Chapter 30

Perhaps it was because he naturally had a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder, Chen Xin preferred collecting things in sets. It was just like video games where you would equip a complete set of equipment instead of some spare armor. Therefore, he preferred upgrading the room as a whole instead of by parts.

Of course, that was also to reduce the hassle when it came to improving the set. After all, he could just upgrade the whole set instead of wasting effort in manually adjusting the coordination between parts.

If it was someone who knew the ropes, they would certainly be able to integrate different parts together as they would know what parts work best with each other, maximizing their performance.

However, what about the people who did not know? It was a given they would not be able to do that. How would they be able to integrate a full set if they did not even know what each part did?

Sometimes, a complete set may not be optimal, but at least it could still prove useful.

Chen Xin worked hard researching doomsday survival and learned a little bit in every aspect, but he was not a survival guru who knew everything.

For example, would there be a conflict between the hydroponic growth trays and the drip irrigation system? Could the drip system be used for the hydroponic growth trays? How should he use the supplementary lights to ensure adequate lighting between different crops?

Chen Xin could not answer these questions. Even the configuration of his greenhouse was done according to someone from the survival group chat who had hydroponic cultivation experience. If he had to do it himself, he would have plowed the field, sowed the seeds, and watered them the old fashioned way.

No one could be a know-it-all. If Chen Xin was a survival guru, he would know what suited his needs the best, which functions should be upgraded, and how to maximize his survival probability.

However, Chen Xin was just an ordinary outdoor survival enthusiast, and his professional knowledge was limited. It was already very good that he was able to judge what needed to be upgraded based on the plans offered by the system.

If it were someone else, they would probably panic as they wanted everything.

Of course, Chen Xin wanted everything too, but that required capital. How was he going to accumulate sufficient survival points for all the upgrades?

Moreover, the system was a bit strange. It would only offer two choices when upgrading. If you wanted to use survival points, you could only choose from one of the two plans.

If you wanted the upgrade to include features from both plans, you would need to provide all the materials required.

Therefore, Chen Xin could only think about how he should spend the points while he saved up daily.

At that time, he could not get out and gather any resources. That meant he could only rely on the survival points to upgrade anything.

At the rate of ten points a day, he could earn up to three thousand and six hundred points a year. That was enough to upgrade an entire room, but Chen Xin thought if that was the case, then the system was quite useless.

Hence, Chen Xin considered upgrading some key equipment to improve his living conditions and increase the daily awarded points.

It was just that Chen Xin was still anxious about what he should upgrade.

It was not that he could not find anything to upgrade, nor did he panic because he did not have survival points, but there were too many choices. It was very difficult to determine what should be upgraded to improve the system’s assessment of his living conditions and increase his daily points.

Fortunately, there were not enough points for Chen Xin to upgrade anything yet. Plus, there was nothing much to do in the bunker, so he had a lot of time to think about it.

At that moment, Chen Xin was also concerned about the seeds sowed in the soil of the hundred square meters greenhouse.

There were three kinds of seeds that he planted, namely carrots, cabbages, and lettuce.

The cabbage seeds had already sprouted as Chen Xin processed them in advance. The carrots and lettuces would take a few more days to grow.

In Chen Xin’s original plan, the seeds of the upland rice should have been sown together with the vegetable seeds, but he could only plant the vegetables first because he had made a mistake during the greenhouse’s construction. At least he was able to ensure vegetable supplies.

Among those vegetables, lettuce grew the fastest. Under optimum temperature and humidity, it could be harvested once a month.

The growth cycle of cabbage was similar to that of lettuce, and it could also be harvested in about thirty days when growing conditions were optimal.

As for the carrots, it would be slower. Even if the temperature were suitable and the irrigation guaranteed, it would take three months to harvest. Carrots had the longest harvest cycle amongst the three.

However, compared to cabbages and lettuces which had a shorter shelf life, carrots could be stored for a longer time.

The reason Chen Xin planted vegetables first was also that they could be harvested in one month and the output could be obtained as soon as possible.

As for upland rice, even if it could be harvested twice a year, a six-month growth cycle was still fairly long for Chen Xin at that time.

Were it not for the system, Chen Xin would choose to grow the upland rice first. It could guarantee a steady food supply before his reserves were depleted. After sufficient food was harvested, he would plant some vegetables. While adjusting his palette, he could also bring some produce to the outside and trade with other bunkers.

However, things had changed for Chen Xin since he had acquired the system. If he had planted vegetables first, not only could he eat better and improve his living conditions, he could also save some of his reserves.

As Chen Xin had accumulated enough survival points, he could expand the greenhouse. He could still plant the upland rice by that time and it would not cause a food shortage. After all, he could still trade the vegetables for other kinds of food.

In truth, vegetables were very rare for people who had been eating mushrooms and mice. Chen Xin was not worried that he could not make a decent trade.

After he inspected the moisture level of the soil and turned on the supplementary lights, Chen Xin left the greenhouse.

Greenhouse farming had one advantage over outdoor farming, that was he did not need to worry about pests and diseases. He would only need to ensure irrigation, lighting, and maintain the environment at an optimum temperature to guarantee a harvest.

The crops had not grown yet, so there was nothing much that Chen Xin could do. He just had to check whether they needed to be watered.

Upon closing the greenhouse door, Chen Xin walked toward the storage. He took a pack of self-heating food and a bottle of mineral water, then returned to the living room to prepare for dinner.

Food was limited and energy consumption was not high. Chen Xin only ate two meals a day. Although it was not quite enough, it could still fill his stomach.

While the food was heating up, Chen Xin suddenly thought whether he should build himself a kitchen. That should be regarded as an improvement to his living conditions, right?