The battered but exceptionally sturdy pickup truck eventually came to a slow stop fifty meters outside the safe house's fence.
The atmosphere inside the warehouse instantly became extremely tense. Chen Shouzhou, Lin Mo, and A'Jie immediately took their positions, weapons in hand, hiding behind cover and staring warily at the vehicle.
The car door creaked open, but the person who stepped out from the driver's seat was not the armed marauder they had imagined, but a slender yet remarkably sturdy old man with graying hair and a beard.
He carried a brightly polished hoe on his back and held a bulging burlap sack in his hand. His cloudy but sharp eyes warily examined Chen Shouzhou's simple yet spiky fence, and the small plot of fragrant farmland behind it.
"Anyone in there? Come out and talk!" the old man shouted, his voice full and powerful, though raspy with age. "I'm no bad guy, just a farmer. I was just passing by and smelled crops in the soil, so I dared to come closer and ask."
Chen Shouzhou and the others exchanged glances.
"A farmer?" He was a bit puzzled, but still picked up his megaphone and replied, "Friend, you drive that truck pretty aggressively. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were here to collect protection money. Our place is small, we can't handle much trouble."
The old man seemed to understand the caution in his words and didn't get angry. He simply placed his hoe and burlap sack on the ground, then raised his hands to show he had no ill intentions.
"My name is Li Gen. This truck," he said, "I found it at an abandoned farm. It's just a tool to get around." He pointed to the small plot of farmland, his eyes holding the critical gaze of a professional. "Who tilled this land?"
After a brief discussion, Chen Shouzhou and the others decided to let him in. After all, an old man who appeared to be unarmed probably wouldn't pose much of a threat.
The fence gate was opened, and Chen Shouzhou greeted him enthusiastically, his signature smile on his face. "Greetings, uncle! Welcome to our 'Hope Farm'! I'm the farm manager and chief tiller here, Chen Shouzhou."
Li Gen looked at him, then at Su Wan'er, Lin Mo, and A'Jie behind him, and nodded.
Chen Shouzhou warmly hosted the rare guest, giving him a tour of the farmland they cherished so much.
However, Li Gen only walked a few circles around the plot, picked up a handful of soil, crumbled it between his fingers, sniffed it, and then frowned deeply.
"Nonsense!" he criticized bluntly. "This soil is too hard, severely compacted! Not enough fertilizer either. What good can a little bit of wood ash do? And these irrigation ditches, they're a mess. The water can't flow evenly. The way you're planting, nothing will grow well! It's a complete waste of seeds!"
His words made Chen Shouzhou and Lin Mo blush. They had thought they were doing a pretty good job, but in the eyes of a true expert, their work was full of flaws.
Instead of getting angry, Chen Shouzhou immediately asked for advice with humility. "You're right, uncle! We're just amateurs, fumbling around. How about... you give us some pointers?"
He hoped to persuade this experienced old farmer to stay on as their "chief agricultural technical advisor."
But Li Gen shook his head and sighed. "Pointers? I'm an old man, not many years left. I just want to find a quiet place to farm my own little plot of land. I don't want to get involved in any more conflicts."
Chen Shouzhou didn't insist. He knew that with a stubborn old man like him, force was useless.
He smiled mysteriously and said, "Uncle, don't be so quick to say that. Come on, let me treat you to a meal. Have a taste of our safe house's 'flavor of the future'."
He went back to the kitchen and, from a sealed clay pot, took out a few tender, juicy lettuce leaves that had been sprouted in an indoor flowerpot using the "fast-growing seeds" rewarded by the system. He cooked them with last night's leftover chicken soup to make a steaming bowl of vegetable soup.
At first, Li Gen was unimpressed. But when the bowl of soup was placed in front of him, and he smelled the long-forgotten, pure fragrance of fresh vegetables, his expression instantly changed.
He carefully took a sip, and then froze. The delicious taste seemed to transport him back to the time before the apocalypse, to a bountiful autumn. It had been so, so long since he had tasted anything like it.
He finished the entire bowl of soup in silence. After a long while, he finally looked up at Chen Shouzhou and said hoarsely, "...Alright. I... I'll stay and help you guys out for a few days, see how it goes."
Li Gen was indeed a master of his craft.
Over the next few days, he completely took over the renovation of the farm. He instructed Chen Shouzhou and A'Jie on how to deep-till the soil with less effort to increase aeration; he taught them how to collect fallen leaves, kitchen scraps, and even animal droppings to make efficient organic compost; he also re-planned the layout of the irrigation ditches and pointed out the potential problem of poor drainage.
He even used a few discarded fan blades and some tin cans to build a simple, wind-powered noise-making and light-reflecting pinwheel to deter pests, greatly reducing the risk of insect damage.
Watching his series of "rustic-tech" operations, A'Jie asked in amazement, "Uncle Li, are you farming or fighting a war? It feels even more professional than how we deal with zombies."
Li Gen grinned, a broad smile that smoothed out the wrinkles on his weathered face.
"Silly boy," he said. "In this apocalypse, farming is fighting a war! You fight against the heavens, against the earth, against the bugs, and you have to fight against those bastards who want to steal your food!"
A few days later, under Li Gen's guidance, the entire farmland was transformed, brimming with life and hope.
Seeing that the time was right, Chen Shouzhou once again extended a formal invitation.
"Uncle Li, if you're willing to stay, I'll set aside a dedicated plot of land just for you. You can plant whatever you want, and the harvest is all yours. From now on, you'll be our safe house's 'Minister of Agriculture'!"
Li Gen hesitated for a moment. He looked at the land he had personally transformed, then at Xiao Qi and Xiao Hei chasing Xiao Mai in the distance, and then at the young people who, though inexperienced, were willing to learn and work hard, full of vitality.
His long-dormant heart seemed to start beating again.
He finally gave a firm nod. "Alright. I... I'll stay!"
The moment he agreed, the system's prompt sounded right on cue in Chen Shouzhou's mind.
[Ding! New Resident Added: Li Gen (Agricultural Expert). Identity confirmed.]
[Current Favorability: Friendly.]
[Safe House Function Module Expanded: Agricultural Tech Tree Unlocked (Basic).]
With the gradual stabilization of the farm area and the addition of a professional, the system's overall progress bar also jumped forward significantly.
[Current Safe House level progress: Lv.3 → Lv.4 (15%)]
Chen Shouzhou stood by the field, watching the green seedlings under the setting sun, then looked at the companions around him, each with their different personalities but all trustworthy. For the first time, he felt a solid sense of what it meant to have a "home."
However, on a tall, ruined building in the distance, a camouflage-painted drone hovered silently, its cold camera lens capturing their warm, pastoral scene in its entirety...