Li Ba, a graduate of Huaxia Agricultural University, was the sales manager at a well-known seed company in Wucheng before the apocalypse. When the apocalypse struck and order collapsed, the naturally timid Li Ba faced life-and-death situations and managed to scrape by and survive. By chance, he set aside the rules of post-apocalyptic survival to save a grandfather and his granddaughter, and in return, he received a magical bracelet. The bracelet contained a universe within—a plot of land, a stone trough brimming with spring water, and a Tower—all of which opened up a mysterious realm for him. What to do when food runs out? “My Fengshou Group has mountains of grain—I’ll trade it for crystal cores and jade!” Li Ba declared arrogantly. What to do when zombies attack the city? “The mutated plants cultivated by ‘Lord Ba’ can withstand a tide of a million zombies!” Li Ba said with absolute confidence. What if you’re not an Evolver and someone challenges you to a one-on-one duel? “I’ve got talismanic soldiers guarding me. Anyone who dares challenge me will get beaten so badly, even their own mother won’t recognize them!” said Li Ba, his bald head revealing a menacing expression as he spoke viciously. Using the mysterious space and his expertise, Li Ba cultivated crops and tended fields, determined to become a major farmer in the world of *Horse Herding* and pursue a happy life in the post-apocalyptic world.
Chapter 10: Seed
Stock All-night? You fat pig—do you think I’m some kind of streetwalker?! The moment she heard those two words, Zhou Yan was so furious she nearly lost her temper. Though she loved food coupons, she had her principles—even for the sake of her husband who had recently passed away, she would never sell her body. Though she was seething inside, Zhou Yan kept her composure on the surface. She even flashed a flirtatious glance at the fatso, whose face was plastered with a lecherous grin, before holding up two fingers. “Twenty jin of grain coupons? No problem.” This woman had a killer figure and was incredibly seductive—definitely more exciting than those streetwalkers. Twenty jin of grain coupons for an all-night session? Absolutely worth it. Li Ba hurriedly pulled out twenty jin of grain coupons, intending to pay first to show his sincerity. Zhou Yan glanced at them but didn’t reach out to take them. With her alluring red lips, she softly uttered two words to Li Ba: “Two thousand!” Holy crap! Two thousand jin of grain coupons? Are you kidding me? Not even a diamond-encrusted gold d*ck would cost that much! Li Ba couldn’t afford it; he shook his head and turned on his heel to leave. Watching his retreating figure, Zhou Yan spat and said spitefully, “You fat bastard, just wait till I get my hands on you!” When it came to dealing with these horny, filthy men, she had plenty of tricks up her sleeve to make them hand over their grain coupons willingly. There was plenty of time ahead—just you wait and see. Whoosh~~ Crystal-clear hot spring water flowed from the faucet, filling the room with steam. Li Ba lay in the bathtub, soaking in the hot spring water, feeling so good he almost moaned out loud. “Thirty thousand jin of grain coupons—it was worth it…” He narrowed his eyes, muttering to himself as he savored the moment. Although Xibu was a small town, it was a renowned hot spring resort. Before the apocalypse, a Villa like this would have been worth at least several million; now, it could be had for just 30,000 jin of grain coupons, with interest-free installment payments to boot—an absolute steal. Thinking of the grain coupons, Li Ba began to do the math in his head. He’d earned 2,000 jin in grain coupons from selling melons. After setting aside 600 jin for the city tax, spending 70 jin on bribes, using 1,000 jin for the down payment on the house, 50 jin on food, 100 jin for shared meals, and another 50 jin on clothes, haircuts, and miscellaneous expenses, he now had only 130 jin of grain coupons left. “Money really does fly when you spend it!” he sighed inwardly. He began to plan how to make money. Continuing to sell melons would certainly bring in a big profit. However, the mutated fruit was no ordinary item—as confirmed by the expression and tone of that Armed Police second lieutenant that morning. Selling it once or twice might still be passable. But if he sold it over the long term, he would inevitably arouse suspicion, and when that happened, disaster would befall him! That path was a dead end. Using the space inside the bracelet to grow grain. This was currently the only shortcut that could lift him out of poverty and lead to prosperity. But there was a problem: the bracelet’s space was full of wonders. When ordinary melon seeds were sown there, they ripened overnight and even