102: Chapter 102 The Talent Snatching Scandal

His voice was slightly hesitant. He stood there, neither advancing nor retreating.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and discovered it was Yu Wenyu, who hadn't left yet.

Since he had helped Qi Yin earlier, the looks everyone gave him now were simply assessing, with no malice.

Yu Wenyu gazed from a distance at the two pots of soil in front of them, his eyes filled with a hint of anticipation.

Qi Yin raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised.

Her impression of Yu Wenyu was still stuck at the entrance of the hillside villa area, where he had been swift and decisive in controlling vines to strangle three people.

Her tone carried a hint of curiosity: "You can grow vegetables too?"

Although she asked this, her hand had already pressed the button on the remote control.

Watching the arrows on the villa wall retract completely, Yu Wenyu finally dared to step forward.

Xiao Lang looked around and lifted his feet to follow.

Once close, Yu Wenyu nodded without saying much and walked over to squat in front of the two foam boxes filled with soil.

Xiao Sinian subconsciously took a half-step in front of Qi Yin.

Yu Wenyu reached out his hands, gently covering the soil, and closed his eyes.

Under the curious gazes of everyone, a pale green light emanated from his palms.

The scene that followed made everyone widen their eyes.

The soil, which had originally only sprouted a few yellow buds, seemed to have had a fast-forward button pressed on it.

Seeds broke through the soil, tender shoots grew little by little, and leaves began to unfurl...

The cabbage, which originally required a long growth cycle, grew wildly right before their eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The leaves changed from tender yellow to emerald green, and the plants grew larger and larger. In just a few minutes, they had grown to a size almost ready for harvest.

Xiao Sinian turned his head and exchanged a glance with Qi Yin behind him, seeing the same surprise in her eyes.

Lu Jinwen covered her mouth: "My god, how amazing!"

Zhou Le's eyes were almost popping out: "This—this is possible?"

Everyone looked simultaneously at Qian Dong, who was also a Wood-type Ability User.

Qian Dong watched Yu Wenyu's operation in silence and slowly shook his head under everyone's expectant gaze.

His Wood-type Supernatural Ability was poisonous and focused on attack; using it to grow vegetables would mean everyone wanted to die.

Everyone was uniformly disappointed.

Qi Yin was shocked internally. How could she have forgotten this? In her past life, she had indeed heard that some bases used Wood-type Ability Users to grow vegetables.

This ability was too practical; it was simply a treasure in the Apocalypse.

She suppressed the excitement in her heart and looked at Yu Wenyu, whose forehead was already beaded with sweat.

"With this skill, how did you manage to starve yourself into such a wretched state?"

Yu Wenyu withdrew his hands, stood up, and caught his breath.

He smiled bitterly: "It's not that I don't want to grow them, but it's impossible to find many usable seeds now. Most of the inventory in the school's experimental fields and seed banks was ruined by the flood. Many wild seeds on the mountain can't be used, and even if they can, most of them won't sprout when planted."

Yu Wenyu pointed at the soil under his feet, his expression bitter.

"Most importantly, this soil... was drenched by the blood rain before. The things grown from it always feel wrong—the color is strange, and the taste is even stranger. A doctor ate a few bites before and died within a few days, so we don't dare to eat the vegetables grown in this soil at all."

Hearing his words, Qi Yin's gaze subconsciously fell onto one of the foam boxes.

The soil in this foam box had been said by Uncle Chen to have been drenched by the blood rain.

Everyone followed her gaze.

Sure enough, compared to the other one, the cabbage in this foam box grew better, and its color was not the emerald green of ordinary cabbage, but a somewhat eerie green.

Furthermore, it would faintly writhe.

Qi Yin pulled out her Tang sword and slashed the cabbages into pieces with a few strikes.

"Xiao Sinian, burn them!"

Xiao Sinian did as told. Cyan flames instantly burned the scraps to nothing, leaving no trace behind.

Lu Jinwen asked: "Sister, what are you doing?"

Everyone also didn't understand why Qi Yin wanted to destroy those cabbages.

Qi Yin sheathed her sword: "The soil was drenched by the blood rain. Combined with Yu Wenyu's previous experience, plants grown in soil drenched by the blood rain are highly likely to mutate."

Like zombies, mutated plants are equally aggressive.

Therefore, this is also why at the current stage, no matter how brilliant the scientists are, they cannot grow plants.

Everyone looked at each other; this explanation made sense.

Just then, Xiao Sinian, who had been silently watching, suddenly looked at Yu Wenyu with a sharp gaze and spoke his first sentence of the day.

"Xiyin Base has designated agricultural zones, stocking a large amount of pure soil and some seeds preserved from before the Apocalypse. We can provide you with a planting environment. If you are willing, I can guarantee that you and your team members will have food and clothing, and you will be given appropriate compensation based on your contributions."

Once these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.

Was this a disguised invitation for Yu Wenyu to join the base?

Qi Yin's eyes widened. Good grief, Xiao Sinian was poaching talent right in front of her!

Yu Wenyu was someone she had set her sights on first, okay?

Although she hadn't initially aimed for the purpose of growing vegetables, she just hadn't gotten around to it yet. How had Xiao Sinian beaten her to it?

Without thinking, Qi Yin reached out and pinched Xiao Sinian's arm hard, lowering her voice to say fiercely: "Can you be a bit more decent? This is the person I set my sights on first!"

Xiao Sinian felt the pain in his arm but didn't even frown.

He turned his head to look at Qi Yin, not only without any guilt but with a faint smile spreading in his eyes, even carrying a hint of justified confidence.

He leaned over slightly, close to Qi Yin's ear, his voice audible only to the two of them.

"What's mine is yours. Isn't Xiyin Base going to be yours sooner or later? We take the people there, get the base's vegetable basket project started first—isn't that great?"

Qi Yin was choked by his words, her earlobes uncontrollably heating up.

Crazy, when did he learn to talk like this?

She glared at Xiao Sinian but didn't refute him further. The annoyance of being "poached" in her heart was strangely smoothed over by him, and there was even an indescribable feeling rippling in her heart.

She turned her head and looked again at Yu Wenyu, who was still looking bewildered.

She cleared her throat: "Ahem... You can consider his offer. How about it? Come with us; at least you'll have land to farm and food to eat. It's better than staying in a cave that leaks wind from all sides, right?"

Yu Wenyu looked at the two extraordinary people in front of him, then looked at the cabbage he had just hastened to grow.

Thinking of the days when he had to lead the professors through meals of feast and famine, all while constantly guarding against being robbed, he didn't hesitate at all.

He nodded heavily: "No need to consider. I'll go back and tell the professors now. We'll go with you."

The cool wind on the mountaintop blew past, carrying snowflakes. It was very cold, but Yu Wenyu felt that there had never been a moment as warm as this one.

Having rarely eaten his fill, he held the large backpack of food given by Chen Quan and happily went down the mountain.

Seeing all this, Xiao Lang, who was standing nearby, was incredibly envious.

Seeing him standing there in a daze, Qi Yin raised an eyebrow: "What? You want to come with us too?"