There were only two things Gu Xi could be certain of now.
One, soone had tampered with her ability.
Two, the three wanted criminals definitely held a clue.
Gu Xi lowered her eyes, concealing her deep thoughts.
After a mont, she looked up and asked Qi Xiang, "Did they ask you about the Crystal Core Fragnts?"
Qi Xiang froze for a second, then shook her head. "No."
She imdiately patted her chest, looking at Gu Xi with an expression of pure loyalty. "Gu Xiaoxi, you..." ’Don’t worry. Even if soone asked, I wouldn’t say a single word.’
Gu Xi asked another question. "Have you been with Dr. Qi all these years?"
The topic changed so abruptly that Qi Xiang paused again. ’There’s sothing strange about the way Gu Xi is asking this,’ she thought.
Still, she answered truthfully. "Yeah. Because my ability is rather special... my adoptive father has indeed liked to keep by his side all these years..."
As she said this, she suddenly rembered that Gu Xi had spent the past few years wandering through the ruins...
With that in mind, Qi Xiang’s imagination ran a little wild. She then selectively recounted so of the things she had seen and heard in the places she had visited over the years, giving Gu Xi a simple summary.
’That should satisfy the young girl’s curiosity,’ she thought.
Finally, seeing that Gu Xi was silent, Qi Xiang thought for a mont and added, "Honestly, the outside world is just so-so. It’s hard to get a decent al. It’s much better here at ho." ’You can eat as much good food as you want. That alone makes it a million tis better than out there.’
Gu Xi nodded but didn’t speak.
When the three of them returned, they could see Mr. Zhao from a distance, leading several staff mbers. They were standing in the rice paddies by the creek, bent over and busy with sothing.
The mont Gu Xi got out of the car, Mr. Zhao straightened up and waved to her from afar. "You’re back?"
Gu Xi walked over quickly.
Half a month ago, Shen Yue had finally fulfilled his promise and sourced so pre-apocalypse high-quality rice seeds for her through military channels.
Gu Xi had planted a crop that very day.
Afterward, everyone had been busy steaming rice and making congee, completely forgetting about the rice stalks left in the paddies.
When Gu Xi went over the next day, a new crop of small seedlings, about a finger’s length tall, had already sprouted in the paddies.
She had been stunned at the ti. It was Qi Xiang who later told her it was called ratoon rice.
’It’s my own fault for not studying enough,’ Gu Xi mused. ’I never knew rice could be harvested crop after crop, just like chives.’
After that, the two professors took a keen interest in these rice paddies.
The professors discovered that when the ratoon rice grew naturally from the stalks Gu Xi had force-matured with her ability, its mutation coefficient was significantly higher. At the sa ti, however, its growth speed had also increased severalfold.
This ant that even ordinary people could grow food in a much shorter amount of ti.
This was no small feat in the apocalypse.
Therefore, the two professors were thrilled as they looked at the ratoon rice.
It ant that if they could find a way to control the rice’s mutation coefficient and improve its stability, they could cultivate an even superior strain of high-quality rice.
Thus, for the past several days, the two professors had practically been living in these rice paddies day and night.
The rice in the paddies was now more than half a person’s height and looked ready for harvest.
Only when Gu Xi got closer did she realize that after just a few days, the ratoon rice was flourishing. The estimated yield was even higher than the crop she had personally planted before!
’Is it because of the higher mutation coefficient?’
Gu Xi glanced over. The mutation coefficient of this ratoon rice was around 3.5 by her estimation. While edible, the taste would certainly be poor.
"Gu, are you all right? Did they give you a hard ti?" Mr. Zhao asked, a hint of worry in his voice as he waded out of the paddy and looked her over from top to bottom.
"I’m fine. It was just a routine inspection." Gu Xi reassured Mr. Zhao with a faint smile. "Don’t worry. If there was really a problem, would they have let us co back?"
The logic was sound, but when Mr. Zhao thought of the news from South City, the smile rarely absent from his face vanished.
Gu Xi took the initiative to change the subject. "Professor, shouldn’t this rice be harvested?"
