“What are you doing?” Su Yanran stared blankly at the knife.

The knife was right next to the chicken’s neck. Tong Zhanyan should have held it further away; otherwise, he might have injured the chicken. Even if he didn’t injure it, scaring it would be bad enough.

Tong Zhanyan had originally planned to kill it secretly, but he hadn’t expected to be caught red-handed. He looked down at the chicken and answered honestly, “…Killing a chicken.”

Su Yanran’s facial muscles twitched momentarily. He stared at Tong Zhanyan in disbelief. What had Tong Zhanyan just said?

Kill what, exactly?

“Qing Jiyue is too weak. I want to give him some nourishment.” Tong Zhanyan said, ready to act. Better to get it over with quickly.

Su Yanran looked deeply concerned. “Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”

Kill a chicken?

How could Tong Zhanyan possibly kill a chicken?

Those chickens were the ones he’d raised since they were chicks, and the crops were all waiting for their manure to fertilize them. There was absolutely no way Tong Zhanyan would kill a chicken.

Tong Zhanyan must have accidentally hit his head, or perhaps that concussion he had earlier never fully healed.

Su Yanran wondered if it was possible for a concussion to flare up again after a few months.

Tong Zhanyan saw right through his little scheme, both amused and exasperated. “I haven’t hit my head, and I’m not crazy. Besides, chickens are raised for meat and eggs in the first place.”

Su Yanran was speechless.

Chickens raised on commercial farms were indeed meant for meat and eggs, and they sold for a high price.

But these chickens were ones they’d watched grow from chicks, and they’d made such a huge contribution to the base…

“Chicken is delicious. You can make soup with it, fry it, or steam it,” Tong Zhanyan tried to tempt her.

Su Yanran remained completely unmoved.

Tong Zhanyan changed tactics, pulling out his trump card: “Don’t you guys eat eggs too? Hens don’t lay eggs just for us to eat.”

Su Yanran’s resolve was instantly shattered, and he froze in place.

Tong Zhanyan seized the opportunity, quickly grabbing a knife and the chicken and walking away to a spot where Su Yanran couldn’t see him to slaughter it.

It’s not surprising to feel attached to the chickens and ducks one has raised and to be reluctant to kill them.

But humans are omnivores; unless they go back to drinking nutrient solution, expanding their diet is essential.

Eating only vegetarian food year-round can easily lead to nutritional deficiencies.

Watching Tong Zhanyan walk away with the chicken, Su Yanran’s lips trembled several times as he tried to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Su Yanran returned to the fields, looking dazed and dejected.

Ning Langdong and his group quickly noticed something was wrong with him.

Su Yanran didn’t hide the truth.

Tong Zhanyan had no heart.

Ning Langdong and the others were busy, but when they heard Tong Zhanyan was going to kill the chicken, they immediately panicked and, without a second thought, rushed to stop him.

After hearing the rest of Su Yanran’s explanation, the group fell silent.

They had been so happy eating the eggs.

An hour later, Tong Zhanyan carried the plucked chicken to the back door and borrowed the kitchen.

The chicken Tong Zhanyan was slaughtering was a rooster, one of the chickens hatched from eggs at the back, which had a lower infection rate.

That chicken had been raised for seven or eight months and was already fully grown. Plus, with the addition of pumpkins and corn later on, its diet was well-balanced, resulting in a rather large frame—weighing about five pounds.

Even after removing the internal organs and feathers, it still weighed over four pounds.

Concerned about the infection rate, Tong Zhanyan discarded the internal organs and blood, though he didn’t waste them—he tossed them into the septic tank.

The fertilizer produced by the decomposing meat is quite rich in nutrients.

In his previous world, two people could easily finish a whole chicken, but both his current body and Qing Jiyue’s had grown up on nutrient solutions, so their stomachs were small and their digestive systems weak.

Livestock and poultry were always available for sale in this world, but they were treated as rare commodities.

Even if Qing Jiyue had eaten them before, it would have been only occasionally; suddenly eating too much could easily lead to bloating and indigestion, so Tong Zhanyan planned to take them to the cafeteria and distribute a portion to each person.

Gu Yunyang and his group of students didn’t eat at the base; the only ones dining there were those who’d won the lottery and Ning Langdong’s group.

With a hundred or so people and only one chicken, the quantity was clearly insufficient, but Su Yanran and the others simply couldn’t accept that right away.

