Chapter 37

A Yan raised his little head and looked at the green plants full of fruits above his head.

I originally thought that the sky full of flowers was the ultimate beauty, but I didn’t expect that there would be something even more amazing.

This was the first time he saw the plants in the nursery grow so fast and so well. It was also the first time he saw the star chain fruit, which was so round and big that he probably couldn't hold it in one hand.

Previously, the fruits in the cultivation garden were all small, green and yellow, with some wrinkles on the skin. It was impossible for them to be such a bright and beautiful red and emit a faint fruity fragrance.

So amazing!

Although the plants in the garden cannot speak, A Yan can still feel a sense of joy and happiness from the vines covering the wall.

Especially when the breeder reaches out to pick a fruit.

Were the plants welcoming their keeper? Did they like him as much as he did?

Then, he couldn't help but look at the bunch of the fullest fruits. Although the red color was an ominous sign on the Prison Star, even after looking at it for a long time, A Yan didn't feel any discomfort in his heart.

Instead, there is a feeling of happiness, joy and satisfaction.

He stood on tiptoe and stretched out his little hand to touch it, wanting to see what the fruit with the shiny skin would feel like.

Unfortunately, before the child's fingertips even touched the fruit, changes occurred again—

The thriving star chain fruit vines that had covered the entire glass wall suddenly began to wither and yellow, wither and fall, and then withered and died at the same rapid speed as before.

In less than a minute or two, the green grass on the wall turned into rotten withered vines, leaving only bunches of bright red fruits. Because the vines could not hold on, the fruits fell to the ground one by one under the action of gravity.

A Yan withdrew his hand at a loss, staring blankly at the scene. Looking at the falling fruits, he kept backing away until his back accidentally hit something.

He tilted his head back and looked into a pair of dark, gentle eyes.

Su Ci lowered his eyes and saw the obvious helplessness and sadness on the child's face. He reached out and gently touched the child's soft head, then handed the fruit to him.

A Yan took the red fruit foolishly, and couldn't help but look up at the breeder.

The young man's expression was still nonchalant, but looking at his calm appearance, A Yan felt his mood strangely calmed down.

He lowered his head and looked at the red star chain fruit he was holding in both hands.

This was the first fruit he touched.

The heavy, smooth surface and bright red color not only do not give people a scary feeling, but are full of vitality, making him want to take a bite.

Ah Yan came closer, but he couldn't bear to bite it. He just touched the peel lightly with the tip of his nose, sniffing the sweet smell, and felt his mood become very good.

Su Ci looked at the child and was about to say something when he heard footsteps approaching quickly.

Zhuang Shisong and Wei Ming ran over.

Their footsteps were as rapid and chaotic as their heartbeats.

"Are you okay?"

Wei Ming spoke first. He looked at Su Ci and said in a bad tone, "It was so dangerous just now. Why didn't you move when I called you? You actually didn't take any precautions and just picked the fruit with your bare hands. Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Su Ci stood up straight and looked at him innocently.

Zhuang Shisong tugged at Wei Ming's clothes. Wei Ming also knew that Su Ci was fine. He took a deep breath, trying to suppress his anger, but in the end he couldn't help it.

"He was lucky this time, encountering a non-aggressive mutant, but who can guarantee the same thing next time? His actions are against base regulations!"

After Wei Ming finished speaking to Zhuang Shisong, he glared at Su Ci, "You are not from our aquaculture garden, how did you get in?"

Obviously, Su Ci just handed the fruit to A Yan. Due to the angle, they did not see the Star Chain Fruit disappear, and just thought that Su Ci threw the Star Chain Fruit back to the ground.

Hearing Wei Ming's question, Su Ci did not answer, but just turned sideways to look at the door.

The freight robot was moving supplies into the open space closest to the gate in the plantation. A strong man in an orange-red uniform noticed the movement here and was running over.

"Shisong, A Ming, what happened?"

This is the person from the logistics department who is delivering supplies. He just contacted Zhuang Shisong. Because of the delay the second time, Zhuang Shisong gave him permission to move the things in first.

It was at that time that Su Ci walked in from outside the door.

After running closer, the strong man saw the scenery of the greenhouse and screamed repeatedly, then quickly took pictures with the communicator, especially close-ups of the fruits.

"Ming, is this a new variety from the plantation? It's growing so well! Even though the vines and leaves are dead, the quality of the fruit is really good. It's even better than the Star Chain Fruit I eat at home!"

"Can I have one? I'll trade it with you using my points. Just name your price!"

The plantation mainly provides fruits and vegetables to the soldiers on a daily basis, and staff in other positions can also eat fresh vegetables once every three days.

However, he had never seen fruit of such good quality before! Could this be a special supply for the Operations Department?

