Chapter 43: Refresh

Once everything was settled, Merlin taught the slaves to recognize characters for a while longer before arranging for everyone to go to sleep. The temperature in the space was very comfortable—neither too cold nor too hot. There was no need for blankets during sleep; the slaves simply laid a layer of quilts on the ground and were able to sleep soundly.

In the middle of the night, Zhao Hai was awakened once again by the space's notification sound. He had no choice but to get up to harvest the radishes once more and plant another batch.

Originally, Zhao Hai had intended to plant the seeds that Merlin and the others had purchased, but he was too exhausted and only wanted to get a good night's sleep. Thus, he chose to plant radishes instead; otherwise, if the space leveled up, the commotion would be so great that not only would he lose his sleep, but everyone in the space would likely be unable to sleep as well.

When he woke up the next morning, not only were the radishes, but even the corn was nearly ripe. Perhaps because the environment in the space was so comfortable, everyone had woken up a bit late.

Zhao Hai only got up after hearing movement outside. When he stepped out, he saw that the slaves had already risen and were preparing food under Merlin's organization. Zhao Hai didn't pay much mind to it, but Merlin immediately brought a basin of water to him so he could wash up.

After washing, Zhao Hai first checked the soil in the space and saw no changes. He then walked over to where the slaves were cooking to take a look, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

However, suddenly, Zhao Hai sensed something was wrong. The area where the slaves were cooking was too clean. There had been remnants of roasted rice and other scraps discarded by the slaves yesterday, but today, there was no trace of them at all. This didn't seem right; even if the slaves had cleaned up, it shouldn't have been this spotless.

Zhao Hai turned to Meg, who was following him, and asked, "Meg, did Grandma Merlin have the slaves clean up the trash this morning?"

Meg was stunned by the question. She glanced at the clean grass surrounding them and shook her head. "No, Grandma hasn't assigned them any work since she woke up this morning."

Zhao Hai nodded, a suspicion forming in his mind. He turned and walked toward the back of the house. This time, Meg did not follow him, as she knew very well what was behind the house—the latrine—and assumed Zhao Hai was going to relieve himself.

In fact, Meg was wrong this time. Zhao Hai wasn't going to the latrine; they wanted to check the area behind the house to confirm his suspicion.

As soon as Zhao Hai entered the latrine, he knew his guess was correct. The environment in the space refreshed once every day. This meant that every day, the space would refresh itself, causing all useless items to disappear and restoring the space to its original state.

As for why the thatched huts they built hadn't disappeared, it was likely because the huts were considered useful items, so the space had not wiped them away.

Seeing this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had been struggling with how to handle the waste problem in the space, and he hadn't expected the space to solve this issue for him.

In a much better mood, Zhao Hai relieved himself and then returned to the thatched hut. Meg was standing there waiting for him. Seeing him return with a look of immense satisfaction, Meg couldn't help but blush. She wanted to ask why he was so happy, but didn't know how to bring it up, given that he had just come from the latrine.

Zhao Hai didn't notice Meg's reaction at all. He was in high spirits; this ability of the space to automatically clear away trash was wonderful. In the future, he wouldn't have to worry about the space being affected by waste.

When Zhao Hai woke up, Merlin had been directing the slaves in cooking. Seeing that he was awake, she naturally ducked into the hut to prepare breakfast for him.

Zhao Hai wanted to see the situation outside, so he also ducked into the house and opened the screen to check. From the 3D map, the situation outside was improving. Within a hundred-meter radius, there were very few magical beasts left; only a few green dots were still moving on the map.

Zhao Hai checked to see what kind of magical beasts those green dots were, but to his surprise, the remaining fewer than ten dots were not magical beasts, but undead creatures: three humanoid skeletons and several beast-shaped skeletons.

Although he didn't understand why only undead creatures were left near the castle, Zhao Hai didn't have the heart to worry about it. As long as these undead were still there, the outside was unsafe, and they could not go out.

Closing the computer, Zhao Hai went to the kitchen. He wanted to see what kind of breakfast Merlin had made. When he saw that she had prepared flatbreads again, Zhao Hai was speechless. To be honest, he wasn't quite used to eating flatbreads so early in the morning.

Seeing Zhao Hai standing nearby, Merlin immediately said, "Master, you must be hungry. Don't worry, it will be ready soon."

Zhao Hai said with a smile, "Grandma Merlin, tomorrow morning you can just make some rice or rice porridge. There's no need to go through the trouble of making flatbreads like this."

Merlin was startled and immediately replied, "How can that be? Rice is food for the slaves; how can the Master eat it?"

