As the black mist gradually dissipated, Fang Mo finally returned to the MC world after a long absence.
"It's finally over..."
Back in his own world, Fang Mo couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. As he relaxed, he suddenly felt a wave of fatigue wash over him.
It felt like returning home after working overtime. During overtime, he felt nothing, but the moment he opened the door to his home, he just wanted to lie down on the spot.
"No, now is not the time to lie down..."
Shaking his head vigorously to dispel the fatigue from his mind, Fang Mo started looking around for his partner's location, determined to fulfill a promise before doing anything else.
After all, according to the game, even after work, there were still options...
For example, taking a bath, eating, or figuring out ways to help increase the Earth's birth rate.
As a model young man, Fang Mo naturally chose the latter, as it was a great contribution to humanity, and he felt it was his duty.
However, after a brief search, Fang Mo did not find any trace of Xiao Yao.
Instead, on the western platform, he saw Alex busily working away... and he also noticed the various astonishing changes on the platform. Some areas had changed so much that Fang Mo could barely recognize them.
If, before Fang Mo went to the One Punch dungeon, this place was just starting to take shape, now the entire western side of the platform had turned into a modern industrial base, so advanced that even Fang Mo couldn't understand it all.
The rubber sugarcane farm was now fully automated.
Automatic harvesters were placed above the fields, continuously collecting the sticky resin below, which was then transported via pipelines to nearby centrifuges, centrifuged into rubber, and stored in a centralized warehouse.
Several automated farms had also been set up in the forestry area.
Upon closer inspection, Fang Mo found that in addition to the wood-processing farm, there was also a farm specifically for growing cotton.
The cotton was harvested, transported, and then fed into the thermal expansion auto-crafting table, where it was spun into yarn, mass-produced into wool, and finally, using dyes and advanced solar-powered molecular machines, converted into materials like redstone, lapis lazuli, and glowstone.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yao had arranged numerous machines on the ground, utilizing different modules.
These included thermal expansion resonant upgrade machines, ultra-high voltage overclocked machines from the industrial era, and even more electrical devices, storage units, and machines from Tech Reborn and GregTech.
All these machines were placed in separate areas but interconnected in a way that was both simple and elegant, yet extremely precise and practical.
Fang Mo watched Alex wander between these areas, inserting materials into various machines as if by magic, then crafting and producing a variety of industrial materials or some blocks Fang Mo didn't even recognize.
"Emmm..."
Seeing this dizzying scene, Fang Mo fell into deep thought.
Even as Fang Mo remained silent, Alex continued working without pause.
After making a round in the industrial area, Alex quickly finished what she was working on and then disappeared with a BACK command.
"Hmm?"
Fang Mo was taken aback but quickly recovered and checked his minimap.
According to the map, Alex hadn't gone far; her icon was still nearby. Fang Mo instinctively looked up.
What he saw stunned him.
"Whoa!?"
The sight that shocked Fang Mo was none other than the generators from the industrial era—or more accurately, wind kinetic generators.
He recalled that his partner had explained their principle to him: first, make a rotor and insert it into the machine to generate kinetic energy, then transfer that energy to the kinetic generator to produce electricity, which was then collected via cables and fed into a storage unit to power the entire grid—quite a hassle.
There was also a mini version of this device, which Fang Mo remembered was called a wind turbine.
However, that was from an earlier version of the industrial era mod, when it was much simpler. You could just place the wind turbine in the sky, and it would generate electricity automatically around the clock.
But that device had a very low power output.
The wind kinetic generator, although requiring rotors and pairing with a kinetic generator, had a significant power output. Typically, a few of these could suffice for most players' early to mid-game needs.
However, the issue was...
Xiao Yao was not like most players.
Fang Mo counted and found at least eight sets of wind kinetic generators in the sky, all linked by iron cables, supplying power to three molecular machines.
The entire area above the industrial zone was filled with these generators. Looking up, one could see countless carbon fiber blades spinning madly, creating a somewhat surreal and bizarre sight.
In Fang Mo's mind, he could even hear the tune "The windmill is spinning slowly."
Despite all this, Alex continued to expand the setup.
"Wait, stop for a moment…"
Seeing this scene, Fang Mo couldn't help himself and directly started shouting at his partner on the public screen, "You haven't been grinding this whole time, have you?"
"...What else?"
Soon, Xiao Yao responded.
Alex stopped what she was doing, looked down at Fang Mo on the platform below, and said, "Your technology modules are too outdated. Of course, I have to help you grind. Besides, why did you bring me over if you didn't expect me to help?"
"But now, I have no idea what to do," Fang Mo said, spreading his hands in exasperation.
"...You're just clueless."
"You."
Hearing this, Xiao Yao was clearly at a loss for words.
However, Fang Mo looked up with sincere anticipation at Alex, "You promised me this before. We're all adults here; you can't just go back on your word..."
"Well... alright then."
After a moment of silence, Xiao Yao seemed to make a decision.
Alex suddenly jumped down, landing back on the industrial platform. Facing Fang Mo, she began switching items in her hands.
"?"
Seeing this, Fang Mo was a bit puzzled by her actions.
"Alright."
Soon, Alex seemed to have made her selection and threw a few tools to Fang Mo, "Go out and look for ore veins first. If you find them, I'll agree to that thing."
"Damn, just some ore veins!"
Hearing this, Fang Mo got excited, "If I can't find any ore veins today, I'll use my pickaxe to drill through the bedrock for you... you just watch!"