The sturdy man's eyes were full of envy and pleading, and he even pulled Wei Ming's sleeve and acted coquettishly, which instantly made Wei Ming helpless and he surrendered directly.

As a result of their interruption, Zhuang Shisong's original doubts about Su Ci were gradually dispelled.

He looked at the thin young man who was watching the fun nearby and couldn't help shaking his head in his heart. He was really thinking too much. How could he connect the abnormality of the plant with the young man in front of him?

Seeing such beautiful fruits, even he, who has been dealing with crops for many years, couldn't help but want to pick one to have a look, not to mention other staff members who were not in the cultivation garden and rarely had fresh fruits and vegetables on weekdays.

It's perfectly normal to reach out and pick the fruit, and...

Zhuang Shisong finally noticed the color of the young man's uniform. He couldn't help but let out a sigh and blurted out, "Are you Su Ci? The new breeder at the nursery?"

Su Ci was a little surprised, "We know each other?"

Zhuang Shisong: “…”

I don't know him, but... by now, there's probably no one in the base who doesn't know him, right? Even in other bases, I'm sure many have heard of his name.

If he was really the new trainee breeder, it would explain why he stood there motionless without any fear when the plants suddenly grew wildly.

Zhuang Shisong had seen the video. This breeder Su was able to remain calm and composed when facing invading monsters, let alone ordinary plants.

Of course, it was also because the breeder Su was lucky that he did not encounter a highly aggressive mutant plant. Otherwise, it would be hard to say what the situation would be now.

"My colleague is right. If you encounter this kind of situation in the future, you must follow the instructions in the base safety manual." Zhuang Shisong did not answer the question of whether he knew Su Ci, but gave a serious reminder.

No matter how courageous one is, one must have a clear understanding of one's own strength. This is the valuable experience he gained after coming to Prison Star and actually coming into contact with mutants.

The reason why the zookeeper Su was not attacked by the giant spider was because the giant spider hunts by sensing sound. But what if he encounters other monsters? If he does not run away from danger, he will get into trouble sooner or later!

Su Ci nodded to show that he understood and thanked him for his kindness.

On the other side, Wei Ming had already called a robot over, and together with the strong man from the logistics department, he was rescuing the fruits on the glass wall that were about to fall to the ground.

Zhuang Shisong didn't have time to care about Su Ci for the time being, so he quickly joined the rush to harvest.

These fruits are really good in appearance. Of course, whether they are edible and whether they are harmful can only be known after testing. Anyway, it will never be a wrong idea to collect them and preserve them well.

Su Ci watched them move, then looked at the fruits scattered on the ground. Finally, he bent down and helped pick up the fruits one by one and put them into the collection basket.

He didn't recognize this plant, and just now... he didn't use any spiritual magic.

These are ordinary plants born from the earth. When they sense the spirit of the earth that gave them life, they do their best to offer him a gift.

Compared with spiritual plants, ordinary plants have much shorter roots and lifespans.

One fruit may exhaust all their vitality, not to mention the harsh environment now. They grow away from the land and it is difficult for them to obtain sufficient nutritional supplements during their rapid growth.

Yet, they did it anyway.

Silly, naive and stubborn, even after a hundred thousand years and a trip to an alien planet, he still hasn't changed his habits.

It was a headache, but unexpectedly...it made Su Ci feel a little soft-hearted.

He had seen too many lives flourish and wither, so he shouldn't be emotionally moved by such things. However, looking at the dead vines on the wall and the fallen red fruits on the ground, he was still moved by such pure dedication.

With the help of several people and the help of the harvesting robot, all the fruits were quickly collected. Even those that fell to the ground and were broken were carefully packed and prepared to be sent for testing.

While they were collecting, the greenhouse door had been closed again, and two robots were guarding the door.

Although the greenhouse is mainly built with glass, this type of glass is stronger than metal. At least so far, no mutant plant has been able to successfully break through the glass wall of the greenhouse.

Zhuang Shisong had already notified the people at the guard department.

After collecting all the fruits, Zhuang Shisong couldn't wait to dispatch robots to enter the greenhouse to investigate. At this time, the guards finally arrived.

However, with the robot present, they didn't need to risk entering the greenhouse. Once the robot had initially confirmed it was safe, Wei Ming prepared to go in with the guards to check on the plants in the greenhouse.

While Wei Ming was wearing protective equipment, Gu Qingchen, who had an appointment with Su Ci, arrived late.

He was surprised when he saw the situation on the scene.

"What happened? Another plant mutation? Is anyone hurt?"

Zhuang Shisong and Gu Qingchen are good friends. The reason they asked him to come over this time was mainly because there were some diseased plants that needed his purification ability to be treated. Gu Qingchen himself was very obsessed with planting, so he naturally did not refuse.

