Born?
Shawn was stunned, remembering Lori who could give birth at any time, and was a little surprised.
"She's giving birth so soon?"
According to Dr. Steven's estimated due date, it shouldn't be so soon.
Although he had some doubts, Shawn still hurried forward.
"Does Rick know? Quickly let Rick go!"
Shawn spoke a little faster.
"Ah?"
Beth stopped, still panting slightly, and seemed not to have reacted to Shawn's words.
She looked at Shawn: "But Hershel just told you to hurry over."
Shawn said: "What does Hershel have to do with this?"
Glenn hesitated, and at that moment, Lori walked over with her belly, accompanied by Carol.
Shawn subconsciously glanced at her, and Lori smiled and greeted him.
"Good morning, Warden."
"Mm."
Shawn still nodded slightly, then turned his head away.
"Hmm?"
But less than a second later, he looked back again.
He looked at Lori, who still had her belly, and then met Beth's eyes.
Shawn raised his eyebrows, and Glenn, covering his face, spoke beside him.
"It's not what you think, the first batch of crops from the farm are ripe, and Hershel wants you to go and see them yourself."
Shawn suddenly understood, his movements gradually slowed down, and he somewhat helplessly pulled Beth into his arms, subtly patting her gradually rounded buttocks.
"You looked so anxious just now, I thought Lori was going into premature labor."
Beth tilted her head back, pressing her cheek against Shawn's chest, and whispered in his ear.
"Hershel wants you to go quickly. The first batch of harvested food should be brought back by you personally."
Shawn understood.
Harvesting a batch of seeds twice was a good opportunity for Shawn to increase his prestige among the people.
After thinking for a moment, Shawn still spoke to Glenn.
"Still call Rick, and tell him I'm waiting for him at the farm."
After speaking, Shawn took Beth and walked towards the farm.
There was some distance between the farm and the Prison after all. Glenn originally wanted to protect his sister-in-law, but since Shawn was there, there was naturally no need to worry.
Walking out of the Prison, Shawn stepped onto the newly paved concrete ground connecting to the farm.
A week had passed, and the concrete had solidified. Stepping on it, the ground felt hard, and it wouldn't take long for it to dry completely.
Shawn had already seen Hershel's figure from afar; he was standing at the entrance of the farm at this moment.
In his mud-stained hands, he held a string of fruits that looked like clumps of dirt, appearing dark before being cleaned.
Hershel had a long-lost feeling for the farm's atmosphere, so much so that besides his hands, his calves, pant legs, and sleeves were also covered in mud stains.
However, for Hershel, he did not feel dirty; instead, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
He also saw Shawn approaching with Beth, and eagerly came forward with an excited expression.
"Did you see it, Shawn? Did you see it?"
Looking at the old man's eyes shining, Shawn chuckled: "Alright, Hershel, I'm not blind yet."
His gaze fell on the potatoes Hershel was holding. The fruits were plump and round, all large ones.
But the number of potatoes from this single plant... wasn't it too many?
Hershel had pulled it up by the roots, which meant these were all fruits from one plant.
Hershel held them, his forearm tensing slightly, veins faintly visible.
One plant's yield looked to be at least 20 to 30 catties, an incredibly terrifying output.
"These seeds are truly too good."
"Not only do they mature quickly, but they also yield a lot, and most importantly, I've checked, the quality of every fruit is very high. We've really found a treasure, we're so lucky."
Hershel exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.
As long as the food source can be solved, and everyone can be fed, this alone is enough for Shawn to achieve great merit.
Shawn inspected the farm. The seeds in every farmland block here were growing very well, much better than those directly planted in the Prison's pasture, even the leaves were a few points taller.
The yield of the seeds varied, but the minimum was 20 catties, with the maximum reaching around 40 catties, almost filling the farmland block.
What surprised Shawn even more was that replanted seeds could be found in every single farmland block.
After collecting all the seeds, Shawn found that the seeds returned from replanting were even more than the original amount planted.
Amidst his surprise, Shawn also had some doubts.
"Theoretically, it's not low for 100 farmland blocks to all trigger a 90% replanting rate, but is it possible to have such good luck and fully re-harvest on the first try?"
"And what's with the extra seeds?"
The maxed-out "Southern Planting" skill gives seeds a 90% chance of replanting, with a 1:1 ratio for seeds to replanting, meaning one seed can at most return only one seed.
Now there were at least 30% more replanted seeds, and Shawn was a bit puzzled.
But when he looked at the farmland block with its wooden edge slightly raised above the soil, Shawn suddenly remembered, and he slapped his forehead.
"I was a bit busy before, almost forgot."
"The farmland blocks come with a 'Fertile Land' attribute, which ordinary land cannot compare to."
In other words, the reason why the potato seeds increased in yield and why the replanting rate could exceed 100% was because of the 20 fertility points inherent in the farmland blocks.
Seeds planted in farmland blocks are the true system seeds.
Shawn was still wondering why the system would have an awkward 90% replanting rate; it turns out it was all waiting here.
Now Shawn was completely relieved.
This first batch planting was actually more of an experiment for Shawn, so he only set up 100 farmland blocks initially, reserving space for the farm to expand at any time later.
Now that the issue of seed supply was completely resolved and Shawn no longer needed to go out regularly to Search for them, this was great news for the Prison.
So, striking while the iron was hot, after Rick arrived, Shawn announced the expansion of the farm.
From the initial 100 farmland blocks, it expanded to 400.
Each farmland block can hold 4 seeds, and each seed yields an average of 30 catties of produce.
Assuming all of it is used for planting edible food, 48,000 catties of food can be obtained every 5 days.
If analyzed according to the current situation of the Prison.
The consumption of elderly and children is not large; most consumption comes from young manual laborers.
This amount of food is enough to distribute among 3,000 to 4,000 people within 5 days, not to mention that the Prison currently only has a little over a thousand people, so there is definitely a surplus.
Therefore, Shawn decided that 300 of the farmland blocks would produce food, and the remaining 100 would be planted with cotton first.
Winter was approaching. Planting for a few weeks, plus processing time, would be just enough to prepare before winter arrived.
After discussing with Rick and Hershel, they acted immediately, arranging for the Zealots to start digging pits.
Shawn then returned to the Prison with the truck filled with produce in the back compartment.
The potatoes that could have filled two cars if squeezed, Shawn managed to load into four cars.
He returned to the Prison with a slightly longer convoy, unloading the food amidst exclamations of surprise, which significantly boosted his prestige and influence.
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