mutated into mutant melons. If he planted grain, there was no guarantee the same thing wouldn’t happen. Until he had sufficient means to protect himself, mass-producing mutant fruits or grains would do Li Ba no good. His immediate priority was to use the bracelet’s space to grow ordinary grain crops. After much deliberation, Li Ba decided that after taking a shower, he would take a stroll through the streets to see if he could buy some grain seeds. Only by obtaining seeds first could he conduct experiments in the bracelet’s space, striving to cultivate crops with a fast growth cycle that wouldn’t mutate. Having made up his mind, he stepped out of the hot spring pool, dried himself off, got dressed, and prepared to head out. On the street, Li Ba glanced back at Yan'er, who was trailing behind him, her small hand clutching the hem of his shirt, and couldn’t help but feel exasperated. The little girl was far too dependent on him; even now that they were in town, she still wouldn’t leave his side for a moment. He’d originally planned to pay a visit to one of the streetwalkers, but with that plan now ruined, Li Ba felt incredibly frustrated. With this little tag-along around, he had no hope of getting any fun! “I’m a normal man, after all!” He glanced at the girls on the street, all decked out in their finest, and screamed silently in his heart. Before heading out, Li Ba made a point of asking the flirtatious shopkeeper for directions. To the south of the city lay a large farmers’ market. Before the apocalypse, it had specialized in selling vegetables, fruits, and other produce; after the apocalypse, it had become a marketplace where survivors traded goods and exchanged resources. Xibu Town wasn’t very big, so it only took about fifteen minutes for Li Ba and Yan'er to reach the farmers’ market. At a glance, the place was teeming with people, bustling with activity. The entire market covered an area as large as two soccer fields. As they walked in, shopfronts lined all four sides, while the center was filled with rows of neatly arranged stalls. A rough estimate suggested there were several thousand people buying and selling here. In the crowded areas, people stood shoulder to shoulder, creating a vibrant and lively atmosphere. Li Ba took Yan'er by the hand and began to explore. They started with the shops along the perimeter, visiting one after another. These stores sold all kinds of goods—grains, meat, knives, appliances, building materials, and everything in between. At a knife shop, Li Ba even spotted firearms for sale. The shopkeeper was openly hawking them right at the entrance—something that would have been unthinkable before the apocalypse. Li Ba was thoroughly intrigued by the firearms, even if the shopkeeper was selling nothing more than a shotgun. In his words, “With a gun in hand, the world is mine.” Becoming someone who owned a gun would be enough to defend himself and save his life. However, when he asked the price, Li Ba was taken aback. The hunting rifle wasn’t expensive—it only cost fifty jin of grain coupons—but the ammunition was exorbitant: a single round cost five jin of grain. He could afford to buy it, but he couldn’t afford to use it! he lamented inwardly. Although he desperately wanted a firearm, his pockets were empty for now, so he decided to focus first on cultivating suitable grain varieties. After browsing around, Li Ba found what he was looking for at one shop. This shop specialized in various grains, selling rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, and more—a complete selection. Delighted by what he saw, Li Ba instructed the shopkeeper to give him one jin of each. In the Xibu settlement, grain was divided into three grades. Top-grade refined grains included rice, wheat, sorghum, and several types of beans; medium-grade coarse grains included brown rice, corn, sweet potatoes, and so on; and the lowest-grade coarse grains were the bran flour eaten in the refugee camps outside the city. The grain coupons issued in the settlement were based on coarse grains, with a ratio of one jin to one jin. If used to exchange for refined grains, the ratio was one jin to six liang. For coarse grains, the ratio was one jin to five jin. The grains Li Ba selected were mostly refined and coarse varieties. He bought one jin of each, spending twenty jin of grain coupons on a dozen or so varieties. It was worth it! Shouldering the grain sack the shop owner had given him as a gift, Li Ba’s face beamed with excitement. Acquiring the seeds had been effortless; now, it was all up to his skill in cultivating them. Taking Yan'er with him, he wandered around for a while longer, getting a good grasp of the market prices for various goods, and even picked up quite a few snacks for