Since it was meant to nourish their bodies, Tong Zhanyan decided to make soup.

Of the crops at his base, the only thing suitable for soup was corn, though there was no fresh, tender corn in the fields.

This world did have synthetic alcohol, but Tong Zhanyan wasn’t sure if it could remove the gamey smell or might impart a bitter taste to the chicken, so he didn’t dare use it.

He simply rinsed the chicken with hot water to remove the blood scum, then added three times the usual amount of water and began simmering it.

Once the water came to a boil, Tong Zhanyan turned the heat down to low.

Making chicken soup is a task that requires patience, so he deliberately brought a stool from the front and sat in the kitchen to tend to it.

A little over two hours later, darkness fell, and the streetlights came on.

When Ning Langdong and the others finished work and headed toward the cafeteria, they could smell from a distance an enticing aroma completely unlike any plant—one that made their pores open wide.

They had never smelled anything like it before.

The group instinctively took deep breaths, wanting to inhale more.

After taking a deep breath, the group suddenly realized what it was, causing a touch of awkwardness to spread across their faces.

Glancing around and seeing that everyone else was the same, they breathed a slight sigh of relief.

“It actually smells pretty good…” someone remarked.

“I’m not eating it, though,” another person immediately replied.

As they spoke, the group surged into the dining hall.

The cooks had returned early and were now carrying dishes out.

With the base’s crops growing in abundance, combined with oil, chili peppers, and Tong Zhanyan’s instruction and demonstration, their menu had become quite varied. This made mealtime their happiest moment of the day.

Today’s spread was particularly bountiful: cucumber and egg soup, stir-fried Chinese cabbage, chili and eggplant, and boiled string beans…

The group immediately lined up, though their attention remained somewhat scattered—the aroma was simply too intoxicating.

Especially once they entered the mess hall.

Halfway through serving the food, Tong Zhanyan came out carrying a pot.

He placed the pot next to the cucumber and egg soup, found a clean tray, and scooped out the chicken, which had been stewed until it fell apart.

While waiting for the chicken to cool, he added a suitable amount of salt to the soup and tasted it.

Fearing it might be too greasy and hard to stomach, Tong Zhanyan added three times the usual amount of water, making the already translucent chicken broth look even clearer and the flavor lighter.

But for those who hadn’t tasted chicken in who knows how long, it was still quite rich and flavorful.

Once the soup was ready, Tong Zhanyan turned back, used chopsticks to shred the meat, then drizzled it with hot oil and added salt.

After letting it cool slightly and stirring it evenly, everything was ready.

Tong Zhanyan called Qing Jiyue over, served him a portion of meat and soup, then served himself a portion as well, before leading Qing Jiyue to sit in a corner.

“Try some,” Tong Zhanyan said, looking at Qing Jiyue.

Qing Jiyue had already heard from others about how Tong Zhanyan had slaughtered a chicken for him. He didn’t have particularly deep feelings for the chickens, so he felt more of a warm glow in his heart.

He took a sip of the soup.

The sweetness of the soup made from stewed chicken was completely different from that of soup made from vegetables or eggs.

“Is it good?” Tong Zhanyan asked.

“It’s delicious,” Qing Jiyue answered honestly.

Tong Zhanyan smiled and lowered his head to eat his own portion.

Although poultry and livestock also have an infection rate, their meat doesn’t have a bitter or astringent taste, so Tong Zhanyan could eat it.

After a sip of soup, Tong Zhanyan felt warmth spread throughout his body.

The method was simple enough, and the flavor was quite good—probably because those chickens had been raised on a vegetarian diet, so the soup had no gamey smell.

Tong Zhanyan and Qing Jiyue ate happily, while the others in the cafeteria couldn’t enjoy their food.

Those chickens were so pitiful.

But it really was delicious.

While the others were torn between their desires and their conscience, Chu Yi acted on impulse and immediately stepped forward.

Moments later, the entire cafeteria was filled with the sound of him slurping the soup.

“Hah.” After finishing, he couldn’t resist adding emphatically, “So fragrant.”

Everyone felt like killing him, yet their saliva kept flowing uncontrollably.

Some of the people who had arrived later for the raffle—and hadn’t seen the chicks when they were little—couldn’t resist the temptation and steeled themselves to stand up.

