Wasteland Border Inspector - Chapter 963

Chapter 963: Chapter 306: Barren Predicament, Maintain Awe! (Part 2)

If you don’t eliminate others, they’ll find a way to eliminate you. Everyone wants to hold the greatest benefit in their own hands.

“Where are you guys living now?”

“In the slum area in the south of the city.” Zhou Kuan pointed in a direction, then added a bit awkwardly, “The money to lease the shop this time was also borrowed from my uncle.”

“Do they really believe that things can be grown now?”

“Of course not at first.” Zhou Kuan showed a hint of a smile when speaking of this, “They’ve lived in Stone Province for decades and never heard that crops could be successfully planted anywhere. It was when I took them out, um, before entering the city those things were planted under their watch, and after seeing and tasting the spices I grew, they finally believed.”

“I’m planning to open a restaurant, my uncle will be responsible for growing the vegetables. Now he no longer goes out to work, and every few days he goes outside the city to maintain that small vegetable garden, fearing that something might go wrong.”

I must say, the resilience of the people at the bottom is admirable, no matter the era.

Zhou Kuan spoke in detail, even though it was just a first acquaintance, Cheng Ye felt a sense of sentiment.

If it weren’t for today’s accidental encounter, this family might really have been able to seize the opportunity in Happiness City and be the first to enjoy the benefits of the catering industry next year.

They arrived at the entrance of the Central Inspection Station.

Cheng Ye turned around, “I need to go inside to handle some matters. You go home first, I might return late tonight. I’m going to get some vegetables, just to see how good your culinary skills really are.”

Zhou Kuan immediately perked up and quickly nodded, “I’ll go right away! Should I wait for you here later?”

“Yes, it might take me some time, about an hour or so.”

After finishing the land lease procedures, he still needed to process a series of tasks to receive outfield assignments, along with extracting relevant intelligence, which indeed requires some time.

Walking into the inspection station, Cheng Ye meandered his way to the logistics department and first requested a bag of vegetables, simultaneously inquiring about the latest developments on the station’s experimental fields.

“The experimental fields have expanded to two hundred acres, mainly conducting land tolerance tests for various reserve seeds to prepare for large-scale sowing next spring.” The staff explained while pulling out a pile of bound test data.

The data surprisingly detailed the growth metrics for various vegetables, as well as staple crops like wheat, rice, corn, and potatoes, specifying the germination rate, seed setting rate, and resilience for each type of seed.

Achieving such results in just a few dozen days obviously utilized some special method.

But since the Infection Source Research Institute had means to nourish, accelerating the maturity of small-scale plants wouldn’t be an issue.

Cheng Ye quickly skimmed through, his brows gradually furrowing, the data was even bleaker than he imagined.

Though Tan Ming assured the liveliness within two hundred kilometers of Happiness City’s surroundings wouldn’t be drained, the soil left untended for years had become appallingly barren.

The chaotic growth of wild grass and vines had long drained the soil’s fertility, even using high-quality seeds renowned for their germination rate suited for sandy soil, the germination rate could only reach about 70%, and the seed setting rate was less than 65%, with the annotation column densely written with prompts like “need fertilization to prevent premature aging.”

And staple crops couldn’t escape being hampered by the soil’s impoverishment either.

The data showed that the wheat ears were generally small, with shriveled grains, and corn fared even worse, with only a 60% germination rate and a third of them lodging later.

Potatoes barely held up under the pressure of tuber reproduction, achieving a 72% emergence rate, but had few tubers with very small sizes. Rice was completely unsuitable for sandy soil, in the small-scale trials, the germination rate barely surpassed 50%, withering in patches before even heading, directly noted as sandy soil having poor water retention and fertility ability, completely unsuitable for rice.

Overall, the core data for all staple crops were far below normal levels, with notes about fertilization, moisture retention, and pest control filling the annotation column.

In truth, no one had ever surveyed the soil conditions of Stone Province or considered the possibility of cultivation here, naturally, there weren’t suitable seeds cultivated.

Given the current soil fertility, it couldn’t possibly support the spring planting needs for next year, either finding efficient fertilization methods quickly or continually improving and cultivating varieties that adapt to the climate and soil conditions of Happiness City.

Cheng Ye took out his Defense Communication and photographed all the staple crop data.

Dongping Town plans to launch large-scale cultivation next spring, and Yue Ye also needs to synchronize with sowing endeavors, facing such bleak data, the first year’s harvest is likely to greatly disappoint everyone.

Nonetheless, opportunity is nestled within.

Whoever can cultivate the suitable seed varieties will definitely achieve great merit.

This venture, which contributes to Happiness City while facilitating the layout of one’s subsequent industry, Cheng Ye decided to earnestly study it over this winter no matter what.

Once fresh vegetables were packed, Cheng Ye took the data and turned towards the station house, first handling the acceptance procedure for three outfield tasks.

Then, clutching the task authorization slip, he headed straight to the intelligence room hosted by Harlem on the fifth floor.

Knock, knock.

Cheng Ye gently knocked, and Harlem’s voice came from inside without looking up, “Enter.”

“Harlem sir, I’m here to collect the related intelligence for outfield tasks.”

“Hand me the authorization slip.” Harlem took it, quickly scanning it, and casually said, “Fourth bookshelf, third row sixth, third row tenth, and fourth row third.”

Cheng Ye walked over to the designated bookshelf, found the intelligence files for the corresponding tasks as directed.

Before leaving, he paused, turned back, and asked, “Anything in these tasks that requires special attention?”