Magic Farm 102

Chapter 102: The Mature Trash Can (70,000 Nutrient Solution Bonus Chapter)

By rights, a trash can shouldn’t count as a “building.”

But then again, a normal trash can shouldn’t have an upgrade function, either.

Qi Yu chose to use the blueprint, and sure enough, among the eligible items, he found “Ordinary Trash Can.” Besides the trash can, the only other thing in the shelter that met the upgrade requirements was the “Warehouse.”

He selected “Upgrade.”

[Ordinary Trash Can] became [Mature Trash Can].

[Mature Trash Can: A mature trash can should know how to handle all its own garbage and possess a certain ability to “turn trash into treasure.”]

The trash can’s appearance changed as well, morphing from a rectangular shape into a flower.

Qi Yu couldn’t help glancing at his Luminous Sunflower.

The mature trash can looked a bit like a sunflower, only much plumper, with a round, chubby body at the base. The top, where the flower bloomed, was the opening for tossing in garbage.

Qi Yu leaned over for a look—the inside was empty, the bottom clearly visible.

He casually tossed in the nearly moldy seaweed he’d fished up earlier.

The mature trash can closed its petals, transforming into a sealed container.

Qi Yu waited a moment: That’s it?

He reached out and pried the flower open, only to find it as clean as before, nothing inside.

Qi Yu understood—perhaps it was like the little lake, connected to some mysterious, unknown space.

That would be very useful.

He threw in the “spoiled wine,” the “chipped goblet,” and the battered wooden chest as well.

The mature trash can closed up again, but this time, something was different.

After a little over a minute, its petals opened automatically, and with a soft pop, it spat something out.

Clink, clatter—they landed on the stone path.

Qi Yu picked them up.

[Two Copper Coins: Your trash can thinks you’re a bit poor, so it’s tipping you some pocket money.]

Qi Yu felt no embarrassment at being “shamed” by the trash can—on the contrary, he was excited: So this is what “turning trash into treasure” means?

If he fed enough garbage to the trash can, it would reward him with corresponding “treasures”?

Qi Yu patted the trash can, delighted. “Wait here, I’ll go find you something to eat.”

He first went to collect the drops from the territory-invading creatures that had appeared during his call with Divine Formless.

[Obtained Swallow Meat x6, Swallow Feather x6, Level 2 Beast Crystal x3.]

Qi Yu was surprised—all the swallows that had just come were level two?

He opened the event points leaderboard.

First place: I Love Survival Games, 245,003 points.

Second place: Reaching for the Moon in the Ninth Heaven, 66,430 points.

Third place: Grind King, 46,820 points.

Fourth place: My Fate Is Mine, Not Heaven’s, 46,680 points.

…

His own points hadn’t changed much since last night.

What surprised Qi Yu was that “My Fate Is Mine, Not Heaven’s” had dropped from third to fourth, overtaken by “Grind King.”

Qi Yu vaguely remembered Grind King—a diligent player.

Today was the third day of the event.

The event lasted seven days in total. At this rate, Qi Yu estimated that fewer than ten people in District 01 would manage to accumulate 120,000 points and earn the shelter blueprint.

He opened the District 01 Survival Squad group chat:

[I Love Survival Games: Have you noticed any changes in the number of swallows invading your shelters?]

[Need a Little Money to Save Me: Yes! There are a few more, but thankfully I have the energy tower you gave me, gaming god.]

Others also reported a slight increase, and it seemed the swallows had evolved—more level two swallows were appearing.

Qi Yu: .

So the swallows were targeting only me.

Light wasn’t coming to my house anymore.

The points event was still ongoing, and the most urgent thing now was, of course, to rack up as many swallow points as possible.

If the mountain won’t come to me, I’ll go to the mountain.

He put on his down jacket, layered the Guardian Mage Robe on top, and headed for the Star Forest.

As soon as he stepped outside his territory, a damp, icy wind swept over him, making Qi Yu shiver.

He saw that every leaf was adorned with sharp icicles.

The ground was frozen solid.

Qi Yu snapped off an icicle and chewed it—his mouth instantly filled with icy coldness.

Before leaving, he had emptied out one of his spatial rings.

Any “frozen rotten leaves,” “frozen dead branches,” “decayed trees”—as long as he saw them, he swept them all into the ring. No need to sort, no effort required, it didn’t slow him down at all.

Soon, he spotted a flock of swallows.

The weather was so cold that Qi Yu had no desire to practice magic. He simply hurled two spells as quickly as possible to finish them off, then collected the treasure chests.

He continued like this, picking up loot as he moved forward.

To his delight, he even found two more treasure chests.

Even if they were just wooden chests, Qi Yu didn’t mind at all—he happily stashed them in his backpack.

There were still plenty of swallows in the Star Forest, and perhaps thanks to the heavy rain’s effects, most were now small flocks of level two swallows.

So, although the numbers seemed slightly lower than before, the points he earned were actually higher.

After sweeping through for several hours, by the time he returned to his territory at five in the afternoon, his points had risen to 255,000.

Qi Yu returned wrapped in cold air and laden with spoils.