Seeing this, the people in the cafeteria who hadn’t moved looked at them with eyes full of betrayed anger.

But the soup was just too fragrant; as soon as they moved, more than ten others immediately stood up as well.

Tong Zhanyan had originally worried they wouldn’t be able to finish it all, but the pot was emptied in no time.

A little later, on his way back, Tong Zhanyan began pondering the possibility of hatching another batch of chicks.

With so many people at the base, if they were to actually add those chickens to the menu—even if they only ate them twice a month—the consumption by so many people would still add up to a significant amount.

In the live Stream.

“…Let’s set aside the question of whether we should slaughter the chickens for now, but don’t you think those people are eating a bit too well?”

“Aren’t you guys there to get treated? Forget the crops, forget the eggs—now you’re even eating the chickens?”

“Damn… Are they really there to get treated? They’re living like gods.”

“Jealousy is driving me crazy. I really can’t take it anymore. Why didn’t I get infected with frenzy?”

“So many people have lost their families because of frenzy. You up there, aren’t you afraid of getting beaten up for saying that… though I’m thinking the same thing right now.”

“Waaah… it smells so good. Has anyone eaten chicken before? What does it taste like?”

“I had it once, three years ago, on a business trip with my boss. It had a completely different aroma from the crops. It’s been three years, and I still can’t forget it.”

“Stop talking, the person up there. I really can’t stand hearing a single word.”

……

Over the next few days, aside from harvesting, Tong Zhanyan’s attention was almost entirely focused on the greenhouse.

As the wheat grew wildly, the infection rate among the surrounding corn surged, and the contaminated area expanded visibly day by day.

Seven or eight days after the wheat was planted, when it had grown to Tong Zhanyan’s chest height, the infection rate of the nearest corn plants had all exceeded 60%.

Crops with an infection rate over 50% were already toxic; Tong Zhanyan hadn’t even wanted to use them as compost before, let alone those exceeding 60%.

Corn was one of the crops with the deepest roots among his fields; if even they were beyond salvage, the others were likely in even worse shape.

Tong Zhanyan was filled with worry, yet there was nothing he could do.

In contrast, the other crops in the field presented a completely different, thriving picture.

Having passed the stage of pinching off flowers and leaves and completed their first round of pollination, they were bearing fruit everywhere—especially the earliest-planted corn and pumpkins, a few of which even looked ready to eat.

As the crops thrived, the weeds in the fields grew rampant as well. This caused Old Xu and his group—who had previously been in a state of mixed emotions—to gradually shift from confusion to sheer frustration.

These crops were at a critical stage; if the weeds were consuming all the nutrients, what would the crops eat?

Because of this, the group even formed a dedicated weeding team to pull weeds every day.

Tong Zhanyan had been waiting for this moment for a long time; seeing them lose their minds actually made him quite happy.

But as he laughed, he found it hard to keep smiling—the next batch covered five hundred mu of land.

There were no herbicides here, so they’d have to control it all by hand…

While the wheat and weeds weren’t going well, the team from the Paleontology Department kept bringing good news.

Less than five days after discovering the crab shell, they found a live crab in the grass by the stream.

They sent pictures and photos to Tong Zhanyan.

The crab looked like a stream crab, about the size of a mineral water bottle cap.

The paleontology team was quite excited; after all, this was a major breakthrough for them. More importantly, it meant they’d discovered yet another ancient species that hadn’t gone extinct.

Tong Zhanyan, however, was a bit disappointed. If it were a stream crab, even when fully grown, it would only be about the size of two mineral water bottle caps.

That meant he wouldn’t get to eat any crab roe.

Stream crabs do have roe, but they’re so small that it’s impossible to extract it and eat it on its own, so they’re usually stir-fried or deep-fried.

Tong Zhanyan had seen the photo of that crab shell earlier; the shell was a full size larger than the crab itself, though not by much.

At the time, he hadn’t considered the possibility of a stream crab, since crabs shed their shells repeatedly as they grow.

After reporting their findings to Tong Zhanyan, the group went back to work.

In situations like this, it’s generally best not to interfere lightly; the priority is to establish a protective perimeter around the site, since arbitrary intervention could lead to their deaths.

But everything outside has been so severely contaminated that although those stream crabs are alive now, they could face extinction at any moment due to a landslide or pollution upstream.

In comparison, the situation at Tong Zhanyan’s base was actually more stable.

