The black particle effects gradually dissipated.
Fang Mo returned once again to the familiar white world.
The tearful farewells and the sobbing, aggrieved shouts all vanished, replaced by an endless white void of deathly silence, without even an echo.
Fang Mo slowly opened his eyes, gazing at the platform suspended in the air before him, stretching endlessly into the distance.
"Goodbye, little snowman."
A faint smile curved at the corner of his mouth as he walked steadily toward the other side of the platform without looking back.
Even with the help of his partner, Fang Mo habitually checked his surroundings, like what minerals were running low in the warehouse or whether the monster spawner was overloaded, and he made sure to maintain various aspects of his home.
He also glanced at the industrial area.
But Alex was still focused on grinding away at the incomprehensible tech mods, merely giving Fang Mo a casual greeting when she noticed him.
After completing his inspection, Fang Mo had a clear understanding of the situation at home.
The biggest shortage now was all kinds of minerals. Whether for the basic metals needed in the industry or the odd materials for Tinkers' Construct, everything required a steady supply of minerals.
Xiao Yao had already been working on making mining machines.
But at the moment, there weren't many mods capable of void mining.
According to his little partner, there were currently only two mods in their base that could perform void mining: one was the Matter Fabricator from the Industrial Age mod, which burns UU Matter to generate minerals from thin air.
The other was the Excavator from Immersive Engineering.
While efficient, it operated on its unique mineral vein mechanic.
If you wanted iron ore, you had to take a Core Sample Drill, run around the map, and scan each chunk to find one that had iron ore written into its code. Only then could you set up the Excavator to mine it.
Plus, mineral veins had limited reserves.
After mining for a while, the whole vein would be depleted, and you'd have to keep exploring for new ones.
So, neither of these void-mining mods was ideal. Xiao Yao had vented to Fang Mo about this, wishing they could unlock Environmental Tech, a mod whose mining machines were extremely powerful. A Tier 6 Void Miner would dig up so many minerals that even diamond chests wouldn't be enough—you'd need an entire logistics and bulk processing system.
If that wasn't feasible, other mining solutions like the Factory Mod's Laser Drill, Mekanism's Digital Miner, or Quantum Quarry from the More Practical Tools mod, or even Bedrock Ore Clusters, could also suffice.
Unfortunately, none of the mods Xiao Yao complained about had been unlocked yet.
Even the classic iron farm that used iron golems had been rendered useless due to the More Golems mod.
So Xiao Yao had no choice but to build Excavators or use the Matter Fabricator to generate minerals.
Even with just these two mods, the amount of ore being mined at home was astronomical. However, there were simply too many energy demands in the industrial modpack.
After all, mining machines were essentially void miners, which acted as an endless energy sink.
Not to mention there was also the Molecular Assembler to power.
So now Xiao Yao had fallen into a resource death spiral.
A shortage of resources meant the mining machines' efficiency had to be maxed out, but the machines themselves consumed vast amounts of energy, requiring more generators. However, building generators required tons of materials—rubber, iron, copper, tin, coal, and so on.
And then you were back to the original problem: lacking resources to max out the mining speed.
"Sigh."
Realizing this, Fang Mo let out a deep sigh. "This house really can't run without me for even a moment, or else it'd fall apart."
After saying that, Fang Mo strode back into the house.
At the wooden crate on the first floor, Steve quickly swapped out his equipment for his mining gear, then dashed out at top speed.
Now, some might say, "How can your black laborer out-mine an industrial excavator?" But clearly, they haven't realized how terrifying mod synergies can be in Minecraft.
Steve currently had two mining tools.
A hammer and a pickaxe.
The pickaxe had a cobalt handle and head, a binding from Metallurgy 4's Molten Gold, and was engraved with traits from the Tech Reborn mod's Yellow Garnet.
This gave the tool five abilities: Lightweight, Empowered, Inscribed, Duplication, and Auto-Smelt.
Traits like Lightweight and Empowered simply boosted efficiency, so we won't dwell on those. But the 'Duplication' trait had a chance to duplicate drops.
"I should really surround myself with obsidian next time I work," Xiao Yao grumbled. "No... maybe bedrock. Obsidian might not be enough to stop you, you pervert."
"Bedrock won't work either," Fang Mo shrugged. "If your Alex can break bedrock, why can't my Steve?"
"Tch."
Xiao Yao frowned, seemingly thinking of a solution. "In that case... I'll have Alex eat me and spit me out after the work's done!"
"...Huh?"
Fang Mo was taken aback.
Using the Gluttony ability to eat yourself? What kind of ridiculous operation was that?
"Even Florida men can't top this." Fang Mo almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of her idea. "You should cosplay as Abby. I'd love to slap your forehead—your brain's imagination is off the charts..."
"?"
Now Xiao Yao wasn't happy. "I only think like this because you drive me crazy! Do you think a normal person would do the things you do?"
"What did I do that was so wrong?"
Fang Mo retorted, "I told you, I just want a good rest, but you're misunderstanding me."
"Fine, fine. I misunderstood, right?"
Xiao Yao chuckled in exasperation. "Then lie down and get some sleep. I won't work anymore, just watch you. If you can't fall asleep in three hours, you have to transform into that white-haired loli."
"And if I do fall asleep?"
Fang Mo asked.
"Then whatever you say goes." Xiao Yao, clearly a bit irritated, agreed, challenging Fang Mo, "Dare to bet?"
"That's what you said."
Fang Mo grinned, "No take-backs."
"I don't go back on my word!"
It was clear Xiao Yao hadn't realized how serious things could get, as she confidently stood her ground.
"Haha, alright then."
Fang Mo laughed heartily, flopping onto the bed and pulling out a strange, brick-like object from behind him. "Goodnight, wifey, I'm going to sleep!"
And with that, Fang Mo promptly smashed the object onto his head.
In the next second, he collapsed onto the bed, sleeping like a newborn baby.
Seeing Fang Mo's ridiculous antics, Xiao Yao was utterly bewildered. She hadn't expected him to cheat in such a ridiculous way.
But what she thought afterward didn't matter.
Because Fang Mo, having used a sleeping aid, had already entered a deep sleep.
Yes, this wasn't just regular sleep. Since the Minecraft world had no immediate threats, he took this opportunity to connect to the Dream Gate and visit the real world, mainly to check in on his parents.
Unfortunately, Fang Mo had chosen a bad time for his nap.
In the real world, it was currently the afternoon, and his parents wouldn't be sleeping. His sister, Fang Xin, was still in school.
But since he was already here, Fang Mo didn't want to leave so soon. So, he wandered through the dream world for a while, finding a few strangers who were napping and sifting through their recent memories like watching movies, catching up on any major news on Earth.
After a bit of this, Fang Mo had a decent grasp of current events.
For example, which new anime had taken the top spot this month, what cool games had launched on Steam, and what kind of dark humor and major news stories had surfaced online.
It's safe to say that the people sneaking in an afternoon nap were truly talented.
After this unique way of catching up, Fang Mo contentedly disconnected from the Dream Gate and returned to his body.
"Xiao Yao! Xiao Yao!"
As soon as he woke up, Fang Mo excitedly shook his little companion. "I finally know if Hawking has to drink in Central China or not. He doesn't have to!"
"...Because he prefers sitting at the kids' table!"