Chapter 377 - 163: Photovoltaic Panels (First Update)
After the mysterious reward on February 2, 1662, by May 3, Chen Zhou had received six more rewards.
Among these six reward items, some were quite useful, which alleviated his immediate needs.
For instance, the reward delivered on April 18—
A full 200 kilograms of bundled A4 paper, estimated to be over thirty-five thousand sheets.
These sheets completely solved the island’s paper shortage, even if Chen Zhou drew three design sketches every day, such a massive supply of A4 paper would last him until the challenge ended.
Of course, Chen Zhou is not stingy; he knew it would be hard for him to use up all this paper and had long figured out its purpose.
Once Sunday mastered sketching techniques, he rewarded this art-loving young man with some paper, allowing Sunday to better develop his talent.
In this way, it would not let down Sunday’s efforts.
And the reward delivered on May 3—
Six thermos flasks.
They allowed Chen Zhou to enjoy hot water and tea anytime, and not only could these flasks store hot water, but also ice, a divine artifact on a scorching island.
...
Compared to these two rewards, the other four each had their advantages and disadvantages.
The most special among them was undoubtedly the two solar photovoltaic panels delivered on March 19, the sixtieth mysterious reward.
These two photovoltaic panels were sizeable, each measuring 2m*1m, with a single panel weighing close to 20 kilograms.
According to the accompanying introduction with the photovoltaic panels, each panel had a power of 36V350W, an open-circuit voltage of 43V, an operating current of 9.7A, and a short-circuit current of 10.2A.
Generally speaking, with a 30A controller, these two photovoltaic panels could power appliances below 500W without issue.
If assessing potential value, these two photovoltaic panels should be the most promising reward, after all, they could leap Chen Zhou straight from the Iron Age to the Electric Age.
However, just having photovoltaic panels, without batteries, inverters, or electrical appliances requiring electricity, no matter how much Chen Zhou longed to use electricity, it was to no avail.
Photovoltaic panels are merely devices that convert solar energy into electrical energy; they themselves cannot store energy.
Before obtaining other supporting facilities, these two photovoltaic panels could only serve as the most extravagant decorations, stored in the storeroom.
...
Although the solar panels were currently unusable, every day while walking in the cave dwelling, seeing the two large black panels, Chen Zhou often reminisced about modern life with water, electricity, and internet.
However, whenever he thought about the complete set of facilities needed for the photovoltaic panels, including inverters, batteries, cables, connectors, distribution boxes, and protectors, his heart felt like it had been drenched with a bucket of cold water, chilled to the bone.
Who knows when the mysterious rewards will complete this set.
If luck is not on his side, he might never use electricity until the challenge ends.
Even worse, he might finally acquire all the supporting facilities, yet lack any electrical appliances to use.
Considering the Space-Time Administration Bureau’s consistent style, Chen Zhou guessed that these two photovoltaic panels might be some kind of sadistic prank, specially designed to torment him.
To reduce the impact of reminiscing about modern life and focus on reality, Chen Zhou eventually covered the photovoltaic panels with thick canvas and tucked them away into the dark "old mouse room."
This might be a method of self-deception, but out of sight, out of mind, it was ultimately effective.
...
If the photovoltaic panels brought Chen Zhou dreams of the future and present troubles, the other three rewards seemed overly ordinary.
The reward delivered on February 17 was a pair of diving fins.
Chen Zhou’s swimming skills were barely passable, his diving skills even worse, and on the island, the only ones who could make use of these fins were the two natives.
Especially Sunday, his diving skills were impressive, and once he was in the water, his agility was nearly on par with fish.
But to his dismay, the pair of sneakers that Chen Zhou wanted to wear previously fit the two natives’ sizes, yet the fins he had no use for matched his foot size perfectly.
This frustrating coincidence made one suspect if the Space-Time Administration Bureau was playing another of their tricks.
...
The reward delivered on March 4 was a multi-functional entrenching tool.
However, as Chen Zhou summed up his experience—multi-functionality often meant that each function was mediocre.
This entrenching tool came in a dedicated portable bag, with a segmented handle design, integrating functions like machete, bottle opener, saw, hex wrench, knife, survival whistle, fire starter, screwdriver, compass, and a glass breaker, along with two screwdrivers.
The portable bag also included a small bundle of paracord and a pack of quick-heat emergency food.
If this was in the first year of the challenge, for Chen Zhou, who could only carve picks from ironwood to dig sand and stone, this entrenching tool would undoubtedly be a powerful weapon.
But now, Chen Zhou could already forge iron shovels and pickaxe heads himself, making the entrenching tool seem a bit redundant, at best serving as a superior substitute for a shovel, and used for its portability advantage when going out.
Compared to this, the reward delivered on April 3, although consumable, seemed more valuable.
It was a whole Jinhua ham in a gift box.
