Chapter 502: VR Mode Farming
Upon opening the newspaper, Zou Zhuo was surprised to find that it was actually a gameplay guide.
“You plant crops in the ground, then harvest them?”
“After harvesting, you sell the crops for money?”
“You can also buy various items, including fertilizer, seeds, decorations, and so on?”
The farming mechanics weren’t complicated, easily fitting on a single newspaper page. Chen Mo deliberately designed the guide to be on a newspaper to better match the environment and keep players immersed.
Of course, players could still perform these actions in the game without reading the newspaper, but that would require some trial and error.
Following the newspaper’s instructions, Zou Zhuo first went into the thatched cottage to grab some seeds, then headed to the back of the cottage to pick up a few farming tools.
The tools were very simple: just a hoe, a shovel, a watering can, and a spray bottle. According to the guide, the hoe was for weeding, the shovel for removing withered crops, the watering can for watering, and the spray bottle for applying pesticides.
As for planting and harvesting, those could be done by hand without any tools.
Zou Zhuo carried the seeds and tools over to the farmland.
At the moment, four plots of land were already tilled, while the rest remained untilled. Zou Zhuo scattered the seeds onto these four plots, and small pits appeared on the ground, indicating the seeds had been planted.
And that was it.
Zou Zhuo was a bit surprised because the operation was incredibly simple—just walk up to the farmland and scatter the seeds. No digging, no watering required.
But then he thought about it again, and it made sense. After all, this was relaxation mode, designed to help players unwind, so the actions had to be as streamlined as possible.
Just scattering seeds and harvesting crops—these actions barely put any mental strain on the player.
After planting the seeds, Zou Zhuo wandered around the thatched cottage.
Next to the cottage was a small warehouse, clearly meant for storing crops. However, the newspaper guide mentioned that there would also be a shop and other buildings here, but they didn’t seem to be unlocked yet.
Zou Zhuo returned to the rocking chair, lay down, picked a soothing piece of music, and closed his eyes to rest.
To be honest, in this atmosphere, it really felt like being back on a farm. The sunlight was warm, the brightness just right, and under the shade of the parasol, it wasn’t glaring at all.
With the breeze blowing and the gentle melody playing, Zou Zhuo felt as if he were in a real farm, as if he could reach out and touch the grass, even smell the scent of the green fields.
Of course, part of that was an illusion. Chen Mo had crafted this farm image, and with the player’s mind relaxed, they would naturally fill in other details that weren’t actually there.
After dozing off for a bit, Zou Zhuo opened his eyes and was startled to see that the crops on the land had already sprouted.
“Huh? That fast?”
Zou Zhuo was a little surprised. The crops were growing at a visible rate.
But he quickly figured it out—this was a game. If it were like the real world, where crops took half a year to mature, then what would be the point of playing?
Zou Zhuo roughly estimated that these seeds would likely be ready to harvest in a few hours. But he wasn’t sure exactly how many hours, and he couldn’t tell just from the current state of the sprouts.
Just then, weeds sprouted on one of the plots, while another plot became dry, its surface cracking, clearly different from the others.
“Alright, time to work!”
Zou Zhuo stood up, picked up the watering can and hoe from nearby. He first watered the dry plot, then removed the weeds from the other.
The actions were still very simple, but Zou Zhuo felt as if he were actually weeding a real farm field, and a sense of accomplishment filled him.
Watching the growing sprouts, Zou Zhuo suddenly felt an inexplicable satisfaction. He really hoped these crops would mature quickly—he couldn’t wait for the moment of harvest.
Just then, a small line of text appeared in an inconspicuous corner of his vision: Congratulations on completing your first weeding! The system rewards you with four bags of fertilizer.
“Huh? There’s fertilizer?”
Zou Zhuo walked over to the thatched cottage and found four bags of fertilizer under the shed behind it.
The fertilizer bags were very small, about the size of a packet of salt. Zou Zhuo picked them up and looked at the names written on them.
Two bags of black fertilizer, two bags of gray fertilizer.
Seeing the names, Zou Zhuo suddenly had a bad feeling.
But he didn’t dwell on it and carried the four bags over to the farmland.
The newspaper had explained how to use the fertilizer—just scatter it on the ground.
These two types of fertilizer had different effects on different crops. For lower-level crops, they could significantly shorten growth time, while for higher-level crops, the reduction was smaller.
For those, you’d need more advanced fertilizers.
Zou Zhuo was currently growing basic crops: carrots and white radishes. The gray fertilizer could reduce their growth time by three hours, while the black fertilizer could reduce it by six hours.
Zou Zhuo scattered the four bags of fertilizer onto the four plots. The crops treated with gray fertilizer entered a near-mature state but weren’t ready to harvest yet. The crops treated with black fertilizer, however, matured instantly, with large white radishes and carrots almost bursting out of the ground.
“Hmm… so the maturation time is between three and six hours?”
Zou Zhuo made a rough guess. Both carrots and white radishes were basic crops, so their maturation times should be the same. The only difference was that carrot seeds were more expensive, and they sold for more, while white radishes were cheaper.
“So… both types of radishes have a maturation time greater than three hours but less than six.”
Zou Zhuo walked over to the two plots of mature carrots, crouched down, and gently pulled them out.
Each plot had many carrots planted neatly in rows. Zou Zhuo pulled them quickly and finished in no time.
The carrots still had some dirt on them, making them look very realistic. But after Zou Zhuo tossed them into the warehouse, the dirt vanished automatically, and they stacked up neatly.
Zou Zhuo shoveled away the crop remnants from the two plots and planted new seeds.
Just then, another very subtle system prompt appeared: Detected that you have harvested crops. Would you like to go to the shop to sell them?
“So I can sell them for money, right? Definitely sell them.” Zou Zhuo didn’t hesitate.
A brand-new building instantly appeared on an empty patch of land nearby. It looked like a simple little shop, with a style that matched the scene perfectly.
There were no NPCs inside; everything was automated. Zou Zhuo placed the pile of mature carrots into the shop, and they automatically converted into system currency.
Next to the shop was a very simple ATM machine, which displayed Zou Zhuo’s current currency balance and allowed him to check transaction records.
The shop also showed the prices of various items, though most of them were far too expensive for Zou Zhuo to afford.
But what really shocked Zou Zhuo was that this ATM machine had an interface for exchanging in-game currency for real-world items.
Zou Zhuo was stunned. Most games only allowed top-ups—converting real money into in-game currency. He had never heard of exchanging in-game currency for real-world items.
There were some low-value prizes, like recharge cards. There were also high-value prizes, even computers and VR gaming pods. Of course, those high-value items required astronomical amounts of in-game currency, and Zou Zhuo didn’t even dare to think about them.
But the fact that in-game currency could be exchanged for real items was already astonishing.
Zou Zhuo instantly realized that this game was far from simple.