The rice ears harvested on this overcast, rainy day had a high moisture content. If left unchecked, they would likely sprout or grow moldy. Ren Yuanyang had to figure out a way to deal with them quickly.
’Do I really have to dry them with fire?’
They had plenty of diesel, so starting a fire wasn’t an issue. The problem was controlling the temperature. One wrong move and he’d cook them all, and Ren Yuanyang wanted to save some for seeds!
Under the current circumstances, it seemed there was no way to maintain a stable temperature to dry the rice.
Ren Yuanyang picked up his cup and took a sip of purified water, his gaze falling on the Drip Guanyin to his side.
At some point, the Drip Guanyin had bloomed. Its flower spike stood like a candle inside a large, droplet-shaped bract. The whole thing looked like a candlestick holding a candle.
Seeing this "candlestick," Ren Yuanyang’s mind sparked. He immediately checked the system for information about the Drip Guanyin.
"A Flame-shaped Inflorescence! Perfect! ’I really need to learn more about the plants I have on hand!’" Ren Yuanyang was ecstatic.
The Flame-shaped Inflorescence is a characteristic unique to plants of the Araceae family. When it blooms, the floral part generates intense heat, raising its temperature more than twenty degrees Celsius above its surroundings!
This happens because as the Flame-shaped Inflorescence matures, certain parts of it experience an abnormally high respiration rate. However, this thermogenic respiration only lasts for twelve hours, with a peak period of just one to two hours.
But Ren Yuanyang could specifically reinforce this very aspect.
’Looks like it’s a good thing I didn’t reinforce it too much in the beginning,’ Ren Yuanyang thought, relieved. ’It would’ve been a pain if I needed its other functions later but couldn’t upgrade them.’
He had only reinforced the Drip Guanyin once. Since it produced enough purified water for their needs, he hadn’t continued upgrading it.
After a moment of thought, Ren Yuanyang separated a seedling that had sprouted from the base of the Drip Guanyin and planted it nearby. Then, he immediately reinforced the original plant.
"Reinforce the Flame-shaped Inflorescence’s heating duration and temperature stability!"
[Reinforcement successful.]
[Dripping Lotus (+3): Flame-shaped Inflorescence thermogenic respiration duration reinforced once, extending it to 24 hours. Temperature stability reinforced once, maintaining a constant 50°C throughout the entire inflorescence. Water purification ability reinforced once...]
Ren Yuanyang immediately felt a wave of heat from the Flame-shaped Inflorescence wash over him.
He quickly laid the rice ears he had just harvested flat beside the Drip Guanyin’s flower.
Ren Yuanyang read the notification and nodded in satisfaction.
"Twenty-four hours should be enough to dry them," Ren Yuanyang muttered, pulling out the Cherry Tomatoes Xin Wan had given him.
He sliced one open with a knife, picked out some seeds, and set them next to the Drip Guanyin to dry, intending to save them for planting.
He reinforced all the remaining seeds at once—six times for growth speed and three times for yield, upgrading them to the maximum level in one go.
[Cherry Tomatoes Seeds (+9): Growth speed reinforced, reducing the growth cycle from 160 days to 2.5 days. Fruit yield increased from ~200 to ~1600 per plant...]
"That many?" Ren Yuanyang was stunned. ’At this rate, it won’t be a tomato plant, it’ll be a tomato tree.’
Looking at the increasingly cramped shipping container, Ren Yuanyang realized he couldn’t possibly grow the Cherry Tomatoes in here.
’Oh well, I’ll just germinate the seedlings first and plant them directly outside,’ Ren Yuanyang thought, shaking his head. He found a piece of cloth, dampened it, then spread the reinforced Cherry Tomato seeds on it and covered them with another layer.
The reinforced seeds would be easy to germinate and simple to plant.
Once that was done, Ren Yuanyang walked over to the small pond. The potatoes and rice inside were growing well, but the space was becoming crowded.
