The enhancement had completely drained Ren Yuanyang’s Mental Energy, so doing a little artificial pollination was a form of rest for him.
Seeing Ren Yuanyang fiddling with something on the Iron Melon Tree, Lu Jiamei, who was on the speedboat, immediately headed over to the shipping container.
"Boss, what are you... what the heck? What’s going on?" Lu Jiamei’s eyes widened as she stared at the tree, which was now covered in blossoms.
’She could have sworn these flowers weren’t here at noon!’
’Did the Iron Melon Tree really bloom in just the last hour or two?’
’There was no warning at all. Is this another characteristic of the Iron Melon Tree?’
’Or is it because Ren Yuanyang made it evolve?’
’Even if it evolved, it can’t just suddenly sprout flowers. There has to be a process!’
"If the Iron Melon Tree is going to bear fruit, it has to flower. Don’t just stand there gawking, get over here and help!"
Seeing Lu Jiamei approach, Ren Yuanyang was quick to press her into service.
Lu Jiamei, her face a mask of astonishment, replied, "Yes, sir," and came closer.
"What do you need me to do?" Lu Jiamei asked, watching Ren Yuanyang rub different blossoms together.
"We’re artificially pollinating it. First, find a staminate flower like this one..." Ren Yuanyang instructed Lu Jiamei, following the system’s directions.
"Boss, how do you know so much about plants?" Lu Jiamei marveled.
"It’s not that impressive, I just know a little," Ren Yuanyang said modestly, then casually asked, "Has Qin Haonan been on patrol this entire time?"
Lu Jiamei nodded. "Yeah. I told him to take a break earlier, but he wouldn’t. I just let him be. He’ll rest when he gets tired."
Just then, Qin Haonan’s voice carried from the distance.
"Boss, we’ve got company!"
Ren Yuanyang and Lu Jiamei immediately stopped pollinating and walked to the edge of the shipping container’s roof, looking in Qin Haonan’s direction.
"Back when I was about to drown, I didn’t run into a single survivor. Now they’re showing up one after another!" Ren Yuanyang said, exasperated.
"Maybe your luck is just too strong, so it draws other people to you," Lu Jiamei replied. "I’ll go grab the two Iron Melons from the speedboat!"
As she spoke, she jumped onto the speedboat. Inside the cabin, Xin Wan had also been woken by Qin Haonan’s shout.
Although Qin Haonan had agreed to patrol for them for three days, they didn’t completely trust him. This meant Xin Wan still had to take the night watch, so she needed to get some sleep in the afternoon.
"I hear an engine. It must be a vessel with a motor!" Xin Wan said as soon as Lu Jiamei came in.
Lu Jiamei nodded slightly. "Got it. I’ll pass that on to the boss."
She grabbed the two Iron Melons and returned to the roof of the shipping container.
"Boss, Xin Wan says she heard an engine. The approaching party is probably highly mobile!" Lu Jiamei said grimly.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly and called out, "Haonan, stay safe and fall back!"
"I’m fine! Since I’m on patrol, it’s my duty to screen any visitors for you!" Qin Haonan shouted back. He then yelled directly at the rapidly approaching boat, "Halt your advance! State your identity and purpose!"
Hearing Qin Haonan’s response, Ren Yuanyang and the others felt a sense of exasperation.
They felt that Qin Haonan’s stubbornness was almost endearing.
Meanwhile, the approaching boat slowly came to a stop about fifty meters away from them.
"We hear you have plenty of food. We’ve come to borrow some!" The voice was laced with amusement.
Qin Haonan frowned. "Borrow? We don’t have any spare food to lend. If you want some, bring plants to trade for it!"
"Don’t be so hostile, kid. If you won’t ’lend’ it to us, our main ship will have to come ’borrow’ it in person!" the person replied, their voice still cheerful but laced with menace.
At these words, Qin Haonan’s brow furrowed.
’The faction that a large ship represented wasn’t something Ren Yuanyang’s small group could possibly resist!’
Faced with this situation, he knew he couldn’t make the decision on his own. He turned and looked back toward Ren Yuanyang.
"Kid, since you can’t call the shots, why don’t you let the grownups talk?" the person said, having clearly noticed his gesture.
Ren Yuanyang frowned in thought for a moment, then called back loud and clear, "Then go on back and tell your main ship to come get it!"
Hearing this, not only were the strangers stunned, but Lu Jiamei and Qin Haonan were dumbfounded as well.
’If the main ship really came, they would lose everything.’
"Are you sure?" the person asked, their voice filled with disbelief.
"If that ship dares to come, I’ll blow every one of our boats to smithereens. You want my supplies? Dream on!" Ren Yuanyang sounded as if he was ready to take them all down with him.
The person was taken aback again, then tried to reason with him. "It’s just some food. Suffer a small loss to avoid a big disaster. It’s not worth destroying everything over this!"
"I’ll decide for myself whether it’s worth it or not. Don’t you worry your head about it," Ren Yuanyang retorted with a cold snort.
Seeing that Ren Yuanyang was completely intractable, the person went silent for a moment before speaking again. "We have a small, sprouted piece of potato. Can we trade with that? A sprouted potato counts as a plant, right?"
Hearing this, Ren Yuanyang sneered. ’So it was all a bluff.’
’With the resources a large ship would have, if they had a sprouted potato, they would absolutely cultivate it themselves. There’s no way they’d offer it for sale.’
’But a small boat wouldn’t have the means to cultivate it, and it would take a long time to get a harvest. That’s why they’re trying to trade it for food.’
’Most importantly, they wouldn’t dare eat a sprouted potato. The area around the sprout contains high levels of solanine, a neurotoxin. Eating too much of it is lethal!’
"That depends on how big your piece of sprouted potato is!" Ren Yuanyang replied, choosing not to call their bluff just yet. "Other people have traded a whole tree for just ten fish. If that potato is too small, you won’t get much for it!"
The other party fell silent for a moment again before replying, "It’s just a small piece, about a hundred grams!"
"That’s way too small. The most I’ll give you is an equal weight in fish meat!" Ren Yuanyang said, his voice dripping with disdain. "Take it or leave it. If you don’t want to trade, take it with you and go!"
Another silence came from their boat. Finally, a single word: "Deal!"
"Haonan, you should still have some fish meat over there, right? You handle the trade," Ren Yuanyang instructed. "Be careful!"
Hearing this, Qin Haonan was taken aback for a second, then quickly replied, "Right!"
With his orders, Qin Haonan looked toward the small boat and called out, "How are we doing this?"
"Hold on, we’ll move a bit closer to make it easier to inspect the goods," the person called back.
"Okay!" Qin Haonan responded, hiding his cleaver behind his back.
The other boat slowly approached Qin Haonan’s raft. The waves it created pushed his raft a bit closer to Ren Yuanyang’s container.
Qin Haonan struggled to steady his raft. Only three or four meters separated him from the other boat.
"Boss, aren’t we getting a little too close? These guys have grenades!"
The two men on the small boat were conversing in hushed tones.
"Don’t worry. We’re trading with one of their own people, aren’t we? They’re not going to blow him up, too."
"But what if they do?"
"Then you keep an eye on their main flotilla over there. The second you see them throw anything, you gun the engine and get us out of here. We didn’t buy this outboard motor for show!"

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