"Eight catties of millet left?!"
Old Guo's round face turned red as he held up his big iron soup ladle in defense. "Little Ling, you can't blame me! Those thirty-one bandits were digging dirt and hauling rocks for six hours straight! Plus Stone and our hundred villagers were carrying water buckets all afternoon! If I only gave them clear water for dinner, they would have fainted in the ditches!"
"You gave One-Eyed Jack three full bowls!" Hong Ling pointed her finger at Old Guo's round belly, her abacus clicking furiously. "I watched him from the window! That one-eyed bandit has a stomach like a bottomless pit! He gulped down three bowls of porridge and even licked the side of the wooden bucket!"
"If I didn't eat three bowls, that cursed black collar on my neck would have zapped me to death!" One-Eyed Jack's voice drifted pitifully through the open courtyard gate, where he and the other thirty yellow-vested bandits were sitting in a neat row on the ground, rubbing their sore arms. "Do you know how many scoops of dirt my hands dug today? My arms didn't stop moving for a single ten-second stretch!"
Pei Xuan stepped out into the courtyard, suppressing a laugh as he looked at the floating thought bubble over One-Eyed Jack's head:
[Prisoner: One-Eyed Jack | Loyalty: 18 -> 26 / 100][Current Thought: "My back feels like it's going to snap, but why was that fat cook's millet gruel so delicious? And after drinking that sweet well water, my old knife injuries don't even itch anymore! Too bad they're out of grain—are they going to starve us tomorrow?"]
Just then, Old Man Liu and Stone walked into the courtyard carrying two large woven baskets filled with ugly, twisted, gray-brown roots covered in dry red sand.
"My Lord," Old Man Liu said with a worried sigh, setting the two heavy baskets down at Pei Xuan's feet. "We heard Little Sister Hong Ling say the grain sack is nearly empty. There are no farms within thirty miles of Dry-Well Village, and Salt-Pool Town is a two-day march away. The only thing that grows in these dunes is this—Bitter Desert Sand-Root. Stone and the men dug up two full baskets of them while clearing the two-acre field east of the well."
Pei Xuan squatted down and picked up one of the twisted gray roots. It was about the size of a man's forearm, rough like dry tree bark, and hard enough to knock a dog out.
Old Yellow poked his long bald neck over the courtyard fence, sniffed the basket curiously, and snatched one of the gray roots in his teeth.
Crunch!
The camel chewed once. Instantly, Old Yellow's big watery eyes crossed, his rubbery lips curled back in a horribly sour grimace, and—Ptooey!—he spat the chewed-up root right across the yard, hitting One-Eyed Jack squarely on the knee.
"Bleh!" Old Yellow stuck his tongue out and ran over to the water trough to rinse his mouth for three minutes straight.
"Even the camel won't eat it!" Hong Ling covered her face with her hands. "We're doomed!"
"It really is bitter as gall, my Lord," Stone said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "When we have no other food in the winter, we slice these sand-roots up, soak them in water for three days to wash out the numbing poison, and boil the woody fibers until we can swallow them. If you eat more than one bowl, your stomach puffs up like a drum and your tongue goes numb for a week."
Pei Xuan turned the ugly gray root over in his hand. In his vision, a blue analysis window popped up:
[ Wild Plant: Bitter Desert Sand-Root (Rank 0 Barren Tuber) ] * Traits: Thrives in scorching sand, absorbs underground heat to grow at 10x normal speed, requires very little soil fertility. * Flaws: Contains 85% tough woody fiber and Bitter-Numb Alkaline Toxin; zero fat or meat protein; tastes like chewed tree bark soaked in bile. * [FUSION CUBE DETECTED]: Can be fused with rich animal fat/meat essence to delete all toxins and woody fiber, creating a High-Yield Overnight Staple Crop! (Fusion Cost: 100 LP)
Requires 100 LP!
Pei Xuan glanced at his current balance: 80 LP.
Right at that moment, a crisp chime echoed in his mind as Stone's farming crew finished pouring the last bucket of water into the irrigation ditch outside!
DING!
==================================================================== [ CIVIC CONSTRUCTION ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! ] -------------------------------------------------------------------- * Achievement: [Sanitation & First Farmland] — Built 4 Public Flushing Latrines, 1 Main Street Drainage Ditch, and cleared 2 Acres of Irrigated Desert Farmland within 24 hours! * Territory Hygiene Rating: F -> B+ (Zero Disease Risk!) * Instant Achievement Reward: +20 Loyalty Points (LP)! >> CURRENT BALANCE: 80 LP -> 100 LP! ====================================================================
Spot on! Exactly 100 LP!
