The sticky, sweet-smelling aroma wafted from the giant container.
Kurama immediately exclaimed, "Honey?"
"Good sense of smell."
"Why would you need so much honey? Are you trying to attract desert butterflies?"
Zhang Wei remained silent and directly scooped a large amount of rice sand into the container.
A miracle happened. All the rock rice floated to the top of the honey, while the sand, composed of silicon dioxide, immediately sank to the bottom.
In just a moment, the two substances were completely separated!
"Amazing!"
Kurama excitedly said, "There's actually a way to extract rock rice like this! If this method spreads, the residents of the Desert Kingdom will be blessed."
The Sea of Rice Sand was vast and possessed an inexhaustible supply of rock rice.
However, it was located deep within the scorching desert, with extremely high temperatures. Daytime temperatures of 48 degrees Celsius were enough to kill ordinary people, and even Gourmet Hunters couldn't last long.
Anyone capable of entering this place wouldn't care about mere level-one ingredients.
Moreover, the difficulty of acquisition was too high. Visibility was poor at night, and under the scorching sun during the day, one could only pick a few pounds of rice per day. Working hard for a month might not even cover the rental cost of a water-storing camel.
This was also why, despite the Desert Kingdom's substantial output, half its population starved.
But as the extraction continued, Zhang Wei's expression grew increasingly grave.
"This method... won't work!"
"The loss of honey is too severe!"
Whether it was sand or rock rice, to achieve flotation and sinking, both needed to be saturated. Honey was too viscous, and as the sand was cleared from the bottom of the container, a considerable amount of honey would be carried away with it.
Typically, eight liters of sand required one liter of honey, and only two kilograms of rock rice could be extracted.
Zhang Wei's honey was gourmet food, with each liter selling for over fifty Belize.
However, Zhang Wei wasn't lamenting the loss of honey; those replicated goods were consumables. But even if he emptied all of Zhang Wei's reserves, not much rock rice could be extracted.
Furthermore, the progress was an issue. The speed was not much faster than using a winnowing basket.
Kurama immediately said, "The essence of carbohydrates is all glucose, and the starch in grains is also sugar. In principle, the main component of honey is also sugar..."
"If we can use cheap, ordinary ingredients to boil syrup, its density should be similar to honey."
"And the cost of this syrup is not high. Generally, one Belize can buy seven liters. This way, there's a profit to be made!"
Zhang Wei praised, "As expected of Mr. Kurama, this approach is indeed sound."
Consuming one Belize for seven liters of syrup could saturate fifty-six liters of sand, extracting fourteen kilograms of rock rice. Fourteen kilograms of rock rice could sell for twenty-one Belize.
A profit of twenty-one times!
Kurama was breathless. If this method were publicized, the impoverished Desert Kingdom would immediately become a major grain producer!
It could benefit countless people!
Truly a headline, the greatest headline in the human world, no doubt!
Kurama even felt like kissing Zhang Wei. A headline arriving so quickly, it was too fortunate.
"Huh? With such a magnificent discovery, why do you look so dejected?"
At this moment, Zhang Wei's brows were tightly furrowed, his expression one of deep thought.
Zhang Wei sighed.
What he wanted was the greatest possible quantity of rock rice storage. The syrup method was good, but too complicated. Moreover, the extracted quantity was far from satisfactory.
"Density... liquid..."
"Right!"
"Yuan Water!"
One unit of Yuan Water had a density of ten, second only to mercury's 13.6.
The lightest liquid at room temperature was ethanol, or alcohol. By mixing one unit of Yuan Water and alcohol, a liquid with an appropriate ratio could be created.
And Zhang Wei's stock of alcohol far exceeded that of honey.
To avoid extravagance and waste, Zhang Wei only used cheaper alcohols from levels 1 to 15.
He acted immediately.
Zhang Wei cleaned the container, then poured in various high-proof alcohols, followed by about one percent Yuan Water, precisely adjusting the ratio.
Kurama asked curiously, "What are you doing? Developing a new liquid? That's reasonable, though. Using honey for saturation still seems a bit wasteful."
The adjustment was complete!
Density: 1.5!
Moreover, the alcohol's viscosity was lower, making separation even more immediate.
Due to the viscosity of normal honey, it took a long time for the grit to settle, sometimes even requiring stirring and heating.
Take the sand!
Pour it in!
Indeed, the result was immediate!
The sand and gravel sank rapidly, while the rock rice floated on top. Due to the alcohol, the dust on the rock rice was thoroughly cleaned.
