Xia Lunong had no idea that his brother and Liao Cheng were talking about him.

He walked to the plastic greenhouse and took a curious look at it.

The plastic greenhouse in front of him only occupied half of the area. The plastic film must have been used for a long time. Not only was the whole plastic film yellowed, but there were also many creases on it.

Xia Lunong carefully lifted the soil pressing on the plastic greenhouse and gently opened the plastic greenhouse.

The temperature inside the greenhouse was much higher than outside. As soon as it was opened, the smell of damp and rotten rice hit him.

Xia Lunong stuck his head in and saw three kinds of vegetables planted inside - one was Chinese cabbage, another was garlic sprouts, and another was small green vegetable seedlings.

The Chinese cabbages were very large, each one was as tall as his thighs, and they were lined up on the ground like cement piers.

He stared with wide eyes and took a closer look. After a while

, he found that these cabbages were no different from the ones he saw in the supermarket before the disaster, except that they were bigger and the leaves on the outside were greener. He smelled it and the smell was almost the same. It seemed that normal cabbages had grown bigger.

He didn't know if it was a different variety or a post-disaster mutation.

Compared to the cabbages, the garlic sprouts planted next to them seemed ordinary. The size, appearance, and smell were similar to what he had seen in the supermarket before.

Xia Lunong observed them and selected three relatively thick garlic sprouts to start pulling.

He had never planted crops before, and the first time he pulled garlic sprouts out of the ground, he was not mentally prepared. He grabbed the lower part of the garlic stem with one hand and tried to pull it out, but he couldn't pull it out.

His face flushed as he pulled hard, but the garlic sprouts seemed to be stuck in the soil!

Xia Lunong said "Hey", wiped the sweat from his head, and pulled the garlic sprouts again with both hands, very unconvinced.

He used all his strength, and the veins on his neck were almost popping. Then he put his weight back and pulled for a long time, and heard a "pop" sound from his hand, and the garlic sprouts in his hand broke. He

didn't have time to retract his strength, and sat down on the ground, his body hit the plastic greenhouse, making a "bang" sound.

He subconsciously raised the half of the garlic sprout in his hand to look at it in front of his eyes, and he was completely stunned.

"Xiao Nong!" Xia Huoqu was the first to notice that he had fallen. He walked over quickly, lifted the plastic shed and poked his head in. "What happened?"

"What?" Xia Lunong quietly rubbed his numb buttocks, held up the half-broken garlic sprout in his hand to show his brother, and said depressedly: "Pull it out."

"It's okay, I'll do it." His brother took a look, came over, bent down, pinched the root of the broken garlic sprout, and gently pulled out the lower half.

Xia Lunong reached out to take it.

The root of the garlic was full of roots, a bunch of them, like a big brush head, with a lot of dirt on it.

Xia Lunong reached out to pick off the dirt and the roots on it.

"The roots can be eaten, too." Xia Huoqu stopped him and pointed at the garlic. "

Just remove the dirt." Xia Lunong looked at the large handful of roots and obediently stopped pulling out the roots, only removing the dirt.

Xia Huoqu bent down and looked at the garlic seedlings. He picked a relatively dense area, pulled up two thin garlic seedlings, handed them to his brother, and then went to the green vegetable garden in the corner to start pulling small green vegetables.

Xia Lunong walked over and saw that there were many insect eyes on the green vegetable seedlings, and in some places, only leaf veins were left after being gnawed by insects.

"Why are there so many insects?"

"Green vegetables are prone to insects. It's okay to plant them in a greenhouse, but if you plant them outside, the vegetables will be eaten by insects before people start eating them."

Xia Lunong observed his brother's movements and realized that picking green vegetables is just like picking garlic sprouts. You should pick the thin and dense green vegetables.

He imitated his brother and picked them clumsily, asking in confusion: "Why don't you pick the big ones?"

"They are all from the same batch of vegetable seedlings. The big ones are growing well and can grow a lot. The thin ones can't grow much."

