"I’ve already spoken with Peach Blossom Base. They’ll let us know right away if another dark surge starts," Wang Jun replied with a smile. "I also sent them the problems the lab has been facing."
"I hope they can find a solution. If we had enough Evolvers, a lot of things would get much easier!" Long Zhan had high hopes for Peach Blossom Base.
This time, Ji Yizhi didn’t question it, merely giving a slight nod.
Wang Jun had already announced that the dark surge was over on the regional channel.
"It’s over already?"
"It’s been over two hours. You call that fast?"
"My problem is I haven’t salvaged enough supplies yet!"
"Hey bro, what supplies did you get? Mind sharing with us?"
"Nothing much, just some daily necessities, plus some vacuum-sealed food!"
"Sounds like a good haul! Too bad there weren’t any supplies where I am!"
"Does everyone know how to dive? Am I the only one who can’t?"
"Without diving gear, most people probably can’t!"
"What the guy above said!"
"Guess you really do have to rely on a big ship to get by!"
Ren Yuanyang wasn’t paying attention to the chatter on the regional channel; he and his group were busy sorting the supplies they had just salvaged.
"Boss, this food alone is enough to last us for several months!" Qin Haonan said, his eyes shining as he gazed at the salvaged food.
"What, tired of Xin Wan’s cooking already?" Ren Yuanyang shot him a look, smiling.
Xin Wan immediately shot a look in Qin Haonan’s direction. He quickly replied with a straight face, "Of course not! Sister Wan’s cooking is amazing. These are just snacks, a little something to break up the monotony. They’re not what you’d call a proper meal!"
Hearing this, Xin Wan went back to sorting the supplies in front of her.
Qin Haonan let out a slight sigh of relief.
After Lu Jiamei and the others finished sorting, they had found a considerable amount of daily necessities. Some items were waterlogged and unusable, but others were sealed so well that they were still bone-dry inside, despite having been submerged for three or four months.
There was also clothing and bedding, most of which was soaked through. Only a tiny fraction was immediately usable.
Even the waterlogged items could be run through the yacht’s all-in-one washer-dryer and reused.
Hua Lingfang also found a large quantity of Chinese medicinal herbs in three sealed chests. The herbs, packed in airtight bags, were double-sealed and perfectly preserved. To him, it was like discovering a priceless treasure.
Beyond that, there were metal chunks piled everywhere, roughly estimated at a thousand tons!
It sounded like a massive amount, but calculated by the density of iron, all that metal would only form a cube five meters to a side.
"Jin Ziyu, make some metal barrels and put them at the fuel production site. And don’t forget to make the ladders thicker and longer. Put one on every tree! It’ll save the women time moving them around," Ren Yuanyang ordered, looking at the metal chunks.
"Got it!" As Jin Ziyu left, she casually snagged another peach.
A moment later, Jin Ziyu returned, still munching on her peach.
"Boss, it’s all done. Anything else?"
The metal was taking up too much space in the Banyan Forest. After a moment of thought, Ren Yuanyang had Jin Ziyu fashion the metal into small, four-meter-long boats. He then had her load the boats with the remaining metal—just enough so they wouldn’t sink—allowing them to be stored on the surface of the Banyan Forest’s waterways.
Once all that was settled, Ren Yuanyang looked at everyone and said, "As a reward for all your hard work today, each of you can pick out ten items from the food pile to take with you!"
Hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up. Before the flood, they might have scoffed at vacuum-sealed food, but now, it was a rare delicacy.
"Boss, can we really pick anything? No matter how big the package is?" Jin Ziyu immediately piped up.
Ren Yuanyang shot her an exasperated glare. "Yes. Just don’t get your own bag and start stuffing it!"
"Don’t mind if I do!" Jin Ziyu walked right over to the food pile and started her selection.
Her selection criteria were very simple: go for the biggest packages, not necessarily the best ones.
