Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

When Chen Hao climbed out of the pit, he felt like he was floating.

He was holding a handful of soil in his hands.

The tender green grass was wrapped in the soil—

Chen Hao grinned, his steps unsteady, and he opened his mouth to shout:

"Big brother! Big brother!"

Ou Yun was lying in a hammock digesting his food—he had eaten too much bear meat earlier and was forced to do a full-on aerobic exercise with Leng.

He was drenched in sweat and was in a state of enlightenment.

Hearing Chen Hao's shout, he barely managed to lift his eyelids.

"What, did you find something this time?"

"Grass!"

Why are you cursing at me?

"No! It's grass! Real grass!"

Chen Hao rushed up to Ou Yun and shoved a handful of dirt in front of his face, almost smearing it on Ou Yun's face.

"Look! Grass! Alive! Growing from the bottom of the pit!"

Ou Yun tilted his head back and squinted at it for a long time.

It really is grass, a tender green, with two small leaves that haven't fully unfurled yet, looking like bean sprouts.

Ou Yun exclaimed, "Brother Chen, calm down. There are blades of grass everywhere in this forbidden area. You can step on a whole bunch of them if you just take a few steps."

"This is different!"

Chen Hao pushed up his glasses with a serious expression.

"This grass grew in the crater created by the aftershocks of that Abyss Bone Demon's energy!"

"What's at the bottom of that pit? It's scorched earth bombarded by energy cannons! Normally, let alone grass, even fungi might not survive! But now—"

Chen Hao became more and more excited as he spoke, and his voice began to tremble.

"Now it has not only grown, but the soil... the soil has completely changed!"

Look at the color! The texture! The moisture!

They're all different!

Leng Ruolan also joined in at some point.

She squatted down next to Chen Hao, pinched a small handful of soil from the clod, and smelled it.

"It's definitely different. It smells... how should I put it, like broth?"

"broth?"

Ou Yun thought to himself, "Soil and meat broth are completely different things!"

But he still pinched a pinch and smelled it. "Wow, it really is."

Is this soil or a seasoning packet?

Chen Hao laughed, "This proves that the corpse of the Abyss Bone Demon really is a powerful fertilizer! Just think, it's only been a few days? This scorched earth has recovered to this extent; how strong must its fertilizing power be?"

Ou Yun and Leng Ruolan exchanged a glance.

"so?"

"So we have to farm, brother!"

Chen Hao grabbed Ou Yun's shoulder and shook him violently.

"From the very first day we arrived in this forbidden area, we've been hunting, hunting, hunting! Every day we're fighting for our lives against mutated wild beasts!"

"But if we can farm, we'll have a stable food source! And it's risk-free—"

"Stop, stop, I said stop."

Ou Yun thought to himself that he had always thought Brother Chen was the most normal person—it turns out it was just because he hadn't encountered an event that could make him lose control!

"I have no problem with farming, but have you considered this?"

"What's the problem?"

"Where are the seeds? Where are the tools? Where is the technology?"

"what……"

Chen Hao's movements indeed froze.

Yes, farming isn't just about having soil.

Even if they now have soil fertilized by the abyss, they lack everything else—seeds, farm tools, irrigation systems.

And most importantly, which of the three of them knows how to farm?

Big Brother? Big Brother himself once said that he's the kind of guy who can even kill a cactus—well, that does fit his persona quite well.

Leng, the captain? She does know quite a few wild vegetables, but that's a skill for identifying edible plants in the wild, which is completely different from farming!

Himself? He's a researcher, an archivist, and a record maker—but a farmer?

He had indeed cultivated bacteria in petri dishes in the laboratory.

But this is completely different from farming!

"..."

For a moment, all three of them fell silent.

Ou Yun slapped his forehead and held his face.

Good heavens! As a Chinese person, how can you not know how to farm?! It's an utter disgrace!

Suddenly, someone chimed in, "I can."

The three of them turned to look.

Hassan was leaning against the stone wall, holding a glass of water in his hand.

Although she still looked drunk, her eyes were much clearer.

"I said, I can farm."

Hassan walked over and sat down by the campfire.

"My hometown is in China, and I grew up in the countryside. I farmed with my family since I was a child, growing wheat, corn, rice, and cotton."

"If you really want to farm, I can help you."

Holy crap! This is a golden opportunity!

Chen Hao's eyes lit up immediately. "Really? You know how to do farm work?"

"I'm not an expert, but I know the basics."

Hassan scratched the back of his head.

"However, when it comes to farming, technology and experience are one aspect, but the seeds and tools are even more crucial."

The forbidden land is different from the real world; ordinary seeds may not be able to adapt to the soil and climate here.

And tools—

So far, all the more complex tools in the forbidden area have been obtained from supply boxes; simple tools like hoes and sickles can only be made by hand.

Although you can carve it from wood, that thing isn't durable; you need something made of metal.

But even if there is metal, it's not easy to get it.

We can make some tools, but we don't know how to forge!

Upon hearing this, Ou Yun stroked his chin. "So, we have soil, but we lack seeds and tools?"

"Yes. And there's another problem—"

Hassan's expression turned serious.

"How large is this area of ​​your fertilizer soil?"

Chen Hao thought for a moment, "The bottom of that big pit is probably several hundred square meters, and there is also a radiation zone around it, which may add up to more than a thousand square meters."

"Thousands of square meters of fertile soil..."

Hassan immediately took a deep breath upon hearing this.

"Then you'll need a lot more!"

First and foremost, it needs seeds, specifically seeds that can grow in this special soil.

Secondly, there's the irrigation system; you can't rely solely on manual water carrying to cover thousands of square meters of land.

Finally, there are the protective measures—this is a damn forbidden area, teeming with all sorts of mutated beasts.

The crops that you painstakingly planted in the morning might be ruined by some kind of monster overnight.

"..."

Upon hearing this, the three fell silent once again.

Indeed, new hope brings new challenges.

Leng Ruolan scratched her head. "How about I go hunting instead? It's much simpler that way."

"Haha, Captain Leng is right. But farming isn't just about material satisfaction; it's probably also about spiritual satisfaction."

Hassan smiled and said.

"Farming is delicate work, unlike hunting, which is rough work. Hunting is physical work, while farming is a combination of skill and endurance."

"And you also have to be prepared that it may take a long time to harvest the seeds, and during this time you will still have to rely on hunting to survive."

"Of course, this is no problem for you!"