Cave Refuge

After the Cave mansion was upgraded, the expanded ground was a rich black soil that looked very fertile.

Although Dong Tianyu wasn't highly skilled in farming, he had been fumbling around in the greenhouse inside the cave mansion for several years and was acquainted with the fertility of the soil.

Seeing so much extra land in the cave mansion, the first thing Dong Tianyu thought of was a fruit garden.

Although Dong Tianyu had prepared various supplies in advance and the fruits were not lacking, the fruits he prepared were either canned or dried, without a single fresh fruit.

After all, when Dong Tianyu was preparing to establish the Refuge Center, he didn't have the System yet, so at that time the supplies were reserved according to a standard Refuge Center. The fruits purchased were all canned or vacuum-packed dried types that could be preserved for a long time.

Once the disaster appeared and the System was obtained, it became much harder to purchase fruits. Although there was a period of safety between the virus outbreak and the emergence of electromagnetic pulses, Dong Tianyu had already spent most of his money and couldn't afford to buy fresh fruits in bulk.

Thinking of fresh fruits, Dong Tianyu remembered the Jade Run Agricultural Products Market not far from the Refuge Center. Although the Cold Storage was no longer usable, there should still be some seasonal fruits stored there.

However, after considering that there was a subway station Refuge Center nearby, Dong Tianyu gave up the idea of scavenging there.

Maybe it was a gene embedded in the bones, after obtaining a large piece of land, Dong Tianyu didn't like leaving it empty and wanted to plant something on it.

Seeds were actually the least worrisome thing. Before the disaster appeared, Dong Tianyu had bought many End-of-the-world Seed Packs online, and it was said that these seeds could still guarantee

at least two or three layers of sprouting chances even if they were buried in the soil decades later.

To ensure the viability of these seeds, after Dong Tianyu obtained the Shadow Space, he only stored half of his seeds in the Shadow Space, while the remaining seeds were stored in a cool and dry place in his house.

However, Dong Tianyu's understanding of how to grow fruits was only about digging a hole, burying some soil, and counting one, two, three, four, five.

At most, he occasionally watered them, but he didn't dare to water them every day, fearing that he might drown the seeds.

These concerns existed only in the absence of the System. After all, as someone with the System, and moreover a mysterious side System, when in doubt, the System would take care of it.

Opening the building option of the System, Dong Tianyu looked for an appropriate construct.

After flipping through for a while, Dong Tianyu finally found something that was the most cost-effective for him.

Fruit Garden: improves the survival rate of plants in the garden, reduces pests and diseases, and meets the special requirements of ordinary plants for the environment. (Building cost 1 Survival Point/square)

This price was much cheaper compared to a Plantation's. The reason for such a significant price difference was clear to Dong Tianyu: the Fruit Garden didn't have a chance to mutate.

After building a plantation, as long as there were enough seeds, there would be a possibility of harvesting spiritual plants. But never in a Fruit Garden. At most, a Fruit Garden was just equivalent to a medium-quality planting base.

However, Dong Tianyu felt that this option was not consistent with the identity of his Cave mansion. There were no unique features from the mysterious side of the System, and most importantly, even after choosing this option, Dong Tianyu still needed to plant the fruit himself.

For Dong Tianyu, who was not savvy in many ways, this option might be cost-effective, but it was not suitable for him.

So, in the end, Dong Tianyu chose something that didn't seem cost-effective but was perfectly suitable for the Cave mansion's identity: the Hundred Fruits Tree.

The Hundred Fruits Tree and Fruit Garden only differ by one word, but the actual differences between the two were enormous.

Just as a Fruit Garden didn't mean that only one hundred types of fruits could be planted in the garden, the word "hundred" in the Hundred Fruits Tree just meant in generic terms and was not representative of an actual number.

Hundred Fruits Tree (Hundred Catties): Able to swallow the seeds of ordinary plants, producing the corresponding fruit that weighs around a hundred catties on its branches. Initially, it could swallow seeds three times. Each additional swallowing session cost 100 Survival Points.

(Note: This plant is a unique species, and once damaged, it cannot be rebuilt. Please arrange properly.)

Dong Tianyu noted the tip the System gave him. Unique items, once damaged, could not be purchased again. It seemed that the Hundred Fruits Tree was not as simple as he had imagined.

The Hundred Fruits Tree seed was provided by the System for free. This act of the System seemed to benefit Dong Tianyu but in reality, the free things were the most expensive.

The Hundred Fruits Tree initially had three swallowing sessions. It could swallow seeds of different fruits, or swallow seeds of the same fruit. No matter what the choice, the production of each branch was around a hundred catties.

As the saying goes, free things are actually the most expensive. Obtaining the Hundred Fruits Tree seed this time seemed like Dong Tianyu got a big bargain..

But in reality, when Dong Tianyu planted the seed of Hundred Fruits Tree near the Spiritual Spring, he found out that the Hundred Fruits Tree is a large consumer of Survival Points.

100 Survival Points to increase a swallowing session might not look like much. But with the common fruits in the market, there were more than a hundred varieties. And there were over a dozen types that ordinary people usually ate, and they were classified by species not varieties. For instance, just within the watermelon species, there were dozens of varieties like seedless watermelon, black-skinned watermelon, Kirin watermelon, etc.

So even though each additional swallowing session only cost 100 Survival Points, in reality, the Hundred Fruits Tree was a major consumer of Survival Points.

However, Dong Tianyu felt quite helpless about this. After all, he knew nothing about growing fruits. Although he had plenty of land and fruit seeds to experiment with, it was indeed a complicated process.

Dong Tianyu planted the seed of the Hundred Fruits Tree not far from the Spiritual Spring and then watered the seed with some water from the Spiritual Spring.

Maybe because the spring water of the Spiritual Spring contained abundant energy, after Dong Tianyu had finished pouring all the water from the pot, the seed of the Hundred Fruits Tree instantly sprouted and broke the ground.

It grew from seed to sapling at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then turned into a small tree under Dong Tianyu's incredulous gaze.

Looking at the lush small tree before him, Dong Tianyu wouldn't have believed it was a seed just a few minutes ago if he hadn't witnessed it himself.

Unlike ordinary trees, the Hundred Fruits Tree had a tree hole about one meter above the ground. Dong Tianyu knew that this was where the fruit seeds were to be put.

For the initial three chances, Dong Tianyu chose the seeds of the Kirin watermelon, the Kyoho grapes, and the Red Fuji apples.

After putting these three types of fruit seeds into the tree hole, Dong Tianyu spent a long time thinking about it. Looking at his few remaining Survival Points, he finally used a hundred Survival Points to add one more type of fruit: Dandong strawberries.

As expected, nothing was more expensive than free stuff. Even though Dong Tianyu only had a bit over two hundred Survival Points left, he still used up half of them just for the chance to taste some strawberries.