He shook his head helplessly and walked to the entrance of the shipping container. The Duckweed there rose and fell with the waves; even when Ren Yuanyang stood on it, he couldn’t keep his balance and could only bob along with the motion.
The two trees flanking the container, however, swayed much less. Their movement was almost imperceptible.
’It seems the reinforced trees really do help stabilize things on the water, much like how large trees on land prevent soil erosion,’ Ren Yuanyang thought. ’It’s a shame my Mental Energy is so low!’
He took out his phone and scrolled through the regional channel. As expected, it was still filled with cries of despair.
An endless stream of pleas for food and water, mixed with curses against the damned heavens.
’Wang Jun hasn’t announced his operation on the regional channel?’ Ren Yuanyang was surprised after scrolling through the feed.
According to Wang Jun, they were most likely only capable of driving the Feixiang out of the area. If that was the case, announcing their move publicly might be enough to subdue the enemy without a fight.
The arrival of three aircraft carrier fleets would certainly scare off the Feixiang!
This silence, however, was only fueling the Feixiang’s arrogance.
’Could they be planning to actually destroy the Feixiang? Or maybe even take on the Sea Eagle Country’s fleet?’ The possibility crossed Ren Yuanyang’s mind.
If they could seriously damage the fleets of Lvzhi Country and Sea Eagle Country, it would be a cause for universal celebration. ’I hope they succeed,’ he thought.
It was just a shame the satellite positioning system was down. Otherwise, a special "Dongfeng Express" delivery could send them to meet Amaterasu.
At that thought, Ren Yuanyang immediately turned back into the container, grabbed Lu Jiamei’s satellite phone and Xin Wan’s cell phone, and went back outside.
He’d never dared to turn on Lu Jiamei’s satellite phone for fear that the large ship she came from would track them. But now that the satellite system was down, it was safe to use.
And after last night’s battle, the trade negotiations, and securing the diesel supply, he believed Xin Wan had seen the team’s strength. She likely wouldn’t be thinking of betrayal or escape anymore, so he could relax the restrictions on her phone.
He hopped onto the small boat where the women were extracting diesel. Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan were each sitting on one end of a plank, using their body weight to press the fruit of the Diesel Tree.
The fruits were wrapped in plastic bags so the extracted oil wouldn’t splash, but instead flow down from the bag’s opening.
"Boss, you’re here! What’s up?" Xin Wan greeted Ren Yuanyang when she saw him.
"I just came to check on your progress with the diesel and see if you’ve run into any problems," Ren Yuanyang replied with a slight nod.
"No real problems, it’s just tiring work!" Lu Jiamei replied, shrugging.
"Sounds like I need to find you some help!" Ren Yuanyang answered with a smile.
"Absolutely not!" To his surprise, Xin Wan was the first to object. "You can’t guarantee what kind of ulterior motives other survivors might have. If they find out how much oil this Diesel Tree produces, it will definitely bring huge trouble!"
Lu Jiamei nodded in agreement. "Xin Wan’s right. We have to be careful about bringing in new people. We can manage for now!"
Ren Yuanyang had actually said it on purpose, just to test their reaction.
"You’ve made a very good point. We’ll revisit the subject later," Ren Yuanyang said, holding out the two phones. "You can have your phones back. But I’ll say it again: do not expose our location or any information about us!"
Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan immediately replied in excited unison, "Don’t worry, Boss! We absolutely won’t reveal any information about us!"
Just then, a speedboat approached from the distance, eventually stopping near the shipping container.
"Boss, I found another sapling!" Qin Haonan’s excited voice called out.
"It’s not another flimsy Vine like that kiwifruit seedling, is it?"
Ren Yuanyang shouted back with a laugh, then stepped off the small boat. Lu Jiamei and Xin Wan followed him.
When Ren Yuanyang got a clear look at the sapling in Qin Haonan’s hands, he froze for a second, then immediately leaped onto the speedboat and snatched it away!

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