Chen Haiping was startled.
Could it be that Director Tang didn't understand farming, so he thought growing crops was easy? Even without considering whether they could survive, the crops would have matured long after the Sanctuary had perished.
However, seeing Tang Yu's confident demeanor, Chen Haiping felt that couldn't be the case; every time the director had shown such a demeanor, when had he not been assured?
He felt a bit dizzy for a moment.
"No rush, no rush, let's go to the place where crops used to be planted first."
Between the two villa areas, there was a gap, and walking through the small path in the middle of the villas led to a valley.
This was the original place where crops were planted.
The valley was surrounded by steep peaks on all sides except for the entrance. Beyond these layers of mountains was a forest, and because of the rugged terrain, it wasn't any easier for demonized beasts to cross these peaks than it was to breach a city wall.
Therefore, as long as the mouth of the valley was guarded, this place was quite safe.
It was no wonder Wang Tai chose to plant crops here.
Upon entering, one could see pieces of farmland that had been cultivated, and occasionally some growing crops could be seen.
However, most of the area had been trampled by demonized beasts, leaving chaotic traces all over the ground. Even though Chen Haiping had already instructed someone to clean up a bit, it was still a mess. The lack of sunlight and poor soil nutrients, compounded by a lack of fertilizer, meant that the crops already weren't growing well. After the demonized beasts' damage, these crops were virtually ruined.
"These crops indeed can't be salvaged, but..."
He thought the place was genuinely good, with insufficient soil fertility and a lack of sunlight? Long growth cycles for the crops?
These weren't issues; all that was needed was a secure place, not only to defend against demonized beasts but also to guard against survivors.
In the future, when the crops mature, if they were grown in an open, difficult-to-manage place, Tang Yu couldn't guarantee some survivors wouldn't have ulterior motives.
He never underestimated the inherent flaws of humans.
Tang Yu selected an area, opened the system panel, and swiped to the resource building list.
Chen Haiping had been following and appeared somewhat anxious.
He couldn't figure out what method Director Tang planned to use.
However, the food problem could not be delayed any longer.
Suddenly, he saw Tang Yu's expression turn serious, his gaze fixed on the messy land before them, with his hand stretched out.
Chen Haiping's heart tightened, his eyes locked onto that piece of land.
The next moment, countless wood pieces flew into the air from the open space—these were branches scattered by the demonized beasts' destruction. Many stones also gathered together, and soon a three-story mill-like building appeared in the clearing!
Even though it wasn't the first time he'd seen this scene, it was different from when the city wall was built.
The sight of the city wall rising was grand, but it lacked complexity, whereas the mill's windmill bore intricate patterns he couldn't comprehend.
Chen Haiping looked at Tang Yu's extended hands.
Had turned into invisible large hands, sculpting the entire building.
And the speed was incredibly fast!
This kind of capability exceeded his imagination.
Such a level, he couldn't fathom.
After the mill was formed, the transformation didn't stop.
These invisible hands smoothed the ground, spreading from the mill's center outward. The churned earth leveled, and rows of furrows appeared, quickly transforming the chaotic land into cultivated fields.
Eight acres of farmland, plus a central mill, was the entire farm!
This whole transformation happened in the blink of an eye.
"Farm construction complete, costing 500 units of Source Crystal, 150 units of wood, and 50 units of stone."
Both wood and stone were available.
Spending a mere 500 Source Crystals could support over a hundred survivors in the Sanctuary, and there was excess to spare.
This was for long-term development.
Landlord Tang felt it was too cheap, being a man with over 10,000 Source Crystals. If it weren't wasteful to build more, he might have filled the entire valley with two more farms; when crops matured, that bountiful sight would be quite spectacular.
The power of habit was strong.
After witnessing many shocking events, Chen Haiping's shock tolerance had surged.
Wasn't building a house just that?
During the apocalypse, building houses with a hack wasn't rare, was it?
As the main manager of the Sanctuary, he was now more concerned with practical issues, "Director, are there any special features of these farmlands?"
"These farmlands contain special energy, making it easy to grow crops here, and they also promote growth."
"The speed..." Tang Yu pondered for a while, "Somewhere between ten to dozens of times faster; it depends on what's planted."
In fact, he didn't understand; he was just making it up.
The farm's purpose was to accelerate crop growth. As for the principles or soil changes... Anyway, he knew the soil was no longer ordinary, and the crops could mature quickly, which was enough.
Tang Yu continued, "In any case, first arrange for the survivors to plant crops, as the nutrient-rich soil here makes for an easy job that can be given to well-performing survivors."
Chen Haiping nodded in agreement.
Even with his shock tolerance, he almost couldn't handle it.
Accelerating crop growth by ten to dozens of times would have been a fantastical notion before the apocalypse, and even now, it felt unbelievable.
Others might not dare to believe it.
Chen Haiping had stayed there for some time and knew Tang Yu wouldn't joke about such important matters. He was now calculating how much food these fields could provide for the Sanctuary.
He quickly realized he couldn't compute it.
Even with just a tenfold growth rate, it was more than enough to supply nearly a hundred survivors, and even if the numbers increased tenfold, it wouldn't be a problem.
Even in the future, if the Sanctuary grew larger and more survivors came, with these farmlands, food would never be in short supply.
If one farm wasn't enough, there'd be two, three, or even more.
No wonder Director Tang always had full confidence in establishing a Sanctuary.
Before today, Chen Haiping thought there was hope for a small Sanctuary here, but after witnessing Director Tang effortlessly raising walls and transforming fields, he realized that even developing into a medium-sized Sanctuary with tens of thousands of people wasn't impossible.
There were experts, city walls, and food here, so in some ways it already outperformed a medium-sized Sanctuary.
With the pressing food problem resolved, Chen Haiping planned to call two trustworthy survivors to come and plant seeds.
He suddenly remembered something, furrowing his brow, "Director, as more survivors come to the Sanctuary, managing them has become difficult, especially with the unrestrained and hard-to-control newcomers. If this continues, problems might arise."