Pei Xuan stood up and clapped the dust off his hands, a bright smile spreading across his face. "Who said we're going to eat bitter tree bark? Old Guo!"
"Here, Young Master!" Old Guo stood at attention with his iron soup ladle.
"Go into the kitchen and bring me that small clay jar of salted mutton fat you brought from the Marquisate," Pei Xuan ordered.
Old Guo froze, his fat hands flying defensively to his apron pocket where the palm-sized clay jar was tucked. "Y-Young Master! There's only half a jar of salted sheep-tail fat left! I was saving a tiny fingernail-sized scrape of it for each pot of soup over the next month! If we fry these two baskets of bitter tree roots in all my mutton fat, the roots will still be poisonous and we'll lose the mutton fat too!"
"I don't need the whole jar. Just give me one big spoonful," Pei Xuan laughed, holding out his hand.
Although Old Guo looked like a miser parting with his gold teeth, his Loyalty to Pei Xuan was 95/100. He carefully pulled the wooden plug off the small clay jar, used a clean wooden spoon to scoop out a big, snow-white lump of fragrant salted mutton fat, and handed the spoon to Pei Xuan.
Even cold, the rich, savory smell of roasted sheep-tail fat made Stone, One-Eyed Jack, and the thirty bandits outside the gate swallow big mouthfuls of drool.
"Stone, Elder Liu, pick up those two baskets of Bitter Sand-Roots and bring some knives," Pei Xuan said, walking toward the courtyard gate. "One-Eyed Jack, tell your thirty men to grab their hoes and follow me to the two-acre field east of the well!"
"Work again?! It's already dark!" Rat-Whiskers whimpered, then quickly clapped both hands over his mouth and grabbed his hoe before his collar could zap him. "I mean—I love night farming! Let's go!"
Five minutes later, under the light of ten blazing pine-pitch torches, Pei Xuan stood at the edge of the two acres of newly leveled, moist red sand east of the Sweet-Spring Spirit Well.
Following Pei Xuan's instructions, Stone and the women used kitchen knives to chop the two baskets of long Bitter Sand-Roots into four hundred fist-sized root cuttings, piling them on a big straw mat in front of Pei Xuan.
Pei Xuan placed the wooden spoon of white salted mutton fat right on top of the pile of four hundred root cuttings, poured a bucket of sparkling Sweet-Spring Spirit Water over them, and rested both palms on the rim of the basket.
"Everyone step back three paces and don't blink," Pei Xuan said softly.
In his mind, he opened the [Supreme Fusion Cube]!
==================================================================== [ SUPREME FUSION CUBE — AGRICULTURAL MIRACLE RECIPE ] -------------------------------------------------------------------- [Slot 1]: 400 Bitter Desert Sand-Root Cuttings (Ultra-Fast Growth) [Slot 2]: 1 Spoonful of Aged Salted Mutton Fat (Rich Meat Essence) [Slot 3]: 1 Bucket of Sweet-Spring Spirit Water (Life Qi Catalyst) -------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Fusion Cost: 100 LP (Remaining Balance: 0 LP) >> Result: Deletes 100% of bitter toxins and tough woody fibers! Locks the rapid desert-heat growth trait and infuses savory lamb-fat marbling into every cell, creating 400 [Lv.1 Meat-Belly Giant Potato Seeds]! >> [CONFIRM FUSION? YES / NO] ====================================================================
Confirm!
WHOOOOSH—!
All 100 LP drained from Pei Xuan's account in a single flash!
A warm, golden-red halo of light erupted from Pei Xuan's hands, wrapping around the straw mat! Under the flickering torchlight, the hundred villagers and thirty-one bandit prisoners watched in stunned silence as the spoonful of white mutton fat melted into a cloud of fragrant golden mist and sank straight into the four hundred ugly gray root cuttings!
Crack-pop! Rustle-rustle!
The rough, bark-like gray skin on the roots peeled away and turned into fine fertilizer dust. In their place, the four hundred cuttings swelled into plump, smooth, ruby-red seed potatoes the size of goose eggs, each one etched with faint golden spiral lines that pulsed like tiny heartbeats!
Even more shocking, a rich, buttery scent of fresh dough and slow-roasted lamb wafted out from the basket!