Zhao Hai was speechless, but he knew Merlin was telling the truth. On the continent, he had never heard of a noble eating rice. In Adam's memories, he had never eaten rice even once.

Zhao Hai shook his head and said, "Grandma Merlin, we don't know how many days we will stay in the space. We don't have the same conditions here as we did at the castle, so we can't make bread. We can't eat flatbreads every single day, can we? Making some rice is fine. Besides, didn't you see yesterday? The rice tasted very good."

This time, Merlin didn't argue. She had seen the rice yesterday and had even tasted a bit; the flavor was indeed excellent. To be honest, she was actually a little craving it.

It wasn't her fault; anyone who had eaten nothing but bread or flatbreads since birth would find it hard not to eat several extra bowls when suddenly tasting fragrant rice.

Merlin thought it over and realized he was right. The space was not like the outside. In the castle kitchen, there was a stone oven where she could make bread or pastries, but here she could only make flatbreads. Eating flatbreads for several days straight would indeed become tedious. Finally, she nodded and said, "Very well, we shall do as the Master says."

Zhao Hai couldn't help but cheer. Compared to wheat products, Zhao Hai preferred rice, especially since yesterday's rice had tasted truly wonderful.

After breakfast, Merlin went to teach the slaves to recognize characters. Zhao Hai also told Merlin that there was no need to clean up the trash anymore; they could just pile it to one side. Although Merlin didn't understand what he meant, she followed his instructions. She now believed in Zhao Hai unconditionally.

Merlin's absolute trust in Zhao Hai was due to two reasons: first, because Zhao Hai had used this space to save all of them, and second, because her long stay in the space had influenced her.

When Wood and Stone first entered the space, they had already become completely obedient to Zhao Hai, placing him above all else in their hearts. When Merlin first entered the space, she didn't have that feeling, or if she did, it wasn't intense. This was because she was a mage with strong mental power, so the influence on her was lighter than on others. However, after staying in the space for so long, Merlin had been fully influenced and would no longer strongly oppose Zhao Hai's words.

"Not opposing" did not mean she would obey everything blindly. If Zhao Hai wanted to do something dangerous or if she believed something would be detrimental to him, she would stop him. It could be said that the space only influenced their faith, making them view Zhao Hai as their object of loyalty, without affecting their wisdom; on the contrary, it made them even smarter.

The slaves had long since regarded Zhao Hai as their primary object of loyalty. They were originally slaves of the Buda family, and under the influence of the space, they now only wanted to devote themselves to Zhao Hai. This change was subtle, so Zhao Hai didn't notice it, nor did anyone else, because it wasn't just one person changing—everyone was changing together, making the shift even harder to detect.

As noon approached, the radishes matured. Zhao Hai harvested them into the warehouse and immediately took out the seeds that Merlin and the others had purchased.

These seeds were of several types. The most common were seeds from oil-fruit trees—trees that produced fruit oil. Green had specifically bought many of these because oil-fruit trees had very low requirements for soil quality; they could survive even in very poor soil and had very long lifespans. A single tree could live for hundreds of years, and it only took two years from planting the seed to producing fruit. Green had prepared many of these seeds for the future development of the Buda family.

Although fruit oil was quite cheap, it was a necessity for people on the continent. According to Green's original plan, as long as they planted these trees on Iron Mountain, they could harvest a large amount of fruit in two years, process it into oil, and sell it, providing the Buda family with a stable source of income.

The remaining seeds included some ordinary vegetable seeds and some soil-enriching crops. Even the cheapest magical vegetables on the continent, like magical radishes, had very high requirements for soil quality. Green knew it was impossible to grow magical vegetables on Iron Mountain, so he only bought ordinary vegetable seeds.

The soil-enriching crops were also specifically chosen by Green. This crop was called alfalfa, an annual herb that could be used as forage to feed ordinary low-level herbivorous magical beasts. Most importantly, this crop had a strong fertilizing effect; when harvesting, one only needed to cut off the top of the plant, leaving the roots in the soil to slowly turn into fertilizer, making the land more fertile.

It could be said that before coming to the Black Soil Wasteland, Green had already planned how to make the Buda family survive here. He chose these seeds so they could plant oil-fruit trees to exchange for basic living expenses. Because the trees lived so long, a single planting would benefit the Buda family for hundreds of years without needing further investment. Then, by planting alfalfa between the trees, they could slowly change the soil quality of the mountain. Once the soil improved in a few years, they could plant other things to increase their income. At the time, Green and the others had no idea that Zhao Hai possessed such a god-like cheat: the Space Farm.