Chapter 15.2: Blue Sea Agriculture
And Cheng Qisheng—the one being prayed to for divine protection—was indeed watching Zhu Feifan.
She remembered him.
After all, among Blue Sea people, being hemophobic was rarer than winning the lottery.
After discovering him, Cheng Qisheng had even wondered whether Blue Sea humans were starting to degenerate biologically.
But later she realized she had been overthinking it.
Across generations, newborns among the Blue Sea population remained consistently normal.
Over so many years, Zhu Feifan had been the only exception.
And that made her pay even more attention to him.
After all, when everyone is strong except for one person who is weak, she always wanted to figure out exactly what was going on.
Then Cheng Qisheng watched as Zhu Feifan happily returned to his own dwelling, grabbing onto a chain and swinging along it all the way to his father’s dwelling, his uncle’s dwelling, his classmates’ dwelling, and his construction team leader’s dwelling, telling everyone the good news.
She: “……”
Alright. Even if he was hemophobic, he was still a Blue Sea person after all.
Unaware that the great Creator God was observing him, Zhu Feifan sat on a small stool inside the team leader’s dwelling and excitedly finished sharing his news. Then a small trace of disappointment crept in.
“My mother, aunts, grandmother, and cousins are in Building 405. I won’t make it there in time today, so I can only tell them tomorrow.”
Although everyone had mobile phones and daily routes were assigned through them, electricity was currently being used very sparingly. Not to mention other infrastructure.
Ordinary people’s phones didn’t have network signals or communication functions anymore. Communication had regressed to the most primitive form—face-to-face conversation.
The construction team leader laughed loudly.
“No problem. Just tell them tomorrow. Good news won’t run away.”
With that, he handed Zhu Feifan a white steamed bun.
“Here. Eat it. I bought it when I heard you were going for the exam. Now that you’ve passed, take it as your celebration gift.”
Zhu Feifan widened his eyes and quickly waved it off.
“No, no, no! I just wanted to share my happiness—and also tell you I’m quitting the construction team job. This white flour bun is too expensive, I can’t accept it!”
After the great world upheaval, Blue Sea’s main priority was to keep everyone alive. Naturally, high-yield, easy-to-grow coarse grains were prioritized.
The goal wasn’t for everyone to eat well, but for everyone to eat enough.
Most ordinary Blue Sea citizens now ate coarse grains daily, and only occasionally got to enjoy fine grains once or twice.
The military rations were slightly better, which was also one of the reasons more and more people were joining the army.
If Blue Sea people working in the city wanted fine grains, they could afford them—but only with effort. They were a kind of rare commodity, suitable for gifting.
Zhu Feifan had already received considerable care from the team leader while working in construction. How could he possibly accept something as valuable as a white flour bun now?
The team leader didn’t waste any more words.
His tall frame suddenly moved in close. In one swift motion, he tightened his arms around Zhu Feifan, firmly locking him in place, while his other hand pinched Zhu Feifan’s cheeks, forcing his mouth slightly open.
He grabbed the steamed bun from the small table and shoved it straight in.
Done.
“Alright. It’s in your mouth now. You’ve already got saliva on it. Whether you want to or not, you’re eating it.”
Zhu Feifan pulled the bun out, staring at the team leader in shock. That kind of speed and technique was clearly not something an ordinary person possessed.
“Boss, were you in the military?”
The team leader chuckled, proudly pointing at a long scar on his face.
“Got this during the Purple Forest Campaign ten years ago.”
Zhu Feifan was even more shocked.
The Purple Forest Campaign was a major battle in Blue Sea’s modern history. It was in that war that President Qin Zhi defeated the last major power, the Yuan Nation.
After that, the remaining small and medium nations lost all resistance. Within just four years, President Qin Zhi completed the unification of Blue Sea.
“You… you fought alongside President Qin?!”
Good heavens—he had actually been laying bricks alongside someone of that caliber?!
The team leader coughed lightly.
“Well… I was on the Yuan Nation’s side at the time.”
Zhu Feifan: “……”
He quickly tried to salvage the situation.
