Chapter 817: Jackpot! Jackpot!

"Has everyone heard?!" Tang Huai shouted excitedly in the lord channel, sharing big news. "The price of X-2 seeds has gone up to 8 points per seed!"

Zhao Ze was the first to come online and respond, "8 points? Oh my God!"

Kuang Qingwei also came online. "Brother Huai, is this the purchase price offered by Huiyi Wantong Company?"

Tang Huai replied, "Yes, they're buying X-2 seeds with a yi-element content above 5.7? and a qiang-element content below 4.1‰ at this price. Low-quality ones aren't wanted!"

Qi Fu was also thrilled. "Thanks to the new drug developed by Boss Fu, the price of X-2 seeds has quadrupled!"

The stability of Hui San's X-2 high-yi-element spinach seeds had already been verified through the promotional planting and qiang rain of the past few months.

Even so, the purchase price for the X-2 seeds about to be harvested was only 1 point per seed.

The reason it was so low was an iron rule of the market: rarity makes things precious.

Last year when Xia Qing and the others first arrived at the territory, green-light vegetable seeds sold for 20 points per seed. But by this spring, the green-light vegetable seeds that lords had planted in large quantities — like cucumber and tomato — had dropped to 1 point for 5–10 seeds.

This past February, when the base distributed X-2 for free, because these seeds were so rare and precious, even though trading them was strictly forbidden, people still secretly bought them at several hundred points per seed.

According to the official introduction at the time, the seed-setting rate of X-2 spinach female plants was 900–1000 seeds per plant, so everyone knew clearly that by the end of May, when the first batch of X-2 matured, these seeds would no longer be scarce and the price would surely drop sharply. So at the time, quite a few people secretly sold the seeds they had received for free at high prices, exchanging them for urgently needed supplies.

Yan Meng of Territory No. 14 did exactly this.

But no one expected that, just before the spinach seeds hit the market, Hui San Pharmaceutical Factory would drop a bombshell — the new drug developed by Boss Fu, a potion with downright monstrous effects called Nutrient Source — directly pushing the price of X-2 seeds up eightfold!

This price was enough to drive every person in Hui San Base who owned a female green-light spinach plant crazy.

"Thanks, Boss Fu." Lord Huo Lei chimed in immediately. Although he couldn't directly thank Third Brother, he had to make Third Brother feel his surging gratitude.

"Thanks, Boss Fu." Diehard fan Xia Qing immediately followed up.

Others rushed to thank him as well, and the most excited of all was Wen Nengjie. After thanking Boss Fu, he tearfully said, "Once I sell the spinach seeds, I can finally take a breather."

This past February, after Hui San Base publicly announced the development of the high-stability premium spinach seed X-2, it gave every safe-zone resident 5 X-2 seeds for free, lords got 100, and lords who had stayed in their territories to farm crops last winter got an extra 50 as a reward.

Although no one had openly discussed in the group chat how many spinach plants they had successfully grown, everyone had a rough idea. Because the base's farming knowledge broadcast reported the latest X-2 data in near real-time almost every day, and also introduced how to manage X-2 over the coming days based on the weather forecast.

Everyone had followed the cultivation methods introduced by the farming knowledge broadcast, planting their spinach seeds in the most fertile fields in their territories, using the best fertilizer and filtered water, and tending to them like they were serving an ancestor. So the spinach seeds in everyone's fields should all meet the quality requirements set by Wantong Company.

According to the broadcast, the germination rate of X-2 was 55%, with a female-to-male plant ratio of 1:1.

Among the lords in the Northern Zone 1 Territory 1–10 chat group, except for Lord Huo Lei who only arrived this spring, everyone had received 150 seeds. That meant each lord had roughly 40 female spinach plants, and at 950 seeds per plant, each lord could harvest spinach seeds.

Now Wantong's purchase price was 8 points per seed, meaning the seeds in each lord's field were worth thousand-point!

For lords who had worked hard farming all last year but could only barely break even, this number was of course enough to drive them crazy.

