Chapter 358: Chapter 343: Farming is a Profound Subject

Mr. Zhou was taken aback. If Gu Xi wasn’t going to support them, then who would?

’No one else has the resources...’

Just as Mr. Zhou was completely baffled, he saw Gu Xi gesture toward the surrounding ability users.

"They will," Gu Xi said softly.

Now that she had taken over City A, she certainly wouldn’t ignore the lives of its several hundred thousand survivors. But expecting her to feed an entire city by herself was absolutely impossible.

Gu Xi poked the small green sprout on her fingertip and smiled. Wielding Xidao, she had killed countless people; she was no naive, simple-minded saint.

Besides, when she was young, Li Ming often said, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

—If City A wanted to escape this chaotic situation and get back on its feet, it would have to rely on its own survivors.

Gu Xi stood up, dusted herself off, and walked toward the edge of the field.

A dark-skinned young man saw Gu Xi approaching. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and broke into a wide grin, showing off his pearly white teeth. "Miss Gu, take a look at the land I’ve tilled. Is it all right?"

Although he was a Level 6 Earth Ability user, he had grown up scrounging for food in a Scavenger Team. This was his first time learning to farm, so he had no idea if he’d tilled the land correctly.

The young man scratched his head, his youthful, energetic face showing a hint of embarrassment... and anticipation.

"Not bad at all." Gu Xi nodded, looking at the dozens of acres of newly tilled land.

The young man grinned, still a bit shy. "It’s all because Mr. Wei is a good teacher." If Mr. Wei hadn’t been there to guide him just now, he wouldn’t have known there was so much to tilling soil.

Gu Xi couldn’t help but recall the first time Wei Heng had helped her till her land. He hadn’t been so meticulous back then; his technique was all brute force. Fortunately, her ability was special and wasn’t demanding on the soil, so it had been barely usable.

Later... later, Mr. Zhao happened to see it and simply couldn’t stand to watch, so he took Wei Heng under his wing and tutored him for a few days.

Gu Xi couldn’t help but smile, remembering how Wei Heng would come home every day during that time, looking like his soul had left his body—his steps unsteady, his eyes glazed over, and all will to live gone.

’I really wish I could just drop all this damn trouble and go home early.’ She missed her farm, her orchard, and her little wooden cabin.

’Oh, right, and Da Hong with its flock of chicks and ducklings... I hope Lu Shiliu doesn’t mess them all up.’

Gu Xi looked down and opened a burlap sack. Qi Xiang walked over, glanced at the seeds inside, and asked in confusion, "Aren’t we planting sweet potatoes?"

Shen Yue sent word that the disaster areas are most in need of food right now.

In the apocalypse, high-yield, long-lasting, and versatile sweet potatoes were naturally the top choice for a staple crop.

"We’ll plant sweet potatoes later," Gu Xi said, picking a small bag of brown seeds from the large sack and handing it to Qi Xiang. "Let’s plant these first."

"What are these?" Qi Xiang opened the sealed bag, pinched a few seeds out, and looked up at Gu Xi with a slight frown. "Radishes?"

"Is there something wrong with radishes?" Gu Xi turned back, smiled at her, and asked.

Qi Xiang grew thoughtful and didn’t reply. The young man to the side, however, scratched his head and chuckled. "Radishes are great. It’s so hot, and they’re refreshing, quench your thirst, and fill you up..." ’And you don’t need firewood; you can eat them raw.’

’They just don’t taste very good.’

’But the seeds Miss Gu provides are different...’ The young man stared at the seeds in Gu Xi’s hands, his eyes full of anticipation.

Gu Xi handed the selected radish seeds to a Wood Element user standing nearby.

She was a world-weary-looking middle-aged woman who appeared to have farmed before, but...

The woman’s hands trembled as she accepted the radish seeds from Gu Xi. She hadn’t seen normal plant seeds in so many years, for so long that... it felt like a lifetime ago.

She looked up in disbelief at Gu Xi’s departing back. ’This Miss Gu... just handed such precious seeds over to me to plant? Just like that?’

For some reason, looking at the handful of radish seeds—so common before the apocalypse—made the woman’s eyes redden. But she quickly turned her head away, forcing her tears back.

