The transformation of the base was even faster than expected. The earth mages hardened the topsoil to prevent collapses while digging underground. Once hardened, the earth mages followed Shu Bao to excavate tunnels, witnessing his extraordinary digging abilities.
Even on the hardened ground, Shu Bao could easily break through with his cute little paws. Some even saw him accidentally poke a hole in a metal pipe made by the metal mage, and then hurriedly pulled out a piece of metal, kneaded it, and used it to patch the pipe. After fixing it, he stepped on it a couple of times, still not quite reassured.
After discovering that the people in the base were using magic for construction, Tesla had a sudden inspiration to develop a concrete formula. He then designed the underground pipelines layer by layer, allowing domestic water to be filtered and circulated, while wastewater was simply purified before being discharged separately.
Seeing this, Shu Bao rubbed his chin with his little paw and, imitating Tesla, began setting up various formations underground: stability, firmness, dryness, and spirit gathering, all arranged meticulously.
The base transformation was grand, but life above ground wasn’t too affected, as they dug deep enough. In Shu Bao’s words, since the base would rapidly develop in the future, it was certain they would need to develop underground spaces, so it was better to reserve them now. Thus, they dug down several dozen meters, directly reaching an underground river.
For the first time, the Xia Wang tribe realized that there was actually water underground! It seemed that as long as the deity was in the tribe, they would continually refresh their understanding of the world.
During the base transformation, Shu Bao didn’t forget to continue sending rescue teams to search outside, but most of Mouse’s attention was focused on the base construction. Because he had been away for too long this time, the base had fallen too far behind, so Shu Bao didn’t plan to venture into the chaotic world again in the short term.
One day, after a busy day, Shu Bao finished work and returned to the mission hall to take a break. He stopped by the first floor and casually opened the system interface to check for any newly unlocked technologies, only to be surprised to find a small exclamation mark notification in the task section.
It should be noted that both magic and technology tasks had been stalled for quite some time. The technology task was stuck at the five-hundred population mark, and the magic task had naturally not been able to explore the chaotic world, making it impossible to find the ant antennae required by the task target.
However, now, when Shu Bao opened the task interface, he was astonished to find that the magic task had been completed and was just waiting for him to submit it.
【Collect 100 pairs of gluttonous ant antennae, reward: Magical Beast Breeding Ground X1】 This task had a submission reminder attached. Shu Bao tilted his head in confusion, as he hadn’t killed many ants lately!
“Deity, someone has come to deliver a package!” Just as Shu Bao was feeling puzzled, the voice of the high priest came from the entrance of the mission hall.
Shu Bao walked out of the hall and discovered that the defense battle had already begun outside. The high priest explained the situation to Shu Bao. Just like the last time, after the chaotic world descended, a merchant team quickly appeared. They claimed to have been sent by Lan Qing to deliver items.
The merchant team hurriedly left after dropping off their goods, casting vigilant glances at the Xia Wang people, which left them feeling confused.
The high priest handed a package to Shu Bao and then went off to participate in the battle. Recently, for some unknown reason, the number of magical beasts appearing around the tribe had been decreasing. If they don’t act quickly, they might miss the opportunity to practice.
Shu Bao returned to the hall, carrying the package with a series of quick footsteps. He seemed to understand why the system deemed his task completed. Indeed, upon opening the package, he found a storage ring and a letter inside.
Unfolding the letter, he saw the crooked handwriting of Lan Qing, recounting his recent experiences and expressing a great deal of longing for Shu Bao.
After Shu Bao and Fu Qing left, Lan Qing stayed in the Thick Soil Gobi for a few days. Once the mine stabilized, he began renovating the tavern, which reopened after the refurbishment. The clever snake also took the time to balance the goods between the tavern in Thick Soil Gobi and the one in the Chaotic Swamp.
These two locations were quite far apart, resulting in significant price differences for items. Lan Qing naturally profited from the price gap. Later, he acquired a cornerstone for a teleportation array and set one up at the mine, making his operations much more convenient. With a mine under his watch, he didn’t lack energy, and entering the teleportation array was as easy as stepping through a door.
While the snake was busy making money, many other factions sought to seize the mining veins, but they were all defeated by Lan Qing and the beast army led by Jinzi. They even managed to counterattack, swallowing up several smaller nearby mines. The people in the Thick Soil Gobi finally realized that this newly emerged faction was not to be trifled with.
After several skirmishes, Lan Qing solidified his foothold in the Thick Soil Gobi. His family’s mine grew larger and the tavern’s business flourished. He decided to take the initiative to search for another of the three brothers who were the tavern’s owners, hoping to buy out the other tavern to repay his boss. Thus, he issued a high bounty, seeking information on the whereabouts of the boss’s brother.
The high bounty attracted many merchant teams and adventure squads, who speculated on how the person had offended this seemingly harmless yet truly terrifying green snake. Some even curiously approached to ask if the brother was to be dead or alive!
