Chapter 26: Repayment
"Why?" His own voice was filled with a strange kind of disappointment he never realised he had.
"You haven’t healed yet. The zombies are evolving rapidly; mutated beasts are becoming increasingly ferocious, and many plants are mutating. It’s the worst time to explore and randomly guess where your director might be."
"So? Should I just wait here?" Lu Yucai asked, a bit desperate and angry at the same time.
"No. I mean, I will hire detectives, mercenaries and a few people to find your orphanage director; as long as we receive any solid clue, we can act upon it." Ni Mengxue explained patiently.
Lu Yucai’s anger vanished instantly, followed by shame. "I..."
"It’s alright. I understand. Sometimes we are desperate to find our loved ones and lose control of our emotions."
.........
The next day.
Ni Mengxue first entered her space and saw dense lettuce, spinach, turnips, and radishes waiting to be harvested.
Her eyes brightened up. Previously, she was in a hurry and didn’t notice how much they could yield, but once she did, she was surprised.
Typically, 1 acre of radish should have yielded 5 to 7 tonnes. But according to her estimate... the pile in front of her was at least 30 tonnes!
Lettuce, turnips and spinach were the same.
As for cucumbers, vigorous, sprawling green vines grew rapidly up to a few feet long.
The green peas were tangled together using their thin, thread-like tendrils. White or purple flowers were blooming, signalling that the first pea pods were about to form.
The onions started as seedlings rather than seeds, so they looked like thick, vibrant green bunching scallions with 3 to 4 hollow, upright leaves.
The bases were slightly white but had not yet begun to swell into round bulbs.
Garlic resembled tall, stiff, thick blades of grass or leeks about 8 to 12 inches tall. While both the rice and wheat looked like dense clumps of vibrant, bright green grass.
The wheat was in the tillering phase, while the rice was a tuft of thin stalks preparing to elongate.
Ni Mengxue’s heart was filled with delight, and she murmured, "Soon... soon I will be able to harvest them too!"
She quickly replanted spinach, lettuce, radish, and turnip and took out 1 tonne of each.
First, she divided them into a few portions and set out for Ruo Chiwu’s house.
"Aunt Ruo, are you here?"
The door opened a few seconds later. The person standing there wasn’t Ruo Chiwu.
Instead, it was Fu Lin. The moment he saw Ni Mengxue, his expression became somewhat awkward.
The incident from before was still fresh in his mind. Back then, he had misunderstood her, suspected her motives, and had even spoken rather rudely.
Thinking back on it now, he wished he could dig a hole and hide inside it. "Miss Ni..."
Ni Mengxue simply smiled as if none of that had ever happened. "Is Aunt Ruo home?"
"She’s currently assigning missions at the logistics department."
"I see." Ni Mengxue nodded before handing him one of the oversized paper bags. "I found these while scavenging outside. Could you please give them to Aunt Ruo?"
Fu Lin instinctively stepped back. "No, no, I can’t accept this."
He didn’t even bother looking inside the bag. Whatever Miss Ni personally brought over was bound to be valuable.
Besides, Ruo Chiwu was merely doing her job. How could they shamelessly accept such expensive gifts? Ni Mengxue smiled helplessly.
"Aunt Ruo has helped me a lot these past few days. This is only a small token of appreciation."
Fu Lin still shook his head. "It’s too valuable. I really can’t take it."
"Please." Ni Mengxue gently pushed the bag into his hands. "If you don’t accept it, I’ll feel guilty instead. Besides, there are plenty more where these came from."
Fu Lin naturally didn’t believe the last sentence. He could only sigh before accepting the paper bag. "...Thank you."
"Please thank Aunt Ruo for me as well."
"I will." After exchanging a few more words, Ni Mengxue waved goodbye and left.
Fu Lin stood at the doorway, watching her disappear around the corner before carrying the heavy paper bag inside.
He couldn’t help but mutter to himself. "What exactly did she bring..."
Curious, he opened the folded top of the paper bag. The next second... his pupils shrank. "What?!"
Inside the bag were neatly stacked vegetables. Fresh vegetables.
Fu Lin stood frozen in place. His mind went completely blank.
After the apocalypse, fresh vegetables had become rarer than many mutant beast cores. Even the wealthiest survivors struggled to obtain them.
Yet... Miss Ni had casually handed him an entire bag full of them. His hands trembled slightly as he stared at the vegetables.
With his years of experience managing supplies, he immediately estimated their value. If sold on the market... this single bag alone could easily fetch over four hundred high-tier zombie crystals.
Perhaps even more. Fu Lin swallowed hard. The embarrassment he had been feeling earlier multiplied several times over.
He had once called this young woman a good-for-nothing and cursed her and even treated her with hostility.
Yet she had repaid them with something so precious without asking for anything in return.
He slowly closed the paper bag and let out a bitter laugh. "...I truly judged her too quickly."
For the first time, he genuinely admired the young woman whom Ruo Chiwu had chosen to follow.
..........
Ni Mengxue didn’t stop there. Just like she had told Lu Yucai, she went to the detective agency.
During the apocalypse, if there was anyone who was as rich as a food shop owner or base owner, then it was the detective agency.
Many people have lost their loved ones and would go to any lengths to find them. At these times, detective agencies became their first choice.
However, she had done her research and didn’t go to any money-sucking agency; rather, she chose a small yet honest agency.
Ying Luo Agency.
Once inside, Ni Mengxue stated, "I want you to find 4 people for me; in return, I will give you 200 kg of radish."