Mr. Zhao nodded. "We’ll harvest it this afternoon, after we finish taking samples."
At this, Mr. Zhao seed to recall sothing and appeared troubled. He paused for a mont before saying, "Gu, about this ratoon rice..."
"Of course it all belongs to our lab," Gu Xi stated. The two professors had been ticulously tending to the ratoon rice since it sprouted; now that it was mature, she couldn’t possibly have the nerve to ask for a share.
Mr. Zhao, however, hesitated for a mont before speaking. "It’s like this, Gu. Zhang and I both feel this batch of ratoon rice has great potential. It’s very likely we can get more than just this one harvest from it. So..."
Mr. Zhao found it difficult to continue.
The paddies were the girl’s creation, the rice seeds were hers, and even the ratoon rice in the field had only mutated because her ability had stimulated it.
Now that the official farm saw the great potential in this ratoon rice, they wanted to take over the paddies directly. It was truly a bit unfair.
Gu Xi, on the other hand, wasn’t too bothered. ’What’s the big deal? Am I going to stop eating rice just because I lose a few paddies?’
’Worst case, I’ll just open up a few more acres of paddies.’
’It’s not that hard...’
Gu Xi imdiately took the initiative and offered to give the paddies and the ratoon rice in them to the farm for experints, saving Mr. Zhao from his predicant.
’But since the kid is being so considerate, I can’t let her suffer a loss, can I?’
So, Mr. Zhao made an on-the-spot decision to compensate Gu Xi for the rice paddies, allocating her the nearby hilltop along with the stretch of wasteland near the creek.
"I just eyeballed it. The land Mr. Zhao compensated us with is over two hundred mu. A lot of it is right by the creek, so we can turn it directly into rice paddies..."
Wei Heng followed behind Gu Xi, beaming as he said, "Our old paddies were barely ten mu, even on a good day... Gu Xiaoxi, we hit the jackpot this ti! When we get back, I’ll apply for the electronic contract and get the land lease in our hands as soon as possible..."
He rattled on and on, but when he got no response, he looked up and saw Gu Xi seemingly in a daze.
"Gu Xi? Gu Xiaoxi?!" Wei Heng called out several tis before Gu Xi snapped out of it. "What?"
"I said we hit the jackpot this ti." Wei Heng looked up at her, his expression tinged with concern. "Gu Xiaoxi, you... did sothing happen at the camp earlier?"
Sothing had happened.
Gu Xi glanced at him, her left hand by her side discreetly pressing against her knuckles. But she couldn’t tell him.
Because... Wei Heng was very likely a pair of eyes soone had deliberately placed by her side.
’Although, it’s highly likely he himself doesn’t even know...’
"Gu Xi, what’s wrong? Why are you looking at like that?" Wei Heng sensed sothing was off and frowned slightly.
"It’s nothing." Gu Xi shook her head. Her gaze swept over the personal terminal on his wrist, and she suddenly said, "Contact Huang Er. I need to speak with him in person about sothing. Tell him to find a way to leave the city and et as soon as possible."
Wei Heng’s brow furrowed slightly.
’Gu Xi wants to speak with Huang Er in person. That ans whatever they’re discussing can’t leave a trace on the network, and it’s urgent...’
Wei Heng had many questions, but looking into Gu Xi’s exceptionally calm eyes, he ultimately just sighed to himself and asked nothing.
After a mont, he heard himself say, "Okay. I’ll arrange it."
...
That night, Gu Xi t Huang Er in the woods on the back mountain.
A private helicopter was parked not far away.
Gu Xi glanced at the helicopter first, and only after confirming it was empty did her gaze fall upon Huang Er.
Huang Er’s face was a little gaunt, his expression slightly grave.
South City was currently under total lockdown, so it hadn’t been easy for him to leave the city in secret.
Ti was limited, so as soon as they t, Huang Er got straight to the point. "Miss Gu, you were in a hurry to see . Is there sothing you need my help with?"
Gu Xi stood opposite him, looking into the man’s eyes. Then, she raised her hand and made a strange gesture, slowly reciting a string of seemingly random numbers...
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