Chapter 17 The mud here is hard to mold.
After Chen Zhiyuan shouted, the entire corridor fell silent.
Those researchers who were just moments ago holding notebooks and looking all businesslike were now shrinking back, their faces as red as monkey bottoms.
They were so desperate they lost their minds.
The higher-ups were pressing them hard, eager to figure out what was so special about this child, but they forgot that he was still an infant.
Lin Jianguo snorted coldly, picked up Zhao Di who was still sobbing, and walked towards the family compound without looking back.
Chen Zhiyuan glared at the group of people and quickly followed after them with small, quick steps.
"Jianguo, don't be angry. These bookworms are just missing a screw in their heads."
As Chen Zhiyuan walked, he smiled apologetically, and didn't forget to take out a sugar cube that he had hidden very carefully from his pocket.
"Zhaodi, be good, don't cry, Grandpa will give you candy."
Zhao Di leaned on her father's shoulder, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. The moment she heard the word "candy," her little ears perked up.
She secretly turned her head, glanced at the white sugar cube, and sniffed.
"Grandpa... will bad guys still arrest Zhao Di?"
The little girl's voice was soft and sweet, with a hoarseness from crying, which broke Chen Zhiyuan's heart.
"I'm not arresting her anymore! If anyone dares to arrest Zhaodi, Grandpa will break their legs with his cane!"
Chen Zhiyuan stuffed the candy into Zhao Di's hand and made a solemn promise.
Back in the small house in the family compound, Lin Jianguo put Zhaodi on the bed and wiped her face.
"Dad, I'm hungry."
Zhao Di patted her flat little belly; she hadn't eaten the sugar cube, so she put it in her pocket.
Lin Jianguo sighed and turned to lift the pot lid.
There was only half a pot of thin porridge with very little rice; you could count the grains of rice on the plate.
Heavy snow has blocked the mountain passes these past few days, cutting off the base's supply lines.
The transport convoy was stuck halfway and couldn't get in. There were thousands of mouths to feed at the base, and the food reserves had long been depleted.
The current food ration standard has been reduced again and again. Even Commander Zhang took the lead in drinking thin porridge, saving the dry food for scientific researchers and wounded soldiers.
Lin Jianguo ladled out the porridge, which was so thin it was like water, and you could see your reflection in it.
He held the bowl, his heart aching.
We've arrived at a great place, so why is my daughter still going hungry?
"Have something hot to drink first. Dad will go to the logistics department later to see if he can get some cornbread."
Zhao Di didn't mind at all, and picked up the bowl and gulped it down.
After finishing his porridge, Lin Jianguo was called to a meeting by Commander Zhang to discuss security matters.
Chen Zhiyuan was also not there; he had gone to the lab to oversee the machine tool that had just been repaired.
Zhao Di was the only one left in the room.
It's so boring.
The system seemed a bit dull in her mind too.
[Host, stop spacing out. This system has detected that your blood sugar is dropping.]
[This place is so shabby, there's not even a decent meal. How are we supposed to grow up? How are we supposed to develop our brains?]
Zhao Di, with her short legs, strolled out the door.
Although the snow outside has stopped, the wind is still quite strong.
She unknowingly walked to a test field on the edge of the base.
This land was painstakingly cultivated by the base, hoping to grow some vegetables and improve their meals.
But now, that field is bare, there's nothing there.
Several old men wearing worn-out cotton-padded coats were squatting at the edge of the field, holding handfuls of soil in their hands, sighing and complaining.
"It's over, it's all over."
An old man wearing glasses was so worried that he was about to pull his hair out.
"The soil here is too alkaline, it's both saline and compacted, everything you plant dies."
"Let alone growing vegetables, even growing camel thorn is difficult."
"If this continues, all of us, numbering in the thousands, will starve to death in this Gobi Desert."
Zhao Di couldn't understand what they were saying.
She saw that the soil in the ground was white, like it had been sprinkled with salt.
Curious, she squatted down on the edge of the field and poked the clod of earth with her little hand.
It's hard as a rock.
"It's not fun."
Zhao Di pursed her lips.
"This clay is not easy to mold; I can't make a little duck."
Just then, the always cold and impersonal system voice suddenly rang in her mind.
[Ding! Emergency survival mission triggered!]
[Task Title: This land is in terrible condition and needs to be changed.]
[Mission Objective: To improve the soil structure of saline-alkali land, making it suitable for planting high-yield crops.]
[Task Reward: 1 bag of all-around cold- and drought-resistant super wheat seeds.]
Zhao Di blinked her eyes.
"Change it? How do I change it?"
"Are we giving the mud a bath?"
The system paused for a second, seemingly calculating how to explain soil chemical replacement reactions to a three-year-old.
Finally, it gave up.
[Host, let's play a game.]
See this lump of hard mud? Sprinkle some pee on it, then knead it hard with your hands.
[If you knead it until it's soft and black, you can exchange it for delicious seeds.]
Zhao Di's eyes lit up immediately when she heard "delicious food".
"Pee? How embarrassing."
Zhao Di covered her face, a little embarrassed.
What's so shameful about it? Nobody's watching.
