Kneading all 300kg of flour to make pancakes did not take much energy, but it was time-consuming.

He worked all the way from morning till afternoon, rushing to complete them before evening, before finally managing to fry all of the pancakes.

With not enough space on the chopping board to place them, Su Mo simply made a large food cabinet out of some wood and placed it in the kitchen to keep the finished pancakes. 

The heavy scent of bread permeated the air in the shelter's three stories. Looking at the final batch of hot pancakes, Su Mo's appetite was aroused even though he had already eaten.

"Oreo, Big Spark and Little Spark, you've all already finished your share for today. No stealing some at night!"

Seeing Su Mo's gaze sweep over, Oreo raised her doggy head nonchalantly, looking cute and dumb.

At this point, out of all the items he had prepared for trading, there were only sixty pieces of iron left that he had not yet used up.

Frying the pancakes was not a task that used up a lot of energy so, sitting at the workbench, Su Mo quickly entered a state of full concentration.

When he first started out, his movements were clunky and clumsy, but now, the moment he sat down, there was a hint of a "master's" aura around him.

He did not just rely on what he learned from correcting errors on the LCD TV, but also put in his heart and soul into crafting each tool by hand.

Anything worth doing should be done well.

This was Su Mo's motto in life, especially when it came to something that was important to him.

Of course, effort would always be accompanied by rewards, and the quality of the tools he crafted from the remaining sixty pieces of iron increased as he became more and more skilled.

Towards the end, the last four to five pieces were able to be crafted into excellent quality tools with different properties.

As long as a human held such a tool, they could instantly double or even triple their productivity! 

The increase in productivity would ensure that the human race would be able to completely equal the development rate of the mythical races, until the release of firearm technology would thoroughly break the balance.

"Now more and more people in the World Channel are getting their hands on guns. This proves that creating firearms isn't a difficult thing."

"What's difficult is… large-scale ammunition production!"

After two consecutive days of high-intensity work producing tools, Su Mo was able to spare some thought toward considering some of the problems during some unimportant processes towards the end.

Having gone through the large-scale production of the iron axes and pickaxes, the limitations of handcrafting tools became that much more obvious.

Based on this rate of efficiency, even Su Mo took over eight hours every day in order to create these tools.

Leaving out the usage of energy and raw materials and speaking on the factor of quantity alone, at best, him being able to sell up to a thousand tools during a disaster would already be his peak performance.

However, how many humans are currently on the wasteland?

It was at least four billion people!

Being able to sell a few thousand tools in three disasters might seem like a lot but, in reality, it was much too insignificant when the denominator was a hundred million people.

Under the same circumstances, firearms were like that as well.

In just over ten days, some people had already created all sorts of firearms using tools and their own crafting skills. There were even a few handcrafted AK-47s still on sale in the market.

Unfortunately, these firearms that seemed so powerful were not a hot purchase at all. Even long knives were selling better than firearms.

The reason was that there was no ammunition and maintenance support available.

The stability of these handcrafted firearms was poor, and there was a lack of ammunition too. Other than being able to deter other people, buying it would be a stupid decision in the eyes of the others. 

"I'm afraid Magoo must have encountered this dilemma at that time. Towards the end, the ones who could afford guns had already established their own firearm and ammunition production lines.

"Those who couldn't afford guns were either eliminated straightaway as the intensity of the disasters increased, or they found other methods and tools to replace firearms."

As he thought carefully about his future development route, the last iron pickaxe was completed with some clattering and beating.

200 iron tools: 100 iron axes, and 100 iron pickaxes took him over 20 hours of work to produce.

Among that, 22 of the iron axes and 14 of the iron pickaxes were of excellent quality. They emitted a faint glow that was completely different from that of the good-quality tools. 

Seeing the fruits of his efforts, he finally felt a trace of comfort after the exhaustion he had suffered over the past few days.

In the future, as times progressed, this primitive method of tool creation would definitely be phased out, and more handcrafted "unique" tools would dominate the market.

Only by having a mass production assembly line would one be able to completely monopolize the consumer market from top to bottom.

"So if I wanted to select technology tree options, I should prioritize energy and automation?" 

Opening the game panel's diary for recording supplies, Su Mo kept considering and reconsidering before finally deciding to enter the two into the diary.

This approach was indeed a little extreme and was full of uncertainty toward the future.

Putting most of his survival points into the development of these two technology trees would inevitably reduce the amount that he could spend on combat abilities and other areas.

He would be quite hindered if he were to face a strong opponent like this.

