pertwk 9: Well
9: Well
Su Chen closed the intelligence message window, and the toolbar in the upper left corner of the computer started flashing again.
Soon, a simple little house icon appeared in the same row as the previous card center and intelligence message icons.
Su Chen moved the mouse and clicked on the little house icon, and a store interface popped up on the screen.
Welcome to the Survival Shop! Your current survivor level is VIP1 Terrified, and you can exchange for Level 1 survival supplies.
Looking at the three prominent letters "VIP", Su Chen was a little confused.
"Goodness... VIPs here too?" he couldn't help but mutter. "You can't escape this 'VIP' thing no matter where you go!"
With a mix of curiosity and exasperation, he clicked on the description of the VIP levels.
Among the ranks listed on the screen, he is currently a "Panic," and the next ranks he can see are "Night Watchman" and "Witcher," for a total of three ranks.
As for higher levels, they were only followed by a series of question marks "???", clearly indicating that they were far beyond his reach at the moment.
"So, I have to spend more 'survival points' to see the later levels? What a wicked pay-to-win system!" Su Chen understood and decisively exited the VIP introduction page.
He returned to the main interface of the Survival Shop and clicked on the secondary menu where he could exchange supplies.
The page transitioned smoothly, and soon, a list of items available for exchange at the "Panic" level appeared on the screen.
First, there's food and drinks.
Su Chen immediately noticed what he had: luncheon meat, braised beef, and even the bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne.
But the prices made him shake his head – a box of luncheon meat was priced at 50 survival points, and a bottle of champagne cost a whopping 2,000 points, which was outrageously expensive.
"This price difference... I wish I could sell this bottle back to the store," Su Chen couldn't help but think.
But after searching the interface for a long time, he couldn't find any button to sell items, so he had to give up.
Next, let's look at the clothing category.
They sell ordinary everyday clothes here; there are no protective suits or more futuristic equipment like he imagined.
Su Chen didn't need any more clothes, so he didn't linger and continued scrolling down.
Then there are utility classes.
At his current level, he can exchange for common tools such as hammers, mallets, crowbars, wrenches, and electric drills.
Su Chen glanced at it, memorized it, and continued browsing.
The tools section is followed by drawing files.
But Su Chen doesn't even have a worktable right now, so even if he changes the blueprints, he can't make anything. So he just quickly scrolls over it.
Soon, the page scrolled to the very bottom.
Here, he saw a new category: "Night Watchers' Exchangeable Items (Partial Preview)".
This category currently only lists four items, and none of them display prices.
[Candle Lamp]: When lit, it can dispel fog within a three-meter radius. It requires blood as lamp oil.
【Night Watchman's Log (Function Card)】: Automatically records and analyzes the characteristics of encountered creatures.
【Cleansing Salt Spray】: When thrown, it can remove pollution in a small area and has a dispelling effect on enemies such as "Mold Tentacles".
【Water Purification Runestone (Function Card)】: Use it on your home well to automatically produce an additional 2 units of drinkable purified water per day.
Seeing this, Su Chen understood.
More advanced items, such as incubator building cards, would probably require at least the "Night Watcher" level to be eligible to redeem.
"Sigh..." He sighed inwardly and closed the Survival Shop interface.
He doesn't lack much in terms of daily food, drink, and other necessities.
Even if he's short of resources, he'd rather go out and search than exchange his precious survival points for them.
What he really wanted, such as the building card for the incubation room or the log that could record monster information, was both hampered by conditions—the former depended on luck to find, while the latter required a large number of survival points to "pay" for leveling up.
Since he couldn't get an incubation room for the time being, Su Chen's enthusiasm for researching that big white egg cooled down temporarily.
He carefully picked up the egg and hid it in a secluded corner of the bedroom.
After placing the egg down, he picked up the [Well] building card he had previously obtained from the exclusive rescue pack, ready to use it.
[The Homestead System has been detected and is now enabled. Permission granted.]
As the notification sound rang, the card in Su Chen's hand emitted a faint blue light.
The light outlined the silhouette of an ancient well in front of him.
He first tried it in the bedroom, and the phantom immediately turned a blinding red, clearly indicating that the space was unsuitable for it.
Su Chen realized what was happening and quickly went to the kitchen with the card in hand.
The kitchen in this house is quite spacious and is where food is prepared, so building a well here would be perfect.
Sure enough, after adjusting its position in the kitchen, the originally red phantom of the well gradually stabilized and turned into a soft blue, representing that it could be built.
The current total area of the residence is 112 square meters, with a buildable area of 23 square meters.
[Should I use 1.5 square meters of space to build a "well" in my homestead?]
With a notification sound, a semi-transparent selection panel appeared in front of Su Chen, with "Yes" on the left and "No" on the right.
Su Chen clicked "Yes" without hesitation.
In an instant, the card in his hand shone with a brilliant blue light!
Under this strange light, the kitchen tile floor seemed to "melt" silently like the surface of water, and the illusory image of a pool of clear water quietly emerged and rippled.
Su Chen was stunned. If he hadn't seen his own reflection holding the card in the water, he would have almost thought it was an illusion.
While he was still in a daze, the texture of the water became more and more realistic, not only clearly reflecting the image, but also making a faint "splashing" sound.
Immediately afterwards, a neat ring of bluestone rim slowly rose from the edge of the water and solidified.
In a short while, a well about half a meter high, made of bluestone, was steadily placed in the center of the kitchen.
The well appeared without causing any damage; it blended seamlessly with the kitchen floor tiles, the joint appearing as if it had always been there.
"A basement on the sixth floor is one thing... but this is the eighteenth floor, and a well is actually emerging from the kitchen?" Su Chen looked at this surreal scene with a bit of amazement.
This world shrouded in gray fog is indeed a magical world.
After a while, he snapped out of his daze and found a bucket and a ladle to try to fetch water.
The well water is not deep; the water level is only about ten centimeters from the bottom of the well.
When you first start scooping water, new water will slowly seep out from the well wall, replenishing the scooped-out portion.
But after scooping for a while, the well water stopped replenishing itself automatically.
Su Chen continued scooping, and the water level began to slowly drop until it finally reached the bottom, turning the well into a dry well.
The whole process was so magical that it couldn't be explained by common sense.
Looking at the crystal-clear well water collected in pots and pans in front of him, Su Chen estimated that the well could provide about five liters of clean water per day.
Thinking of this, he felt a surge of joy.
If the community's public water supply system were to collapse one day, this well would be his lifeline.
Five liters of water a day is more than enough for drinking. Even if you include cooking and simple cleaning, if you use it sparingly and save some, it should be enough to get by.
The thought that such a treasure was actually found in the "exclusive rescue kit" that only he possessed made Su Chen's lips curl into a smile.
He absolutely loves this personalized rescue kit!