Chapter 115 - 114: Increasing Wind, an Unexpected Gain
At Ren Yuanyang's command, his Mental Energy was instantly depleted. In the last moment before he passed out, he vaguely heard the system's notification.
[Enhancement successful...]
At 7:40 in the morning, Ren Yuanyang slowly awoke. He glanced at the time—it had been a full eight hours.
He got up and moved the rabbit cage over to the shipping container. The smell from the rabbit droppings was definitely unpleasant.
Seeing Ren Yuanyang was up, Lu Jiamei immediately went over to him. "Chief, let's have breakfast first!"
Ren Yuanyang paused for a moment. "You haven't eaten yet?"
"None of us were hungry, so we went to deal with the banyan tree's aerial roots first! We were planning to wait for you," Lu Jiamei replied with a smile.
"Hmm, then call them back. We'll eat breakfast first, then get back to work," Ren Yuanyang instructed with a slight nod.
"Right away!" Lu Jiamei immediately pulled out her phone to tell Qin Haonan and the others to come back and eat.
Xin Wan had already gotten breakfast ready.
As Ren Yuanyang stepped into the speedboat, he was immediately hit by the familiar metallic scent of blood.
"How much of the crocodile blood is left?" Ren Yuanyang asked with a slight frown.
"We don't use much of it for the porridge each time. I estimate it will last another four or five days," Xin Wan said, covering her mouth with a light chuckle.
Ren Yuanyang thought for a moment before instructing, "Freeze the rest for now. Wait until I've managed to cultivate some ginger and garlic."
"Okay, Chief," Xin Wan replied.
Just then, Qin Haonan's voice drifted in from outside.
"Boss, good morning! The wind is getting stronger and stronger out there. I don't think Sister Wan's speedboat can handle these waves for much longer!"
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. According to the map, the wind in this area of the sea had already reached Level 4 and was still slowly intensifying.
Xin Wan's speedboat could only withstand winds up to Level 4. According to its CE certification for yachts, it was Category D.
The military speedboat they had seized from Lvzhi Country, however, could withstand winds up to Level 8 and was Category B.
In other words, even if the wind in their area rose to the maximum of Level 7, they would still have a speedboat capable of heading out.
"So does that mean we have to switch back?" Xin Wan asked, looking a bit helpless.
They had previously let Qin Haonan use Xin Wan's speedboat for trade runs because it was faster.
Xin Wan's speedboat was fast, but it couldn't handle winds and waves above Level 4. Now that the wind had reached Level 4, using her boat was becoming dangerous.
From now on, they would have to use the military speedboat for any excursions!
"We won't have to keep switching back and forth!" Ren Yuanyang shook his head. "Our tools have arrived, haven't they? From now on, we'll put all our effort into helping Elder Hua build houses for everyone. Then we can all move out of the speedboats!"
The constant switching was mainly because they were all living on the speedboats. If Qin Haonan needed to take one out, Lu Jiamei and the others had to move all their things to the other boat.
Hearing this, both Lu Jiamei's and Xin Wan's eyes lit up. They had been hoping for their own little cabins in the Banyan Forest, just like Hua Lingfang's.
Hua Lingfang nodded. "You can leave that to me. But we might need to wait another two days. The material from a single bamboo stalk is limited, after all. If we wait two more days, the new shoots will be mature enough to use. Then we should have enough material!"
"Alright, we'll wait two days then. We won't be going out for a while anyway. Let's focus on getting our base properly set up first," Ren Yuanyang agreed with a nod. "For now, let's eat!"
Qin Haonan immediately grabbed his chopsticks and began shoveling shredded potatoes into his mouth.
"Mmph! Sister Wan, your cooking's gotten even better!"
Qin Haonan mumbled his praise before continuing to stuff his face with the shredded potatoes on his plate.
Xin Wan smiled and shook her head. "It's not that my cooking has improved. It's because of that half-bag of seasoning you brought back yesterday. With that, the food is naturally going to taste better!"
The others immediately picked up their chopsticks to try it. For a moment, no one spoke; the only sound was a chorus of chewing.
Ren Yuanyang also took a bite, and then he froze.
"Chief, is there something wrong with the food?" Xin Wan asked worriedly when she saw him freeze.
The others kept eating, but they glanced at Ren Yuanyang in confusion.
"Boss, this stuff is delicious! Hurry up and eat, what are you spacing out for!" Qin Haonan said, his words muffled by a mouthful of food.
Ren Yuanyang walked to the side, spat the food out of his mouth, and began sifting through it for something.
Everyone stared, stunned by his actions.
Xin Wan grew even more tense. She had made all the food; if there was a problem, she would be the one held responsible!
Just as Xin Wan was about to ask again, Ren Yuanyang seemed to find what he was looking for. He asked, "Where's that seasoning? Bring it over here, quickly!"
Xin Wan immediately brought over the half-empty bag of seasoning.
"Get a clean dish!" Ren Yuanyang commanded.
Xin Wan immediately handed him her own unused dish.
Ren Yuanyang poured the entire contents of the bag out onto it, then broke into a smile. "Well, look at this. An unexpected bonus!"
"Boss, what's going on? Why'd you spit out your food?" Qin Haonan asked, looking puzzled. "The seasoning isn't poisoned, is it?"
"You can tell from the Chief's expression it's not poisoned!" Lu Jiamei said, exasperated. She then turned to Ren Yuanyang. "Chief, what's this unexpected bonus?"
"Take a look at this!" Ren Yuanyang said, placing a small, yellowish-green, millet-like grain he had just picked out in front of them.
"Isn't that just cumin?" Lu Jiamei asked, looking at Ren Yuanyang in confusion.
"That's right, it's cumin. But it's also a cumin seed!" Ren Yuanyang explained with a smile.
The moment he had taken a bite of the shredded potatoes, the system had suddenly notified him of the discovery of cumin seeds. That's why he had frozen on the spot.
"You mean we can use these to grow our own cumin plants?" Xin Wan's face lit up with a joyous surprise. "Does that mean we'll have an endless supply of cumin!"
Ren Yuanyang nodded. "Exactly! Add that to the ginger and garlic we just harvested, plus the chili peppers we traded for from the Aircraft Carrier Base, and our collection of seasonings is starting to look pretty good!"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Man, you scared me. I really thought something was wrong!" Qin Haonan muttered, before resuming his attack on the shredded potatoes on his plate.
"If something was really wrong, the first thing I would've done is smack the chopsticks out of your hands," Ren Yuanyang said, rolling his eyes. "Alright, let's eat. After we're done, Xin Wan, please pick all the cumin seeds out of that seasoning mix."
"Got it!" Xin Wan replied, then started eating.
After breakfast, Qin Haonan took Hua Wen to clear away the unwanted aerial roots.
Lu Jiamei needed to go get some sleep, as she had been on watch during the second half of the night.
"Elder Hua, could you first use that mature moso bamboo to make some tableware? We can't keep using disposable cups forever!" Ren Yuanyang said with a smile. "If there's any material left over, use your own judgment on what to make next. You already know what the base needs."
"Right away!" Hua Lingfang replied. He went to where the bamboo was growing and sawed down the stalk that had matured.
Ren Yuanyang, meanwhile, went into the shipping container. He needed to enhance all the plants he had harvested yesterday.
Since there was only a single specimen of each plant, he focused this enhancement on their growth speed. He needed to harvest a large number of seeds and saplings as quickly as possible in order to scale up cultivation.
After he finished enhancing the plants, Ren Yuanyang turned his attention to the poisonous mushroom.
However, when he tried to enhance the poisonous mushroom, the system unexpectedly prompted that it was impossible to enhance!