Ch 57: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Since they were already there, and with Tang Wenjie’s mother looking at him with teary eyes, Shen Qing agreed without hesitation.

The healer was in an excellent mood—such an easy and well-paying job, he wished he could get more of them every day! He placed his hand on Tang Wenjie’s forehead, and a soft white light glowed at his fingertips, forming into an orb that slowly flowed through Tang Wenjie’s body.

However, the healer’s expression quickly changed—this side gig was turning out to be much harder than he had expected. Tang Wenjie’s body was like a vortex, continuously absorbing his ability bit by bit. Energy was being pulled from the healer’s body uncontrollably, and the white glow that symbolized healing ability only grew brighter and stronger.

Sweat beaded on the healer’s forehead. This was a clear sign that the ability awakening within Tang Wenjie was exceptionally powerful, requiring an enormous amount of energy. In fact, even though Tang Wenjie had only just begun awakening, his body already had an instinctive pull, actively absorbing external energy.

If nothing went wrong, Red City Base was about to gain a new powerhouse.

After a long while, Tang Wenjie’s condition finally stabilized. He reached up to touch his forehead—it was no longer burning hot. The healer let out a sigh of relief. Any longer, and he would have worried about being completely drained of energy. “It’s done. Once he wakes up, we’ll know what ability he has awakened.” Then, half-jokingly, he added, “Those ten crystal cores were a huge loss for me.”

Tang Wenjie’s mother was extremely anxious. “When will he wake up?”

“That’s hard to say. But him sleeping isn’t a bad thing.” During the breakthrough, the healer had already noticed how severely depleted Tang Wenjie’s body was—he was completely exhausted. It seemed like he hadn’t been eating enough for a long time, had been constantly on edge, and hadn’t been getting proper sleep. Now, after his breakthrough and absorbing so much healing energy, his body needed time to adjust and recover.

Song Kaiji counted out ten crystal cores and then slipped two hawthorns into the healer’s hand. “Thank you for your help.”

Even though he didn’t get any extra crystal cores, the two hawthorns were still a nice bonus. Fresh fruit was incredibly rare in the apocalypse. Combined with the fifty crystal cores he had already received for the house call, the healer was quite satisfied with his earnings. To return the favor, he also put in a good word for them with the base’s gate guards, explaining Tang Wenjie’s situation.

With a registered healer vouching for them, the guards only performed a simple inspection on Tang Wenjie. Once Shen Qing and Song Kaiji paid the entry fee for him and his mother, they were finally allowed into the base.

“Thank you, thank you so much!” Tang Wenjie’s mother was deeply moved. Even though her son had now awakened an ability, she wasn’t the type to forget gratitude or change her attitude suddenly. Song Kaiji and his group had helped them even before knowing about Tang Wenjie’s awakening. If Song Kaiji hadn’t brought in the healer, who knew how long her son would have suffered, or if something worse might have happened? “When Wenjie wakes up, I’ll be sure to tell him that we must repay your kindness!”

“Aunt, there’s no need to be so formal with me,” Song Kaiji said. “Wenjie and I were roommates for three years—we’re practically brothers. Helping him is only natural.” He then turned to look at Shen Qing and introduced him to Tang Wenjie’s mother. “This is our team leader, Boss Shen. If I wanted to help Wenjie, I wouldn’t have been able to do much on my own. It was Boss who covered all the crystal core expenses.”

Tang Wenjie’s mother was quick to catch the underlying meaning in Song Kaiji’s words and immediately turned to Shen Qing. “Thank you, Boss Shen. If you don’t mind, Wenjie and I would both like to follow you in the future! I might not be good at fighting zombies, but I can cook, do laundry, and clean!”

She desperately wanted to join a hunting team. During her journey with Tang Wenjie, she had seen how much more efficient even small teams of four or five could be. Some would lure zombies, some would kill them, others would keep watch and provide cover, while one would extract crystal cores. The coordination was seamless and highly effective.

