Watching the two mu of land being planted bit by bit, Zhao Hai couldn't help but sigh with emotion. He finally understood what the phrase "sowing hope" meant; wasn't what he was planting right now exactly that—hope?
If the corn truly had the effect he imagined, he would no longer have to worry about the development of his territory. However, he wouldn't be able to see the results for another dozen hours or so.
The two mu of land were soon planted, but Zhao Hai did not leave the Space. Instead, he watched the radishes carefully, as he still didn't know how much longer they would take to mature.
Thinking of this, a thought struck Zhao Hai, and he patted his head. "That's right, I can just ask the Space. I remember when I played farm games, there was a reminder function. Space, how much longer until the radishes mature?"
The Space's prompt sounded: "The radishes will officially mature in three minutes." There wasn't a single word of unnecessary chatter.
Zhao Hai nodded and muttered, "Three minutes, three minutes is good. I can harvest the radishes in three minutes. Right, I have to plant again after harvesting; I need to go buy another bag of radish seeds."
Thinking it, he did it. Zhao Hai immediately spent 150 gold coins to buy a bag of radish seeds, leaving him with only 350 gold coins in his hand.
However, Zhao Hai didn't mind. He had already adjusted his development route. He shouldn't develop the Black Waste too quickly for now; firstly, he lacked the conditions, and secondly, if he developed too quickly, he would definitely attract attention. If that happened, they would all be doomed. Therefore, his focus for development should be inside the Space.
As long as the Space's level increased, all his development problems would be solved. The Space was his foundation. He didn't plan on selling too many radishes, just as he had said at the very beginning: if he sold too many radishes at once, they wouldn't be worth much, and he would be the one suffering the loss.
It was a pity that he didn't have a mobile phone to tell Green about these thoughts. He only hoped that Green wouldn't bring back too large an order this time.
Previously, Zhao Hai had been reluctant to rely too much on the Space because its existence felt too illusory to him. He didn't know when it might disappear, and if it did, he would have nothing else to fall back on, and they would all be finished.
But now, it seemed he had no choice but to rely on it. As the Space leveled up, he could obtain more things, which would allow his territory to develop better.
However, he couldn't slack off on improving the land outside the Space. If he couldn't improve the land outside, then if the Space were to truly disappear one day, he would be left with nothing.
Now, he had to calculate every step carefully to ensure it was most advantageous to him—he needed to let the Space develop while simultaneously improving the living environment outside.
Upgrading the Space cost money, and Zhao Hai was very clear that now that his Space had just leveled up once, the cost for each subsequent upgrade would only increase. When he used to play farm games, he had two accounts. One was his old account, which he had used for a long time and had over four hundred online friends. When playing the game, he could steal crops to his heart's content, and eventually, he had so much money he couldn't spend it all, slowly losing interest.
His second account was a new one where he hadn't added any friends; it was just him. He opened this account mainly to play the game, wanting to see what the consequences would be if he played it all by himself.
He found out the consequences: they were severe. It was fine at first, but once the farm reached level twenty and he opened the pasture, he was finished. His game coins were never enough. If he upgraded the farm land, he had no money for the pasture; if he upgraded the pasture, he had no money for the farm. But this actually taught Zhao Hai to be more calculating. He carefully calculated the income from the farm and the pasture, then calculated which animal was the most cost-effective to raise, playing that online single-player game bit by bit.
His current situation was similar to that of his small account; he had to level up bit by bit. He had some experience with this, but he couldn't forget that he also had to take things from the Space to improve his territory. This made his funds even tighter, so he had to calculate every step with extreme care.
After letting his mind wander for a while, the Space's prompt sounded: "The radishes have matured, please harvest them as soon as possible." Zhao Hai snapped back to reality. He didn't immediately shout to harvest; instead, he looked at the radishes, lost in thought.
Last time he harvested the radishes, the leaves had disappeared. He guessed the Space treated the radish leaves as waste. He certainly couldn't be so wasteful now; he still needed to keep those things to feed the Blue-Eyed Rabbits.
