The Dawn Cruise had a large population, so its daily food consumption was enormous!
Even the captain was reduced to drinking watery gruel; the other survivors had it even worse.
In contrast, Ren Yuanyang’s group ate much better. For breakfast, they had porridge, not the watery gruel where you could barely see a grain of rice.
After the three of them finished breakfast, Ren Yuanyang retrieved all the bitter grass stolons. Various items were tangled up in them.
Xin Wan had brought a full eight stalks of bitter grass yesterday. Ren Yuanyang had strengthened them all before putting them in the water. With these new recruits, the efficiency of scavenging items had increased significantly!
Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan came over together to sort through the items caught by the bitter grass.
"Is this bitter grass really that amazing?"
Although Xin Wan knew the bitter grass could entangle items in the water and bring them back, she was still a little surprised to see it in action.
"Of course. This is strengthened flora, after all!" Lu Jiamei replied as if it were obvious.
Xin Wan nodded in agreement.
While Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan sorted the items, Ren Yuanyang continued to strengthen the bitter grass until he exhausted his Mental Energy.
He was training his Mental Energy this way, hoping to raise his maximum capacity as quickly as possible.
Only by strengthening the Iron Melon Tree one more time could Ren Yuanyang feel at ease.
"Boss, come take a look at this!" Lu Jiamei’s voice came from the container’s entrance.
Ren Yuanyang immediately walked out of the container. Lu Jiamei was holding five dark brown, perfectly round objects that looked like some kind of plant seeds.
Ren Yuanyang took them, and a system prompt sounded at the same time.
[Iron Melon Seeds detected. Strengthen?]
Hearing the prompt, Ren Yuanyang froze for a moment. He browsed the detailed information and immediately became delighted.
It turned out these Iron Melon Seeds were left behind by the Iron Melon that had exploded yesterday.
The system prompt had actually mentioned this, but Ren Yuanyang hadn’t paid attention before.
’Strengthen growth speed!’ Ren Yuanyang thought to himself.
[Insufficient Mental Energy. Please try again later.]
Ren Yuanyang paused, then shook his head helplessly. He had just completely drained his Mental Energy, so of course he couldn’t strengthen these seeds.
Seeing Ren Yuanyang shake his head, Lu Jiamei asked curiously, "Boss, what are these?"
"Seeds from an Iron Melon Tree," Ren Yuanyang explained with a smile.
"Huh?" Lu Jiamei was stunned. "How can there be Iron Melon Tree seeds in the water?"
"Didn’t you just throw one out last night?" Ren Yuanyang replied.
Lu Jiamei froze again, then pointed to the nearby Iron Melon and asked, "You mean the seeds from the Iron Melon I threw yesterday?"
Ren Yuanyang nodded. "That’s actually one of the ways the Iron Melon spreads its seeds."
Lu Jiamei had a sudden realization and hurriedly asked, "Doesn’t that mean we can grow a lot of Iron Melon Trees?"
"Theoretically, yes. But we need time, or Mental Energy," Ren Yuanyang replied.
Growing a seed into a mature tree naturally takes time. If they wanted to speed up the growth, Ren Yuanyang would need to use his Mental Energy to strengthen it.
"Then you’d better hurry up and increase your Mental Energy. We don’t know the first thing about planting or maintaining an Iron Melon Tree!" Lu Jiamei said, throwing her hands up.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "You’re right. From now on, we need to recover the seeds whenever we use an Iron Melon."
Just then, Xin Wan suddenly said, "Boss, it looks like another survivor is approaching!"
Hearing this, Ren Yuanyang and Lu Jiamei immediately went to the top of the container.
"Which direction?" Ren Yuanyang asked in a low voice.
"Ahead and to the left!" Xin Wan replied, pointing.
Lu Jiamei immediately grabbed an Iron Melon and stared in the direction Xin Wan was pointing.
Visibility was slightly better during the day. Ren Yuanyang soon spotted a person sitting on a wooden plank, paddling furiously.
"Boss, looks like it’s just one person. Should we engage?" Lu Jiamei put down the Iron Melon in her hand and pulled out her pistol.
Ren Yuanyang shook his head slightly. "Since it’s just one person, they’re most likely here to trade. Let’s see if he has anything good first."
If he could get other survivors to help him find plants, it would be much more efficient than searching themselves. Of course, he’d have to be careful about how he went about it, so as not to attract the attention of the large ships.
In that respect, Black Dragon had ended up being a free publicist for them.
"You there! Stop approaching and maintain a safe distance!" Ren Yuanyang shouted.
The person stopped at once and shouted back, "Hello, Sir! I saw in the regional channel that someone said you could trade trees for food here, so I came to take a look. Please, Sir, don’t misunderstand!"
Ren Yuanyang raised an eyebrow. "You found a mature tree too?"
"No, I only found two saplings. I don’t even know what kind they are. Would you be willing to take them?" The person immediately picked up two thin saplings next to him and gestured with them toward Ren Yuanyang.
"Saplings need to be nurtured slowly. Their value is much lower," Ren Yuanyang replied.
"I understand that! I’m just hoping to trade for a bite to eat. Anything will do!" The person’s tone was urgent.
"Two Cannibal Fish. If you agree, we can trade immediately," Ren Yuanyang replied after a moment’s thought.
"I agree!" the person answered without the slightest hesitation. Then he added, "Thank you, Sir! I know these two saplings aren’t worth much. I’ll consider myself in your debt. I’ll definitely repay you in the future!"
Hearing this, Ren Yuanyang was hit by another wave of that cringey chuunibyou vibe.
’It can’t be that much of a coincidence, can it?’ Ren Yuanyang muttered.
Lu Jiamei asked curiously from the side, "What’s a coincidence?"
Ren Yuanyang didn’t answer Lu Jiamei. Instead, he called out, "Tattooed Haonan?"
The person was clearly taken aback, then asked in surprise, "How do you know my ID?"
"It really is you. You owe me two favors now!" Ren Yuanyang replied with a laugh.
Tattooed Haonan froze again before it dawned on him. "You’re Boss Taoyuan Yang!"
"I’m surprised you remember," Ren Yuanyang said, nodding with a slight smile.
"I, Haonan, am a man of my word! Of course I remember who I owe a favor to!" Tattooed Haonan shot back immediately.
Ren Yuanyang’s lip twitched. He was speechless. ’This damned chuunibyou act!’
Lu Jiamei was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected Ren Yuanyang to run into someone he knew.
"Get two Cannibal Fish ready and send them over to him in a plastic bucket," Ren Yuanyang ordered.
"Yes, Boss!" Lu Jiamei turned and left. She prepared the Cannibal Fish and pushed the bucket toward the man.
When the plastic bucket floated over to Tattooed Haonan’s plank, he took out the two fish and put the two saplings inside. Then he shouted, "They’re in! You can pull it back now!"
Lu Jiamei immediately pulled the plastic bucket back.
Tattooed Haonan then shouted again, "Since we’ve met again, it’s time I repaid my debt! Boss, just tell me what you need me to do. I won’t hesitate for a second!"
Ren Yuanyang’s lip twitched again. "No need. This was an equal trade. There’s no favor involved."
"No! You told me about the Evolutionary Fish before, and now you’ve given me two Cannibal Fish. This is a tremendous kindness! I must repay it!" Tattooed Haonan insisted.
Lu Jiamei covered her mouth, trying to hide a laugh. "Boss, you should probably just give him something to do."

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