Kapitel 4: Chapter 2 The Farm

The location was chosen by Xue Dong and Li Pan together; the road was relatively long, and all the surrounding farms were quite a distance from the base. Over the past few days, they had successively transported all the superpower users and their families who had registered for pioneering work to the area.

The farm they chose was a natural valley, quite large, approximately spanning over a thousand acres of land, including a very large lake. Part of it was wasteland, while the rest consisted of hillsides and forestland.

This place used to be a farm, but it was abandoned after the disaster struck. The base sent teams to clear out the mutant animals, and the mutant plants inside posed no threat.

These mutant plants evolved in two directions: the normal direction which resulted in edible and useful plants, and the abnormal direction which produced inedible and useless plants.

Normal variant plants were quite valuable, for example, medicinal materials had stronger medicinal effects and could heal diseases and save lives; fruits that developed other outstanding effects were edible, and such plants and spiritual objects were extremely expensive, only obtainable through contribution points.

However, the vast majority of mutant plants were reversely mutated, some being poisonous.

This farm had both a good location and environment, and as a middle-level superpower user and the team leader, Xue Dong had made arrangements in advance to reserve this piece of land specifically for himself.

Being a natural valley made the farm easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as large mutant beasts didn't appear, there generally wouldn't be any major problems.

Inside was a very large lake, which ensured there would be no shortage of water for farming. There were also some fruit orchards and woodlands on the mountain that could be developed later.

The farm was designated as No. 8 Farm and was currently owned by Li Pan alone.

After driving for more than four hours, they finally arrived at the destination. At the entrance of the farm, they saw a signboard with white background and red lettering, No. 8 Farm.

After getting out of the car, Xue Dong and Li Pan advised, "You wait here now. We'll go in and see if there's any danger. If there's none, we'll drive the vehicles inside."

"Okay."

Li Pan nodded obediently. She had never been on a battlefield, was not good at fighting, and therefore should not go in and weigh them down.

After a while, three people came out and said, "No problem, let's go. The place is very spacious."

They drove the car in and found a spot to park it properly.

Xue Dong led Li Pan further inside, pointing to the lake, "That's the lake, you see, its area is quite large, and in the future, water will not be short. That area can be cleared for farming."

"Mhm, we can plant rice close to the water source, and plant corn and wheat further away. Vegetables will go on the east side."

"Alright, Brother Zhao, let's start by clearing the grass."

Xue Dong used points to exchange for prefab houses for her, and after pestering the military base leaders, they sent two prefab houses totaling six rooms. For now, this was suitable for temporary living, but they would need to build proper houses later because prefab houses were not sturdy. A disaster could uproot trees and carry them away in a strong wind.

The prefab houses were easy to assemble, starting with clearing a patch of ground. The grass here grew taller than Li Pan, resembling a green gauze tent. Despite her being 1.7 meters tall, if she went inside, she would disappear from sight.

The three of them put down their things and immediately started working. Zhao Quan took Li Pan's belongings out of the space and set them aside. He, together with Qin Jianzhong and Xue Dong, were responsible for clearing the grass from where the prefab houses would be and then building them.

Carrying a basket on her back and a tub in her hands and armed with tools, Li Pan went to the lakeside. She found a spot to start the land reclamation and put on gloves before taking out a sickle to start working.

She had done all kinds of dirty and hard work in the base, her physical condition had been greatly enhanced by her Wood Power, and her strength was considerable, not conceding much to men. Otherwise, why would she be able to win the planting zone rewards from the base every year?

Only by exceeding the planting targets and ranking in the top three for the harvest yield could one win the rewards.

She was very familiar with all these farming tasks, and her actions were very efficient.

The grass cut down would be piled up and burnt later; grass ash had many uses and could also serve as fertilizer for the soil.

Wood Power played a significant role in planting. As long as it didn't contravene natural laws and maintained a bit of superpower daily to keep the plants vigorous, the harvest would not be less than the high yields before the disaster, and sometimes it could even match them.

However, relying solely on superpower to hasten growth meant it was a one-time deal, and the plants couldn't be cultivated a second time—too much is as bad as too little.

If planted in the soil and nurtured daily with superpower, the plants could grow exceptionally well.

This time, in order to clear the land, she had only two hundred contribution points left. She could only exchange for small items, and mostly traded for seeds.

