Chapter 13: Changes in State of Mind

Zhao Hai looked at the two of them and was speechless. It seemed they weren't truly foolish after all, as they were actually afraid he might deceive them. It appeared he had no choice but to take them into the space. That was fine, though; they would have to know about the space sooner or later, so he might as well take them in now.

Zhao Hai gave a bitter smile and said, "Alright, put your swords down. Aren't they heavy to hold? Get ready, we're going in." As soon as he finished speaking, he moved his thoughts, and the figures of the three men instantly vanished from where they stood. The next moment, they appeared inside the farm space.

Mu Tou and Shi Tou stared blankly at everything in the farm space—the radishes that had already sprouted in the fields, the few thatched huts, and the pile of items placed in front of the house.

Seeing that the two were still holding their swords, Zhao Hai patted them on the shoulders and said, "Put the swords down. Haven't we arrived already?"

Mu Tou and Shi Tou snapped out of their daze. They involuntarily lowered their swords, not daring to disobey Zhao Hai's words in the slightest. They now felt that Zhao Hai's words were like imperial edicts that they could not refuse to follow.

Zhao Hai also sensed the change in them. It felt as if they now regarded him as their master, which caught him off guard.

However, he didn't dwell on it. He carefully checked the growth of the radishes and glanced at the items in the house; everything remained unchanged. He only had two hundred gold coins left. He remembered that when he played the game, weeds and pests would occasionally appear automatically, and these two things were the greatest enemies of crop growth.

Fortunately, there were no such things in the fields now. This was exactly why Zhao Hai had insisted on coming here to check. Although the farm gave him a notification when the radishes matured, he didn't know if it would notify him when weeds or pests appeared.

These radishes were money, and if he wanted to live well here, he couldn't do it without money. He needed money—a lot of money—so he couldn't afford a single mistake.

Mu Tou and Shi Tou followed Zhao Hai as usual, but their state of mind had changed completely. Previously, they only listened to Green, but after arriving here, Green's status in their hearts was far lower than Zhao Hai's. Now, they prioritized Zhao Hai above all else.

Zhao Hai did not know that this space was a mutated one. In truth, everything here belonged to them, but the space had a leveling system. Since his level was currently too low, he still needed to level up. Once his level was high enough, this space would belong to him completely.

It was precisely because this space belonged to him entirely that anything he brought into it would involuntarily recognize him as its master. His commands were imperial edicts; in this space, he was a god. That was why Mu Tou and Shi Tou had such thoughts.

Zhao Hai had not yet discovered this. He simply checked the space carefully to see if there were any changes. There were none—absolutely no changes; everything was normal. Although he had leveled up again, he hadn't received anything other than a few seeds.

However, Zhao Hai wasn't discouraged. Although he didn't have many gold coins left, he could still plant another batch of radishes. If Green hadn't returned by the time this batch was harvested, he would have to sell a portion of the radishes and use that money to plant more.

It wasn't that Zhao Hai didn't want to plant other things, but he knew too little about the vegetables in this world. He was afraid that if he planted something else, he wouldn't be able to sell it. He was currently in a state of primitive accumulation; if he ended up with a pile of unsellable vegetables, his capital would be tied up, which he couldn't afford right now.

Radishes were easy to sell in this world, so planting radishes was the safest approach. Zhao Hai couldn't afford to make even a single mistake; this concerned not only his own life but also the future of the entire Buda family.

Zhao Hai knew clearly that he hadn't just inherited Adam Buda's body; he had also inherited the Buda family and the responsibilities that came with it. Therefore, he would rather play it safe and keep a low profile than take a wrong step and let others discover their movements. If they were discovered, they might lose their lives.

Finding no changes in the space, Zhao Hai nodded, stood up, and turned to Mu Tou and Shi Tou. "Alright, there's nothing to do here. Let's go out."

Mu Tou and Shi Tou now followed Zhao Hai's lead in everything, so naturally, they wouldn't object. They immediately replied, "Yes, Young Master." This caught Zhao Hai off guard; it was the first time they had spoken since following him. He couldn't help but look at them curiously, but he didn't notice anything unusual. With a thought, he followed them out of the farm space and returned to his room.

He glanced at the room; the door was still closed, and no one had entered. Zhao Hai breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Mu Tou and Shi Tou. "Let's go. We'll go outside the castle to take a look. I want to see what that black soil is really like. The moat also needs some modifications; we're going to raise fish there." As he spoke, he led them outside.

