Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System-Chapter 57: Cold Increases
But now, Vikram felt that Divya’s talent for sarcasm was no weaker than his own, and the way she spoke to him was becoming increasingly disrespectful.
Strangely, instead of getting angry, he felt a kind of relief — like a parent watching their child grow up.
[Vikram: Take it. Consider it a reward for working so hard for me. Also, from now on, I’ll calculate one ton of fertile soil as 2.5 kg of food for you.]
[Divya: Wow, you really are the foolish son of a rich landlord! It’s just one ton of soil. Fertile soil is relatively rare, but it’s not impossible to find. Are you offering so much food because you want to keep me around?]
[Vikram: You don’t need to worry about that. All that matters is that I’m not short on this small amount of food.]
He wasn’t exaggerating. Vikram had hunted nearly twenty Wolf Spirits, along with several other creatures. Conservatively estimated, he now had around 4,000–5,000 kg of meat stored.
Giving a small portion as a reward to his outstanding "employee" was completely harmless.
[Vikram: As for keeping you... I can consider it.]
[Divya: Pfft, go to hell. You want to consider it? I’m not even interested!]
[Vikram:?]
[Vikram: I just gave you a raise, and this is how you repay me?]
[Divya: Hmph. A Survivor with information as accurate as mine is extremely hard to find. Paying me more is only fair.]
Seeing how confident she sounded, Vikram decided to scare her a little to maintain the upper hand.
[Vikram: So confident? Then I’ll really find someone else, alright?]
[Divya: Hey, I’ve given you so much information for free. Are you planning to discard me so quickly?]
[Vikram: Then say, "I’m sorry, handsome guy."]
On her end, Divya hesitated.
Although this idiot often annoyed her, he had actually treated her quite well.
Should she... really apologize?
After struggling internally for three or four minutes, she finally sent the message.
[Divya: I’m sorry... handsome guy.]
The moment Vikram saw it, he burst out laughing, wearing a smug expression as if he had finally achieved victory.
[Vikram: Hmm~ That’s more like it. Be nicer to your sugar daddy from now on, and you won’t be short of benefits, understand?] 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
[Divya: Go to hell! Give you an inch and you take a mile.]
In the greenhouse, Vikram, who had chosen not to go out today, walked leisurely across the cultivated land with his hands clasped behind his back. From time to time, he would stop to observe the crops sprouting from the soil, muttering quietly to himself.
"Cabbages should be ready for harvest in about ten days. The growth speed isn’t slow, but under the pressure of these Wasteland natural disasters... it still feels a bit too tight."
Ever since the group chat spread the news that the intensity of natural disasters would increase every seven days, Vikram’s initial confidence had gradually turned into a faint sense of anxiety.
"There are still too many parts of the Territory that need renovation. At present, the cultivated land barely reaches 200 square meters — still far from the estimated target of 500 square meters."
"Until the newly excavated farmland is properly reinforced, the surrounding mountains can’t be disturbed. For now, these 200 square meters are the Shelter’s only stable source of food production."
Snapping out of his thoughts, he opened the trade market interface. To his surprise, there were now many kinds of fertilizer listed for trade. There were even more than a dozen varieties of exquisite-grade fertilizer, not to mention the large amount of ordinary, ungraded fertilizer.
"It seems everyone has been heavily affected by the recent material adjustments. If this were the old trade market, it would still be full of blueprint trades... or just endless piles of stone and wood."
Nodding thoughtfully, he folded his arms across his chest.
Soon after, he selected several types of exquisite-grade fertilizer. The trade process went exceptionally smoothly. For materials that were practically useless at the moment, he didn’t even need to bargain. The sellers, upon hearing that Vikram was offering food in exchange, actually lowered their prices on their own initiative.
In the end, he spent only five kilograms of food to exchange for a total of 500 kilograms of compound fertilizer from multiple sellers.
He was careful not to buy too much from any single trader, knowing that concentrating purchases could easily make him a target.
"Five kilograms of food for five hundred kilograms of fertilizer... this is truly dirt-cheap," he murmured, inwardly amazed at the overwhelming purchasing power that food now possessed.
Then, he suddenly realized something.
Cabbage was no longer synonymous with being cheap. If he successfully grew cabbages now and put them on the market, their price might very well surpass that of meat.
"This damned Wasteland World..." Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Vikram quietly closed the trade market interface.
In the garden, a dust-covered Vikram slowly climbed up from the soil, brushing dirt from his clothes.