“You survived President Qin’s army without losing any limbs—that’s already incredible.”
But if the team leader was that skilled, why wasn’t he in the military?
After Blue Sea’s unification, everyone was supposed to be a citizen of Blue Sea. With his abilities, he should have easily qualified for service.
At that question, the team leader’s expression dimmed slightly. He patted Zhu Feifan’s shoulder.
“I’ve got kids. Two of them. The older one is nineteen, the younger one thirteen.”
“My wife died in the war. My mother, father, my wife’s family… they’re all gone too.”
“If I went into the military… and something happened to me as well, sure, there’d be compensation, and the government would take care of things—but what about my kids? They can’t grow up without a parent.”
Zhu Feifan’s heart tightened. He looked at the team leader with sympathy.
“This… was all from the Purple Forest Campaign?”
“Oh, not really. My wife died in the war between Yuan Nation and Da Nation. The others… they died during failed uprisings.”
Zhu Feifan: “……”
The team leader ruffled his hair.
“You were fifteen or sixteen back then, right? You should remember. Yuan Nation was extremely militaristic—always fighting wars and never developing anything. No one farmed the fields. People were starving. What else could they do? They rebelled.”
“But civilian uprisings couldn’t beat the Yuan government, so they all died.”
“You don’t need to look at me like that. Back then, if they didn’t rebel, they would’ve starved anyway. At least rebelling gave them a quicker end. They fought until the very last moment—I’m proud of them.”
The team leader pulled Zhu Feifan back down to sit.
“I’m telling you all this because I want you to know—I’ve been hungry before. I know what hunger feels like. Even though Blue Sea values bravery, I know how important food is.”
“In my eyes, you people who study agriculture are just as worthy of respect as soldiers.”
“Work hard. Blue Sea doesn’t have as much land as before, and food reserves aren’t as abundant, but our God saved our lives. We’ve got a long future ahead.”
“We people who can only do manual labor will support you from behind. Once you figure out those alien seeds, if one acre can feed a hundred people, then there won’t be anything to worry about anymore!”
Zhu Feifan felt a mixture of emotions and finally squeezed out a sentence:
“Boss… one acre feeding a hundred people sounds almost impossible.”
After all, he was just a freshly graduated master’s student.
The team leader laughed loudly.
“Didn’t we already get brought to another planet under the protection of our God? What’s impossible about that? Kid—believe in yourself!”
“It’s just a white flour bun anyway. When you develop those seeds, everyone will have enough food. I’ll be eating buns by the cartload!”
That day, Zhu Feifan ate a white flour bun after a long time.
The next day, his family held a celebration for him. They pooled their money together and bought him a large steak.
His mother’s leave had ended, and she was returning to the military that day. Before leaving, she slapped his shoulder with a loud thump—so hard, and so unrestrained in her excitement, that it made Zhu Feifan wince in pain.
“Eat well! Eat enough so you have strength! Work hard! May the God bless you!”
Zhu Feifan shared the steak with his family and saw his mother off. Then he made his way to the research institute.
He took a deep breath.
It was strange. Even though he was already twenty-five, he had always felt like he hadn’t really grown up yet.
But now, standing outside the institute, Zhu Feifan suddenly felt that he had.
He was no longer just thinking about getting a job.
Instead, like the team leader had said, he wanted to cultivate a truly excellent crop—just like his teachers at school had once said: a goal worth dedicating one’s entire life to, even if it meant pouring everything into a single seed.
He noticed that there were quite a few people gathered outside the research institute in this district. They were probably all those who had passed the exam yesterday.
He looked down at the message on his phone from the AI confirming his employment:
Field Breeding Technician.
Work hard!
After entering, he began looking for the hall assigned to his group. Just as he found the correct section and prepared to line up, the girl in front of him turned around and asked:
“Hi, are you also a Field Breeding Technician?”
He looked up and saw someone about his age, with a similarly dark complexion and similarly weathered appearance.
There was no need to guess the profession—she was clearly in agriculture.
