Chapter 294 - 173: The Importance of Brown Rice! 10x Bounty Mission! Cultivating Rice is a Must

Chapter 294: Chapter 173: The Importance of Brown Rice! 10x Bounty Mission! Cultivating Rice is a Must

"What?"

"Rapeseed? Brown Rice? And they can be planted?"

Not only was Xu Jun stunned, but Zhang Meng, Huang Mao, and even the trio of Wang Biao, Jia Wen, and Qi Zhen were all shocked.

Although crops like rice and rapeseed didn’t exist for Wang Biao, Jia Wen, and Qi Zhen—three people from a feudal dynasty—they had followed Chen Chong for so long that they had often heard Xu Jun and the students from the school muttering about them.

They knew that rice was a high-yield and decent-tasting crop, the staple food for most modern people.

But in their current environment, this staple had become a luxury that few could afford to eat.

The rice looted from the cafeteria had either been eaten by the students or traded away at the market.

Chen Chong and Xu Jun hadn’t bothered trading for any. After all, rice that couldn’t be planted was less practical than just eating meat.

’With a plentiful supply of meat at home, who in their right mind would trade for expensive rice that doesn’t even taste as good?’

Still, Wang Biao’s trio couldn’t help but feel curious about such a high-yield crop.

So, upon hearing that there was actually plantable rice, they were naturally stunned.

As for the rapeseed...

The three of them had no idea what it was, having never heard the others mention it.

But while Wang Biao’s trio was clueless, that didn’t mean Xu Jun, Zhang Meng, and Huang Mao were.

They knew exactly what plantable rice and rapeseed signified.

Someone immediately asked in delighted surprise, "Brother Chong? This Brown Rice, is it the unprocessed kind that still has the germ?"

"And the rapeseed, is it what I think it is?"

Chen Chong nodded slowly, his gaze still fixed on the two bags of seeds.

He wasn’t just observing the seeds; he was still immersed in the information provided by his Identification Skill...

[Name: Plant · Rapeseed]

[Type: Common Plant]

[Rating: None]

[Abilities: None]

[Description: This is ordinary rapeseed. Planting it might yield a large patch of rapeseed flowers, and then... more rapeseed.]

...

[Name: Plant · Brown Rice]

[Type: Common Plant]

[Rating: None]

[Abilities: None]

[Description: The germ of the rice has been preserved, giving it a better texture when eaten. There is a small chance it will sprout after planting.]

The Identification Skill’s results for the two crops were simple. As common plants, they had absolutely nothing to do with the Extraordinary.

Even so, it was more than enough to leave Chen Chong stunned...

Most people were familiar with rapeseed. And even if they weren’t, they would surely recognize the rapeseed flowers that it produced.

The crop’s sole purpose was to be pressed for oil.

Moreover, it was a source of high-quality vegetable oil.

While Chen Chong didn’t lack oil at the moment—having rendered plenty of fat from the moose and wild boars he’d hunted—not all foods were suitable for cooking with animal fat.

Furthermore, obtaining animal fat was far more difficult and less reliable than producing vegetable oil.

If they could cultivate a crop like rapeseed—which was easy to manage, cold-resistant, and high-yield—they could not only build a large reserve of vegetable oil but also solve the cooking oil problem for the entire team, and perhaps even everyone at the school.

In a way, this stuff was more important than most edible crops, an absolutely critical and scarce resource in their current situation.

Then there was the Brown Rice...

Chen Chong wasn’t too familiar with the name, but he vaguely recalled seeing this type of rice mentioned online before.

Brown Rice was a type of unpolished rice that hadn’t been fully refined, or perhaps a variety that was intentionally produced to retain the germ.

Compared to ordinary white rice, this variety was more flavorful and nutritious.

However, because it didn’t keep well, it wasn’t widely available on the market.

It could only be purchased in a few places, and rice farmers would often set aside a portion for their own consumption after a harvest.

Unlike fully processed white rice, which had completely lost its ability to be planted, Brown Rice—while not true seed grain—still retained the ability to sprout.

The germination rate was just much lower in comparison.

But none of that mattered.

’In the Primitive Jungle, a low germination rate wasn’t the problem. The real fear was a crop that wouldn’t germinate at all.’

As long as a small portion of this batch of Brown Rice sprouted, he could cultivate and propagate it. Once the plants matured, he could harvest genuine rice seeds for future planting.

The importance of rice went without saying. In terms of flavor and nutrition, countless other foods left it in the dust.

But when it came to staple foods, it was the undisputed king, blowing everything else out of the water!

If he could figure out how to cultivate this rice and plant large paddies, it would drastically alleviate the food shortages they faced after being transported to this Primitive Jungle.

After all, even though many people had survived for over half a month in the Primitive Jungle, most were starving more often than not.

Sallow and emaciated, they were all hanging on by a thread, sustained by what little food they could find.

Even those with survival talents, who could find a decent amount of food each day, were still living hand-to-mouth.

Even those who could find enough food to eat their fill and store a little extra still lived with a constant sense of dread.

That included Chen Chong himself...

After all, the Secret Card had mentioned dozens of possible locations for the next jump.

Besides food-rich places like mountains, grasslands, and islands, the list also included environments with extremely harsh conditions and scarce resources, like glaciers, deserts, and swamps.