Chapter Nine

“I’ll head back to the Infantry Camp. Call if anything comes up.” Half an hour later, Wang Gang left the farm.

Zhao Zhishun took a walk around the farm and returned once more to the wheat field. Qin Yun and Liu Wensheng were currently handling matters in the office, while two soldiers were busy weeding.

After introducing himself to the soldiers, Zhao Zhishun couldn’t help but ask, “Can it really ripen in two days?”

Zhao Zhishun was from a rural area in Shan Province and had often sown wheat in the fields before joining the military. In the north, wheat has one harvest per year, sown in September and harvested the following June. Ever since Qin Yun mentioned that the wheat would ripen in two days, he hadn’t stopped thinking about it. Looking at the wheat now, it resembled the growth stage of March—ignoring the season, it should still take three months to mature…

“Not two days—another day and a half,” a soldier responded. His name was Zhang Hu, a field soldier from the Special Military Zone who had previously gone to Zhuhe with Liu Wensheng and had a relatively clear understanding of Qin Yun’s system.

“One and a half days?” Zhao Zhishun was completely bewildered.

“Our farm is a little special,” Zhang Hu replied with a mysterious look.

Zhao Zhishun still couldn’t make sense of it, but his greatest strength was following orders. After observing the field for a while, he returned to his room to unpack.

Over the next two days, Zhao Zhishun remained by the wheat field when not handling logistics. He instinctively doubted that the wheat could mature in two days, but amid his doubts, there was a glimmer of hope.

…

While Zhao Zhishun waited patiently, at Jinghe 306 Laboratory, an assistant wearing glasses entered the room. The lab, about seventy square meters, was clean and orderly. An elderly man in a white coat was currently examining a microscope at the workstation.

“Academician Song, this is yesterday’s analysis report,” said the assistant, standing behind him.

“From the farm?”

“Yes.”

The elderly man set down his work and took the document titled: 【Fengshan Farm Soil Research Report】.

His name was Song Yueshan, seventy-one years old, an academician with Longxia’s Academy of Agriculture. Half a month ago, Longxia had established the Fengshan Farm Research Group, a task force of special nature. Song Yueshan, with his seniority, was appointed as the group leader.

The day before yesterday, the Special Military Zone sent a soil sample from the farm. Research showed that Fengshan soil had a mineral content of 46%-52%, organic matter content of 15%-20%, and pore space of about 20%. This represented a perfect soil structure, its quality three to five times superior to the best agricultural lands worldwide.

“Are these really soil readings?” Song Yueshan had spent his life in agricultural research, yet had never seen data this extraordinary.

“Academician Zhou has already reviewed it.”

“Where is Academician Zhou?”

“Monitoring team, fifth floor…”

Song Yueshan put on his coat and went directly to the monitoring group.

“Old Song.” The monitoring team was on the fifth floor of the Agricultural Research Institute. As soon as Song entered the room, he saw Zhou Yuanheng sipping goji tea while watching the farm surveillance.

“Old Zhou, about this data…” Song Yueshan began, but Zhou gestured toward the screen. “Take a look at this first.”

It was a 2×2 high-definition monitoring display, with the farm plots arranged in a grid in the center. The wheat field on-screen was dense and golden, exuding a vibrant beauty.

“It’s grown that tall already?” Song Yueshan was stunned. He’d been so focused on soil analysis that he hadn’t kept up with developments on the farm.

“This is the wheat growth video.”

The staff switched the footage. Immediately, a three-minute video played, showing high-definition, time-lapse footage of the wheat growing—from sowing to full height—seemingly overnight.

“Incredible…” Song Yueshan was deeply shaken. Though it hadn’t grown in one literal night, five days from sowing to maturity was nearly the same.

Just then, the monitoring team’s phone rang. A staff member looked up, excited. “The wheat’s ripe!”

…

The wheat was ripe. At Fengshan Farm, Zhao Zhishun stared dumbfounded at the field before him. The field was about the size of a school playground, now full of ripened wheat. A breeze stirred the stalks, and the air was thick with the rich scent of grain.

“Commander Liu.” Zhang Hu and the others snapped to attention beside him. Zhao Zhishun quickly turned around—Liu Wensheng and Qin Yun were approaching from the direction of the office.

“Commander Liu!” Zhao joined them in salute.

“The wheat is ripe?” Liu Wensheng asked, looking toward the field.

