Chapter 453: Apocalypse Trading System (25)

From the entrance of the residential complex to their home, there were still five or six hundred meters, with an artificial lake five mu in size separating them.

By the lakeside was a fitness trail surrounded by a wooden fence, with common flowers and trees like willows, peach trees, and bougainvillea planted along the path.

Because it hadn't rained recently, the water level of the artificial lake had dropped quite a bit compared to before.

But for Zhong Yuling and her daughter, who hadn't washed their faces or bathed in several days and had been skimping on drinking water, not daring to drink much, it was more exciting than seeing a mountain of gold.

So much water!

How long had it been since they saw a water source not contaminated by Zombies?

"Mom! There's not only clean water in the lake, but also lotus flowers! So beautiful!"

"Yes! It's truly beautiful here!"

The mother and daughter's joyful conversation caught the attention of Xie Yang's family.

Lotus flowers?

There were no lotus flowers in this lake!

They had been living here for several days; how could they not know?

They couldn't help but look up.

At this look—

Whoa!

There really were lotus flowers!

And they were blooming June lotuses at that!

But it was clearly already September!

"Mom!"

Xie Yan saw a familiar figure from afar and rubbed his forehead: "It must be Mom who planted them. But where did she get lotus seeds? Did you give them to her, Yang Yang?"

"No."

Xie Yang shook her head.

She had given Ms. Yu a bag of seeds, but they were all vegetable and melon seeds bought on the Trading Platform; the only flower and plant seeds she bought were thorny ones, like roses, thorny vines, and cacti.

She remembered never buying purely ornamental flowers like lotuses.

At this moment, Yu Baozhi, who had been admiring the fruits of her labor after a busy half-day by the lake, heard the commotion. She looked up, saw her family's Recreational Vehicle had returned, and walked over with a smile to meet everyone.

"How is it! Has this lake become even more beautiful?"

"Mom, where did you find the lotus seeds?"

"I found them yesterday while clearing the Overpass. I remember telling you about that van from the flower and bird market; it had several large storage bins inside, and one of them was full of small packets of seeds, including quite a few aquatic plant seeds. Besides lotus seeds, there were also arrowhead, water caltrop, and water bamboo; I've planted them all. Do you want to taste them? I'll force-grow a few pounds."

Only after she said this did everyone notice that there were leaves of aquatic crops different from the lotus by the lakeside, which were likely the arrowhead, water caltrop, and water bamboo.

After Yu Baozhi planted these seeds, she force-grew them to their optimal ornamental state; harvesting the roots and stems now would be a matter of minutes.

In just a few breaths, she fished a bundle of water bamboo, a cluster of arrowhead, and a large handful of water caltrop out of the water, and finished by pulling up several fat lotus roots, each segment as long as an adult's arm, not to mention picking plenty of lotus seed pods.

Everyone: "!!!"

The Xie Family and Qin Tao: Wood Ability is truly useful!

Zhong Yuling and her daughter: What a magical ability!

That evening, the group gathered in the Xie Family's living room and had a sumptuous lotus pond feast—

Sweet and sour appetizing water caltrops; nutritious and refreshing stir-fried water bamboo with edamame; braised pork with arrowhead as the main dish; and a lotus pond stir-fry made with snow peas, black fungus, lotus root slices, and carrot slices.

The dessert after the meal was lotus seed sago soup.

For this lotus pond feast, let alone since the apocalypse, even before the apocalypse, it wouldn't have been easy to gather so many varieties of fresh lotus pond vegetables for a single meal.

Everyone ate quite contentedly.

After the meal, Yu Baozhi helped Zhong Yuling and her daughter tidy up the Heyuan on the east side.

From then on, the Zhong mother and daughter would also live here, and their neighbors had increased by one household.

"I see that the mother and daughter don't have many supplies, just one backpack in total, and inside there are only some crushed biscuits and flour cakes. I'm thinking of planting things in all the empty spaces in the residential complex, what do you all think?"

