I became a farmer in the apocalypse.

It seems the system paid for the garbage collection, not her, and the garbage disappeared after being thrown in, no one knew where the system put it.

Since the garbage doesn't belong to her, it's reasonable that she shouldn't pay for its recycling. As the owner of the machine, she should earn a certain profit. This setup is somewhat like a pre-apocalyptic vending machine, except one sells and the other recycles.

Open the task panel:

Please recycle 1000 catties of garbage! (134/1000)

The progress has reached 13.4%.

Jiang Li couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

When she first received this task, she thought the system wanted her to collect the garbage herself.

Since the recycling is done by machine, it makes perfect sense.

Unnoticed by anyone, Lin An's gaze as he looked at the machine shifted from initial confusion to shock, and finally to excitement.

She left in a flash.

"Where's Captain Lin?" Jiang Yan turned around and found that no one was there.

Jiang Li: "I don't know, it was just here a moment ago."

Lin An always came and went without a trace, and Jiang Li had gotten used to it.

Having learned how to use the [garbage recycling machine], Jiang Li went to the [fertilizer conversion machine].

[Fertilizer Converter (Level 0): Currently upgradable. Upgrading will increase the fertilizer conversion rate to 6%. Upgrading requires 1000 points.]

Jiang Li decisively chose to upgrade.

A cloud of mist instantly rose around the machine.

After the fog dissipated, the machine looked no different from before. I don't know what was different, but the conversion rate increased by 1 point.

The resource reward box and tractor can also be upgraded.

Jiang Li spent 5000 points to upgrade the box, and the upgraded box's volume became 5m³.

Tractors can also be upgraded. Upgraded tractors will have reinforced doors and windows, and their speed will be further increased, reaching up to 80 kilometers per hour.

Upgrading requires 20 points.

Jiang Li: "..."

Then forget it.

No money.

She only had less than 50,000 points to begin with, and upgrading two things cost her another 6000 points. Plus, she still had many other things to build: a lawn fountain, a guesthouse, a fruit and vegetable shop…

Jiang Li let out a long sigh!

No Money!

Where can we get the money?

Jiang Li couldn't help but fix her gaze on the [garbage recycling machine].

Is it...

Is picking up trash the only right path?

Although she, as the owner, cannot use the device herself, she can use it under Jiang Yan's name.

"I'm back from collecting trash!"

Just as Jiang Li was thinking this, a voice suddenly came from not far away. It was Lin An returning.

She was carrying a large cloth bag, which was bulging with contents.

I poured it out and took a look.

It's a mutated kiwi.

A whole bag full.

"Where are you from?" Jiang Li asked.

Lin An: "A few days ago, Zhou Yang and his team found some kiwi trees while clearing land. They're not far from the military camp, and they have so many kiwis on them!"

It looked quite pleasing, so I didn't cut it down. Anyway, I wouldn't get anything from cutting it down, so I just let it grow.

I never thought I could exchange trash for money.

Lin An couldn't wait to throw all the kiwis into the recycling machine, and also picked some colorful berries from the roadside bushes and threw them in as well.

A notification appears on the screen.

[Mutant kiwi fruit: 67 jin (approximately 38.5 catties)]

[Mutant berries: 12 jin]

Total buyback value: 113 points

The unit price of the fruit seems to be higher than that of the mutated potato.

"Great! I can really exchange trash for points!" Lin An looked at the points that had been credited to his account. He had actually earned 113 points from the trash he had collected in just one hour!

"There's trash everywhere outside," Lin An said. "Those fruit trees have mutated and completely defied the natural growth cycle. They're lush all year round, and the fruit is so much bigger than it was before the apocalypse. If we could collect them all, we could get a lot of points!"

Lin An has discovered a way to make money!

Jiang Li looked at the machine, lost in thought.

She really wanted to go pick up trash too.

"Sis, I'm going to pick up trash too!" Jiang Yan was envious when he saw Lin An earn over a hundred points, so he hurriedly grabbed a snakeskin bag and ran off.

Lin An also ran away and went to pick up trash again.

Jiang Li: "?"

No, you've all gone to collect trash, so who's going to help me with the work?

She was truly at her wit's end. Was this machine even meant to be used like this?

Jiang Li looked at Jiang Tang, "You're not going to go pick up trash too, are you?"

Jiang Tang chuckled, "How could that be?"

She could still distinguish between what was important and what was not. Selling vegetables was much more profitable than picking up trash. Jiang Yan was blinded by the petty gain of 100 points because he had never made a lot of money before.

"However, Xiao Li, if you put this machine in the safe zone, it will be an opportunity for many people to earn points. I think quite a few people will try to pick up trash and put it in there."

Jiang Li shook her head. "This machine is welded to the farm floor and cannot be moved."

Jiang Li tried to dig around the machine with a shovel, but it seemed to be blocked by some mysterious force, and she couldn't budge the machine at all.

This is probably a protection mechanism designed by the system for some reason. In short, even if someone wanted to steal this machine, they couldn't.

The system's intention is clear: this machine can only be used on the farm.

Lin An and Jiang Yan picked up some more trash in batches, and Jiang Li earned more than 40 points while lying down.

Actually, making money while lying down isn't bad, it's just that the number is too small. If there were more people collecting garbage, this machine could provide her with a stable income.

Jiang Tang suggested, "If people from the alley come to buy discounted potatoes tomorrow, you can ask them if they'd be willing to pick up trash. I've heard that people from the alley make a living by scavenging, so they'd be happy to do so if there's a good opportunity."

Jiang Tang thought of the children who came to buy potatoes today. They were wearing tattered clothes, covered in dirt, and starving.

"Those children look so pitiful. Seeing them reminds me of when we were kids."

It's easy to imagine how difficult it would be for a child without parents to survive in the apocalypse.

Jiang Li knew that the original owner's parents had died a long time ago, and that they had died while they were out looking for food.

"Xiao Li, there's something I've been keeping from you." Jiang Tang sighed.

Jiang Li paused, "What is it?"

Jiang Tang hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually... our parents aren't dead, they just abandoned us."

Jiang Li: "?"

Jiang Tang then slowly recounted what happened back then:

"In the first year of the apocalypse, we fled to the Ninth Base and stayed with my third uncle's family. But the Ninth Base wasn't like it is now. Back then, there wasn't even a high wall. It was just a piece of land temporarily fenced off by the military to house the survivors."

The biggest problem we faced at the time was food.

The first year's red rain was the heaviest, polluting 95 percent of the plants on Earth, rendering many things inedible.

Upon arriving at the Ninth Base, and with no food being distributed by the authorities, many people had no choice but to find ways to go out and find food.

Their parents, Jiang Wucheng and Lu Wanrong, put them to sleep one night, saying that they would go find food after they fell asleep.

That night, Jiang Li and Jiang Yan fell asleep.

But Jiang Tang did not fall asleep.

She could clearly hear the sounds of packing coming from the next room, as well as the conversation between Jiang Wucheng and Lu Wanrong.

"Honey, are we really leaving?"