At this point, Lan Qing also complained to Shu Bao, feeling that the people of the chaotic world were not kind at all, as they wanted to kill his boss’s brother, which was truly frightening.
Later, upon learning that a merchant team would pass through the Xia Wang tribe, Lan Qing brought this package to Shu Bao, containing gold coins, construction materials, hunting outputs, and other resources. Among them were many gluttonous ant antennae, enough for Shu Bao to complete his task.
Holding the package, Shu Bao marveled at how thoughtful his snake companion was. Although appearing simple and honest, he was actually wise and considerate, knowing that Shu Bao often needed strange materials for his magic tasks. Therefore, he tried to bring back a portion of whatever materials he collected.
Excitedly, Shu Bao tossed the ant antennae into the printer and clicked “complete”, unlocking the blueprint for the Magical Beast Breeding Ground. He eagerly checked the required materials for the blueprint and was delighted to find that he had most of them.
Wood, stone, and steel were just the basics; the wood and stone stored in the base had already been mostly used up and needed to be collected again. Fortunately, with the weather warming up, he could start gathering materials from the mountains.
In addition to that, he still needed 10 magical plant seeds, 10 different types of soil, and five beast bones from beasts of lord-level or above.
Lan Qing had brought two lord-level beast bones, and after more than a year of defensive battles, they had also collected four, which was enough to construct the Magical Beast Breeding Ground. The magical plant seeds could be produced at the magical plant garden, and 10 should still be sufficient. As for the soil, he could find people to dig up various types—black soil, red soil, sandy soil, and clay soil—to try out.
Shu Bao selected a piece of land in the camp to place the blueprint, and the Xia Wang tribe members watched for a moment, realizing that this was for the Magical Beast Breeding Ground. They immediately became excited, as many families had yet to adopt any beasts.
Thus, the Xia Wang base fell into an unprecedented busyness, collecting materials, studying at the magic academy and military training ground, going on rescue missions, building houses to accommodate newcomers, expanding the base, and preparing for the spring planting, among other tasks.
Originally, over a hundred people had been gradually taken in during this time, bringing the total population of the base close to three hundred, which seemed like a lot. However, as everyone became busier, they realized that they still lacked sufficient manpower.
During the expansion of the base, there was no rush to dismantle the fences. After all, these fences served as their barrier in the chaotic world and were automatic boundary markers set by the protective shield. If removed, chaotic creatures could potentially invade the tribe without obstruction.
Although the expansion was urgent, the base was not chaotic at all. The external expansion was also divided into areas. Only when the construction in those areas was nearly complete would everyone move the prepared fences over during the day to ensure a foolproof defense at night. The residential area continued to expand; two-story wooden houses rose neatly from the ground, with clusters being built in various expansion zones. The number of wooden houses had far exceeded the task requirement of 125 units, and construction showed no signs of stopping. Clearly, Shu Bao’s ambitions went far beyond a mere population of five hundred.
One day, while Shu Bao was explaining to Tesla about the wood-cutting machine he wanted, he was suddenly dazzled by a reflection from a small hillside outside the tribe. Both of them paused and looked over.
“Metal reflection?” Tesla asked, puzzled.
“Seems like it. I’ll go check it out.” After saying this, Shu Bao swiftly disappeared from sight. In this era, metal products were rare, especially around the tribe, where reflective metal should not appear.
Shu Bao moved quickly. As he exited the tribe, he spotted a strange object frantically running away on the hillside not far away. If the Xia Wang tribe members saw it, they would surely gasp in surprise, for the monster tribe that had previously avoided them had actually come close to their tribe!
Shu Bao’s first impression upon seeing the object was that it looked like a robot! This startled Shu Bao; even if he hadn’t been around for a year, the development of the Long tribe couldn’t have progressed this quickly. However, he soon recalled the high priest’s description of the monster tribe in the south and began to speculate.
The robot-like entity moved quickly; after being discovered, it ran away at high speed. However, Shu Bao didn’t rush to chase after it, as he was unsure whether it had weapons. Besides, Shu Bao was curious to see where this thing would eventually go.
To Shu Bao’s surprise, after running a short distance, the object actually stopped on its own. He saw a red indicator light illuminate on its head, followed by a mechanical voice saying, “Hello, I am T33674. I mean no harm to your tribe.”
Shu Bao also stopped not far from the robot. Being able to communicate was good news. “What are you? What’s your purpose in coming near our tribe?”
The robot was silent for a moment. “I am a native from the Jiandao Zuo galaxy and accidentally crash-landed on this planet. Our spaceship needs repairs and recharging to leave here. We detected that your tribe has energy sources, which is why I came to investigate.”
The robot’s response surprised Shu Bao. He examined the robot in front of him closely, wondering if this was the legendary mechanoids. It didn’t appear to be very violent.
“I am not a mechanoid. This is our spacesuit. The air on this planet contains a large amount of oxygen and breathing it directly would cause poisoning among us. Therefore, we need to wear spacesuits when going outside,” T33674 replied.
