“I must go and properly congratulate the Boss. Those guys who have been freeloading all this time finally contributed something.”
The fat man and the green-haired man eagerly followed, huffing and puffing behind him. To be able to grow indoor crops in the absence of sufficient light, water, and fertilizer meant they would never have to worry about the day their food supply ran out. This was a momentous occasion.
The foul-smelling men left without a single backward glance, the dim yellow light making the pitch-black, torrential rain outside feel even more desolate.
A clear tear rolled down from the corner of a woman’s eye. Her pupils were out of focus as she numbly raised her hands, trying her best to cover her body where her clothes had been torn away. Her upper body was left half-naked, but she fiercely protected her lower half.
The woman murmured to herself: “I must live for Xiao Bao, I must live…”
Shen Ruoran arrived at the 27th floor via the Inter-medium Displacement Device before the yellow-haired man. This time, her landing spot was quite peculiar—she was deep inside the planting greenhouse. She stood among moldy wooden boards, surrounded by hardened, damp soil. Sparse patches of land showed tiny green sprouts emerging, tinged with the yellow of late autumn.
“Who wants to taste this cherry radish first?” a shrill, loud male voice rang out from outside the shed. “The Boss said the first one is a reward for those who have made outstanding contributions to the building, and everyone present qualifies. The Boss selflessly put himself last just so his brothers could eat first. Tell me, everyone, isn’t the Boss great?”
“Great!”
“The Boss is wise!”
“Long live the Boss!”
Whistles and cheers filled the air as they flattered the man they called Boss as if he were a savior. Everyone felt they had the greatest merit and demanded to eat first. After days of eating instant noodles, eight-treasure porridge, and other snacks, they had long since grown tired of them. Even those who didn’t like radishes were actively scrambling for it.
It was a fresh cherry radish, roughly the thickness of a thumb, which had been grown with great difficulty in the apocalypse.
Because her landing position was too secluded, Shen Ruoran released her mental power to get a clear view of the situation outside.
The layout was in a classical Medieval European style, with brilliant lights illuminating every area, making the entire floor look noble and elegant. On this vast floor, aside from the luxurious decorations, there was only a massive vegetable greenhouse, leather sofas, and a dirt plot simply enclosed by bricks.
A group of men stared fervently at the cherry radish in the hand of a man wearing a dress shirt. The sound of people swallowing their saliva echoed continuously through the crowd. It looked as though they might rush forward recklessly to snatch it at any moment.
The only one sitting on the leather sofa was the leader of the building, Shi Jingtao. He nonchalantly shot a glance at the man in a suit beside him, signaling for him to decide who would get the cherry radish.
The well-dressed man in the suit was the strategist who came up with the ideas for the thugs behind the scenes: Yang Jinchen. He was the one who had established the personnel distribution on the lower floors and the rules for the daily distribution of white flatbread. Through him, the social environment of the entire building had formed a distorted balance.
Yang Jinchen took the small cherry radish, ignored Shi Jingtao’s hinted gaze, and walked leisurely over to Lai Yecheng and the other farmers. He asked in an indifferent tone, “Is this cherry radish the limit of what you can grow?”
Fang Dazhuang’s legs were shaking violently. He shrank behind Lai Yecheng, utterly terrified. He had just said the wrong thing and had been kicked several times; he was still in pain. But if he didn’t voice his concerns about whether the cherry radish was edible, and if something actually went wrong after someone ate it, he wouldn’t be able to face his ancestors. How could a farmer’s hands grow poisonous crops?
As the core member of the team, Lai Yecheng gave Fang Dazhuang a comforting pat on the shoulder. He didn’t think Fang Dazhuang had done anything wrong. The process of seed germination and growth required a large amount of water. However, the pure water they were allocated was barely enough to meet their daily drinking needs; there was none to spare for watering seeds.
In their current desperate survival environment, they had been forced to sign a “life and death warrant.” If they could not grow crops within a month, they would be used as “human waterfalls”—tied with ropes and thrown off the rooftop into the violently flowing floodwaters.
Left with no other choice, Lai Yecheng had thought of the torrential rain falling from the sky. He would secretly collect some each time and pour it into the soil. To his surprise, one cherry radish actually managed to survive. Although it looked somewhat malnourished, its shape was more or less correct.
Shi Jingtao was a cautious and sensitive man. When the joyful news of the successful cherry radish growth reached him, he didn’t intend to keep it all for himself. He randomly picked someone from Lai Yecheng’s team to be the test eater. Now that he held absolute power and all the resources of the building, he indulged in pleasure but remained cautious at every step. He was afraid someone might use the cherry radish to poison him.
The person randomly selected was Fang Dazhuang. His psychological endurance was too low, and unable to withstand the pressure, he immediately confessed that they had used floodwater to water the soil. Consequently, the group of innocent farmhands received another brutal beating.
During the few days when the television was still broadcasting, the news repeatedly reported that items submerged by the flood could not be eaten—not even sealed cans. Therefore, those who knew the truth believed there was a 90.99% probability of being poisoned by eating this cherry radish.
Shi Jingtao certainly wouldn’t dare eat the only cherry radish grown, but he also didn’t want Lai Yecheng and the others to eat it, as they still had utility value. He couldn’t let his subordinates feel slighted, so he intentionally handed the decision to his most trusted confidant, Yang Jinchen.
No one could guess Yang Jinchen’s true thoughts. His sudden question left everyone present stunned.
“Is this cherry radish the limit of what you can grow?”
Clearly, Lai Yecheng was the backbone of the group of farmers. He cleared his throat and said calmly and steadily, “As long as the planting resources keep up, this won’t be the limit.”
Yang Jinchen’s scrutinizing gaze lingered on Lai Yecheng for a long while before finally falling on the cowering, trembling Fang Dazhuang.
“You eat it.”
The strategist’s slender finger pointed. The corner of the man’s mouth curled slightly as the cherry radish fell in a free-fall motion, rolling to Fang Dazhuang’s feet.
Hu Zi, the yellow-haired man, stared at the succulent radish, dissatisfied that the right to eat it had fallen to the simple-minded Fang Dazhuang. His fiery temper immediately flared up. He kicked a nearby glass jar forcefully, shattering it across the floor. With hands on his hips, he angrily confronted Yang Jinchen:
“Hey, such a good thing—why are you letting a lowly farmer eat it first? The Boss said it should be prioritized for those with the greatest contribution. Are you ignoring us brothers? We were the ones who went through life and death with the Boss!”
These words resonated with the other punk-like thugs. They glared at Yang Jinchen with unfriendly eyes, rolling up their sleeves to reveal their robust muscles, warning him with their actions.
“Xiao Yang, what is the meaning of this?” Shi Jingtao’s brow furrowed. He had originally wanted a farmer to test it because he was afraid they would poison it, but the situation had changed. Since the radish likely contained toxins from the floodwater, he couldn’t let the farmers eat it—he was still counting on these people to grow more things.