Chapter 29

“A rich harvest?”

Chen Haiping was flabbergasted.

Did Chief Tang not understand how agriculture worked, and believe that farming crops was very easy? Not even considering whether the crops would survive or not, by the time they ripened, the entire shelter would be dead from starvation.

But Chen Haiping concluded from Tang Yu’s confident expression that this wasn’t the case. When had the chief ever not been sure when he had this sort of face?

He felt a little dizzy.

“There’s no rush, no rush. Take me to where the crops were planted before.”

There was a gap between the eastern and western villa areas, and through the small path running down the center of this gap, one could reach a valley.

This was where the crops had originally been planted.

Other than the entrance, the valley was surrounded by steep mountain walls. Past this barrier of mountains was the mountain forest, but the terrain was so steep that it would be much easier for the demonized beasts to get over the walls than cross the mountains.

Thus, so long as the valley entrance was protected, this place was very safe.

It was no wonder Wang Tai had wanted to plant crops here.

He could see a plowed field, and there were still many crops growing in it.

But most of the plants had been crushed by the demonized beasts, and there were signs of chaos and disarray all over the place. Though Chen Haiping had already had someone clean up a little, the area was still a mess. This area didn’t get much sunlight, the soil had been lacking in nutrients, and there had also been no fertilizer. Growing crops here was a trial with these initial conditions, and now that the demonized beasts had been through here, these crops were essentially done for.

“There’s truly no saving these crops, but…”

He felt that this was truly an excellent area. A lack of nutrients and sunlight? The crops took too long to grow?

None of these were problems. It was fine as long as the location was safe—not just against demonized beasts, but against survivors as well.

In the future, once the crops matured, if they had been planted in some wide open area that was difficult to manage, Tang Yu couldn’t be sure that some survivors would not start harboring other motives.

He had never been one to underestimate the wicked nature of humanity.

So then…

It was now time.

Tang Yu chose an area, opened up the system menu, and scrolled down to the resource building list.

Chen Haiping followed the entire time with a concerned look on his face.

He didn’t understand what Chief Tang was going to do.

But the food problem could no longer be put off.

Suddenly, he saw Tang Yu’s expression turn grim, his eyes focusing on a messy area as he reached out his hand.

What was he…?

Chen Haiping’s heart trembled as he stared at that area.

A moment later, many pieces of wood flew into the air over the clearing, branches that had been scattered about as the demonized beasts ran rampant. Countless pieces of stone also converged, joining with the wood in forming a three-storey building that looked similar to a mill!

“This!!”

Even though this wasn’t his first time seeing this sort of sight, this was completely different from building walls.

The sight of walls rising from the ground was majestic, but walls didn’t have any sort of complicated shape. However, this was a mill, and the windmill on top of it was even covered in complicated inscriptions that he couldn’t understand.

Chen Haiping glanced at Tang Yu’s outstretched hands.

It was like…

These two hands…

Had transformed into a pair of giant, invisible hands that had sculpted this mill into existence.

And with incredible speed!

This ability was beyond his imagination.

It was a level that he could not even fathom.

Things did not stop once the mill had taken form.

That pair of giant, invisible hands swept over the ground, ripples spreading out from the mill that caused the soil to seethe. The craters and pockmarks were all smoothed out, and then furrows began to appear across the earth. In just a few moments, this area of land had changed from a disorderly mess into a plowed field.

Eight fields with a windmill in the center—this was the full form of the farm!

This development had taken place with the snap of a finger.

“The farm has completed construction, consuming 500 units of Origin Crystal, 150 units of Wood, and 50 units of Stone.”

He had gathered the stone and wood from the area.

For the cost of only 500 Origin Crystals, he was able to feed a hundred survivors, perhaps even more.

This was for the sake of long-term growth.

Overlord Tang felt that this was too cheap. He was a man with more than ten thousand Origin Crystals, and he felt that not building more would be a waste. He built two more farms to fill up the valley. Once the crops had ripened, the sight of that rich harvest would assuredly be magnificent to behold.

Habit was a powerful force.

After experiencing so many shocking things, Chen Haiping’s resistance to shock had also swelled.

Wasn’t it just constructing a building?

The world had already ended. Was there anything strange about some cheat ability that could construct buildings?

As the steward of the shelter, he was far more concerned with practical problems. “Chief, is there anything special about these fields?”

“The soil in these fields is infused with a special power. If it’s used to grow crops, they will easily thrive and even grow faster.

“As for speed…” Tang Yu pondered it for a few moments. “It should be ten times to several dozen times the normal rate. The exact speed will depend on the crop planted.”

In truth, he also didn’t get it and was just making everything up.

The farm’s purpose was to rapidly grow crops. As for the principle behind it, the changes to the soil… All he knew was that this wasn’t regular soil and that crops could mature very quickly in it. That was enough.

Was the rest important?

Tang Yu continued, “Anyway, have some survivors start planting crops here. This place’s soil is brimming with nutrients, so this should be rather easy work. You can assign survivors who have performed rather well.”

Chen Haiping nodded.

Even with his resistance to shock, he had almost been unable to take it.

Crops growing at ten to several dozen times their usual rate would be a fantasy before the apocalypse, and even now, it seemed absurd.

If this were anyone else, he wouldn’t have believed it.

But Chen Haiping had been around here for some time, and he understood that Tang Yu wouldn’t joke about something so important. He was currently estimating how much food these fields could provide to the shelter.

He quickly lost count.

Even if the growing speed was only ten-some times faster, these fields would provide more than enough food for the nearly one hundred survivors in the shelter. Even ten times the number of survivors wouldn’t present a problem.

And in the future, as the shelter grew larger and larger, and more and more survivors gathered, with fields like these, they would never have to worry about a lack of food.

If one farm wasn’t enough, they could build two, three, or even more.

It was no wonder that Chief Tang had always been confident about building a shelter.

In the past, Chen Haiping had only hoped to erect a small shelter, but after seeing Chief Tang easily erect walls and plow fields, he realized that there was even some hope of establishing a medium shelter consisting of tens of thousands of survivors.

This place had experts, walls, and food. In these aspects alone, this place far exceeded medium shelters.

The food problem that had weighed on his heart had been resolved, and Chen Haiping readied to call over two survivors he trusted to start planting crops.

He suddenly thought of something and frowned. “Chief, with more and more survivors gathering in the shelter, managing them has become somewhat problematic. The new Awakened in particular are unruly and difficult to control. If this is allowed to go on, they will inevitably start causing trouble.”