Chapter 1312: Hidden Valley Upgrade and Renovation

"... So, the Ninth Center will build a standardized greenhouse and a food storage warehouse this winter, to meet the needs of seedling cultivation and food storage."

Xia Qing swept her gaze over the allies seated around her—passing over her idol's bristling head, Xin Yu's pale face, Brother Luo's knife-sharp shoulders, and Little Tan Qi's well-behaved student posture—and continued, "The food storage warehouse built by the Ninth Center can rent out storage space to the lords of Northern District One at the same rates as Territory No. 1. Next year we can also offer everyone a small amount of rice seedlings, but the year after that we won't be able to. Because by then the Ninth Center's grain crop planting area will exceed 1,400 mu."

The lords who had already planted four crops of grain were basically no longer short of food, but the food gap for the residents of the safe zones was still shockingly large, so the Base Commander gave the five planting centers outside Hui-Three Safe Zone their assignments, and Yuehai Camp signed a "military pledge" when it attended the Agriculture Department meeting a few days ago.

The Ninth Planting Center—established earliest, with the most employees and the largest area—has a farmland reclamation target of 1,000 mu for next year.

This workload is no pressure at all for the Ninth Center's employees. Because in the past half year alone, the Ninth Center's employees have already reclaimed 630 mu of farmland.

According to the Ninth Center's development plan, the rice planting area will reach 450 mu by the spring of the year after next.

The Ninth Center's standardized greenhouse has an internal cultivation area of 1.5 mu. Even with three-tier seedling beds stacked vertically, the rice seedlings raised in a single batch can only meet the transplanting demand for 400–450 mu of paddy fields, so they can't be sold to outsiders.

After hearing Xia Qing's words, Zhao Ze and Kuang Qingwei both began silently calculating in their heads. Zhao Ze was figuring out how much building material, how much labor, and how long a construction period would be needed for a 1,000-mu greenhouse, a standardized climate room, and a food storage warehouse; Kuang Qingwei was calculating how much money the grain from 1,600 mu of farmland would be worth, and through which channels it could be sold.

Huo Zhun, sitting on a small stool in the back row, remarked with feeling, "So that means by this time next year, the Ninth Center will have surpassed Brother Luo and become the department with the largest farmland reclamation area in our Northern District One. Sure enough, there is strength in numbers."

Huo Lei, sitting in the front row, nodded, very satisfied with his son's comment, but when he turned and saw his slovenly sitting posture, his fists itched. Huo Zhun immediately straightened his back, placed his hands on his knees, and sat ramrod-straight.

Seeing this, Tang Huai, Zhu Li, and Shi Du couldn't help snickering.

Luo Pei, who had already begun treatment for the residual toxins in his body, felt light and easy, and said with a gentle smile, "We don't have to wait until this time next year. Under Third Brother and Xia Qing's leadership, the brothers of the Ninth Center will complete the task by June or July next year at the latest."

Luo Pei was also a veteran, and felt an instinctive kinship with the Ninth Center's employees. He was deeply grateful to Zhang San and Xia Qing for providing such job opportunities to veterans—especially those who had been injured or disabled in service.

Zhu Li said with a smile, "Brother Luo is being conservative. When the Ninth Center held its full mobilization meeting, the completion time they called out was four months."

Tang Huai was surprised, "Has Sister Li's hearing evolution level gone up?"

Zhang San gave Tang Huai—who looked like he was asking for a scolding—a disgusted look and said, "It's not her hearing that's evolved, it's your brain that's degenerated."

Zhang San's jab was spot-on; everyone snickered, and Tang Huai just gave an awkward grin.

The Ninth Center held its general meeting at a location near Territory No. 2, more than three thousand meters from Territory No. 6—already beyond the hearing range of top-tier hearing evolvers, unless they shouted.

Zhu Li explained, "When the Ninth Center held its meeting, I happened to be coming out of the Soil Research Department, so I heard it."

