Chapter 90 Zhang Tai felt heartbroken; the Xiahe Base was rolling in money.
There aren't many bases left that are willing to host meals for other bases.
After all, every grain of food is precious, and they are perceptive people. If Cheng Zhiyu hadn't offered to let them stay for dinner, they wouldn't have suggested it.
Of course, since the other party has made the offer, they will naturally agree.
They only managed to eat half a hard steamed bun that day. They had no choice; the base didn't have many supplies left for this mission, and if they didn't eat sparingly, they would go hungry when they got back.
Now it's great, the Xiaohe base is willing to let them stay for a meal, which saves them some money. Besides, didn't the Xiaohe base boast that they could eat all the white flour steamed buns they wanted?
So their meal must have been steamed buns made of white flour, right?
They exchanged glances and unconsciously swallowed.
White steamed buns! How long has it been since they've had them? Seeing the people at the Xiaohe base eating them these past few days is making them incredibly hungry.
Cheng Zhiyu, unaware of what these people were thinking, politely ignored their layers of clothing and tattered, peeling shoes, and had someone take them to rest for a while.
Zhang Tai and the others nodded, and then sent a message to their superiors to let them know that they had arrived at the Xiaohe base.
They followed them all the way to their rest area, taking the opportunity to observe the Xiaohe base, and were surprised to find that the group was in really good spirits.
Even if his complexion wasn't rosy, he at least looked energetic and didn't seem hungry.
Moreover, any random person on the street would be like this.
This surprised Zhang Tai and the others, and they even began to doubt whether Zhou Min was telling the truth.
Could what they said be true? No way.
They were observing the people at the Xiaohe base, and the people at the Xiaohe base were also secretly observing them. Someone muttered, "Are these refugees from outside too? They do look like they're living a miserable life."
"Yes, thankfully our Captain Cheng was brilliant..."
They kept their voices very low, but little did they know that Zhang Tai and his companions, being superhumans, had excellent hearing and heard their conversation clearly.
Zhang Tai and others, who were considered refugees: "..."
They weren't that badly off!
I looked down at my shoes, the soles of which were peeling and had been glued back together.
Looking at the residents of Xiaohe Base, who were wearing countless layers of bulky but not warm clothes, their mental state was far superior.
them:"……"
It's heartbreaking; they really do seem to be refugees.
What upset them even more was that they encountered a seven or eight-year-old child on the road, who was eating a steamed bun. The bun's skin was thin and white, and they didn't know what kind of filling it was, but it smelled delicious from afar.
Zhang Tai and the others stared at it unconsciously, while simultaneously swallowing hard.
This kid dares to eat like this on the street, isn't he afraid someone will steal it?
The child seemed to sense their gazes, slowed down his eating of the bun, and looked up at Zhang Tai and the others. These people had eyes like hungry wolves, and the child shrank back in fear.
Zhang Tai awkwardly touched his nose and glared at the others: "What are you staring at? Are you trying to steal the child's food?"
"Oh, we didn't mean that, we just had a craving."
"You're the one who's talking! Look at your own eyes, they're even scarier."
A group of people were talking amongst themselves, and the child, watching them, swallowed hard and hesitantly handed over his steamed bun: "Do you... want some?"
Zhang Tai and the others: "..."
Child: "Aren't you getting enough to eat? You're so pitiful."
The child had forgotten that he had been hungry before.
Zhang Tai and the others: "..."
No, please stop talking. It would be too embarrassing if we cried.
The staff member who was greeting them noticed that they hadn't followed, so he came over to check on them and saw this scene, which made his lips twitch.
Zhang Tai quickly protested his innocence: "We didn't mean to take the food from this child."
Staff member: "Uh... I know, but don't worry, they're already preparing food for you all, you'll be able to eat soon."
Zhang Tai and the others: "..."
You say you know? You don't know anything at all!
In the end, no one dared to take the child's steamed buns. It would be fine if it were an adult, but if it was a child and made him cry, it would be incredibly embarrassing if word got out that they were taking the child's buns.
