69novels Chapter 78 Gratitude
Chapter 78 Gratitude
Chapter 78 Gratitude
The next morning.
Lowe woke up with a slight headache.
The hangover wasn't too severe; in fact, it made him feel truly alive.
Good morning, sir/madam.
Old John pushed the food cart in right on time.
This gaunt old man looked unusually energetic today, his face beaming with a fawning smile.
Today's breakfast is laid out on the food cart:
A steaming cup of black coffee, and two synthetic eggs.
Lowe picked up his coffee, blew on the steam, and asked, "Any news, John?"
"Oh, of course, sir!" Old John's eyes lit up. "Last night, because you ordered an extra spoonful of green soup for everyone, the guys down there went crazy."
"Serfs, laborers, refugees, and death row inmates are all calling out your name. Some even say that you are more benevolent than that emperor who only collects taxes—of course, I didn't dare let them spread these words."
Luo Wei cut open the synthetic egg and asked expressionlessly, "Are they really being grateful?"
Old John paused for a moment, then lowered his voice and said, "Well, actually, they're more afraid."
"Fear?"
"Yes, sir." Old John swallowed hard.
"They dare not praise your generosity. Because the former supervisor, Case, and Case's predecessors, have done similar things."
"Shortly after we give everyone extra food, a large number of people will mysteriously disappear, and then the crops in the fields will grow exceptionally well."
"They're all whispering among themselves that this green soup you're having is your last meal before you're executed." They're worried that next, you'll kill them and turn them into fertilizer to be scattered on the ground.
Lo Wei's hand, which was cutting the food, stopped in mid-air.
This is the survival logic at the grassroots level.
In this ecosystem that has been squeezed to its limits, goodwill is often more chilling than malice.
Malice is the norm.
But the price of such unexpected kindness is often their lives.
"Let the rumors fester."
"Love said coldly."
"Sometimes fear is more effective than gratitude. As long as they work hard out of fear of becoming fertilizer, I don't mind playing the devil."
He didn't particularly care about these people's gratitude.
What he cares about is the depreciation rate and maintenance cost of these "assets".
As long as they can still move and produce, they are the best assets.
Lo Wei forked a piece of egg and put it in his mouth.
The next second, his brows furrowed slightly, and his chewing movements became sluggish.
The sensation between my teeth wasn't the soft, fluffy texture of an egg, but rather a damping sensation that caused intense discomfort in my mouth.
It's like chewing rubber.
He instinctively wanted to vomit.
But a strong sense of reason stopped him from doing so.
"Sir, is the texture off?"
Old John, adept at reading people, keenly noticed Lowe's pause and quickly explained, "This batch is a new Grade A synthetic egg delivered from the northern granary. It's a bit chewy, but the protein content is definitely up to standard. I've also checked it; there are no particles of corpse starch mixed in."
"----fine."
Lo Wei clenched his jaw and swallowed the rubbery food.
Then I gulped down a big mouthful of bitter black coffee to wash my esophagus.
Last night's luxurious hot bath, coupled with the lingering aftertaste of Amasek brandy, had dulled and spoiled his senses.
As a result, the taste memories of the Earth's soul experienced a brief resurgence, creating a rejection reaction to the reality of this body.
He must complete the self-calibration immediately.
This is the agricultural world of Warhammer 40K.
This synthetic protein, capable of breaking teeth, is the highest-grade protein available to people in this position—a feast that countless low-level laborers wouldn't even dare to dream of.
However, before Luo Wei could finish enjoying the synthetic egg, a rapid buzzing sound came from the bird-shaped device on the corner of the mahogany desk.
Luo Wei frowned slightly, then gently put down the silver fork in his hand.
The communication request came from Susan.
This once frail housewife is now the head of the "widows' group".
This special team has recently expanded rapidly, and its members are now approaching 100.
This is not something to celebrate. The addition of each new member means that Buck's defense force has gained another corpse covered with the State Shroud.
Even on Plenty II, death is as common as breathing, and even cheaper.
Whether it's gang warfare amidst the ruins or endless riots deep within the lair;
Or the aberration's sudden attack, the plague believers' fanatical suicidal charge;
Or perhaps they are gene stealers, silently reaping the harvest in the shadows—
Every second, countless reasons can be found to make a soldier fall and become a name crossed off the list.
As the somber maxim of the court warned: "If a world is devoid of sin and strife, it has already sunk into a more terrible abyss."
The successful seeding of "Grey Mule-1" owes much to the women who lost their husbands and could only rely on Rowe for survival.
More than anyone else, they were eager to prove their worth in exchange for food to survive.
However, Lowe knew very well that Susan would never bother him with trivial matters.
