Chapter 59 Decimeter (Bonus Chapter) Time to Reclaim Wasteland and Cultivate Land
Under Cheng Mo's death stare, Lin Kang withdrew his hand and looked at Cheng Zhiyu: "What are your demands? Tell me."
"Regarding the distribution of this batch of rice, there are approximately 100,000 jin (50,000 kg) of rice," Cheng Zhiyu said. "I hope that one-third of it will be used for ordinary people."
In the base, four-fifths of the people are ordinary people, but ordinary people don't consume as much energy as those with superpowers; one-third is quite a lot.
Lin Kang was surprised that Cheng Zhiyu would make such a request. He smiled and said, "It's rare to find someone with superpowers who is so considerate of ordinary people."
Cheng Zhiyu smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Lin Kang thought for a moment and said, "I promise you, this rice is, to put it bluntly, a gift from you to the base. This small request is certainly something I can grant."
Not to mention, Cheng Zhiyu's request was quite in line with his own wishes.
Cheng Zhiyu was not surprised that Lin Kang agreed; the other party was relatively friendly to ordinary people.
"When do we set off?" Cheng Zhiyu asked.
Lin Kang thought for a moment: "To avoid any unforeseen problems, let's get the truck ready and set off."
100,000 jin of rice is enough for the village's large trucks.
Cheng Zhiyu nodded, and they agreed to meet at the entrance of the base.
As soon as they left, Cheng Zhiyu felt his hands were wet, so Cheng Mo used his water-based supernatural abilities to wash them for him.
Cheng Zhiyu said helplessly, "Stop washing. If you keep washing your hands, you'll wash your skin off."
Cheng Mo then stopped, grabbing Cheng Zhiyu's hand with a sour expression: "Just talk, why are you grabbing my hand?"
Helpless, Cheng Zhiyu saw Cheng Mo grab his hand and kiss it.
Cheng Zhiyu: "..."
After kissing both of them, Cheng Mo was satisfied and his mood finally improved.
Mark them one by one.
Cheng Zhiyu hesitated, then said, "You..."
Cheng Mo: "What's wrong?"
Cheng Zhiyu shook his head: "It's nothing." Forget it, it's just a kiss on the hand, it's nothing.
Cheng Zhiyu brainwashed himself.
After the two tidied up, Lin Kang sent someone to inform them, and they went to the entrance of the base.
After hearing about it, Tian Qiao and the others went along as well.
Then, they ran into Yang Kai again at the door.
Yang Kai's face turned even uglier now, as he had just heard the rumors about him circulating in the base.
They say he's the most powerful superhuman in the base, but that's just hype. He can't even handle a mutated wild boar; he faints from fright as soon as he encounters one.
Yang Kai: Who the hell spread that? Was he scared out of his wits?
He wanted to say that the wild boars were powerful, but he couldn't explain it, since Cheng Zhiyu and his group had easily dealt with the wild boar herd.
Yang Kai was furious. Cheng Zhiyu, it was Cheng Zhiyu again!
He's just a useless plant-based ability user, why should we step on him?
However, he couldn't very well go around explaining to everyone who was gossiping, as it would seem like he cared a lot. So he could only try to suppress his temper and pretend that he didn't care.
Then I heard someone say, "See? He himself feels ashamed and can't refute it."
Yang Kai was so angry he almost vomited blood. So he was in a dilemma?
Thinking about everything that had happened today, his gaze toward Cheng Zhiyu turned hostile.
Then, a bolt of lightning struck him on the head. This time, not only did his hair become curly, but his head also started to hurt, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
Lin Kang only just arrived; he wanted to personally bring the rice back, as it was extremely important to the base at present.
With 100,000 jin of rice, the base can last at least a month.
He spotted Yang Kai immediately: "Hey, when did you get this new hairstyle? It's an afro, isn't it? Pretty stylish."
Yang Kai was so angry he wanted to curse: "I was struck by lightning!"
Zhou Min laughed heartily, adding fuel to the fire: "What heinous thing did you do that you got struck by lightning? Hahaha."
Yang Kai: "I was attacked with a knife!"
He looked at Lin Kang: "Team Leader Lin, didn't you say that fighting is not allowed at the base?"
He pointed to his head: "Aren't you going to do anything about it?"
