Scientific Travel

With the flood disaster more than halfway through, Gou Dan had already informed Deng Yin of the next task, but she had yet to take action.

The story begins five days ago.

The water level had already submerged the first floor, so Deng Yin made a fishing rod and would sit by the window to fish when he had nothing to do. Sometimes, when the wind blew rain into the house, Deng Yin would put the tree-shaped fishing rod aside to catch the rain, ensuring that not a single drop of rain could get in.

Generally, when a new natural disaster strikes, the system knows what the next task is, but Gou Dan has recently become so engrossed in learning martial arts from Wang Moyu that he has forgotten about it.

He didn't say anything, and Deng Yin didn't ask either. It wasn't until one day when Gou Dan secretly went to the space to practice the moves he had learned, wanting to amaze everyone, that he saw money all over the ground and remembered the mission.

"By the way, the next task is to earn a gold coin." Gou Dan sat next to Deng Yin fishing together, and lowered his voice to avoid scaring the fish away: "You have to finish it quickly, otherwise when the water level rises higher in a while, no one will be able to go out to buy things."

Dog Egg is overthinking it. Deng Yin did such a good job with the drainage; the water level didn't even go above the first floor, let alone other places.

The entire city of Xiye was almost completely submerged.

Except for a few wealthy individuals who listened to the emperor and built three more stories on top of their original structures, the rest of the living people lived in the West Tower.

Each city's shelter was named after the city. Xiye City had a total of five shelters built. The emperor's money was insufficient, and the city's accounts did not have enough funds. The majority of the money came from Zou Guangyu.

No one in Xiye City drowned in the rain disaster. As early as when the rain started, Zou Guangyu had gathered everyone in Xiye Tower.

The people in the city trusted Zou Guangyu a lot. When she was building a shelter and didn't have enough people, many people volunteered to help her build the shelter without pay.

Zou Guangyu didn't let them help for nothing; he settled them all in Building No. 1, Xiye.

The five West Wings look similar from the outside, but their internal systems are quite different. In West Wing No. 1, food is provided free of charge, and all the residents are people who helped build the building.

The interior of Building No. 2 is the most luxurious of the five buildings, and the food is also more abundant. People who stay here have to pay for not only the food but also the room.

The remaining three West Buildings all follow the same system: they are for ordinary people to live in, and there is no accommodation fee, but food expenses must be paid.

Not knowing how long this natural disaster would last, Zou Guangyu had already monopolized the food supply. Anyone who wanted to buy food could go to Building No. 1, Xiye Building. Each person could only buy one jin (500 grams) of rice per day, and there were also limits on vegetables and other items.

Because of Zou Guangyu's good reputation over the years, no one questioned her actions.

The order in several cities outside has collapsed. The city lords were so busy building that they didn't secure food supplies in advance. By the time they remembered, there wasn't much left in the market.

So many people live together, and those without food are anxious every day. Even if they have money, they can't buy food now.

Even those with food are anxious every day, wondering how long this natural disaster will last and whether they have enough to eat. Meanwhile, those without food are always lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity to rob them.

......

Upon receiving the new task, Deng Yin suddenly remembered something: "Haven't I bought anything worth one point this month?"

"Yes." Dog Egg asked, "Do you want to buy it now?"

"buy it."

......

"What is this?!" Deng Yin exclaimed loudly, staring at the object in front of him without considering whether the fish would be scared away.

"Stone, huh?" Gou Dan looked disgusted, as if to say, "You really have no taste."

Deng Yin's attention was completely drawn to what Gou Dan was holding, and he didn't notice his expression. "I didn't know this was a stone? You mean I spent one point and got a stone?!"

She could tolerate the egg beater, thinking she could find a way to use it, but this rock was completely useless no matter how she thought about it!

“Yes.” Gou Dan knew how stingy she was, so he comforted her, “If you think about it this way, this stone… at least it’s pretty.”

"What's the use of looking good? It's still just a rock!" Deng Yin exclaimed in surprise. "Wait, do you think this rock might be some kind of energy stone? Contains energy?"

Deng Yin picked up the stone and the more he looked at it, the more he felt that this stone was unusual.

It's not very big, only about the size of a fist. It feels cool to the touch and is purple overall, but not translucent; it's a milky purple.

Dog Egg, with his built-in scanning ability, glanced at it and ruthlessly shattered Deng Yin's illusions. "No, it's just an ordinary stone. If you insist on finding anything different about it..."

"...That is, it looks better than ordinary stones."

"..."

Time returns to the present.

Deng Yin has been feeling rather down these past few days. He's been unable to catch anything while fishing, and all he got after spending one point was a broken stone. He's also missing several kinds of medicinal herbs.

I had originally hoped to buy some medicinal herbs through Doctor Wang's channels, but now it seems that was a waste of time.

It's hard to say whether he has enough medicinal herbs right now.

There was no other way, so Deng Yin had to use points to buy it, and in the end, he spent another 37 points.

Earning a gold coin wouldn't have been difficult in the past, but it's a bit challenging now. Deng Yin plans to find a loophole and sell the item to Aunt Wang or Uncle Li.

Having learned from past mistakes, Gou Dan had already guessed that she would do this, and specifically reminded her that this was not acceptable and that she must sell to strangers.

This time, Deng Yin did not suspect that Gou Dan was deliberately making things difficult for her. Now the two of them were in the same boat, sharing both prosperity and adversity.

Deng Yin hasn't been idle these past few days; she's been busy building boats.

It's too far from Shimu City, so Deng Yin doesn't want to go that far. He plans to just go to Xiye City to sell some things.

Food should be expensive now, so earning a gold coin shouldn't be too difficult.

What Deng Yin didn't know was that, under Zou Guangyu's suppression, the price of grain hadn't increased; the price she paid when she bought it was the same price she was selling it for now.

Except for Building No. 2 West, since everyone living here is wealthy, Zou Guangyu will charge a little more.

After all, there weren't enough people to manage, and the few constables couldn't control so many people, so Zou Guangyu hired a lot of extra people.

Even so, many people were still vying to go to Building No. 2 West.

Of these buildings, only the residents of Building 2 (West Building) have single rooms; the rest live together, each only having a place to sleep. They always carry their belongings with them, afraid someone will steal them.

Even the yamen runners couldn't watch over things all the time; there were always times when they couldn't see them.