Chapter 560: Chapter 560
After riding the cable car back to the first level of the mine, Han Qiwu finally let out a sigh of relief. Looking at the cable car behind him, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of accomplishment.
Finally cleared all one hundred levels!
Though, some levels still hadn’t been fully explored. I’ll have to come back and study them more thoroughly later.
Time to head home and rest!
The sun at four or five o’clock in the afternoon wasn’t scorching. It was warm and cozy on his skin. Han Qiwu didn’t use the scroll to teleport; he leisurely strolled home.
When he got home, he saw that the Little Prince and Little Shui had come back early today. The bear and the otter were currently playing around in the snow-filled environment.
"Eeeep eeeep eeeeeep!"
Upon seeing Han Qiwu, Little Shui immediately bounced over and tightly hugged his leg, looking up at him with an adorable sixty-degree tilt of its head.
"Haven’t been eating well these past few days, huh? You look like you’ve lost a lot of weight," Han Qiwu said as he bent down to pick up Little Shui, grabbing a slice of scarlet fish fillet to feed it.
As soon as Little Shui tasted the scarlet fish, it was instantly overjoyed. It had never eaten such tender and fatty deep-sea fish before.
Seeing Little Shui enjoying its treat, the Little Prince grew dissatisfied. Snorting, it lumbered over and also wrapped itself around Han Qiwu’s leg, struggling to tilt up its massive bear head.
"Stand up and talk properly," Han Qiwu quickly freed his leg and handed a few asparagus stalks to the Little Prince.
After munching on the fresh, tender asparagus, the Little Prince immediately perked up, giggled happily, and ran off to play nearby.
Han Qiwu fed Little Shui a few more slices of fish before putting it back down. He then took out a fire element stone and went to his storage chest, pulling out the temperature stone he had obtained ages ago.
"Good thing I didn’t slack off back then and got this from that lava eel," Han Qiwu sighed, placing the fire element stone and the temperature stone side by side.
A miraculous thing happened. A red, phantom-like glow appeared between the temperature stone and the fire element stone. The surrounding temperature of the temperature stone began rising gradually. After a few seconds, lines of system prompts emerged from the phantom glow:
[Current distance from fire element stone: 5 cm]
[Current temperature of temperature stone: 68°C]
[Current effective range of temperature stone: 9×9]
[Tip: The range of the temperature stone can expand with the help of plants]
"Distance? Temperature? Does it mean the farther they are, the lower the temperature?" Han Qiwu curiously moved the two stones apart, and the temperature of the temperature stone indeed began decreasing.
When the distance between the two stones was over two meters, the temperature dropped to 23°C.
Interestingly, the humidity in the air didn’t decline significantly. It still remained within a range suitable for plant growth.
"The effective range is still a bit small. With so many seeds, 81 plots of land aren’t enough," Han Qiwu observed. He placed the two stones on the strawberry patch for now, planning to move them once he got a customizable building framework in the future.
"Really hope I can build a proper greenhouse. Then I can grow vegetables even in winter."
After finishing up here, Han Qiwu headed to the miniature forest where he had placed two resin collectors that morning. Now, floating above them was a virtual shadow of a black sticky droplet.
Han Qiwu walked over and reached out to gather them, a smile spreading across his face.
This was exactly what he needed!
[Note: A highly adhesive resin harvested from pine trees]
After collecting the two portions of pine tar, Han Qiwu removed the resin collectors and placed them on the rubber saplings at home.
If pine trees yield pine tar, could rubber saplings potentially produce rubber?
After setting that up, he returned to the storage chest and grabbed other materials, pairing them with the pine tar to craft a loom.
[Loom in progress. Estimated time: 1 hour]
Perfect timing to grab a meal.
After a busy day, Master Han walked into the kitchen, and after some thought, decided to make a fried feast.
Staring at lava and magma all day had made him crave fried fish, fried chicken legs, and fried potatoes.
Twenty minutes later, Han Qiwu carried a massive plate of fried goodies to the table, happily digging in. Next to him was an array of dipping sauces: honey, strawberry jam, chili powder, and pickled pepper sauce.
Good thing Mr. Tang hadn’t video-called him to ask what he was having for dinner. Otherwise, she might’ve driven straight over upon seeing this spread.
After finishing everything, Han Qiwu looked at the leftover sauces and felt a little regretful.
Thinking about the lava squid he had encountered today, he decided to grill some squid on an iron plate to make use of the leftover dips.
All that sauce shouldn’t go to waste!
He took out four squids, deftly removing the innards, eyes, and shells. Using scissors, he snipped the ten tentacles, then sliced the bodies into flower-like patterns with his knife.
"Squid can’t be grilled directly; you need an iron plate. Otherwise, they’ll dry out," Han Qiwu muttered as he made an iron plate from an iron ingot, even crafting a pressing board for better cooking.
He placed the squid on the iron plate, using the pressing board to continuously squeeze out the water inside while ensuring the sauce’s flavor was thoroughly absorbed.
Once both sides had a slight char, the unique aroma of grilled squid and dipping sauce filled the air.
Confident in his fire resistance, Han Qiwu popped a piece into his mouth. The chewy texture combined with the rich sauce was absolutely delicious.
After eating all four squids, Han Qiwu was thoroughly satisfied.
Just as he finished eating, Mr. Tang’s video call came through.
Han Qiwu answered with a sheepish grin.
"Hmph! What are you grinning about? Your mouth’s all greasy. You definitely snuck in some barbecue while I wasn’t around!" Tang Qingying accused with her sharp eyes.
| Han Qiwu shook his head and corrected her, "Not snuck in—ate it out in the open and under the sun!"
"Hmph! Good thing my mom brought me dinner—stewed pork belly. The really tasty kind. Watch me make you jealous~" Tang Qingying smugly waved her lunchbox at him.
Han Qiwu glanced over. Gotta admit, it looked pretty appetizing. Follow current novels on novel(ꜰ)ire.net
"Guess I’ll benefit next time, then. I’ll bring some free-range pork over later," Han Qiwu chuckled.
"That’s exactly what I was thinking. By the way, when are your parents free? I’d like to visit them too," Tang Qingying asked curiously.
Han Qiwu replied with a smile, "I’ll call them in a bit to see if they’re available this weekend. If they are, I’ll take you over then. But my home’s a bit small and in an old neighborhood. Someone as beautiful as you might attract a crowd of neighbors who’ve watched me grow up."
"I’m not scared of a few onlookers. What kind of gifts should I bring for your parents?" Tang Qingying put down her lunchbox with a sigh, "I’m just a little anxious, that’s all."
"My dad likes green tea, and my mom likes purple flowers. Don’t worry, I’ll be there. My parents are very kind, though my mom might get a bit overly enthusiastic. Just relax and enjoy the meal—I’ll cook that day," Han Qiwu assured her with a smile.
"Sounds good!" Tang Qingying’s worries vanished the moment she heard about getting to eat Han Qiwu’s cooking.
After chatting for a while longer, the two ended the call.
Han Qiwu glanced at the sky and then at the temperature stone before hopping on his pony to head toward the contaminated area.
What’s 10,000 purification points? I’ll grind through it!
Three hours later, a flash of light appeared in the courtyard.
Han Qiwu stepped back home and dashed straight to the bathroom for a shower.
"Good thing I got the Shadow skill; just fishing those mutated carp earned me 1,200 points. With the moth extermination, I managed to rake in 2,600 points in three hours."
The goal is in sight!