Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System-Chapter 7: Water Crisis Resolved

December 4th

Temperature: 22 degrees Celsius

The last day before the natural disaster.

The tension forced Vikram to get out of bed early.

He briefly thought about what he needed to do today.

"First is water. There’s a small stream near the back of the Treehouse’s hill. I must go there today."

"Secondly, building resources like wood and stone are running low."

After yesterday’s minor defensive upgrades and the construction of the drainage ditch, most of his resources had been used up. Currently, he has 48 pieces of wood left in his backpack, and only 7 pieces of stone.

As for yesterday’s trades, Vikram only sent friend requests for trades he considered useful to his current situation.

He completed a trade with Arjun yesterday, and three other people hadn’t responded to his friend requests.

He opened the chat again to check and found that all friend requests had been accepted.

"Hello, I’m very interested in your trade item. Can we discuss the price?"

Vikram couldn’t afford to waste precious daylight hours discussing details with others. He simply edited three identical messages and sent them to the three people before hurrying out to begin his material collection for the day.

When he pushed open the door, the sky appeared overcast. But Vikram knew it wasn’t actually dark clouds.

He recognized at a glance that it was the dust that had appeared when he was transported to this world, and it was becoming increasingly dense.

Vikram was now basically certain that this stuff was the cause of the acid rain; these dust particles could rise thousands of meters in the sky.

"Like volcanic ash? But there are no volcanoes nearby?"

Putting aside his doubts, Vikram followed the map and headed toward the back of the hill behind the Treehouse.

Although the water source was not far, that was the straight-line distance seen from the map’s God’s-eye view.

The actual distance Vikram walked was even comparable to the distance from his spawn point to the Treehouse.

Not only did he have to take many detours, but because it was an uninhabited barren mountain, most of it was filled with rugged, steep slopes that were nearly impossible to traverse.

Fortunately, it was only a hill over two hundred meters high. If it were a thousand-meter mountain, he wouldn’t be able to cross it in ten days.

He carefully chose where to step, taking each step cautiously while scanning several steps ahead, not only to prevent falling and injury but also to pay attention to various creatures in the mountain, such as snakes and other venomous insects.

Fortunately, nothing like a king cobra attack happened as he was about to reach his destination, though he did get several mosquito bites.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that after three hours of climbing, Vikram finally found the long-sought water source.

Before this, he had been living on instant noodles, apples, and berries, but only dared to use half a bottle of water, so how could he not be excited to see a clear stream now?

Scratching the bites on his body, Vikram called up the plant system to check if the water source was clean.

[Clear Stream]

Source: Mountain spring formed by groundwater seepage

Status: Potable

Seeing the plant system’s affirmative reply, Vikram had no doubts. He immediately bent down and lay by the stream, drinking his fill.

He really couldn’t be blamed for being so impatient, because he had been truly parched these past two days.

An average of 500ml of mineral water per day was completely disproportionate to his high-intensity work.

But before finding the water source, he really didn’t dare to squander it.

Although the Plant Life System offered many seeds and growth-related upgrades, it did not directly provide ready-made food or clean water.

Even though he had discovered the water source with the map yesterday, he was still very cautious and didn’t drink all his remaining water until he confirmed its safety with the plant system, only then daring to drink his fill.

After drinking enough of the cool stream water, the dryness in his throat completely disappeared.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, stood up, and decided to make good use of this stream’s resources.

After all, it was highly likely that this stream would also become contaminated after the acid rain, and he didn’t know when it would become safe and potable again.

Vikram also wanted to protect this water source, but the current situation was that the stream flowed down from the back mountain, and he no longer had enough time to go to the back mountain, not to mention he had no effective way to prevent acid rain from contaminating it.

He directly synthesized all the remaining wood into large wooden barrels in the crafting interface.

The wood in his backpack disappeared instantly, replaced by 24 large wooden barrels neatly stacked in his backpack.

One large wooden barrel had a capacity of 50 liters. It took him over ten minutes to fill all 24 barrels, and Vikram nodded with satisfaction.

A total of 1,200 liters of water in his backpack gave him a great sense of security. It wasn’t an enormous reserve, but it was more than enough to survive the first disaster comfortably and even spare some for trade.

Speaking of which, 1.2 tons of water only occupied a single slot in his backpack.

The backpack that came with the Survival Platform had a total of 20 empty slots, and items of the same type appeared to stack infinitely. At least, Vikram hadn’t encountered a situation where the same item occupied two slots yet.

Moreover, the items in the bag remained in a static state. The wild buffalo he hunted yesterday was still fresh and bloody when he took it out. This backpack was undoubtedly one of the most important functions of the Survival Platform.

