The next day, Henry got up, washed up, and had breakfast. After everything was settled, he opened the chat channel. At this point, Clarissa had already sent him several trade invites. The offers included a variety of items:
[Purified Water]*10, [Bucket Instant Noodles]*10, [Energy Cores]*25, [Skill: Marksman]*1, [Skill: Universal Driving Technique]*1, [Skill: Steel Material Collection]*1, [Skill: Basic Mechanical Enhancement]*1...
[Skill: Marksman]: Once used, significantly increases shooting accuracy!
[Skill: Universal Driving Technique]: Once used, allows the user to drive any kind of vehicle after a brief familiarization, including cars, motorcycles, airplanes, helicopters, boats, and even riding horses...
[Skill: Steel Material Collection]: Allows the collection of steel materials directly from metal buildings or materials!
[Skill: Basic Mechanical Enhancement]: Allows mechanical devices to be enhanced and modified by consuming steel materials!
Wow... He hadn't expected such a bounty after just one night of sleep! What a windfall!
Henry checked the times Clarissa initiated the trades, ranging from 10 PM to over 3 AM, indicating that she had been busy selling weapons for him during that time. Absolutely diligent!
Henry stored the [Skill: Marksman] in his storage space and used the other skills one by one. The marksman skill was currently of no use to Henry. His bow and arrows were automatically aimed, and firearms were too loud, attracting zombies.
Moreover, with his current strength, his damage was no less than that of firearms, especially when fighting Crawlers, where he must destroy the spine to kill them effectively!
"Woof-woof!" Snow also woke up. This little fellow really could sleep. Since returning home yesterday, he had slept for over ten hours straight. But then again, based on Henry's past experience with dogs, puppies are indeed very sleepy and spend most of their day sleeping.
Henry took out two [Mutant Fertilizers] and placed them in an iron basin. When Snow was a pup, he could easily consume a whole portion of [Mutant Fertilizer]. Now that he has grown, it seemed right to increase his meal portion!
Henry then went up to the rooftop. The five Meat Potatoes had grown lush and leafy. A display read: 59 days, 23 hours, and 53 minutes to maturity... Henry poured the leftover [Accelerated Fertilizer] on these plants. Instantly, the Meat Potatoes grew an additional twenty centimeters. Yellow flowers blossomed in a flash, then withered just as quickly, bearing fruit. The robust roots swelled up from the soil piece by piece.
At that moment, the nearby display indicated: [Meat Potato]is mature! Henry pulled up all five Meat Potatoes, knocking the soil off their roots. Each Meat Potato had between five to seven edible tubers. Each piece weighed over two pounds. In total, he had nearly 30 pounds of food—a very high yield!
Meat Potatoes are quite peculiar plants, different from regular potatoes. They do not grow by sprouting from tubers but are cultivated from seeds that form after flowering. One Meat Potato can produce about ten seeds. From such a cycle, Henry turned five Meat Potatoes into fifty—a tenfold increase in yield! It was incredibly satisfying; with such a setup, food would really not be a concern anymore!
However... the rooftop space was limited, with only a dozen or so pots. There was simply no room to plant so many Meat Potatoes. Standing at the edge of the rooftop, Henry looked down. Building eight was situated on a small island surrounded by plenty of lawns and open spaces. He decided to plant them outside!
Henry stored the Meat Potatoes and Meat Potato Seeds in his storage space and quickly ran downstairs. By this time, Snow had finished eating and was happily wagging his tail, following behind Henry.
Creating [Basic Enclosures]! This was a skill Henry had acquired. Soon, chest-high wooden fences appeared on the ground, quickly encircling the island.
Then, opposite building eight, Henry installed a gate! The gate was incredibly basic, just an ordinary wooden door with no awning to shield it from the rain. But that was fine, for a basic enclosure, it was quite adequate.
The main purpose wasn't to fend off other survivors or zombie invasions... it was to let other survivors know that this place was occupied and that they shouldn't tamper with the crops.
With the fence completed, the next step was to ensure someone guarded these crops. Otherwise, other survivors might dig up the Meat Potatoes as soon as Henry left, which would be a loss. Now, with only one man and one pet, Henry certainly wouldn't stay to guard...
So, that left only one option... Henry looked at Snow and smiled slightly. Wolves have a strong sense of territory, making Snow perfect for watching over the place! Since Henry's main task today was scouting, not fighting, there was no harm in waiting until tomorrow, once the Meat Potatoes were matured, to take Snow out for combat.
"Snow! I have a task for you," Henry said. Snow cocked his head, looking puzzled, his expression seeming to ask: "Aren't you supposed to take me out to play?"
"These Meat Potatoes, you're in charge of guarding them, don't let anyone get close!"
"Understand?" Henry gestured towards the Meat Potatoes and patted Snow.
"Woof?"
Snow looked confused. He could grasp simple combat commands, but guarding was a bit too complex to explain.
"You stay home, I'll go out, got it?" Henry tried to explain again.
This time, Snow seemed to get it. He lay down on the ground, tongue out, looking naively at Henry. "Good, that's settled then!" Henry used [Accelerated Fertilizer] on the newly planted fifty Meat Potato Seeds.
This time, the demand for Fertilizer was quite high. Henry used three large bags of Fertilizer! Finally, he brought down Snow's food bowl and packed it with four portions of [Mutant Fertilizer]. This was the little guy's daily ration.
With everything in place, Henry confidently walked away. After covering a distance of about ten meters, he looked back. Snow was sitting obediently at the gate, looking at Henry with a bit of reluctance. But it understood its duty; it watched Henry walk away without following.
The journey was silent. Henry arrived near Sun University once again. With a light leap, he climbed back onto the roof of a bus.
From this position, even if a few stray zombies approached, they wouldn't pose an immediate threat to Henry. This allowed him to fully concentrate on using the drone for scouting.
Start the drone!