The Post-Apocalyptic Big Farm Owner

Chapter 6: The Giant Green Melon

“It stinks so bad—” Early in the morning, a drowsy Li Ba was startled awake by a shriek. Opening his eyes, he saw Yan'er sitting on the edge of the bed, her small hands wiping his face and body as if trying to wipe something away. Sniffing the air a few times, Li Ba caught a whiff of a foul stench emanating from both Yan'er and himself—it smelled like human waste, utterly revolting. “It really stinks!” He sat up and looked himself over, discovering that his entire body was coated in a layer of sticky grime that looked like mud and reeked unbearably. He casually tossed a ragged cloth to Yan'er. It was the towel Li Ba usually used to wash his face. As for himself, he fished a book from under the bed, tore out a few sheets of paper, and began wiping himself down. “Uncle Li, this won’t do… it stinks too much!” Yan'er’s voice, tinged with tears, drifted over. Li Ba felt the same way. The grime on his body wouldn’t come off with just wiping—only a bath could clean him up. With the apocalypse upon them, the survivors in the refugee camp outside the city were barely scraping by; even drinking water was scarce, so taking a bath was nothing short of a luxury. At the Xibu settlement, each refugee outside the city was allotted one liter of water per day. For Li Ba, who did hard manual labor, that wasn’t even enough to drink—let alone have any water to spare. Under normal circumstances, he’d save a small amount of clean water every few days to dampen a towel and wipe himself down, barely maintaining his personal hygiene. Even so, the smell on his body—and that blackened towel—were both quite unpleasant. Seeing the little girl on the verge of tears, Li Ba couldn’t bear to watch her suffer. Besides, he himself couldn’t stand the foul stench emanating from his own body. After a moment’s thought, he picked up an iron bucket from behind the door and said to Yan'er, “Don’t wander off. Uncle’s going to get some water to give you a bath!” Stepping outside, Li Ba glanced around, then his consciousness entered the mysterious space. At that moment, he looked as if he hadn’t fully woken up yet, leaning against the side of his shack with his eyes closed, dozing off. Just a few seconds later, he jolted awake, and Li Ba opened his eyes, his face brimming with delight. In the mysterious space, after a full night had passed, all the fruits that had formed on the melon vines the previous night had ripened. On a plot of land measuring over ten square meters, there were as many as forty large melons. A typical green jade sweet melon weighs between 600 and 700 grams—roughly one jin, two or three liang. The Green Jade Melons grown in the mysterious space, however, were a full ten to ten-plus times larger. Their skin was as green as jade, and they resembled large winter melons, each weighing at least fifteen or sixteen jin and exuding an enticing sweet aroma. Judging by their impressive appearance, these melons were sure to taste great. Plus, they were so substantial that they’d be enough for him and the little girl to eat for nearly half a month. Overjoyed, Li Ba picked up his metal bucket and headed toward the settlement’s main gate. The Xibu Settlement had two gates: a South Gate and a North Gate. The North Gate was the main entrance, used by residents of the settlement. The South Gate faced the refugee camp and was reserved exclusively for survivors from outside the city. Normally, early every morning, several water trucks would be parked by the South Gate to distribute drinking water to the refugees. As Li Ba walked over, he could already see a large crowd of refugees gathered there. He glanced around and saw that no one was paying him any attention. Li Ba tucked his left hand into his sleeve, gave it a slight shake, and discreetly pulled two bran buns from his secret pocket. In no time at all, he broke the buns into twenty or thirty small pieces, then called out to the crowd: “Trading! One bite of bran bun for half a liter of water!” Water was certainly important, but for the survivors outside the city, food was even more crucial. The settlement distributed free drinking water every day, but food was never mentioned. The refugees had only two ways to obtain it: first, by doing manual labor—which required being physically fit—and second, by risking their lives to venture far from the settlement in search of food on their own. The Xibu settlement was surrounded by mountains on three sides, with its only exit leading a few kilometers ahead to the provincial highway. With zombies roaming everywhere, finding food was no easy task. Venturing into the mountains was even more perilous. With the apocalypse upon us and an unknown virus spreading, it’s not just humans who have suffered—other living creatures have been infected as well. Once docile livestock and poultry have undergone drastic behavioral changes, becoming incredibly aggressive; some have even turned into man-eating beasts. The wild animals in the mountains are even more dangerous; if anyone ventures into their territory, they’ll be torn to shreds in an instant, posing an even greater threat to humans than the zombies. These mutated wild animals, livestock, and poultry are collectively referred to by survivors as “mutant beasts,” and their attack power surpasses that of zombies. Ordinary people