Digging Potato (v1c41)
Ever since Ye Sheng had drawn the small hoe from the blind box, she had used it mainly to fight off the spiny rats that infested the wasteland. She had never tried to hoe the soil before... But as soon as she swung the hoe down, she was amazed by how easily it cut through the hard ground!
It was effortless.
There was no resistance at all.
She wondered if it was the liquid that the base officials had sprayed on the plantation, or some other reason, that had made the soil so tough and compact. It was almost impossible to dig up the surface layer without exerting a lot of strength.
Before Ye Sheng started working, she had watched the people around her digging, and they were all gasping for breath.
But they had to dig for a long time, and they still couldn't match her hoe...
As she thought of this, Ye Sheng glanced sideways and saw that the 'worker' next to her was a muscular man. For convenience, he had taken off his shirt, leaving only a dark H-shaped vest.
His arm muscles bulged as he wielded the shovel. To dig deeper, he clenched his teeth and held his breath, making his face turn red. He was trying to unearth the potatoes that were buried in the ground.
But even with such force, he could only barely break the surface.
Only a bit of the potato stem was visible.
Although they could now use a testing machine to scan and see if the potatoes were edible, their growth characteristics made it unpredictable. A single stem had many branches, with clusters of big and small potatoes attached to them.
Even if the potatoes on the top were highly radioactive and inedible, who knew if the ones below were safe?
So, they had to keep digging and dig deeper.
While everyone was busy digging, Ye Sheng looked back and saw the field where she had cleared a large patch of soil, and suddenly felt uneasy.
She didn't have any real natural power, she just relied on the advantage of her tool.
But that was too tempting.
If someone else noticed something strange and unusual, they might have evil thoughts of killing her and taking her hoe.
Even if Ye Sheng chose to give up on the spot and let them have the hoe, who knew if they would spare her life...
She remembered the wasteland people's ruthless killing, and decided not to continue digging.
Instead, she lifted her head and looked around, looking for a corner spot, preferably somewhere with no one nearby.
The base had officially divided the areas, but some of them were not connected, and were close to the barren wasteland. As a result, no one bothered to go to the edges of those areas, and everyone rushed to dig in the center.
Ye Sheng was lucky to be assigned to one of those areas.
For that reason, on the way there, many people had complained about how unlucky they were this time... they had no chance to dig the potatoes next door.
After all, the boundaries of the plantation area were not strict, and it didn't matter if they dug a little more or less.
Anyway, the plantation had been 'contracted', and whoever dug the potatoes, they would eventually have to share with the base.
So, they turned a blind eye or closed one eye, as long as they followed the rules of the plantation.
Now it was more convenient for Ye Sheng.
She quickly chose a spot and left without delay, to avoid any trouble... Just a moment after Ye Sheng left, the man next to her, whom she had observed earlier, stopped to rest because he was exhausted.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel and wondered how much the girl next to him had dug.
The man next to her sneered as he looked at the thin girl who was digging the soil. He thought she was wasting her time by signing up for the event.
She should have stayed home and played house with the other kids. She had no business being here, making trouble for the real workers. She couldn't even dig the soil properly. She was just staring at the plantation with a blank expression.
He felt a surge of pride as he compared himself to her. He was a strong and hardworking man, who could always dig out potatoes, no matter how tough the ground was. He was better than her, who came here for nothing and couldn't even dig the soil.
He was in a good mood, and he glanced at the field nearby. He wanted to see the frustrated look on the girl's face when she realized she had failed. It would be amusing.
But the next second, he was shocked and stunned, and he forgot to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
Was he seeing things?
How did the girl dig such a large patch of soil?
Even he couldn't dig that much...
Ye Sheng didn't care what others thought of her. After choosing the edge of the area, she started swinging the hoe diligently as soon as she saw that there was no one around.
As long as she used the hoe well, there was no potato that she couldn't dig.
After digging dozens of times, Ye Sheng was much faster than the others. She stopped happily and piled the dug potatoes aside.
A series of large and small potatoes were stacked together. They were quite big and looked impressive.
Ye Sheng then made a few more strokes, dug out the remaining potatoes with the small hoe, and then started scanning them with the detector.
'Beep~Highly radioactive potatoes have been detected and are not edible. '
'Beep~Highly radioactive potatoes have been detected and are not edible. '
'Beep~ Low-radiation potatoes have been detected and are edible. '
After testing many potatoes, Ye Sheng was surprised to find a low-radiation potato the size of a fist. It was a great start!
She wanted to keep this low-radiation potato for herself.
She could eat baked potatoes!
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Ye Sheng didn't put the low-radiation potato into the backpack, but happily put it into the satchel to prevent others from stealing it.
The rules of the plantation that the steward had mentioned didn't prohibit stealing the fruits of labor.
She had to be careful.
Getting a good start made Ye Sheng very motivated and she kept digging, diligently looking for more potatoes like a little squirrel.
When she saw how easily the hoe cut through the hard land, she felt a bit regretful in her heart.
It would be great if the small hoe could be so effective and effortless when fighting the polluted creatures... But unfortunately, after experimenting, she found out that the small hoe only worked when hoeing the ground.
Other times, it was just an ordinary hoe, made of a stronger material at most.
Thanks to the extra attributes of the small hoe, Ye Sheng hoed the ground very easily and with high efficiency. During the process, she dug three more medium-radiation potatoes, each one as big as a Japanese melon!
They weighed more than seven or eight pounds each.
What a harvest!
She put these radioactive potatoes into the backpack, but three of them didn't fit, so Ye Sheng had to take out a nylon bag and put another potato in it.
At this moment, the others had only dug out one or two potatoes, not as fast as Ye Sheng.
Looking at her bounty of potatoes, Ye Sheng was in a high spirits, thinking that the special potion in the base was amazing!
Ye Sheng was thrilled by the prospect of finding edible plants in the plantation. Compared to the wilderness, where everything was tainted by radiation, this was a rare opportunity.
She was determined to make the most of it until the last day.
She had brought three nylon bags with her. Whenever no one was looking, she dug more potatoes and tried to fill them all.
She couldn't wait to eat baked potatoes until she was stuffed.
She was so excited that she kept swinging the small hoe. She was about to dig some more when she heard a loud noise in front of her.
She frowned. One of the rules of the plantation was to keep quiet.
Anyone who broke the rule would be banned from the plantation for life.
Who would be so stupid?
She lifted her head and looked towards the source of the noise. She saw a familiar sight that made her blood run cold. A porcupine rat, with its bristly fur and sharp claws, was attacking a person who was running away in panic.
Damn, it was a porcupine rat!
And there was more than one!
ᓫ(°⌑°)ǃ