Chapter 43: Refresh

After everything was settled, Merlin taught the slaves to recognize some characters for a while before arranging for everyone to go to sleep. The temperature in the space was very suitable, neither too cold nor too hot, so there was no need to cover with blankets. The slaves only needed to spread a layer of blankets on the ground to have a good night's sleep.

In the middle of the night, Zhao Hai was woken up by the space's notification sound again. He had to get up and harvest the radishes once more, then plant them again.

Originally, Zhao Hai wanted to plant the seeds that Merlin and the others had bought, but he was too tired and just wanted to have a good sleep, so he chose to plant radishes instead. Otherwise, if the space upgraded, the noise would be too loud, not only preventing him from sleeping but also disturbing everyone else in the space.

The next morning, not only were the radishes almost ripe, but even the corn was nearly mature. It seemed that everyone woke up a bit late due to the comfort of the space.

Zhao Hai woke up when he heard some noise outside. When he came out, he saw that the slaves had already woken up and were cooking under Merlin's organization. Zhao Hai didn't pay much attention, and Merlin immediately brought a basin of water for him to wash up.

After washing up, Zhao Hai first checked the land in the space, but found no changes. Then he went to where the slaves were cooking and took a look, but there was nothing unusual.

However, Zhao Hai suddenly felt something was wrong. The place where the slaves were cooking was too clean. There were leftovers from yesterday, like fried rice, but today there was no trace of them. This seemed odd. Even if the slaves had cleaned up, it shouldn't have been this clean.

Zhao Hai turned to Meg, who was following him, and asked, "Meg, did Grandma Merlin ask the slaves to clean up the garbage this morning?"

Meg was taken aback by Zhao Hai's question. She looked around at the clean grass and shook her head, saying, "No, Grandma didn't ask them to do any work this morning."

Zhao Hai nodded, forming a hypothesis in his mind. He then walked to the back of the house. This time, Meg didn't follow because she knew what was behind the house—it was the toilet, and Zhao Hai needed to use it.

However, Meg was wrong this time. Zhao Hai wasn't going to the toilet to use it; he wanted to check the back to confirm his hypothesis.

As soon as Zhao Hai entered the toilet, he knew his guess was correct. The space refreshed the environment every day, meaning that every day, all useless things would disappear, and the space would return to its original state.

The reason the straw huts they built didn't disappear might be because they were useful, so the space didn't erase them.

Seeing this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but feel relieved. He had been worried about how to deal with the garbage in the space, but the space had solved this problem for him.

Feeling much better, Zhao Hai used the toilet and then returned to the straw house. Meg was waiting for him there. Seeing Zhao Hai return with a happy face, Meg blushed, wanting to ask why he was so happy but not knowing how to start, especially since Zhao Hai had just come from the toilet.

Zhao Hai, however, didn't notice Meg's reaction. He was in a great mood. The space's ability to automatically refresh and remove garbage was really excellent. He no longer had to worry about the space being affected by garbage.

When Zhao Hai woke up, Merlin was directing the slaves to cook. Seeing that Zhao Hai was awake, she naturally went into the straw house to prepare breakfast for him.

Zhao Hai wanted to check the situation outside, so he also went into the house and opened the screen to look. From the 3D map, the situation outside was improving. Within a hundred meters, there were only a few green dots left, indicating that there were only a few monsters.

Zhao Hai checked what these green dots were. To his surprise, the remaining less than ten green dots were not monsters but undead creatures, including three humanoid skeletons and a few monster-shaped skeletons.

Although he didn't understand why only undead creatures were left, Zhao Hai wasn't in the mood to care. As long as these undead creatures were still around, it wasn't safe outside, and they couldn't go out.

After turning off the computer, Zhao Hai went to the kitchen. He wanted to see what kind of breakfast Merlin had prepared. Seeing that Merlin had prepared pancakes again, Zhao Hai was speechless. Honestly, eating pancakes early in the morning wasn't something he was used to.

Seeing Zhao Hai standing there, Merlin immediately said, "Young Master must be hungry. Don't worry, it will be ready soon."

Zhao Hai smiled and said, "Grandma Merlin, tomorrow morning, just make some rice or porridge. There's no need to go through the trouble of making pancakes."

