【Congratulations Host, territory upgraded, unlockable buildings +2, reward 10,000 copper coins.】
With the system notification, Zhou Bai’s lord panel refreshed accordingly.
The first thing she looked at was the next upgrade conditions.
【Condition 1: Population reaches 1,000 people (Not met)】
【Condition 2: Territory buildings reach 8 types (Not met)】
【Condition 3: Lord reaches lv.10 (Not met)】
The first and third conditions were manageable, but the second made Zhou Bai frown involuntarily.
Territory buildings needed to reach 8 types. Including the original ones plus the newly unlocked rewards, there were only 6 types. She would need to find two more. Materials like wood and stone were easy to obtain, but building blueprints were nowhere to be found! She had no idea how to get them. However, since there was a requirement, there must be a way.
Setting this aside for now, Zhou Bai continued to unlock buildings first.
After reviewing the newly added buildings in the construction descriptions, she found some conflicts with the previous ones, so Zhou Bai chose the buildings she had originally planned to unlock next.
【Elementary Tailor Shop】, 【Level 1 Residential Building】.
After confirming these two, the experienced Zhou Bai first bought the missing materials from the system store, preparing everything before starting to unlock.
【Do you want to spend 10 gold coins, 1,000 units of wood, 1,000 units of stone, 100 units of linen to unlock Elementary Tailor Shop?】
【Do you want to spend 5 gold coins, 1,000 units of wood to unlock Level 1 Residential Building?】
“Yes.”
【Elementary Tailor Shop completed. Currently no tailor available, self-service mode activated. System selected products: shirt (white), shorts (white). Do you want to craft?】
【Level 1 Residential Building completed. Can be built repeatedly. Please confirm quantity.】
Shirts and shorts were urgently needed, so Zhou Bai naturally chose to craft them. The required material was still linen.
【Shirt: Linen*4】
【Shorts: Linen*6】
The linen sold in the system store cost 4 copper coins, meaning the costs were 16 copper coins and 36 copper coins respectively. Zhou Bai directly priced them at 40 copper coins and 60 copper coins before putting them on sale.
As for residential buildings, Zhou Bai priced them at 6 gold coins. This price still gave her a profit. She didn’t dare to markup the wooden houses too much. Besides purchasing, Zhou Bai also added a rental option: 100 copper coins per day. Renting was more profitable than selling in the long run, so this option needed to be retained. Additionally, it provided an alternative for those with limited funds.
Due to limited funds, Zhou Bai temporarily built 10 houses.
The moment she confirmed, gold coins flowed out of Zhou Bai’s account like water.
Within the territory, 12 buildings rose from the ground.
Someone noticed and immediately called out, “Look quickly, there are many more buildings over there!”
Everyone looked over, their eyes revealing surprise. Some even rubbed their eyes.
“The territory has been upgraded to a Level 1 Village. It must be the upgrade that brought this.” Li Xingteng said excitedly, “It’s similar to the games we played before. When certain conditions are met, the territory upgrades. Come on, let’s go take a look.”
Led by Li Xingteng, a group of people quickly headed toward the newly appeared buildings.
Zhou Zhengping and Ding Qiurou knew it was Zhou Bai’s doing. They glanced at her and followed the group, but slowed their pace to maintain some distance.
Zhou Bai lowered her voice slightly, “I unlocked the tailor shop and Level 1 residential buildings. There are 10 Level 1 residential units. Let’s go buy one so we’ll have a place to stay tonight.”
After thinking, she added, “Level 1 residential buildings cost about 5 gold coins to build. I priced them at 6 gold coins, with rental at 100 copper coins per day.”
“That price is quite reasonable, but for rentals, how many residential buildings can you afford to build with your current money?” Zhou Zhengping glanced at Zhou Bai.
“So I wanted to ask Mom and Dad, are you interested in investing in the territory’s real estate business?” Zhou Bai’s eyes flashed with shrewdness. The landlady career she hadn’t started before the apocalypse could continue in this territory! She even had more advantages than before the apocalypse. It was a win-win situation.
Ding Qiurou looked at her daughter’s little scheme and smiled gently. With a grand gesture, she directly sent Zhou Bai a sum of money, “Here’s 300 gold coins first. Use them as you like. Ask me for more if it’s not enough!”
Ding Qiurou held the financial power in the family. After converting their assets, she possessed enormous wealth. Now that her daughter clearly wanted to start a business, as parents, they should support her!
【Hope Village resident Ding Qiurou is gifting you 300 gold coins. Do you accept?】
Zhou Bai looked at the notification before her, the corners of her mouth curving upward, “Then I’ll accept it first. I’ll calculate interest for you later.”
With gold coins, her landlady business would indeed develop more smoothly.
“What’s inside the residential buildings?” Ding Qiurou didn’t care about repayment and continued asking.
Zhou Bai heard this and coughed lightly, “Just a wooden house, about 30 square meters, with nothing inside. You need to furnish it yourself.”
It wasn’t her being stingy, it was the system.
Anyway, she would never pay for decorations!
“It’s fine, we can furnish it ourselves. Having our own space makes it more convenient for cooking and sleeping.” Ding Qiurou quickly said. Before the apocalypse, as a wealthy woman who never worried about food and drink, she had high standards for quality of life. However, after experiencing the possibility of sleeping outdoors, she was surprisingly satisfied with such a wooden house.
