Chapter 018: Upgrading the Territory

Seeing the change in Zhou Bai's expression, Zhou Zhengping raised an eyebrow, "Got some good news?"

Zhou Bai nodded, "Yes, the buildings rewarded in the territory yesterday are all for enhancing territorial strength, and I've built them all! Just spent the money a little too quickly."

Just a moment ago, she was full of fighting spirit, but now looking at the sharply decreased gold coins in her account, she felt a bit distressed.

Moreover, she had just noticed that the previous buildings in the territory could be upgraded. She planned to upgrade next, especially the fence, definitely needed to improve its defensive power; she didn't want to experience another invasion of the territory by demon beasts.

Oh, right, and there were the various architectural drawings and item blueprints she got from killing the demon beasts last night, which also required money to convert into buildings and items!

When had she ever been short of money before?

Now it seemed like she was short of money everywhere?

It was all because of this territory!

At that moment, Zhou Bai also received a notification from the system.

[Dear Host, your wealth is currently less than 10 gold coins and is at risk of going to zero, making it impossible to purchase supplies. Please ensure your account is adequately funded.]

Hearing this, Zhou Bai immediately checked her backpack.

At a glance, she was utterly dumbfounded.

Her backpack was stuffed to the brim and was almost out of room.

The initial slots in the backpack were 10, but the limit for the same kinds of items in one slot was 999. With each level increase, one slot was added, and previously, even when purchasing supplies, she had space because she was continuously consuming resources.

However, now that she was at level 7 with 17 slots, they suddenly were filled.

What exactly happened?

In her mind, she suddenly remembered the words of those residents last night about selling good stuff to the territory and thought maybe they had meant it.

It seemed that as the number of people in the territory increased, the acquisition of supplies would also increase. Next time, if she unlocked a building, she had to unlock the warehouse first because her backpack could hardly hold it all.

Looking into her backpack, indeed there were various materials like wood and stone resources, as well as blueprints.

Fortunately, blueprints, unlike wood materials, couldn't be repeatedly acquired; otherwise, she would have gone "bankrupt" a long time ago.

"Mom, could you give me some more gold coins?" With her funds at a critical low, Zhou Bai had to seek help from the wealthy lady.

"How much do you need?" Ding Qiurou asked directly.

"Would 1,000 suffice?" Since Zhou Bai decided to work hard, she naturally wanted to be fully prepared.

[Hope Village Resident Ding Qiurou has gifted you 1,000 gold coins, do you accept?]

Zhou Bai accepted it directly and prepared to convert the blueprints in her backpack into actual buildings and items.

But beside her, Zhou Zhengping was a bit surprised, "You need that much for upgrading the territory?"

"There are other expenses too." Zhou Bai explained her situation, "I want to renew and upgrade the territory, so when someone challenges us, we won't be afraid anymore."

Before yesterday, she might have been reluctant to spend so much money; of course, at that time, she couldn't even if she wanted to. But after yesterday, when she could invest money into building the territory, she absolutely had to, as the safety of the territory now was linked to people's lives, including her and her family's.

As for borrowing from her parents, she would pay them back when the territory had surplus, and she still believed that by developing the territory well, she could make money from it in the future.

After listening to Zhou Bai, Zhou Zhengping's eyes faintly showed a hint of emotion.

Since the start of the Doomsday Game, becoming a Lord, Xiao Bai's growth was truly visible to the naked eye!

Although he felt a bit sorry for her change, Zhou Zhengping had to admit that the current Xiao Bai could live better in this Doomsday Game and shoulder the responsibility of a Lord.

"If you need money, just say it; issues that can be solved with money aren't really issues," Zhou Zhengping said directly.

Zhou Bai's eyes warmed, and she nodded. If it weren't for her parents' financial power, running the territory wouldn't have gone this smoothly. Looking at the freshly credited 1,000 gold coins in her account, she continued to operate.

First, she opened the panel of upgradable buildings.

[Lord Mansion (Level 1) — Lord Mansion (Level 2)]

[Fence — Level 1 Wall — Level 2 Wall — Level 3 Wall — Primary City Wall]

[Restaurant — Add Items]

[Level 1 House — Level 2 House]

[Heroic Spirit Hall (Level 1) — Heroic Spirit Hall (Level 2)]

Whatever could be upgraded, Zhou Bai unhesitatingly chose to upgrade.

The Level 2 Lord Mansion just had a slightly larger area and an additional floor.