"Forget about it, I'm not going to think anymore. In the early days while my combat abilities are still on the backburner, I'll create a monopoly through my development speed. I'll rely on these to take the lead and expand my advantage. If things proceed like this, I might be able to stay a few steps ahead of everyone else."

If he could not figure it out, then he would rather not think about it at all. After entering all his thoughts into the diary, Su Mo simply stood up and left the workbench.

Lighting up the wood beneath the stove, he heated up two large buckets of water and, on the second last night before the next doomsday disaster, Su Mo once again took a soothing, hot bath before drifting off to sleep in his bed.

No matter how much the humans on the wasteland opposed the arrival of this day, time would not stop for anyone's will.

After midnight, the format of the timer on the game panel changed, turning into a 24-hour countdown.

On this night, some people went wild, some people were surprised, and some people were in despair.

However, in general, most people were still excited about the upcoming opening of the secret trading realm, as they spent their last "calm" night riddled with anxiety.

There was no cold wind and no snowfall. Were it not for the blood-red countdown, no one would have thought that a disaster would be imminent on this starless, moonlit night. 

By the time the first ray of sun fell, countless humans on the wasteland woke up early and took the initiative to wait outside their shelters, waiting for the opening of the secret realm.

Even Su Mo was no exception.

Around 5am, before the sky lit up, Su Mo had already awoken to the sound of the old phone's alarm.

After washing up and having a simple breakfast, Su Mo sat outside the garage gate as he waited for the arrival of the secret realm.

The last few times, he had entered secret realms, which were ruins, he had entered ones that had already been formed, so he had never seen for himself how secret realms were formed.

This time, he got up early in order to witness this "miraculous" moment.

The clock was still moving forward without stopping. He waited until 7, and then 8. When the system's prompt sounded and faded away, the secret realm had still not appeared.

He observed the chatbox as he looked around the outside world. Just as Su Mo was checking back and forth between them, the vigilant Oreo started barking at the side.

The mysterious scene had appeared!

Over the horizon, a golden light that looked exactly like the light that had burst forth while relocating the shelter suddenly appeared.

The golden light looked like it brought with it an unparalleled power, seemingly slow, but in fact fast.

At the same time, a prompt sounded in all of the players' ears.

[Record]: It has been detected that the time of disaster has arrived. The secret trading realm will soon be opening. All players should prepare themselves.

[Record]: The rules of the secret realm have already been sent to the notice board on all players' game panels. Please check it out yourselves! 

Just like all the other players, after listening to the system's prompt, Su Mo immediately opened the game panel to check, without any hesitation.

The new notice was very unique. It floated directly above the game panel, making it extremely eye-catching.

He tried tapping it, and a wavy, flashing, green curtain of light popped out.

[Disaster Benefit - Secret Trading Realm (Wood Grade)]

[1. This time's disaster benefit is wood grade. Trigger method unknown. All players should try to trigger it and fight for more benefits for the "human" clan.]

[2. Any force or violence in the secret trading realm is forbidden. Any forced buying or selling is prohibited. Any behavior forcing others against their will is prohibited. The game does not discriminate between players. Once noticed, the player will be automatically sent into the secret judgment realm. The rules violated will be verified, and the player will be obliterated.]

[3. Entry time based on a 24-hour system: 09:00 to 15:00, a total of 6 hours. There is no limit to the number of entries during the period that the secret realm is open. Unlimited entries and exits are permitted.]

[4. Do not damage the goods of others in the secret trading realm. Once discovered, the method to deal with this will be according to item no. 2]

[5. The jurisdiction of the secret trading realm in each region will be issued by the game. The owner of these rights will be the one possessing the highest comprehensive strength in the secret realm.]

[6. The above rules do not represent the entirety of the rules of the secret realm. Do not act recklessly. All rights to interpretation are held by the game.]

The six scattered secret trading realm announcements had basically already clarified all of the rules.

Aside from item no. 2 "Obliteration" looking a little scary, the other items were all for the protection of the wasteland humans.

"No entry limits, a set time, and the freedom to buy and sell is protected. It seems that this really is a benefit to humans!"

With a slight sigh, Su Mo noticed a glowing mark at the bottom.

"Manage?

"Does this mean I'm the strongest in my regional channel now?"

Even if he was 100% confident in his own abilities, seeing the confirmation of the game, Su More still could not help but feel a sliver of happiness.

Focusing his thoughts, when his phantom fingers tapped on the 'manage' button, and everything suddenly turned dark before him.

A foreign yet familiar world gradually appeared...