Chapter 86 - 85: Three-Toothed Rake

Sev’s heart skipped a beat. It was just as she had suspected!

The mercenary’s words were like an ice-cold needle, piercing through her last shred of false hope. This seemingly fertile land was, in essence, a trap soaked in venom.

The loud-mouthed mercenary was tall and muscular, with large, bulging eyes like a bull’s. With a single glare from him, the Scavengers were frightened into complete silence.

Everyone obediently lined up to receive their gloves and shovels. When it was Hayden Hanson’s turn, the loud mercenary suddenly winked at him and said, "Not bad, Team Leader Hanson. This chick is pretty cute, just a bit on the skinny side. You’d better make sure she gets plenty of nutrition later on!"

"Sean, don’t talk nonsense! She’s just my neighbor!" Hayden hissed, his face flushing red.

"Neighbor? Who are you trying to fool? With your skills, you definitely don’t have to worry about food and drinks. If it weren’t to take care of her, would you be out here digging for potatoes?"

Although Sean had also lowered his voice, he was naturally loud, so every word reached Sev’s ears clearly.

She took a step forward and offered Sean an easy smile. "Hello, Sean! I’m Sev Steele! Hanson and I are neighbors and friends. I’ve adopted four orphans and have no plans to find a romantic partner. Please don’t misunderstand!"

"Haha! You’ve got a straightforward personality, Sev. I like that! Since you’re a friend of Team Leader Hanson, you’re a friend of Sean Stark from now on. If you ever need anything, just say the word, and I’ll definitely do my best to help!" Sean extended a large hand and gave Sev’s a gentle shake before returning to his work.

"These gloves are made from First Tier mutated mole skin, so they won’t tear easily. As long as you’re careful not to let the toxic sap splash into your eyes later, you’ll be fine.

"The shovel is forged from D Level alloy. It’s very effective, but if it strikes the skin of the potatoes, it can easily slice them open.

"Normally, Mutated potatoes can be stored for the entire winter, but once their skin is broken, they spoil quickly.

"If they’re dried, they lose a portion of their nutrients, so the officials will send the damaged ones to the food processing plant to be used as one of the raw materials for Nutrition Blocks.

"In short, potatoes with broken skin drop in value," Hayden warned her after pulling her aside.

Sev put on the gloves and flexed her fingers. They were moderately soft and wouldn’t hinder her work.

Looking up, she saw over a dozen mercenaries changing into Biochemical Protective Suits. Each of them held a laser knife, which they began using to slice through the Mutant Potato Forest. As the lasers flashed, the tall, thick stalks fell in droves. A sweet, fragrant scent filled the air, immediately stirring up everyone’s appetite.

Following that, another dozen mercenaries arrived. Each of them carried a Tactical Backpack and began collecting the fallen stalks.

Sev found this rather strange. Weren’t those things toxic? Why were they collecting them?

Noticing her confusion, Hayden explained, "Once these stalks are dried and ground into powder, they serve as the main ingredient for making Beast Repelling Powder."

His words sparked a sudden thought in Sev. Perhaps the outer skins she had peeled off the Mutated Poison Dragon Beans could be useful too? Fortunately, she hadn’t thrown them away; Rusty was planning to use them as firewood.

Half an hour later, the tall and dense Mutant Potato Forest was reduced to a field of jagged, short stalks oozing with sticky sap. The sweet fragrance in the air grew even thicker, making Sev feel genuinely hungry.

In the open clearing, the mercenaries used their laser knives to carve the soil into perfectly uniform square plots. Each square was about six meters long on each side, yielding an area of around thirty-six square meters. A small flag bearing a distinct number was planted in the center of every plot.

Sev understood immediately; this was how they mapped out everyone’s harvesting zones.

Once the zones were divided, the mercenaries retreated to the perimeter. They stripped off their cumbersome protective suits, revealing combat vests entirely soaked in sweat. The mercenaries who had been clearing the stalks also withdrew with their Tactical Backpacks.

Sean spoke up once more. "Start digging! Same old rules: damaged potatoes will be sorted into Levels based on the severity of the cuts. If you want to make money, be careful and try your best not to break the skin!"

The Scavengers had long been unable to hold back. At the words "start digging," they scrambled forward, shovels in hand, rushing toward the flags that bore their assigned numbers.

Hayden, however, was in no rush, walking over at a steady pace. Sev wasn’t in a hurry either. It was only nine o’clock in the morning. She estimated it would take at least eight hours of solid work to completely dig up all the Mutated potatoes within her thirty-six-square-meter plot. This was a task that tested one’s endurance, not a hundred-meter sprint.

When Sev and Hayden reached their respective zones, he turned to her and said, "Take a break later if you get tired. If you can’t finish digging them all, I’ll help you."

"Alright!" Sev nodded cheerfully. Deep down, however, her mind was made up. She would rely on herself; she couldn’t add to Hayden’s burden while he was still recovering from his injuries.

Sev first surveyed her allotted plot. Counting the short stalks protruding from the ground, she found a total of twelve Mutated potato plants. The stalks varied in thickness, with the thinner ones taking up less surface area. Based on her past experience digging potatoes in the countryside back on Azure, she knew that weaker plants yielded smaller potatoes in fewer quantities.

She chose to start with the plant that covered the largest area, visually estimating that its root system spanned at least six square meters. The largest plant would undoubtedly yield the most and biggest potatoes, and they would be buried deeper in the soil. She had to tackle it now, while her energy was at its peak.

Digging potatoes required finesse, precision, and a gentle touch; brute force wouldn’t work.

When she learned last night that they would be digging potatoes, she had hastily fashioned a short-handled three-toothed rake out of firewood. The wide gaps between the prongs allowed her to loosen the soil without easily piercing the potatoes directly.

Nowadays, very few farmers on Azure still used such archaic agricultural tools. They had all switched to fully automated potato combine harvesters. Those state-of-the-art machines could complete the entire process—digging, sieving, cleaning, and packing—in one go, saving a tremendous amount of manpower and resources.

Their only drawback was a relatively higher rate of damaging the crops. Farmers would take the scratched potatoes to the market to sell at a discount, and there were always thrifty housewives eager to buy them up for cheap.

But right now, she was in the wasteland. Opportunities to harvest were hard to come by, so naturally, she wanted to maximize her yield as much as possible.

Sev started off using the standard-issue shovel. When she reached a depth of about forty centimeters, she spotted three bulges the size of cantaloupes. She couldn’t help but break into a wide grin.

These must be the shallowest potatoes.

She immediately pulled the three-toothed rake from her backpack, crouched down, and carefully raked away the soil covering the mounds. The three potatoes that were revealed weren’t particularly large, but their skins were surprisingly a deep coffee brown.

This color was definitely wrong!

Recalling that the stalks of these Mutated potatoes were entirely purple, Sev couldn’t help but frown.

Back when she dug potatoes on Azure, the ones closest to the surface often had a greenish tint on their skin. Those potatoes were actually toxic. If only a small portion was green, you could simply peel it a bit thicker and still eat it. But if the entire potato had turned green, it had to be thrown away.

These three potatoes were clearly toxic. If she broke their skin and the sap splashed into her eyes, the loss would far outweigh the gain.