==================================================================== [ SPIRIT CROP SEED: MEAT-BELLY GIANT POTATO (Lv. 1) ] ==================================================================== * Quantity: 400 Seed Tubers (Enough to plant 2 Full Acres) * Growth Time: 8 Hours in Desert Sand watered with Sweet-Spring Water (Plant at Night -> Harvest at Dawn!). * Harvest Yield: 1,000 Catties per Acre (5 lbs per Giant Potato!). * Taste & Nutrition: Thin ruby skin; fluffy golden starch inside marbled with natural drops of savory salted-mutton juice! Eating 2 catties per day fully replaces meat and grain, cures weakness, and slowly builds mortal strength! ====================================================================
"Sniff... sniff..."
Standing five feet away with a torch in his hand, Rat-Whiskers sniffed the air three times. His eyes went wide as he stared at the basket of ruby-red seed tubers.
"Boss Jack!" Rat-Whiskers whispered, nudging One-Eyed Jack with his elbow. "Am I hallucinating from hunger, or do those red roots smell like roasted lamb ribs?!"
"Shut up, I smell it too!" One-Eyed Jack swallowed hard, staring at Pei Xuan as if the seventeen-year-old boy were a god who had walked down from Heaven. "First he turns a mud hole into a sweet well, then he turns thorn-bushes into needle-spitting monsters, and now he's turning bitter tree roots into lamb-scented seeds?!"
Rat-Whiskers couldn't help himself. When Stone and the others came forward to pick up the baskets for planting, Rat-Whiskers secretly reached out a dirty hand, snatched one goose-egg-sized red seed tuber from the pile, and tried to stuff it into his mouth!
[WARNING: Debtor #14 (Rat-Whiskers) is attempting to eat unplanted Territory Seed Stock!]
BZZZZZZT—!
"YOWCH!"
A ring of purple lightning danced around Rat-Whiskers' neck collar! His jaw locked shut before his teeth could even touch the potato skin, and his right arm automatically swung forward and tucked the red seed tuber neatly into a six-inch hole in the wet sand, patting the dirt over it three times like a polite gardener!
Smack!
One-Eyed Jack walked over and slapped the back of Rat-Whiskers' head. "You brainless rat! If you eat the seeds now, what are we going to eat tomorrow morning?! Everyone line up! Two feet between each hole, three inches deep! If anyone steps on a single seed, I'll beat you myself before the collar even zaps you!"
[Prisoner: One-Eyed Jack | Loyalty: 26 -> 42 / 100 (Hopeful for Breakfast)]
With a hundred villagers and thirty-one energetic bandits working together under the torches, planting four hundred seed tubers across two acres took less than forty minutes.
Once every ruby-red seed tuber was tucked into the warm, damp red soil, Stone led a bucket brigade from the Sweet-Spring Well, pouring forty buckets of cool, sparkling Spirit Water down the irrigation channels until both acres were thoroughly soaked.
"Get a good night's sleep, everyone," Pei Xuan announced as they walked back to the square. "Old Guo, save those last eight catties of millet to make thin soup for the little kids at dawn. Tomorrow morning at sunrise, we harvest our new crop!"
That night at midnight (00:00), while the whole village slept soundly, the RTS System chimed softly in Pei Xuan's mind:
==================================================================== [ MIDNIGHT TERRITORY SETTLEMENT — DAY 2 ] -------------------------------------------------------------------- * Loyal Citizens (60+): 103 / 134 - 3 Rank-1 Martial Servants (x10 LP) = +30 LP - 100 Rank-0 Loyal Villagers (x1 LP) = +100 LP - 31 Bandit Debtors (Loyalty <60) = 0 LP >> DAILY INCOME EARNED: +130 LP! >> CURRENT BALANCE: 0 LP -> 130 LP! ====================================================================
Out in the two-acre field east of the well, under the cold desert stars, a quiet miracle was taking place.
Beneath the wet red sand, the four hundred [Meat-Belly Giant Potato Seeds] drank in the Sweet-Spring Spirit Water and sucked up the stored daytime heat of the desert sand.
Gurgle... stretch... pop!
Every hour, thick green leaves burst through the surface of the sand, spreading out like lush green umbrellas until the entire two acres of barren desert looked like a thick emerald carpet! Underneath the soil, the tubers swelled rapidly—from the size of a goose egg, to the size of a fist, to the size of a human head, and finally to the size of a fat five-pound winter melon!
When the first golden rays of the morning sun rose over the eastern dunes, Old Guo walked out of the kitchen carrying a basket to check on the field, with Hong Ling, Stone, and One-Eyed Jack trailing right behind him.
As soon as they rounded the corner of the well square, all four of them stopped dead in their tracks.
"M-Mother of Earth..."
Stone rubbed his eyes so hard he almost poked them out.
Yesterday evening, that two-acre patch had been flat, bare red sand.
