"As long as it comes to our base, it’s guaranteed to evolve!" Qin Haonan blurted out, a smug look on his face as if he were showing off.
Lu Jiamei, who was beside him, tugged on his arm. Qin Haonan immediately realized he’d said a bit too much. He chuckled sheepishly, ducked his head, and glanced at Ren Yuanyang.
"It’s fine. Any survivor who joins our base will find out sooner or later," Ren Yuanyang said with a smile, showing no intention of blaming Qin Haonan.
Even just by living on the outskirts of the base, one could see that the Banyan Forest within was extraordinary.
In the future, the base would continuously produce all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables—something that would be impossible to hide.
Besides, the grandfather and grandson’s phones had already been confiscated and were under his control. Even if they had wanted to leak the base’s secrets, they had no way of communicating with the outside world.
Of course, as long as Hua Lingfang wasn’t a fool, he wouldn’t expose the secrets here. Doing so would bring him no benefit; on the contrary, he would lose a base where he could finally settle down.
Listening to their exchange, Hua Lingfang was a little puzzled. But when he recalled how Qin Haonan had been acquiring plants, and combined that with the conversation between Ren Yuanyang and the others, a flash of insight struck him. He stared at Ren Yuanyang in shock.
"Do we have a serum that promotes plant evolution?"
Hearing this, Ren Yuanyang and the others were taken aback. They hadn’t expected Hua Lingfang to think they had developed a serum.
"Elder Hua, do we look like we have the facilities for that kind of research?" Ren Yuanyang asked with a smile, shaking his head.
"We don’t?" Hua Lingfang frowned slightly.
Qin Haonan couldn’t help but point out, "Did it not occur to you that this could be an Evolver’s ability?"
Hua Lingfang was stunned again. "An ability like that exists? I always thought Evolvers all had offensive and defensive abilities, like controlling the Five Elements!"
"Promoting plant growth and evolution can be considered a type of Wood-Type Ability," Ren Yuanyang said, offering a plausible explanation.
"Sir, you don’t mean... you have this ability?" Hua Lingfang asked cautiously, his face filled with shock.
"Yes. That’s why we’re willing to trade food for plants," Ren Yuanyang confirmed with a slight nod.
By this point, Hua Wen had already licked his plastic cup of congee clean. He even used his finger to dig out the last few grains of rice stuck to the bottom.
"There’s still some congee in the pot. Go get some for yourself," Xin Wan said with a smile, having seen what Hua Wen was doing.
"I’ve had enough, I’ve had enough!" Hua Wen hastily said out of politeness, but his stomach chose that inopportune moment to growl.
"Don’t stuff yourself, but make sure you eat your fill. There’s plenty of work to do later, and you’ll need the energy," Ren Yuanyang said with a laugh, looking at the embarrassed Hua Wen. "We don’t have much else right now, but we have enough rice to make sure everyone gets full!"
Hua Wen was being so polite because he was afraid they would think he was eating too much and kick him and his grandfather out. After finally finding a base where he could get a meal, he didn’t want to be driven away.
After hearing Ren Yuanyang’s words, Hua Wen looked to his grandfather, Hua Lingfang. Hua Lingfang nodded slightly. "Go on, eat some more. We’ll work hard later."
Hua Wen immediately nodded happily. He stood up, bowed to Ren Yuanyang and the others to thank them, and then walked over to the rice cooker. When he opened the lid, he saw there was still half a pot of thick congee inside.
’So much!’
After his initial surprise, Hua Wen carefully ladled a plastic cup full and walked back to the table.
After drinking two more cups of congee, Hua Wen felt warm all over.
"After breakfast, get two military knives for Elder Hua and his grandson. Haonan, you take the speedboat. The rest of you, go and clear out the unnecessary aerial roots," Ren Yuanyang instructed Lu Jiamei, who was beside him.
"Yes!" Lu Jiamei nodded in acknowledgment.
After finishing breakfast, Qin Haonan and the others washed their utensils with purified water and placed them in their designated spot.
"Don’t forget to leave some areas for planting. They don’t need to be too large, just make sure to leave several small plots," Ren Yuanyang reminded them.
"Yes!" Lu Jiamei acknowledged, then led the others to start clearing the banyan’s aerial roots.
By now, the aerial roots on the periphery of the original banyan tree had grown into completely new trunks, flourishing rapidly.
The spots they had cleared just yesterday had already sprouted new aerial roots today, forcing them to clear the area all over again.
Hua Lingfang looked at the banyan trees and asked uncertainly, "These banyans must have evolved, right?"
"That’s right. If they hadn’t evolved, they wouldn’t even be able to stand upright in the water," Lu Jiamei confirmed with a slight nod.
Hua Wen watched an aerial root dangling from a branch as it slowly elongated. Just in the time they had been talking, the root had nearly reached the water’s surface.
"Grandpa, isn’t this tree growing a little too fast?" Hua Wen said, utterly shocked.
He knew that evolved plants would become stronger in certain aspects, like their growth rate, but the speed at which this banyan tree was growing was simply absurd.
Lu Jiamei explained with a smile, "The evolution induced by our boss is stronger than normal evolution. In our boss’s words, it’s called ’enhancement’!"
Still looking shocked, Hua Lingfang pondered for a moment before asking again, "Can the Sir’s ability specify a plant’s evolutionary path?"
"It should be possible," Lu Jiamei gave a somewhat uncertain reply. "Let’s clear out all these aerial roots first."
Everyone immediately got to work.
"Sister Mei, why are we clearing away these aerial roots?" Hua Wen asked curiously as he hacked at one.
"This Banyan Forest is our base. We need to leave some exits and have space to move around, so we can’t let these aerial roots take over everything," Lu Jiamei replied with a smile.
Hua Wen was a bit confused. "Even if we clear out space, it’s all just water. We’d have to build platforms between the trunks, but it doesn’t look like we have the materials. Can we only move around in the trees?"
Qin Haonan asked with a smile, "Did you see the house our boss lives in?"
Hua Wen nodded. "Is that house fixed to a banyan trunk?"
Qin Haonan rolled his eyes, speechless. "It’s not that complicated. Didn’t you see the Duckweed underneath it?"
Hua Lingfang was stunned again. "Are you talking about that massive patch of Duckweed? It can support the weight of a house?"
Last night, Hua Lingfang had vaguely seen Qin Haonan jump onto the Duckweed. At the time, he had assumed there must have been some kind of floatation device underneath it.
"The boss’s ability made the Duckweed evolve, greatly increasing its buoyancy," Lu Jiamei explained, then turned to Hua Wen. "So don’t worry about it being all water. The boss is going to cover the surface with Duckweed."
Hua Wen’s eyes widened in amazement. "Is the Duckweed’s buoyancy really that strong?"
"See that shipping container over there?" Qin Haonan pointed to one in the distance. "It can even keep that thing afloat, so what do you think?"
Hua Lingfang was completely convinced. "In that case, couldn’t we cover the entire surface of the sea with Duckweed and build our Peach Blossom Base right on top of it?"
"Theoretically, yes. But the Duckweed would just drift with the currents. Besides, we still have to guard against the factions on those big ships," Lu Jiamei replied in a serious tone.

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