Chapter 40: Caravan

This torch was made by Mo Lie at her request: find a long stick, bind beastskin soaked in Black Oil, and when lit it can burn for a long time.

This space allows the host two ways to enter, either by consciousness or by the host themselves.

This will have only her inside; Lin Manzhi this time does not go by consciousness but comes as a whole person into the space.

She walks toward the edge of the farmland and sees the upgraded space.

Now the last patch of Lettuce in the soil has been harvested; the farmland has grown from one plot to three, and the original plot's soil color is a bit darker than the two new plots.

After the upgrade, the farmland became a lower‑grade Spiritual Field; the original one‑day‑equals‑ten‑days rate changed to one‑day‑equals‑one‑hundred‑days, while the two newly opened plots remain at the original one‑day‑equals‑ten‑days rate.

Lin Manzhi isn't surprised; she had already mastered the max‑level mini‑game before and knew the upgraded functions.

Unfortunately, that crystal‑clear creek requires another farmland upgrade to unlock, and now upgrading farmland demands planting at least two hundred times.

Lin Manzhi now has three plots and thinks about which vegetables to plant now.

She still plants Lettuce on the two plots with a one‑day‑equals‑ten‑days rate; later, the harvest from one plot will be sold in reality, and the other plot's harvest will be sold in the space Mall.

On the other plot, the lower‑grade Spiritual Field with a one‑day‑equals‑hundred‑days rate, Lin Manzhi looks through the Mall's seed inventory.

It is undeniable that in Beast World the most valuable thing is sweetness, because sugar hasn't been produced here; the only sweet thing is honey water made by the insect race of the Southern Continent, which sells for a very high price.

Besides seeking the herb that can cure Mo Lie's Spirit Core, what she wants most now is to earn money, because a single dose of Spirit Core Repair Elixir costs two hundred thousand Beast Coin.

Thinking that way, Lin Manzhi browses the Mall repeatedly and finally finds a seed that can produce something sweet.

Agave.

She plants Agave in the upgraded lower‑grade Spiritual Field; following the one‑day‑equals‑hundred‑days growth cycle, it takes six years to mature, but in the space it only requires twenty‑one, two days.

She also notes that Agave suits the desert environment she is currently in, and later can truly be transplanted to a courtyard.

Lin Manzhi read the data: once mature, Agave can produce honey water continuously each day, up to four liters daily; not only can the honey water be sold, it can also be made into Agave liquor.

The more she thinks about it, the more economic value she sees.

Lin Manzhi wastes no more time, spends 50 coins to buy a pack of Agave seeds and plants them, though to ensure the plant's optimal growth environment.

One plot can yield three hundred Lettuce plants, but when planting Agave it can only hold fifty.

After planting all three plots and confirming each is sown, Lin Manzhi begins inventorying her warehouse.

From the start she sold a thousand Lettuce, and later she hasn't sold any; after subtracting what she ate these days, her warehouse holds just over eighteen hundred Lettuce.

In another slot, there are one hundred three Sand-tail Grass Stalks, which she hasn't taken out to sell these days, so they remain temporarily in the warehouse.

As for the Mall's bonus coins, besides purchasing lettuce seeds ten times and an Agave seed once, the balance shown at the bottom of the Mall now reads: 850 bonus coins.

That is the current state of the space; Lin Manzhi takes ten Lettuce out, and in the dim, yellow empty room a girl clutching Lettuce suddenly appears.

Lin Manzhi holds the Lettuce in one hand, pulls the torch from the wall with the other, stuffs it into the small earthen pit at the doorway; deprived of oxygen the torch quickly extinguishes, and a curl of blue smoke rises into the air.

Lin Manzhi walks toward the stairs, the blue smoke swirling around her, and slowly ascends to the first floor.

She first peeks into the bedroom and sees Mo Lie silently lying on the bed, his eyes tightly shut, his brows furrowed even in sleep, as if pain still haunts him.

Mo Lie has returned to the state she just brought him into, spending most of his time lying on the bed in a stupor, which makes Lin Manzhi feel a wave of irritation.

Lin Manzhi silently exits the bedroom and heads toward the kitchen, when Xi Tao, having finished gathering Sand-tail Grass Stalk, cheerfully shouts from the courtyard gate:

"Lin Manzhi! When I came back I just saw the Merchant Caravan arrive at the tribe! Let's go to the Yang Suo Shop!"

Xi Tao's voice can't hide her excitement; here they are poor and remote, the caravans usually come only once every two months, and the goods they bring are sometimes in very short supply, requiring early purchase!

The Luo Lai Caravan is the strongest caravan on this continent.

Currently, the caravan's legendary leader is Cangqiong, a lord of Leitingcheng, a powerful thunder‑type psychic Thunder Eagle Beastfolk; with him, the Luo Lai Caravan's trade spans the entire continent.

The Luo Lai Caravan's route is almost fixed: crossing the desert through the chaotic city of No‑Lord, then entering the domain of the Dark Forest lord via their Rosanya tribe.

Lin Manzhi walks toward the Yang Suo Shop while listening to Xi Tao's description, and it's her first time seeing so many Beastfolk within the tribe.

They all walk in the same direction, perhaps because the caravan has arrived; everyone's faces show joy as they walk and chat.

"I wonder if there's a lot of Blood Salt this time! Will the price drop?"

"The hunting squad's captain is gone; I really want to join this caravan's Guard Squad, so I can see the world outside!"

"I don't want to go; I heard that city in the desert is full of people who kill without blinking, and there's no rule against killing in the city; on the road, if someone dislikes you they'll just strike, how terrifying!"

Lin Manzhi listens to their chatter, feeling both longing and fear, and hurries toward the caravan's direction.

She and Xi Tao, their bundles tightly wrapped, blend into the crowd and look ahead.

It is a hundred‑person group, mainly camels bearing cargo, with a twenty‑person squad of sand‑mouse warriors protecting them—each Beastfolk stands about two meters tall, and a large gathering like this has decent combat power.

They are one of the Luo Lai Caravan's smaller detachments, adapted to desert terrain, separating from the main force outside the desert to arrive at the Rosanya tribe.

The most precious items this time are various elixirs; seeing the caravan members clutching boxes of elixirs as they enter the Yang Suo Shop, many Beastfolk's eyes redden with excitement.

Some of them tighten their belts to save money for the needed calming elixir, uplifting elixir, and synthetic Female Pheromone elixir.

The quantity of these elixirs depends on the region's wealth fluctuations; the caravan's arrival isn't fixed—sometimes a few days early, sometimes ten days to half a month late—so the expensive elixirs are perpetually out of stock.

At that moment the new elixir is placed by Yang Suo on the cabinet behind the counter, and a Beastfolk immediately rushes over, dumping a bag of Beast Coin onto the counter, shouting, "I want the Spirit Suppression Elixir."

Yang Suo counts ten thousand Beast Coin, turns around, and hands a one‑hundred‑milliliter vial of the elixir to that Beastfolk.

Outside the shop, Lin Manzhi's heart stirs.