The restaurant added an item, rice porridge.

Upgrading a Level 1 House to a Level 2 House meant that future houses built could be chosen to be Level 1 or Level 2, but existing Level 1 houses wouldn't change.

As for the fence, it could jump three levels. Upon seeing this, Zhou Bai had already decided to upgrade it to the highest level no matter what.

[Spend 10 gold coins and 10,000 units of stone to upgrade the fence to a Level 1 Wall?]

[Spend 20 gold coins and 20,000 units of stone to upgrade the Level 1 Wall to a Level 2 Wall?]

[Spend 40 gold coins and 40,000 units of stone to upgrade the Level 2 Wall to a Level 3 Wall?]

[Spend 80 gold coins, 80,000 units of stone, and 10,000 units of iron ore to upgrade the Level 3 Wall to a Primary City Wall?]

Without hesitation, Zhou Bai selected "yes" every time she was asked.

Even as her money continued to drop rapidly, thinking about getting a wall that would bring a sense of security made it all feel worth it!

Once the upgrade to the Primary City Wall was complete, the data was revealed.

[Building: Primary City Wall]

[Introduction: Forms a protective shield to defend the territory against demon beasts. In attack mode, it consumes defensive power, requiring timely repairs.]

[Defensive Power: 80,000]

Seeing the defensive power jump by 80 times, Zhou Bai was genuinely satisfied.

Next, Zhou Bai's attention shifted again to the various blueprints.

The only building blueprint was the grocery store, obtained from killing a Level 5 Dark Demon Wolf, and she naturally built it without hesitation.

[Spend 10 gold coins, 1,000 units of stone, and 1,000 units of wood to unlock the Primary Grocery Store?]

"Yes."

[Grocery Store completed, currently without a merchant, enabling self-service mode. The system will select from unoccupied items in the host's backpack and refresh them from time to time, do you confirm?]

"Yes."

Lastly, the product blueprints acquired from the territory residents included the Anti-black Backpack blueprint, Anti-black Hat blueprint, and Night Vision Glasses blueprint. After production, Basic Tailor Shop had three more items.

[Item: Anti-black Backpack (Green)]

[Introduction: Increases anti-dimming effect, adds 2 slots]

[Durability: 100/100 (Please repair at tailor shop if below 20%)]

[Price: 50 silver coins]

*

[Item: Anti-black Hat (Green)]

[Introduction: Increases anti-dimming effect, can remain hidden in darkness for 2 minutes]

[Durability: 100/100 (Please repair at tailor shop if below 20%)]

[Price: 20 silver coins]

*

[Item: Night Vision Glasses (Green)

[Introduction: Increases anti-dimming effect, visible within 2 meters]

[Durability: 100/100 (Please repair at tailor shop if below 20%)]

[Price: 30 silver coins]

*

[Note: Collect all three Anti-black items for smooth travel in total darkness, effect lasts 2 hours with a cooldown time of 2 hours.]

...

After executing and planning all the operations, Zhou Bai chose to confirm, and at that moment, Zhou Bai let out a long breath.

Finally, it was over!

She had spent several hundred gold coins in one go, but compared to the results, she truly felt delighted.

Infrastructure was challenging, but having money seemed to make it less daunting.

"I'm going out to see the current state of the territory." Operating on the Lord Map and seeing it in person were definitely different, at this moment, Zhou Bai was somewhat impatient.

"Have your meal first, you were so busy you didn't eat," said Ding Qiurou, bringing over a bowl of chicken soup, "I made it with the mushrooms I traded for, it's very fresh."

Zhou Bai took it, sipped it, and nodded, "It's delicious."

"If it's good, eat and drink more," Ding Qiurou said warmly. She was well aware that her daughter had changed somewhat after last night. She couldn't do the things her daughter needed to do, so instead, she would take good care of her.

She hoped never to see her daughter in the same state as last night again.

This was much better! Ding Qiurou was already considering giving her daughter more money in a couple of days to let her enjoy more freedom in what she wants to do.

"Okay." Zhou Bai nodded.

Meanwhile, Zhou Zhengping watching them said hurriedly, "Honey, I want some too."

Ding Qiurou glanced at him sideways, knowing he was just being playful!

But she still poured him a bowl with her own hands.

Watching this scene, the corner of Zhou Bai's mouth lifted slightly.

Why had she been willing to change herself? It was just so moments like these could always exist!