"Don’t just stand there gawking. Go on, pick yours out," Ren Yuanyang said, gesturing for Si Youqin and her women to go as well.
Si Youqin and the others nodded and went over.
"Ziyu, the bigger packages aren’t always the tastiest," Si Youqin couldn’t help but whisper. "You should pick things you’ll actually enjoy. Like these braised pork trotters—they’ve got to be better than that bag of compressed biscuits you’re holding!"
Jin Ziyu, who had nearly finished her selection, froze. After a moment’s thought, she nodded solemnly, put down the large bags of compressed biscuits, and started picking out her favorite meat products instead.
Soon, everyone had made their selections. Most had chosen braised meats and instant noodles.
"Alright, that’s it for this morning’s work. Everyone head back to your ship and get some rest," Ren Yuanyang continued. "Si Youqin, arrange for two people to go with Xin Wan and pick up your food for the day. And you’ll need to haul the diesel you produced this morning back yourselves."
Hearing this, Si Youqin and the others were stunned again.
They thought the food they had just picked was for today, and maybe even for the next few days!
Now it seemed that wasn’t the case. Ren Yuanyang was telling them to get food from Xin Wan, which meant the food they’d picked was an extra bonus, right?
Si Youqin held up the braised meats and instant noodles in her hands and asked, "Boss, you mean this isn’t our food for the day?"
"This is a bonus for you. You can decide when you want to eat it," Ren Yuanyang said, slightly surprised, before breaking into a smile. "It’s separate from the meals our base provides. Of course, you can always choose not to take the base’s food!"
"We’ll take it! We’ll take it!" Jin Ziyu yelled before Si Youqin could even open her mouth.
The others nodded in agreement.
"Then hurry up and go with Xin Wan to get your food!" Ren Yuanyang urged.
Si Youqin immediately arranged for a few people to leave with Xin Wan, then she personally led a team to carry the diesel back to their yacht.
Soon, Si Youqin came back to Ren Yuanyang’s side and asked respectfully, "Boss, everyone worked all morning and is covered in sweat. Is it possible for us to take a shower?"
Ren Yuanyang was taken aback again, then waved his hand dismissively. "Our base isn’t short on water. You can make that call yourselves; you don’t need to ask for my permission. For fuel, though, you still need to clear it with me."
"Okay, I understand! Thank you, Boss!" Si Youqin replied happily and turned to leave.
Back on their yacht, the women were buzzing with excitement.
"This Peach Blossom Base is amazing! We even get bonuses for working!"
"Yeah, if I’d known, I wouldn’t have picked so many instant noodles!"
"The boss is too good to us. I’m going to work my butt off to repay him!"
Just then, Si Youqin came in. The chatter died down as everyone looked at her with hopeful expressions.
"The boss agreed. From now on, we don’t need to ask permission to shower, we can decide for ourselves!" Si Youqin said with a smile.
Everyone immediately cheered. In an environment like this, the freedom to take a shower was something every woman dreamed of!
Si Youqin gestured for everyone to quiet down, then added a reminder, "Even though the boss isn’t interfering, let’s not be wasteful!"
Everyone nodded and immediately began taking showers in shifts.
"If you guys want to eat any of this stuff, just help yourselves!" Ren Yuanyang took a braised pork trotter from the food pile and gestured for Lu Jiamei and the others to dig in.
Qin Haonan immediately went over, grabbed a pack of braised chicken legs, and asked while tearing it open, "Boss, should I still go out for a patrol every hour later?"
"You should rest this afternoon. I’ll do the patrol," Lu Jiamei said, walking over. "You were up for the second half of the night."
"It’s fine. Sleeping the first half of the night was enough!" Qin Haonan shook his head with a smile.
"Everyone get some rest. Neither of you need to go on patrol!" Ren Yuanyang replied with a smile.
"No patrols? But... aren’t we supposed to be checking for the dark surge?" Qin Haonan asked, confused.

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