Rice, upland rice, wheat, corn, barley, sorghum, soybeans, red beans, mung beans, and various vegetables, as well as potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins—these were essentials. Lettuce and several other green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, scallions, red and green peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes of green, red, and white—all different kinds of vegetables were basically exchanged.

Xue Dong's Contribution points were used to exchange for big items, such as the board houses and subsequent construction of farm dwellings. She planned to raise poultry and plant fruit trees in the future; this poultry and livestock would provide meat, and a breeding area needed to be built for them.

The manure would serve as the main fertilizer for the land, which also needed to be nourished.

Xue Dong had more Contribution points than her, and taking advantage of the land clearing, Li Pan was among the first batch of workers. She pestered the leaders for extra benefits, saving half the points on building materials and having specialized builders at her disposal. Earth Power users were particularly skilled in this area.

She didn't exchange for poultry and fruit trees this time, planning to do so later. The current priority was to clear the land and get the crops planted.

She bundled up the weeds with vines and tossed them aside, planning to gather a pile to burn later. The ashes, being potash fertilizer, would also make excellent fertilizer—especially since these mutated weeds were growing exceptionally well.

While weeding, she discovered Stevia, a sugary grass with medicinal properties.

Li Pan grabbed the grass and used her superpower to feel it; it was a positive mutation. Diuretic, clearing heat, reducing fevers, and lowering blood pressure—it was a valuable find.

Looking up and observing closely, she saw the area in front of her was mostly Stevia with some other weeds growing robustly—a vast expanse of Stevia that could produce more than a little sugar.

She grinned happily and laughed out loud. It seemed like good fortune was on her side, having hit the jackpot on her first entry.

Her Wood Power was excellent for detecting the direction of plant mutations and their medicinal values, and she had always been very accurate. Previously, she hadn't had much use for it back at base since Xue Dong wouldn't let her venture into the wilderness—it was too dangerous. But now, she could finally make use of her abilities.

After bundling the cut grass, she continued mowing until she startled some birds into flying. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be pheasants.

Li Pan set down her tools and grabbed a weed, channeling her superpower through it. The weed instantly grew taller and, like a serpent, wrapped around the flying pheasant, trapping it. While not good at hunting, catching a few pheasants with her powers was easy. She casually used the weeds to tie the birds' feet.

These pheasants were Mutant Beasts, just domestic poultry that had mutated. They could fly a bit higher than before but weren't significantly more dangerous. Because they hadn't been hunted in years, they were somewhat docile and easy to capture.

"Nice, we've got meat for dinner today."

She set the pheasants aside and returned to her previous spot to check again, finding several pheasant eggs. It was an unexpected delight.

She carefully picked up the eggs and placed them in the basket she had brought.

She left the bundled pheasants by a pile of rocks. Mutant Beasts were typically large; each of these pheasants weighed about fifteen pounds.

She mowed another acre of grass, including some Stevia, mainly for burning later to make wood ash.

During this time, she found more than twenty pheasant eggs and caught a few more pheasants to bring back.

Checking the time, it was about time to eat. On the way here, the three of them had eaten just steamed buns and pickles for lunch.

Carrying her harvest, she headed back and saw the other three working together, having already cleared the grass. Xue Dong was a Fire Power superpower user; he chose the simplest approach—mowing the grass first and then using fire.

He had almost completely burned it in one go, while Zhao Quan used a hoe to pull out the roots, letting Xue Dong burn them a second time. Qin Jianzhong, on the other hand, used his Wind Power to lift the boards for easy assembly.

Now the board house was already built. It was a quick assembly, and the strength of a superpower user meant one could do the work of three, making the work fast and efficient.

"Do you need my help?"

"Just place the kitchen supplies in the far room of the board house, and you can start cooking. We're almost done with the last room."

"Alright, I caught some pheasants and found eggs. We've got meat for dinner."

Li Pan excitedly waved the pheasants in her hand to show the others.

"Wow, girl, you're pretty lucky. Doing a bit of work and already snagging some meat."

Qin Jianzhong chuckled heartily.

"We'll have eggs for breakfast tomorrow, and I've also got some prepared vegetables."

Saying so, Li Pan went into the house to organize the kitchenware and prepare to start cooking.

They had put together a metal stove in the house, with a counter made of wooden boards and frames. They hadn't had the time to build a larger outdoor stove yet, so until after dinner, they would make do with the old stove she usually used.

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