After everyone arrived at their temporary rest area, the staff came to call them for lunch.
The Xiahe base has set up a special place to entertain guests. As the base develops, it will definitely need to cooperate with the outside world, and there will be many more visitors in the future.
Zhang Tai and the others were led there, and they could smell the delicious aroma from afar, causing them to swallow their saliva frantically.
Why do they feel this meal should be quite lavish? Anyway, it smells quite lavish.
Cheng Zhiyu also brought his people over and said apologetically, "The conditions are rather difficult, so please have something simple to eat."
Smelling the aroma, Zhang Tai couldn't wait to look at the table, and then he saw that there were six dishes!
Cheng Zhiyu genuinely felt that there weren't many dishes, so he made sure the portion size for each dish was quite large.
One of the guys next to me exclaimed excitedly, "It's not simple at all, it's abundant, it's incredibly abundant!"
Cheng Zhiyu: "..." Uh, wipe your drool.
Seeing how these people looked, he was understanding and didn't say much, letting them sit down and eat.
Cheng Zhiyu had already eaten breakfast and wasn't very hungry, so he just pretended to be hungry while holding his chopsticks.
These people initially tried to maintain their composure, but then someone swallowed very loudly, and everyone could no longer keep up the act.
Holding a large steamed bun in one hand and chopsticks in the other, he frantically stuffed it into his mouth.
Cheng Zhiyu: "..."
No, you represent the major bases, can you please be a little more mindful of your image?
He lowered his head, trying to remain calm.
Zhang Tai and his group were eating like starving ghosts, their heads practically glued to the food.
Oh my god, they're so happy! How long has it been since they've had such a good meal? The last time they ate it was before the apocalypse; it feels like a lifetime ago.
These vegetables are so fresh! They can't even find wilted or rotten vegetables, let alone such fresh ones.
They were all perfectly sober. Luckily, they hadn't chosen to take people back to the base, otherwise, would they be eating so well now?
Seeing that these people were completely absorbed in their meal, Cheng Zhiyu realized that it was impossible to discuss business during the meal.
Let's wait until we finish eating.
The six dishes were eaten clean, and some people even used steamed buns as plates.
Cheng Zhiyu: "...If you're still not full, you can get more food."
Since things have already come to this, why bother about saving face? He immediately said, "Thank you, we really haven't eaten enough."
Cheng Zhiyu rubbed his temples and asked someone to add more dishes.
After ordering more food, they said they were full. Cheng Zhiyu thought they probably weren't full yet, but were just too embarrassed to eat anymore.
He also saw several people slipping steamed buns into his clothes when he wasn't looking, trying to sneak them away.
Cheng Zhiyu: "..."
Hmm... Let's save face for the other person and pretend we didn't see it.
After finishing our meal, the staff brought us water, and we could finally get down to business.
Zhang Tai and his team also saw the list of supplies sent by their superiors through the communicator.
Superior: Don't worry about saving face, just make sure the quantity is accurate, not a single one is missing!
They: Well, we already have no face left.
However, they were still shocked by the list of supplies. The items they were supposed to exchange had been kept secret, and no information had been sent over. All they knew was that they were going to exchange items with the Xiaohe base.
Upon seeing the above content, my fingers trembled – it was a mutated seed!
In the apocalypse, whether ordinary people or those with superpowers, everyone knows how important the mutant seed is.
Having the mutated seeds means they can grow food, which is exactly what they need right now.
Zhang Tai and the others' fingers were trembling. They had been told to come and exchange supplies, but they thought that Xiahe Village was just a small base, so how could there be any important supplies to exchange?
Now we realize they were wrong!
They are completely wrong.
Seeing this group of people suddenly become so excited they almost wanted to pounce on him, Cheng Zhiyu was speechless.
He coughed lightly, took a breath, and silently stepped back a little.
Zhang Tai stammered, "Mr. Cheng, are the supplies we exchanged really mutated seeds?"