But she and her son had only been two people. Unless they encountered lone zombies, they barely managed to collect any crystal cores. Most of the time, they were being chased down, killing only to survive, and constantly fleeing for their lives. The cores they did obtain often ended up benefiting someone else.

If they could join a proper team, they wouldn’t have to work so hard for so little ever again. Now that Wenjie had awakened an ability—even though they didn’t yet know what it was—she hoped that, out of consideration for Song Kaiji, this wealthy boss would let them in.

Shen Qing felt a little awkward being repeatedly called “Boss” by both Song Kaiji and Tang Wenjie’s mother. He had, of course, considered recruiting Tang Wenjie into his ranks. His initial decision to help had purely been because of Song Kaiji, but it turned out to be an unexpected gain when Tang Wenjie awakened his ability.

Tang Wenjie’s mother also seemed straightforward, without any scheming thoughts. Shen Qing had paid for her son’s treatment and their entry into the base, just like how he had saved Qu Weiwei before.

However, while Tang Wenjie’s mother was eager to join, her son was still unconscious. He didn’t know what Tang Wenjie would think. “Let’s wait for Wenjie to wake up and see what he decides. If he agrees to join my team, then of course, I’ll welcome both of you.”

---

Tang Wenjie felt pain all over his body. It was similar to the muscle aches from a fever, but at the same time, it felt as if his entire skeletal structure, muscles, and even his veins and arteries had been dismantled and rebuilt. The pain was so intense that he almost wanted to scream.

But then, a strange energy flooded into his body—it felt like a pair of gentle hands, carefully realigning his dislocated bones and soothing his pain. He instinctively clung to that power, trying to absorb more to lessen his suffering. The more he held onto it, the faster the pain dissipated. He felt a surge of energy rising from deep within him, filling his limbs with newfound strength.

Tang Wenjie opened his eyes.

The ceiling above him was not the open sky outside the base, nor was it the tattered roof of their tent. Instead, it was a neatly painted white ceiling. He slowly sat up, realizing he was lying in a soft, comfortable bed, covered with a thick down quilt.

He hadn’t slept so comfortably since leaving home.

His memories of before he blacked out returned—he had met Old Third. Old Third had come out from the base, looking clean and energetic, not at all like someone who had suffered through hardship. He had wanted to ask Old Third to take his mother into the base, to protect her. He himself could go outside and hunt zombies for crystal cores!

Mom!

Tang Wenjie snapped back to full awareness. He leaped out of bed, flung open the bedroom door, and rushed out—only to find his mother sitting in the living room, happily chatting with a familiar-looking woman while sorting vegetables. Lao San sat on the sofa on the other side, talking to the young man who had come out of the base with him the other day.

Everyone froze when they saw Tang Wenjie standing in the doorway. His mother was the first to react, rushing over to him. “Wenjie! You’re finally awake! You’ve been asleep for two whole days!”

---

A lot had happened in those two days.

Shen Qing had left and returned again, bringing the face creams back to his home and exchanging some vegetable seeds from villagers. This time, Song Kaiji had actually gone to dig up soil. Tang Wenjie’s mother had experience growing vegetables on a balcony, so she guided them in using wooden planks to build planting boxes. Just yesterday, Qu Weiwei had successfully used her ability to grow two whole boxes of vegetables.

However, the vegetables looked… off.

Qu Weiwei examined them closely, confused. “Is my ability level too low? Or is the soil bad? Why do they look so strange?”

Before the apocalypse, the vegetables she bought from the supermarket, or the ones she worked with on the farm, were always large, lush, and full of water. But the ones she had just grown looked small and underdeveloped, like they were malnourished.

Tang Wenjie’s mother broke off a small piece of one, popped it into her mouth, chewed a couple of times, then spat it out. “Nothing wrong with it. It’s just a different variety.” She had grown up in the countryside before moving to the city and immediately recognized the difference. “The vegetables we used to grow when I was a kid were like this. You younger folks don’t see them anymore. The ones in the supermarkets nowadays—who knows what they are? Genetically modified or something? Of course, they’re bigger. But the ones from our time never grew that large.”