After returning, Yu Baozhi shared her thoughts with her husband and children.

The family of four held a short meeting around this topic:

"I think your mom's idea is good." Xie Yongcheng was the first to express his stance, "We can't finish eating what we grow in our courtyard, but every time we take it to give to them, it's troublesome, and secondly, if it happens too often, they either feel a psychological burden or take it for granted. It would be better to clear out the green spaces in the complex and plant some hunger-resistant sweet potatoes, Potatoes, and pumpkins; we can plant moisture-loving vegetables by the lake. During this time, they can also help out when they have time, weeding and catching bugs; that's better than just waiting for others to give them handouts."

Xie Yan and Xie Yang had no objections; as long as Ms. Yu didn't feel tired, they would certainly support her.

As for whether the residential landscaping would look out of place because of this... it was the apocalypse, after all; compared to flowers and plants that looked good but were useless, a courtyard full of melons, vegetables, and grain would definitely make people feel more secure!

Thus, in the following days, Xie Yang and her brother took Qin Tao and Zhong Xiaoshi out to continue clearing Zombies, while also collecting Zombie Ash and supplies.

Yu Baozhi began to drastically renovate the green areas in the residential complex.

Xie Yongcheng stayed behind to help.

The couple divided the work: one was responsible for clearing the bushes and green belts, while the other dug up all the trees in the complex by the roots and transported them to the perimeter wall, planting a circle along the inside of the complex's wall.

Under Yu Baozhi's forced growth, these trees grew several meters taller, their branches interlacing to form a natural protective barrier.

She also selected a few robust thorny bushes and transplanted them to the other three entrances of the complex that were not frequently used; after force-growing them, she blocked the entrances into jungles filled with thorns.

The remaining bushes and soft flowers and plants were transported to the middle of the empty space in the complex to be dried into firewood for future use.

The plant ash after burning could also be used to disinfect the soil and make compost.

Seeing that Yu Baozhi and her husband were busy without a moment to rest, Zhong Yuling came over to ask if there was anything she could help with.

Yu Baozhi had her help dig holes and sow seeds.

Once the soaked seeds were in the soil, she would use the Plant Domestication Technique to force-grow them; with a division of labor, the efficiency was higher.

One week later—

The Recreational Vehicle rescued a few more people.

It was precisely the survival squad that Xie Yang had saved when she first left the Foreign Trade Building, the one with the pregnant woman who had gone into premature labor.

As the Recreational Vehicle drove into the residential compound, the squad members were stunned into speechlessness.

"Is, is this a residential compound?"

Why does it look like a botanical garden!

Flowers and plants all over the ground... wait, wait, wait! They aren't flowers or plants! They are melons!

Melons of all different colors and shapes—

Jade-colored honeydew melons the size of soccer balls!

Golden-yellow cantaloupes the size of basketballs!

Dark green striped Watermelons the size of washbasins!

Bright yellow pumpkins the size of cartwheels!

Winter melons covered in white frost that were even bigger than diesel barrels!

The street trees weren't ordinary trees either! They were actually Corn trees!

Each Corn tree had at least twenty ears of Corn hanging from it!

"!!!"

Goodness! Is this scientific?

The survival squad had eight people in total... oh no, now it should be nine, including a little baby born in the first week of the apocalypse.

Because of this child, they hadn't dared to risk going to the Safe Base, staying hidden in that very first shop, using the deodorizer Xie Yang had given them to survive right under the noses of the Zombies.

Until the deodorizer ran out and their compressed biscuits and water were bottoming out, rather than wait for death, they decided to take a risk—to carry the child and head for the Safe Base.

But the little baby didn't know any better, and after being held uncomfortably, it began to whimper, attracting nearby Zombies.

If Xie Yang hadn't left behind a "Little Bee" and rushed over to save them after discovering the situation was dire, today would have been the end for all nine of them, big and small.