However, as the collected resources increased day by day, the slots were becoming insufficient.

The items given by the Survival Platform and the plant system’s items were all inside, and now Vikram only had 5 empty slots in his bag.

"For now, I won’t move anything. If it’s really not enough, I’ll throw the never-used stone axe and stone pickaxe onto the trading platform."

With things mostly arranged, Vikram took out his last piece of bread and gnawed on it, finishing it in a few bites, then immediately started chopping trees on the spot.

He hadn’t forgotten that besides collecting water, he also needed to get more stone and wood on this trip.

But then he thought again, stone could be directly dug from the mountain body when the acid rain started.

This would not only acquire stone but also expand his territory, which was the best of both worlds.

However, stone was needed for tonight’s trade, so to be on the safe side, he only dug about ten pieces of stone and then quickly wrapped it up.

For the rest of the afternoon, only the sound of an axe echoed by the stream. Vikram finally stopped around three in the afternoon.

After putting away his iron axe, his forearms hung limply at his sides. And Vikram, covered in sweat, collapsed onto the ground to rest.

Five consecutive hours of chopping trees had completely exhausted his physical strength.

Actually, it wasn’t that his endurance was so good that he could work continuously for so long; it was purely because of the iron axe given by the system.

Although the description only said it improved tree-chopping efficiency, it not only increased his swinging speed but also reduced the effort required with each strike.

After five hours of work, the wood in his backpack had increased to 170 pieces, and stone to 23 pieces.

After resting for a while, Vikram stood up and wiped the sweat from his face.

Finally, before leaving, he stepped into the stream fully clothed, letting the cool stream wash over his body. Water droplets slid down his hair and skin, washing away his fatigue and smell.

The crisp stream water invigorated every pore, and Vikram closed his eyes, slowly enjoying his first cold shower in the Wasteland World.

Later, he emerged from the stream and stood by the bank. A gentle breeze brushed against his damp skin, bringing a hint of coolness and making him much more alert.

"I need to get back to the Treehouse before dark..."

Following his footprints back, Vikram saved a great deal of time on the return journey.

With a reference route, he felt much more relaxed than before, enjoying the gentle breeze brushing against his face as he walked.

The natural sounds around him—the rustling of leaves, the distant gurgling of the stream, and the occasional chirping of birds and insects—made the mountain feel almost peaceful.

From time to time, he checked the map to ensure he wasn’t straying off course, silently memorizing key landmarks along the way in preparation for future trips.

By six in the evening, the sky—already dim due to the dust—had completely darkened. At that moment, Vikram had just returned to his territory.

His clothes were mostly dry after the long walk back.

As he approached his Treehouse, something unusual caught his eye.

A rabbit was tightly entangled within the Spikevine. Its body was riddled with puncture wounds, and it had already bled to death.

Vikram blinked.

Then his eyes widened slightly.

"A free rabbit?"

For a moment, he almost couldn’t believe it.

He hadn’t even been here—and his plants had hunted for him.

A grin slowly spread across his face.

"This... this is the life."

He quickly stored the rabbit in his backpack before walking toward the Guardian Sprout.

The small plant guardian stood quietly near the Treehouse, its leafy body swaying faintly in the evening breeze.

Vikram reached out and gently patted it while opening its panel.

[Guardian Sprout (Blue)]

Status: Level 1

Growth Potential: High

Upgradeable: Yes

Plant Essence Generation: +12 per day

Guardian Combat Experience: 2

Upgrade Requirements:

• 150 Plant Essence

• Guardian Combat Experience ≥ 10

Note: Intelligence and autonomy increase upon evolution.

A semi-autonomous mobile defensive unit bound to Vikram.

Capabilities:

• Close-range vine lash attacks

• Shield-arm capable of blocking moderate physical strikes

• Territory-bound regeneration

Evaluation: You have finally acquired something capable of protecting your fragile life. Even this Guardian Sprout holds greater battlefield value than your former self.

Everything was the same as before—except for the additional line showing Combat Experience: 2.

"So you were working while I was away, huh?" He chuckled and gave it another gentle pat.

The Guardian Sprout’s leafy head tilted slightly, and one of its vine arms lifted a little before lowering again, as if responding to his praise.

Seeing this, Vikram felt even more satisfied.

At that moment, Pinku came trotting over to greet him.

Seeing her, Vikram smiled. "The bread is all gone. Tonight, I’m treating you to roast rabbit."

"Cluck, cluck!"

He wasn’t sure whether Pinku understood, but she looked delighted, rubbing against his pant leg twice.

With a light laugh, Vikram turned and stepped inside the Treehouse.