who encounter them have a one-in-ten chance of survival. Some powerful mutant beasts are even too formidable for “Evolvers” to handle. For the sake of safety, Li Ba was willing to work as a laborer in the settlement just to scrape by; he had never ventured out to search for supplies—for him, it was simply too dangerous! However, in the refugee camps outside the city, there were still quite a few people willing to risk their lives to go out in search of food. Most of them were the elderly, the weak, the sick, or the disabled—people no one would hire as laborers. To survive, they had no choice but to gamble their lives. If they were lucky enough to find valuable supplies to sell to the settlement, they could not only exchange them for food but also possibly earn the chance to enter the city. As a result, large numbers of refugees set out every day in search of supplies. By nightfall, under normal circumstances, only half of them return safely. The other half are either devoured by zombies or meet their end at the claws and fangs of mutated beasts. There were also those like Li Ba—cowards who valued their lives above all else but weren’t qualified for manual labor—who scraped by by digging up wild vegetables and tree roots in the surrounding area. Upon hearing Li Ba’s cries, their eyes turned bloodshot, and clutching all manner of containers for drinking water, they rushed toward him. “Damn it!” The crowd surged forward, and in an instant, over a hundred refugees had surrounded him. Li Ba was startled and immediately bellowed, “You bunch of damn scum! If you want to trade, get in line one by one! Anyone who dares get close to me—I’ll… I’ll eat all the bran buns myself—not a single one for trade!” He was beginning to regret not bringing a weapon to defend himself. If this mob of bloodthirsty men swarmed him, the consequences would be unimaginable. Fortunately, Li Ba was built like a tank—standing 1. 82 meters tall, with a thick layer of fat covering his frame. Combined with his deliberately menacing, ferocious expression, he exuded a certain intimidating presence. The first few refugees to approach were wary and immediately fell into line. Those behind them also settled down. “Thank God I’m intimidating enough—otherwise, this would’ve been dangerous!” Li Ba was drenched in cold sweat from the scare, but he didn’t dare let it show. He turned to the first man in line—a scrawny fellow—and said with a sneer, “How many are you trading?” “All of it!” The man poured the entire liter of drinking water he’d just received into the metal bucket in front of Li Ba. He then took two small pieces of bran bread from Li Ba, cradling them in his palms as if they were treasures, and walked away overjoyed. “I’ll trade it all, too!” “I… I’ll trade half!” Water kept pouring into the metal bucket. Before long, Li Ba had given away all his bran buns, and the bucket was more than half full of slightly murky water. “Those who didn’t get a trade, wait here. I’ll be back later!” Li Ba picked up the iron bucket and walked away. The refugees who hadn’t managed to make a trade at first, upon hearing his parting words, stayed where they were, beaming with joy, and lined up in an orderly fashion to wait. The mysterious space had produced dozens of large melons, enough for Li Ba and Yan'er to eat for half a month. With no worries about food now, it made sense for Li Ba to trade the remaining bran buns for some water to bathe. Although he was a refugee, he didn’t want to be like his fellow refugees—ragged and reeking—and wanted to maintain at least a basic level of personal hygiene. Carrying the metal bucket, Li Ba walked briskly, jogging home. Yan'er had been waiting at the door for quite some time; when she saw Li Ba return with the bucket more than half full of water, her little face lit up with joy. “You go ahead and wash up. I’ll hold the door for you!” Li Ba handed the metal bucket to Yan'er. Inside the house was a large plastic basin—one he’d picked up outside—that he rarely used, but today it came in handy. Yan'er seemed unable to stand the stench on her own body; she took the metal bucket and lugged it inside with a series of “huffs and puffs.” She closed the door, and before long, the sound of running water could be heard from inside. Li Ba leaned against the door, occasionally entering the mysterious space to inspect those enormous green jade melons. A broad smile spread across his face, and he couldn’t help but chuckle from time to time. He was already getting a bit impatient to taste the melons grown in the mysterious space—just how would they taste? “Uncle, I think… I need to change my clothes.” The wooden door opened a crack, and Yan'er's timid voice drifted out. “Change clothes, huh…” Li Ba furrowed his brow and replied, “I don’t have any clothes here. Even if I did, I’m afraid they wouldn’t fit you.” During their escape, their lives had been the top priority—who had time to pack a change of clothes? Besides, given his tall, stocky build, even if he did have clothes, they wouldn’t fit Yan'er. “I don’t have any either… but these clothes stink so bad!” “Hmm… Here’s what we’ll do. Yan'er, get into bed first and wrap yourself in my coat. I’ll wash your clothes for you; once they’re dried in the sun, the smell should be gone!” Li Ba came up with a compromise. Upon hearing this, Yan'er timidly agreed. Before long, a