Scientific Travel

Deng Yin picked all the ripe fruit, and coincidentally, the batch of tomatoes he had planted was also ripe, so he simply picked them all at the same time.

It will soon be extremely hot, and it's easy to lose your appetite, so Deng decided to plant some vegetables suitable for summer.

What vegetables are good to eat in summer? Freshly picked tomatoes are one example.

The seeds in Deng Yin's hand also include a type suitable for summer consumption—cucumber.

Recently, Deng Yin has been planting only one type of vegetable at a time, which makes harvesting easier.

Unsurprisingly, this time the entire 500-square-meter vegetable garden was planted with cucumbers.

As for the fruit orchard, half of the vacant space was planted with cantaloupes, and the other half was also planted with cantaloupes.

Hami melons only take a little over half a month to mature, making them the fruit with the shortest ripening time in Deng Yin's hands.

We don't know when the next natural disaster will come, so planting some crops with short maturation periods might allow us to harvest them during the next disaster.

Deng Yin had enough fruit in her hand to last her a long time, so naturally she wasn't in a hurry to eat the cantaloupe.

After finishing all that, Deng Yin came out of the space and lay on the bed thinking about how to complete this task.

The air conditioning unit is available for purchase here. The materials are very simple: just a few bamboo poles with holes punched in them and an icebox.

Bamboo is easy to get; there's a bamboo forest not far from here, and bamboo is also sold in the city.

The difficult part is the ice room.

Ice rooms are usually located underground. The cold air from the ice room is transmitted into the room through bamboo, thereby lowering the indoor temperature.

But Deng Yin's house was all in basements, so there was no place to put an ice room.

If an icehouse were to be built next to Deng Yin's room, it could only be built outside the courtyard. The buildings inside the courtyard are circular, with one house next to another, leaving no space to build an icehouse unless it were built in the middle of the courtyard.

Deng Yin also has an aesthetic sense; building an ice room in the middle of the courtyard is so ugly.

However, if it is built outside the courtyard, it is easy to disintegrate in the event of a destructive natural disaster.

There aren't many shops selling louvered bricks anymore; they're basically only for royalty and nobility. Deng Yin doesn't have enough louvered bricks to build an icehouse.

Then we have to think of another way, a way to fill the room with cold air without having to build an ice room.

To find this solution, we first need to understand where the cold air comes from.

ice.

So where does ice come from?

Generally speaking, there are only two methods. One is to chisel ice directly from frozen rivers or lakes in winter, then seal it in ice cellars and equip them with insulating materials such as leaves for use in summer.

Another method is to make ice through the chemical reaction of saltpeter and water. Since potassium nitrate is easily soluble in water and has the property of endothermic freezing, it is perfect for making ice.

Both of these methods are commonly used for ice making here, but regardless of which one is used, an ice room needs to be built.

If you don't want to build an icehouse, there's only one way: don't use ice to create cold air.

"I've got it!" Deng Yin's eyes lit up.

When I read ancient time-travel novels before, they described a machine called air conditioner that could blow both cold and hot air. If Deng Yin had an air conditioner, wouldn't he be able to get cool air without ice?

Deng asked the system, "Do you have something like an ancient air conditioner? Something that can both heat and cool?"

The system checked the warehouse and found that although there was no air conditioning, there was something that was just as effective.

"Yes, there is a kite. It looks like a wooden bird and can blow both cold and hot air. It doesn't need electricity, but it does need to be fed."

"If it needs air conditioning, feed it ice. Similarly, if it needs hot air, feed it something very hot, like burning coal. The conversion rate is very high; a one-cubic-centimeter piece of ice is enough for it to blow on for 72 hours. It requires 20 points."

Deng Yin thought for a moment. So far, all the tasks have been giving more and more points. The last task gave 40 points, and this task will give even more!

I spent twenty points, but I made a net profit of at least twenty points, so it's not a bad deal.

"I want to exchange for a kite."

"Congratulations, host, for obtaining the Wind Kite. Twenty points will be deducted."

A wooden bird landed in Deng Yin's hand. The bird was carved very lifelike and was quite large, at least as long as Deng Yin's forearm. Its beak was open, as if it were chirping.

