My 100th Rebirth a day before the Apocalypse

Chapter 1000: Chapter 998 Need More Hands

The rice fields, in particular, would be automatically irrigated at the proper intervals. The loaches, frogs, crayfish, freshwater eels, and conches released into the paddies to reproduce would also be cared for by the system and harvested automatically once they reached maturity.

With half of the rice fields designated for normal crop production and the other half for spiritual crops, and rice occupying the largest portion of the farmland, Marcus would only need to personally oversee half of the most labor-intensive area.

"Young Madam! This is wonderful," Marcus said, clearly excited. "With automatic harvesting, I wouldn’t need to manually reap the rice, especially since it’s almost ready. But I’m not sure what happens after that. Would the system also handle threshing, cleaning, drying, and hulling the grain to remove the husk?"

He paused, then added thoughtfully, "Rice requires far more steps than most crops. Unlike vegetables, which only need to be picked once they mature, rice has to go through several processing stages, including milling. I’m curious whether the automatic harvest takes care of all of that as well."

"We’ll see once harvest time comes," Kisha said thoughtfully. "If the automatic harvest only collects the rice from the plots and leaves us with the grain and stalks, then we can ask Hugo’s team and the Winters men to help with threshing. If needed, we can also ask the blacksmith to make proper equipment to speed things up."

She continued, already planning several steps ahead. "With more hands, we can finish threshing and cleaning faster, removing stones, debris, and anything else that shouldn’t be there, before drying the rice under the sun to remove the remaining moisture. As for hulling, we can ask the blacksmith to make a rice husker as well."

Kisha paused briefly, then added, "We’ll need those machines anyway once the spiritual rice is harvested, since that still requires manual processing. We might as well process both batches at the same time."

After all, they had more people to help now, and there was no reason not to make full use of that advantage.

The main reason Marcus had been putting in most of the effort on the farmland was because of his ’Green Thumb’ gift, which allowed the crops to grow healthier and faster. However, that didn’t mean he had to handle the harvesting alone. Once the crops reached maturity, anyone could help with the work, and at that stage, extra hands mattered far more than talent.

With the biogas project nearly complete, Hugo’s team could shift their focus back to assisting Marcus on the farmland while also helping Mike collect and repurpose animal dung for the compost bins.

Still, as Kisha thought it through, she realized that even with more than a dozen people, Hugo’s team alone wouldn’t be enough. There were simply too many plots of land and too much work to be done.

She would need to assign Marcus additional manpower to increase their efficiency. Besides, Duke was already overseeing the construction of the employee dormitory, which meant expanding the workforce was already part of the plan.

So Kisha decided to share her concerns with Marcus.

"Marcus, as you’ve probably noticed, my territory can upgrade and expand," she said calmly. "And this likely won’t be its final upgrade. The farmland will continue to grow in size, which means you’ll eventually need more hands, not just for the crops, but for Mike’s animal farm as well."

She paused, giving him time to think.

"Even with Hugo and his team helping around the farm, their numbers still won’t be enough in the long run. So when you have time, I’d like you to go back to HOPE Base and recruit more farmers."

"Preferably, wood-type awakened ability users. They may not directly accelerate crop growth like your ’Green Thumb’, but their affinity with plants will still be helpful and, more importantly, will greatly increase our manpower."

Kisha continued, her tone steady and practical. "Once you’ve selected suitable people, bring them to me so they can sign the slave contract. That will ensure the secrecy of the territory space. In return, they’ll be able to live comfortably here, with accommodations in the employee dormitory."

She added, "They’ll also receive monthly stipends like fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, crystal cores, Scarlet Honey, and spiritual spring water for awakened ability users. Non-awakened ability user workers will still receive Scarlet Honey to strengthen their bodies. You can explain all of this to them during recruitment."

Hearing Kisha’s words, Marcus couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement. Duke and Kisha hadn’t yet discussed the employee dormitory with the others, so the fact that she was sharing this with him meant they were preparing to open new opportunities for more people.

It also meant that those who would live in the employee dormitory could bring their beneficiaries with them and enjoy a far better life. Of course, that came with a condition, and that is everyone would have to sign the slave contract to ensure the secrecy of the territory.

But with Kisha personally inscribing the contracts, that was hardly an issue, as they would have an unlimited supply of slave contracts.

On the contrary, anyone chosen to work within her territory would be far from danger. They could live peacefully, securely, and comfortably, an undeniable upgrade to their lives. If the truth were known, people would surely fight tooth and nail for a chance to be selected.

Unfortunately, Marcus couldn’t openly explain the true living conditions inside the territory. To the outside world, those recruited would simply be "farming behind the villa," in land surrounded by forest, nothing more.

And since Marcus couldn’t openly disclose the true living conditions of those who would be chosen, he could instead focus on the tangible perks they would receive as farmers. After all, with the current stability of the base, there were already many job options available, like office work, cashier positions at the Supply Center and other buildings, administrative posts, or even becoming a warrior with generous incentives and benefits.

Some could even rely on their abilities to form teams and take missions from the mission board, openly earning crystal cores and resources as rewards. Compared to that, farming might seem far less attractive, even if it was significantly safer than venturing outside the base. Without proper compensation, few would willingly choose it over those more lucrative and exciting paths.

That was precisely why offering such generous benefits was necessary. With the right incentives in place, it would be more than enough to draw in a select group of people.

After all, the base wasn’t experiencing any food shortages, so unlike survivors from other bases scrambling just to eat, people here had better options. Even so, many still viewed farming as a lowly job.

In an apocalypse, some still held the mindset that if office work was possible, why choose the grueling life of a farmer? Farming required long hours, often breaking one’s back planting and harvesting crops, a reality few wanted to face. Such attitudes weren’t formed overnight; they were deeply ingrained over time, and it wasn’t easy to change people’s thinking.

This was precisely why Sparrow had considered recruiting Hugo and his team earlier. Hugo and his group already had farming experience, so there was no need to convince others who might balk at the hard labor.

But with Kisha increasing the compensation, there would still be people willing to take on the work. More than that, once they entered her territory, who knew who would be more envious, those in office jobs or the farmers in her territory, receiving monthly stipends and completely safe from any danger?

The supplies they received would be almost on par with the warriors, only slightly less so that the warriors wouldn’t feel their efforts went unrecognized. In this way, farming in her territory became the next best opportunity available.

"Alright! Young Madam, leave this task to me. I’ll make sure to find the hard workers and, if possible, farmers who had experience before the apocalypse."

"Hopefully, there are more of them here in the base, just like me. With experienced hands, I won’t have to waste time teaching anyone. I’ll carefully screen everyone," Marcus said, fire burning in his eyes as though he’d just been entrusted with the most crucial mission in the base, which, in truth, it was.

"Not only farmers, it would also be great to have people who could help Mike and Gant with the animal farm and the fisheries," Kisha began. "The number of animals is growing, and the fish in the lakes and even the sea are increasing, which requires constant care..."

She paused, remembering the automatic planting system. Of course, the fisheries already had automatic harvesting, which she had used before. She usually fished manually for leisure, but having Gant handle the aquatic animals would help them grow faster. Now, with spiritual animals beginning to emerge, she realized she also needed to isolate certain aquatic and farm animals to prevent them from all turning spiritual.