Chapter 725: Chapter 725: Grain

Rhys Chase almost jogged back to his office. Seeing the four people sitting inside, he knew the mission had been a complete success.

"Mr. Chase, we’re back."

"Good work."

"It was nothing for me. Mr. Kendrick and Evelyn were the ones who had it tough. Oh, and Flynn Hansen was poisoned."

Flynn Hansen looked a little listless, but he was in much better spirits than yesterday.

"I’m fine now. The poison’s been neutralized. Evelyn said if I rest for a few more days, it’ll be completely flushed out of my system."

Rhys Chase looked at the red welts on Flynn Hansen’s body and immediately had him taken to the base hospital for treatment. Although Flynn didn’t want to go, he was carried away anyway.

"You didn’t run into any danger, did you?"

"Not ’danger,’ exactly, but we did run into plenty of trouble on the trip. We handled it all, though. Mr. Chase, we also met a survivor in Devil’s City, in central Serena."

"Did you bring them back?"

"No. She didn’t have long to live, and all she wanted was to die. So we left her there."

Rhys Chase was silent for a few seconds, then he told them everything that had happened at the base over the past two-plus months.

"About half a month after you left, the sun finally came out. We’d harvested all the crops from the farmland before the torrential rain, but a lot of the cacti and Earth-Surging Golden Lotuses were still damaged. Once the sun was out, I ordered all able-bodied residents to work the fields and plant the second crop of grain. But then, many people in the base started suffering from abdominal pain and diarrhea. At first, everyone thought it was just the weather making people sick. After two days of investigation, however, we detected toxins in the reservoirs of several districts. Someone had infiltrated the base and poisoned the water supply. I immediately had the base locked down for a full-scale investigation and finally found the culprits. According to their confessions, they came from ’beyond the domain.’ Their original plan was to poison everyone in the base, but they didn’t have enough poison. Once diluted in the water, it only caused abdominal pain and diarrhea."

As Rhys Chase spoke of these people, his eyes turned cold.

"It was actually easy to find them; their facial features are different from ours. After we caught them, I locked them in the base’s prison. They’ve confessed to the poisoning, but haven’t given up any other useful information. Ronan Kendrick, you know hypnosis. When you have time, I need you to help me interrogate them."

Ronan Kendrick frowned slightly. "Evelyn said we’re not taking any more of your missions."

Rhys Chase was speechless.

"Why?"

"No reason. Figure it out yourself. I only listen to her." Ronan Kendrick said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, earning him looks of admiration from the others.

"Why is Evelyn so against me? Is it because of the resource split? How about a seventy-thirty split from now on? I’ll even do sixty-forty."

Ronan Kendrick waved his hand. "It’s not about the split. She simply doesn’t want to take any more missions."

"And you?"

"If she’s not taking it, why would I?" Ronan Kendrick’s gaze toward Rhys Chase held a trace of speechlessness and bewilderment.

Rhys Chase couldn’t help but laugh. "Alright, I get it. I’ll handle it myself. By the way, about how many tons of Water Celery did you bring back?"

"Flynn Hansen can’t count. He actually said it was only a few hundred tons. There were dozens of us working twelve hours a day for over two months to finish harvesting. I estimate it’s over ten thousand tons." Liam Sterling even showed Rhys Chase the calluses on his palms.

"Mr. Chase, if we weren’t worried about the base running out of vegetables, we would have stayed even longer. The mountains of Demon’s Ridge are full of wild vegetables, wild fruits, wild mushrooms, and black truffles."

Rhys Chase gave a wry smile. "The base doesn’t lack vegetables right now, just grain. The grasslands are full of wild vegetables, and if it comes down to it, we can eat tree bark and leaves."

"Leo Denton and the others have already planted the fourth crop of grain. The first three harvests have all been threshed. I’ll go back and coordinate with him later, and we’ll deliver all the grain to the warehouse tonight."

Ronan Kendrick paused for a moment before continuing, "We should send the wild boars and cattle to the livestock farm, too. The base doesn’t lack fodder now."

"Okay. Don’t deliver the Water Celery for now; we’ll keep it as a reserve for winter. How many wild boars and cattle are there? How about we send them to the grasslands? I had a new livestock farm built on the plains this month."

Liam Sterling looked at Rhys Chase with admiration. "Mr. Chase, you’re so forward-thinking."

"It’s mainly because the base’s farm can’t hold that much livestock. The grasslands have plenty of fodder, so it’s perfect for free-range grazing."

Ronan Kendrick gave a lazy nod. "That works. But there are quite a lot of them. The boars have tusks and long quills, and they’re massive. If the farm isn’t sturdy, they might smash through the gates and escape. Also, they bite."

"Then I’ll have to send people to inspect it. Anything that’s not up to standard will have to be reinforced. Ronan Kendrick, how about you help me tame them?"

Ronan Kendrick didn’t even look up. "Thank you for the offer, but I refuse."

Rejected again, Rhys Chase felt his chest tighten.

After they finished their discussion, Ryan Rowe returned to District Two, while Liam Sterling and Ronan Kendrick went back to their small courtyard.

「 」

In the hospital ward, Flynn Hansen, Marcus Scott, Sonny Sawyer, and Gavin Gable were still unconscious.

When Wendy reported back to the hospital, she learned that Rhys Chase had already sent someone to request leave for her. The director told her to come back to work the next day. Wendy headed back to her dorm and happened to run into Jonas Lucas on patrol. They hadn’t seen each other in over two months, and he seemed to have gotten much tanner. At first, Wendy didn’t even recognize him. It was only when Jonas called out to her that she remembered who he was.

"Dr. Song, I heard from the doctors at the hospital that you took some time off. Were you sick?"

"No, no, I just had some things to take care of, so I requested leave. How’s your injury?"

Jonas Lucas grinned. "Healed up a long time ago. Are you back at the hospital today?"

"I go back to work tomorrow. I’m just heading to my dorm to grab a few things now."

"Need any help?"

Wendy quickly shook her head. "No, no, it’s fine. You have work to do, right? You go on ahead. I need to grab my things and head home. We can talk later."

"Alright. Oh, by the way, Dr. Song, I’m heading to the training camp in the desert next month."

"Really? Are you going for training, or...?"

Jonas Lucas’s expression turned serious. "I’m going to be an instructor. The base just selected two thousand new recruits."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks."

After a brief chat, Wendy left. Just then, a young soldier walked over and clapped Jonas Lucas on the shoulder. "Mr. Lucas, let’s go. Captain Henderson is waiting for us."

"Yeah, let’s go."

「 」

Ronan Kendrick returned to the space and immediately found Leo Denton to arrange the handover of the grain from the first three harvests.

That night, he brought Evelyn Ford to the base warehouse and deposited the tens of thousands of tons of wheat inside.

"It’s a good thing we got back when we did. If we’d been a few days later, the base residents would’ve really been reduced to digging up roots and scraping bark off trees."

"Mhm. Good thing I know how to fly a plane." Ronan Kendrick was being incredibly proud; he just wanted to hear Evelyn praise him and maybe give him a little reward, but he was too stubborn to admit it.

Evelyn Ford stifled a laugh. "Oh, so amazing. Our Kendrick actually knows how to fly a plane. You’re the best."

Ronan Kendrick’s ears turned a little red. "It was nothing special."

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