Chapter 69: Like Hell You Can

Chapter 69: Chapter 69: Like Hell You Can

In the end Liam still did not manage to eat on the sly.

After arranging lodgings for the twelve retainers and the doctor, Liam told them to divide the work between themselves to help him harvest the various vegetables and fruit. He himself used surveying the southern area as an excuse, dragging his brother and sister along to come with him.

A few of the Alphas still wanted to follow along to guard him, but Liam darkened his face refusing permission. They had no choice but to stay behind to help harvest the vegetables.

The sight of vegetables being harvested by hand was very satisfying to watch, so Benjamin at once hauled the cameras out of the house, setting them up all over the fields. Once he had finished setting the automatic filming mode and the face-blurring mode, only then did he climb into the vehicle to go with his two younger siblings.

The vehicle had gone a long stretch, Benjamin and Isabella turned to ask Liam with a puzzled look: "Aren’t we only going out to look at the watermelon field? Why not let them come along?"

Liam said in a low voice: "There is something rare in the melon field, we need to keep it secret."

He then steered the talk off onto something else: "Brother, Father has given me twelve grade-A Alphas, I wonder whether we ought to apply for a livestock permit?"

Benjamin thought for a moment, then shook his head: "I think we had better not. Even at the livestock farm with the most powerful Alphas there are still a few cases every year of breeders being killed by star-beasts. Besides, they are all military men, making them go off to rear star-beasts would be a bit much."

Liam wondered: "Can Robots not be used in their place?"

Isabella shook her head: "The mental waves of star-beasts can destroy a Robot’s circuit board, to this day there is still no kind of Robot that can withstand their attacks."

Liam frowned: "Then why not use the circuit boards made specially for Mecha?"

Benjamin and Isabella: "..."

Nirvana laughed out loud: [Host, oh my host. Do you have any idea how precious components for Mecha are, that you would come out with a line like that? The number of Mecha produced each year is only enough to supply the Military, where would there be anything spare to produce livestock-rearing Robots!]

Having listened to Nirvana finish its lesson, Liam rubbed his nose in embarrassment, looking over at his brother and sister who had been knocked sideways by what he said:

"How embarrassing, I forgot that Mecha components are very precious."

The vehicle had reached the melon field, looking at the stretch of cobalt blue shot through with white before his eyes, Liam said with feeling: "When I planted it I had no idea it would turn out a plant lovelier than any flower like this..."

Isabella and Benjamin also marvelled without end. The original watermelon had a pale green rind paired with dark green stripes, while the watermelon before them now had a cobalt blue rind paired with white stripes. Its leaves were cobalt blue as well, with white veins.

Liam paid no attention to the ripe melons around him, he concentrated on finding the high-energy melon Nirvana had scanned. It lay right at the root of the melon vine, tucked away beneath a single leaf. The melon was no bigger than a hen’s egg, its rind a pure white without a trace of blue mixed in.

Liam swiftly twisted the melon free, washed it thoroughly under the tap, then used a knife to divide it into three parts. The flesh inside was a pale yellow, without seeds.

He handed his brother and sister one part each, instructing: "Eat the rind too." Having said that he stuffed his own part straight into his mouth, chewing a few times and swallowing it down before Benjamin could stop him. There was no taste whatsoever, only a crunchy firmness like a crisp persimmon.

The sensation it brought was also different from eating an ordinary watermelon. An ordinary melon leaves you feeling cool inside, this watermelon instead brought a warmth that soaked into every blood vessel, like a stream of warm water washing away every impurity in the body. His lower abdomen grew slightly hot, Liam reached out a hand to touch it lightly, both eyes brightening:

"Good stuff! Hurry up and eat, brother, sister, otherwise the energy inside will all leak away."

Benjamin and Isabella stared at Liam without looking away. Benjamin scolded him: "We already told you not to go eating any old thing!"

Liam gave a giggle: "I checked it carefully before eating it. Stop telling me off, hurry up and eat!"

