Chapter 415: Binding the Child-Bearing System to Become a Winner in Life Chapter 416: Wasteland Gathering Daily Life (44)

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Shen Yao

They lined up to exit the base, driving along the wide road heading due west.

They did not stop at the Pomelo Grove because the best harvesting time had passed; the pomelos here had long been tested by who knows how many people, and they still wanted to take advantage of the situation to pick up bargains? The odds of winning were extremely low.

"Let's go to a farther Autumn Jujube Grove; there's always a swarm of bees over there, and even base personnel dare not go there easily." They had protective suits and bamboo gear in their space; putting on a layer themselves would allow them to go in and feel around.

As for Manman in her arms, she could be temporarily placed in the car or carried close to her body; surely she wouldn't let the child suffer.

Cheng Qi did not refute this, but silently pressed the accelerator under his feet, speeding up.

The car's roar was louder than ordinary vehicles; they drove along, unsurprisingly attracting people all around to look up and watch.

However, situations like just now were too common at Base No. 25; many people glanced and then withdrew their gaze. Compared to these pictures that couldn't be eaten or drunk, they cared more about today's harvesting results.

There were only half a month left; ordinary people in the Slum District desperately tried to save more money, whether they could successfully move into the Outer District of the base or buy an electric heater or electric blanket, all could increase their probability of surviving the Cold Season.

Day after day, year after year.

Most ordinary people struggled and persevered so hard; perhaps their lives were not worth paying attention to, and their fates were not worth singing praises for, but the greatness of life lay in everyone's uniqueness—who could dominate whose fate?

The car drove for about half an hour, and the people and vehicles around them became fewer and fewer.

Until jujube trees bearing red and green autumn jujubes appeared in their sight; the car beneath them slowly stopped, and the family got out.

There was no place to park around, because jujube trees were everywhere.

The jujube trees here were very tall, with relatively few leaves; instead, the red and green autumn jujubes hung all over the branches, even bending the tree trunks downward.

Occasionally, a few figures could be seen wearing all kinds of sealed clothes collecting autumn jujubes under the jujube trees around; sometimes they waved their arms as if dancing, but actually they were slapping the annoying bees.

The two first put on the protective suits they had taken out in advance; Manman was handed over to Cheng Qi to be fully responsible, while Shen Yao mainly took care of herself.

"Don't go too far; check the information on your wristwatch. The farther in you go, the more bees there are, and besides, the bees in this season no longer produce honey."

On the contrary, they treated this place as their home, recklessly attacking any creatures that came here, whether human or beast—none could escape the fate of being fiercely stung by bees.

However, after the Cold Season came the Mild Season; this place would again be a harvesting treasure land that everyone at the base was willing to come to.

At that time, the jujube trees would bloom, bees would collect honey, and many huge beehives full of honey would appear here. As long as some could be cut down and taken back to the base, they could be exchanged for many points and very delicious honey.

Although Shen Yao's space stored quite a bit of honey, the jujube flower honey here was different from mixed honey; even the taste upon entry was quite distinct.

Qian Eldest Sister-in-law said that jujube flower honey brewed from mutated jujube flowers was very effective for Gene Awakeners.

Even every year, bloody incidents occurred here; the base's Mercenary Teams, regardless of size, would all come at the same time to harvest honey, even if their heads were covered in stings, it was considered worth it.

"Next year's Mild Season, no matter what, we must come again," Shen Yao muttered softly. After carefully wrapping her head covering well, she and Cheng Qi entered the jujube grove before them along the path.

After entering, everything visible was autumn jujubes; the slender oval autumn jujubes, after mutation, were thumb-sized, densely and heavily hanging on the branches.

Because the shipment rate of mutated autumn jujubes was low, even though there were many autumn jujubes here, those who actually came to pick them were still a minority at the base.

No other reason—it simply wasn't cost-effective; one also had to factor in the base's purchase price and the medical costs of accidentally being stung or attacked.

Shen Yao and Cheng Qi had a space; when harvesting, they basically put one outside and threw two or three into the space.

And because Shen Yao could have the system help her cheat with detection, although her speed couldn't compare to the Gene Awakener Cheng Qi, in quality she was far ahead; basically every single one was low- to medium-mutation autumn jujube.

They planned to take them all back home to test them; although troublesome, this way they could pick more.

Relying only on the points right before their eyes, after storing rice, flour, oil, and grain for the Cold Season, things were already tight, after all, the Cold Season's duration was slowly lengthening.

