Post-Apocalyptic Survival Modpack

Chapter 24: Building a Home at breakneck speed
In Wang Ji's view, the empire at this moment was like a guy with an amazing skill.

Although he has many shortcomings, his strengths are also truly outrageous, so outrageous that he has managed to stand strong to this day despite all his weaknesses.

If this were done in any other country, the empire would have already crumbled.

But that's not something he should be considering.

The village need not worry in the short term and will not be affected for the time being.

For now, Wang Ji just wants to build a home and develop the business as quickly as possible.

This wish is far too urgent.

After a short rest, the rain stopped, and the three of them continued their journey.

Holding a prospecting pickaxe, Wang Ji walked along, tapping the ground as he went, exploring the nearby resources.

However, the results were not very satisfactory.

There are small amounts of copper deposits nearby.

Medium-sized iron ore deposits exist nearby.

There are large amounts of coal nearby.

A small amount of minerals are present nearby.

This is basically the kind of prompt we've been getting along.

Without minerals, resources are scarce; with scarce resources, development potential is limited—this is a fatal flaw.

In fact, many places were quite appealing to Wang Ji, but they either lacked resources or were near large towns, which carried some risks.

While it's true that having a home makes it easier to develop and cause trouble, the prerequisite is that the home must be safe, otherwise it's easy to be targeted.

The three of them hurried along the road, and before they knew it, they had traveled a long way.

Very far.

until--

[Abundant minerals exist nearby]

Upon seeing this notification, Wang Ji was momentarily paralyzed with fear.

The appearance of such a notification means that the underground minerals are abundant in both quantity and variety, enough to support large-scale, multi-year mining operations like those in Ironstone Town.

Wang Ji stood on high ground, glanced at the surrounding terrain, and said:

"I looked around and felt that this place was pretty good. There was a lake a little to the west, and the terrain around the lake was relatively flat. There was also a small hill a little further away. It was quite nice."

and…

"There's a big mountain over there."

Wang Ji turned around and looked north.

The other two also looked over.

"In the end, we still ended up here."

The mountains not far away are the northern mountain ranges mentioned when I looked at the map earlier; their majestic grandeur is indeed not an exaggeration.

Most of the detected minerals are estimated to be hidden in the mountains.

The journey was long, and the trip seemed rushed.

The three of them hurriedly traveled for more than a month, sometimes even traversing hellish terrain to cross complex landscapes, causing immense suffering to the other two, before finally reaching the mountains at an incredible speed.

But at least for now, they've escaped the shadow of the imperial center and don't have to worry about being suddenly surrounded.

Wang Ji breathed a sigh of relief.

The journey over this period of time was not in vain.

As for waiting for people from the capital to come looking for us…

That's not necessarily a matter of who contacts whom first.

Boom!

Thunder rumbled and dark clouds covered the sky, foreshadowing the arrival of a cold autumn rain.

"Why has it been raining so much lately?"

Wang Ji looked up at the sky, complained, and quickly built a simple shelter that could protect him from the wind and rain.

Although rain won't affect him or make him sick, it doesn't mean that getting wet is comfortable.

He has built quite a few shelters like this during this period, mainly because it has been raining quite frequently.

The roads were all muddy and difficult to walk on.

Roar--! !

Suddenly, a roar pierced through the rain and reached their ears.

"A bear!?"

Ian, who was squatting by the campfire grilling fish, was startled and quickly stood up and looked around.

Wang Ji, standing to the side, seemed much calmer, not moving an inch, and continued squatting by the campfire grilling fish.

"It seems we're not the only ones who need shelter from the rain."

Ryder stood up, picked up the bow that emitted an almost imperceptible, misty purple glow, and stood at the edge of the shelter.

Then, without even taking an arrow, he simply drew back the bowstring and aimed at a gap in the coniferous forest.

Amazingly, when the string is drawn, the outline of an arrow appears out of thin air at the corresponding position, feeling exactly like a real one.

whoosh-

An arrow was shot out, tearing through the raindrops, producing the sound of grass rubbing together, followed by a mournful cry.

Ryder didn't stop; he continued to draw his bow and fire, and after two more arrows, the sound in the distance finally ceased.

That's why Wang Ji didn't take action.

As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise. Ryder's accuracy is clearly the result of practice; Wang Ji would have taken several more shots.

"It's done. We can have some bear meat later to change things up. The fur can also be sold... Oh, that doesn't seem necessary."

As he spoke, Ryder himself laughed.

Since following Wang Ji, he has never lacked money. He was given large gold ingots one after another, so much so that he felt they were too heavy to carry around and had to break them into smaller pieces to spend.

"This bow is really useful. Although it doesn't feel as good as my previous bone bow, it's convenient and powerful enough."

"Not only does shooting arrows not consume arrows, but the power is also great. These arrows that appear out of thin air and can be fired infinitely are more powerful than the enchanted arrows I used before. It's really unexpected."

After confirming that the bear was no longer moving, and waiting for the initial frenzy of the rain to subside, the three left the shelter, crawled through the bushes, and found the bear they had just killed.

Then it was Wang Ji's turn. He walked over and broke the entire bear down into various different materials.

This reminded Wang Ji of certain mods that emphasize detail. Some special large monsters don't drop items immediately after they die, but instead fall to the ground as corpses that need to be dismantled bit by bit. However, the operation difficulty is equivalent to just pressing the right mouse button repeatedly, which doesn't require any skill.

