From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 117 - 108: Bread and Milk Are the Official Pairing
The wheat harvest was a great success.
So Wei Heng cooked a large pot of dough drop soup. ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐ท๐๐ฟ๐๐ต.๐๐๐
Shen Yue asked Gu Xi while wolfing down his food, "Did Zhou Jing come looking for you today?"
Gu Xi nodded. Wei Heng was a skilled cook. The dough drop soup looked simple, but paired with the homemade pickled radishes, it was incredibly appetizing.
"What did Zhou Jing want to talk about?" Qi Xiang looked up as well.
She always felt that Zhou Jing was a gloomy girl. โEven her smile seems fake, like sheโs wearing a dozen masks.โ
Gu Xi held her bowl, blew on the surface to cool it, and said slowly, "She came to persuade me to cooperate with the faction behind her..."
"Which faction?" Shen Yue looked up, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"She didnโt say, but she left a contact number." Gu Xi took out the note Zhou Jing had left and handed it to Shen Yue.
Shen Yue casually wiped his mouth and took the note. "Iโll have Yang Chi look into it."
Zhou Jingโs background was complicated. The contact number sheโd tossed out was likely just bait, a lure to draw them into a trap set by someone else.
Gu Xi nodded and then asked Qi Xiang, "How have things been with Mr. Zhang?" Sheโd been cooped up at home, wrestling with her thesis for the past few days, and hadnโt paid much attention to the experimental fields.
โBut Zhou Jing is Mr. Zhangโs assistant now. I wonder if her visit today has anything to do with him.โ
Qi Xiang put down her bowl and shook her head. "Nothing unusual. But he seems very concerned about your thesis progress; heโs asked me about it several times in the last few days. Of course, Mr. Zhao has asked, too..."
Gu Xi: "..."
She suddenly lost her appetite.
Gu Xi decisively changed the subject away from her thesis. She looked up at Shen Yue. "Howโs the investigation into the livestock station going?" Ever since the incident, they hadnโt been able to contact Lu Shiliu.
Gu Xi was worried something had happened.
Shen Yue frowned slightly. "I asked my old man. He said itโs a bit complicated and told us not to go poking around."
Wei Heng looked up at him, unconvinced. "And you really didnโt pry?"
"As if." Shen Yue crossed his legs and leaned back lazily. He rubbed his belly, which had become a bit too round from the meal, and said nonchalantly, "I had Yang Chi start digging from the Central Baseโs side..."
Gu Xi and the others all looked up at him in unison.
Not feeling his abs, Shen Yueโs expression flickered with shock for a moment. He then discreetly sucked in a sharp breath before continuing nonchalantly:
"Itโs complicated. The militaryโs stance is firm, but the baseโs leadership... Anyway, itโs become a game of chess among the higher-ups now. There probably wonโt be a resolution anytime soon."
"However," he looked up at Gu Xi, "the Abnormal Ability Research Institute, against the militaryโs objections, forcibly requisitioned the footage of the incident at No. 003 Grand Canyon while itโs still classified. They claim they want to study the cause of the mutant plantโs mutation."
Gu Xi nodded without a word.
โThose people forcing their way to see the footage... Itโs probably not just about studying the plantโs mutation,โ she thought. โMore likely, itโs about those boxes they salvaged from the water.โ
Shen Yue suddenly activated his personal terminal and turned the Light Screen to face Gu Xi. "Take a look. Which one do you like?"
The Light Screen displayed images of various models of superpower weapons.
It even showed a Superpower Gun, a weapon normally issued only to the military.
Gu Xi quickly scanned the options before looking up at Shen Yue. "?"
"Gu Xiaoxi," Shen Yue said gravely, rubbing his chin with a sigh. "Iโve discovered youโre a natural-born trouble magnetโdisaster follows you everywhere. So, I pulled some strings through my old man to get you a superpower weapon for self-defense."
He pointed at the images, his chin tilted up slightly. "Pick whichever one you like."
Though Gu Xi had no idea who Conan was, she got the gist of what Shen Yue was saying. Pointing to the Superpower Gun on the screen, she asked, "Can I pick this one? Will it cause any trouble for your father?"
"Not a chance," Shen Yue said with a wave of his hand. "My old man is usually the picture of selfless impartiality, but when he heard it was to arm you, he was ready to break out the military districtโs most prized possessions."
โGiven the old manโs enthusiasm, Shen Yue was starting to suspect Gu Xi might be his actual biological daughter.โ
โAfter all, the old man had never shown this much concern for him, the son heโd supposedly picked up from a garbage heap.โ
"But," Shen Yue thought for a moment before adding a reminder, "this type of Superpower Gun is powerful, but it requires a Crystal Core to fire. So they wonโt give you many shots at onceโfive at most. Basically, use them sparingly."