Now that the radishes were mature, if he let the Space harvest them in the original way, he still wouldn't get the leaves. If he were to harvest them himself... he looked at the ten mu of radishes and quickly dismissed the thought.
Zhao Hai only hoped that the Space was as magical as he imagined and could fulfill his requests. Otherwise, this harvest would truly become a problem.
In the Space, after plants matured, if one used the automatic harvest function, it would only collect things that could be eaten or used. Things like corn stalks or radish leaves were treated as trash by the Space. This was fine when playing a game, but now that Zhao Hai needed these things to change his life, they were very important to him.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hai frowned. He was truly worried; if the Space couldn't harvest the radishes according to his intent, he would be in big trouble.
He took a few deep breaths to calm his mood and said in a deep voice, "Harvest the radishes, and harvest the radish leaves separately from the radishes."
After saying this, Zhao Hai's heart pounded uncontrollably. He was truly afraid of failure. If he failed, he would have to think of another way, and the only way he could think of now was to let the slaves into the Space to harvest the radishes. Not only would that cause problems, but it would also increase the chance of the Space being exposed.
Following his words, the Space reacted. One by one, the radishes flew into the basket. After all the radishes were harvested, Zhao Hai took another deep breath, walked to the warehouse, and touched it with his hand.
Soon, the items in the warehouse were displayed before Zhao Hai. At the very top were the radishes and the radish leaves, followed by the supplies he had previously stored.
Zhao Hai pulled his hand back, clenched his fist, and cheered. He truly hadn't expected the Space to give him such a big surprise. This success didn't just help him harvest the items; it also represented a deeper understanding of the Space. It turned out the Space really did listen to him completely; he could command it to do anything.
Ever since the Space appeared, Zhao Hai had felt a sense of unreality. It was like he was playing a very realistic game, and he had been operating the entire Space according to the game's procedures.
But this success made Zhao Hai realize that this Space had truly mutated. He wasn't just an operator in this Space; the settings from the game he used to play didn't necessarily apply here. It could be said that his control over this Space was much deeper than in the game. He might just be the god of this Space, the supreme existence.
After a long while, Zhao Hai calmed his emotions. He checked the situation in the Space again, and since there was nothing left for him to do, he finally left.
Once he left the Space, Zhao Hai couldn't help but smile. With the existence of the Space, the Black Waste could eventually become the largest granary on the entire continent, just like his hometown. The "Great Northern Wilderness" would surely become the "Great Northern Granary." However, he had to use the Space's abilities less in reality to help himself, forcing himself to adapt to the feeling of not having the Space's help as quickly as possible, because there was always a sense of insecurity in his heart.
Zhao Hai was always afraid that the Space might disappear one day. Although he had shifted his focus to developing the Space, that was only to let it provide him with more help so his territory could develop faster. He was a very practical person; he didn't believe in things he couldn't see or touch. He only believed that what he held in his own hands was truly his own. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
To Zhao Hai, the Space was like the internet on Earth—too illusory. Although Zhao Hai was a shut-in, he never met his online friends because he didn't trust those illusory things.
It was precisely because of this mentality that Zhao Hai was desperate to change things in reality; only then would he feel a sense of peace.
He didn't believe in luck, so when he was on Earth, he never bought lottery tickets. Every cent he earned was through his own hard work. He didn't believe anyone would give him money for no reason; he only believed that a person could only get everything they wanted through their own efforts.
After coming out of the Space, Zhao Hai didn't go outside. There was too little he could do right now, and he needed to think carefully about his future development—the development of the Black Waste.
Zhao Hai realized that his land improvement efforts today were poorly considered; he had been too anxious and acted too rashly. No one could guarantee that people wouldn't come to the Black Waste in the future. If one day people suddenly arrived and found a large area of land in front of their castle growing things, it would definitely arouse suspicion.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but mutter, "It seems I need to get a good understanding of the Black Waste tomorrow." Having said that, he fell into a deep sleep.