From Apocalypse Boss to Farmer: My Vegetables Make Me Stronger!-Chapter 195 - 186: Big Watermelon

Ye Junhan was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Half a month ago."

To support the public’s land reclamation efforts, the military has never slacked on its patrols of the wilds. They conduct periodic grid-pattern sweeps to eliminate all potential threats.

"Do you have any photos?" Gu Xi asked again.

Ye Junhan didn’t answer. He directly opened his personal terminal and enlarged the Light Screen, projecting it in front of Gu Xi.

On the screen were real-time photos of the nearby terrain.

But the photos only showed lush, green long-distance shots. Everything visible was covered by dense, wild vegetation, and not a trace of soil could be seen.

Just then, Wei Heng, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up. "I don’t feel anything wrong with the soil here." He was an Earth Ability user and was particularly sensitive to such things.

"Then how do you explain this?" Qi Xiang tapped her foot on the spot where she had tripped yesterday.

"Could it be that the plants here grow too fast, destroying the tracks on the surface?" Liu Hao guessed.

That wasn’t impossible.

At that moment, Ye Junhan suddenly drew the Xidao from his waist. A dazzling white light flashed, and within a radius of several meters, not a single blade of grass remained.

The ground, stripped of its turf, was thus completely exposed before everyone.

It looked normal, still the dark brown color of soil.

But compared to the patch of dirt faintly visible in yesterday’s photo, the color seemed a little darker.

"Could it be an issue with light refraction?" Liu Hao asked, scratching his head.

Gu Xi glanced at Ye Junhan. He turned and walked about two hundred meters away.

Another dazzling white light flashed.

Gu Xi followed him over and frowned slightly as she looked at the newly exposed patch of ground.

The soil here was also dark brown, looking no different from the patch near the deep pit. But if you looked closely, you would find that the color of this soil was just a tiny bit lighter.

Although the difference was almost negligible, this anomaly inexplicably bothered Gu Xi. Her intuition told her that the change in the soil nearby was likely related to the thing in the deep pit.

"When will the people from the base arrive?" she asked, looking up at Ye Junhan.

They had reported the thing they found in the pit immediately yesterday and were now waiting for the base to send people to take over.

Ye Junhan estimated the time. "This afternoon at the latest." But they could leave at any time, needing only to leave a few people behind to wait for the personnel from the base.

The problem was, while they were willing to leave, He Yue’s people might not be.

Ye Junhan glanced toward the deep pit. They had caused such a big commotion over here, yet He Yue hadn’t shown his face... Although the bottom of the pit was quite deep, at least five hundred meters by visual estimation, the Spiritual Skill user next to He Yue had been watching them the whole time.

At this distance, they couldn’t possibly escape the other party’s spiritual power.

Gu Xi followed his gaze.

She suddenly remembered something: although Ye Junhan had chosen this camping spot yesterday, it was He Yue who had first stepped forward to stop Ye Junhan’s vehicle...

’So, could it be that He Yue, or rather, the people behind him, already knew about the deep pit beforehand?’

Qi Xiang and Wei Heng exchanged a look, having thought of the same thing, and instantly jumped to conspiracy theories.

"So, someone deliberately led us to this place?" Qi Xiang asked, cupping her chin and blinking her big eyes. "Then... what on earth is in that pit?"

Ye Junhan frowned slightly. Suddenly, he turned on his walkie-talkie. "Yang Liu, launch the drones. Conduct a sample analysis of the soil within a ten-li radius."

A minute later, several drones took off, hovered in the air, and then quickly scattered, flying off in all directions.

Such a large commotion had long ago attracted the attention of the two ability users at the edge of the deep pit.

The two of them looked over here frequently. The only reason they didn’t approach was that they already felt guilty, and Ye Junhan’s cold expression was frankly a bit terrifying.

Now, seeing the drones rise into the air, the two exchanged a look and actually turned around to descend back into the deep pit.

This whole maneuver was rather perplexing.

Qi Xiang had already returned to the encampment and found the accompanying research personnel. Although they all specialized in botany, sciences are often interconnected. How many botanists didn’t also know a thing or two about soil?

Their expertise was relevant enough; it was just that the field conditions were a bit primitive.

Fortunately, they had brought plenty of luggage.

And with many hands making light work, Wei Heng, Dongfang, and a few others quickly built them a simple, shock-proof workbench.

Liu Hao even charged directly into the heavy armored off-road vehicles and pulled out several large equipment cases. The few Guard Team members who had been left behind to stand watch tried to stop him, but the soil under their feet suddenly turned to quicksand, trapping them firmly in place.

The men were horrified. They looked up to see Ye Junhan and Wei Heng looking down at them coldly.

They immediately quieted down, becoming as meek as quails.

"Everything’s here. See what else you need." Liu Hao walked over, effortlessly carrying several extra-large cases.

Qi Xiang took them all and, one by one, took out a microscope, beakers, test tubes, tweezers, petri dishes, and various other pieces of lab equipment.

The sheer, dense pile of equipment made Liu Hao’s head ache, but the researchers were eager to start, pulling on their white gloves and getting ready.

Soon, a drone returned with a nearby soil sample.

Qi Xiang left the "lab" to the professionals and opened her own personal terminal to start recording...

While they were busy working in an orderly fashion, Gu Xi couldn’t help. Although she had studied under two professors in South City for over half a year, she hadn’t even earned a "kindergarten diploma," so her knowledge was very limited, and she wasn’t skilled at such detailed work.

Gu Xi thought for a moment and called Wei Heng aside.

Ye Junhan glanced up at them. At this moment, the people who had been at the bottom of the pit could finally no longer sit still, and they began to climb out one after another.

"Mr. Ye, what are you all...?"

He Yue was leading a group of people over but was blocked by Ye Junhan, who kept the area clear for the researchers.

Not far away, Gu Xi marked out a patch of land and turned to Wei Heng. "Till this whole area."

Wei Heng nodded, and the ground beneath his feet began to roil and turn over rapidly.

Using Wei Heng’s actions as cover, Gu Xi took the opportunity to collect all the mutant plants in the area into her space. After a moment’s thought, she took out a pack of watermelon seeds and scattered them into the wind...

Having likely gained no advantage from Ye Junhan, He Yue now led his men over with a smile.

In an instant, lush green watermelon vines spread to his feet.

"Miss Gu, you’re in high spirits." He Yue stopped and said with a smile, "It looks like we’re in for a treat today."

Say what you will about this Miss Gu, but her planting talent was astonishing. It was said that anything grown by her hands tasted absolutely divine.

He Yue narrowed his eyes, very satisfied as he watched the watermelons rapidly swell in size.

Behind him, a few members of the Guard Team couldn’t help but stare at the ground full of large watermelons, secretly swallowing their saliva.

In this day and age, supplies were scarce, and any fruit was a sought-after luxury.

Not to mention the sun was high in the sky and the temperature was rising. They had also been stewing for half a day at the bottom of the damp, stuffy, and unventilated pit... How could they possibly resist the sight of large watermelons?

One of the Guard Team members even squatted down directly, picked up a large watermelon, and handed it to the Ice Ability User next to him.

Soon, a thin layer of ice formed over the watermelon’s rind...

"What are you doing? Have some manners." He Yue deliberately put on a stern face and chided the team members behind him for a moment before turning back to Gu Xi with a smile. "Miss Gu, you see..."

Gu Xi let out a soft sigh and couldn’t help but begin to reflect:

’Have I been acting too easygoing lately? Otherwise, why does everyone want to come and test my temper?’

She stared at the frozen watermelon and said sincerely, "Mr. He, my temper actually isn’t that good..."