Chapter 18 Extraordinary Curse, New Opportunities!

Perhaps it was because he absorbed too much information in one day and his mind was exhausted, or perhaps it was because he was no longer alone in the room and it felt more like home.

That night, Cheng Ye slept particularly soundly and peacefully.

This is the first time I feel like I've had a good sleep since I traveled to the wasteland.

only.

"Why is it only half past seven?"

Cheng Ye sat up and took a few deep breaths, quickly expelling the stuffiness in his chest.

When he first arrived in the wasteland world, he was weak.

Not to mention compared with peers in the wasteland, even compared with modern people who eat takeout every day and lack exercise, there is a big gap.

Now two months have passed. I only slept five hours last night, but I feel refreshed.

This positive change made him happy.

"Are you awake?"

When Cheng Ye got up and walked out of the bedroom, Luo Xiaoxue, who had also gotten up early, was watering the plants with a kettle. When she saw him come out, she looked up and greeted him.

The apartments allocated to inspectors by the chemical plant were mostly common two-bedroom, one-living-room apartments, but people in the wasteland world no longer had the need to cook, so the kitchens had basically been converted into multi-functional rooms.

For example, Liu Bi's family converted the kitchen into a small area for growing vegetables.

"Cheng Yeguoguo, you're awake, come quickly, come quickly!"

Hearing Cheng Ye get up, Liu Yi hurried over from the living room.

Although the buffer zone of Happiness City is much more orderly than other places in the wasteland, it is still not luxurious enough to build a school.

Naturally, Liu Bi and his wife were reluctant to send their five-year-old daughter to the inner city just for school.

Therefore, since Liu Yi was born, the farthest range of his activities is no more than the entire chemical plant staff community, and the people he comes into contact with are basically adults of about the same age as Liu Bi.

Cheng Ye was the first young man she came into close contact with.

Children are not very alert, and Luo Xiaoxue did not stop her from getting close to Cheng Ye.

After one night, Liu Yi had become familiar with this "Guoguo" she had just met. At this moment, she was looking up with a rosy little face, pulling Cheng Ye's sleeve to drag him into the living room, wanting to show him her vegetable garden.

"This is Chinese cabbage, this is small Chinese cabbage, this is round cabbage, this is fat cabbage..."

There are several flower pots in the living room, with some wilted cabbages planted in them.

Liu Yi enthusiastically introduced and divided them into different categories according to their size and shape.

Cheng Ye squatted down and picked at the leaves, curiously asking, "Hey, doesn't Yi Yi like to grow other vegetables?"

"I like it, but Dad only brought back cabbage seeds!"

"Then next time I go out on a mission, I'll bring you some other seeds, okay?"

"Okay, okay, thank you Cheng Yeguoguo!"

When talking about other vegetables, Liu Yi's eyes lit up, like a furry little animal that had found its prey.

Luo Xiaoxue, who was tidying up the vegetable garden, heard this and shook her head secretly. She couldn't help but shout:

"Cheng Ye, don't spoil her. We can't even grow vegetables around Xingfu City."

"Can't plant it?"

"Go wash up first. The water has been prepared for you. You will understand what I mean later."

"good."

Cheng Ye agreed and turned to walk towards the bathroom.

I don’t know if it’s because the water pipes in the suburbs are newer, but the water flowing from the taps is pale white, without any of the pungent smell of disinfectant chlorine that you’d find in the tap water in the central city.

When I came out after wiping my face, Luo Xiaoxue had already started boiling water on a simple induction cooker in the corner of the living room, with three ripped cabbages beside her.

"Sister Luo, I just need to drink the nutrient solution. There's no need to cook for me."

How precious are vegetables in Xingfu City?

At least the original owner's memory mileage could not be found, and it seemed that everyone had been drinking nutrient solution since birth.

This includes the residents of the inner city. No one has ever eaten vegetables. Even during festivals, they just eat a few slices of synthetic meat or farmed chicken sandwiched in bread as a celebration.

"You're wrong. This thing is actually worthless. It's just rare here."

"Don't be impatient..." Luo Xiaoxue said as she tore the cabbage with her hands and put it into boiling water.