After briefly understanding the situation, he also watched with interest.

"Mutated Star Chain Fruit? The direction of mutation is rapid growth, and it will also drive the surrounding plants?" Gu Qingchen watched Wei Ming walk into the greenhouse and couldn't help but analyze it with Zhuang Shisong.

Zhuang Shisong nodded, "Based on the vision just now, it should be about the same."

Su Ci listened to them talking in silence.

The mutants they were talking about were probably spiritual plants or demonic plants, right? However, given the environment of Prison Star, the probability of a demonic plant being bred was higher.

Demonic plants, as the name suggests, are not easy to mess with. They are often extremely aggressive and have very strong toxicity. For ordinary humans, just smelling their scent may cause death.

Of course, there are also human pharmacists who use magic plants to make medicine, which has miraculous effects on certain diseases.

As for spiritual plants, their temperaments are much gentler and friendlier. They rarely attack living things actively. Their medicinal and edible value is also higher. And most importantly, spiritual plants can feed back spiritual power to the land.

The more spiritual plants there are in a place, the more abundant the spiritual energy will be.

The greenhouse where Zhuang Shisong and his team were on high alert was filled with ordinary plants, but...

Su Ci raised his eyes and looked into the distance.

He could sense that there was a newly born spiritual plant in that direction, which had just been born after he purified the water. The little creature was constantly calling out to him in an urgent voice.

A Yan also heard the voice of the spiritual plant.

The small, very tender babbling sound was particularly clear in the quiet nursery, and it was hard not to notice it.

Such fluctuations were very similar to those released by spirit seeds, but much stronger and clearer.

So, is that a talking plant? Ah Yan listened curiously, but he couldn't quite understand what was being said. He could only hear the eagerness and longing in the voice.

But this eager desire didn't sound like hunger, but rather like expressing closeness, like calling someone over.

A Yan couldn't help but look up at the breeder.

There were no talking plants in the nursery before. Is it because the breeder came that talking plants appeared?

So, is it calling for its keeper?

The keeper must have discovered the talking plant, because A Yan saw that the keeper was also looking in that direction.

However, the breeder did not react at all. In the end, he just withdrew his gaze coldly and continued to focus on Dr. Gu and the others.

Seeing this, A Yan no longer paid attention to the voice, stayed quietly beside the breeder, and then looked at the Star Chain Fruit in his hand.

His hands were too small, and it would be terrible if he accidentally dropped the fruit on the ground—

The fruits that had just fallen to the ground were all smashed to pieces. A Yan couldn't bear to see the fruits that the breeder had entrusted to him for safekeeping suffer the same miserable fate.

A Yan fumbled and put the red fruit in his hand into the pocket of his cub clothes. His cub clothes were already loose, so hiding a big, round, red star chain fruit did not look out of place.

Just as Su Ci was about to block out the sound of the spiritual plant, he noticed A Yan's small movement.

After he hid the fruit, his belly suddenly became round, and even he didn't notice that the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

“Aaaaah! Aaaah!”

Listening to the urgent call of the little spiritual plant, Su Ci no longer felt it was too noisy.

However, he did not change his mind.

There are still two unsprouted spiritual seeds in the nursery. The spiritual plants need too many nutrients to grow, and he can't afford to support them at the moment. It would be better to let this little spiritual plant stay in the nursery.

At least this breeder named Zhuang Shisong and that Wei Ming are people who truly love plants, and they will take good care of it.

Moreover, based on the properties currently displayed by this small spiritual plant, it may also help the plants in the nursery garden grow better.

Su Ci is very self-aware. If he wants to manage the environment of Prison Star and restore the earth to its original state, he cannot do it by himself alone. He needs more help.

Perhaps, the human race in the plantation would be a good choice. After all, in his impression, this race is very good at tending the land.

The fact that they can grow green plants in such a harsh environment as Prison Star is enough to prove this point.

As for how to make these humans become his helpers... Su Ci still needs to think about it carefully.

-

Not long after, Wei Ming and several guards completed their exploration of the greenhouse. During this period, they did not encounter any accidents or attacks from alien plants.

This greenhouse is planted with star chain fruits. The leaves of this plant look like a pentagram, and it is a vine, just like chains stringing together stars, hence the name.

The flowers of the star chain fruit are also in the shape of a five-pointed star, light yellow, and the stamens are pink with orange. The fruits will turn into pure bright red when ripe, with a sweet fragrance and high nutritional value.

After the plants grew wildly, the greenhouse was in a mess.

It can be clearly seen that all the culture media have been penetrated and destroyed by the thick plant roots, and the dense star chain vines have climbed all over the roof, with almost no gaps visible.