Lin Kang was stunned. It was like the sun had risen in the west. Yang Kai was actually calling him "Team Leader Lin" so respectfully.
Lin Kang smiled and said, "Of course I care. Tell me who did it."
Yang Kai looked at Cheng Mo, who had a cool smile on his face. Yang Kai couldn't help but shudder: a threat, a blatant threat!
In the past, Yang Kai was the one who threatened others. He never thought that he would experience being threatened himself.
This was a bitter pill to swallow, and he gritted his teeth: "Nobody did it."
Lin Kang patted his shoulder with concern: "If you get bullied, tell me and I'll stand up for you."
"It sounds like a primary school student tattling," Yang Kai said irritably. "Nobody bullied me."
Lin Kang sighed helplessly, "Fine." It wasn't that he didn't care.
Seeing that Yang Kai looked like he was about to explode with anger, Cheng Zhiyu glanced helplessly at Cheng Mo, who looked completely innocent. Who told Yang Kai to look at Zhiyu like that?
Cheng Zhiyu didn't say anything in the end, after all, he also disliked Yang Kai quite a bit.
There were five people with superpowers who came together from the base, not counting Cheng Zhiyu and his group.
Cheng Zhiyu's group consisted of ten people, except for Sun Yu.
They encountered zombies on the road, the highest level being only level two. Yang Kai seemed to want to show off, so he took care of the zombies before anyone else could act.
Cheng Zhiyu was relaxed and happy.
They encountered level 3 zombies on the way, forming a small zombie horde. Cheng Zhiyu and his group had been dealing with these situations with ease since they arrived.
The superhumans at the base were initially a bit panicked, but after seeing Cheng Zhiyu and his group calmly deal with a lot of zombies, they also calmed down considerably.
While killing zombies, Yang Kai observed Cheng Zhiyu, trying to figure out his strength.
It turned out that the other party was just slacking off and barely made a move.
Yang Kai chuckled, feeling that he had figured out the truth. This Cheng Zhiyu, what is he pretending for? After all that, he relied on his teammates and was just a lazy dog who won by doing nothing!
No wonder when he went to see the other person today, the other person was like a coward, barely showing up from beginning to end.
Yang Kai was distracted and almost got caught by a zombie. Lin Kang, who was usually good-tempered, dealt with the zombie with a dark face and cursed, "You can still be distracted at a time like this? If you want to die, just say so!"
Yang Kai's face was grim, but he didn't say anything in the end.
Cheng Zhiyu, who felt he didn't need to intervene, was completely unaware of Yang Kai's thoughts; he was also observing Yang Kai and his group.
They discovered that Yang Kai was indeed one of the more capable people in the base, but Lin Kang, despite his refined appearance, was also quite formidable in combat.
No wonder Yang Kai wanted to usurp the throne but never succeeded.
Lin Kang spends most of his time at the base and rarely goes on missions. Over time, the superhumans at the base have forgotten how strong he is and only know how powerful Yang Kai is, so they have always supported Yang Kai as their leader.
Yang Kai probably knew that he didn't have much of a chance against Lin Kang, so although he always wanted Lin Kang's position, he didn't take any action.
After dealing with the horde of zombies, they quickly reached the warehouse, and thankfully, the rice was still there.
Apart from Lin Kang, none of the superhumans in the base knew what they were here for. They were all very excited when they saw the piles of white rice, including Yang Kai.
With so much rice, at least we can have a full meal!
They started moving rice. Cheng Zhiyu didn't intend to expose the space, so he didn't use it and moved rice with the others.
One hundred thousand catties of rice filled a large truck to the brim. Lin Kang had a smile on his face. After making sure all the rice was loaded, he waved his hand and said, "Let's go back to the base!"
Yang Kai and his group arrived in a truck, sitting in the truck bed, but the truck was now full and obviously couldn't fit any more people.
They could only cling to the truck bed, hanging outside the truck all the way back.
Fortunately, they were superhumans, and they managed to complete the journey of more than an hour.
Back at the base, the people, whose faces had been somewhat numb, couldn't help but gleam with hope when they saw a truckload of rice.
With so much rice, will they be able to eat their fill?
They wished they could have a bowl of rice, though they considered it a luxury.