Even in modern times, Chen Zhou had often heard of Jinhua ham’s fame, including its delicious taste and expensive price.
Since Jin Hua ham is produced in the south, he never had a chance to taste it, but surprisingly, in this other world, he could savor the flavor of ham thanks to mysterious rewards.
However, recently there hasn’t been any occasion worth celebrating, and the ham has a long shelf life, so Chen Zhou isn’t in a hurry to eat it.
He plans to share this hometown delicacy with the two indigenous companions on August 1, 1662, his birthday.
The ham weighs eight to nine pounds, and he slices up two plates for each festival, enough to last until the end of the year, providing long-term enjoyment.
...
To date, the mysterious rewards are becoming less and less helpful to Chen Zhou.
Most of the time, their value no longer lies in materially improving living quality, but in providing a sense of surprise.
...
With two indigenous companions, Chen Zhou can now basically set aside trivial matters and focus on what he wants to do.
After May 3rd, keeping the six thermos flasks sent by the mysterious reward safe, Chen Zhou led the two indigenous companions to move all remaining supplies from the camp at the foot of the mountain into the storage room of the cave dwelling, according to the plan.
After that, he spent another two days reorganizing the storage room from scratch and placed several more beautiful pieces of furniture into the bedroom.
...
On May 7, Chen Zhou entrusted the farm and sheep at home to the two indigenous companions, taking with him a hiking backpack, hand axe, multifunctional military shovel, and other tools, and set off with Lai Fu, pushing a cart towards Fruit Tree Valley.
Having explored Fruit Tree Valley once before, Chen Zhou was quite familiar with the route this time.
After arriving at Fruit Tree Valley, he collected nearly a hundred pounds of cocoa beans and dug up some fruit tree saplings, then returned to the River Valley Plain.
Due to a fear of the unidentified snake species on the grapevines, when digging sugarcane saplings in the River Valley Plain, Chen Zhou always cleared the surrounding wild grass to ensure an unobstructed view before starting work.
After all, there’s plenty of time, and there’s no need to take a greater risk for the sake of convenience.
Just like that, including traveling back and forth, Chen Zhou was gone for over eight days before pushing the heavy cart back to the camp at the foot of the mountain.
...
The sugarcane saplings were transported to the sugarcane field beside the mountain stream for mass planting.
The cocoa beans were taken back to the cave dwelling, dried, and ground into chocolate.
With no rain to interfere, Chen Zhou, who usually stayed cooped up in the forging room, had to frequently go out and get busy.
Saturday and Sunday had already learned and practiced farming, but making cocoa beans into chocolate was something they had never seen before.
...
Chen Zhou never claimed that chocolate was food of the gods, and the two indigenous companions never shared their own speculations with him.
Because of this, Chen Zhou did not shy away from the two indigenous companions and demonstrated the entire chocolate-making process to them.
It was only then that Saturday and Sunday realized the small, dark berries they used to see everywhere on their home island could be made into such a delicious food.
Of course, having spent time with Chen Zhou for so long, they weren’t foolish.
Having watched the chocolate-making process completely, apart from the ceramic drying rack used to dry the chocolate, the hammer and iron plate used to crush the chocolate, and the grinding stone used to grind the chocolate, they also discovered the most crucial ingredient—sugar.
Without sugar, chocolate would only have a fragrant aroma with a slightly sour and bitter taste, lacking the sweet and smooth texture.
According to an idiom from the textbooks, this "sugar" is the finishing touch.
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"I’d like to make some chocolate ourselves, but without sugar, it seems hopeless..."
Standing next to Chen Zhou, Sunday murmured to Saturday while pushing the mill to grind the crushed cocoa bean chunks.
The two knew that Chen Zhou was a very kind person and treated them well, so sometimes when speaking, they couldn’t help but show their youthful nature.
Saturday was adding wood to the stove and hadn’t yet responded when Chen Zhou, seated beside them drawing design diagrams, spoke first.
"Sugar doesn’t just fall from the sky.
Want some chocolate? Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty in the future."
After saying that, he put down the design diagram of the water-powered forging hammer and waterwheel bellows and added.
"The sugarcane we planted a few days ago, when it grows, can be turned into sugar. As long as you take good care of it, you can have chocolate every day in the future."
"Really?"
Upon hearing this, Sunday’s eyes lit up with excitement, and his arms pushing the grindstone seemed to gain strength.
"Really." Chen Zhou affirmed, then continued.
"When I’m not so busy, I’ll build you a big house with a kitchen next to the farmland.
Then you can bring this grindstone home, along with these few drying racks and iron plates. You can take them all.
If you want to eat chocolate, you can make it yourself."
Smiling, Chen Zhou lowered his head and gazed at the light purple ink on the white A4 paper in a daze, leaving the two young fellows with joyful expressions, lost in their beautiful dreams of achieving chocolate freedom.