Gu Xi nodded. โThe ammo shouldnโt be a problem,โ she thought. โI can probably get more from Lu Chenyuan.โ
โBesides, I wonโt need to use it often. I only chose it because a Superpower Gun can act as a good cover for me in front of other people...โ
...
The custom oven Wei Heng had ordered arrived soon after.
That very evening, everyone was enjoying delicious, fragrant bread.
Wei Hengโs cooking was truly excellent. After devouring seven or eight large bread rolls in a row, Qi Xiang collapsed languidly onto a recliner. She rubbed her round belly and let out a contented sigh.
Perhaps it was because the moonlight was so beautiful that night, but Qi Xiang suddenly thought of something.
She tilted her head to look at Gu Xi next to her. "Gu Xiaoxi, now that we have bread, shouldnโt we get some milk on the agenda too?"
โI think I heard someone on a food forum say that before the apocalypse, bread and milk were the ultimate classic combo!โ
Qi Xiang licked her lips. โI wonder what pre-apocalypse milk even tasted like.โ
The mention of milk made Gu Xi think of the color-changing dairy cows she had seen at the livestock station...
โI wonder how Lu Shiliu is doing now.โ
Shen Yue leaned in as well. He glanced at Gu Xi and offered some reassurance. "Donโt worry, Lu Shiliu will be fine. The military is quarantining him right now, but itโs actually a way of protecting him."
Gu Xi had figured as much, but not being able to see or contact him still left her feeling uneasy.
She worried that Lu Shiliu was alone and vulnerable, afraid he might become a sacrificial pawn in the power games of the higher-ups...
โAnd then thereโs Lu Chenyuanโs situation...โ
Shen Yue glanced at her and subtly changed the subject. "A few of the dairy cows at the militaryโs farm are about to give birth, probably within the next few days..."
Gu Xiโs interest was immediately piqued, and she exchanged a glance with Qi Xiang.
There was no time like the present.
That very night, Shen Yue drove Gu Xi and Qi Xiang to a military cattle farm on the outskirts of the Heng Mountain Range.
After several hours on bumpy roads, they finally arrived at dawn.
This cattle farm was massive, far larger than the livestock station where Lu Shiliu had worked. It had several hundred staff members and, in addition to the breeding zone, was equipped with living quarters, recreational areas, a medical office, and more.
The perimeter, it was said, was guarded by a reinforced battalion.
The man in charge of receiving them, Mr. Qian, turned out to be an old acquaintance of Shen Yueโs.
After the two men exchanged greetings, Mr. Qian walked over to Gu Xi. He gave her a very serious military salute, then broke into a grin like a fox that had just snuck into the henhouse. "Miss Gu, weโre so grateful you could come. Would you like to rest for a bit, or..."
It turned out that besides selecting dairy cows, Gu Xi had also accepted a planting mission.
Mr. Qian, naturally, was overjoyed.
After all, the grain Gu Xi had grown for the military in the past was of such high quality and limited quantity that it was almost all prioritized for front-line troops.
Second-line units like Mr. Qianโs, responsible only for the safe harvesting of Crystal Cores from mutant animals, were basically never in the running for a share.
Now, they had finally managed to get Gu Xi to visit in person... In fact, the moment heโd received the news the previous night, Mr. Qian had been too antsy to sit still. He had immediately taken his men out to start clearing new farmland overnight!
When Gu Xi learned that all the preparations had already been made, she simply asked Mr. Qian to lead the way.
After the group had left, a staff member with a buzz cut muttered to his colleague, "Who was that? Why did Mr. Qian himself come out to greet them?"
"You donโt know?" his colleague replied, giving him a surprised look.
"Nope. I was stuck working overtime all night," the young man with the buzz cut said curiously. "Whatโs going on? Was it an inspection from the top brass?"
"Not exactly. The โthatโ is Miss Gu. And because of that, you see..." The colleague gestured to the large crowd of onlookers that had gathered. "They probably all came to get a glimpse of her..."
The young man with the buzz cut stared blankly for a second before another passing colleague leaned in. "Itโs really her? The legendary young lady whoโs said to have fed more than half our entire military district?"
The first colleague nodded. "Thatโs her."
The newcomer looked annoyed. "If Iโd known, I wouldnโt have worked overtime last night..."
The group chatted for a few more moments before dispersing.
But the young man with the buzz cut suddenly turned back, his gaze following the direction Gu Xi and the others had gone...