A week later, with nearly half of the purple vetch seeds harvested, the earliest crops—besides the corn and pumpkins—officially entered the harvesting phase.

Ning Langdong and the others all returned to help with the harvest.

Once again, Tong Zhanyan was left alone with the purple vetch.

Tong Zhanyan decided to give up on the effort and wait until the next batch of seeds was ready to be harvested for the lottery.

The first batch of crops wasn’t large; all told, there were only a little over fifty boxes.

After the harvest, before Boss Bai transported the goods away, he and the head of the Planting Alliance paid Tong Zhanyan a visit.

They had heard Tong Zhanyan’s remarks about lowering prices after the attack, and so had the tens of millions of fans in his livestream who were constantly watching him.

That meant this matter was no longer just Tong Zhanyan’s concern alone.

“Let’s lower the prices. Cut them a bit more this time,” Tong Zhanyan agreed readily.

Mr. Bai took a deep breath. “How about a 10% discount?”

Tong Zhanyan replied, “Let’s make it 12%.”

He felt a 15% discount would have been acceptable, but this matter certainly couldn’t be rushed.

If crop prices dropped, the prices of many related products would inevitably be affected as well. He didn’t mind personally, but he had to give others some time to prepare.

Those unwilling to lower prices were one thing, but even those willing needed time to adjust.

Mr. Bai looked deeply at Tong Zhanyan for a long moment before turning to the head of the Planting Alliance and Tian Xinqing standing beside him.

They had already discussed this beforehand; as soon as Tong Zhanyan gave the nod, they could immediately release the announcement.

The announcement had already been drafted in advance.

However, the discount they had agreed upon was 9.2%.

But that was just a minor adjustment; it wouldn’t take long.

A crowd in the livestream had been waiting for this moment.

The instant the announcement went out, the crowd—which had been holding its breath in anticipation—erupted.

“Aaaah—”

“Senior, I’ll love you forever.”

“Thank you.”

“Senior, you’re my god!”

……

A drop from 9.2% off to 8.8% off isn’t a huge reduction, but considering it’s been less than a year since the first discount was introduced,

A 12% reduction over a year is actually quite significant.

After all, just a year ago, they couldn’t even get this stuff to grow.

More importantly, if it can drop by 12% in a single year, wouldn’t that mean a 30% discount next year?

And 40% the year after that?

And the year after that? 50% off?

In the live stream.

“50% off… If the daily minimum is 15 grams, we’d normally spend at least 135,000 a month. 50% off means half the price—that’s nearly 70,000 less…”

“The exact amount saved isn’t the point. What matters is that if prices really drop that low, many people who couldn’t afford these crops before will suddenly be able to buy them.”

“That money saved is basically coming out of the seniors’ pockets. After all, even without a discount, there’d definitely be a crowd scrambling to buy.”

“You’re overlooking one thing: by the year after next, there’ll surely be more people capable of growing those crops than there are now. The price might even drop a bit further…”

“It feels like a dream.”

“I just have a feeling it won’t take that long… When Senior first moved to this base, we didn’t believe he could fill the fields—even if he did, it would take five or ten years. But now, in less than two years, he’s already cleared half the land.”

“I feel the same way.”

……

Tong Zhanyan was indeed mulling it over.

Counting this time, this was already his fourth price cut, spanning seven or eight months.

He had given them more than enough time to react.

The next time he cuts prices, he doesn’t plan to take it so slowly.

Just like the land at the base, at first, he had nothing; even if he wanted to clear large swathes of land, he lacked the capacity. But now, things are different.

After the discussion, Boss Bai and his group went to get to work.

Tong Zhanyan followed along to take a look at the crops, then turned his attention to other tasks.

After making the rounds at the lake, the watermelon fields, and the greenhouses, he began organizing the raffle.

Two days later, the guests arrived at the gate.

Since the others were too busy, Tong Zhanyan personally accompanied Ning Langdong to the entrance to greet them.

The base was no longer the same place it had been at the start. With chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, rabbits, sheep, and the farm-to-table restaurant at the back gate, there were now so many attractions that it was impossible for everyone to line up and visit every single one.

So now, they opted for selective tours.

The moment they won the prize, the group had already started thinking about what they wanted to see, and once they entered the base, they quickly split into teams.

The largest group went to see the chickens and pigs.

