Chapter 59 Jin Yuangjiang

Chen Luo was reviewing a list.

The intelligence team, consisting of Jiang Feng and Zhao Hai, had the primary task of investigating major events in Shendu, as well as gathering intelligence on various bases and identifying outstanding members.

They would then compile this information and present it to Chen Luo.

Chen Luo was most concerned about identifying exceptionally talented ability users. If there were any future King-level experts, or even well-known Level 9 or 10 individuals, he would attempt to recruit them.

Currently, due to limited manpower and the late start of the intelligence operation, they had only infiltrated less than half of the bases in Shendu.

Furthermore, many newly emerged factions had not yet been infiltrated.

"Slowly but surely," he thought.

Two pieces of intelligence.

The first concerned a mutant that had appeared near a base, killing dozens of members. Chen Luo wasn't concerned about such events. He used to fear mutants.

"Hmph, I am not the Chen Xiaoluo I once was."

The probability of Level 10 or King-level mutants appearing at this time was too low. Having mastered time acceleration, Chen Luo now longed to encounter such mutants.

The second piece of intelligence stated that a certain bigwig was suspected of obtaining a Level 7 crystal.

Chen Luo had little interest in this. By the time he went to snatch it, the crystal would probably have been mostly absorbed. Besides, Level 7 crystals no longer excited him.

He continued reviewing the list of ability users.

Most of the names were unfamiliar. Lin Tian had said something insightful: winning early doesn't count; only surviving to the end matters.

Some people might shine early on, only to kick the bucket the next day.

But they couldn't give up. Jiang Feng and Zhao Hai's task was to assess the possibility of recruiting these people. If they seemed promising, they would try to lure them to their side.

Suddenly, Chen Luo's eyes lit up.

Jin Yuanjiang, suspected Level 5, possessing earth-binding and earth-explosion abilities, with excellent combat skills. Around thirty years old, seemingly rough around the edges.

Chen Luo knew about this Jin Yuanjiang. A future King-level expert, considered mid-tier among the King-level.

His character seemed decent as well, though Chen Luo wasn't familiar with him; he'd only heard things.

Most importantly, he wasn't a big shot.

"He can be someone else's lackey, but not mine?"

Chen Luo smiled and issued an order to gather all available information on Jin Yuanjiang. If necessary, he would personally step in to recruit him.

Upon receiving the instructions, Zhao Hai immediately took action. Although he didn't know why Chen Luo placed so much importance on this Jin Yuanjiang, he didn't ask.

He just needed to do his job well.

Having been a boss himself, Zhao Hai knew what kind of people bosses liked. If Chen Luo wanted to share, he would.

The next day, Meng Yin's potatoes were ripe.

To be precise, the seeds provided by Meng Yin were now ripe, and Ouyang Lu was responsible for planting them.

After reaching Level 4, Meng Yin had replanted a batch of potatoes, but they hadn't matured yet.

The Level 4 crystal they obtained yesterday was distributed to all the nature-type ability users as soon as they returned to the base.

Most of them were at Level 3, and a Level 4 crystal would greatly accelerate their advancement to Level 4.

Sure enough, after absorbing the crystal overnight, thirty-two people reached Level 4.

Meng Yin watched nervously as Ouyang Lu dug up the potatoes.

Becoming an Elder... just imagining Xiao Yu calling her Elder made her giddy.

"It would be best to get Xiao Yu under my command and have her call me Big Sis!"

Last night, Meng Yin dreamed of this and woke up laughing.

Just growing them wasn't enough; the yield had to improve. Otherwise, Meng Yin's value would be no different from any other nature-type ability user.

Ouyang Lu said, "Based on how I used to plant them, one cycle should yield about one hundred and fifty *jin* of potatoes."

One cycle was fifteen days, and that was because Ouyang Lu could summon grass sprites. Otherwise, it would take at least a month for others.

One hundred and fifty *jin* in a month... how many people could that feed?

This was the result of Ouyang Lu doing nothing else but planting.

It wasn't that she didn't want to plant more, but the ability to maintain the planting wasn't sufficient.

In a base, only high-ranking officials were qualified to eat vegetables.

It wasn't that higher-level ability users could grow more; as pollution increased, it became increasingly difficult to grow. Lower-level nature-type ability users couldn't grow anything at all.

Otherwise, why would Mi Ling get so angry every time Chen Luo took only a small amount of vegetables?

Ouyang Lu dug up all the potatoes and said with pleasant surprise, "There are way more than I used to grow! Meng Yin is really amazing."

Chen Luo chuckled. Not really.

They weighed them, and it came out to 182 *jin*.

In other words, Meng Yin's improvement had increased the yield by twenty percent.

The others looked at Meng Yin enviously. Twenty percent!

Meng Yin beamed with pride, puffing out her chest. Children just couldn't resist being praised.

Then, Meng Yin looked at Chen Luo expectantly. Was she an Elder yet?

But Chen Luo poured cold water on her: "I put so much effort into nurturing you, and you only increased the yield by thirty *jin*? Thirty *jin* is barely enough for one person to eat for a month. Do you think that's useful?"

Chen Luo was talking nonsense. Thirty *jin* per person, with Chen Luo's base having more than three hundred nature-type ability users, that would be ten thousand *jin*.

Besides, half a *jin* a day would be more than enough to fill someone up. Could they still eat as much as they wanted, like before the apocalypse?

In her previous life, Meng Yin had improved potatoes that Chen Luo had heard could yield six thousand *jin* per acre. Converted to the current planting area, it should reach four hundred *jin*.

A far cry from that.

He couldn't give her the reward so quickly, or she would become a couch potato.

Meng Yin widened her eyes and then dejectedly lowered her head. "Yeah, only thirty *jin*. I'm useless."

Chen Luo coughed. He couldn't discourage her too much.

"But it's still worth praising, since it did have an effect. How about this? For three consecutive days, I'll give you a portion of fried chicken every day as a reward. Keep up the good work, Meng Yin."

Meng Yin nodded vigorously, drooling. Big Brother's fried chicken was so plentiful.

It was strange, though. She only saw two chickens. Could it be that he was hiding the rest?

He didn't have much fried chicken left; Chen Luo had only collected twelve hundred portions. He and Mi Li and the others only ate it occasionally, a few portions at a time.

He really didn't have much left. He had to save it to coax the children in the future.

Chen Luo added, "Now that we've tried potatoes, let's try developing chili seeds next."

Chili peppers could be made into chili powder and chili sauce. Even a small amount of chili could be used as a dish.

Many people also liked eating chili peppers. Life without chili peppers was soulless.

A new batch of potatoes was planted. This time, the quantity far exceeded previous plantings, and a large number of nature-type Level 4 ability users would be born.

It was a pity that they didn't have any high-level nature-type crystals; otherwise, Chen Luo could have rotated their usage and helped them advance to Level 4 sooner.

But sometimes, fate was so wondrous.

Chen Luo was instructing them on planting vegetables when Chen Guang ran over to report.

"Big Brother, someone is being chased and ran here seeking refuge, willing to offer a Level 7 nature-type crystal."

"Should we protect him, or take his nature-type crystal and kick him out?"

In any case, the crystal must be kept.

Chen Luo exclaimed, "Wow, Chen Guang, when did you become so bad? Who did you learn that from?"