Knowing his wife’s nature, Zhou Zhengping quickly said, “I’ll tidy it up properly later. Just bear with it for now. When the territory has better houses, we’ll move.”
Feeling her husband’s thoughtfulness, Ding Qiurou smiled sweetly, “Alright.”
Not far away, those who had gone ahead had obviously figured out the situation with these new buildings and were discussing among themselves.
“The new buildings are a tailor shop and residential buildings.”
“Great! I feel like my clothes are starting to smell. Are there clothes for sale?”
“Yes, there are shirts and shorts. The prices aren’t expensive either, 100 copper coins for a set.”
“That works, I’ll go buy a set.”
“But shouldn’t we take a bath before wearing new clothes?”
“Who wants to bathe? I have water here, brought from the river. 10 copper coins per bucket, first come first served!”
“There are only 10 residential buildings. Those who want to live there, hurry! 6 gold coins each, or 100 copper coins per day for rent.”
“6 gold coins isn’t expensive.”
“Who says it’s not expensive? I only have 10 gold coins total. I can’t bear to spend it.”
“If you can’t bear to buy, then rent! The rent really isn’t expensive. Although buying is more cost-effective long-term, renting is more convenient short-term.”
“If you don’t mind, two grown men can rent together to save more.”
“…”
While everyone was discussing, Zhou Bai’s family had quickly bought a wooden house. At this time, the 10 houses Zhou Bai had released were quickly sold out, so Zhou Bai built another 20 houses in one go.
Houses, regardless of the era, were always a necessity for people. Whether buying or renting, she wouldn’t lose money!
The family of three quickly entered the house. After being purchased, they could set authorized personnel. Except for authorized personnel, others couldn’t enter. Additionally, it could block outside noise.
All three family members were very satisfied with this feature.
After looking at the general layout inside, Zhou Zhengping directly took out wood, stone, and an iron axe and started working. As for Zhou Bai, she went outside to buy several buckets of water from the water seller.
In a short while, Zhou Zhengping had created a small two-bedroom apartment: two rooms, one kitchen, one small living room, one shower room, plus a small toilet, making the most of the 30 square meters.
“Honey, you’re amazing!” Ding Qiurou looked at this freshly completed house, her eyes full of surprise.
“After so many years of comfortable leisure, my skills haven’t deteriorated.” Zhou Zhengping said proudly, “But I can feel that my physical condition and manual abilities seem much better. It should be brought by the game, otherwise I couldn’t have completed so much work in such a short time.”
Hearing Zhou Zhengping’s words, Zhou Bai subconsciously looked at her personal control panel. Her feelings were actually quite obvious too, especially after leveling up.
“According to gaming experience, professions will develop after reaching a certain level. This world has magical beasts. Will we gain magic in the future?” Zhou Bai speculated.
Only this way would it conform to the logic of future development.
“What level do you need to reach for the territory’s next upgrade?” Zhou Zhengping heard this, his eyes moving slightly, and continued asking.
“Level 10.”
“Then pay attention to changes when you reach level 10. I think level 10 is very likely to be the dividing point for professions.” Zhou Zhengping analyzed. Originally thinking it was only one or two levels away, he could try hard to level up, but with a 5-level gap, it was better to take it slowly! His daughter had already done well enough; he didn’t want to pressure her too much.
If possible, he hoped to be the one who could protect his wife and daughter.
“Mm-hmm.” Zhou Bai nodded, not thinking too much about it.
After finishing this conversation, the family of three began heating water for washing.
Although it was just simple washing, after cleaning up and changing into new clothes, lying on the wooden bed, they truly felt a trace of comfort.
Zhou Bai, in her small room, fell into deep sleep in no time.
In her dreams, gold coins kept falling from the sky, and she happily caught them below.
**
The next day, the aftereffects of the new buildings hadn’t disappeared.
As many people had suggested before, many were reluctant to spend so many gold coins at once. A small portion chose to buy, while most chose to rent, and some even shared rentals. After all, the space was sufficient. This way, everyone had moved into wooden houses last night.
After all, once they had private space, no one wanted to sleep in the open anymore.
After this night, everyone’s spirit and energy became different.
Obviously, yesterday’s territory upgrade and the appearance of new buildings had given them “hope.”
“The territory can upgrade, and more and more buildings will appear in the future. Life will get better and better. I won’t think about this apocalypse game anymore. Since it’s already happened, working hard to earn money is the way.”
“Yes! Work harder, and later buy a house of your own. Calculating it, houses after the apocalypse are much cheaper than before the apocalypse.”
“Also, when we went out yesterday, we experienced that as long as we don’t encounter groups of magical beasts, with iron axes, whether collecting or killing magical beasts, we can earn quite a bit in a day. After returning to the territory, there’s food, drink, and a place to sleep. It’s much better than living day to day.”
“Right, we’re lucky to have encountered a territory where we can rest well at night. We’re already very happy!”
“So I’m planning to go out collecting and hunting magical beasts later. Anyone interested in joining?”
“Yes, I’ll sign up. I’m already level 2 now.”
“I’m even level 3! I was lucky yesterday and got a level 3 monster.”
“Since characters can level up, naturally the higher the better.”
“…”
Everyone discussed and began forming small teams one after another.
The appearance of the apocalypse game couldn’t be changed, so they learned to adapt.
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