"I’m just worried the next meal won’t be this lavish!"
"Probably not, right?"
"Why worry so much? This one meal is enough to last us for several days!"
"That’s not necessarily true. It depends on what we do! If the work is heavy, we’ll burn through it pretty fast!"
The murmurs of conversation continued until two-thirty in the afternoon.
Si Youqin brought a few people back to the supply ship. She looked at the crowd and said, "In a moment, they will take you to your workstations. Along the way, they will give you a basic introduction to our base. Please don’t be shocked or overly curious!"
"Yes!" everyone answered in unison.
The two hundred people before her were all of similar build, making them hard to tell apart. The guides each led away a small group, with the final hundred-plus people being taken to the oil workshop.
The Aircraft Carrier Base had already made it clear they wanted to purchase oil from Peach Blossom Base, so Ren Yuanyang naturally had to prepare in advance. This required a large number of oil-pressing workers!
When the two hundred newcomers saw the boundless Banyan Forest, they all stood frozen on the deck!
They had been staying on the supply ship the whole time. Although Ren Yuanyang hadn’t restricted their movement, they hadn’t dared to leave the cabin except to get water or use the restroom. Now, seeing the Banyan Forest on the water’s surface, they were naturally stunned beyond belief!
At the urging of Si Youqin and the others, the crowd disembarked from the supply ship. As they stepped onto the Duckweed and listened to the explanation, their entire worldview was shattered!
As they walked and listened to the introduction, they soon arrived at their workplace.
"The work here is relatively simple. You’ll just use these simple machines to press the oil out of the Diesel Tree fruits! Of course, we’ll also need to split off a group to go gather the fruit..."
The newcomers had no time to be shocked and immediately threw themselves into their work.
Meanwhile, the two women who had led them there began honing their Superpowers off to the side. One manipulated a ball of water in the air, constantly changing its shape, while the other controlled a Vine that wrapped around her!
As a Wood-Type Evolver, she desperately wanted to control the plants in the Banyan Forest, but she couldn’t at all. She could only control some of the plant seeds Ren Yuanyang had given her.
Even so, it was enough to awe the new members.
"These two are actually Evolvers!"
Originally, some of them had been unconvinced. ’Why should strapping young men like us be managed by two young women? Just because they arrived a few days earlier?’
Now, after seeing them use their Superpowers, everyone was thoroughly convinced!
At that moment, Ren Yuanyang was in the base’s seed bank, sorting through plant seeds to find what he needed.
He quickly found his target: the Lantern Tree.
This shrub-like plant could absorb and store phosphorus, then release phosphine at night to spontaneously combust. Seen from a distance, these clusters of pale blue fluorescence looked just like little lanterns.
He immediately enhanced the Lantern Tree’s growth rate and its luminescence, as well as the ability to switch it on and off.
The enhanced Lantern Trees could now turn their light off, making them more convenient for base members to manage.
After finishing the enhancement, Ren Yuanyang immediately began to cultivate them.
Meanwhile, Qin Haonan was already piloting a speedboat, heading toward the Dawn Base.
He had volunteered to keep an eye on the Dawn Base, mainly because he was worried they would escape!
After exiting the Seventh-level Wind Sea Region, Qin Haonan took a wide detour, carefully approaching the Dawn Base until he reached a safe distance, where he stopped.
"You two take the first watch of the surroundings. We’ll switch with you in three hours!" Qin Haonan ordered.
"Got it!" Jianghu replied.
For this mission, Ren Yuanyang had sent Jianghu and two other Evolvers out with him.
A team of two would allow them to rotate shifts.
Qin Haonan went back to the rear cabin, braced himself, and opened his laptop to start studying.
Less than ten minutes later, Qin Haonan was slumped over the laptop, fast asleep and snoring!
Jianghu shook his head helplessly, while the other two Evolvers covered their mouths and snickered.
They all knew that Qin Haonan had been assigned homework for this trip, and that the leader had even tasked them with supervising him.
"Should we wake Minister Qin up?" one of them asked with a smile.