But Kurama poured cold water on his enthusiasm, "If you soak the rice in alcohol... won't it get a weird flavor? Will the rock rice absorb more of the alcohol's taste?"
Indeed!
Using alcohol to pickle rice for fermented rice or sushi might be good, but what Zhang Wei wanted to store was the most authentic rock rice.
As expected!
After all that trouble, it seemed like a winnowing basket was still the way to go.
"Without finding a suitable solvent, it's impossible to store rock rice on a large scale."
Kurama, however, said, "If you want authentic rock rice, I don't recommend soaking it in solutions. These rock rice are, after all, grain starch. Once exposed to liquid, they are prone to spoilage. Their long-term preservation here is due to the desert climate."
Moisture is a crucial factor influencing food spoilage. Moisture also has another name: air humidity.
A piece of trivia is that the air humidity in the Sahara Desert is even lower than in Antarctica.
This scorching desert cannot tolerate any moisture in the air.
"No liquids?"
"Then what should I do?"
The problem returned to the beginning.
Quality...
Weight...
Hardness...
Particle size...
If it were Earth, how would modern people do it...
Filthy grains...
A flash of inspiration struck Zhang Wei, and he suddenly thought of a word: centrifuge!
That's right, the large grain stations used this equipment to screen and filter grains. There were various models, but the working principle was basically the same.
On Earth, centrifuges were applied in various fields, including food industries for cream extraction, and in the military for uranium enrichment centrifuges.
In the chemical industry, for biodiesel, coal tar, lubricants...
In medicine, for separating plasma and platelets from whole blood.
For oil-water separation in wastewater treatment... and so on.
"So, what would a centrifuge look like?"
Empty tubes...
Rotation...
Flinging heavy sand away, leaving clean, pure rock rice.
Zhang Wei closed his eyes in thought, standing motionless.
Kurama glanced at the sun overhead and wiped his sweat, saying, "Alright, I'm not staying any longer."
Kurama also had a considerable storage space. He took out a tent and a cooking stove, calling for Moritaro to help.
Under the blazing sun, the two prepared delicious food while enjoying iced sour plum soup, living a life of leisure.
Kurama took out a large steel plate, brushed it with oil, and placed it directly under the sun to bake. He himself hid under a canopy, preparing other dishes.
He took out a large piece of equipment, its structure resembling a bicycle.
Moritaro asked, "What is this? Such a unique design?"
Kurama smiled, "This is the latest technological creation from the Tower of Scholars, called a pedal-powered low-temperature generator. By sitting on it and continuously pedaling, it generates a large amount of cold air, allowing even Gourmet Cells holders without freezing abilities to enjoy chilled delicacies in the summer."
"How magical!"
"I heard it's something about high-pressure gas, low-pressure gas, and the like. The Tower of Scholars has too many technical terms, I didn't quite understand it, but I tried it, and this thing is really useful!"
Moritaro eagerly said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's make some."
"Yeah, aren't you going to pedal? What are you waiting for?"
Moritaro: ...
Stepping onto the bicycle, Moritaro shifted to the highest gear. This way, as long as he had enough strength, a few turns of the pedals would generate considerable energy.
On the other side, on the stovetop, the temperature of the iron plate instantly cooled, threatening to freeze into ice.
Kurama encouraged him, "As expected of a strong ox, you've got power."
Without further ado, Kurama took out milk, water, fruit juice, cherries...
He then dripped these liquids onto the iron plate. Under the influence of the cold air, these liquids immediately froze and, under Kurama's stirring, turned into a shattered form.
Fried ice!
A regional specialty delicacy!
"It's done, cherry milk ice!"
"Here's the second serving, red bean strawberry milk ice!"
"The third serving, refreshing cola lemon ice!"
...
Watching Zhang Wei gesturing and drawing diagrams, the two felt a bit bored. Coupled with the hot weather, they decided to take a nap first.
However, they were awakened by a rumbling sound not long after falling asleep.
Upon opening their eyes...
"What the hell!"
"What the heck is that!"
A massive metal contraption was floating in the air, its lower opening continuously sucking in the Sea of Rice Sand, while sand was being sprayed out from its upper opening!
"Floating in the air... Could this be a manifestation of thought?"
"Creating a machine with materialized thought?"
"Only you, Zhang Wei, could do something like this!"
Ordinary people's materialized thoughts could only create simple structures, such as swords, spears, sabers, and halberds, or at most pots and pans.
