Chapter 121: Double Calamity
Building Infrastructure in a Data Driven World
After harvesting the berries yesterday, Su You got an exact figure from Dolly—these eight berry bushes yielded about three and a half stacks of berries in total.
Note, the “three and a half stacks” here doesn’t refer to the backpack stacking limit, but the warehouse stacking limit. In other words, yesterday’s batch of berries amounted to a full 350 berries.
Normally, the yield wouldn’t be this high, but thanks to the Harmony I buff, this harvest turned out pretty well.
Even if you don’t use them for cooking and just eat them directly, with each berry restoring 6 hunger points, those 350 berries add up to over 2,000 hunger points… So, right now, there’s really no shortage of food in the territory.
As a die-hard infrastructure and farming fanatic, Su You would never let herself starve to death—that would be way too embarrassing.
As for the cotton and red grass planted in Fields 3 and 4, thanks to Dolly’s careful tending, they’re growing nicely too.
Although it’s the first time planting them, so the illustrated guide hasn’t been unlocked and there’s no growth countdown, Su You estimates from experience that the cotton should be ready to harvest around noon tomorrow, while the red grass will take a bit longer, but should be ready by the morning after.
And the day after tomorrow will be the ninth day in the digitized world—just in time to harvest before the dark creatures attack… You could say, everything is going according to plan.
As long as nothing unexpected happens, Su You is 99% confident she can handle the dark creatures’ assault smoothly.
But life is unpredictable. While nothing went wrong with the dark creatures, another matter brought to light some information that gave Su You quite a shock.
……
Just as Su You finished planting a patch of wheat, she heard Yun Li calling her. She paused her work and turned to look at Yun Li.
“Lord Su, do you have any food for sale here?” After making her request, Yun Li briefly explained what had happened to their caravan, leaving out some details about the caravan itself. But now, Su You basically understood what had happened on their journey.
“We do have food. The tavern is selling some right now, though it’s mostly berry and meat dishes, so the selection is a bit limited. If you don’t mind, Captain Yun, you can go take a look.”
As for the issue of the tavern not having an NPC to handle payments… Originally, Dolly was supposed to temporarily fill in as the tavern NPC, but she’s busy with the tailor shop and has a lot on her plate, so to avoid wasting her time, the tavern is still running without an NPC manager.
But that’s not a problem—Yun Li just needs to buy what she wants and pay Su You directly.
Su You wasn’t worried about Yun Li trying to dine and dash. She didn’t know exactly how much the caravan had made, but since they could fork over a dozen gold coins without batting an eye, they surely wouldn’t haggle over a few silver coins for food.
Besides, this was Su You’s territory—they wouldn’t risk “wandering the forest” again just to save a bit on food.
“I don’t mind! Anything’s better than gnawing on dry biscuits.” Yun Li’s eyes lit up at the mention of meat and berries.
Since they were right by the fields, she could see the berry bushes growing in Fields 1 and 2, and recognized them as a tasty variety. Even without meat, buying some berries as a treat would be nice, but now that there was meat too, that was even better.
After learning that the tavern had food, Yun Li said a quick word to Su You and got ready to head over. But just as she was about to leave, Su You called out to her.
“Wait a moment, Captain Yun. I have a few questions I’d like to ask.”
“Of course, Lord Su.” Although Yun Li was eager to buy food, she patiently stopped when she heard Su You’s request.
“It’s like this—just now, I heard you mention that the first territory you visited had just experienced two calamities? Could you tell me exactly which two?” When Su You heard “double calamity” earlier, her heart skipped a beat.
Because double calamities don’t just happen in system territories—player-built territories can encounter them too. The odds are low, but Su You wanted to know the details.
“Locust plague and drought,” Yun Li answered without hesitation, since it wasn’t sensitive information.
But after she spoke, she could clearly see Lord Su’s brows knit tightly together.
“Do you remember roughly how far that territory is from here… from Sunset Territory?” Normally, during calamities, the Sunset Continent is divided into many regions. Territories in the same region either experience exactly the same calamities, or ones of opposite nature.
If Sunset Territory and that double calamity territory are in the same region, then after this month’s mild season ends, there’s a high chance Sunset Territory will also face a double calamity.
The possible calamities here include locust plague, drought, flood, acid rain, and a special event called ‘Forest Revel.’
Of these, flood and acid rain are the opposites of drought—one means no water, the others mean water is “abundant,” sometimes excessively so.
As for the locust plague, its counterpart is Forest Revel—a bizarre state where the entire forest enters a… very strange condition.
In short, Su You really hoped her territory wasn’t in the same region as that double calamity territory. But even if they were…
“It’s hard to estimate the distance, but from the second territory to here, it took us about—?”
Hearing Yun Li’s answer, Su You nearly blacked out on the spot.
So… they really are in the same region!
Even though measuring by travel time isn’t precise, if even a journey of ten days or half a month (without rest) is still within the same region, the answer is obvious.
Not to mention, Yun Li’s group must have traveled with breaks, not non-stop… so the distance is even shorter.
“Lord Su, are you… alright?” Maybe Su You’s frustration was too obvious, but Yun Li couldn’t help asking softly, a little confused.
Su You forced a smile, not wanting to talk, but seeing Yun Li’s concern, she pulled herself together and shook her head.
“I’m fine. Go ahead and buy your food, Captain Yun.”
Yun Li: “…Alright.”
Although Su You really didn’t look “fine” at all, Yun Li didn’t press further.
(End of chapter)"
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