Xia Lunong said "Oh" and asked in a low voice: "The cabbage is so big, and the small green vegetables are so small. Why don't you plant cabbage? Planting cabbage will cost more." "It

takes two months for the cabbage to grow, and the small green vegetables can be eaten in more than 20 days. Sometimes it's good to change the taste."

Xia Lunong suddenly realized.

He had only eaten boiled cabbage for a few meals, and now he was tired of it. Seeing the sour taste of cabbage, he wanted to change his taste.

His brother was very quick, and he had already picked a handful of green vegetables while talking. He looked up and said, "Let's go."

Xia Lunong straightened up and patted his sore lower back. With the corner of his eye, he saw his brother stretched out his hand and picked up something from the leaves. After throwing it on the ground and crushing it, he picked it up a few more times, trying to grab something in his hand.

Xia Lunong leaned over his brother's shoulder to look at his hand, "Brother, what do you have in your hand?"

Xia Huoqu opened his palm helplessly to show him, "Stink bug, that is, stink bug."

Xia Lunong quickly tilted his head back, hummed, and looked at the bug with disgust.

Soon, he found that something was wrong with the worm. He frowned and leaned back, "What's under the head of this worm?"

"It's also a head." Xia Huoqu showed him, "It's mutated."

"?!!"

Xia Lunong could see clearly that this worm actually had three heads!

A normal head grew in a normal position, and there was another head under the head near the back. The third head was on the left side of the second head. It was not fully grown and only had one eye, and the outline could be vaguely seen.

Xia Lunong had goosebumps all over his body, and a chill surged in his heart. He shuddered uncontrollably.

He murmured, "Why does it look like this?"

This worm can simply bring spiritual pollution!

Seeing him rubbing his arms, Xia Huoqu threw the insect to the ground and stomped it to death, saying, "It just looks ugly, but it's not poisonous."

Xia Lunong took a breath, "Do the wild animals outside also change like this?"

He now understood why everyone in the medical hospital said that after humans become beasts, they are very different from the real wild animals outside, and you can tell at a glance.

Who can't tell that a wild animal has a head, legs and feet?

Xia Huoqu said, "There are also some that are not so disgusting. Okay, hurry up and get out, we're waiting for lunch."

Xia Huoqu said "Oh", but his eyes kept looking down.

Liao Cheng saw that the two brothers didn't come out for a long time, and he had finished smoking and came over.

As soon as he entered the greenhouse, he saw Xia Lunong looked strange, and he couldn't help showing a surprised look, "What happened?"

"I saw some mutant insects."

"Has Xiao Nong never seen mutant insect beasts?" Liao Cheng quickly understood, "It's okay, the base has been combed several times, and there are people patrolling the top of the mountain every moment. The really fierce guys can't get in. Just be careful and don't get bitten or scratched."

Xia Lunong asked: "Then the beasts we eat-" "

I haven't gone out hunting for a few days, where can there be any beasts?" Liao Cheng reacted quickly and smiled, "Don't worry, it's all good meat. The beasts with several heads and several legs are too mutated, and generally people dare not eat them. They are poisonous."

Xia Lunong breathed a sigh of relief.

Liao Cheng smiled, "The meat we are going to eat was saved during the Chinese New Year. You know there is a big ice storage in the cafeteria? There is ice in the cafeteria cellar, and the meat and vegetables in it can be kept for half a year. The piece of meat I saved is stored in the cellar."

Xia Lunong could accept this.

Before the catastrophe, the things in the freezer of the refrigerator would sometimes be frozen for half a year.

Liao Cheng showed a greedy look, "Come to think of it, I still saved some chili peppers. Let's have a good meal today, with white rice."

Xia Huoqu continued, "We still have half a bag of rice at home. You go get the chili peppers and I'll get the rice."

Liao Cheng waved his hand, "No, no, I also have rice at home."

"Don't refuse, you provide the meat and we provide the rice, we can get a little advantage."

Liao Cheng refused several times but failed, and went home with a smile to get the chili peppers and seasoning.

Xia Huoqu took Xia Lunong home to get rice.

Xia Lunong was curious, "Brother, where is the rice at home? Why can't I see it?"

"The rice is tied to the quilt next to the pile of things hanging on the window of my room."

