Chapter 281: Follow-up Matters

PS: Stuck on writing, the second update will be later, private mosaic.

Facing Batman's relentless questioning that laid bare his intentions, Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed.

"Let's not talk about the mysterious power attack for now—Gotham doesn't need to worry about that thing in the short term. Tell me first, can I still find you tomorrow?"

"You have something to ask me."

"I do, but I really don't want to talk about it in the middle of the night; it's not friendly to my schedule." Ma Ma Zhaodi whispered: "It's about Africa—you know that tribe has always lacked water and is poor, right?"

Batman said nothing; of course, he had already checked this basic intelligence on the side. He just wanted to know what Ma Ma Zhaodi planned to do.

"Here's the thing," Ma Ma Zhaodi paused, then said: "Do you have any way to change their current situation—at least so they don't starve to death?"

"The Wayne Charity Fund already has donation projects for impoverished international regions," Bat replied: "Unfortunately, that tribe's level of poverty doesn't rank in Africa—thanks to the help of black magic, they have far fewer deaths than other tribes."

Ma Ma Zhaodi was speechless.

"That kind of tribe is everywhere in Africa, and the fate of that naturally arid land depends on more than just Africans. It concerns historical legacy issues, the natural environment, and the local system is also somewhat deformed. What we can do is quite limited; aid is just a drop in the bucket—actually, over there it has almost become aid-dependent, local industries have been directly wiped out by material aid, and financial aid has basically been embezzled by corruption. It's already quite good if the aid doesn't backfire."

"... Alright," Ma Ma Zhaodi replied: "I guess this is a long-term project; changing the fate of a region often takes decades to start."

"You might be able to help a small tribe with money," Batman replied: "But saving the world can only rely on themselves—or God showing a miracle."

"Help a little if you can; doing good doesn't distinguish between big and small, besides the Lord doesn't care." Ma Ma Zhaodi commented sharply: "God doesn't manage affairs anyway; if you treat Him like a clay idol, there won't be any punishment, and if you bow and worship Him, there won't be any reward."

Batman looked deeply at Ma Ma Zhaodi.

"You said you were an atheist," he said: "But you also admit there is a God in the world."

"My atheism means no 'superstition'. I don't do good deeds because of 'superstition' in gods; I do good deeds because I want to do good deeds. I also won't say He is fake because of 'superstition' in atheism; since He exists, then He is real."

As he spoke, Ma Ma Zhaodi yawned: "Seek truth from facts, be a good person, correct mistakes when made; there is no unquestionable authority in the world—by the way, the express delivery business in Sudan isn't very developed, do me a favor and send some things to that tribe."

Batman frowned, then asked: "What things?"

"Two large items, not much effort, just hand them to a local guide to take over."

At dusk the next day, a truck carrying two sealed square packages arrived at the tribe.

When the driver drove the truck into the tribe amidst a pair of wary eyes, the old shaman walked out of the tent and actively chatted with the driver for a few sentences, which then dispelled most of the hostility.

"This is from that Chinese young man last time, right?" The dried-up old man smiled at the guide beside the driver: "Make this trip."

"Do the work, get paid," the guide said dryly: "Where do you put your stuff?"

"Just put it beside the tent."

After the driver and guide finished unloading, the outer layers of the two packages were removed, and everyone stared at the contents inside, speechless.

One was a square, peculiar cactus, and the other was a square compost bin.

These two were extremely similar, both presenting a regular cubic shape; especially that square cactus, it looked as fake as it could be.

"For you, a letter."

The guide handed an envelope to the old shaman as well; after opening it, he found instructions written in Arabic on one side and English on the other, which could be said to be very thoughtful.

"Namaste is solved, no worry.

The cactus is a special variety, growing up to three meters at most, one meter at minimum; every meter of growth takes about two and a half to five hours. It needs no water and can only be planted in sand—when planting, you can cut off a whole cubic meter directly; it won't take root upon landing, but it will indeed grow.

Don't eat it; it won't fill your stomach. But you can juice it—warning: after drinking cactus juice, your tongue might turn a bit green, pay attention.

Beside it is a magic compost bin; put the cactus in, put enough of it, and it will instantly convert into magic fertilizer—although it looks like ash or powder, it is indeed fertilizer, so don't inhale it.

It can help you accelerate plant growth on barren land; the speed will be very fast, half a minute can turn a small tree into a ten-year-old tree, but it cannot force cacti to grow, so don't think about a closed loop.

Plant the cactus freely, but use the compost bin carefully; don't let people discover it—hope you don't encounter a second Namaste.

—By a kind passerby"

【Cactus

Price: One thousand US dollars

Note: What, don't like cacti? Then go find another plant that requires no arable land and no water】

【Compost Bin

Price: Ten thousand US dollars

Note: Sorry, I'm not just any compost bin; I don't eat vegetable leaves from other worlds—only plants from my world can be composted into fertilizer】

Ma Ma Zhaodi had already started thinking about how to handle the situation in Sudan while on the plane, but in reality, after thinking it over and over, he still had no good solution, until last night when he received Bruce's answer, he decided to look for a solution in another world.

There weren't many cost-effective and high-quality solutions; after weighing them again and again, he finally chose the combination of cactus and compost bin. Both of these are items from "Minecraft"; the characteristics of the cactus help with large-scale greening and water acquisition; as long as someone keeps planting, it can keep expanding in scale.

As for the compost bin, it cannot expand in scale, but it can ensure the people in the tribe won't starve to death.

If possible, Ma Ma Zhaodi actually wanted to buy two buckets of water directly to form "Infinite Water", but the system explicitly warned that Infinite Water is one of the underlying settings of the MC world and is very important; it cannot take effect in this world.

After finishing this matter, Ma Ma Zhaodi felt a great sense of relief; he then turned his head and went to the supermarket to buy a huge pile of snacks.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Who?"

"Me."

"Eh? Old Ma?"

In the classroom, Jason, who was teaching the children, put down the wrench, ran over quickly to open the door, and outside was Ma Ma Zhaodi carrying big and small bags.

"My god," Jason said with a face full of surprise: "You only went out for a few days, and then you're back?"

"Ha, a few days is a long time; I even went and fought a demon."

"You're just bragging..."

(End of Chapter)