Chương 176: The Joy of Harvest

Roland and the core members of the church set off together for the greenhouse dome.

Even Ms. Tree has created a clone of herself, a little tree spirit that looks like a figurine.

Then, amidst the envious gazes of everyone, she slipped into Roland's collar.

At the entrance to the greenhouse dome stand six loyal beast girl guards, preventing any malicious spying creatures from entering.

These beast girls guarded the gate, and upon seeing Roland, they immediately bowed, their eyes filled with reverence.

"Long live Lady Roland!"

Roland has gotten a little used to this feeling of being worshipped.

She returned a warm smile and stepped into the greenhouse dome.

As soon as you pass through the gate, you are greeted by a vast expanse of wheat fields.

Bright sunlight streamed through the glass dome, illuminating the ripe wheat and giving it a golden sheen.

The occasional breeze made the wheat sway neatly, looking like golden waves.

Even though she had just witnessed this scene, Coco the cat couldn't contain her excitement.

"Miss Roland, this is the most... plump wheat I've ever seen."

Coco the cat gestured incoherently.

"A harvest like this would be an unprecedented spectacle in our hometown; it could only be accomplished by divine intervention!"

"Harvesting one acre of wheat yields hundreds of baskets, requiring more than a dozen people to keep up!"

Coco the cat was so excited that it wagged its tail, causing its rear to sway from side to side, the force of which even created gusts of cool air.

This forced Renee, who was standing next to her, to take two steps back to avoid being hit in the face by the cat's tail.

Roland felt somewhat ashamed.

As a Chinese, she also greatly admires the golden waves of wheat at harvest time.

They even wished they could climb onto the central observation deck right now, have a pot of wine and a plate of peanuts, and enjoy the view to their heart's content.

But Coco the cat's appearance is really a bit exaggerated.

"Coco the cat, calm down."

"Stop wagging your tail! You're wagging it too hard, it's starting to shed fur!"

"Little Alice next to me choked."

Before she could finish speaking, Alice, who had come along with them, suddenly sneezed loudly, her nose twitching.

Seeing everyone's gaze, little Alice lowered her head shyly and started playing with her fingers.

Seeing this, the cat's cheeks also turned red, and it reached behind its back to grab the restless tail.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry, Miss Roland, I'm just too happy."

Jenny stepped forward and took over the conversation.

"Miss Roland, it's not that Coco the cat is too excited."

She stared intently at the abundant, full ears of fire wheat in the wheat field, her voice filled with shock.

"This kind of output is simply unheard of."

"One acre of land can even support ten times the population."

"If this could be rolled out, there shouldn't be any people starving to death on the streets, right?"

Roland remained silent.

She didn't answer Jenny's question, but instead looked at Coco, the cat struggling with its tail.

"Coco the Cat, what should we be careful about when harvesting this wheat?"

When asked about professional knowledge, Cocoa's ears perked up.

"Miss Roland, harvesting wheat isn't complicated; just avoid damp weather."

"This is not a big problem for our greenhouse dome."

"As for Yangyang's part, the windmill you designed saved a lot of manpower and was very efficient."

Coco the cat's words piqued Ms. Tree's curiosity.

The small tree spirit hidden in Roland's collar poked its head out and asked, tilting its head.

What is a windmill?

"A winnowing machine, you know, it's a machine used to blow away impurities from threshed wheat. Didn't your Harvest Cult have one before?"

As Roland answered, she walked toward the open space beside her.

On the cleared, flat ground, several beast girls were tinkering with wooden farm machinery.

The windmill has a large funnel on top, with an iron crank in the middle that connects to wooden fan blades.

A beast girl stood on a stool, using a winnowing basket to scoop wheat from a basket and pour it into a funnel above.

Another beast girl vigorously cranked the handle, causing the internal fan blades to rotate and blowing away debris from the falling wheat.

Clean wheat grains flowed out from the outlet below, while various debris flew out from the vent.

Ms. Shu took a closer look and suddenly realized what was going on.

"Back then, we had a large harvest, and we used magic to blow the wind through this part of the process."

Farmers with small plots of land still have to rely on the wind.

"Your idea is truly ingenious; it's perfect for wheat fields with such high yields, otherwise everyone would be too busy."

Ms. Shu found it more and more pleasing to the eye; the Harvest Cult liked this kind of useful agricultural machinery.

Unfortunately, people either died or ran away, and their hometowns were dug up for hundreds of years before she finally met Roland.

Roland, seeing the familiar windmill, couldn't resist going up and trying it out.

Under the admiring gaze of the beast girl, he took over the job of cranking the crank.

Roland felt as if she had returned to her childhood, when technology was underdeveloped and this was how people in rural areas of the world blew rice husks.

"Ah, I really miss those days."

She let go of her hand with a sigh, and little Alice, who was standing nearby, couldn't contain herself and started jumping and waving her hand.

"Sister Roland, Sister Roland, I want to crank the crank too!"

Roland chuckled silently.

"Alright, alright, you can shake it. You can play here with Renee."

"This also gives me a basic understanding of the greenhouse process."

Alice cheered and, pulling along a somewhat reluctant Renee, threw herself into Yangyang's work.

Roland and the others began to inspect the wheat fields and discuss the arrangements for harvest day.

"Miss Roland, the greenhouse's output has exceeded expectations. This is the first time we southerners have ever seen anything like this."

"Therefore, the arrangements and management will be a bit more complicated, and it may take two or three days to prepare for the full commencement of work."

Coco the cat explains the work situation to Roland.

Roland answered with a smile.

"You can arrange that. Just start harvesting as soon as possible."

At this moment, Nightingale frowned, tugged at Roland's sleeve, and hesitated before speaking.

"Miss Roland, do we really need to start reaping the rewards so soon?"

"What's wrong?"

Roland looked puzzled.

Nightingale took a deep breath and said frankly.

"Miss Roland, in the grain market, although grain merchants are slightly wavering, they are still maintaining market confidence."

"We can still secretly sell grain and make a profit."

"But if we start harvesting the greenhouses in full force, and a huge number of people flood into them, the news will definitely leak out."

The nightingale swallowed hard, her voice strained.

"At that time, a large amount of cheap and high-quality wheat flour will flood the market, and grain prices will drop back to their original levels overnight, causing grain traders to panic and sell off their stock."

"Our wheat won't fetch a high price."

The nightingale had something else to say but didn't.

As a capitalist, she felt a slight fear of Roland when she thought about the possible future scenarios.

If panic selling occurs...

What happens next will definitely not be as simple as the death of one or two people.

Roland answered firmly.

"Let's start reaping the rewards as soon as possible."

"We've made a lot of money selling grain; there's no need to continue the famine."

She frowned, thinking of unpleasant images.

Even in New Sprouts Street, despite the assistance from the Roland Group, many people still died from illnesses caused by cold and malnutrition.

Not to mention the entire old port area outside.

Roland sighed, her eyes taking on a cold glint.

"Enough people have died in the old port area."

"Next, let those grain merchants who inflated grain prices pay their debts."