However, only the three plants that grew outwards near the door bore fruit.

Those three plants have completely withered. As for the other star chain fruits, both the vines and leaves have begun to wilt and turn yellow, which is very different from their wildly growing state.

However, none of them showed any aggression. Even when Wei Ming cut off some vine leaves with a knife to observe, nothing unusual happened.

They look like the most ordinary plants, with no sign of the abnormality that they had just experienced when they were growing wildly.

Just as Su Ci observed, there were only ordinary plants in this greenhouse, and no mutant species as they expected.

As for the three star chain fruits that were blooming and bearing fruit, they had completely withered and the roots in the culture medium were completely necrotic. Judging from the results of machine testing, there was no possibility of keeping them alive.

Faced with such a result, Zhuang Shisong and Wei Ming were very depressed, and even Gu Qingchen felt it was a pity.

If these three mutated plants were still alive, and their crazy growth could drive the characteristics of the surrounding plants, how much value would that create?

At least there is no need to worry about the future supply of fruits and vegetables for Base 24!

Unfortunately, the three plants have already died, and even the cell tissue culture method may not be effective.

Wu Yunqin, who rushed over after receiving the news, heard their report and showed an expression of disappointment and heartache after watching the video of the plants growing wildly.

The surprise was dashed, and his mood fluctuated greatly. It was a big blow to the director of the cultivation garden.

A Yan watched them from the side and couldn't help but look at the breeder. He felt that the sudden wild growth of those plants was not due to mutation.

They are obviously happy because they see the breeder. If he were a plant, he would also be happy to bloom and bear fruit when he sees the breeder.

He also wants to give the sweetest and most delicious fruits to the breeder!

Su Ci lowered his eyes and looked at A Yan. He had a feeling that this child was thinking about something, but his eyes were bright and he looked very likable.

As for the depressed mood of others, he didn't care.

It is true that he could make these ordinary plants grow quickly, but he did not intend to do so. Although he obtained fruits, these plants also paid the price of withering and rotting.

If they are planted in the ground, they will quickly absorb all the soil's nutrients and convert them into the energy they need for growth.

This practice will only do harm to the earth, which needs to recuperate.

"No, we can't just give up like this!"

However, as the person in charge of the breeding garden, Wu Yunqin was unwilling to miss such an excellent "mutant". She was determined and wanted to overcome this difficulty.

Conventional methods of reproduction and cultivation are incapable of this, so can we use advanced technology to address this issue at the genetic level? Although past experience suggests that the mutants of Prison Star are beyond the reach of current scientific research, we still have to give it a try.

Therefore, this decisive person in charge immediately called several other assistants to start a comprehensive inspection of the plants in the greenhouse. The three withered star chain fruits were also taken away by them.

Judging from the situation, the plantation will never miss any chance of success. Although the final result may not be satisfactory, this spirit is still worthy of admiration.

At least, Su Ci thought it was pretty good.

A group of people left in a hurry, only Zhuang Shisong and Wei Ming were left behind because they had things to deal with.

When Wei Ming took the strong man from the logistics department to receive the supplies, Zhuang Shisong remembered something. He turned his head to look beside him, but found that Su Ci was gone.

"Where is the breeder Su?" He looked at Gu Qingchen next to him and asked.

Gu Qingchen was studying the star chain fruit plants in the greenhouse. Although he couldn't figure it out, it didn't stop him from liking it.

Looking at these lush green plants really puts me in a good mood! Besides being highly nutritious and easy to reproduce, the star chain fruit itself is also very ornamental.

The star-like leaves are very suitable for making bookmarks. Of course, on the Prison Star where resources are scarce, these vine leaves will eventually become dishes for the warriors to supplement dietary fiber.

Hearing Zhuang Shisong's question, Gu Qingchen remembered what Su Ci had asked him to do. He looked up and around, looking for the figure of the trainee breeder.

However, before he found Su Ci, Zhuang Shisong had already discovered him.

Su Ci walked out of the greenhouse slowly, not at all afraid of the plants that had just experienced a "mutation". In his hand, he was holding a handful of dead vines and necrotic roots.

The three withered star chain fruits had grown too big. Although Wu Yunqin had taken them away as intact as possible, some scraps were inevitably left behind.

Su Ci collected these scraps.

Zhuang Shisong walked over and heard the young man say, "The fertilizer in the culture medium is not enough. It's better to add some."

Hearing this, Zhuang Shisong was startled and nodded, "Okay, thank you for the reminder."

Just looking at the withered vines in Su Ci's hand, he hesitated for a moment and said softly, "Keeper Su, what are you doing with these things?"

Su Ci didn't explain. He looked at the withered vine in his hand and asked, "Can I take it away?"