[Besides, boy's urine is a good thing; it contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium... never mind, you wouldn't understand anyway.]
[Hurry up! Don't you want to eat some big white steamed buns?]
Upon hearing about the big white steamed buns, Zhao Di's sense of shame vanished instantly.
She looked around.
The old men were still sighing and lamenting on the other side of the field, and no one was paying attention to this side.
Zhao Di quietly unbuckled her belt and squatted down on the edge of the field.
"Splash—"
A stream of hot, wet boy's urine was poured onto that hard, saline ground.
After urinating, Zhao Di pulled up her pants and, following the system's instructions, stretched out her two little hands and began to mix them in the wet mud.
"Knead the mud, knead the mud, knead a big steamed bun..."
The little girl hummed an off-key nursery rhyme, her hands covered in mud.
The instant her hand touched the soil.
The system quietly initiated the [Microscopic Matter Recombination Program].
A faint, invisible energy flowed from Zhao Di's fingertip and into the soil.
The salt and alkali crystals that originally locked up soil nutrients were rapidly decomposed and recombined under the impact of this energy.
The soil's aggregate structure began to undergo dramatic changes.
The originally hardened, whitish dead soil gradually became soft and moist, and its color began to turn black, revealing a fertile, oily sheen.
"Huh?"
Zhao Di felt the mud in her hands soften, becoming as easy to knead as dough.
"It turned black and softened!"
She played even more enthusiastically, kneading the lump of mud into a ball and then flattening it.
Just then, the old men over there finally noticed the commotion.
"Hey! Whose child is that?"
The one leading the group was Professor Zhao from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the one who was pulling his hair out in worry just now.
He became anxious when he saw a child playing in the mud in the experimental field.
"Stop! The soil there is already bad; if you compact it any further, it will be even harder to plant anything!"
Professor Zhao feels sorry for this piece of land.
Even though nothing can be grown, it represents everyone's hope.
He rushed over, trying to chase the mischievous child away.
"Go away, go play somewhere else, this isn't the place to play!"
Professor Zhao had a stern face and spoke in a somewhat harsh tone.
Zhao Di was startled, still clutching the clump of dark mud in her hand, and sat down on the ground with a thud.
"Wow--"
"Grandpa's fierce! I don't want to play with Grandpa anymore!"
Zhao Di threw the mud in her hand onto the ground, about to cry again.
Professor Zhao was about to say something when suddenly his gaze fell on the lump of mud that Zhao Di had thrown down.
What is that...?
Black?
Glossy?
That's... black soil?!
Professor Zhao's glasses almost fell off.
This Gobi Desert is full of yellow sand and white clay, where would the black soil come from?
This kind of black soil can only be found in the Great Northern Wilderness in Northeast China!
That's incredibly fertile soil, so rich it's practically dripping with oil!
Professor Zhao ignored Zhao Di, who was still crying, and rushed over, grabbing the lump of mud.
Soft.
Loose.
When I brought it close to my nose, there was no pungent alkaline smell. Instead, there was a fresh earthy smell and... a faint smell of urine.
"This...this..."
Professor Zhao's hands trembled.
He looked up at the small patch of land where Zhao Di had just played.
It's about the size of a washbasin.
The original pale white salt flats have disappeared, replaced by a patch of dark, oily, and soft soil.
It was as if someone had cast a spell on us.
"Old Li! Old Wang! Come quick!"
"Come quick, everyone! What's going on?!"
Professor Zhao's voice changed tone, as if he had stepped on a chicken's neck.
The old men quickly ran over.
Upon seeing this piece of soil, everyone's eyes widened in surprise.
"My God! This is a layer of black soil?"
"How is this possible? It was clearly a salt crust just now!"
"Could it be that a spring has appeared underground?"
Several experts, whose combined age is nearly three hundred, were engrossed in studying the mixture of urine and mud.
Zhao Di stopped crying.
She sniffled and looked at the group of strange grandfathers.
“That’s the clay that Zhao Di made.”
“When Zhao Di peed, the mud became well-behaved.”
Professor Zhao suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Zhao Di.
"Baby, what did you say?"
"Did you pee?"
Zhao Di nodded, a little shyly.
"Hmm... Uncle Fairy said that boy's urine is a good thing."
Professor Zhao was stunned.
Child's urine?
Could there be some special enzyme in this baby's urine that can neutralize alkaline substances or break down salts?
This doesn't make sense!
But the facts are undeniable!
This small plot of land has indeed been transformed into top-quality fertile farmland!
"Amazing... truly amazing..."
Professor Zhao's gaze towards Zhao Di changed.
It's no longer like watching a mischievous child, but like watching a little tyrant.
"Baby, can you sprinkle some more?"
Professor Zhao asked with a hopeful look on his face.
Zhao Di shook her head.
"That's all, my stomach is empty."
Professor Zhao looked regretful; his expression suggested he wished he could take Zhao Di's place and urinate in her place.
Just then, Zhao Di felt a weight in her hand.
[Ding! Mission complete!]
Soil improvement was successful (although only in a small area).
[Reward: One bag of super wheat seeds.]
Zhao Di reached into her pocket and felt a bulging little paper packet.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com