Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

"They're over there! Don't let them get away!"

The chaotic footsteps, like hammer blows, accompanied by piercing whistles, shattered the morning mist.

The once lifeless alleyways came alive. Those people wearing drab gray cotton-padded coats and carrying baskets and cloth bags, who were doing business with their hands in their pockets, were now faster than startled rabbits, disappearing into the alleys before you could even see them clearly.

"Oh no, this is going to be a real pain!"

Sun Shouzhen's face turned ashen, and his legs felt like they were made of lead. He almost tripped and fell flat on his face after only a couple of steps.

He was still clutching the hot steamed buns he had just bought, his palms burning red from the heat, but he didn't bother to throw them away.

A small hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the hemp rope belt around his waist.

"Shut up and keep up."

Meng Yaya's voice was calm, without the slightest hint of panic. With her other hand, she slung the basket, heavy with banknotes and tickets, over her chest and pushed off with her feet.

Sun Shouzhen felt a tightness around his waist, and his whole body was lifted up as if by a crane, his feet off the ground, and he flew out as if riding the clouds.

"Ouch, my back!"

The wind rushed into his mouth, silencing his screams.

Meng Yaya deliberately chose to squeeze into the narrowest gaps that only a cat could fit through. She was small and agile like an eel, which made things difficult for Sun Shouzhen, who was dragged around and bumped into things, and his tattered cotton-padded coat got torn in several places.

Ahead was a dead end, piled high with discarded, rotten wooden baskets and moldy straw.

"Go in."

Meng Yaya shoved Sun Shouzhen into the haystack, then shrank in herself, pulling two broken baskets over to block the outside.

Just as the two had hidden themselves, a group of people wearing red armbands rushed to the alley entrance.

"I clearly saw them run this way just now, where did they go?"

"Go search that area again! They couldn't have gone far!"

Footsteps echoed around the alley entrance, and someone even banged on the wall with a stick.

Sun Shouzhen huddled in the moldy straw, barely daring to breathe, his chest heaving violently. He turned to look at Meng Yaya, only to find the little darling with her eyes closed and a peaceful expression on her face; anyone who didn't know better would have thought she was taking a nap.

In fact, Meng Yaya was observing her space.

Just now, while she was running away, the bags of old seeds she had been clutching disappeared into thin air.

Consciousness sinks into space.

That once desolate and gloomy land is now churning.

No watering or fertilization is needed.

Those old corn and wheat seeds, bought from farmers and so dry they were almost crumbling, were like hungry wolves pouncing on a pile of meat the moment they came into contact with the soil.

The soil seemed to wriggle as if it were alive, enveloping the seeds.

Immediately afterwards, a tender green shoot broke through the soil.

Meng Yaya could see it clearly.

That's not a normal growth rate. That's like pressing the fast-forward button a hundred times.

Sprouting, jointing, leaf growth, and heading.

What would normally take two or three months to complete was done in less than five minutes here.

Hundreds of corn stalks stood straight, their leaves so green they looked like they were carved from jade, and each stalk bore two or three large ears of corn.

The wheat next to it was even more exaggerated, with heavy ears of wheat hanging down, golden and plump, with grains as big as soybeans.

The fog in the space thinned out, and the "hunger" vibration disappeared, replaced by a satisfying tranquility.

"So this wretched place is also a foodie."

Meng Yaya muttered to herself. During the apocalypse, she was so busy killing zombies and looting supplies that her storage space was full of weapons and canned goods; she never thought about farming. After all, the soil in the apocalypse was poisonous, and anything grown there could kill an elephant.

Unexpectedly, the pure, natural seeds of this era, though of inferior quality, were uncontaminated and activated the planting properties of the space.

Moreover, this output...

With a thought, Meng Yaya noticed a corn cob snapping off automatically, peeling off the skin, and appearing in her hand.

At this moment, the footsteps outside finally faded away.

"Let's go..." Sun Shouzhen let out a long breath and slumped onto the haystack, feeling like he had lost half his life. "Girl, let's hurry back to the village. This county town is too dangerous."

That run just now almost turned him, a former national team player, into a "former national team player."

"Want some?"

A hand was placed under his nose.

Sun Shouzhen was taken aback and looked closely.

It was a tender yellow raw corn, the kernels so plump they looked like they were about to burst, each one exuding an enticing sweetness—the taste of the freshest grain.

"Where... did this come from?" Sun Shouzhen was dumbfounded.

They were fleeing for their lives, and apart from that basket, they had nothing on them. The corn still had dew on it, looking like it had just been picked from the ground.