Once her communication is connected, it usually means only two things:
Either something terrible has happened, or something terrible is about to happen.
"Connected."
Luo Wei gave the order in a deep voice.
The holographic projection device emitted a burst of blue light and trembled a few times in the air.
Susan's resolute face appeared.
However, it looks a bit pale.
The background behind her was a wasteland ravaged by acid winds, the howling wind mixed with static noise, making her voice sound somewhat distorted.
"Sir, something's happened. Gray Mule-1 is exhibiting abnormal behavior."
The outskirts of the eastern granary.
The "Grey Mule-1" plantation is located in a heavily polluted wasteland area.
Lowe quickly arrived at the scene in a chimera transport vehicle.
The once barren, hardened, toxic soil is now covered with a layer of gray-green carpet.
These were hundreds of millions of "Grey Mule-1" seedlings.
They survived in the highly toxic soil, not only without withering, but also displaying an almost frenzied vitality.
Their roots pierce downwards frantically, tearing apart the hard, iron-like frozen soil, greedily extracting every bit of usable nutrients.
This growth rate is exactly as expected.
It was even faster than what Lowe had seen in the experimental field.
However, Susan did not take him to see these thriving areas any further.
Instead, they took Rowe to a wheat field located in a low-lying area.
Here, it's a completely different scene.
The wheat seedlings, which should have been grayish-green, now appeared sickly and withered.
The edges of the leaves curled up, as if they had been scorched by fire, and they hung limply on the ground, looking listless.
"What happened?" Luo Wei asked in a deep voice.
"We don't know either, sir," an old serf beside Susan answered tremblingly. "This soil is too poisonous; even crops made of iron couldn't withstand it. We suspect poisoning; the acid in the soil is too strong and has burned the roots."
Poisoning?
Lowe squinted, scanning the withered wheat field.
As an auditor, he never blindly trusts such intuition-based judgments.
He believes more in data and logic.
The original purpose of breeding "Grey Mule-1" was to make it resistant to poison and acid.
They could survive in the high-radiation, high-pollution environment of the experimental field, so how did they get "poisoned" here?
Is it?
Luo Wei opened the car door.
Ignoring the acrid acidic air outside, I strode into the wheat field.
He crouched down, grabbed a withered wheat seedling, and pulled it up forcefully.
"Sizzle."
The wheat seedlings were uprooted.
Luo Wei observed carefully.
The roots are very well-developed, a healthy white color, and show no signs of rot or burning.
This shows that it wasn't acid burning the roots at all.
He grabbed another handful of soil from the roots.
The "fertile poisonous soil," which was originally jet black and shiny and emitted a pungent sulfur smell, has now turned into dry, powdery grayish-white sand in Luo Wei's hands.
He squeezed hard, and the sand slipped through his fingers; it was neither sticky nor had a pungent smell.
He was stunned.
I put my finger to my nose and smelled it.
It has no taste.
It has no taste at all.
This wasteland, which was toxic enough to kill Groxmon, is now as clean as sterile sand that has undergone twelve purification processes.
An absurd conclusion surfaced in his mind.
Lowe stood up, dusted off his hands, and said calmly, "They're not poisoned. On the contrary, they're hungry."
"But—this land is full of highly toxic chemicals!" Susan exclaimed incredulously.
Luo Wei nodded and said, "It's all toxins, that's right. But for a mutated crop like 'Grey Mule-1,' toxins are their food. They exist to devour chemical waste and heavy metals."
"This heavily polluted wasteland has only undergone natural settling over the past few decades. These little monsters have such good appetites, they're absorbing everything too quickly, they've devoured all the toxins in the soil!"
Lo Wei's gaze shifted to the patch of sand that had turned grayish-white.
"Look, the soil has become dry. This means that the nutrients in the soil, namely heavy metals and acidic substances, have been depleted."
"The soil is too 'clean' for them now, causing them to suffer from malnutrition."
Everyone around was stunned.
I've only ever heard of crops being poisoned, never of crops starving to death because there aren't enough toxins to feed them.
"Then—what should we do? Should we fertilize it?" the old serf stammered.
"No fertilizer is needed." Luo Wei shook his head.
When ordinary farmers encounter barren land, they will apply fertilizer to increase the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content.
But what he planted was a monster.
Therefore, what he needs to do is "poison".
"We need to feed them something strong."
But new problems arose.
Where can we find large quantities, a continuous supply, and high concentrations of highly toxic industrial waste?
Although the Fertile No. 2 is polluted everywhere, it would take a huge amount of manpower and resources to collect and transport these highly toxic substances.
If the cost is too high, this deal is not worthwhile.
In addition, the time cost must be considered when doing this.
Lowe's brain was working at lightning speed.
Then, he actually came up with an idea.