"I need bauxite, iron, gold, uranium, lapis lazuli, nickel, lead, and platinum."
Hearing Fang Mo's agreement, Xiao Yao listed her requirements, "Just find the ore veins; I can handle the excavation, logistics, and ore processing myself."
"Got it!"
Fang Mo snapped his fingers.
Then, Steve appeared as if conjured from thin air.
After Steve appeared, Fang Mo had him clear out his backpack, then grabbed the wrench, resonant energy cell, and thermal expansion drill Xiao Yao had given him, and set off on his map exploration journey.
As for finding immersive ore veins, this wasn't Fang Mo's first time doing it.
Back when he and Xiao Yao were having fun on the server, he often went out to find these things for her.
Although Fang Mo was known as a top-tier miner on the server, with some ores being quite hard to find—like industrial uranium ore, which was scarce and consumed in large quantities—finding ore veins was indeed more convenient.
There wasn't much technical skill involved in finding ore veins.
Basically, you just place the drill on the ground, put an energy cell next to it to power it, right-click to start the machine, and wait to see if the chunk contains any ore veins.
With a thought, Fang Mo had Steve automatically search for ore veins.
In the meantime, Fang Mo took the opportunity to inspect his platform.
He couldn't help but notice that his partner had been very busy. After a quick tour, he found that not only had the industrial area changed significantly, but other areas had as well.
The most noticeable changes were probably in the livestock area and the kitchen.
First, there's the livestock area, situated on the interlaced platforms between the entire livestock and planting areas, with several Pam's Harvestcraft trade blocks added.
Fang Mo casually clicked open one to take a look and found that it contained various trade-related items. Not only could you use emeralds to buy various seeds, monster eggs, queens, and the like, but you could also sell agricultural products to exchange back for emeralds.
This meant that Fang Mo could have an infinite supply of emeralds to spend without exploiting the villagers.
After all, he possessed the unbreakable phosphorite sickle, which could infinitely accelerate the growth and harvest of crops, then mindlessly exchange these crops for emeralds.
However, aside from this trade platform, Fang Mo seemed to notice something strange at the distant cow shed.
When he walked closer, Fang Mo was stunned to find that the cows were locked into machines, with a large tube directly attached to their rears. Accompanied by a series of popping fart sounds, the machines were flashing intermittently.
"What... what is this?"
Fang Mo was dumbfounded at the sight. What kind of new method of cow abuse was this?
"Oh, you're talking about that."
From a distance, Alex glanced over, apparently seeing what Fang Mo was asking about. She explained straightforwardly in the public chat: "This is a fart-powered generator that collects methane from cow farts to generate electricity. It's quite efficient..."
"Ah???"
Fang Mo was momentarily speechless upon hearing this: "What kind of hellish mod is this?"
"You unlocked the mod yourself, and you're asking me?"
However, facing Fang Mo's questioning, Xiao Yao retorted without mercy: "How would I know what you've been doing?"
"Uh, I did unlock it."
Upon hearing this, Fang Mo scratched his head instinctively: "Then it's fine..."
Yes, Fang Mo remembered that he had indeed unlocked this mod himself, but it was so long ago that he had forgotten. It seemed to be unlocked when he first entered the House of Evolution.
Of course, this was understandable.
After all, Fang Mo had unlocked too many mods this time.
If he remembered correctly, since arriving in this world, starting with the Combat Tower... he had unlocked more than ten mods just in the House of Evolution. As for the ones after that, Fang Mo honestly couldn't keep track; there were just too many.
"Hmm?"
Thinking of this, Fang Mo felt a slight urge to check.
By consulting the configuration files, he checked his mod count.
The result was astonishing. He had unlocked a total of twenty-six mods.
Considering that the Meteorite Mod was unlocked as two simultaneously, he actually unlocked twenty-seven mods, but due to mod fusion, it appeared as one less.
The twenty-six mods were... Combat Tower, Land of Chaos, Large Tank, Advanced Generator, Forestry Bees Query, Adventure Dungeon, Forestry Bees and Technological Revival Link, Potted Plants, Rapid Leaf Decay, Abyssal Realm Heads, More Heads, Biological Display Bottles, Fart Power Generator, More Boxes, Double Meteorite, Drugging, Iron Fist Steve, Overeating, Health Bars, Construction, Box Mover, Railway, Immersive Petroleum, Large Veins, Ender Storage, Industrial Era Reactor Turbine Expansion.
(TL: TL might screw the Name of mods but eh)
"Hiss..."
Seeing this mod count, Fang Mo couldn't help but gasp.
"What's the matter?"
Alex glanced up at Fang Mo from a distance.
"Whoa, I actually unlocked twenty-six mods," Fang Mo scratched his head and said in the public chat to Xiao Yao: "No way... have I really stayed in the One Punch World for that long?"
"Long?"
However, Xiao Yao's tone was rather calm: "I didn't feel anything."
"My head hurts."
Fang Mo immediately held his forehead: "No wonder it felt so weird when I left... was it because I stayed too long?"
"If you think it's long, then make it shorter next time."
Xiao Yao retorted grumpily. Alex, who had started expanding the wind power array, seemed a bit lazy to respond further.
Fang Mo shrugged and didn't retort back.
After all, he had learned a truth: a real man doesn't just use words to argue. Let the little thing be arrogant for now; there will be tears later.
With this mindset, Fang Mo leisurely toured his platform, observing every subtle change.
After finishing his tour, he sat on the ground watching Alex work and build machines. Soon, a few days passed, and Steve finally brought good news.
The veins were found.
~~~
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