"I took it from that old man's bag," Meng Yaya lied without batting an eye. "That was a magic trick; you must have mistaken me for someone else."

Sun Shouzhen's lips twitched.

That old man was selling shriveled, dried-out corn! This is fresh corn!

Are scams these days really this sophisticated? They look like aged goods, but they're actually fresh?

"Eat up, make up for your scaredy-cat." Meng Yaya took out one herself and started taking a big bite.

The sweet juice bursts in your mouth.

Meng Yaya's eyes lit up.

Different.

It's more than just delicious. The corn juice slid into my stomach, transforming into a subtle but clear warm current that flowed through my veins to every part of my body.

She had been carrying the old man, who weighed over 100 pounds, for three blocks, and was actually a little tired, her arms slightly sore. But after a few bites of corn, the soreness disappeared without a trace, and she even had excess energy, wanting to find a brick to chop it for fun.

This is... energy?

Although it cannot compare to the high-level crystal cores of the apocalypse, it does contain several times more energy than ordinary food.

Sun Shouzhen originally had no appetite, but the fragrant aroma was so irresistible that it stirred up his cravings. He took the corn and carefully took a bite.

The next second, the old man's eyes widened like copper bells.

"This...this is..."

As a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, he was most sensitive to the medicinal properties of food. After taking that bite, his stomach felt warm and comfortable, and the cold sweat that had just broken out from the fright instantly stopped. Even his still-healing injured leg felt warm.

"This is a miracle cure!" Sun Shouzhen exclaimed in a low voice, his hands trembling as he held the corn. "Girl, is the old man who sold the seeds still around? I have to go find him! This isn't just food; it's a divine tonic for replenishing qi and nourishing blood!"

He devoured the corn in a few bites, leaving it completely clean, even chewing the cob thoroughly before swallowing it.

After eating, Sun Shouzhen felt like he had inexhaustible energy. His back and legs were no longer sore, and he wished he could go for a five-kilometer run right now.

"The old man is gone; we can't find him."

Meng Yaya casually tossed the corn cob she had finished eating into her spatial storage as fertilizer and patted the crumbs off her hands.

"Gone? What a pity, what a pity..." Sun Shouzhen looked regretful, as if he had missed out on a fortune.

Meng Yaya ignored his exaggerated reaction. She was already planning something else.

If ordinary grains can mutate into high-energy foods, what if we grew medicinal herbs?

If we don't sell that wild ginseng we just dug up to Chen Bazi, but instead plant it in our spatial storage...

Even if you only plant it for one day, could it turn into a thousand-year-old ginseng?

Thinking of this, Meng Yaya's gaze towards Sun Shouzhen changed. Although this old man was slow, his mind was filled with knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, making him a walking planting guide.

"Alright, stop howling." Meng Yaya stood up, stuffed the two buns wrapped in rags into her mouth, then spat them out. "They're cold, they don't taste good."

She tossed the steamed buns to Sun Shouzhen and picked up her basket.

"Let's go back to the village. Tonight, let's turn over that wasteland in the backyard; I have a big use for it."

Sun Shouzhen, carrying the steamed buns, watched the small figure, barely taller than the basket on his back, stride out of the alley.

The sun rose, and its golden light shone on the dust at the alley entrance.

"Tilling the land?" Sun Shouzhen scratched his head and followed. "Girl, aren't we going to Beiping? Why do we have to farm?"

"Aren't you going to eat when you get to Beiping?" Meng Yaya asked without turning her head. "Not only do we have to plant, but we also have to plant something valuable."

She touched her belly.

The feeling of fullness after eating that energy-rich corn only lasted for less than five minutes.

My stomach feels like a bottomless pit, and it's started growling again.

Moreover, along with the feeling of hunger comes a kind of tingling and itching sensation that seeps into the very bones.

Is that a sign that the body is about to grow? Or a prelude to a breakthrough in strength?

Meng Yaya clenched her fist.

With a crisp "crack" sound, the half-red brick he had just picked up turned into a cloud of red powder that dripped from between his fingers.

Sun Shouzhen, who was walking behind, happened to see this scene and almost choked on the bun he had just eaten.

How do you turn bricks into flour?

Is this girl eating corn or some kind of superpower pill?

"Hurry up, farmhand."

Meng Yaya turned around, her clear black and white eyes gleaming with the light of a wild beast eyeing meat.

"I'm hungry, I'll go back and stew that old hen."

Sun Shouzhen shivered. For some reason, he felt that the hens that were scratching for food in the Meng family were going to be in big trouble today.