Besides, they also had to account for the Gene Awakener's food consumption far exceeding that of ordinary people; they certainly couldn't really do things according to the base's lowest standard. Otherwise, after staying for five months, when they came out they'd still have rosy complexions and luster, strong and healthy bodies without damage—obvious giveaway to the naked eye!

Swish swish swish—

Shen Yao guarded the green jujubes, and incidentally slapped the palm-sized bugs onto the ground.

This was a type of bug common on jujube trees; its body was covered with hairs that could make human skin red, swollen, and painful. It had a bad temper and was full of aggression.

The protective suit Shen Yao wore was silver-white and did not completely fit the curves of her body. This caused such bugs to crawl all over both sides of her legs; even shaking them onto the ground couldn't reduce it much.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao frowned and sighed, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't step on these bugs to death, because the smell naturally carried by the bugs' bodies would make them attack people around them crazily. The original itchiness turned into slapping, and Shen Yao wasn't so idle as to have nothing to do.

Going around the gathering of bugs before her, Shen Yao found a new spot to continue working.

One by one, the autumn jujubes with full flesh were put into the back basket and the space. Shen Yao was busy until a timid voice came from beside her.

Huh?

Turning her head to look, it was a person dressed in a strange and bizarre manner, whose figure could roughly be judged as female.

The other person stood somewhat uneasily before her (probably uneasy; covered from head to toe, one really couldn't see any facial expressions).

"Something the matter?" Shen Yao asked aloud. Her hands didn't stop moving; she continued picking autumn jujubes and putting them into the back basket. It was just that while she distractedly paid attention to the person beside her, the autumn jujubes she picked were no longer low- to medium-mutation ones; occasionally a few high-mutation ones were mixed in, and she'd have to pick them out later.

"I just want to ask you, do you still want these Green Thorn Moths?"

Green Thorn Moths? Shen Yao followed the other person's movement and looked down, only seeing those palm-sized bugs (so bugs had scientific names too; she remembered the common name of this bug was widely spread, and modern people called them Ocean Chili).

"No. If you want to collect them, be careful yourself." Mutated Green Thorn Moths could withstand blows and were a well-known tyrant in the jujube grove.

Compared to them, even the buzzing bees flying back and forth weren't disliked anymore.

Low- to medium-mutation Green Thorn Moths could be eaten and were even high-protein good things. It was just that before eating, the hairs on their bodies needed to be cleaned off well, and the risk of being stung was higher than with bees.

The person who came to ask clearly hadn't expected Shen Yao to be so easy to talk to. After all, not everyone came for autumn jujubes with low shipment rates; more came for this mouthful that could supplement protein—the Green Thorn Moths.

Bug meat wasn't different from other meat; it could all fill the belly.

Thanking Shen Yao repeatedly and gratefully, that person carefully opened the bag they had brought. After opening it, they didn't forget to collect all the Green Thorn Moths on the ground into it and tie it up.

The bag was densely packed with this kind of bug, making people who saw it involuntarily feel their scalps go numb.

Shen Yao couldn't help but subconsciously walk forward a distance, also leaving some empty space for the person behind her.

Alright, this made the other party even more grateful. While working, they chattered on about things in the jujube grove, including which area of autumn jujubes had a high shipment rate, and which area's autumn jujubes tasted the sweetest and best.

Shen Yao:... No need.

Shen Yao's actions were merely to cover their tracks; in reality, relying on the supplies in their space was enough to get through the current cold season.

Besides, in two days Cheng Qi would go on a mission with the Qian Family Mercenary Team, and most of the time they would get some meat as harvest.

By then, combined with the points they earned from selling, the supplies in the Exchange Center were theirs to pick from at will.

She had already earmarked several large items, just waiting to sell off these goods.

Shen Yao tidied up the few autumn dates she had picked by hand; the bright red color covered large parts of the date bodies, like red agate in modern society.

Pat pat—

The autumn dates were placed in the back basket and accumulated; Shen Yao picked dates at will amidst low-level mutations, and around her it was as if a boundary array had been laid, which no one could break.

By noon, the two adults could get by with nutrient agents, but Manman couldn't; children needed more meticulous and patient care.

The two had to pause harvesting, turn around, and return to the car parked outside the Cao Lin.

She took off her protective suit directly, and didn't forget to clean up the various marks stuck to the protective suit (mostly insects).

Shen Yao used the car as cover, took out the lunch she had stored in her space earlier, and the family of three each held bowls and chopsticks, eating heartily.

