From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 44 - 41: South City Base

It turned out the fruit seeds Mr. Zhao had applied for a while back had been approved!

To Gu Xi’s surprise, the higher-ups had approved every single type of fruit seed Mr. Zhao applied for.

Of course, the credit didn’t belong to Mr. Zhao alone. Shen Yue and Xv Yiyisan had also pulled some strings behind the scenes...

Even Wei Heng had gone to see Ye Junhan... Gu Xi just didn’t know about any of this.

"Have the seeds arrived yet?" she asked Shen Yue, tilting her head.

Shen Yue noticed that the young woman’s eyes lit up the moment she mentioned fruit seeds. ’A kindred spirit,’ he thought.

He wasn’t a picky eater himself and liked anything that was tasty, but Gu Xi seemed to have a particular fondness for fruit.

Shen Yue squatted down next to her and said with a smile, "Not that fast. The seeds are still at the South City base right now. They’ll probably be sent over with the supplies in a few days..."

But Gu Xi didn’t want to wait even one more day.

Lately, besides watermelon, the only thing she had to satisfy her cravings was the occasional tomato. Now that the fruit seeds she’d been waiting for were finally here, how could Gu Xi possibly wait any longer?

She decided to go straight to the South City base to pick them up herself.

Wei Heng recalled the young woman’s simple and blunt shopping style from their last trip back to the camp—not even bothering to ask for prices. After a moment’s thought, he tactfully suggested, "It’s not that we can’t go to the South City base, but making a trip just for that would be a waste of fuel. How about we plant another batch of watermelons instead?"

"Okay." Gu Xi thought for a moment and said, "But we won’t plant watermelons. This time, we’ll sell sweet potatoes."

In the current climate, very few people could afford watermelons.

But sweet potatoes were a different story.

As a staple food, most families—unless they were so poor they couldn’t even fill their pots—would probably be willing to spend a little extra for a few pounds of sweet potatoes with a lower mutation coefficient to improve their meals...

Gu Xi wasn’t a saint. She couldn’t save everyone on her own.

But she didn’t mind doing a little extra within her capabilities.

Besides, it was all the same to her what she planted.

No sooner said than done. Wei Heng was already on the farming vehicle.

The two sisters from the Qin Family were also called over by Shen Yue to help.

Clearly, everyone was eager to eat... all the different kinds of fruit grown by Gu Xi’s own hands.

The group divided the labor and worked together. Soon, sweet potatoes covered the entire hillside.

Wei Heng had already driven the large truck over, and the Qin Family sisters were squatting on the ground, gathering sweet potatoes.

Shen Yue walked over to Gu Xi and stared at the sweet potatoes in the field, his brow furrowed slightly. "These sweet potatoes... Gu Xiaoxi, are you sure you want to take these to the South City base?"

Shen Yue bent down, picked up a sweet potato, and turned his head to look at Gu Xi.

The mutation coefficient of these sweet potatoes was even lower than the previous batches.

In Shen Yue’s opinion, it was almost frighteningly low.

"We have to try," Gu Xi said, bending down to gather the sweet potatoes from the ground into a basket.

She knew, of course, that in this post-apocalyptic world, these sweet potatoes would attract covetous eyes and even malicious schemes the moment they appeared...

But in the current situation, simply keeping a low profile and avoiding trouble wasn’t a solution.

She had to find another way.

Shen Yue raised an eyebrow, tossed the sweet potato in his hand into her basket, and asked casually, "Have you ever thought about farming exclusively for the military?"

’If nothing else, I can at least guarantee Gu Xi’s safety,’ he thought. ’As for any other trouble... for the sake of these sweet potatoes, the old man would probably be more than happy to help shoulder the burden.’

"Thank you, but that’s not necessary." Gu Xi had the ability to protect herself, but there was no need to explain that to others.

She lifted a basket of sweet potatoes, poured them into the truck, and deliberately changed the subject. "Once we’re at the base, where do I get the seeds? Do I need a letter of proof from the professors?"

After all, the fruit seeds had been applied for under the name of Mr. Zhao’s lab.

Shen Yue stared at her for a moment before replying, "Go to the base’s logistics department. There’s a section there that manages seeds. As for everything else, you don’t need to worry about it."

