"Brother Dong is here, I heard your farm is doing quite well. We've started eating the food you grow. Girl, come over, let's eat together. Today we have meat, the smoked fish you sent last time."
The base brothers enthusiastically greeted them both.
"Hello, uncles, and hello, brothers and sisters. Our homegrown vegetables are ripe now, we brought some watermelon and cantaloupe for everyone to try and we're planning to buy some salt, sugar, and other supplies on our way back."
Li Pan greeted everyone with a smile. Many sisters pulled her to sit in the dining hall and eagerly chatted with her.
"The farm had a bountiful harvest, and we've brought something to eat and drink for everyone. Pan'er, go give the items to the head chef."
"Come, I'll take you there."
A sister led her to find the head chef, as all food supplies within their base were managed by him.
After placing the items in the storeroom, they returned. It was almost time for dinner. These past few days, not many teams were left at home, the rest were out clearing nearby land and villages, and they had to rebuild the damaged electrical networks too.
Last time a Mutated Bird attacked the farm, everyone knew how destructive they could be. The base often experienced power and internet outages. It couldn't be helped; things just kept breaking and needing repairs.
The Base Commander and the chef served everyone slices of watermelon. The watermelon rind could still be stir-fried or used in cold dishes, absolutely nothing was to be wasted.
The watermelon was served in nicely cut pieces, and the rind was saved for later use.
"Come on, this watermelon and cantaloupe are grown on Pan'er's own farm. See if they're sweet."
"Brother Dong, girl, thank you for thinking of us all. It's still about having each other's back. We went to collect food, and we've been cursed badly. Our hearts are stifled. We risk our lives cleaning up outside, and we come back only to starve because they wouldn't sell their food to us. If they don't want to give, that's fine, but cursing us is too much."
A brother aired his grievances vehemently.
Li Pan didn't say a word, just slowly ate the watermelon she skewered with a toothpick. She didn't fight over food with everyone – her home still had food; she was just there for the fun of it. She had a piece of cantaloupe and didn't take more, leaving the rest for them.
"Ah! We've also encountered attacks from Mutated Birds, pests, rain, and even a thief last time. These past months have been tough indeed. We suffered minimal losses fortunately, but I heard some farms nearly worked for nothing."
Xue Dong sighed deeply.
"It's hard for everyone; we all want to survive."
"Yeah, don't think we're just lucky. Pan'er worked really hard, almost sleeping in the fields. Even after dinner, she still works another two or three hours on the farm. Her hard work is what brought us to today."
Xue Dong didn't put others down, knowing everyone had it tough; he spoke quite objectively. Pan'er truly was a down-to-earth girl who didn't play tricks.
"Yes, working in the fields, everyone has done it. The more meticulous the work, the more worries, the better the harvest will be. Wanting a good yield without hard work, on what basis, just because we have big faces? I've been to other farms, and the difference is clear. Sister Pan'er's farm is indeed managed carefully and properly."
"Everyone has their own way of living. We won't be short of food in the short term. I'll go and get some more back for us to eat over the winter. We can get by this year."
The Base Commander had it all figured out in his mind.
"We still have winter wheat, and we planted beans and sugarcane too."
"Boss, cut us some more melon, will you?"
It's been a long time since they had melons this sweet; usually, they lived frugally and couldn't afford such treats.
"I'll save a few for the team that hasn't returned, to sweeten their mouths a bit. The spare ones, I'll take to the rich district to exchange for food for us to eat well in winter. Just bear with it."
The Base Commander also gave up his share for the others to eat.
"Alright then."
"There's more coming; I'll bring you more later. We few can't finish so much."
Li Pan saw everyone's disappointed faces and it made her heart ache too. Without them defending the base, how could someone weak in combat like herself live peacefully.
"Silly girl, I didn't mean to make you feel embarrassed. We're just venting. Raiding the boss's stock gives us a real sense of achievement,"
A sister winked at her, trying to cheer her up.
"More is still to come; we certainly can't let our brothers go hungry, can we?"
"Boss, Brother Dong surely brought some meat. Let us have one to eat."
"Eat, we'll eat tomorrow, the remaining poultry will be exchanged for food."
Good stuff we can't even eat ourselves, still has to be exchanged for food, everyone can tell the difference between being full just once and being full meal after meal, it's just the temptation of taste that messes with the mind.
With Xue Dong's support, their meals had improved, they could eat less bran and more grain, everyone was grateful for these two people, most of the Wood Element Crystal Core had been voluntarily given up for them by the Wood Power User, who hadn't made any fuss or sought praise.
"At the end of the year, we can let everyone eat pork and mutton. The pigs and sheep we raise, Brother Xuedong said that he will definitely let everyone eat our own raised meat before the year is out."
Li Pan smiled at everyone, we endure hardships together.
"That's really good, the sister cares about us, we are looking forward to your meat."
Everyone laughed again.
For lunch, they ate steamed buns and vegetables along with a mushy porridge, which had some barley in it, still part of the harvest from Li Pan's farm the chefs managed to serve to everyone.
The base's grain buns had to include wheat bran, and it was challenging for Li Pan to eat, almost choking her.
Still, she slowly kept eating, having had the same at the base before, not daring to waste any of it.
"Sister, eat some meat, it'll be gone if you don't eat it, don't just eat buns, you can't swallow those alone."
Her sister saw Li Pan eating less of the vegetables and kept adding more to her bowl, afraid that she would eat too little.
"Enough, I'm full, thank you, sister."
Li Pan quickly covered her bowl with her hand, as the older men rarely got to eat meat.
"Don't be shy, eat."
Everyone invited her to eat, making way for her.
The meal was noisily finished, and Xue Dong joked with everyone before leaving with Pan'er.
"I had your exchanges prepared, I'll have someone send them over tomorrow; the superpower user will come over in the afternoon for you to check out, if suitable, we'll send them directly over for you to manage the farm."
"Sure."
"What about that thief's matter?"
"It's a gang involved, deeply rooted. Still digging into it, I estimate there's a shadow of the rich district behind it, still investigating."
"Once we can breathe, we need to hit the rich district hard, they are getting more and more arrogant."
"I remember, we'll settle this after fall, I plan to have our brothers patrol in turns after the autumn harvest is over."
"Can you handle it?"
"Yes, mainly at night, during the day it's manageable, we have to dispatch a few squads to keep patrolling back and forth, there's no choice but to do it."
After finishing their talk, the Base Commander took Li Pan and Xue Dong to an empty room, which was all set up, completely fixed with wooden boards and even pulled black blackout curtains, making it dark inside.
A chair was placed at the back of the room, with black curtains pulled in front of it, a hole was opened at the top of the curtain for Li Pan to conduct treatment.
Shortly, everything was ready, the door opened, and two people came in carrying a stretcher.
On the stretcher was a wounded person, almost unconscious.
A black cloth covered the wounded person's face, meaning no looking was allowed.
The Base Commander nodded towards the black curtain.
Brown vines reached out and wrapped around the wounded person, who woke up and tried to pull off the face mask.
The person next to him held down his hand, "Don't move, we've got someone to treat you, you can't look, or you'll be executed on the spot!"
"If you remove the mask, you can't be treated and you'll have to be executed. Think it through."
The Base Commander's voice made the wounded person stop moving, he obediently laid his hands by his sides, not daring to make a sound.