If it were before, Mu Tou and Shi Tou would definitely have stopped him, as Green did not allow Zhao Hai to leave the castle. But now, they said nothing and followed silently behind him.

The three arrived at the castle square. Zhao Hai casually collected the supplies that hadn't been moved into the house into the space. At the same time, he probed the space with his divine sense and found that many items had been placed in the warehouse, neatly categorized and displaying their quantities. This made Zhao Hai very happy.

Zhao Hai also discovered that he didn't actually need to go to the farm space to control everything there. Whenever he wanted to see something in the space, a projection of it would appear before him, and it seemed that Mu Tou and Shi Tou behind him couldn't see it. This was much more convenient.

The three slowly exited the castle. The main gate was already open, and Merine and Meg were watching the slaves clear out the previously abandoned mine shafts.

In truth, even if they weren't watching, the slaves wouldn't slack off because Zhao Hai had given them a goal: as long as they worked hard, one day they would no longer be slaves. For the slaves, this was their greatest motivation.

Merine and Meg also noticed that the slaves were particularly energetic today, as if they had endless strength. Work that would normally take an hour to finish could now be completed in just half an hour.

Zhao Hai didn't go over there. There were few people he could trust right now, but he could absolutely trust Merine and the others. Since he trusted them, there was no need to go and check. He wanted to see the black soil and see if the space could transform it.

However, Zhao Hai first walked to the side of the moat. The moat wasn't very wide, but it was clearly well-built; the entire riverbed had been lined with stones. Even though no one had lived here for many years, the water was still very clear.

Zhao Hai observed that when the moat was built, it had two water sources. One was two springs within the moat itself that gushed water day and night, and the other was an underground river flowing down from the mountains.

It was strange that there was an underground river in these mountains. The water flowed directly into the moat, and on the other side, an outlet had been built, so the water in the moat was definitely flowing water and could be used to raise fish.

But if he just raised fish like that, he would surely lose everything. This was flowing water; if he just put fish in, they would have been washed away long ago. To raise fish, he would have to modify the moat.

But then another problem arose: the moat was connected to the castle's drainage system. If he modified it, the castle's drainage system would also have to be altered, which involved many issues.

Zhao Hai frowned and set this matter aside for now. He felt it was better to look at the black soil first. If the black soil could truly be transformed, he would have much more to do—farming, irrigation, and harvesting; he had already planned it all out.

Farming looked simple, but it was very difficult to do well. Although Zhao Hai had never farmed before, he had some understanding of it. He had seen people farm, and with the country's emphasis on agriculture, he heard plenty of news about farming every year—droughts, floods, and so on. Plus, he liked reading history books, so he naturally knew how difficult farming was.

The term "irrigation" had been mentioned more than once in Chinese history, and every emperor of every dynasty had attached great importance to it. But here in Zhao Hai's territory, there were no irrigation facilities at all.

It was strange; nothing grew on this black soil, and after so many years, it should have long since turned into sand. Yet, it remained a stretch of black soil, and the wind and sand seemed to have no effect on it at all.

Zhao Hai led Mu Tou and Shi Tou to the edge of the black soil. It wasn't far from the castle; they reached it in a few dozen steps. Zhao Hai slowly squatted down and grabbed a handful of black soil. This caught him off guard.

Zhao Hai had previously lived in an oil city in northern China, where there was a type of black soil known as "oil sand." This oil sand looked as if sand had been mixed with petroleum; nothing would grow in it, but it looked black. Zhao Hai had seen this oil sand before, and as he touched this black soil, he felt as if he were touching oil sand.

His heart sank. If this really was oil sand, then he was finished; he wouldn't be able to grow anything. He hoped it just felt like oil sand.

Zhao Hai turned to Mu Tou and said, "Mu Tou, dig up some of this black soil. We'll study it slowly when we get back." Mu Tou acknowledged, drew his greatsword, and began digging. Before long, he had dug up a large pile of black soil.

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "That's enough." With a wave of his hand, he collected the pile of black soil into the space's warehouse, intending to study it carefully later.

After collecting the soil, Zhao Hai looked at the vast expanse of black land and couldn't help but sigh. It was such a waste that this huge area of land couldn't be cultivated. He hoped the space water and space soil could transform it; otherwise, even if they wanted to develop, it would be much slower. Moreover, his secret would soon be known to the whole world, and if that happened, the Buda family would be finished.