After applying the fertilizer he had just traded for in the market, the harvest timer displayed on the greenhouse control terminal had indeed shortened by one full day.
"There are nine days left now. According to the terminal’s prompts, I can fertilize two more times during this period... which means I can bring it down to seven days."
Just thinking about being able to eat fresh green vegetables again made Vikram genuinely excited.
It wasn’t that he particularly loved vegetables. The real reason was that he had already spent nearly a full month in the Wasteland World. During all this time, his diet had remained painfully monotonous. Without proper nutritional balance, even though he consumed large amounts of meat every day, his body had actually become leaner than when he first arrived.
What troubled him even more was the lack of vitamins. It had begun to affect both his sleep quality and his mental state. Even after staying inside the Territory for two full days without venturing out, he still needed extended periods of rest just to recover his energy.
If it weren’t for the Treehouse Core’s passive recovery effect, he suspected he might need more than ten hours of sleep daily — and even then, he would probably wake up feeling sluggish and drained.
"Just endure it a little longer..." he muttered, rubbing his temples as he tried to steady his thoughts.
His gaze shifted toward the two Mage Seeds still rooted in the soil. Their growth indicators showed that they would mature in roughly four more hours.
After that, he looked at his Sprout Team.
Aside from the Guardian Sprout, who stood quietly at its usual defensive position, the others were all occupied with their own activities.
The Archer Sprout was currently following the Healer Sprout around the Territory perimeter, almost like a loyal subordinate accompanying its superior on patrol.
Meanwhile, the Warrior Sprout was sparring with the Fire Mage Sprout, repeatedly clashing in controlled bursts of movement as if conducting combat drills.
Vikram walked over and lightly patted both of them, offering silent encouragement.
After observing his territory one last time, he finally turned and entered the Treehouse.
Returning inside, he sat down on the edge of his bed... and began silently counting down the remaining time.
Kashif Ali’s message did not come with solid evidence, yet the unusual calmness during this phase of the extreme cold made Vikram feel that something was definitely wrong.
For now, he chose to believe Kashif’s judgment and quietly waited through the deep night for any changes to occur.
As it turned out, Kashif Ali did not disappoint him.
Soon, after a sudden vibration from the device on his left wrist, a familiar mechanical voice echoed out.
[Congratulations, Survivors, on successfully enduring the first phase of the Extreme Cold.]
[The second phase of the Extreme Cold officially begins now.]
[Attention: From this moment onward, the temperature will drop by an additional ten degrees.]
[Creatures outside Shelters will decrease significantly. Furthermore, Crimson Creatures will completely disappear within two weeks.]
[Continue striving to survive, Survivors.]
As the announcement ended, Vikram immediately glanced at the global online population indicator displayed in the bottom-right corner.
The number — already reduced to just over six billion — began to fall at an even more alarming rate after the system’s warning.
"...Sigh."
He exhaled slowly.
At the same time, he began to consider how this sudden temperature plunge would catch countless Survivors completely off guard.
For him, however, it was far less concerning.
With the Treehouse Core’s environmental regulation and the overall resilience of his Territory, the cold would have minimal direct impact on his living conditions.
Out of habit, he opened the public chat channel.
As expected, it was already overflowing with panic, complaints, and desperate cries for help.
A few calm voices attempting to organize discussion were instantly drowned beneath waves of anxious messages.
"Brothers, wake up! Don’t sleep through this — if you don’t prepare for the cold, you might never wake up again!"
"What’s happening? I just woke up... why does it suddenly feel so freezing?"
"Didn’t you hear the Survival Platform announcement? The temperature just dropped by another ten degrees!"
"Damn this cursed world! I only have a thin bedsheet. How am I supposed to survive like this?"
"You’re complaining? I don’t even have that much. I’m sleeping on a bare wooden board and relying entirely on a campfire for warmth. I’m the one who’s truly doomed."
"Haha... are you all really that miserable? I’m not doing amazing either, but at least I’ve still got a thick down jacket. Hearing you talk makes me feel strangely comforted."
The last message came from a Survivor who clearly couldn’t resist showing off.
"Hehe... silly kid. Do you really believe everything he says?"
Another passerby quickly jumped in to expose him.
"Those who are truly desperate are already in the trading market scrambling for supplies. Who would still have the mood to chat here? And by the way — the guy upstairs who claimed he only had a wooden board? I traded a cotton quilt to him just last time."