rustling sound came from inside, followed by Yan'er calling out, “All done.” Li Ba pushed open the wooden door and saw a small figure curled up on the bed, wrapped from head to toe in his Armani coat. His eyes lit up. Now clean, Yan'er had wide eyes and delicate features; though her frame was slender, she was clearly a beauty in the making. “Uncle, why are you staring at me like that?” Yan'er stammered. Though she was young, she already had a vague understanding of matters between men and women. Especially after what had happened that night, a shadow had already fallen over her fragile young mind. She was particularly sensitive to the look in Li Ba’s eyes at that moment, her face filled with wariness and fear. Li Ba slapped his forehead, silently cursing himself, then said with a smile, “Little girl, you really look just like a distant niece of mine.” In reality, Li Ba had neither parents nor any relatives—he’d grown up in an orphanage since childhood—but he said this to ease the little girl’s tension. Then, Li Ba tossed the little girl’s clothes into the basin and began scrubbing them in the now-dark bathwater, never glancing at her again. Watching his back as he kept shrugging his shoulders while scrubbing the clothes, Yan'er's wary gaze gradually softened. After a while, when he finished scrubbing the clothes, Li Ba got up and went outside. In less than five minutes, he spent two pieces of bran bread and replaced more than half the bucket of water. He poured out the dirty water and rinsed Yan’er’s clothes repeatedly with clean water until the unpleasant odor was gone, then took them outside to hang them out to dry. “Little girl, close your eyes—Uncle’s going to take a bath!” Walking through the door, Li Ba said half-jokingly. Yan'er immediately closed her eyes, lying diagonally across the bed with her back to Li Ba. “You little rascal!” Li Ba shook his head and smiled. He began undressing to take a bath. The crisp, cool water pouring over his body felt incredibly refreshing—a sensation he hadn’t experienced in a long time. Li Ba squinted, humming a tune as he scrubbed his body vigorously with a filthy towel. Dirt came off in clumps like noodles—the feeling was… indescribably wonderful. “Damn it, my belly seems to have gotten smaller…” Li Ba muttered to himself as he scrubbed. And sure enough, after a night’s rest, his potbelly really did seem to have shrunk a size or two. Li Ba was quite unhappy about this. With the apocalypse upon them and in such harsh conditions, he hadn’t lost a single jin of fat… Until he took a shower today and discovered he’d actually lost weight—it seemed he simply wasn’t getting enough nutrition. Li Ba had never had any complaints about his physique. In his view, a man without a general’s belly simply couldn’t be called “dominant.” Therefore, to live up to the “Ba” in his name, he wouldn’t allow himself to lose weight. “I’ll have a big meal later; that should fill out my belly again,” Li Ba thought to himself. Not long after, when he felt he’d finished washing, he stood up. His gaze swept the room, and he frowned again. His clothes were caked with grime—filthy and stinking to high heaven. After a moment’s thought, he first scrubbed his boxers clean, wrung them out vigorously, and put them on right away. Although the damp underwear felt a bit uncomfortable, it was better than being naked. Then he washed the rest of his clothes and hung them out to dry. “Sweetheart, let’s have breakfast now!” Walking into the room, Li Ba—wearing only his boxers, bare-chested with his nipples exposed, and his potbelly sticking out—smiled cheerfully at Yan'er on the bed. “What’s for breakfast? Or maybe, Uncle, you could give me two more bottles of that spring water.” Yan'er turned her head, licked her lips, and, recalling the wonderful taste of the spring water from last night, looked as if she still wanted more. “No water today—Uncle has something better to share with you!” Li Ba looked mysterious as he crouched down and rummaged under the bed for a while, eventually pulling out a large, bright green melon. “Winter melon!” “Wrong! It’s a sweet melon.” This thing, which looked just like a giant winter melon, was naturally an extra-large jade-green cantaloupe grown in the mysterious space. When Li Ba placed it on the table, it gave off a tempting sweet aroma. After catching the scent, Yan'er’s appetite was whetted, and her little head, wrapped in an Armani coat, leaned in closer. Li Ba fished a dagger out from under the bed and wiped it down with a cloth. This dagger had been used to kill a few men the night before last, and the bloodstains on it were still fresh. “Hurry! Uncle Li, hurry up!” Yan’er, unable to contain her excitement, urged him on from the side. Li Ba chuckled and set about slicing open the melon with the dagger. As the blade cut in half an inch, the entire melon burst open down the middle, splitting into two halves. Juice spattered everywhere; a few drops landed on the corner of Yan’er’s mouth. She stuck out her little tongue to lick them off, her eyes lighting up—it was so sweet! As Li Ba sliced the melon into segments, the entire room filled with a tempting sweet aroma. Li Ba swallowed hard and glanced at Yan’er. At that very moment, they both reached out to grab a piece. “Delicious! So delicious!” The sound of “huffing and puffing” drifted out from the shack.