“Yes, it is!”

Zhao Zhishun held back his excitement. For the past two days, aside from resting and working, he had been watching the wheat. He had seen it grow from knee height to over half a person tall, the grain golden and full—each bundle with more than seventy kernels, glowing like an oil painting.

Liu Wensheng gazed at the field. Fengshan was a well-known Uninhabited Zone in Longxia. Around them, the Gobi was a dull yellow-brown, while the wheat field before them was golden. Two different shades of yellow met in a majestic collision.

The farm had three mu of farmland. The primary field had now ripened; another intermediate field was still growing.

“How is everything?” Liu Wensheng asked Qin Yun.

“Everything is normal,” Qin Yun replied, opening the system interface. Current mission progress: 82%. There were 23 days remaining until the task’s completion.

Over the next five days, Liu Wensheng took wheat samples to Jinghe for further observation. Since the quality of the system’s wheat was still uncertain, they planned to wait for the research results before considering harvesting and storage.

On the afternoon of the fifth day, they arrived at the intermediate wheat field. While the primary wheat averaged ninety centimeters tall, the intermediate crop stood at about 120 centimeters. Now fully ripe, each ear of wheat was twice the size of those in the primary field. From afar, it looked not like wheat, but a high-end version of a sorghum field.

“This is wheat?” Liu Wensheng, who oversaw the nation’s grain reserves, had visited countless fields across Dong Province and the Guang regions. Yet, despite all his experience, he had never seen such a spectacular wheat field. If the primary field was still within the bounds of normal agriculture, then the intermediate field defied all logic.

Qin Yun was equally stunned. In his past life, he had completed a wheat-related mission, but the task’s wheat had only been marginally better than ordinary Water Blue wheat—nothing close to the grandeur before him now.

【Congratulations to Host for completing the task: Successful Cultivation. Mission Reward: Basic Irrigation Machine…】

Still dazed, Qin Yun opened the system interface.

…..
Host Name: Qin Yun

Current Mission: Successfully sell farm wheat.
(Primary: 3 yuan/jin, Intermediate: 5 yuan/jin. Maximum loss per mu: 0.05%)

Mission Reward: Unlock Longxia Points Exchange. (System Points = Longxia Yuan, 1:1 exchange)

System Inventory: Basic Irrigation Machine.

System Points: 0
…..

Qin Yun was stunned when he saw the latest mission. Wheat is a staple grain; prices of three to five yuan per jin might not seem high, but that was during a food crisis. The crisis had not yet erupted, and Longxia’s typical purchase price was 0.8 to 1 yuan per jin. In his previous life, the wheat mission’s purchase price was 1.5 yuan per jin, so this was completely beyond normal expectations.

“What’s wrong?” Liu Wensheng noticed Qin Yun’s expression.

“The system updated.” Qin Yun shared the system interface.

“Three yuan?” Liu Wensheng was equally shocked.

The farm produced 1,500 jin of wheat per mu. Calculated over six harvests per month, one mu of wheat field was worth 27,000 yuan per month… Longxia was an agricultural powerhouse, but now with global informatization and fewer agricultural workers, individual farmers couldn’t even sell two thousand yuan a year. Now, one mu could produce 27,000 yuan a month… he felt his agricultural concepts were being challenged.

Though stunned, Liu Wensheng focused on the System Task. After careful analysis, Longxia decided to follow the system’s instructions: harvest—sell.

Over the next two days, the six people changed into gear and took sickles to harvest the wheat. After two days of hard work, five thousand jin of wheat piled like a small mountain in the farm warehouse. When they finished the last stalk, everyone felt they had fought a tough battle.

On the morning of the third day, three trucks labeled ‘Baisheng Agricultural Trade’ drove into the farm. The primary wheat produced 1,500 jin per mu, and the intermediate wheat 2,000 jin per mu. Baisheng Agricultural Trade loaded the wheat onto the trucks and transferred payment of 19,000 yuan after confirming the count.

【Congratulations Host for completing System Task: Successfully sold farm wheat.
Longxia Points exchange is now open. Current System Points: 19,000.】

Qin Yun confirmed receipt, the system interface reminded him.

Baisheng Agricultural Trade was indeed a trading company, but it was registered in Longxia within the past three days. Now that the mission was complete, Qin Yun had only one thought: this was the fastest mission he had completed in two lifetimes… Longxia is mighty!

Author’s note:

System: ???