After eating and drinking their fill, Manman, who had leaned against Cheng Qi's chest for half a day, was tired; she gave a small yawn, tilted her head, closed her eyes, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Shen Yao and Cheng Qi used the car's shade to rest for a while; as for the autumn dates they had picked, they were all put in the trunk and locked up for storage.

"Keep picking some this afternoon, head home early today, I can still go to the Exchange Center to get some staple food back."

The main grain crops of Base No. 25 were also rice, white flour, corn, and sweet potatoes; the difference from Dawn Base was probably that Base No. 25 had the traits of a major base, so corresponding purchases had no limits.

Here, as long as you had money, you could buy as much as you wanted; no one would ask, and there would be no monthly limits—who let Base No. 25 be surrounded by high-yield rice and wheat areas? Not only did the base not lack grain, but ordinary families who were a bit hardworking also didn't lack grain.

This also led to the main grain varieties of Base No. 25 not being able to fetch a price; even in the mild season, staple food was cheap enough to be discounted.

Cheng Qi had been constantly buying grain from the Exchange Center these past few days.

Like normal rice and flour, there were also brown rice and mixed grains, and even other crops; as long as the Exchange Center had them for sale, Cheng Qi would spend points to buy a large cartload and bring it back to store at home.

Now the storage room at home was already piled full, expanding toward the sundries room.

As for the items originally in the sundries room, they were moved to the more spacious studio.

Cheng Qi and Shen Yao also had the idea of building a simple shed in the Small Courtyard, just waiting until next year's mild season to make the place for storing things larger.

"If the Exchange Center sells nutrient agents, buy some and keep them secretly in reserve."

The space's preservation couldn't keep them from spoiling; besides, Base No. 25's nutrient agents were far superior to Dawn Base's—not only were the raw materials excellent, but the nutritional ratios were too.

At Dawn Base it was something they had to eat; placed here, it was a rare good thing.

Cheng Qi made an agreeing sound and nodded, following him as he pushed open the car door and left.

Not long after Cheng Qi left, Manman woke up; Shen Yao put on her protective suit again, took Manman along to join in the date-picking liveliness.

The afternoon was shorter than the morning; the two picked about two hemp sacks of dates before leaving in a hurry.

They hurried back to the base in over half an hour; Shen Yao sent Manman back to the crib to coax her to sleep, while she and Cheng Qi each carried a stool to sit at the doorway and inspect the several hemp sacks of autumn dates they had brought back.

Cheng Qi expressed wonder: "The shipment volume of autumn dates is very high."

Basically, two or three dates would have one with low-level mutation, while others got one out of ten or eight; it was truly unbelievable.

Shen Yao casually made up an excuse: "Maybe the place we found is good, and not many people go there."

Cheng Qi nodded and didn't continue speaking; whether he believed this explanation or not was unknown.

Soon, the two measured out one hemp sack of edible autumn dates; Cheng Qi stood up and shook it, planning to send it to the Exchange Center for purchase and then exchange it for staple food to bring back.

Shen Yao waved her hand, signaling Cheng Qi to go quickly and return quickly; if the Exchange Center had any other small trinkets, as long as they didn't waste too many points, they could be bought back.

Cheng Qi shook his head helplessly, thinking that if the things at the Exchange Center weren't practical, they wouldn't be put out for sale; it wasn't like some private stores that sold nothing but flashy and impractical things.

Essentially, Base No. 25 and Dawn Base were both diligent and responsible in some basic daily maintenance; the Exchange Center faced mostly ordinary people of the base, so the items sold were also considered for the majority, not some extremely special small minority.

Cheng Qi drove away in the car; as soon as he turned his head, Shen Yao had the system give her a cheat.

Checking them one by one by hand was too much trouble; just do a one-click activation. Fortunately, the system had this ability, and she could save some energy to do other things.

System:...

What could the system do? It didn't dare to resist; who let itself be in the wrong?

Finishing the task at hand in a few seconds with a wronged expression, the system turned around and disappeared.

Shen Yao didn't care about the system's childish tantrum; she sent the edible autumn dates into the sundries room, and bagged the inedible ones to stand outside waiting for processing.

As for how to process them? Just haul them to City Outside and dump them somewhere; if the environment of the chosen place was suitable, they might sprout and grow small date trees by next year, but then a new Cao Lin would form inside.

Otherwise, why would the Cao Lin area they collected today be so large? They all grew like this bit by bit, and there were even traces of human planting.

Such a life of picking dates to sell for points and buy supplies passed for another two days.

Until Cheng Qi received news from the money house here; early in the morning he drove to the Qian Family Mercenary Team, and Shen Yao and her daughter could finally rest for a while.