Cheng Zhiyu smiled and said, "Of course, we've already prepared the seeds. You can rest for a while, and once you've rested, we'll..."
A person next to him, his face flushed, exclaimed excitedly, "No need to rest!"
"Yes, yes, we don't need to rest, haha. It's normal to go for several days without sleep when we're on missions."
"Yes, we're not tired at all. Mr. Cheng, may we go and get our supplies now?" The man rubbed his hands together like a fly.
Since they didn't want to rest, Cheng Zhiyu didn't insist: "Of course, let's go. We'll be passing by the fields at our base, so you can take a look."
The group followed behind Cheng Zhiyu. Because he had to accompany these people, Cheng Mo did not transform into his beast form and simply walked slowly past.
Although Xiahe Base used to be a village, the country had done a great job in construction, and the roads between villages were paved with cement.
After it snowed, there were people specifically responsible for cleaning it up. The ground was only a little wet, but very clean.
The people from the major bases walked on the flat road. One of them asked curiously, "Mr. Cheng, in such cold weather, can the mutated seeds still grow?"
"In fact, the adaptability of the mutant seeds surprised me." Cheng Zhiyu said with a smile, "After the sudden drop in temperature, I was worried that they would freeze, but unexpectedly, they grew very well."
“The base’s crops are just around the corner. Would you like to take a look?” Cheng Zhiyu asked.
In fact, according to their rank, it would be impossible for Cheng Zhiyu to accompany Zhang Tai and his team. However, this is the first big order for the Xiaohe Base, so Cheng Zhiyu decided to come in person. Later, someone else might come instead.
Zhang Tai and his team were really eager to see the mutated seeds. They felt like they were carrying the hopes of the base on their shoulders, and nothing could distract them. However, if it were crops, they would be more interested in seeing them.
So they nodded in agreement.
If, as Cheng Zhiyu said, the mutated seeds are so resilient, then it means that as long as they are planted and properly cared for, most natural disasters will no longer be a problem.
It put their minds at ease.
Soon the group arrived at the farming department. Fang Guowei came over and asked what was the matter. Cheng Zhiyu said, "You go ahead with your work. I'll take a few people from the base to take a look."
Fang Guowei nodded. He was indeed quite busy. Before the snow, they had harvested a large portion of the crops, leaving most of the fields empty.
Although rice and soybeans were planted later, the farmland was not fully planted, and everyone felt it was a waste, so they wanted to plant more things.
Since it snowed before and they couldn't plant, they had nothing to do these past two days, so they sent people to clear the snow from the fields, leaving only a thin layer. The ground wasn't so muddy anymore, so they got busy planting.
It was too cold, and the ground was frozen solid, making planting difficult. But everyone was in high spirits. Although they were tired, they could plant slowly, which was better than resting.
Besides, because of the cold weather, they also receive a low-temperature allowance, which is more than they earned before.
Actually, the weather now is more comfortable than the previous high temperatures, because they have clothes made of mutated cotton, and they don't feel cold at all when they wear them; on the contrary, they are quite comfortable.
As Cheng Zhiyu led his group over, people greeted him with smiles along the way.
They knew that people from the base outside had come; their superiors had previously instructed them to maintain their best mental state.
Everyone felt uneasy about the arrival of people from the big base, thinking that the big base must have better food and clothing than they did.
But when I took a sneaky look, I was immediately disappointed. These people were dressed so poorly, their clothes were crooked and bulged here and there, and one shoe sole looked like it was broken in two. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that it had been glued together several times and then broken again.
There's one more.
The farmer winked at his companion and whispered, "Look, doesn't that guy have a big hole in his butt?"
"Oh my, it's true. In this cold weather, your butt must be freezing."
"Weren't these supposed to be superhumans from a major base? Why do they all look like..." like refugees. But he didn't dare finish his sentence.
Their squad leader walked over with a serious expression: "What are you laughing at? Get back to your work!"
The squad leader had a very good relationship with them in private, but when it came to work, there was no room for joking around. Everyone quickly stopped laughing and got to work, huffing and puffing.