Jianghu shook his head slightly. "Not for now. He was piloting the boat all last night. He should get some rest!"
The other two nodded and didn’t disturb Qin Haonan’s rest.
It was hard to say whether Qin Haonan was truly exhausted or just subconsciously resisting his studies, but he ended up sleeping all the way until seven in the evening.
When he groggily woke up, Jianghu was eating dinner.
"Perfect timing. Come and eat!" Jianghu called out with a smile.
"What time is it?" Qin Haonan asked casually, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth.
"Seven in the evening," Jianghu replied.
"What? How is it so late? Why didn’t you wake me for my shift?" Qin Haonan exclaimed in shock.
"You were sleeping so soundly, I figured I’d let you rest a bit longer!" Jianghu replied with a smile. "The three of us can handle the rotations just fine!"
"Thanks!" Qin Haonan cupped his hands, stood up, and walked over to the nearby refrigerator. He took out the food Xin Wan had prepared for them, put it in the microwave, and then continued asking, "Any movement from the Dawn Base?"
Jianghu shook his head. "None. There aren’t even any speedboats patrolling the perimeter."
Qin Haonan paused for a moment, then took the heated food out of the microwave, his brow furrowed. "What’s going on with the Dawn Base? Shouldn’t they at least have a patrol boat making rounds?"
"Yeah, that part is definitely strange," Jianghu agreed with a nod.
Just as Qin Haonan was about to eat, the person on watch outside suddenly called out, "I think there are large ships approaching!"
Hearing this, Qin Haonan immediately dropped his chopsticks and ran outside.
In the distance, several searchlights flickered in and out of view. Staring at the hazy black shapes behind the lights, Qin Haonan nodded. "They really are big ships! We need to get out of the way, fast!"
Jianghu immediately returned to the cockpit, started the speedboat, and steered it aside!
After moving a safe distance away from the large ships, Jianghu asked with a frown, "Why would several large ships appear from this direction? Could they be from the Aircraft Carrier Base?"
Qin Haonan shook his head slightly. "They shouldn’t have arrived here this quickly. I’ll ask."
With that, he returned to the cabin, took out his phone, and sent a message to Wang Jun: "Captain Wang, has your fleet reached the Dawn Base area yet?"
Seeing the message, Wang Jun was taken aback for a second, then immediately replied: "No, we just set out this morning. We estimate we won’t reach the Dawn Base until the morning of the day after tomorrow! Why do you ask, Minister Qin?"
"We’re currently monitoring the Dawn Base and spotted several large ships approaching them, so I wanted to confirm with you first!" Qin Haonan explained.
"Hmm? Could another faction have its eyes on the Dawn Base?" Wang Jun was also surprised.
"Not sure!" Qin Haonan shook his head. "Could it be reinforcements that the Dawn Base called for?"
"I doubt it. Our operation hasn’t been exposed," Wang Jun said with a frown, shaking his head.
Although many survivors saw the ships leave the Aircraft Carrier Base, no one knew what their mission was!
More importantly, not a single survivor has revealed the fleet’s movements on any of the channels so far.
The Aircraft Carrier Base’s intelligence department was constantly monitoring all the chat channels, so they could confirm this.
"Then I have no idea. I’m going to report this to my leader. Talk later!" Qin Haonan proactively ended the chat, then reported his findings to Ren Yuanyang.
Ren Yuanyang was also surprised. "It seems the Dawn Base is still stirring up trouble! You guys be careful and don’t get too close. They won’t be jumping around for much longer!"
"Don’t worry, Leader! We’ll be careful!" Qin Haonan replied with a smile.
Just as he was about to end the conversation, Ren Yuanyang suddenly asked, "How’s the memorization coming along?"
"Leader, can we please not talk about such a heartbreaking topic?" Qin Haonan said, his face a mask of bitterness.
"What do you think?" Ren Yuanyang retorted.
Qin Haonan had no choice but to answer truthfully, "I read for about ten minutes, then fell asleep... and I just woke up..."

Comments

Loading...