her along the way. When it came to the little girl, Li Ba didn’t mind spending money. Just as he was getting ready to head home, Li Ba was surprised to find cigarettes for sale at a stall. As a longtime smoker who hadn’t had a single cigarette in months, the sight of them instantly made him unable to tear himself away. He went over to ask, and the price of those cigarettes was damn expensive—five jin of grain coupons for a single pack. Li Ba tried to haggle, but the stall owner, a young man, grinned widely: “Bro, cigarettes are a luxury item in the apocalypse. Anyone who can afford them doesn’t care about a few jin of grain coupons!” Li Ba thought about it and realized he was right. The vendor had risked his life to get these cigarettes, so haggling didn’t seem necessary. He gritted his teeth, pulled out fifty jin of grain coupons, and bought a whole carton. As soon as he got them, he couldn’t wait to open a pack. He fished a lighter out of his pocket, lit up, took a deep drag, and as the smoke swirled around him, Li Ba’s face was filled with pure bliss. “What’s so great about smoking? Not only does it choke the life out of you, but it’s bad for your health too!” Yan'er muttered from nearby. The little girl shot Li Ba a look of disgust—she was already starting to act like a little housewife. “What do you know!” Li Ba rubbed the little girl’s cheek, hoisted the sack of grain onto his shoulder, and called for them to head home. After an afternoon of shopping, they returned home with their arms full. On the way back, Li Ba and Yan'er stopped by the relief station to pick up that day’s ration. This was a benefit the settlement provided to new residents: half a jin of coarse grain per person per day, supplied continuously for a year. Of course, the cost was passed on to the residents. The settlement wouldn’t do business at a loss; the supplies new residents handed over upon entering the town amounted to nearly one jin of grain per person per day. The settlement distributed half and kept half—their calculations were spot on. By the time they returned to the restaurant, dusk had already fallen. Business was slow that evening, with only two or three tables occupied. Zhou Yan sat at the bar, propping her chin in her hand as she wondered when she would ever be able to save up that sum of money. Her eyes lit up when she saw Li Ba and Yan'er return, carrying a pile of bags and packages. She hurriedly stood up to greet them. “You’re back so late? We’ve been waiting for you to have dinner!” Zhou Yan beamed and took the bags from Yan'er, glancing inside to find them filled with snacks and a whole pack of cigarettes. “That fatso’s pretty well-off!” Zhou Yan’s eyes darted about, her mind clearly up to something. She motioned for Li Ba and Yan'er to come inside, while at the same time instructing the staff to serve the food and rice. At the restaurant Zhou Yan ran, besides herself, there were two sisters working as helpers. The two young women weren’t very old—the older sister, Zhang Jie, was twenty-one, and the younger sister, Zhang Ting, was nineteen—and both were quite pretty. When it was time to eat, everyone took their seats. With Zhou Yan, Yan'er, and the two sisters—four women in all—plus Li Ba, the bald, heavyset man, they chatted and laughed, looking just like a family. Dinner wasn’t particularly lavish—just two vegetarian dishes and a bowl of vegetable soup. But there was plenty of rice. Li Ba was tall and burly with a huge appetite; in no time at all, he’d polished off three large bowls, and still not satisfied, he asked the sisters to serve him another. “Eat all you want! You fatso—if you keep eating like this, I’m going to lose money!” With every bowl Li Ba ate, Zhou Yan’s heart bled; inwardly, she cursed this fatso’s ancestors eighteen generations back, yet her face remained beaming with a smile as she urged him with feigned concern to take his time and eat his fill. Hearing this, Li Ba, mindful of his image, didn’t have the heart to keep stuffing himself. Patting his bulging belly—he was at least eighty percent full—he felt thoroughly satisfied and called out to Yan'er to head home. “Brother.” As they walked toward the front door, the landlady’s voice called out from behind them. Li Ba stopped in his tracks. She hurried over and, taking advantage of Yan'er’s inattention, whispered in a low voice, “There’s a show tonight at eight. It’ll be absolutely spectacular—if you don’t like it, you don’t pay.” Zhou Yan pointed to a Villa in the middle of the complex, gave Li Ba a “you know what I mean” look, turned around, and walked away, swaying her hips like a water snake. “A show? Damn it, what kind of act is that slut pulling now!” Li Ba rubbed his head, a hint of curiosity flitting across his face.