The two of them shook their heads helplessly, then put the tiny piece of melon into their mouths. Once they had eaten they also felt their bodies were a little different, as for exactly where the difference lay they could not say clearly.

Isabella licked her lips: "There is no taste at all, but once it is eaten the whole body feels distinctly warmer, the headache from riding in the military ship seems to have eased a great deal too..."

Benjamin felt the back of his neck: "My gland went hot just now, is it the same for you two?"

Liam and Isabella shook their heads. Liam said: "I felt a stream of warm water wrap around my lower abdomen. It seems this fruit works on the hidden problems inside our bodies." Then he put on a regretful look before Isabella and Benjamin could ask anything: "A pity that growing melons for several hundred years might, with luck, produce only one of them." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The question his brother and sister had been about to ask choked in their throats. Liam looked at them in amusement, saying: "All right, let us hurry and pick the ripe melons to take home to eat. Remember to pick the ones with a deeper colour, with the stem a little withered!"

The area planted with melons was very large, the entire stock of seed from ten seed melons was all in here.

The three of them picked close to two dozen ripe melons, filling the storage box at the back of the utility vehicle, yet looking round again they saw there were still far too many ripe ones. Liam rubbed the back of his neck: "Let us go home to call people out to help with the picking, the three of us could pick until nightfall without necessarily finishing."

Arriving back at the residential area, the scene before his eyes nearly made Liam burst out laughing.

The twelve grade-A Alphas, the very people who only yesterday had stood in neat ranks inside the hold of the military ship with solemn faces, were now some of them with trousers rolled up wading through the middle of the water spinach field, some of them carrying armfuls of impossibly long yardlong beans as they ran in and out, while two more were together hauling a basket of tomatoes to set down in a well-lit corner of the warehouse.

Auntie Camila meanwhile sat on a chair in the shade, holding in her hand a head of sweet greens glossy from top to bottom, turning it this way and that to examine it as though she were viewing a precious artifact in a museum.

Seeing the three of them return, a tall, large-framed Alpha stepped over at once. This was the leader of the group of retainers, named Gabriel.

"Young master, we have finished harvesting. But..." He hesitated a moment, pointing at the pile of produce heaped up like a mountain inside the warehouse: "There is too much, I am afraid the warehouse will not hold it all. The storage boxes in the warehouse are not enough to hold this quantity either."

Liam looked at the heap of vegetables spilling right out of the door, feeling slightly dizzy himself. He had not expected that with the Robots having only restored and planted twenty acres of crops, the yield of produce gathered would be this large. That was without having harvested the corn, the potatoes and the sweet potatoes yet.

Liam thought for a moment, saying: "First of all, help me scan the mental energy reading of each kind, record it carefully, it would be best to make a comparison table of the figures for each round of harvest. In a little while my friend will come to collect it, there is no need to worry about having nowhere to put it."

Gabriel scratched his head in confusion: "That, Master Liam, we do not know how to do it..."

Isabella immediately said with a smile: "Let me do it, you need only leave two people behind to help me. Let the other ten follow my brother to help harvest the watermelons."

Everyone divided up to work again. Liam asked Auntie Camila to help him prepare the food portions for the evening meal.

For a meal with so many people, hotpot or grilling was the most suitable. Since he had not managed to make charcoal yet, Liam decided on an assorted hotpot. Once the ingredients were prepared, Liam called Daniel, inviting him over to his place for dinner, asking him while he was at it to bring storage boxes along to hold the new vegetables and fruit.

Then he led Auntie Camila off to dig up potatoes and sweet potatoes. The potatoes were still a little small against the standard size, but they were already edible. The sweet potatoes were ready to eat, the tubers were plentiful too, the two of them naturally could not lift the whole lot. So they dug only one basket of each kind to bring back.

Liam switched the livestream screen on, setting the face-blurring mode to avoid exposing everyone’s faces.