After the group bantered for a while, Xia Qing formally raised the first agenda item of the day: "Although our valley's climate conditions are excellent, we only use Yi Stones to drive out the Calamity Elements during the Calamity Rain Period, and the rice seedlings we raise are nearly 2 points lower in quality than those in standardized greenhouses. So, I propose we use the slack winter farming time to upgrade the Hidden Valley into a standardized greenhouse. Brother Zhao."

Zhao Ze immediately straightened his back and began to speak: "The Hidden Valley has an internal area of 3 mu. To convert it into a standardized greenhouse, we need to seal the gaps at the top and on both sides of the mountain walls, build a wall on the upper mountain to block water and falling rocks, and install an air filtration system. If we do the construction ourselves, the materials alone would cost 220,000."

Kuang Qingwei was astonished, "Only 220,000?"

Zhao Ze beamed, "Yes. We're riding the base's coattails—the officials handle centralized purchasing and unified transport, which saves us more than thirty thousand compared to buying on our own."

Zhang San spoke up, "The cost of upgrading the valley will be paid by Territory No. 7; you just supply the labor. After the upgrade, reserve one mu of land for me—I want to use it to grow medicinal herbs."

"Thank you, Third Brother."

"Third Brother, you're so generous."

"..."

Everyone thanked him in unison.

The Hidden Valley is located within the experimental zone of Territory No. 7, and the valley contains a laboratory and researchers from Territory No. 7. So that valley belongs to the big shot—when the big shot doesn't need it, he lends it to them; when the big shot needs it, of course he can take it back.

Tang Huai was especially excited, because he felt that publicly announcing the existence of the Hidden Valley was equivalent to publicly announcing the spring—after that, they wouldn't have to be secretive about fetching water.

Since no one had any objections, Xia Qing continued with the arrangements: "Once I harvest the sunflowers, I'll clear that one mu of land for Third Brother to use. The remaining 1.8 mu will be divided equally among our 11 territories. Does everyone agree?"

With this arrangement, Xia Qing was essentially returning the farmland to the big shot, while the other alliance members' cultivation areas would remain about the same as before. Tang Heng spoke up first, "My brother and I will take one share; Sister Qing takes two."

Luo Pei also spoke, "Territory No. 1 already has a standardized greenhouse, so my share also goes to Xia Qing. I'll just drop by to fetch some spring water when I have time."

Xin Yu stated briefly, "Same as Brother Luo."

The youngest lord, Tan Qi, also spoke up, "Once I've saved up enough points, I'll build a standardized greenhouse inside my own territory, so I won't have to use Third Brother's place to grow premium crops or keep the chicken coops."

The chickens in her territory that had already started laying eggs were Tan Qi's treasures, and during the Calamity Rain and Calamity Snow periods they would definitely have to be moved into the valley.

Zhang San's attitude toward the youngster was relatively mild. He tapped his skull before speaking, "Although the valley maintains a constant temperature, it still needs a ventilation system and an air filtration system installed. The cost of these systems and the greenhouse's routine maintenance will be shared according to each territory's occupied area."

"No problem, that's exactly how it should be done." Yuan Yan's face was full of excitement. "Once the rice seedlings are done next spring, I want to grow purple sweet potatoes and carrots in the valley."

Zhao's mother beamed, "We're thinking the same thing!"

Purple sweet potatoes and carrots are both Calamity-Element-sensitive plants and can only be grown inside standardized greenhouses that isolate the Calamity Elements. The lords only had to share the cost of the valley's air filtration and ventilation systems, so growing these crops was definitely not a losing proposition.

Xia Qing followed up, "I want to grow these two as well. Third Brother, do you have premium carrot seeds and purple sweet potatoes? Can we trade for them?"

Why are you planting so many carrots? To feed that fat sheep of yours?

Zhang San didn't roast her in front of everyone. He just nodded and said, "We can trade. You're excluded."

Tang Huai, who had just opened his mouth wide...