Now, a knee-high ocean of lush, dark-green potato vines covered the entire two acres! Even crazier, because the tubers underground had grown so fat overnight, the damp red soil was cracked open everywhere in long, jagged fissures!
Poking right out of the cracked soil were hundreds of enormous, shiny ruby-red potatoes—each one as big and fat as a five-pound piglet!
CRACK!
Right at the edge of the field near Old Guo's boots, a particularly fat ruby-red potato swelled one last inch, splitting its own thin skin slightly from sheer fullness.
A tiny drop of golden, savory oil oozed out of the split, releasing a rich, warm scent of freshly baked bread and salted mutton fat into the morning breeze!
"It grew! Five-pound giant potatoes grew in a single night!" Old Guo let out a joyful roar, dropping to his knees in the dirt and hugging the nearest giant red potato with both arms like a newborn baby. "Look at the size of this thing! One potato is enough to feed a grown man for two whole days!"
Pei Xuan walked up behind them with Old Wei, smiling as he looked at the field. "Stone, One-Eyed Jack! What are you waiting for? Get the baskets and dig them up! Wait—Old Guo, build a small fire right here by the edge of the field first. Let's roast one in the coals and taste it!"
"Right away, Young Master!"
Within five minutes, Old Guo had raked together a pile of glowing red embers from the morning stove and buried a five-pound Meat-Belly Giant Potato inside the hot ashes, wrapping it first in a layer of wet clay.
Meanwhile, Stone, the villagers, and the thirty-one yellow-vested bandits swarmed into the two-acre field with wooden baskets. Because the red soil was loose and sandy, they didn't even need hoes—they just grabbed the thick green vines with both hands and pulled!
Pop! Thud!
Every single vine pulled up one or two massive, five-pound ruby-red potatoes! Within half an hour, a literal mountain of shiny red giant potatoes—weighing over two thousand catties in total—was piled eight feet high in the middle of the village square!
Crack!
By the side of the field, Old Guo used the back of his kitchen knife to tap open the baked clay shell around the test potato and peeled away the charred outer skin.
Hsssss—!
A cloud of snow-white, fragrant steam burst into the air!
Inside the thin ruby skin, the potato flesh wasn't dry or white—it was a rich, glowing golden-yellow, glistening with tiny natural pockets of sizzling, savory lamb-fat juice!
Old Guo sliced the steaming five-pound potato into six big wedges with his cleaver and handed the first piece to Pei Xuan on a clean wooden plate, then passed wedges to Old Man Liu, Stone, Hong Ling, and even tossed a steaming chunk to One-Eyed Jack.
Pei Xuan blew on the golden wedge and took a big bite.
Crunch... melt!
The outside was crispy like roasted lamb skin, while the inside melted on his tongue like fluffy buttered mashed potatoes soaked in rich, salty mutton broth! There wasn't a trace of bitterness or woody fiber—only pure, mouth-watering meat and grain flavor that sent a wave of warm vigor straight from his stomach into his four limbs!
Beside him, One-Eyed Jack stuffed the whole steaming wedge into his mouth at once, burning his tongue as he chewed frantically.
"Mmmph! Mmmph! Hot! Delicious!"
Tears streamed down One-Eyed Jack's scarred cheek from his single eye as he swallowed the golden potato. For the first time in his life as a desert bandit, he felt a lump in his throat as his Loyalty bar shot straight up past the halfway mark:
[Prisoner: One-Eyed Jack | Loyalty: 42 -> 58 / 100 (Almost Converted!)][Current Thought: "It tastes just like roasted lamb leg! And it grows overnight in the sand! What kind of idiot wants to be a starving horse bandit in the desert when you can dig ditches for Lord Pei and eat five-pound lamb-potatoes?!"]
==================================================================== [ FIRST HARVEST COMPLETE: MEAT-BELLY GIANT POTATOES! ] * Total Yield: 2,140 Catties of Lv.1 Spirit-Starch Food! * Village Food Status: Starving (8 Catties) -> ABUNDANT (2,148 Catties)! * Next Batch: Replanted 400 Cuttings (Ready again at Sunset!). ====================================================================
"Two thousand catties in one morning, and another two thousand catties by sunset!" Old Guo laughed so hard his fat belly shook like jelly. He rolled his sleeves all the way up to his shoulders and pointed at the three huge iron water-cauldrons looted from the old steward's storehouse. "Stone! Help me set up all three giant iron cauldrons in the square! Pick three hundred catties of Meat-Potatoes and a basket of wild desert onions! Today, Old Guo is going to boil a Giant Meat-Potato Lamb Stew so thick that your spoons will stand straight up in the pot!"