It was cold, and the machines had all stopped working, so they had to use manpower to turn the soil. However, since the apocalypse, ordinary people were stronger, and since the superhumans had already roughly turned the soil once, it wasn't too tiring.
They were quite happy with their work. Although it was cold, they would have felt bad if they stayed at home doing nothing and not contributing any points to their income.
Unlike now, the cafeteria provides two meals a day, and you can earn contribution points. You don't have to worry about anything every day, and you don't have to worry about your kids going hungry.
Their kids have gotten a lot fatter lately.
Although the group didn't say anything more, judging from the expressions of those people from the large base, they were all grateful that they were at the Xiaohe base. Otherwise, look how miserable the superhumans at the large base were. Would ordinary people like them be able to live such a good life if they went to the large base?
With this in mind, they worked even harder.
Zhang Tai and his group also had mixed feelings. Although they had gained some understanding of the current situation of the residents of Xiaohe Base along the way, they felt quite uncomfortable when they found that anyone they randomly picked out was dressed better than them.
If they weren't from various bases, they would all want to join the Xiaohe Base right now.
Sigh, they were quite arrogant before they came, but after arriving here, they realized how ridiculous they were.
Their hearts pounded as they looked at the soybeans and rice paddies, completely unaffected by the low temperatures.
How long has it been since they've seen so many crops? These are all edible things, how could they not be excited?
"Mr. Cheng, it's just... I noticed that soybeans and rice aren't on our exchange list?" the man asked, rubbing his hands sheepishly.
Cheng Zhiyu explained with a smile, "Because this is the first time we've planted soybeans and rice, we don't have any extra seeds."
The other party was a little disappointed. One of them was rice, and the other could be pressed for oil and made into tofu and various other bean products. Both were very important crops.
What a pity.
I need to talk to my superiors when I get back. The Xiahe base still has these two items. When they're almost ready, they can make a trade and maybe get more of them.
Thinking this way, he kept quiet, unaware that those who came along weren't stupid; they all thought the same thing.
After passing the farmland, the group reluctantly arrived at the place where the supplies were being inventoried.
Cheng Zhiyu had already had the supplies they brought inventoried, and there were no problems.
At this moment, Cheng Zhiyu had someone bring out a scale and started weighing himself in front of them.
There are 2,000 jin of cotton seeds at the Chaoyang base.
After they were weighed, someone from the base said, "Why do they weigh two thousand jin while we only weigh a few hundred jin? That's a huge difference, and our base isn't small either."
"Yes, my base only weighs a few hundred kilograms."
"Mr. Cheng, our base isn't small either, you see..."
Cheng Zhiyu: "Oh, this? When I was planning to exchange seeds for supplies, the leaders of Chaoyang Base agreed to my price immediately. The others agreed later, but there was nothing we could do. Our Xiaohe Base has limited production. We only have so many seeds in total. If we distribute the rest among the bases, each base can only get a few hundred kilograms."
Upon hearing this, the people from the several bases were speechless.
Good heavens, they understand perfectly well that their base leaders are just being clever and trying to drive down the price, but they don't seem to realize that these are mutated seeds!
Even if they don't want it, Chaoyang Base can take it all; they might even have to thank them for their stupidity.
Everyone couldn't help but complain in their hearts about their base's leaders. They were all dumbfounded!
Next, we weigh the wheat seeds.
Unsurprisingly, Chaoyang Base had more seeds of every kind than they did, and the people at Chaoyang Base were all grinning from ear to ear.
Although they initially felt they could only get a small amount of supplies, once people leave and compare, their emotions change. Their base actually got the most, proving the wisdom of their base's leadership!
"If everything is confirmed to be in order, then we'll weigh the seeds for the next base," said the person in charge of weighing the seeds.
Zhang Tai quickly pointed to the weighing display screen: "That's not right, it's still 0.001 short."
The person who said "seed": "..."
He took a seed, put it in, and instantly 0.002 more appeared.
The one referring to the seeds asked, "Is it ready now?"