Merlin was taken aback and immediately replied, "That won't do. Rice is food for slaves. How can Young Master eat it?"

Zhao Hai was speechless again but understood that Merlin was telling the truth. On the continent, it was rare for a noble to eat rice. In Adam's memory, he had never eaten rice.

Zhao Hai shook his head and said, "Grandma Merlin, we don't know how long we'll stay in the space. There are no conditions here to make bread, so we can't eat pancakes every day. Making some rice is fine. Besides, didn't you see how good the rice tasted yesterday?"

Merlin didn't say anything this time. She had seen and tasted the rice yesterday, and it really was delicious. Honestly, she was a bit tempted by the taste.

It wasn't her fault. Anyone who had been eating bread or pancakes since birth would find it hard to resist the aroma of rice and would end up eating several bowls.

Merlin thought about it and agreed. In the space, things were different from outside. In the castle's kitchen, there was a stone oven where she could make bread and pastries, but here, she could only make pancakes. Eating pancakes for several days would be tiring, so she finally nodded and said, "Alright, I'll do as Young Master says."

Zhao Hai couldn't help but cheer. He preferred rice to noodles, especially the rice from yesterday, which was really delicious.

After breakfast, Merlin went to teach the slaves to recognize characters. Zhao Hai also told Merlin that there was no need to clean up the garbage; they just needed to pile it to one side. Although Merlin didn't understand why, she followed his instructions. She had already unconditionally trusted Zhao Hai.

Merlin's trust in Zhao Hai came from two reasons: first, Zhao Hai had saved them all with the space, and second, she had spent a long time in the space and had been influenced by it.

Wood and Stone had already been obedient to Zhao Hai from the first time they entered the space, placing him at the top of their hearts. When Merlin first entered the space, she didn't have that feeling, or if she did, it wasn't strong. This was because she was a mage with strong mental power, so the influence was less. However, after spending so much time in the space, Merlin had been completely influenced and no longer contradicted Zhao Hai much.

This didn't mean she would follow Zhao Hai in everything. If Zhao Hai wanted to do something dangerous or if she thought something would harm him, she would still stop him. The space had influenced their faith, making them loyal to Zhao Hai, but it didn't affect their intelligence; in fact, it made them smarter.

The slaves had long regarded Zhao Hai as their primary loyalty. They were originally slaves of the Buda family, and under the influence of the space, they now only wanted to serve Zhao Hai. This change was subtle, so Zhao Hai and others didn't notice it. Everyone was changing, so no one could feel the difference.

By noon, the radishes were ripe. Zhao Hai harvested them and stored them in the warehouse. He then immediately took out the seeds that Merlin and the others had bought.

These seeds were of several types. The most common were seeds of oil trees, which produced oil fruits. This was something Green had specifically bought more of because these oil trees required very little soil quality. They could grow even in poor soil and had a long lifespan, with a single tree living for several hundred years. From planting the seeds to producing oil fruits, it only took two years. Green had prepared many oil tree seeds for the future development of the Buda family.

Although oil was cheap, it was a necessity for people on the continent. According to Green's original plan, they would plant these oil trees on Iron Mountain. After two years, they could harvest a large number of oil fruits, process them into oil, and sell them, providing a stable income for the Buda family.

The remaining seeds included some ordinary vegetable seeds and some soil-enriching crop seeds. Even the cheapest magic vegetables on the continent required high soil quality. Green knew that it was impossible to grow magic vegetables on Iron Mountain, so he only bought ordinary vegetable seeds.

The soil-enriching crop, alfalfa, was something Green had specifically bought. It was an annual herb that could be used as fodder for low-level herbivorous monsters. Most importantly, it had a strong soil-enriching effect. When harvested, only the top part of the plant was cut, leaving the roots in the soil to slowly turn into fertilizer, enriching the soil.

Before coming to the Black Earth Wasteland, Green had already planned how the Buda family would survive here. He chose these seeds because they could plant oil trees to earn basic living expenses. Since oil trees had a long lifespan, planting them once would benefit the Buda family for hundreds of years without further investment. By planting alfalfa between the oil trees, they could gradually improve the soil on the mountain. Once the soil improved, they could plant other crops, increasing their income. At that time, Green and the others didn't know about Zhao Hai's space farm, which was a game-changing tool.