Deng Yin waited a while, but when he didn't hear the system continue speaking, he asked, "The Wind Kite can blow air, so why doesn't it count as me completing the task?"

System: "This task is to install a device that releases cold air. Since the kite can blow both hot and cold air, it does not count as completing the task."

Deng Yinqi's temples throbbed; that was twenty points! "Then why didn't you say so just now?"

The system voice was the same as usual, but Deng Yin detected a hint of exasperation in it. "You didn't ask me."

The system knew what Deng Yin wanted to do as soon as she asked if such a thing existed, which is why it told her about the kite and introduced it so enthusiastically, just to make her waste her points.

There are no shortcuts to completing this mission!

The system's true intentions are certainly not as noble as these platitudes suggest.

It simply dislikes Deng Yin! Morally corrupt, extorting money, cold-blooded, and attacking people based on their appearance—any one of these traits is enough for it to hate Deng Yin!

Oh right, and one more thing: currying favor with the powerful!

When I first linked it to the system, it was all over the place every day. Now that there's nothing I can use it for, I've started calling the system.

Other people's hosts and systems chat occasionally to build a relationship, but she only contacts it when she needs it.

And what's more, she's also incredibly fickle!

A while ago, I suddenly had a heart-to-heart talk with it, and it thought I had changed for the better. But the next day, I scolded it!

The twenty points she lost today are exactly what she lost to make up for the 200 energy points she lost!

Deng Yin knew that the system did it on purpose and knew why, but since she hadn't asked the system about it, she didn't dwell on it.

Since the system is playing word games with her, she'll play along.

Deng Yinping calmed down and asked the system, "Do you have an ice maker?"

The system was surprised that she wasn't angry and even spoke quite kindly, which made it feel a little embarrassed. "Yes, it's solar-powered. It takes two hours to fully charge and lasts for a month. It requires five points."

Deng Yin nodded and said, "I'll buy it."

This time, the system didn't congratulate you; it simply said, "Here you go."

The ice maker was huge, two meters tall, and pure silver in color. Afraid of being discovered, Deng Yin appeared in the space along with the machine in the next second.

The ice maker makes ice very quickly; it only takes one minute to turn water into ice. Deng Yin put the ice into the charcoal brazier that was originally used for burning charcoal and returned to his room.

Deng Yin put away the burning charcoal brazier, replaced it with a brazier filled with ice, found a wooden board, and fanned the ice with it.

As Deng Yin fanned the air, the cool air dissipated the heat, and the warmth brought by the ice filled the entire room.

Deng Yin's voice carried a hint of provocation. "System, does this count as installing a device to release cold air? Although it's a charcoal brazier, putting ice in it won't produce heat."

Deng Yin did it on purpose; there were so many basins, yet he chose to use a charcoal basin.

The system knows this, Deng Yin also knows the system knows this, and the system knows that Deng Yin knows it knows this.

Well, no matter what, she did lose twenty points, but she did complete the task.

"Congratulations, host, on completing the mission. You are rewarded with 20 points and your space has increased by 50 square meters, for a total of [square meters]."

What?! Only twenty points?! Does that mean I didn't earn a single point from this task?

Deng asked the system, "Aren't the points for completing tasks supposed to keep increasing? Why are the points I'm getting this time so much less than last time?"

"Because the first two missions were related to the male protagonist, the points reward was doubled."

It seems so. Deng Yin recalled the previous missions. Each mission always rewarded two more points than the previous one. The mission to save Wei Wu Jiang should have rewarded 12 points according to the pattern, but instead, it gave 30 points.

That's not reasonable either. According to this rule, this task should reward 16 points, but it gave four more than that.

It seems like a new pattern has emerged.

Deng Yin put away the charcoal brazier filled with ice and put out the charcoal brazier that he had put away earlier.

The system, puzzled, asked, "What is this for?"

Deng Yin replied, "Now that the mission is accomplished, what's the point of keeping it?"

The system thought about it and realized it made sense. It was already several degrees below zero, and there wasn't enough time to use a charcoal brazier. Only an idiot would use an ice charcoal brazier.

Yes, he was deliberately insulting her!