Farming Games are All About Grinding-Chapter 270 - 262: The Ingenious Use of the Ice Net

After jotting down the contents of the note, Han Qiwu checked the dates. The 16th day of the lunar calendar this month happened to be March 14.

There were still four days left—plenty of time.

He walked over to the furnace and took out the gold ingot he had refined this morning.

This gold ingot was originally meant for the oil press.

But since he needed it to collect water from the spring, it might be better to have Master Shuzi craft it into a container first.

Besides, who says the gold can’t be melted back into an ingot after being turned into a container?

Anyway, there’s a gold ore at home. Even if there’s some loss, it’s acceptable.

Taking a glance at the sky, Han Qiwu pulled out "The Legend of Giants," leaned back in the chair, and started flipping through the pages.

Since the afternoon was quiet, he figured he’d read the book first.

As he was reading, Han Qiwu heard the sounds of a scuffle.

Following the noise, he saw the Little Prince—completely bare-skinned—wrestling with Little Shui the buffalo.

Over the past few days, Han Qiwu noticed that Little Shui had experienced the most drastic growth in size; it was a full circle larger than the other cows.

Turns out both people and cows need exercise.

Exercise is the key to growing taller.

Thanks to his sharp eyesight, Han Qiwu also spotted Little Shui lying on the border between the icy and snowy terrain and the regular soil. Every now and then, Little Shui would stretch out its paw to scoop up some snow to play with. It seemed like Little Shui wanted to shape the snow into different forms, but its big paws made manipulating the snow rather tricky.

Feeling amused after reading for a while, Han Qiwu smiled and quietly walked over, grabbed a handful of snow, and quickly sculpted a small snowman. He placed it in front of Little Shui.

"Eek eek eek."

Little Shui obediently rubbed against Han Qiwu’s shin first, and then gently picked up the tiny snowman and started playing with it.

Seeing Little Shui’s eager expression, Han Qiwu lightly patted its head, thinking about creating a dedicated snow-playing area for it.

His gaze turned toward the icy and snowy terrain. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the base of the ice mushroom had started spreading numerous spores, and many of these small spores had already begun to reproduce in the snowfield, glistening brightly.

Clearly, letting Little Shui play with snow there was not an option.

After a moment’s thought, Han Qiwu suddenly remembered that he had obtained an item called "Ice Web" from the Ice Spider earlier.

Its description was somewhat similar to that of the Ice Lotus—it mentioned the ability to create icy and snowy landscapes.

Might as well give it a try.

Soon, Han Qiwu retrieved the Ice Web from his storage compartment and returned to the area.

To prevent the Ice Web from negatively affecting the ice mushroom base, Han Qiwu specifically chose a barren patch of ground far away from the ice mushroom base to place the Ice Web.

The Ice Web looked great—it was made of white spider silk with faintly glowing blue specks scattered across its surface. It was tough to the touch, and after placing it on the ground, it automatically spread itself out.

The area it covered was roughly 3×3.

Once fully spread out, frost gradually formed on the barren ground, the soil hardened, and the nearby air temperature dropped.

"Let’s wait and see." Han Qiwu leaned against a nearby tree, spread "The Legend of Giants" on the ground, and continued reading.

Ten minutes later.

The land under the Ice Web had formed a thick layer of frost, cold to the touch.

But that was about it.

Its effect was still inferior to that of the Ice Lotus—it was more like a permanent flexible ice block for cooling.

Despite that, Han Qiwu was quite satisfied. He called over the Little Prince, who had been wrestling, and began shoveling snow from the edge of the icy terrain onto the barren patch.

Before long, the small area was piled high with snow.

"Go ahead and play. From now on, this place will be called Snow Paradise." Han Qiwu chuckled and said to Little Shui, who had been waiting patiently nearby.

"Eek eek eek!!!"

Little Shui jumped three feet high, pounced into the snow, and happily rolled around.

Seeing this, the Little Prince gave up wrestling with Little Shui the buffalo and joined in to roll around in Snow Paradise.

Han Qiwu smiled faintly and returned to the house to continue reading.

As the sun began to set, Han Qiwu started feeling hungry.

"Let’s try the lava heat-resistant shrimp first."

Of course, to avoid wasting energy, Han Qiwu specifically chopped some wood to burn off a bit of strength before eating the shrimp.

Into the kitchen—boil water, set up the steamer!

Originally, he intended to make boiled shrimp, but on second thought, boiling water only reached a maximum temperature of 100 degrees Celsius.

Would that even count as cooking a heat-resistant shrimp?

That’d just be giving it a bath!

Steaming seemed like a better option since steam was much hotter than boiling water.

After prepping the lava heat-resistant shrimp, he planned to use the leftover rice from lunch to whip up some fried rice with eggs.

Life with rice is truly delightful.

Even though it was leftover rice, its chewy texture was still intact, making it perfect for frying into individual grains.

Before long, the aroma of rice, egg, and scallions melded beautifully together.

Once ready, Han Qiwu casually scooped up a spoonful and took a bite.

It was delicious.

"If I can get a recipe for fried rice later, I bet it’ll taste even better."

Serving out the fried rice, he lifted the steamer lid to retrieve the shrimp for eating.

"Bang!"

To his surprise, as the steaming lid lifted with its plume of steam, the lava heat-resistant shrimp suddenly jumped out!

It jumped three feet high.

Han Qiwu: "???"

What’s going on!

Steamed for 20 minutes, yet the shrimp was still alive? Its heat resistance was too strong!

Grabbing the lava heat-resistant shrimp, Han Qiwu noticed its meat hadn’t changed color at all—it looked just as it had before being placed in the steamer.

This was odd.

Han Qiwu held the lively shrimp firmly and examined the steamer.

After a few glances, he realized what had happened.

Turns out the shrimp had jumped into the water as soon as it entered the steamer, using the water surface to block the steam.

"Pretty clever. Even gave itself a high-temperature soak," Han Qiwu remarked, carrying the shrimp outside and igniting two pieces of charcoal he had obtained from the Lightning Labyrinth.

Heat-resistant shrimp?

Surely it’s not fire-resistant.

Han Qiwu placed the lava heat-resistant shrimp on a metal grill over the fire, sprinkling sesame seeds, cumin, and chili powder as it roasted.

Five minutes later.

The reddish glow of the lava heat-resistant shrimp emitted an irresistible aroma.

"Everything can be barbecued—ancient wisdom never lied!" Han Qiwu exclaimed, grabbing the grilled shrimp for a taste.

Right as it entered his mouth, the texture of the shrimp meat delighted Han Qiwu—it was nothing like regular shrimp or mantis shrimp.

It was tender and sticky, somewhat reminiscent of potatoes, but far tastier.

Despite being enveloped in layers of seasoning, the natural freshness of the shrimp meat still shone through.

It was exquisite.

After finishing the shrimp, Han Qiwu couldn’t wait to head back to its habitat for more fishing.

The flavor was entirely unique.

[Slight fire resistance boost for 2 hours]

Noticing the system prompt, Han Qiwu grew curious and slowly extended his hand toward the grill to test the meaning of this resistance.

Fifty centimeters, forty centimeters, thirty centimeters, ten centimeters.

Han Qiwu’s hand moved closer and closer to the charcoal. Only when it reached five centimeters did he feel the heat of burning embers on his fingertips.

Honestly, it was kind of exhilarating.

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