Next was the cafeteria at the back gate—a place now filled with the resentment of the live-streaming crowd.

The third most popular attraction was the septic tank, which Tong Zhanyan truly hadn’t expected.

Tong Zhanyan and Ning Langdong each led a group.

An hour later, everyone returned to the vicinity of the small building.

After a brief rest, Tong Zhanyan led them to the purple vetch area, aiming to harvest all the seeds before the end of the day.

Tong Zhanyan had held so many raffles he’d lost count, but with such a massive following, no one had won twice yet.

Rare was the chance to come in and help, so the group was full of energy.

The area was vast; even after several rounds of harvesting and with nearly a hundred people working, they still hadn’t finished by nightfall.

Seeing that there wasn’t much left, Tong Zhanyan had planned to let them go home first and finish the rest on his own later, but the group wouldn’t agree.

Tong Zhanyan had been working here alone lately, and they’d all seen it on the livestream.

Since they’d come all this way and weren’t in a hurry to go back, they all wanted to help finish the harvest before leaving.

This wasn’t the first time Tong Zhanyan had faced this situation, but when he met their gazes once again, his heart still felt heavy.

He didn’t refuse their kindness and turned on the floodlights overhead.

Three hours later, around 8:00 p.m., the group finally finished.

After arranging for them to have dinner and seeing them off at the gate, it was already 10:00 PM by the time Tong Zhanyan returned to his small house.

He stored the freshly harvested seeds and went straight to bed.

The field was too vast; even after several rounds of harvesting, the purple vetch was still in bloom, but Tong Zhanyan wasn’t willing to wait any longer.

The next day, he had Ning Langdong and the others—who had just finished a round of work—help transport a shredder over, then proceeded to pull up the plants and shred them.

As the fields expanded and the workforce grew, a single shredder was no longer enough, so Tong Zhanyan went ahead and bought four more.

Since the shredders were readily available, Tong Zhanyan placed an order in the morning, and the equipment was delivered the following afternoon.

With the additional machines, the shredding efficiency improved significantly. Just two days later, the 100 mu of land previously planted with purple vetch was completely covered with plastic sheeting again.

Since the purple vetch had been planted earlier than other crops, the others were just entering the harvesting phase now, with nearly two months of harvest season remaining. Meanwhile, the purple vetch had already begun to decompose.

Decomposition takes only about a month.

That means the 100 mu of land previously planted with purple vetch will be ready for use before the current crop is harvested.

That means we can start raising seedlings right now.

The farm is usually busiest during two periods: sowing and seedling raising, and the harvest season.

In the beginning, when there wasn’t much land, after finishing seedling raising, we had to wait for the harvest, leaving over a month off-season in between.

Later, as the amount of land increased, the time spent on seedling cultivation grew longer, and the harvesting period also extended, gradually compressing the off-season to only about ten days.

Now, even though the crops in the fields have only just entered the harvesting period, sowing and seedling cultivation must already begin.

Moreover, this is no longer something that can be adjusted—after all, the amount of land is fixed.

That also gave Tong Zhanyan a headache.

Ning Langdong and the others are already swamped with harvesting—how could they possibly find time to help him with sowing and seedling cultivation?

Another batch of those 300 mu of land has already been plowed, and the purple vetch is ready to be planted.

Especially the upcoming batch of purple vetch—that alone requires 300 mu of land. There’s no way he could handle it all by himself.

Tong Zhanyan was still debating whether to hold another lottery or what to do when, in the evening, the first group of people selected in the lottery arrived at the back gate.

The beast tide was nearing its end, and those who had participated in the battle—Yang Hong, Wang Yanzhou, and Tang Shijin—were now free to leave.

They had been discussing this matter in the small group chat for the back gate recently.

They had no intention of returning to the base.

It wasn’t that they disliked the base; on the contrary, they loved it dearly and would have given anything to drop everything and return immediately.

But they couldn’t.

The frenzy infection was more likely to occur in high-pressure environments and situations involving prolonged use of Spirit Beasts.

They were still young—at the prime of their lives—but it was precisely because they pushed themselves so hard that they all contracted the frenzy.

They had thought their lives would end this way, but Tong Zhanyan gave them a chance—a chance to return to the battlefield.

They enjoyed the peace of the base, but their comrades were there—both the living and the fallen.

They couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Three-quarters of the first group to participate in the experiment were veterans from the front lines.

One of the group of front-line veterans said, “We want to go back, too.”

“Our conditions are already under control. As long as we keep eating the crops, there shouldn’t be any problems. In that case, there’s no need for us to keep lingering at the base.”

“We want to save the spots for others.”

It wasn’t just the men from the front lines who spoke up. “We agreed to stay for only six months; that time has long since passed.”

Tong Zhanyan was a kind man and didn’t drive them away, but they couldn’t pretend to know and continue to linger here.

Many of them couldn’t afford those crops unless they won the lottery; if they left now, their lives would immediately become difficult again.

Yet they still didn’t want to stay any longer, because there were many others waiting for this opportunity.

Tong Zhanyan felt a bitter taste in his throat. “Have you really made up your minds?”

“We have.”

“Thank you for taking care of us all this time.”

Tong Zhanyan’s gaze swept over each of their faces. “Have you spoken to Qing Jiyue about this?”

“We did. He told us to come ask you.”

“He has no objections.”

The group replied with a smile.

They all knew about Tong Zhanyan and Qing Jiyue’s relationship; after all, the base was small, no matter how you looked at it.

Tong Zhanyan took a deep breath, pushing the bitterness from his throat. “I’m planning to hire people.”

The group froze in surprise.

The next moment, those who hadn’t just returned from the battlefield perked up.

They hadn’t wanted to stay because they didn’t want to take up a spot in the lottery, but if Tong Zhanyan was hiring here…

“Priority goes to those with experience,” Tong Zhanyan paused, then added, “We can provide room and board, but if we do, the pay won’t be very high.”

The group exchanged glances, their eyes filled with anticipation.

After the initial excitement, they hesitated slightly.

“Don’t worry, hiring and the lottery aren’t mutually exclusive.” Tong Zhanyan looked toward the newly cleared land behind him. “We have so much land to manage, and even with the current manpower, we’re far from enough. Even if it weren’t for you, I’d still have to recruit more people.”

Hearing this, bright smiles immediately lit up their faces.

However, to the group of viewers watching the livestream, those smiles seemed unbearably glaring.

“‘If we provide room and board, the pay won’t be very high’? Does that mean they’ll have food, shelter, and a salary from now on?”

“Wait, why do I feel like their lives are getting better and better?”

“I’m actually annoyed. Thanks for that.”

“……I’m really starting to get angry.”

“Although I’m happy there’ll be another giveaway soon, the thought that another group of people will get to live this good life makes me so angry.”

……

In front of the small building.

Tong Zhanyan turned to look at the people beside him who had decided to return to the front lines. “If any of you decide to come back later, you’re always welcome here. As for the crops, I’ll talk to Qing Jiyue and see if I can get you an internal price.”

With just a few people like this, he could still decide on the price.

Fresh produce is hard to transport, and he can’t deliver it every week, but he could provide extra dry rations, just as he’d done for Yang Hong and the others before.

The only problem was that doing so would increase the consumption of corn and pumpkins, which might leave the chickens and pigs without enough to eat.

Tong Zhanyan suddenly thought of the wheat. Since freezing wasn’t an option, they’d still have to grow staple crops.

“Thank you.”

“Senior…”

The group immediately burst into laughter.

Frontline soldiers’ pay wasn’t high, and before they asked to leave, they had actually prepared themselves for the possibility of being called back into service.

Tong Zhanyan nodded with a smile. “Live well, and come back to visit whenever you have the chance.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“We will.”

After giving a few more instructions, Tong Zhanyan sent the group back toward the back gate.

It was already dark, and they’d been on their feet all day.

After watching them walk away, Tong Zhanyan went to the chicken coop to catch a chicken, then headed to the back gate himself.

He needed to discuss the raffle with Qing Jiyue.

It was a bit late to start making soup now, but no one said chicken soup could only be drunk at dinner, so they’d just treat it as a late-night snack.

Hearing he’d gone to the back door, Qing Jiyue came straight to the kitchen, and the two of them discussed the matter while simmering the soup.

Two hours later, the soup was ready.

Tong Zhanyan ladled some out, blew on it to cool it down, then handed the bowl to Qing Jiyue. “Have a taste.”

Qing Jiyue took a sip straight from Tong Zhanyan’s hand. “It’s delicious.”

