Perhaps because he had absorbed so much information in a single day, exhausting his mind, or maybe because the room no longer felt so empty, now filled with a touch of human warmth, Cheng Ye slept exceptionally well that night.

For the first time since transmigrating to the wasteland, he felt truly rested.

But…

“It’s only seven-thirty?”

Cheng Ye sat up, taking deep breaths to expel the lingering heaviness in his chest.

When he first arrived in the wasteland, his original body was frail.

Compared to his peers in the wasteland, or even to the modern folks who lived on takeout and lacked exercise, he was significantly weaker.

Now, two months later, after just five hours of sleep, he felt invigorated.

This positive change filled him with joy.

“Awake already?”

As Cheng Ye stepped out of the bedroom, Luo Xiaoxue, also an early riser, was watering plants with a kettle. She looked up and greeted him.

The apartments assigned to inspectors in the Fertilizer Plant Workers’ Compound were typically two-bedroom units. In the wasteland, where cooking was unnecessary, kitchens were often repurposed into multi-functional spaces.

For instance, Liu Bi’s family had turned theirs into a small vegetable garden.

“Cheng Ye gege, you’re up! Come, come quick!”

Hearing him, Liu Yiyi scampered over from the living room.

Though the buffer zone of Happiness City was far more orderly than other parts of the wasteland, it still lacked the luxury of schools.

Liu Bi and his wife couldn’t bear sending their five-year-old daughter to a private academy just for education.

As a result, Liu Yiyi’s world had been confined to the Fertilizer Plant Workers’ Compound, her interactions mostly with adults around Liu Bi’s age.

Cheng Ye was the first young person she’d gotten close to.

Children naturally lack wariness, and with Luo Xiaoxue not discouraging her affection, Yiyi had already warmed up to her “gege” after just one night. Now, with a flushed face, she tugged at Cheng Ye’s sleeve, dragging him to the living room to show off her garden.

“This is big cabbage, this is small cabbage, this is round cabbage, this is fat cabbage…”

Several flowerpots lined the living room, holding slightly wilted cabbages.

Based on their size and shape, Yiyi enthusiastically categorized them into different types.

Cheng Ye crouched down, inspecting the leaves curiously. “Yiyi, don’t you like growing other vegetables?”

“I do, but Daddy only brought back cabbage seeds!”

“Then next time I go on external duty, I’ll bring you some other seeds, okay?”

“Yay, yay! Thank you, Cheng Ye gege!”

At the mention of other vegetables, Yiyi’s eyes sparkled, like a fluffy little beast spotting prey.

Luo Xiaoxue, tending the garden, shook her head secretly and called out, “Cheng Ye, don’t spoil her. Around Happiness City, you can’t grow vegetables.”

“Can’t grow them?”

“Go wash up first. I’ve got water ready for you. You’ll understand soon.”

“Alright.”

Cheng Ye nodded and headed to the bathroom.

Perhaps because the suburban water pipes were newer, the tap water was a faint white, free of the sharp chlorine smell found in the main district’s supply.

When he returned after washing his face, Luo Xiaoxue was in the corner of the living room, heating water on a simple induction cooker with three heads of round cabbage beside her.

“Sister Luo, I’m fine with nutrient paste. No need to cook vegetables for me.”

How precious were vegetables in Happiness City?

At least from the original body’s memories, Cheng Ye found no trace of them. Everyone, from birth, consumed nutrient paste.

Even inner city residents were no exception. During festivals, celebrations involved synthetic meat or farmed chicken sandwiched in bread, nothing more.

“You’re mistaken. These things aren’t valuable; they’re just rare here.”

“Don’t rush…” Luo Xiaoxue said, tearing the cabbage leaves and dropping them into boiling water.

After blanching for a dozen seconds, she fished them out with chopsticks.

“Try it?”

“Then I’ll dig in.”

He was already staying at their home; what was one meal?

Having consumed nothing but nutrient paste for over two months, his taste buds were desperate. The thought of cabbage’s crisp sweetness made his throat bob. He picked up a piece with chopsticks and popped it into his mouth.

But after two chews, his expression shifted.

First surprise, then a frown, and finally deep thought.

“Why’s there no flavor?”

Calling it like chewing wood was an exaggeration, but the texture was worse than wood.

It was like rolling sawdust in his mouth. Not only was there no cabbage flavor, his tongue couldn’t detect a single trace of taste.

“Looks like you’ve had real vegetables in the inner city. Your dad spared no expense for you. Those are precious here, requiring contribution points and a quota to obtain.”

Turning off the cooker, Luo Xiaoxue smiled. “That’s why I said we can’t grow vegetables here. Whether it’s cabbage, celery, or lettuce—anything grown in soil ends up like this.”

“This?”

Cheng Ye set down his bowl and chopsticks, his brows furrowing into a “川” shape.

Focused on survival before, he hadn’t paid attention to such details. Food that kept him alive was enough.

Even learning about infected entities only started when he was assigned to the north and south gates.

Who had time to wonder why people drank nutrient paste instead of eating vegetables?

“Is it because of transcendents?”

“You nailed it,” Luo Xiaoxue replied, her tone heavy. “Not just Chuan City—three-quarters of Shi Province’s land was contaminated by a powerful transcendent. Plants grown here continuously lose their qualities. Today it’s texture, tomorrow flavor, and the day after, maybe even nutritional value. The longer they grow, the more they lose.”

“What about bringing in uncontaminated soil from elsewhere?”

Cheng Ye blurted out.

If it was just flavor, that wasn’t a big deal. There were plenty of seasoning techniques.

A spoonful of evaporated milk could make anything taste rich and sweet.

But if nutritional value was lost, seasoning became pointless. Eating it could harm the body, making nutrient paste the cheaper, better option.

“No use,” Luo Xiaoxue shook her head. “That transcendent may be long gone, but their infection source lingers somewhere in Shi Province, still eroding the land. Fresh soil brought in gets assimilated within days. It’s not just soil—even rocks get ‘sick.’”

“But what you just ate only lost flavor. It’s still nutritious.”

“Is it?”

Cheng Ye asked, and even as he left the Fertilizer Plant Compound, his mind wrestled with this bombshell.

If anything grown in soil was affected, didn’t that mean grains were impacted too?

“I was thinking of settling down and starting a small garden outside the city. Now that’s shot down from the root.”

“No, if Happiness City’s trade channels fail and we can’t import nutrient paste materials, won’t the city face a famine?”

Beyond natural disasters, more threats loomed over Happiness City’s residents.

A single spark could ignite them all, turning them into a slaughtering scythe.

Like his original self, many didn’t bother to learn about these dangers—or if they did, they were powerless to act.

“This world is definitely hiding more than I’ve uncovered.”

“Interesting.”

Cheng Ye quickened his pace toward the bus stop.

For ordinary people, land contamination meant losing critical production capacity, forcing reliance on the city’s nutrient paste to survive.

But he was different. Upon learning of transcendent contamination, his first thought wasn’t despair but opportunity.

If he could overcome the contamination, couldn’t the vegetables and grains he grew fetch astronomical prices?

And, crucially, gain the leverage to break free from Happiness City when the time came?

“No rush to research this now. Time’s tight. Today, I need to finalize my weapon and finish reading all the books on the library’s first shelf.”