From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 104 - 96: Wasted

’Did something happen to the orchard?’

Gu Xi raised an eyebrow slightly.

But judging by Qi Xiang’s expression, that didn’t seem to be it.

After thinking for a moment, Gu Xi decided to go see the orchard for herself.

After crossing two small hills and entering the orchard’s perimeter, Gu Xi froze.

The orchard was now completely different from when she had left over a month ago. The small saplings had all grown into towering trees.

Many were even bearing fruit.

The growth was truly excellent.

It was just that... regardless of their original color, all the fruit had now turned pure black.

Clearly, the mutation coefficient was high.

No wonder Qi Xiang’s expression had been so peculiar when she mentioned this grove of trees.

However, that wasn’t what had made Gu Xi freeze.

—She could tell at a glance that someone had tampered with her orchard.

Gu Xi walked into the woods and raised her hand slightly. A black orange fell into it.

The little green sprout wrapped around it with a look of disgust... ’It’s the residual energy of a Zombie Crystal Core, no doubt about it.’

Gu Xi lowered her eyes, her brow furrowed slightly.

’So, the experiment in the NX1984 ruins failed, and now someone has turned their attention to my place?’

’They sure move fast.’

’But who could have buried Zombie Crystal Core Fragments in my orchard?’

Gu Xi’s first suspect was Zhou Jing.

But she quickly dismissed that possibility.

According to Wei Heng, Zhou Jing came here every day to take samples. If she were the one who did it, it would be like setting a trap for herself.

Zhou Jing wasn’t that stupid.

’Then...’

Catching sight of a patrol team walking toward her in the distance, Gu Xi’s heart stirred.

Before she left, patrol teams never wandered over to her area.

The leader of today’s patrol for this area, Mr. Liu, saw Gu Xi and hurried over to explain.

It turned out that the official farm was worried the fruit trees’ mutation coefficient was too high and they might turn malignant at any moment, so they had the patrols check on them every few days.

After thanking him, Gu Xi looked up at the fruit hanging on the trees.

These fruits were definitely inedible now, which was a bit of a waste.

’But...’ Recalling Mr. Zhao’s "reversal of extremes" theory, Gu Xi turned and headed for the experimental fields.

Mr. Zhao was very happy to see her back safely and hurried out of his lab.

After hearing Gu Xi’s reason for visiting, Mr. Zhao wasn’t surprised at all.

Although he had been busy with regenerative rice recently, Zhou Jing had been tasked with taking samples from the orchard almost daily, so Mr. Zhao was well aware of the situation there.

He had even gone to see it himself several times before and had already formed some initial ideas.

It was just that with Gu Xi gone, many experiments couldn’t be completed, so things had been delayed.

Now that he heard Gu Xi had the same idea, Mr. Zhao didn’t hesitate. He called for Yang Chi, told him to grab the equipment, and went with Gu Xi to the orchard.

Left behind in the lab, Zhou Jing’s face was calm, showing no hint of anything unusual. After a long moment, she finally looked up at the three figures walking away, her eyes darkening slightly.

’I was the one in charge of sampling for that orchard project. Now that it’s about to yield results, Mr. Zhao only called for Yang Chi...’

Zhou Jing pushed up the cold frames of her glasses on her nose and lowered her eyes slightly.

Just then, a hushed exclamation came from another lab assistant in the adjacent hallway, followed by the faint sound of Qi Xiang’s slightly boastful voice.

But because she was too far away, Zhou Jing couldn’t hear clearly. She only caught vague words like... grain, base leader.

Zhou Jing’s heart stirred. She turned and pretended to casually pass by the next hallway, poking her head in with a smile. "What are you all talking about? I could hear you from a mile away. Good thing both professors are out, or you’d be in for a scolding..."

The few lab assistants gathered around Qi Xiang just smiled and said nothing.

But Qi Xiang mentioned it casually, "It’s nothing. A while ago, didn’t Gu Xi meet a middleman who buys grain? The guy is a real operator. He heard our base is getting a new leader, so he sought out Gu Xi..."

Zhou Jing pretended to be curious and used it as an excuse to linger.