Zhu Feifan glanced at their matching skin tones and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, like being back in school. He quickly replied:
“Yes, I am. Which group are you in? I’m Group 143A.”
“I’m in B. Same group as you!”
Zhu Feifan brightened immediately.
“What a coincidence! So we’re going to be colleagues. My name is Zhu Feifan. What’s yours?”
The girl smiled and introduced herself.
“My name is Ma Yuetian.”
“However, we probably can’t actually be colleagues. Group A works inside the city, while Group B has to go outside.”
Zhu Feifan was startled.
“Go outside? Outside to farm?”
“Yep. There’s too little farmland inside the city, so we have to go out. I’m really looking forward to it. I originally wanted to join the military, but I got rejected for being under 180 cm tall. I heard that if we go outside the city, we can move together with the military. I was so happy I couldn’t sleep all night.”
Ma Yuetian smiled brightly, showing no trace of anxiety about going outside at all. In fact, that was the normal state of Blue Sea people.
Even if she hadn’t been an official combat personnel before, the idea of going out—possibly facing zombies—didn’t scare her at all.
At worst, she’d just grab a farming hoe and go at it.
Zhu Feifan looked at her with envy.
“That’s great.”
He also wanted to go. But his hemophobia meant he couldn’t take risks. Fainting inside the city and fainting outside the city were two very different things.
Ma Yuetian patted his shoulder.
“It’s fine. You’re still contributing in the city. We all do our part, and in the end, it’s the results that matter.”
“Also, when I come back on leave, I’ll tell you all the exciting things outside. Oh right! Did you know? Our group is actually really lucky this time—we might be going to the neighboring city with the military!”
“Guess why they’re letting us go with them?”
“Ah?! Oh my God!! You can go to another city?! Wait, don’t tell me—let me guess!”
“Go on, guess. You’ll never get it.”
The two of them immediately fell into an enthusiastic conversation.
And Cheng Qisheng also became curious.
The key point was that this hemophobic guy never guessed correctly anyway, yet he insisted on trying. She waited three minutes and still didn’t get an answer.
Cheng Qisheng: “……”
The great Creator God decided to directly check the backend to see what the reason was.
She flipped through Aether’s uploaded records. It seemed the number of troops deployed for this operation wasn’t large—at most under three thousand people. She flipped through a couple pages but still couldn’t find it.
Forget it.
The great Creator God decided to simply ask Aether directly.
“Aet—Aether, what is the military operation that resident Ma Yuetian mentioned?”
“Understood, City Lord. Aether is retrieving the information.”
The jellyfish floating above her head immediately sprang into work. At the summons, it drifted down and, within seconds, pulled up the matching military operation.
“Operation codename: Rescue the Farmer.”
“Reason for operation: The Uralala Crystal Hunter Squad, while in Wudu City adjacent to Qianli City, rescued a group of local university students. They brought back intelligence indicating that Wudu City University’s College of Agriculture contains a large number of surviving locals. Among them is a local agricultural expert whose status in this world is comparable to Academician Gu Tian.”
—Academician Gu Tian was the one who once developed the high-yield starfruit vegetable.
Aether continued earnestly:
“Objective of operation: The military, in coordination with agricultural initiatives, assesses that rescuing agricultural experts from the zombie world will greatly benefit seed breeding efforts and the acquisition of additional crop data from this world. The expert’s intellectual capabilities are also considered highly valuable for integration into Blue Sea.”
“Decision: Marshal Alice Reina approved this rescue operation at 00:32 last night. Operation time: 8:00 AM tomorrow.”
Cheng Qisheng raised an eyebrow.
Rescue a farmer?
She knew that Old Eighth had always been obedient—always quick to respond to anything she said—but this was a bit too obedient.
The Blue Sea military was actually deploying forces… to rescue agricultural experts from a zombie world?
And even sending helicopters?
If they could really rescue someone comparable to Academician Gu Tian, that would indeed be excellent.
The Creator God finished her cup of starfruit vegetable juice, diluted it with water, and kept drinking.
She decided she would wake up early tomorrow.
She wanted to watch the entire operation.
Thank you for the chapter!