A smile tugged at Tong Zhanyan’s lips. Qing Jiyue was easy to please—he’d eat whatever he gave his and find everything tasty.

“Then go tell the others—” Tong Zhanyan said as he carried the pot toward the dining hall.

As soon as he walked in, he saw a dining hall packed with people whose eyes were glowing green.

Two hours earlier, as soon as they heard Tong Zhanyan was making soup, they had already been waiting in the dining hall.

They’d been reluctant at first, but those who’d already tasted it had been bragging daily about how delicious the soup was, making them all eager to try it too.

Tong Zhanyan separated the chicken from the broth following his usual routine. After serving a portion for himself and one for Qing Jiyue, he stepped aside.

The moment he moved out of the way, the crowd in the cafeteria surged forward.

There wasn’t much soup; if you were late, you’d miss out.

Outside the cafeteria, Su Yanran gritted his teeth as he watched the scene inside. “A bunch of traitors.”

Tian Xinqing swallowed hard. “Exactly. How annoying.”

Hearing the sound of swallowing, Su Yanran immediately looked over.

Tian Xinqing stopped moving at once.

Su Yanran looked away.

“But it really smells so good…” Tian Xinqing couldn’t help but mutter under his breath.

Early the next morning, Tong Zhanyan had Tian Xinqing announce the lottery results and open the verification process.

A little later, Tong Zhanyan spoke with the group who had arrived through the backdoor lottery about recruitment and internal pricing.

The group, which had already heard rumors, immediately began discussing the matter.

The situation with the forty people who had arrived via the second round of the lottery had long been brought under control. They, too, had been worried about what would happen next, so now that Tong Zhanyan had secured a safety net for them, the group was overjoyed.

Amidst their joy, their feelings were just as complicated as those of the previous group.

If it weren’t for Tong Zhanyan, they would have either died or gone mad long ago, yet he had single-handedly pulled them back from the brink.

Now, Tong Zhanyan was even willing to go to such lengths for them.

After speaking with them, Tong Zhanyan turned his attention to another matter: he had kept them, but where would they stay?

The small building from before is now nearly full.

With more and more land available, he’ll definitely need to hire more staff.

Tong Zhanyan contacted the construction crew to arrange for two more small buildings to be built, using the same specifications as the current ones.

After finishing up here, Tong Zhanyan was just about to head back to deal with the headache of the seeding project when his phone rang.

It was the paleontology team contacting him.

They had captured a total of four crabs. After catching them, they fed the crabs some shrimp meat based on the data they’d found, but the crabs wouldn’t eat it.

Not only did they refuse to eat, but they were even attacking each other.

When they discovered this, one small crab had already had several legs torn off by the others, which broke the team’s hearts.

It takes time to figure out what a new species eats and how to care for it, and they feared the crabs might not survive that long.

Tong Zhanyan had a knack for keeping any creature alive, so they asked him if they could send the crabs directly to him.

Tong Zhanyan readily agreed.

The next afternoon, the group arrived at his doorstep.

After ushering them inside, Tong Zhanyan immediately examined the crabs.

The moment he got a clear look, his eyes lit up, and he instantly understood why the crabs were fighting.

Because they weren’t even the same species—they were river crabs and stream crabs.

The paleontology team probably mistook them for adult and juvenile versions of the same species, so they put them together, but from the crabs’ perspective, it was a whole different story.

Crabs eat crabs—it sounds cruel, but it’s not uncommon in nature.

“Two kinds?” the man delivering the crabs asked in surprise.

“Right.” Tong Zhanyan had to force himself not to swallow.

The delicacy of crab roe is something no connoisseur can resist. He had already given up hope, but now things had taken an unexpected turn.

The paleontologist studied the crabs intently for a while longer, finally spotting some distinct differences before reluctantly taking his leave.

After seeing them off, Tong Zhanyan returned to his small house.

He still planned to quarantine the crabs first, but he hesitated over exactly how to raise them.

Crabs are omnivorous; they eat everything from meat to algae, so they’re actually quite easy to raise.

Tong Zhanyan had originally intended to use them to feed the carp, but with only a few of them, feeding them all would lead to their extinction.

Thinking of the rich crab roe, Tong Zhanyan resolutely decided to set aside a separate area for them in the stream.

The carp could go hungry, but he couldn’t.

Besides, he still had the shrimp; at worst, he could just buy another batch.