dtnovels Chapter 209 It is not scarcity that is a concern, but inequality.
Chapter 209 It is not scarcity that is a concern, but inequality.
The changes in sweet potatoes within the "planting area" are becoming increasingly apparent.
In just a few hours, the largest sweet potato had grown from the size of a watermelon to almost the size of a water tank.
The other vigorous tubers also grew rapidly, becoming larger and larger.
And those sweet potatoes that were already smaller had all disappeared by this time.
What should have been a bunch of sweet potatoes ended up being the only ones that survived.
The sweet potato vines that originally covered the interior room now appeared much sparser.
Nutrients are concentrated on these "giant sweet potatoes," while the weaker stems and leaves begin to turn yellow and wither.
All of this happened within a few hours of Xu Si activating the [Time Badge] feature.
"Brother Dao...does it want to keep growing?" Dou Dou whispered to Xu Si.
"What's there to be afraid of? Brother Shan is here!" Jiao Jiao said without a care.
She also wanted to know just how big the sweet potato could grow.
Time passed silently amidst the extraordinary growth within the planting area.
When Xu Si sensed the darkening sky outside through the star veins, a full ten hours had passed since he activated the "cost transfer" feature of the [Time Badge].
During this time, other members of the convoy also came to see this sweet potato, which can be described as a miracle.
The largest one has grown to almost the size of a small car.
The dark purple potato skin is covered with rough textures, like the scales of a giant beast.
However, it had finally reached its limit. Its roots and leaves began to wither and turn yellow, and it lived out the rest of its life in just a few minutes.
Xu Si, who was keeping a close eye on things, thought that some of the consequences would be shifted to Niu Niu at this point, but they weren't.
The smaller sweet potatoes seemed to be taking over the baton, continuing their rapid growth.
The room was filled with a rich, sweet aroma mixed with plant scents.
The ten-hour "cost transfer" did not, as he had anticipated, directly burden the organism with the aging process.
Those accelerated times, as if guided by some underlying rule, mostly affected the "growth cycle" of the sweet potato plant itself, compressing its entire process from sprouting to aging in an almost predatory manner.
This is the violence unique to time.
Rather than the natural depletion of life.
Xu Si keenly sensed something different about it.
"Old Xu." Fu Xiaojian's voice came from the entrance of the cavity. His face was still a little pale, but his eyes were extremely sharp.
He had obviously been keeping an eye on what was happening inside, and the little girl must have been bragging about it when she went out.
His gaze swept over the giant sweet potato in the planting area.
Then he looked at the withered remains of vines on the fleshy base, which had completely withered due to the depletion of nutrients.
"So big?" Fu Xiaojian was also somewhat shocked.
These sweet potatoes are so big, they'll be enough to feed the convoy for at least several days.
Moreover, there is more than one sweet potato plantation in the area.
Fu Xiaojian counted them; there were still more than a dozen giant sweet potatoes left.
Although they may not grow that big, they are still a very valuable resource.
With so many sweet potatoes, it will probably be difficult for the convoy to take them all away.
"These sweet potatoes are too big. I'd better find someone to clean them up!" Fu Xiaojian muttered as he left.
Especially the largest one, you can't get any planting space without disassembling it.
Xu Si had previously downplayed the [Time Badge], after all, it was a painful memory he didn't want to talk about, and he only used it as one of his trump cards to save his life.
I never expected to gain so much from using it for the first time.
Honestly, with the Bull and the Time Badge, they might actually be able to build a human camp or a safe zone.
Xu Si felt that Fu Xiaojian must have thought of it as well, but he did not show any eagerness, and did not even mention it.
This is because they don't want to make things difficult for themselves.
Soon, Tashan, Wang Hu, Shao Bing and the others stepped into the planting area together.
Despite being mentally prepared, the group still couldn't help but exclaim "Wow!" when they saw the giant sweet potato, which was the size of a small car.
"Good heavens... this one alone should be enough for our whole team to eat for ten days to half a month, right?" Tashan rubbed his hands together, circled the "giant sweet potato" once, and six rock tentacles stretched out from behind, tentatively patting the dark purple skin, making a dull thud.
"Brother Shan, how are you? Can you lift me?"
"Don't worry, it's a piece of cake." Tashan grinned, and with all eight arms (including tentacles) exerting force at the same time, he hugged the sweet potato and shook it a few times. His abdominal muscles bulged, and the rock texture shimmered under his skin.
"Hey—Get up!"
Actually, he didn't use much force; it was mainly because it sounded impressive.
The giant sweet potato swayed slightly, and then, to DouDou's astonishment, the car-sized sweet potato slowly rose up.
DouDou's expression changed slightly, and she subconsciously clenched her little hands.
However, a slight tearing sound was heard at the connection between the bottom and the fleshy base, but it did not completely detach.
Its root system is deeper and more tenacious than one might imagine.
With a flash of sword light, Xu Si immediately stood firm, and the giant potato weighing several tons was lifted off the base by him.
"They're out!"
"Wow...wow..."
"That's amazing!"
A gasp of surprise rang out from inside the cavity.
The cheerleading squad was then joined by DouDou, DouBao, KaoChang, and WeiFuZi, bringing the total to seven.
The support was even more impressive than if there were seventy people.
In particular, the "waa waa" sounds coming from Xiao Yaoyao's mouth never stopped.
The giant sweet potato was carefully placed on an open space to the side, like a small mountain.
The other dozen or so smaller giant sweet potatoes were left in the planting area to continue growing.
They also need to take advantage of their free time tonight to make sweet potato slices, which will be dried in the sun tomorrow for preservation.
It would be such a waste if such a big sweet potato went bad.
However, Xu Si's sword didn't even have a chance to exert its power. Su Su directly activated the "weaving" property of [Immortal Mist] and sliced the sweet potato into thin slices in just a few breaths.
That kind of inefficient machine would be scrapped if it saw it.
As night deepened, the valley did not completely sink into darkness.
After spreading all the sweet potato slices on the river valley, the convoy added more firewood to the campfire, and the flames flickered.
"Goodness... how long will it take to eat this?" Jiao Jiao didn't realize that the extraordinary members of the caravan had already gathered.
This was clearly a relatively formal meeting within the team.
Everyone's face was filled with unspeakable joy. Today, this unexpected harvest truly deserves the word "surprise".
"First of all, let's welcome our new members!" Fu Xiaojian got straight to the point. The new members he mentioned included Tang Jinxiu and Chen Pei, and naturally also Dou Dou and the others.
Jiao Jiao clapped her hands vigorously, showing her respect.
"Now that our team members are gradually increasing, the previous method of distributing supplies is definitely no longer applicable!" Fu Xiaojian continued.
He kept quiet about the previous shortage of supplies because the team needed to unite and overcome the difficulties together.
With the convoy now well-supplied, if he hadn't brought it up, the team might have quickly fallen into disarray.
In short, the problem is not scarcity but inequality.
As the team leader, he had to nip the problem in the bud.