But never had anyone heard of such complex materialized thought.
Even with higher levels, it was usually a difference of one sword becoming a hundred, not this kind of overall operation!
Is he still a chef?
He's an engineer!
"Zhang Wei, what is this thing?"
Although slightly tired, Zhang Wei's eyes were filled with excitement and exhilaration. He replied, "Tower-type Grain Sorter!"
"Materialized thought?"
"Otherwise!"
"Holy cow! How did you manage that!"
Zhang Wei smiled. This wasn't the first time Zhang Wei had created a machine with materialized thought.
Back in the Cloud Country, Zhang Wei had created a fully automatic potato peeler to store the "Ball Potato," successfully storing hundreds of thousands of them.
The "Ball Potatoes" in the Treasure Hall are now the most perfect storage items. They are as large as buses, perfectly spherical, flawless, and their taste and nutritional value have reached an unimaginable level!
The machine stopped running!
Zhang Wei opened the grain output chute, and hundreds of tons of pure white rock rice poured out, with not a trace of sand visible.
Perfect!
[Storage Complete: Rock Rice]
[Replication Time: 1 day]
[Replication Quantity: 570 tons]
The moment the rock rice was extracted, the prompt from the Treasure Hall arrived as expected.
It really worked!
"Make it bigger!"
Mind Fire: Focus!
The Tower-type Grain Sorter gradually expanded to more than five times its original size, continuing to devour the Sea of Rice Sand, processing hundreds of cubic meters of desert per second.
Producing about eighty tons of rock rice.
And for every eighty tons of rock rice stored, the replication quantity increased by eight tons, and this was just in one second!
Kurama was completely stunned.
Who could do something like this? Was Zhang Wei insane?
One second,
Ten seconds,
One hundred seconds,
One thousand seconds,
Zhang Wei showed no signs of stopping, and he was continuously optimizing the structure of his materialized thought. The output increased from eight tons to twenty-eight tons, and it showed signs of further expansion.
Kurama felt his legs go weak and muttered, "Zhang Wei..."
"Zhang Wei, what exactly are you planning to do?"
Just then, Moritaro remembered Zhang Wei's usual disposition and exclaimed loudly, "You're not planning to take the entire Sea of Sand away, are you?"
"Why? Can't I?" Zhang Wei asked with a smile.
"Of course, of course, you can't!"
"Oh? Why not?"
"This... this kind of thing would obviously be extremely destructive to the ecological environment!"
Zhang Wei shook one finger, "Don't try to fool me. I graduated with full marks from Hive Prison. Mineral resources are not included in environmental protection laws."
"But..."
"But what? This Rice Desert doesn't even have any creatures, at most there are some roaming carnivorous beasts, and they don't like to eat rice. This Sea of Rice is completely independent of the ecological environment."
"This..."
Although reluctant to admit it, Zhang Wei was right.
[Storage Complete: Rock Rice]
[Replication Time: 1 day]
[Replication Quantity: 1700 tons]
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Wei's replication quantity reached 1700 tons, meaning seventeen thousand tons of rock rice had been purified.
And this amount was less than one-tenth of a small sand dune. The ordinary sand sprayed out was also collected by Zhang Wei into the Treasure Hall to prevent it from mixing with the unscreened Sea of Rice.
The capacity of this storage item was also astounding!
And there were at least eight thousand such sand dunes as the Sea of Rice!
Output continued to increase!
38 tons per second!
The yellow sand sprayed out in one second was nearly two hundred cubic meters, enough to blot out the sun!
But in an instant, this sprayed yellow sand was also collected by Zhang Wei into the Treasure Hall, entering the right annex of temporal stasis along with the rock rice.
Sand...
Silicon dioxide, perhaps it could be useful somewhere.
[Storage Complete: Rock Rice]
[Replication Time: 1 day]
[Replication Quantity: 25,000 tons]
Twenty-five thousand tons!
And this was just a day's production!
But it had only been four hours since Zhang Wei started storing!
Moreover, the replicated rock rice was becoming increasingly perfect. The original rock rice rarely had complete grains, looking more like broken rice or rice bran. Now, the replicated products were all perfect grains, with the appearance of real rice.
Furthermore, each grain was plump and round, looking very appetizing!
Originally, it would be difficult to find much rice of this quality even by searching the entire desert, but before the Treasure Hall, which combined all the advantages, the twenty-five thousand tons of rock rice were all in this perfect form!