"Okay, Boss!" Qin Haonan nodded, then asked, "Do I still need to take the long way around?"
The geomagnetic storm must have had a huge impact on the military drones. They might even be damaged. Without drones, the Aircraft Carrier Base wouldn’t be able to track him anymore.
Ren Yuanyang understood what Qin Haonan meant, but he still shook his head. "Better to take the detour. For now, we only have Wang Jun’s word that their high-tech instruments were damaged by the geomagnetic storm. What if that’s not the case?"
Qin Haonan paused for a moment, then immediately replied, "I know what to do!"
"Just be careful out there!" Ren Yuanyang added as a final reminder.
"You got it!"
Ren Yuanyang ended the video call and breathed a small sigh of relief. Qin Haonan had made it through safely.
"Alright, let’s get back to clearing the banyan’s aerial roots!" Ren Yuanyang picked up his military knife and resumed chopping away the unnecessary roots.
As the Banyan Forest expanded, their workload for clearing the aerial roots grew larger and larger. Even with everyone working together, it still took them the better part of a day to finish.
Of course, their efficiency was also limited by their tools. If they had axes or saws, the cleanup would go much faster.
This made the tools Qin Haonan was bringing back seem even more important.
Following Ren Yuanyang’s instructions, Qin Haonan immediately headed for the nearest Second-level Wind Sea Region.
The rain grew heavier, and the wind, not to be outdone, howled with matching intensity.
When Qin Haonan reached the first Second-level Wind Sea Region, he was surprised to find there wasn’t a single survivor left. There had been a few here when he passed by several days ago!
’They must have all gone to seek refuge with the Aircraft Carrier Base,’ Qin Haonan thought. He then shook his head to himself and pressed on toward the next Second-level Wind Sea Region.
It was empty, too.
’Next one!’ Qin Haonan glanced at the map on his phone, adjusted his course, and continued onward.
In the Aircraft Carrier Base’s captains’ chat group, Long Zhan asked curiously, "Captain Ji, the geomagnetic storm has weakened a lot. Have you sent out any new drones to follow up?"
"If you want to see, send your own drones!" Ji Yizhi replied irritably.
"The drones in our fleet are too low-level. Their patrol range is too short in this kind of weather!" Long Zhan spread his hands. "So we can only count on you!"
"The geomagnetic storm has only weakened, it hasn’t completely disappeared. We don’t know if there’ll be another wave, so it’s better not to waste any drones," Wang Jun chimed in. "Our relationship with them is pretty good right now. There will definitely be other opportunities. No need to rush things."
Just then, a secretary hurried into Wang Jun’s office.
"Captain, we just got word from the lab. Those fresh Cherry Tomatoes aren’t an evolved variety. They’re the same as ordinary tomatoes!"
Hearing the secretary’s report, Wang Jun was surprised. "Are you sure they’re not an evolved variety?"
The secretary nodded. "The lab has already confirmed it twice."
’How strange!’ Wang Jun suddenly felt he had underestimated Tattooed Haonan’s group.
Wang Jun thought for a moment, then typed in the captains’ chat again: "Gentlemen, our lab results for the Cherry Tomatoes are in."
"And?" Long Zhan asked eagerly, his curiosity piqued.
"They’re not an evolved variety." Wang Jun didn’t keep them in suspense and told them the conclusion directly.
"What? How is that possible!" Ji Yizhi found it incredible. "I clearly saw that the stems on those Cherry Tomatoes were fresh!"
"We all saw that, but our lab has confirmed it twice. Your labs should be reaching the same conclusion soon," Wang Jun said, a little helplessly.
Just as Wang Jun finished speaking, the labs from the other two fleets delivered their conclusions to Ji Yizhi’s and Long Zhan’s desks.
"My lab says the same thing. They’re definitely not an evolved variety!" Long Zhan was astonished. "It seems this Tattooed Haonan is no simple character!"
"Then how did they use ordinary plants to grow so many Cherry Tomatoes in such a short amount of time?" Ji Yizhi’s brow furrowed.
Wang Jun was silent for a moment before speculating, "I think they must have a large number of Wood-Type Evolvers."
The other two were stunned for a second, then both nodded in agreement.
"It seems the future belongs to Evolvers! We need to speed up the development of the Evolution Potion!" Wang Jun remarked with a sigh.
"Exactly. This geomagnetic storm destroyed our high-tech equipment. The base’s future development will rely more and more on Evolvers," Ji Yizhi lamented as well.
"Why don’t our three research teams for the Evolution Potion cooperate?" Long Zhan suddenly suggested.
Wang Jun was slightly taken aback, then nodded. "I agree. What about you, Captain Ji?"
"No problem on my end!" Ji Yizhi replied without the slightest hesitation.
"Good, then let’s get this moving immediately!" Wang Jun ended the chat and stood up to leave.
Ren Yuanyang would never have imagined that the Cherry Tomatoes he’d brought out would spur the three fleets to begin collaborating on Evolution Potion research.
Qin Haonan had already passed through several Second-level Wind Sea Regions, but he still hadn’t found any survivors.
’Don’t tell me I won’t find a single survivor this time,’ Qin Haonan worried, looking at the pile of Cherry Tomatoes in his boat’s cabin.
Just then, a shout startled the worrying Qin Haonan.
"Is anyone there?"
Qin Haonan snatched the automatic rifle beside him and looked warily in the direction of the voice.
To the left of his speedboat, a small boat was approaching.
His speedboat was moving so fast that in a single instant, they shot past each other.
Seeing that it was just a small boat with a figure in a raincoat standing on the bow waving at him, Qin Haonan slowly brought his boat to a stop. By then, however, they were already more than a hundred meters apart.
Seeing the speedboat stop, the figure on the small boat seemed very excited and shouted, "Are you the sir who’s buying plants?"
Qin Haonan’s eyes lit up as he faintly heard the question over the wind and rain. He immediately steered his speedboat back toward the small boat.
When he was about ten meters away, Qin Haonan called back, "We’re buying plants. Do you have any?"
"I do! One moment, sir!"
The figure quickly went back under the boat’s canopy and soon reemerged holding two plants. Their leaves looked a bit like bamboo leaves, but they were much larger.
"Sir, what do you think of these two broad-leaved bamboo plants? Can I trade them for some food?"
"Is this also bamboo? I think our base already has some," Qin Haonan muttered, his voice just loud enough for the other person to hear.
"Sir, plants are extremely rare now! Every single one counts!" the person said, growing anxious. "Sir, I just need to trade for a little bit of food!"
Qin Haonan thought for a moment, then replied, "Ten Cherry Tomatoes. Do you want to trade?"
As he spoke, he grabbed ten Cherry Tomatoes and held them out for the other person to see.
The other person froze, staring at the vibrant, juicy-looking Cherry Tomatoes.
Fresh fruits and vegetables were even rarer than other food!
"DEAL!" the person yelled.

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