Chapter 11: Land Upgrade

Something’s wrong—there has to be something off.

The little ghost tightened the grass mat around himself and burrowed deeper into the grave.

He clearly remembered that when he returned before dawn, the entrance had been covered with earth. So why did it feel so much hotter than usual now?

Could it be that last night, under the darkness, he hadn’t seen clearly and the dog he caught for blood was actually a black dog?

A sense of unease gripped the little ghost. He had no idea what symptoms a zombie would exhibit after mistakenly consuming black dog’s blood, only that the surrounding energy was growing thinner and thinner.

This is bad. He couldn’t possibly die in such a miserable way, right?

As the little ghost’s mind raced, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

“Digged up so much already, should be enough…”

Dig? Dig what?

The little ghost snapped his eyes open. That voice—it was the female player who devoured ghosts!

He heard something heavy, metallic, fall onto the soil in front of him. Through the grass mat, it poked faintly at his body.

“Ah, seems like I poked the corpse. I remember it died of venereal disease? How unlucky. Hope it doesn’t contaminate my soil.”

The little ghost thought to himself: Ugh, some players really have no sense of boundaries.

Meanwhile, after receiving the system’s response, Xia Wulei relaxed. Thankfully, the system was only drawing energy simply from the soil.

[Congratulations, player has obtained advanced spiritual soil. Land upgraded to level 3. Current soil fertility: 30%. Level 3 crops unlocked.]

Xia Wulei’s spirits lifted immediately. Unlocking level 3 right away—this land really was something!

“Can this energy… can it be used as fertilizer?” Xia Wulei poked the grass mat with her hoe. The little ghost underneath felt his heart sink.

[This energy body is impure and cannot be absorbed.]

Disappointed, Xia Wulei hoisted her hoe and turned to leave.

She needed to go back and carefully consider what she had unlocked to maximize her benefits.

Meanwhile, the little ghost who had been unearthed lay wrapped in the grass mat, exposed to the sun for an entire day. Only when the sun began to set did he dare to slowly stretch out his hand and lift the mat.

He didn’t dare go outside. For a zombie, direct exposure to sunlight was far deadlier—the scorching rays would continuously corrode his body. At least this fragile grass mat could shield him somewhat.

Looking at the surrounding disturbed soil and thinning energy, the little ghost felt like crying: Why did I come back at all when everything was fine before…

When Xia Wulei returned to Aunt Wang’s house in the afternoon, everyone inside was gone. No one knew where they had gone.

***

After checking her system, Xia Wulei unlocked level 2 and 3 crops. She could now plant all sorts of vegetables: leafy greens, legumes, tubers—everything one could imagine.

The next level, level 4, offered fruit seeds. Seeing watermelons and strawberries in the store, Xia Wulei’s desire was piqued.

Level 5 included fiber crops like cotton and hemp, as well as various flowers and tea trees. Xia Wulei noticed small annotations beneath these seeds indicating that the harvests had special uses—tea to invigorate the spirit, flowers to confuse ghosts, and so on.

Xia Wulei thought: What treasures!

Level 6 brought medicinal crops like ginseng and lingzhi mushrooms. She couldn’t help but marvel at how impressive this system could become with upgrades.

But the prerequisite was being able to level up.

This dungeon had been pure luck—she was fortunate to find a patch of advanced spiritual soil. Such opportunities wouldn’t appear in every dungeon, and Xia Wulei was well aware.

Without spiritual soil to upgrade the land, nothing could be done.

Shaking her head, Xia Wulei selected some vegetables and beans to plant, using up the dozens of points she had saved over the past few days.

With the land upgraded, her farming space expanded significantly. She could plant hundreds of acres at once, provided she had enough points and soil fertility.

Basic land lost 5% fertility for every hundred pounds of grain produced; level 3 land only lost 1% for the same yield—a considerable improvement.

After upgrading, the soil had 30% fertility left, meaning a capacity of 3,000 pounds of grain. Depending on crop level, exchange points varied. The batch Xia Wulei planted could yield more than 600 points when converted.

Just as Xia Wulei was happily calculating her points, the system issued a prompt.

[Player conditions met. Housing system unlocked.]

Xia Wulei’s spirits surged: A house?!

A house she had never been able to afford no matter how hard she struggled—the system was actually granting her one?

But upon further understanding, Xia Wulei realized the system wouldn’t give her a free house.

The most basic thatched hut required 500 points to unlock, and each upgrade—walls, floor tiles, ceiling—cost over a thousand points, with costs multiplying as you progressed.

Seeing the long string of zeros, Xia Wulei was speechless.

But hey! A thatched hut was still a house. As long as she planted and cultivated, she could one day upgrade to a grand villa!

Xia Wulei remained optimistic. Having already died once, the scenery here was beautiful, the NPCs and players spoke kindly, and she could live in a house growing the foods she loved. She really liked it here.

However, her points were still limited. She couldn’t use the thatched hut yet and planned to keep planting grains to exchange for points, then raise some livestock to improve her life.

Entering her space, Xia Wulei inspected the farmland where seedlings had sprouted and mapped out her future upgrade path, nodding with satisfaction.

Several chicks chirped at her, wandering about the planned pasture.

Xia Wulei took some millet from the store and scattered it, sparking a scramble among the chicks.

Behind her was the housing system’s plot, still an empty field, but Xia Wulei was confident her thatched house would soon rise.

Next to the pasture was a pond, currently dry. Once Xia Wulei activated it, the system would automatically fill it with water.

But unlike farmland, the pond system didn’t require Xia Wulei to find advanced water; it needed aquatic creatures.

In simple terms, the fish pond was like the pasture—not needing upgrades—but required a pond master to manage aquatic life and maintain water quality.

Activating the fish pond cost 10 points, but the cheapest cleaner fish cost 100 points.

Points everywhere! Every step required points!

And energy too.

Sighing, Xia Wulei exited the system space.

Having finished planting this batch, her land’s energy was depleted and would need to lie fallow.

She recalled the system’s warning about a ghost with 3000% strength last night, wondering how she would deal with it.

Ah, never mind. She casually grabbed some food and hummed a little tune, imagining a bright future.

***

Meanwhile, without the burden of quests, Hong Qi put more effort into hunting for clues.

But the village chief’s eyes were fixed solely on Chu Wei, so Hong Qi settled for seeking information from other villagers.

After several days, Hong Qi learned that the residents of Yun Village were unwelcoming to outsiders like them. They remained tight-lipped upon seeing them, and only Chu Wei had the ability to coax some information out.

Hong Qi had no choice but to try his luck by visiting homes, hoping for a kind-hearted villager who might offer clues.

Shortly after leaving the village chief’s house, Hong Qi heard a child crying.

Turning around, he saw a little boy with a shaved head squatting at a nearby farmhouse’s doorstep, covering his face as he wept.

“Little one, what’s wrong?” Hong Qi approached gently, speaking with his softest tone.

When the boy lifted his head to look at him, Hong Qi froze in shock and instinctively stepped back, collapsing to the ground.

The boy’s face was hollow—completely devoid of features.