Her eyes, now washed by tears, were no longer cloudy but had become much more resolute and bright.

Meanwhile, Gu Xi had already walked some distance away. She continued forward with Qi Xiang, inspecting the condition of the soil, selecting suitable crop seeds, and handing them to the Wood Element users around them to plant.

Farming was a profound science in itself.

If Gu Xi were planting them herself, she wouldn’t need to be picky about the field conditions. With her ability, no matter the type of soil, she could just scatter the seeds and brute-force it!

But it was different for others.

At times like this, Gu Xi was especially grateful to Mr. Zhao. If she hadn’t spent over half a year studying with those two professors back in South City, how would she know any of this?

Gu Xi walked on, instructing the other Wood Element users on how to rationally use their abilities for farming, while also occasionally asking for Qi Xiang’s opinion.

Qi Xiang had also been a student at the Agricultural University and had worked as an assistant in Mr. Zhao’s experimental fields for over a year, making her a semi-expert in this area.

At first, the ability users didn’t take Gu Xi’s words to heart. ’Could farming really help you cultivate your ability?’

’Besides, we’re Wood Element users. Farming is no big deal for us.’

But when they circulated their abilities to sprout the seeds according to Gu Xi’s instructions, they discovered...

The group was first startled, then overjoyed. The way they looked at Gu Xi was completely different now.

"Miss Gu, just now when I was circulating my ability as you said, I noticed... I noticed the speed of my ability’s circulation seems to have increased quite a bit?"

A round-faced girl among them was the first to react. She squeezed her way to the front of the crowd to humbly ask Gu Xi, "I’ve never encountered a situation like this before, so..."

She lowered her head, a little embarrassed, but quickly looked back up at Gu Xi.

Everyone knew what an increase in ability circulation speed meant. Her ability had been stuck at Level 3 for many years, and she thought she’d never have the chance to advance to an intermediate-level ability user in her lifetime. She never expected...

The surprise was too sudden. The round-faced girl looked at Gu Xi, nervous and thrilled.

Gu Xi gave her a slightly surprised look. ’This one’s a promising talent.’

A slender vine shot out from her fingertip, instantly wrapping around the round-faced girl’s wrist. Gu Xi looked up at the girl. "Circulate your ability again, let me see..."

The girl, her face beet red, circulated her ability again...

A minute later, Gu Xi smiled and congratulated her. "Congratulations, your ability is about to level up."

Hearing this, the round-faced girl was so excited she nearly fainted.

At that moment, someone else finally realized it too. "Miss Gu, when I was circulating my ability just now, I also noticed..."

"Miss Gu, could you take a look at me too..."

"Miss Gu, and me..."

"Miss Gu..."

WHOOSH! A large crowd of ability users surged forward, every one of them staring at Gu Xi with fervent eyes.

Gu Xi wasn’t in a hurry. She instructed them one by one, then distributed the crop seeds she had on hand.

Wei Heng and Qi Xiang stood by, maintaining order the whole time.

After the ability users dispersed, still wanting more, Qi Xiang noticed something unusual—the seeds Gu Xi had just handed out were the exact same crop seeds from Farm 0101 that had successfully undergone complete reverse evolution.

Qi Xiang was only able to remember this thanks to her Mr. Huo’s bragging yesterday.

Qi Xiang grew thoughtful. ’No wonder Gu Xiaoxi said not to rush planting the sweet potatoes...’

Thinking of this, Qi Xiang couldn’t help but glance at Gu Xi. ’She didn’t believe for a second that this was all a coincidence...’

Gu Xi put the remaining seeds back into her storage space and looked off into the distance.

Whether it was the Central Base or City A, what those people were fighting for was nothing more than power and profit.

But they had forgotten that in the apocalypse, food was the foundation of everything.

"Food is heaven to the people." That saying was more than just words, now more than ever.

That was why, from the very beginning, Gu Xi’s entire strategy revolved around farming.

It was just a pity that some people had stayed in the safety of their bases for too long. They had long been blinded by power and profit, thinking that solving the problem of X Energy in plants would fix everything, forever failing to realize what the real problem was...