Zhang Tai grinned so wide his eyes disappeared: "Sure, sure."
Even a single seed is precious!
After Zhang Tai and his group received their own seeds, they didn't rush to leave. Instead, they watched as other bases received their seeds.
You don't even need to look closely to know that these people have far fewer seeds than them.
People from other bases shouted angrily, "Now that you've taken your share, can't you move a little further away?!"
Zhang Tai and the others said, "The way you're talking makes it sound like this is your territory."
People from other bases: "..."
What can they say? If they continue, it's like slapping the faces of the people at the Xiaohe base.
I didn't realize their boss had offended everyone before they even saw it, otherwise why would they have bought so few less items!
They dare not offend the Xiahe Base now. With these seeds, after they are planted, they will probably continue to save them for future generations. There is no other way, there are too many people at the base.
They will definitely need to make another deal with the Xiahe base later.
Zhang Tai's feelings about the Xiahe base are completely different now. No wonder the residents there can eat white flour buns so easily; they can grow them!
Since seeds can be used to exchange for resources, it means that people have grown enough to eat.
Of course, this is also because there are relatively few people at the Xiaohe base, so the required amount of food is not that much.
But the fact that so many people can be fed and clothed in the apocalypse is already quite astonishing.
When Zhang Tai found Zhou Min, he was no longer arrogant at all, and had a fawning smile on his face.
Zhou Min involuntarily took a step back: "What are you going to do?"
Zhang Tai chuckled: "You said before that the food would be great if you joined the Xiahe Base, but I didn't believe you. I was wrong."
Zhou Min: "...What exactly do you want?"
It's kind of scary.
"You really eat that well?" Zhang Tai asked quietly, "Do you get to eat at least one dish every day?"
Zhou Min scoffed: "Is that all you're good for? I have meat and vegetables every day, and I can even eat fruit occasionally."
Fruit! Zhang Tai's eyes widened. He hadn't seen fruit in ages, let alone eaten it.
The last time he ate fruit was when he completed an extremely difficult task, and he was rewarded with an apple.
I heard they were grown in a greenhouse by a wood-type ability user. The apples were only the size of a palm, and they looked like they were dehydrated or something, all wrinkled, and the seeds inside were huge.
The direction of mutation in mutated seeds is uncontrollable; this apple has clearly mutated in a negative direction.
Despite its many flaws, it was still very precious. When Zhang Tai received the apple, he carefully took a small bite with his teeth. It tasted sour. Before the apocalypse, such an apple would be given away for free, but no one wanted it.
But now, the sour taste has won over Zhang Tai. Eating hard, dark steamed buns that have no flavor every day, the sudden taste of sourness is particularly pleasant.
If apples could keep longer, he could have eaten them for a long time. In the end, he spent a whole day eating the apples little by little.
The seeds still need to be handed over, because they are mutated seeds. Even if the mutation is not in a good direction, at least they can be grown.
The mutated seeds were precious, so he naturally wouldn't keep them for himself.
As a result, he now hears from Zhou Min that he can occasionally eat fruit.
Zhang Tai: "I don't believe you unless you show it to me."
Zhou Min wasn't fooled: "Oh, believe it or not, why should I prove it to you?"
Zhang Tai: "..."
“We’ve already started planting fruit trees. In a few years, maybe we can sell the seeds to you.” Zhou Min was deliberately trying to provoke envy.
Zhang Tai was almost in tears: "So you're saying I can't join your base?"
“You’re from Chaoyang Base.” Zhou Min’s situation is different from Zhang Tai’s. Although he was also at Chaoyang Base, he was just a resident with a high degree of freedom and could leave at any time.
But Zhang Tai is different; the other party is now an official of the base.
I'm glad I didn't join the official team back then.
Zhou Min patted Zhang Tai on the shoulder sympathetically: "It's okay, didn't our base sell you seeds? I estimate that in two or three years, you'll be able to achieve food freedom."
Zhang Tai said with a heavy heart, "Two or three years is considered fast. I hope that day comes soon."
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