She wanted to ask for more details, but she glanced at the others standing around... ’They’re all colleagues; who’s fooling whom?’

Zhou Jing lowered her gaze and said nothing.

It was better to wait for someone else to take the lead and ask the questions.

If she were the one to ask, she might arouse Qi Xiang’s suspicion.

After all, she had gone to great lengths to coax this Miss Qi into treating her like a best friend.

It wasn’t worth the risk for something like this.

However, no one present was a fool.

The matter involved a change in the base’s high-level leadership and "the one next door." Although everyone present was very interested, they were also wary of each other. No one dared to ask for details in front of the others.

As for Qi Xiang, she seemed to look down on the middleman. She only mentioned him briefly before naturally changing the subject.

Soon, this news spread like wildfire through the official farm’s private group chats.

Some were envious, some were genuinely sour, some didn’t care, and others were plotting something...

Countless messages surged in the dark, secretly spreading to unknown places.

And even more people started seeking out Qi Xiang privately to ask for information.

Qi Xiang couldn’t fend them all off, so she simply turned off her personal terminal and dragged Zhou Jing to the cafeteria.

"Don’t you think those people are annoying?" Miss Qi curled her lip in a sneer. Grabbing her plastic bestie, she said in a low, cold tone, "What does it have to do with them whether or not Gu Xi can connect with the new base leader? It’s none of their damn business."

"It’s nothing, really. It’s only normal for people to be curious about this sort of thing." Zhou Jing smiled, pursing her lips, and comforted her in a low voice, "Don’t let it bother you. It’s because you and Gu Xi are so close, right?"

Qi Xiang pouted. "I just can’t stand their jealous faces... I mean, with Gu Xi’s farming skills..."

Zhou Jing smiled and began to subtly pry for information from Qi Xiang. "Speaking of which, Gu Xi really is lucky..."

...

On the way to the orchard, Mr. Zhao also asked Gu Xi about her trip to the Southwest.

Gu Xi shared some of the more interesting parts, then subtly began to change the subject. She asked, seemingly casually, "By the way, I haven’t seen Mr. Zhang since I got back."

"You mean Zhang," Mr. Zhao said with a chuckle. "He went back to the Central Base to report on his work..."

"Oh, I see..." Gu Xi smiled as if she had only asked in passing, then quickly changed the subject again as if nothing were amiss:

"Professor, I saw seeds for Drought Rice No. 1 in the Southwest this time. It gave me quite a shock. I thought there had been a security breach and the seeds had been stolen. It was only later that I learned they were shipped from the Central Base..."

"They’ve already started promoting Drought Rice No. 1 in the Southwest?" Mr. Zhao was indeed very interested in this. "The Abnormal Ability Research Institute recently confirmed it. The stability of Drought Rice No. 1 is guaranteed for five generations..."

He paused for a moment, then added as if it were an afterthought, "Actually, that’s also why Zhang went back to the Central Base this time..."

Seeing Gu Xi look up at him in confusion, Mr. Zhao explained in detail, "As you know, all seeds distributed by the base now must pass through the hands of the Healing System. The Healing System is an indispensable part of stability testing..."

Gu Xi nodded, listening intently. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Soon, the three of them arrived at Gu Xi’s orchard.

Mr. Zhao looked at the pitch-black fruit on the trees and stopped his idle chatter. Instead, he stared up at them, his brow furrowed slightly.

’These fruits...’

At the side, Yang Chi opened the toolbox he was carrying and got busy.

Gu Xi discreetly pulled her hand back from her personal terminal and stepped forward. "Professor, what do you think? Can my orchard be saved?"

"It’s hard to say." Mr. Zhao’s expression was grave. He had just come to inspect it a few days ago. Although the orchard’s mutation coefficient was high and the fruit was black back then, it felt distinctly different to him now.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly was different.

But he had lived through the darkest period of the apocalypse; his experience was incomparable to that of today’s youngsters.

Mr. Zhao waved, signaling for Yang Chi to bring over some containers...

Off to the side, Gu Xi frowned. Her eyes swept over the patrol team passing by again in the distance as she muttered under her breath, "And I was thinking of waiting until the new base leader takes office..."