138. The Value of Potatoes!

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Shen Ruyan understood at once what Xue Feng meant.

“My lord, I apologize. You may punish me however you wish.”

Shen Ruyan slowly sat down on Xue Feng’s lap and wrapped her arms around his.

“Then I’ll have to make sure you remember this clearly!”

With a sudden movement, Xue Feng rolled over and pinned Shen Ruyan beneath him.

…

The following day, Xue Feng assigned Qin Fengshan to handle the matter.

He was to contact the other survivors and inform them of the latest developments.

They could exchange crystal cores for potatoes and solar panels.

The solar panels were available immediately, at a price of one hundred crystal cores each.

Three panels would basically be enough to meet the electricity needs of their base.

After all, not every survivor settlement was like Xue Feng’s base, where the lights could remain on for long periods and most electrical appliances could be used.

In some places, perhaps all they needed was enough power to boil water.

From the other survivors, Xue Feng learned of a way to purify drinking water.

It was the simplest method of all: distillation.

They would boil contaminated water, then collect the droplets formed when the resulting steam condensed.

That produced the purest distilled water.

The other toxic impurities would not rise with the steam.

It was even more effective than a water purifier.

The drawback was obvious. Without a steam engine, they could only build simple equipment by hand.

As a result, the amount of distilled water collected each day was very small—barely enough for drinking.

Now that they had electricity, they could use it to perform distillation.

This solved the drinking-water problem to a great extent.

Thus, all the solar panels Xue Feng brought over from the armory that day were hauled away by the other survivors.

Those survivors were not permitted to enter the base. They could only remain outside the gates.

Even so, when they saw the vast villa district, the reinforced walls, and the electrified wire fencing strung across the top, every one of them was stunned.

They had never imagined that the place where Xue Feng lived could be so impressive.

He even had surplus solar panels available for sale.

And in twenty days, there would be a large supply of potatoes available for exchange.

Potatoes!

Even before the apocalypse, potatoes had been one of the most popular foods.

Every breakfast stall sold shredded potatoes.

In many European countries, potatoes were even a staple food.

In the nineteenth century, the English deliberately spread disease among the Irish potato crops.

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The resulting collapse in potato production deliberately starved millions of people to death.

So this time, Xue Feng did not need to urge them at all.

They were more than willing to destroy zombies of their own accord. In effect, they were hunting zombies in exchange for food.

With supplies within the city already severely depleted, this was undoubtedly the most stable source of food.

Meanwhile, Xue Feng could gradually expand the area devoted to growing potatoes.

Potatoes were especially easy to cultivate.

Even later, if the system stopped providing him with potato seeds, he would still be able to continue growing them on a large scale.

It would form a highly beneficial cycle.

After all, Xue Feng alone determined the price of the potatoes.

What he sold was only his surplus grain.

Moreover, Xue Feng had imposed an extremely overbearing additional condition:

Potatoes purchased from him could not be planted by the buyers themselves.

Otherwise, such an act would be regarded as hostile.

Xue Feng’s potatoes had been supplied by the system.

They were already twice as large as the finest potatoes on the market, both in size and in speed of maturation.

Something like that naturally had to remain under his own control.

After seeing Xue Feng’s base, some factions even proposed joining it voluntarily.

They were willing to work like beasts if necessary.

It would still be safer than remaining outside.

Xue Feng rejected every one of these requests.

Under different circumstances, he would not have minded taking in some survivors to increase the strength of his base.

But things were different now.

Based on the earlier analyses by Gu Xiaoqian and Shen Ruyan, the base could accommodate roughly two hundred people.

If the population increased any further, they would have to restrict electricity usage and water supplies within the base.

Xue Feng had no desire to deal with that kind of trouble.

It was enough to maintain the current population.

These survivor groups were scattered throughout other parts of Jiangcheng, which effectively made them his eyes and ears.

They could monitor those areas in his place.

They also could not do without him.

Once their supplies ran out, they would have no choice but to obtain potatoes from him.

Xue Feng also asked Shen Ruyan to establish a reward system.

Any ability-user group that made a discovery—useful intelligence, supplies, or anything similar—could receive an appropriate reward from him.

Only after putting all these arrangements in place did Xue Feng finally let out a sigh of relief.

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He had the feeling that the entire city of Jiangcheng was gradually falling under his control.

But in an apocalypse, who could know what would happen next?

After dealing with these matters, Xue Feng found time to summon Liu Jun.

He asked whether Liu Jun had experienced any reaction after consuming a crystal core.

“My lord, I feel as though my body has been filled with a steady stream of strength every day. My physical abilities seem to have improved in every respect as well. So far, I haven’t felt any discomfort.” Liu Jun looked extremely excited.

After all, Liu Jun could clearly feel that his strength was far greater than before.

The change was continuing to grow day by day.

Xue Feng nodded. It seemed that strengthening one’s abilities by consuming crystal cores was indeed viable.

There should be no side effects.

Neither Liu Jun nor the ability-users Xue Feng had encountered at the canning factory appeared abnormal on the surface.

They were nothing like the people at the northern psychiatric hospital who had taken the drugs.

Those people had been visibly mentally unstable.

The last time, Xue Feng had given the director’s research materials, including his laptop, to Nie Xiaoyue.

Now all he could do was wait and see whether she would achieve anything.

Still, Xue Feng did not hold out much hope.

Everyone had their own specialty, and this was not Nie Xiaoyue’s field.

The fact that she had managed to modify the crystal-core generator twice within a few months was already an unexpected delight to Xue Feng.

“Very good. Report to me if you encounter any problems.”

After indicating that Liu Jun could leave, Xue Feng summoned all the other ability-users in the base.

He told them that consuming crystal cores could enhance their abilities.

“What? Eating this thing can improve our powers?” Hao Yifei was overjoyed.

Recently, Hao Yifei had been extremely uneasy while staying at the base.

As an A-level member, she possessed no particularly outstanding ability.

The only unusual thing about her was that she was an ability-user at all.

But her ability was awkward. Its offensive power was inferior to that of a firearm.

Now that she knew her ability could be enhanced, Hao Yifei desperately wanted to find a crystal core and swallow it immediately.

She felt no revulsion whatsoever toward something dug out of a zombie’s head.

“That’s right. It can enhance your abilities.”

Xue Feng nodded and explained how to consume the crystal cores.

At their current stage, they had to use low-level cores. Only after low-level crystals could no longer increase their strength should they gradually move on to higher levels.

Everyone indicated that they understood. They certainly would not consume the things carelessly.

After finishing his instructions, Xue Feng told them to return to their own duties.

As for him, there was somewhere he needed to go.

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