The comfortable temperature of his territory made him sigh with contentment. Then he hurried back to the shelter, changed clothes, and took a hot shower.

Nothing beat the comfort of his own territory.

He changed into lighter clothes and got to work.

First, he tried out the method he’d learned from Teacher Karen last time, inscribing the magic lines for the temperature control array onto parchment.

He poked Divine Formless.

[Divine Formless: You’re home?]

He’d sent Qi Yu lunch at noon, but Qi Yu had said he was outside and too cold to eat.

[I Love Survival Games: Mm.]

[Your friend “I Love Survival Games” has initiated a trade with you.]

[Received Icicle x999, received Icicle x999, received Icicle x999…]

If Divine Formless hadn’t simply swept them all into his backpack at a glance, his heart would have ached at the waste.

He was still outside, after all.

With the current outdoor temperature, even a small iceberg would melt away in no time if left out.

[Divine Formless: What’s this?]

[I Love Survival Games: I went to the forest today. These were all over the trees. I collected them as I went—no trouble, no cost.]

[I Love Survival Games: They’re for you.]

[Your friend “I Love Survival Games” has sent you a gift.]

[Received: Parchment inscribed with a magic array x1.]

[I Love Survival Games: Tear it up, and the magic will mark the exact spot. Just insert a level 1 magic crystal into it.]

[I Love Survival Games: You have magic crystals, right?]

[Divine Formless: I do.]

Dan Xingyu stood there for a moment. A bold earthfire dragon, thinking something was wrong with the human, tried to sneak up behind for an ambush.

Without even turning, he slashed a crimson sword light behind him. The earthfire dragon split in two and dissolved into white light.

Unbelievable. Dan Xingyu thought, Maybe There’s Always Tomorrow was right—I really do seem like I’ve married into a rich family.

Heh heh!

[Divine Formless: (image) (image)]

[Divine Formless: Say something nice—if I’m in a good mood, there will be a grand reward.]

It was a screenshot of several inventory slots, each filled with Icicle x999.

[I, Li Second Dog: Damn! Second God, adopt me! Give your child some ice, quick.]

[There’s Always Tomorrow: Second Dad, your child wants some too.]

[Now That I’ve Withdrawn: What’s with the Second Dad? Makes it sound like you’ve got a First Dad too. Can’t you talk properly? God Dad, I want some too.]

[The Sun Rises in the West: Young master, this old servant would like some as well.]

…

After delivering his gifts, Qi Yu turned to another big task.

He went to the trash can.

Today, aside from bringing back loads of ice from the Star Forest, he’d also filled his backpack with “garbage.”

Qi Yu looked expectantly at the mature trash can.

With a thought, he began to feed it:

Fed “Rotten Leaves” x99.

Fed “Dead Branches” x99.

Fed “Rotten Leaves” x99.

Rotten leaves were by far the most plentiful.

Mature Trash Can: …

Almost as soon as he stuffed them in, the trash can closed its petals. Qi Yu pried them open and kept stuffing.

After a dozen rounds of this—

[The mature trash can is full and needs some time to digest.]

The petals clamped shut, refusing to open again.

Qi Yu dusted off his hands, stopped, and squatted nearby to wait.

Two minutes later.

He saw a white jet of air shoot out from the top of the sunflower trash can.

He could vaguely hear something like a burp.

The petals opened.

Pop, pop, pop.

A pile of items was spat out.

[Obtained Ordinary Fertilizer x99.]

[Obtained Quality Fertilizer x20.]

[Obtained Oak Sapling x1.]

[Obtained Silver Coin x2.]

Wow.

Qi Yu stared at the sunflower trash can as if it were a gold mine.

He kept pulling out the forest trash he’d collected and fed it into the trash can’s mouth.

…

This delightful activity continued until nightfall.

The trash can spat out for Qi Yu: Ordinary Fertilizer x600, Quality Fertilizer x99, High-Quality Magic Fusion Fertilizer x2,

and various saplings x10.

It also gave him 15 silver coins.

[The mature trash can admits its mistake—without a doubt, you are a wealthy and generous lord.]

Qi Yu, the wealthy and generous lord, was astonished to realize he’d spent a whole hour just playing around like this.

His backpack was still stuffed with all sorts of rotting forest debris.

This efficiency was, without a doubt, far too low.

Qi Yu pondered how to simplify the process. His eyes swept over to the alchemy golem, sword and shield in hand, dutifully patrolling the territory.

His eyes lit up.

He summoned the alchemy golem and input a new command with his mental power.

Then he watched as the golem grabbed a handful of leaves and stuffed them into the trash can’s mouth.

Excellent!

Qi Yu observed for a few minutes, then went to the trading board and bought a basket to make it easier for the golem to carry dead branches and leaves.

Perfect—now he didn’t have to do it himself, and the mature trash can wouldn’t sit idle.

The only drawback was that his golem was just an ordinary alchemy golem and couldn’t use a spatial ring like the green-uniformed workers in the resource zone.

So, he simply carried the trash can to an open area, dumped out a small “mountain of garbage,” and let the golem feed it bit by bit.