The moment Liam’s broadcasting room opened, a whole crowd of people poured in like a hive breaking open. Elijah had just got home, he was in the middle of talking with Alexander and Mrs. Hall when he received the livestream notification. He at once opened his smart watch, connecting it to the large smart screen at home so that his eldest brother along with his mother and Mr. Levi could watch.

"Everyone, today we are having assorted hotpot! This hotpot suits eating in a group, tomorrow I will attach a shopping cart. However, the food in the livestream is an exclusive line, priced at the highest bracket, there is no need for anyone to go longing after it."

Liam’s voice came through the microphone, the several people in the house glued their eyes to the screen, staring. As a loyal subordinate, Mr. Levi did not forget to send the broadcasting room ID to Mr. Hall, who was buried in work at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Countless comments appeared in the broadcasting room, Elijah found it irritating so he turned them all off, concentrating only on watching the room owner.

"The best part of a hotpot lies in the broth base, the main components of an assorted hotpot broth are the base bones, the vegetables that give sweetness, the seasonings for adjusting the taste. For the bones I use marrow bones simmered in a super-pressure cooker for one hour to draw out the natural sweetness. For the vegetables that give sweetness I use onion, lemongrass, ginger. And the most important of all is this!"

Liam brought a fruit of a red glittering like crystal out in front of the camera, saying: "This is a tomato, distributed exclusively at the Luxe Morsel restaurant only." He then called out towards the warehouse: "Sister, what is the mental energy reading inside the tomatoes?"

"One hundred and eighty-seven!" Isabella’s voice came out from inside.

Liam then said to the viewers: "You have all heard it, one hundred and eighty-seven, four points of mental energy short of Crystal Coral greens." He cupped a hand to speak quietly to the viewers: "This thing here, besides being used for cooking, can also be eaten raw like a fruit, pressed for juice to drink, or else sliced thinly to lay over the face. Whichever way you do it, it brings an extremely good beautifying effect for the skin."

The comments burst into another wave demanding a shopping cart, Liam smiled in a way that thoroughly deserved a beating: "Heh heh, our household’s yield of produce is limited, it is not sold outside, nor is it sold online. It is sold only directly at the Luxe Morsel with a set quota, everyone can go to the Luxe Morsel branches on Capital planet, the planet Altair and the planet Lyra to buy it. For the specific addresses and quotas, wait for the Luxe Morsel to post an announcement on its home page."

Having finished speaking, Liam paid no further attention to the sky-filling complaints in the comment area. He set the tomato on the chopping board, using a knife to cut it in half. A crisp snapping sound rang out, Sunflower automatically zoomed in close on the cut face, even panning the camera in slow motion from left to right.

Liam raised an eyebrow, not grudging it a word of praise: "Sunflower has improved a great deal, she knows a new way of filming now."

The sprite girl stuck out her tongue: "Master, I learned it from the films you sent me to imitate!"

Light of Time appeared beside the little girl, pouting: "Hmph, is that all. I can do that too."

Sunflower rolled her eyes: "Like hell you can!"

What came next was the livestream screen suddenly shaking because the two smart units had rushed in to brawl with each other. Liam helplessly put the knife down, pulling the two of them apart:

"All right, all right. Scrapping with each other all day long. Fighting a colleague while you are on the job, tonight I am cutting the power for you both!"

Giggling rang out all around, in the broadcasting room there was loud laughter as well. Elijah along with the three adults sitting in front of the screen laughed until their whole bodies shook.

Even Mr. Hall, who was secretly watching on his smart watch, could not hold back from bursting into audible laughter right there in the meeting room. The several senior officials who had been arguing hard enough to spray spit heard this laugh, unable to help themselves they all looked over at once.

Mr. Hall gave a light cough, waving a hand: "What are you all looking at me for? Do carry on, whenever the arguing produces a result, come and report it to me."

Having said that he swiftly left the meeting room, returning to his own private office.

The pack of officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: "..."