After boiling for more than ten seconds, scoop them out one by one with chopsticks.

"Come and try it?"

“Then I really ate it.”

You're already living in someone else's house, and you still need a meal?

In addition, he had been drinking nutrient solution every day for more than two months, and his mouth had long been tasteless. When he thought of the sweet taste of cabbage, Cheng Ye's Adam's apple rolled twice, and he picked up a cabbage with chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

But after just two chews, his expression changed.

First he was surprised, then he frowned, and finally he fell into deep thought.

"Why... no taste?"

It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that it is like chewing wood, but the actual taste may be worse than wood.

It was like a handful of sawdust rolling around in the mouth. Not to mention the taste of cabbage, there wasn't even a trace of palpable taste stimulation on the tip of the tongue.

"It seems that you have eaten normal vegetables in the inner city. Cheng Long has invested a lot in you. This thing is very precious when it is transported to our Xingfu City. You need contribution points to exchange it, and there is a limit on the number of people."

Turning off the induction cooker, Luo Xiaoxue smiled and said, "This is why I said we can't grow vegetables here. Whether it's cabbage, celery, lettuce... as long as it grows in the soil, it will all taste the same."

"this?"

Cheng Ye put down his bowl and chopsticks, his brows furrowed into the shape of the Chinese character "川".

In order to survive, he had no intention of paying attention to these things before. As long as he could survive with a stutter, that was enough.

Including understanding the infected body, it only started when I was transferred to the North and South stations.

Where is the time to figure out why no one eats vegetables but drinks nutrient pulp instead?

"Is it because of the extraordinary people?"

"You guessed right," Luo Xiaoxue replied, a little sadly. "It's not just Chuan City where we are. Three-quarters of the land in the entire Shi Province has been polluted by a powerful transcendent. All plants are constantly losing their special qualities as they grow. Today it might be the texture, tomorrow it might be the flavor, and the day after tomorrow it might even lose its nutritional value. In short, the longer they grow, the more special qualities they lose."

"What about transporting new soil from uncontaminated areas?"

Cheng Ye blurted out.

If it's just about taste, it doesn't matter. There are many techniques for seasoning.

Add a spoonful of Sanhua evaporated milk, and everything you cook will have a sweet and fresh taste.

But if the nutritional value is lost, then the meaning of seasoning is lost, because eating it will be harmful to the human body. It is better to drink cheaper nutritional pulp.

"It's useless." Luo Xiaoxue shook her head. "Although that extraordinary being has long since perished, the source of infection he transformed into remains somewhere in Shi Province and is still eroding the land. The newly brought in soil will be assimilated within a few days. Not only will the land, but even the stones will become 'sick.'"

"But what you just ate has only lost its flavor, it's still valuable to the human body."

"Really?"

Cheng Ye asked back, and until he left the chemical plant area, he was still thinking about this "explosive" news.

As long as it is planted in the soil, it will be affected. Doesn't that mean that not only vegetables but also grain crops will be affected?

"I was planning to open up a small area outside the city to grow vegetables after settling down. Now, this possibility has been killed right at the source."

"No, if there's a problem with Happiness City's trading channels and they can't ship in the raw materials for the nutrient paste from other places, won't famine hit the city?"

In addition to natural disasters, there seem to be more threats hanging over the heads of all residents of Happy City.

It is very likely that an opportunity will detonate all these threats and instantly transform them into harvesting knives.

It’s just that many people, like their predecessors, are unwilling to understand, or even if they understand, they have no way to do anything about it.

"This world definitely hides more things that I haven't understood yet."

"interesting."

Cheng Ye walked quickly towards the bus stop.

For ordinary people, land pollution means the loss of the most important production capacity, and they can only rely on the nutrient solution provided by the city of refuge to maintain their lives.

But he was different. After learning about the extraordinary pollution, the first thing he thought of was not despair, but opportunity.

If we can break through the pollution, wouldn’t the vegetables and grains grown there be able to be sold at sky-high prices?

And at the critical moment, how can you have the confidence to completely withdraw from Happiness City?

"There's no rush to research this right now. I don't have much time. I have to finalize the weapon today and then go to the library to finish reading all the books on the first shelf."

...