After thanking Boss Fu, Shi Du teased Wen Nengjie, "Brother Jie, that's quite a big breath you're taking."

A breath worth three hundred thousand points.

Wen Nengjie tearfully said, "I don't have much farming experience, so only a few spinach plants in my field set seeds, and even fewer meet the requirements, so I won't be able to sell for many points. In the second half of the year I still have to follow everyone and study hard. Getting rich and marrying an evolver wife — I'm counting entirely on X-2."

Wen Nengjie's words were full of hot air, but no one would expose him. The principle of not showing off one's wealth was understood by everyone, so after thanking the big shot, everyone followed up by complaining about their own incompetence, how they hadn't managed to grow X-2 well, and had wasted this get-rich opportunity the base had shoved into their hands.

Tang Huai, who had turned losses into profits thanks to bugs and high-yi-element spinach, could barely contain his excitement. Since he couldn't say how much money he'd made, he could at least gloat. "Those people who sold their spinach seeds must be stunned by now, ahahaha—"

Everyone knew he was talking about Yan Meng in Territory No. 14. Although they had switched to an encrypted channel, ordinary lords didn't dare openly mock an evolver lord right next to them. Yue Haiying came online. "Everyone, harvesting the seeds is just days away. We must strengthen patrols and absolutely cannot have anything go wrong at the last moment."

"Right!" Qi Fu said resolutely. "These past few days after the qiang rain, I've been sleeping in the fields with my gun in my arms."

"Me too." Shi Du chimed in. Anyone who came to steal his spinach seeds would have to fight him to the death.

Kuang Qingwei asked, "Xia Qing, are spinach seeds that explode when you pinch off a leaf the same quality as naturally matured spinach seeds?"

Although the farming broadcast said that spinach that explodes when you pinch a leaf meant the seeds were already mature, the lords still wanted to hear what Xia Qing had to say. Because Xia Qing was the first among them to grow green-light spinach, and she had the most experience.

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Although there's no detailed comparison data, I'm planning to harvest all the spinach seeds today, just to be safe."

On the surface, the place that grew the most X-2 in Hui San Base was the Planting Center, followed by Northern Zone 1 Territory.

Because Northern Zone 1 Territory had the most lords who stayed to farm last winter, the lords here received the most X-2 seeds in February. And during the second qiang rain, this area wasn't hit by qiang explosions, so the greenhouses were basically undamaged.

After the spinach seed price hike, there were bound to be people who were jealous and had crooked thoughts. Compared to the heavily guarded Planting Center in the safe zone, Northern Zone 1 Territory — guarded by only a single wire fence and fifty inspection team members — was clearly easier to breach.

So harvesting the spinach seeds before these people arrived was the wisest choice.

Hearing Xia Qing say this, Zhao Ze immediately chimed in. "Right! I'll harvest too, right now!"

Others followed in agreement, and the channel went quiet as everyone ran off to harvest spinach. Although they hadn't discussed it, the allies in the lord alliance all knew without saying: the spinach seeds in the hidden valley didn't need to be triggered — just let them mature naturally.

Because that place was hidden enough, and safe enough.

Tan Junjie posted an announcement in the lord channel: "All lords must take proper protection when harvesting seeds to avoid being injured by explosions. If there's an emergency, contact the inspection team immediately."

After Tan Junjie finished, Yang Jin, captain of the Azure Dragon Squad, came online. "All lords, I'm Yang Jin of the Azure Dragon Squad. On behalf of the squad alliance, I'm now announcing the alliance's purchase price for X-2."

"Seeds that meet Wantong's purchase standard are high-quality seeds, and we'll also buy them at 8 points per seed; seeds that don't meet Wantong's standard but are still high-yi-element green-light quality X-2 are medium-quality seeds, at 4 points per seed; high-quality spinach plants including roots and stems, 200 points per jin, medium-quality 100 points per jin. If anyone's interested, you can contact Hu Zifeng now, and we'll come to you for the purchase, points paid on the spot. If you don't want points, you can also choose to trade for supplies from the list provided by the squad alliance."