The disassembly process proceeds from the outside in, starting with the skin, then the flesh and internal organs, and finally the bones…

In just over ten seconds, Wang Ji had completely dismembered this enormous bear.

The two people next to them watched intently.

From their perspective, when the king touched it, the bear began to disassemble itself, turning into those magical 'dropped items'.

I didn't understand it, but I got used to it. After dealing with this little incident, Wang Ji climbed onto a rock and looked around at his surroundings again, becoming more and more satisfied with what he saw.

This place is absolutely impossible to spray; it's practically the perfect spot to build a house.

Nearby are forests and lakes, and not far away are mountains rich in mineral resources—the area is brimming with resources.

And it's also discreet enough.

Who would have thought that they would build their house in the mountains?

A natural fortress.

"That's it."

Wang Ji made a decision on the spot.

A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

That day, near the coniferous forest, on a small, isolated hill some distance from the northern mountains, Wang Ji picked up a pickaxe and began building his home.

He began digging caves in the mountains to create rooms.

They also became cave dwellers.

Although they lived in caves, the conditions were quite good.

The first room they dug out was a lounge. It was very spacious and had a bright and warm campfire, a soft and comfortable wool bed, a furnace, a workbench, a carpet... Wang Ji made all the furniture that could be sculpted.

The cave suddenly looked much warmer.

After doing all that, Wang Ji also opened a window on the outermost side. The glass panel was fitted together with the building perfectly, so there was no fear of drafts or the inability to block out the cold.

These conditions might not seem like much in a town, but they are quite precious in this desolate wilderness.

Ian and Ryder lay down on the bed and fell asleep, quite comfortably.

Wang Ji did not feel sleepy.

He didn't need to sleep, nor did he want to skip the night, so he simply continued digging to expand his living space.

The first day passed by like this, nothing special happened.

The next morning, the other two got up, and Wang Ji was still full of energy, showing no signs of fatigue.

The two of them had gotten used to this situation.

After the showdown, Wang Ji no longer needed to pretend; he could proceed at his own pace.

In the lounge.

Ian and Ryder put their flasks on the campfire, boiled some water to warm themselves, and took out some meat from their box to make soup.

"The meat is exactly the same as it was, as fresh as if it had just been cut."

Ian was slightly surprised as he cut the steak.

Ryder replied while cutting potatoes:

"From what I've observed, everything produced by Wang Ji is like this, including the potatoes and radishes. They never spoil and always remain in their freshest state, as if they were just dug out of the ground."

"The fools in the capital don't want to know what they've missed."

"You've said that five times now."

"You can keep counting, I'll definitely say it many more times in the future."

"Then I'd like to see how many more times you can say that..."

The two chatted casually as they cooked soup and ate to regain their strength.

Meanwhile, Wang Ji was still busy, digging here and there inside the mountain, never stopping for a moment.

In one night, he booked two more new rooms.

First is the storage room, nothing much to say, it's used to store boxes and other items.

Then there's the workshop, which is the room that Wang Ji spent the most time digging and made particularly large. It's specifically used to store various work blocks and also has space reserved for an enchanting table.

I got quite a few diamonds from the chests in the fortress ruins, enough to easily build an enchanting table.

At this point, the large bag of books that Ryder had asked him to buy in town before setting off came in handy.

Wang Ji combined them all into bookshelves and placed them around the enchanting table.

Characters floated out from the book and slowly converged into the enchanting table.

"It's done."

The enchanting table is at its maximum level.

From this point on, enchanting weapons and equipment is no longer a problem.

After doing all this, Wang Ji returned to the lounge and found Ryder and Ian.

The two of them had rested enough, and seeing Wang Ji constantly busy, they had asked him several times if there was anything they could do to help.

Yes, yes.

Wang Ji took out a pickaxe and a hoe.

He assigned the task of farming to the two men, making them the farmers so that he could focus on building his home and developing his business without worrying about other matters.

So Ian and Ryder got busy, taking pickaxes and digging into the cave to create new space for growing vegetables.

However, since there are only rocks inside the cave, soil is still needed to grow vegetables.

Neither of them bothered Wang Ji with such a small matter.

Compared to the 'villagers' who only know how to mechanically grow vegetables, these two living, breathing people are much more capable. Wang Ji only needs to issue the commission, and they will solve the problems themselves.

After discussing it, the two went out and found an inconspicuous place to start digging soil to transport it back.

The vegetables grew very well.

That night, Ian and Ryder looked at the newly reclaimed farmland and the tender green shoots on the cultivated land, and a sense of accomplishment welled up in their hearts.

"It feels kind of addictive."

Looking at the vegetable patch, Ryder said excitedly, "You know what, Ian, I've never felt so happy working."

“This space, this soil and seeds, from opening up to collecting and sowing, were all done by our own hands. All the harvest is for our own use. We don’t have to give it to anyone or worry about how to sell it for money.”

"All our efforts are solely for a better tomorrow and better development, and nothing else."

"And the results of this effort are clearly visible. Look, the wheat that was planted earliest has grown so much taller, and it will probably be ripe in a couple of days. There are also potatoes, radishes, pumpkins, watermelons, and the magical sugarcane by the water..."

"To be honest, I don't want to sleep yet."

Ian patted Ryder on the shoulder and said, "I feel the same way as you, but we really need to rest now, otherwise we won't have any energy tomorrow."

Ryder curled his lip and said, "Ha, old man, you can't even hold on anymore?"

If I remember correctly, I'm not much older than you...

"That's an old thing too."

"Tsk."

...

(End of this chapter)