He hadn't been entirely certain before about where exactly the cheat system he possessed came from.
But this time, after getting the Island-level Ark from "ARK: Survival Evolved" out of the blind box, Shi Xiaolei finally reached a conclusion in his heart, realizing the fact that "the faulty hard drive had become the system."
It wasn't just because that hard drive had the sandbox survival game "ARK: Survival Evolved" installed on it; the key was that inside the Ark that came out of the blind box, there were two artificially built survival bases.
Although much time had passed, Shi Xiaolei recognized at a glance that those two survival bases, one large and one small, were precisely the assets he had spent considerable time accumulating when he played the game before.
With a heart full of anticipation, he endured the remaining time like a torment.
After returning home with 2B and Kanna, eating, drinking, washing up, and lulling the little girl to sleep, Shi Xiaolei finally found a gap to sneak into the Ark interior.
Worried that the Ark would be discovered by satellites if it materialized in the real world, thereby bringing unnecessary trouble, and also afraid that something so precious might be damaged by meteors drifting in space, Shi Xiaolei didn't extract it into the real world, but chose to place it in a dimensional layer with a concept similar to a mirror dimension.
The thing he was most concerned about was whether it could function normally after being extracted, so Shi Xiaolei didn't directly enter the "map" but first went to the control center that would only be seen after completing the game—just like the two survival bases on the map, the Ark recorded all the data Shi Xiaolei had previously left.
As a player who had completed the game, Shi Xiaolei had effectively become the master of this Ark, and it was because of this identity that he could teleport directly to the control center.
In other words, if it were a brand new Ark, or if he had carelessly deleted the save file, he would have to collect all the artifacts again as in the game and defeat the final boss to get here.
Following the science fiction-filled corridor, he arrived at the hall at the end.
At the high-tech-looking control panel, intuitively pressing a few buttons, Shi Xiaolei quickly confirmed the operational status of the Ark.
"Huh?"
Seeing the data presented in the form, Shi Xiaolei couldn't help but show a surprised expression.
Because there were no meteors or shooting stars in the dimensional layer, the Ark couldn't capture these external substances to decompose and accumulate resources, so columns such as refreshing surface resources, cloning organisms, and dropping supplies all had red exclamation marks next to them.
However, conversely, because the dimensional layer was filled with various energy rays of intensity far exceeding the real world, the energy harvested using a function similar to solar energy conversion was far above normal levels.
'So much energy with nowhere to use it, just lacking materials...'
After pondering for a moment, Shi Xiaolei excitedly clenched his fist and began to dance with joy.
Materials were the simplest problem to solve.
Something that could decompose meteors floating in space into basic elements and then recombine them into various organisms and resources.
One could tell with their toes how non-picky this thing was.
With the backing of such a large Earth, and with the personal space obtained after activating the Barbarian bloodline as a transport carrier, given Shi Xiaolei current situation, would he be afraid of not being able to supply enough resources for the Ark?
Indeed, in less than half a minute of thinking, he had already worked out several ideas.
Purchasing raw ore from mining companies, cooperating with construction material companies to buy sand and stones, etc, these were methods that would cost money;
Going to the great deserts of Africa to collect sand, going to the sea to collect seawater, going to uninhabited wilderness to collect stones—these were methods that wouldn't cost money;
There were even ways to make money.
For example, registering a construction waste processing company, collecting service fees while utilizing the returned construction waste.
If he wasn't squeamish, he could even set up a garbage processing plant and bring back other types of waste as well.
After all, with the Ark decomposition capabilities, there was no difference between household garbage and construction waste.
Having thought of solutions, looking again at those bright red exclamation marks, Shi Xiaolei didn't feel troubled at all; instead, he found them more and more endearing.
With this pleasant mood, Shi Xiaolei left the control center and arrived at the green obelisk closest to the "late-game base" via the teleportation array.
In the high-oxygen air capable of supporting large dinosaurs, there wasn't a trace of pollution.
After a few gentle breaths, his body felt much lighter.
Tall trees grew all around, and he could faintly hear the calls of dinosaurs.
This primitive and rugged charm also left him unable to calm down for a long time.
Raising his hand to look up, the tall green obelisk floated above his head.
The blue sky and white clouds simulated by the full-circle shield looked just like the real thing, not at all like the pitch-black and infinitely deep view he had seen earlier through the porthole in the control center.
Leaving the metal platform, a slightly soft feeling came from under his feet—that was the soil formed from the accumulation and decomposition of fallen leaves.
Standing in place, he activated the memories from when he played the game.
After a moment, Shi Xiaolei recalled the path and determined which direction his home was in.
Taking out the only two pieces of equipment that increased running speed and putting them on, taking out two wooden clubs, hitting an innocent passing Parasaur a couple of times to activate the "Frenzy" effect, first letting out a "Wild Howl" to scare away nearby carnivorous dinosaurs, then shouting again to give himself a "Combat Stance" buff to enhance endurance.
It sounds complicated, but it really only took a few seconds.
Rushing out like a whirlwind, in the blink of an eye, Shi Xiaolei had already run several hundred meters.
In the game, each map varied in size.
Taking the "Island" map as an example, the officially announced data was only about 40 square kilometers.
Calculated from south to north and east to west, that's just over 6 kilometers on each side.
And the Ark that came out of the blind box was obviously more than just that small.
Having materialized into a physical object, it had to conform to physical rules.
Perhaps as a change to satisfy this condition, not only had the map changed from square to circular, but the area had also expanded from less than 40 square kilometers in the game to nearly a thousand square kilometers.
Even with Shi Xiaolei buff-enhanced running speed, it still took him a full two hours.
However, upon seeing the base he had built in the game again, any resentment in his heart immediately vanished without a trace.
And the fatigue from the long journey was instantly forgotten.
Well, the rough stone houses didn't really have that much appeal; what truly excited him were the few pet dinosaurs that had survived after he completed the game.
"Yo~! Long time no see, Big White!"
Raising his arm, he stroked the albino T-Rex chin.
Feeling the hot air exhaled from its nostrils, Shi Xiaolei didn't mind the strong fishy odor at all; instead, he smiled with great satisfaction.
"Roar~."
Affectionately nudging Shi Xiaolei with its nose, the enormous T-Rex, surprisingly like a puppy, wagged its tail excitedly and energetically.
"Hahahahahaha! Good child, good child~."
(T/N: Like the story fellow daoist?you can read 20 chapters ahead on my P@treon [[email protected]/DaoistRongyi] Thanks for your support! 😊)