“But these smaller ones have their own advantages,” she continued. “Those genetically modified ones may look nice, but some are just full of water and don’t have much real flavor. These ones have a stronger taste. Also, you can save the seeds and plant them again without having to buy from a seed station. These kinds of vegetables aren’t grown much anymore—too low-yield. If you want to find them, it’s not easy.”

She gave an example—sweet potatoes. “When I was a kid, we never saw red-fleshed sweet potatoes. Everything we had was white-fleshed, and they were dry as hell. You’d choke after a few bites. I was almost twenty when I first saw a red-fleshed sweet potato—it was from out of town. Everyone crowded around just to get a look at it. Now, look at the ones we have—some even ooze honey when baked! Have you ever seen a white-fleshed one like in the old days, the kind that could make you choke to death? Probably not!”

Qu Weiwei was stunned.

She had grown up in the city and had only learned about farming after the apocalypse. But she had heard before that a lot of modern crops couldn’t be reproduced through self-saved seeds. It wasn’t just about genetic modification—many hybrid varieties were sterile, like mules. Even if you saved the seeds, the next generation would have much lower yields or even fail completely.

That was why, even though Red City Base had land and plenty of wood-type ability users, food was still scarce. The core issue was the lack of seeds—especially a diverse range of non-hybrid ones. Red City was an urbanized city, not an agricultural hub.

Back when Qu Weiwei worked at the research institute’s farm, she had heard rumors that in addition to researching a vaccine for the zombie virus, the institute was also working on developing stable, self-replicating crop seeds from existing hybrid varieties. They frequently posted tasks for ability-user teams, offering rewards in exchange for finding rare, non-hybrid seeds that could be used for crossbreeding. Even if the final product had a lower yield, it wouldn’t matter—after all, the base had so many wood-type ability users. If necessary, they could just accelerate multiple harvests to make up for it.

Qu Weiwei stared blankly at the basket in front of her. Were these not exactly the kind of seeds the research institute had been desperate for—low-yield but capable of infinite reproduction? And now, they had just fallen into her hands so easily?

Meanwhile, she had just used her ability to grow a whole basket of fresh celery and was discussing with Mother Tang how to prepare a stir-fry with cured pork.

Tang Wenjie looked at the fresh, vibrant celery on the table, inhaling the fragrant aroma of steaming rice. He almost couldn’t believe he was awake—was this all just a dream?

“Oh, that’s right! Son, you’ve awakened an ability!” Mother Tang suddenly remembered. “This is all thanks to Boss Shen. Because of Xiao Song, he hired a healing-type ability user for you and even took us both into the base. We have to properly thank him!” Holding her son’s hand with excitement and hope, she urged, “Hurry up and try it! See what kind of ability you awakened!”

Tang Wenjie was stunned. “I… awakened an ability?”

“That’s right. When you had that fever, it was because your body was trying to awaken your ability, but you didn’t have enough energy to support it,” Song Kaiji explained. Since he had an ability himself, he was able to guide Tang Wenjie through the process. “Try it—focus your mind, concentrate on your hands, then channel the energy inside you. Picture yourself releasing it.”

Although there were different types of abilities, the fundamental way to use them was similar. For example, Qu Weiwei, with her wood-based ability, could summon vines from her hands by simply thinking about it. Healing-type ability users generated glowing orbs of healing energy, water-type users could summon streams of water, and fire-type users could produce flames. More advanced techniques, such as Qu Weiwei accelerating plant growth, required the user to refine and explore their power over time.

Tang Wenjie suppressed his excitement and closed his eyes, feeling the energy coursing inside him. Following Song Kaiji’s instructions, he focused, then flicked his hands forward.

Two metal spikes, each as thick as a chopstick, shot out from his fingertips and embedded themselves deep into the opposite wall!

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