Here, after putting the rice into the warehouse, Lin Kang was discussing how to classify the rice.
Yang Kai and his group stated matter-of-factly, "Of course the rice should be given to those with superpowers. We superpowered people face danger and hardship every day, unlike ordinary people who don't have to do anything."
Upon hearing this, Tian Qiao became displeased: "They didn't do anything? Then why are the roads in the base kept spotless? And when your things break, you just have to say a word, and they're back in perfect condition the next day. You don't think the roads clean themselves up, or that broken things fix themselves, do you?"
He clicked his tongue: "Some people, they just awakened some superpowers, and they really think they're superior? I don't know where they get the nerve."
The other superhumans exclaimed, "You! How can you say that? Aren't you a superhuman too?"
Tian Qiao sneered: "I'm not like you. I have no interest in being superior to others. Don't drag me into this, okay?"
“Even so, the rice should be distributed to the superhumans. We’re all starving, how can we have the strength to protect the base?” one superhuman said righteously, “I’m also thinking about the base.”
"that is."
Some said this, while others disagreed with them: "You can't say that. Actually, the majority of people in the base are ordinary people, many of whom are elders who watched us grow up. I feel bad every day when I see them so thin. Now that we have rice, how can we monopolize it? You say you're protecting the base, but aren't you just squeezing out the survival resources of ordinary people?"
“I also think that we shouldn’t think of ourselves as people with superpowers and expect resources to be allocated to us.”
"Besides, with so much rice, some should at least be distributed to ordinary people. Otherwise, it would be too heartless. Are we just going to watch them starve to death?"
Some people disagreed: "I didn't say we should starve them to death. I just said we should give them more and leave them some."
"How much is your 'little bit'? Is it barely enough to keep you alive?"
"Just save their lives, isn't that enough? They don't need to do anything."
"Er Mazi, don't forget, you grew up without parents and were fed by everyone in the village. Who in the village didn't feed you? How did they raise such an ungrateful wretch like you?"
"Hey, hey, hey, why are you making personal attacks? Is the past the same as the present? In the past, we would feed the dogs the leftover food."
"I think it would be better to feed it to the dogs."
"You fucking say that again..."
"Alright!" Lin Kang couldn't take it anymore. He coldly interrupted their argument and said directly, "This much rice was found by Cheng Zhiyu and his team. They had already arranged how it would be divided before they went there. Your arguing won't make a difference!"
The superpowered individuals exchanged glances, some expressing dissatisfaction, some joy, and others a complex mix of emotions.
Lin Kang looked at the person in charge of supplies and said, "Take stock of this rice. The base hasn't distributed supplies for quite a while. Pass the word down that they should come and line up for distribution tomorrow night."
Seeing that there was nothing more to say, everyone dispersed. Cheng Zhiyu and his group were also about to leave when Lin Kang stopped them.
Lin Kang said, "As you all know, the current situation at the base is such that if we eat as much rice as we want, it will only last for a month. If we are careful with our food, it can last for half a year."
Half a year? That would probably be the same as now, just surviving on a meager amount of rice.
Cheng Zhiyu knew, of course, that Lin Kang's idea was right. Being full was not important; what was more important was that more people could persevere for a longer period of time.
After all, it's good to have plenty of food, but if the base runs out of food, who knows how many people will starve to death.
Those with superpowers are fine; they risk their lives to kill strange beasts. But what about ordinary people?
But Cheng Zhiyu felt that this was not a long-term solution.
He does have a lot of rice in his storage space, but even if he takes it out, it will only prolong the time.
"Team Leader Lin, haven't you considered growing some grain at the base?" Cheng Zhiyu asked.
If we grow crops, at least we won't be so passive. Ordinary people will have something to do, and those superhumans won't be able to justify thinking that ordinary people are dispensable.
“Yes, I think we still need to plant crops, otherwise we’ll just be sitting around eating our savings. The longer the apocalypse goes on, the harder it will be to find food,” Zhou Min added.
Tian Manman nodded in agreement: "Farming is good."
Lin Kang said helplessly, "I also grew up in the village, so of course I couldn't have never thought about farming, but once the seeds are sown, they just won't grow."
