wet, so he took them off, placed them aside, and went into the mine pit barefoot.
The water in the pit reached past his calves.
Jiang Ye was troubled. How could he work with all this water?
Not to mention anything else, his shovel would lose its momentum quickly after hitting the water.
He had to drain the water first.
Jiang Ye quickly exited the pit and sprinted back to the base.
Five large pots filled with water were still placed in the corner.
He couldn't just dump the water from the pots carelessly. Fortunately, he had some empty water bottles from drinks. Jiang Ye spent a few minutes filling several empty bottles with water from one of the pots.
Then, he carried the pot and ran back to the mine pit.
He directly used the large pot as a ladle, carrying water out of the mine pit pot by pot!
In about ten minutes, the water in the entire mine pit was almost drained, leaving only a little around his ankles, which was negligible.
Jiang Ye placed the pot by the edge of the pit, picked up the pickaxe, and began excavating ore.
There was still plenty of cryolite ore, embedded in the damp pit walls, shining brightly.
Jiang Ye felt his arms filled with strength, so he swung the pickaxe wildly, striking rapidly like a pile driver!
His work speed could only be described as frenzied!
In the first hour, he had chipped off six watermelon-sized pieces of cryolite ore!
His efficiency had increased severalfold compared to two days ago!
Crucially, he could work so fast without feeling particularly tired.
He would take a couple of breaths and be fully recharged.
Jiang Ye was ecstatic. The basic physical enhancement serum was worth the money; this feeling of surging stamina was incredibly exhilarating!
The feeling of being fully charged, fully restored, and fully powered was not something everyone could experience.
Jiang Ye placed the six ore pieces into the large pot, then grabbed the pot handles, bent over, and ran towards the base.
He had to admit, this method was quite efficient and saved a lot of effort. Previously, he could only transport one or two pieces of cryolite per trip, but now he could transport six at once!
He sold them all in one go.
He earned a total of 13,010 yuan.
His personal assets increased from 1,900 to 14,910, making him a small-time rich man again in an instant.
Jiang Ye was in high spirits. He took the pot back to the mine pit and jumped back in to work.
Clang, clang, clang!
The sound of chipping echoed from the bottom of the pit.
Every few minutes, a large piece of ore would fly out from the bottom of the pit, landing beside the mine.
Occasionally, a shovel full of soil would also fly out.
Jiang Ye worked with great enthusiasm, continuing until noon without a break.
At this point, he suddenly realized he was trapped!
The mine pit had been dug to a depth of five meters.
Most importantly, in his excitement, he had forgotten to leave a slope for climbing up in the bottom two meters.
Looking up at the blue sky, Jiang Ye felt like a frog at the bottom of a well.
Damn it, he had to find a way out!