He activated his personal terminal and gestured with it, clearly having prepared in advance. "I’ve already taken care of all the procedures on my end. You can just go straight there..."

"Okay, thanks a lot." Gu Xi pulled open the passenger side door and got right in.

Wei Heng walked around to the other side of the truck and said to Shen Yue, who had followed him, "Want to come with?"

"I’d love to." Shen Yue sighed. "But I have a mountain of things to deal with here. How can I get away? Have Qin Yi go with you."

Qin Yi used her ability to wash her hands, shook off the water droplets, and had already climbed into the passenger side.

Both young women were slim and slender, so they could fit, albeit snugly.

Wei Heng nodded. Just as he was about to step on the gas, Shen Yue suddenly pressed one hand on the truck door and reached the other through the window, stopping him.

Wei Heng raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked up. "Is there something else?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Shen Yue stared at him for a long moment. Convinced that Wei Heng truly didn’t get it, he had no choice but to hold out his hand again. "Give me the key to the kitchen... You guys are going to be gone for two or three days. Am I, the poor soul left to watch the house, supposed to starve?"

Wei Heng’s mouth twitched. ’...’ ’Watch the house? You say that like it’s your place.’

With a deadpan expression, he pressed the key firmly into the other man’s palm. Wei Heng then slammed his foot on the gas, and the large truck sped off across the wild, grassy field.

Gu Xi opened the window. The wind rushed in, carrying the unique scent of mutant plants—a bit fishy, but not unpleasant.

Looking back through the window, Gu Xi’s gaze fell on the distant metal-sheet house. In that instant, she suddenly felt... a sense of attachment to a home?

The feeling was foreign and had come out of nowhere.

But Gu Xi found she unexpectedly liked it.

’From now on,’ she thought, ’I have a home too.’

...

At 3:30 in the morning, after more than ten hours of bumping along on the road, the truck stopped outside the main gate of the South City base.

Unlike the pitch-black silence she had imagined, the South City base was brightly lit and bustling with noise at 3:30 a.m.

"They have a morning market here," Wei Heng explained when he saw Gu Xi’s surprised expression.

After opening his personal terminal and verifying his identity, Wei Heng drove the truck into the South City base.

In the distance, Gu Xi saw a massive sheltered area. This was probably the morning market Wei Heng had mentioned.

Since it was still early, Wei Heng and Gu Xi discussed their plan and decided to head to the trading market first. They would pick up the seeds after selling the sweet potatoes.

The morning market at the South City base was huge and lively, with a constant stream of people coming and going. In addition to the free market, there was also an official procurement window.

Wei Heng drove the truck directly to the official procurement window.

After getting out, he immediately found a staff member. What followed was sample testing for the mutation coefficient, weighing, and payment processing...

Gu Xi watched from the side for a while. When they told Wei Heng to go settle the payment, she asked in surprise, "Is that it? You don’t even negotiate the price?"

Wei Heng explained, "Grains are different from vegetables and fruits. The base’s procurement prices are standardized. The price varies depending on the mutation coefficient..."

So, once the mutation coefficient was determined, the price was essentially set.

His explanation made it clear to Gu Xi.

Even though times were tough, grain prices were still centrally controlled by the state. This was necessary to maintain stability and support the livelihood of the people in the major bases.

Gu Xi took another stroll through the free market area and realized she still didn’t understand this world, thirty years in the future, well enough.

While the food crisis had made life difficult, the prices of other goods were actually quite normal, as they were regulated by the state. For instance, necessities like clothing weren’t abundant in the market, but they weren’t scarce either.

It wasn’t like thirty years ago, when such daily necessities were extremely scarce.

Gu Xi observed that the entire trading market was orderly. The prices weren’t expensive, and private transactions were allowed, but the base had purchase limits, so people couldn’t buy things as freely as they did before the apocalypse.

Inside the market, a number of garrisoned personnel were also patrolling to maintain order...

Soon, Wei Heng finished settling the bill and walked over. "Let’s go. We might have sold the sweet potatoes for a bit of a loss, but the price was still decent."

Gu Xi found the logic in that statement a bit off. If the price was decent, how could it be a loss?