"Later I discovered that only plant-type ability users could make plants grow by injecting their abilities into them every day," Lin Kang said. "But our base only has three plant-type ability users. They've worked themselves to the bone and only managed to grow the first batch of plants since the apocalypse. The seeds of those plants are indeed adaptable to the apocalyptic environment, but the efficiency is too low. The little bit they grow is probably just enough for them to eat themselves."
Cheng Zhiyu had actually guessed something about the situation. After all, when they went to the Chaoyang Base before, even as a large base, they had not achieved seed freedom and were still in the cultivation stage.
Not to mention that their village only has about a hundred people with superpowers, while the Chaoyang Base alone has about a hundred people just for cultivating seeds.
Because of this, Cheng Zhiyu didn't eat much of the plants on the way back; he saved the seeds of whatever he could.
He currently has quite a few mutated seeds, especially the wheat planted next to Xiao Huang. After one harvest, another crop will grow every ten days or so. He hasn't eaten any of these; he's dried them and stored them away.
He also planted the mutated yellow wheat next to Xiaoqiang to see if it could grow into mutated wheat that could grow back like chives after being harvested.
As it turned out, it wasn't that easy. Cheng Zhiyu didn't know if it was because the original mutated gene was covered by the new mutated gene, but anyway, when they were planted next to Xiaoqiang, the wheat only had the gene that made it bigger.
Wanting to grow bigger while simultaneously harvesting crops repeatedly is clearly impossible.
However, Cheng Zhiyu did indeed have quite a few seeds stored up, especially wheat seeds.
He simply took out the seeds and showed them to Lin Kang: "I have some mutated seeds here. Do you think we can clear a piece of land and arrange for people to plant them?"
Upon hearing about the mutated seeds, Lin Kang immediately perked up: "Really? How many?"
Cheng Zhiyu showed it to him; there was a large sack of mutated, multi-crop wheat, because it could grow back after being cut, so they had stored a lot of it.
There were fewer mutated barley and wheat, but because they were large, they still filled a large sack.
"So much?" Lin Kang was thrilled. His gaze was first drawn to the mutated wheat and barley, and he exclaimed in surprise, "This is wheat?"
A single wheat seed is almost the size of the palm of your hand!
He held the wheat seed, turning it over and over as if it were some rare treasure. Then, as if remembering something, he quickly asked Cheng Zhiyu, "This wheat plant doesn't only produce one seed, does it?"
“Of course not, it’s still the same as the wheat ears before,” Cheng Zhiyu said, “except that it has slightly fewer grains than ordinary wheat ears.”
"It's very good, it's already very good." Lin Kang murmured, his eyes looking at the mutated wheat with exceptional tenderness.
Next, he looked at the wheat and compared it to the mutated wheat and barley. The mutated multi-crop wheat looked no different from ordinary wheat on the outside. Lin Kang asked Cheng Zhiyu what direction the wheat's mutation was.
Cheng Zhiyu: "This is multi-crop wheat. After it matures and is harvested, it will grow back again."
Lin Kang's eyes lit up: "Isn't that just like chives!"
Cheng Zhiyu thought about how the wheat stubble in the space was growing slower and slower, and guessed that this was the last crop. He said, "It doesn't grow as fast as chives, and there aren't that many crops. There are probably five or six crops."
Lin Kang slapped his thigh: "It's already very good. If the yield remains the same, planting one acre now is equivalent to planting five or six acres before!"
He looked at Cheng Zhiyu, his expression a mixture of emotions and relief: "Thanks to you, I can finally feel a little more at ease. Otherwise, I would always be worried about what would happen to the base."
Cheng Zhiyu didn't think anything of it and said, "I still have vegetable seeds here."
Lin Kang's eyes lit up again: "What kind of things are there?"
Cheng Zhiyu said that Lin Kang was somewhat conflicted: "Given the current situation at the base, it's best to focus on growing wheat first. As for vegetables, we can only choose one or two to grow."
Ultimately, after discussing it, they decided to grow lettuce and potatoes.
Lettuce grows relatively quickly and can be eaten soon. Potatoes are quite filling and have a high yield, so they can temporarily replace staple foods if there is no other option.
After agreeing on the terms, Lin Kang praised Cheng Zhiyu repeatedly. Just as he was about to say something, Cheng Mo suddenly stepped between them.
Lin Kang: "?"