If there are many people in the base, they usually use the grain warehouse to store food. Like Xia Lunong, who has a small family and no stored food, they usually hang it under the ceiling to store it.

Ordinary dried fruits, snacks, seasonings, etc. are also hung up like this, which is ventilated and dust-proof, and more resistant to snakes, rats, insects and ants.

Xia Huoqu took down the rice, "We will send the rice to the canteen later. They will charge half a pound of rice for processing fees, and the rest will be converted into rice and bran for us."

After the rice is milled, two things can be obtained - rice and bran.

Rice can be eaten, and bran can sometimes fill the stomach, but most of the time it is used to feed livestock.

Xia Lunong's family did not raise anything, and most of the time they sent it to the market to exchange for something else.

Xia Lunong looked at this small bag of precious rice, and for the first time felt a little regretful, "Can't we grind the rice ourselves?"

There was a stone mill under the tree outside the canteen, so it was convenient to grind it ourselves.

Xia Huoqu held the rice in one hand, gently pushed his shoulder, and led him forward, "Grinding rice is time-consuming and laborious, it's not worth it."

Xia Lunong had to retract his regretful look.

They brothers went to the canteen first, exchanged the rice for rice, and immediately asked the canteen staff to cook white rice.

This also requires rice, and the rice soup has to be saved for the canteen.

Xia Lunong sat outside the kitchen, watching the canteen people wash rice and put the steamer.

The canteen basically provides 80% of the meals for the entire base. The firewood is burning very vigorously. After the rice is brought in for a while, a fragrant aroma of rice wafts out.

Xia Lunong sat a little outside the door, staring at the steamer without blinking, his throat rolling all the time, and he swallowed his saliva quietly. It

was the first time he had eaten white rice since he woke up in such a long time.

Before, he could only drink white rice porridge.

White rice smells so good, with such a fragrant smell, Xia Lunong could imagine the taste of putting the soft and boiling rice into his mouth and chewing it slowly before he even ate it.

He stared at the steamer with burning eyes, and even when Liao Cheng brought the seasoning and went to get a piece of meat with the people from the canteen, it failed to attract his attention.

The canteen was already open for lunch. People from the base came in groups of three or five with meal tickets and bowls to get their meals. When they saw Xia Lunong sitting at the door of the kitchen, they would at least look at him a little more.

Xia Lunong didn't care about other people's eyes at all. He sat on a wooden stool, twitching his nose and sniffing the aroma of rice wafting out of the kitchen. Even if he couldn't eat it, it would be good to smell it a few more times.

He was still sniffing the smell of rice, while the vegetables and meat had been cut in the kitchen and the stir-fried meat was started. As

soon as the oil was added, the garlic sprouts were stir-fried, and the chilies were fried, an overbearing fragrance wafted out, completely covering up the smell of the rice.

This was the first time Xia Lunong had smelled this smell since he woke up. The memory before the disaster was suddenly awakened, and he immediately stopped eating rice and watched the people in the kitchen start frying the meat with burning eyes.

The meat came out of the pot with a "sizzle". The rich aroma of garlic sprouts and chili peppers fried in soy sauce wafted out, spicy and fragrant. Xia Lunong couldn't bear to look away while coughing.

Liao Cheng sent him to sit at the door of the kitchen to supervise and prevent people in the kitchen from stealing food. He stood not far away and talked to Xia Huoqu while smoking.

Xia Huoqu chatted with him casually, his eyes were on his younger brother. Xia

Lunong had just woken up not long ago. When he was in a coma, in order to make it easier to take care of him, he had no hair and had his head shaved close to the scalp.

Now his hair hasn't grown much. He looks like a monk who has just returned to secular life. Without the modification of hair, and with a very fair and delicate face, he looks even younger.

Xia Huoqu felt sour.

Liao Cheng also noticed that Xia Huoqu had been looking at his brother, so he followed his line of sight and said with emotion, "Xiao Nong is quite well behaved."

"The less you worry, the more worried you are." Xia Huoqu smiled, "Thanks for your help today, let's have a drink later."

When Liao Cheng heard that there was wine, he patted his arm with a smile, "Good brother!"