Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 277 The aftermath
P.S.: I'm experiencing writer's block, so the second update will be a little late. (Private message: Marseille)
Faced with Batman's blunt questioning, Ma Zhaodi sighed.

"Putting aside the attack by some mysterious force—Gotham doesn't need to worry about that in the short term—just tell me, will I still be able to find you tomorrow?"

"You need to talk to me."

“I do, but I really don’t want to talk about it in the middle of the night, it’s not good for my sleep schedule at all.” Ma Zhaodi muttered under his breath, “It’s about Africa—you know that tribe is always short of water and poor, right?”

Batman didn't speak. Of course, he had already checked this basic information. He just wanted to know what Ma Zhaodi was planning to do.

“It’s like this.” Ma Zhaodi paused, then said, “Do you have any way to change their situation—at least to prevent them from starving to death?”

“The Wayne Charitable Foundation already has donation projects for some of the poorest areas in the world,” the bat replied. “Unfortunately, that tribe is not among the poorest in Africa—thanks to the help of black magic, they die far fewer people than other tribes.”

Ma Zhaodi was speechless.

“Those tribes are everywhere in Africa, and the fate of that naturally arid land is not solely determined by Africans. It involves historical issues, the natural environment, and the local system is somewhat distorted. There is very little we can do. Aid is just a drop in the ocean. In fact, they have almost become aid-dependent. Local industries have been almost completely destroyed by material aid, and financial aid has been largely embezzled by corruption. It is already good enough if aid does not have a negative effect.”

“Alright,” Ma Zhaodi replied, “I guess this is a long-term project; changing the fate of a region often takes at least ten years.”

“You might be able to help a small tribe with money,” Batman replied, “but salvation can only be achieved by themselves—or by divine intervention.”

“Help in any way you can, and there’s no such thing as a small good deed. Besides, the Lord doesn’t care.” Ma Zhaodi commented sharply, “God doesn’t care anyway. You won’t be punished if you treat Him like a clay idol, and you won’t be rewarded if you worship Him.”

The bat gave Ma Zhaodi a deep look.

“You’ve said you’re an atheist,” he said. “But you also acknowledge that God exists.”

“My atheism means no ‘superstition’. I do good deeds because I ‘believe’ in God; I do good deeds because I want to do good deeds. I also do not say that God is false because I ‘believe’ in God. Since God exists, then He is real.”

As he spoke, Ma Zhaodi yawned: "Be realistic, be a good person, correct your mistakes, there is no unquestionable authority in the world - by the way, the courier service in Sudan is not very developed, can you do me a favor and send some things to that tribe?"

Batman frowned, then asked, "What is it?"

"Two large items won't take much effort; we can just hand them over to a local guide to take them over."

At dusk the following day, a truck carrying two sealed square items of goods arrived at the tribe.

As the driver drove into the village amidst wary stares, the old shaman emerged from his tent and spoke with the driver, which dispelled the hostility of most of the people.

"This was sent by that young Chinese man last time, right?" the withered old man said with a smile to the tour guide next to the driver. "Let's go on this trip."

"Get things done, make money," the tour guide said dryly. "Where did you put your things?"

"Just put it next to the tent."

After the driver and tour guide finished unloading the goods, the outer layers of the two cargoes were removed, and everyone stared at what was inside, speechless.

One is a peculiar square cactus, and the other is a square compost bin.

The two are remarkably similar, both exhibiting a regular cube shape, especially the square cactus, which looks almost fake.

"A letter for you."

The tour guide handed an envelope to the old shaman, who opened it to find instructions written in Arabic and English on both sides—a thoughtful touch. "Namos has been dealt with; do not worry."

The cactus is a special variety, growing up to three meters tall and as short as one meter. It takes about two and a half to five hours to grow one meter. It does not need water and can only be planted in sand. When planting, you can cut a whole cubic meter of it. It will not take root when it lands, but it will indeed grow.

Don't eat it; it won't fill you up. But you can juice it—warning: after drinking cactus juice, your tongue might turn a little green, so be careful.

Next to it is a magic compost bin. Put cacti in it, and if you put in enough, they will immediately turn into magic fertilizer—although it looks a lot like ashes or powder, it is indeed fertilizer, so don't inhale it.

It can help you accelerate plant growth in barren land, very quickly, turning a sapling into a ten-year-old tree in half a minute. However, it cannot accelerate the growth of cacti, so don't expect it to be a closed loop.

You can plant cacti anywhere, but be careful when using the compost bin, lest someone finds out—hopefully you don't run into another Namo.

—by a kind passerby

【cactus
Price: $1,000

Note: What, you don't like cacti? Then go find another plant that doesn't require arable land or water.

compost bin
Price: $10,000

Note: Sorry, I'm not just any compost bin; I don't eat vegetable leaves from other worlds—I can only make fertilizer from plants in Minecraft.

Ma Zhaodi had already started thinking about how to deal with the situation in Sudan while on the plane, but in reality, he couldn't come up with a good solution no matter how much he thought about it. It wasn't until he received Bruce's answer last night that he decided to look for a solution in another world.

There weren't many cost-effective options, and after careful consideration, we finally settled on a combination of cacti and compost bins. Both are items from "Minecraft," and cacti are beneficial for large-scale greening and water acquisition; as long as someone keeps planting them, they can continue to expand.

As for compost bins, they cannot be scaled up, but they can ensure that people in the tribe do not starve.

If possible, Ma Zhaodi actually wanted to buy two buckets of water to create "infinite water," but the system clearly indicated that infinite water is one of the underlying settings of the Minecraft world, and it is very important; it cannot work in this world.

After finishing this task, Ma Zhaodi felt relieved and went to the supermarket to buy a lot of snacks.

"Dong dong dong."

"Who?"

"I."

"Huh? Old Ma?"

Inside the classroom, Jason, who was teaching the children, put down his wrench and ran to open the door. Outside the door was Ma Zhaodi, carrying large and small bags.

"My God!" Jason exclaimed in surprise, "You were only gone for a few days, and then you came back?"

"Ha, a few days is a long time. I even went and killed a demon."

"Keep bragging."

(End of this chapter)