[Host’s Mental Energy has reached a strength of 8 meters (measured by the radius of a single buoyancy enhancement on Duckweed). The Diesel Tree can now be enhanced.]
Ren Yuanyang’s eyes lit up. He wolfed down the food in his bowl and immediately went outside.
Seeing his actions, the others quickly finished their lunch and followed him out.
Ren Yuanyang walked over to the Diesel Tree, which was lying in the water, and placed his palm on it.
"Enhance oil production quality!"
[Enhancement successful.]
Following the system notification, the Diesel Tree slowly righted itself.
[Evolved Diesel Tree (+1): Enhanced oil quality. Can be used in diesel engines without any processing...]
"Chief, is the enhancement finished?" Lu Jiamei asked, pleasantly surprised.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "Yes. The fruit can be picked, and the diesel pressed from it can be used in engines directly!"
"Then let’s hurry up and try it!" Xin Wan urged at once.
’As long as we have diesel, I can use my speedboat!’
Xin Wan’s custom speedboat was small but had a powerful engine. It could reach a top speed of 60 knots, or 111 kilometers per hour.
That was even faster than the military speedboat they had captured!
"We don’t have any specialized equipment right now, so just use some boards to press them. Be careful not to splash it everywhere!" Ren Yuanyang reminded them.
"Right!" Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan immediately got to work.
"You go get some rest," Ren Yuanyang said to Qin Haonan. "I’ll wake you up in two hours."
Qin Haonan had been on duty for the first half of the night. Then, a battle broke out in the early morning, followed by a speedboat escape, trade negotiations with Wang Jun, and a cremation... He had been busy the entire time and hadn’t rested at all.
He was indeed exhausted, so he didn’t refuse. He went into the speedboat’s cabin, found a three-seat bench, and lay down.
Ren Yuanyang stood guard, observing the surroundings while also keeping an eye on Lu Jiamei’s progress with the oil extraction.
Lu Jiamei first picked a fruit from the Diesel Tree and sliced it in half. To her surprise, an oily liquid flowed right out.
"It looks like it doesn’t even need to be pressed. It’s just flowing out on its own!" Lu Jiamei said, surprised. She squeezed it with her hands, and even more of the liquid trickled out.
Seeing this, Xin Wan suggested, "How about we give them a preliminary squeeze by hand first, and then use the boards to press out the rest of the oil!"
"Okay, let’s do that for now," Lu Jiamei agreed with a nod. "I’ll pick and cut, you squeeze. We’ll switch in half an hour!"
"Alright!"
The two women began their coordinated effort.
Pick the fruit, slice it open, squeeze!
Half an hour later, Xin Wan shook out her aching hands and stared in delight at the diesel they had extracted.
"This has to be at least five kilograms!" Xin Wan said, hefting the bucket of diesel.
"Based on the density of diesel, five kilograms is about six liters!" Lu Jiamei said excitedly. "Six liters in half an hour... that’s pretty efficient!"
Xin Wan nodded in agreement.
"I’m going to report to the Chief. You take a quick break. Then I’ll squeeze and you can cut," Lu Jiamei said, immediately getting up and walking toward Ren Yuanyang.
After listening to Lu Jiamei’s report, Ren Yuanyang thought for a moment before analyzing the situation. "In that half hour, you two processed two hundred fruits. With each fruit averaging about 50 grams, that’s 10 kilograms total. The oil content of the fruit is 70%, so you should have gotten 7 kilograms of diesel. It seems squeezing them by hand isn’t thorough enough!"
Lu Jiamei was taken aback for a second, then nodded. "Right. We’re planning to press the ones we already squeezed by hand again later."
"Okay. I suggest you pick all the ripe fruit first. Otherwise, they’ll just be taking up space and the Diesel Tree won’t be able to produce new ones," Ren Yuanyang continued.
Lu Jiamei paused, then asked, "Will it flower and produce fruit again in the spots where we pick them?"
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "The Diesel Tree naturally has a long flowering period. It can flower and produce fruit continuously, and it yields a huge number of fruits with plenty of seeds. Oh, and don’t forget to save all the seeds!"
’If a normal Diesel Tree can flower and produce fruit continuously, then this enhanced, evolved one should be even better!’
"Okay, I understand! We’ll go pick all the ripe fruit right now!" Lu Jiamei replied in amazement.
"Hold on. Since you’ve already extracted a decent amount of diesel, you should at least test it. Let Xin Wan start up her speedboat," Ren Yuanyang said, stopping Lu Jiamei as she was about to leave.
"Right!" Lu Jiamei replied, then called Xin Wan over.
The two of them brought the freshly extracted diesel to Xin Wan’s speedboat.
Lu Jiamei poured the diesel into the speedboat’s fuel tank, and Xin Wan nervously started the engine.
With a low rumble, the engine started smoothly. She gave it a little throttle, and the speedboat immediately lurched forward!
"It works! It really works!" Xin Wan was overjoyed.
Lu Jiamei nodded happily as well. "This means your generator can run now, too!"
"Yeah, we should get back to extracting more diesel!" Xin Wan carefully backed the speedboat to its original position. She bumped lightly against the smaller boat with the outboard motor, but its edges were lined with rubber bumpers, so it was no big deal.
Xin Wan’s piloting skills were limited; it was impressive enough that she managed to get it back to the spot at all.
Lu Jiamei replied, "Alright. The Chief just told us to pick all the ripe fruit first."
"All of them?" Xin Wan asked, taken aback.
Lu Jiamei explained what Ren Yuanyang had just told her.
Xin Wan grew even more excited. "Does that mean we’ll have a limitless supply of diesel?!"
"You could say that," Lu Jiamei replied.
"That’s great! Let’s get to picking fruit, then!" Xin Wan said, hurrying toward the shipping container.
The enhanced Diesel Tree had been placed on the other side of the container, facing the Iron Melon Tree from across the way.
However, the Diesel Tree was much larger and leafier than the Iron Melon Tree. When the two women climbed into its branches, they were almost completely hidden from view.
An hour had passed by the time Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan finished picking all the ripe fruit from the Diesel Tree. Ren Yuanyang checked the time and went to wake up Qin Haonan.
"Take the speedboat and continue patrolling our perimeter," Ren Yuanyang ordered. "Keep your phone on and contact me immediately if any problems arise."
Qin Haonan had just been woken up and was still groggy. His eyes were filled with confusion. "The speedboat’s only got half a tank of fuel left. Isn’t it a waste to take it out?"
"Are you still half asleep? Our Diesel Tree has evolved. We’ll have more than enough diesel for your patrol," Ren Yuanyang replied with a laugh.
It finally clicked for Qin Haonan. He scratched his head. "Heh, right. Got it, Boss!"
"Don’t forget to collect any plants you see on the water," Ren Yuanyang added before leaving the speedboat.
"Right!" Qin Haonan replied and took the speedboat out.
Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan had turned the two small boats into a processing workshop. They were under the boats’ canopies, continuing to extract diesel.
Ren Yuanyang returned to the shipping container. He looked at the freshly harvested sheaves of rice, his brow furrowed in thought.

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