Cheng Mo was dissatisfied. This person was really something. If it's going to be serious, then let's get down to business. Why all this nonsense? He talks too much.
Cheng Zhiyu gave Cheng Mo a wink and coughed lightly: "Team Leader Lin, since there are no problems, let's make the arrangements as soon as possible."
Lin Kang snapped out of his daze and nodded: "Yes, yes, I'll arrange for people to clear the land first."
Although there is existing farmland, it is located some distance from the base, and the area outside the base is fraught with danger, making it unsuitable.
If we're going to start developing new land, the base needs to be moved further out.
Thinking about it this way, there really are a lot to do, I need to get busy quickly.
After saying goodbye to Lin Kang, Cheng Zhiyu glanced helplessly at Cheng Mo on the way.
Cheng Mo looked completely bewildered: "What's wrong, Zhiyu?"
“You…” Cheng Zhiyu shook his head helplessly, “Never mind, I won’t say anything more.”
Cheng Mo draped his arm around Cheng Zhiyu's shoulder, as if pulling him into an embrace, and gently nuzzled the other's shoulder: "Are you angry?"
Cheng Zhiyu shook his head: "No."
What's there to be angry about? But isn't Cheng Mo a bit too possessive of him? Whenever someone gets close to him, the other person always seems to think that the other person is after something from him.
Little did Cheng Mo know, he was thinking: Zhiyu is so good, I have to protect her well.
Meanwhile, the person in charge of supplies came over and asked Lin Kang, "How much rice will each person get?"
It's impossible to distribute everything at once. The base distributes food every week or half a month to prevent some people from eating without restraint and then starving to death if they don't get enough to eat later.
Although you can exchange contribution points for food at other times, you can't get much with just contribution points.
Lin Kang looked at the wheat seeds. He had originally planned to persist for six months, but Cheng Zhiyu said that the wheat seeds he was given would mature in less than three months.
He gritted his teeth and changed the original half-pound amount for each person to a full pound.
Two pounds for ordinary people, six pounds for those with superpowers, distributed once a week.
Given the current population size, these people certainly wouldn't be able to eat their fill. If we were to feed them their fill, 100,000 jin of rice would be gone in a month.
That's definitely not the way to do it.
With this arrangement, based on the number of people at the base, about 4,000 catties of grain will be distributed at a time, which should last for at least four or five months!
Those in charge of managing the supplies were also surprised to receive so much, but since they were Lin Kang's confidants and among the first to follow him, they listened to his arrangements and didn't say much.
——
The news that the base was going to distribute rice instantly brought the base to life.
"Are they really going to distribute rice?" someone asked the person who delivered the message.
"Really? Look, there are notices posted on the bulletin board at the base. And this time it's not just families, everyone can get it. I wonder how much we can get. I haven't tasted rice in ages!"
"As long as there's something to eat, I'm happy to be able to taste it."
"We can't just let them taste it; at least... at least let them have a small bowl of rice."
A thin woman, holding a baby only a few months old in her arms, heard this and her numb eyes finally lit up a little.
Great! With rice, she cooked rice porridge, and her child finally had something to eat.
She was not getting enough to eat, let alone nutrition. Her breast milk had long since dried up, and her baby cried heartbreakingly every day. All she could do was comfort the baby with heartache, but she couldn't make sure the baby was full.
Babies a few months old should be chubby, but her baby was skinny with frighteningly large eyes, which made people feel sorry for him.
Her husband was also happy: "If we save our rice, even if each of us only gets a small bowl, it will be enough for the baby to eat for a while."
The woman wiped away her tears and nodded vigorously; at least there was some hope for her to live on.
When her child was born, the world had already ended, and she had never had a good day. As parents, they felt both heartache and guilt.
When it was time to collect the rice, the woman and her husband arrived early and stood at the front of the line, each carrying a bag.
The man with the decimeter-sized face glanced at the small bag and frowned: "Your bag is too small, it won't fit."
"Can't fit it all?" The woman was a little confused. Her husband licked his lips and quickly asked, "How many meters can you divide it into?"
The man who was measuring decimeters said, "An ordinary person gets two jin (a unit of weight), but your family... can get six jin."
Everyone: "!!!"
So many! They even have babies in their arms! Are they dreaming?
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