Chapter 194 The Uses of Hydrogen Sulfide "The Blue Flame Demon's Tone"
Saltwater lake? Considering the exceptionally hot and dry weather, Shu Xin immediately thought of salt production, but the most urgent task was to check on the patrol team's condition, so she and Nuonuo rushed to the medical room.
The flower fairies, dressed in uniforms, floated in the alternate dimension created by the magic circle, their bodies shimmering with soft magical light. Their eyes were all closed, and they seemed oblivious, though their faces appeared normal.
Noticing that Nonori visibly relaxed upon seeing the patrol members' current state, Shu Xin's heart, which had been pounding, also calmed down. After asking the Tree of Life and confirming that the flower fairies were not in any danger, she gripped her magic wand and said, "Let's go, we'll go to the dungeon."
The northernmost boundary of the underground planting area, which used to be a wall of earth and stone, has now collapsed into a huge, bottomless black pit.
...We had clearly communicated and confirmed with the Tree of Life repeatedly that the expansion of the underground planting area would not cause the surface to collapse. Who would have thought that while the surface did not collapse, the underground collapsed!
Although the demons had been driven out and were now running wild, Shu Xin still felt that the collapse of the dungeon was partly due to the demons' constant fighting.
The flower fairies who were originally working in the planting area have been urgently transferred to the underground city residential area. After walking out of the teleportation array, not a single flower fairy can be seen. All that can be seen are large areas of well-tended fields, whether they are water vegetable fields, moss fields, mushroom fields, or magic potion fields, all of which are very lush.
Before she even took a step, Shu Xin smelled a faint stench in the air. She frowned and sniffed, and found it strangely like the smell of rotten eggs—wait, the smell of rotten eggs?
Could the toxic gas in the new underground cave be hydrogen sulfide? The characteristics are far too obvious!
Low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide have a foul odor, while high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide completely destroy the sense of smell, making it colorless and odorless. This is likely why the patrol team members did not notice anything unusual when they entered the underground cave.
If this really is hydrogen sulfide, then the patrol team was able to carry out their exploration work normally in a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide gas, not only discovering the existence of a new underground lake, but also bringing out lake water samples. Although they later fell into a coma, the flower fairy's physique was already strong enough—Shu Xin remembered hydrogen sulfide as a highly toxic gas!
From afar, Shu Xin could see a light purple magical barrier covering the black pit. It was clearly Nono's innate magic, and it was precisely because of the barrier that the air in the planting area only had a very faint stench.
Having landed at the edge of the pit, Shu Xin looked down through the magical barrier. The river elves had night vision, not farsightedness, so Shu Xin's vision couldn't penetrate the great distance to see the bottom of the cave clearly.
However, it's not a big problem. The Tree of Life definitely knows what's going on with this underground cave!
The Tree of Life was indeed aware that this was just an ordinary underground cave, much like the original underground city that had been discovered. The reason it had suddenly collapsed and connected to the underground city's planting area was...
On the one hand, it is because of the repeated expansion of the underground planting area. The two underground caves were already close to each other, and the distance between the two caves has been shortened as the planting area has been expanded.
On the other hand, it was also related to the demons fighting in groups, which caused the originally solid and thick soil layer between the caves to crack and loosen significantly.
Another aspect is that the son of the Demon King of the Dimensional Demon Realm, a pure-blooded Nightmare, attempted to tear apart the spatial barrier to locate the Land of Sin, causing violent spatial fluctuations that affected the material plane.
The combined effect of these three factors led to this sudden collapse.
A pureblood nightmare? Shu Xin thought expressionlessly that this must have been provoked by Xi. Very well, his "reward" was gone. She would settle the score with him when he came back.
Just as the salt fields were being built, Xi returned with his men, weary from their journey. Along with them were a large number of flower fairies and commoners who had migrated to the land of sin, as well as the lord of Lotte City.
When Shu Xin received the message, she was checking the growth of underground crops in the underground city.
Shu Xin has simply named the new underground cave the Underground Salt Field. When dealing with the toxic gas inside the cave, Shu Xin consulted the Tree of Life and confirmed that the gas was indeed hydrogen sulfide. The Tree of Life gave Shu Xin two solutions for the hydrogen sulfide: one was to replace the air, and the other was to ignite it directly.
Shu Xin naturally chose the first method. Just as she was about to start doing it, she remembered the somewhat mechanical "search engine" nature of the Tree of Life. So she asked if this poisonous gas had any other effects. As expected, low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide can promote plant growth and development and improve the plant's adaptability to harsh environments. In other words, low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide can enhance the plant's drought resistance!
People can laugh when they're speechless. Shu Xin couldn't help but run to the Tree of Life and punch its bark. If she hadn't remembered to ask, the Tree of Life would never have told her, and she would have emptied the hydrogen sulfide from the underground cave!
Having learned that hydrogen sulfide had this use, she knew she couldn't just throw it away. After asking Bretzman, who had already adapted to his role as a teacher, Shu Xin extracted the hydrogen sulfide from the underground cave and transferred it into a time bottle.
In this world, hydrogen sulfide is used as a basic alchemical material. Because hydrogen sulfide is a flammable gas, it is collectively referred to as "magical flame" along with other flammable gases. Also, because hydrogen sulfide is highly toxic and has a foul odor, and the flame it produces is blue, it is also called "the breath of the Blue Flame Demon"—which is quite a apt description.
Following the proportions given by the Tree of Life, Shu Xin placed hydrogen sulfide diluted to a certain concentration into the underground city's planting area. She then carefully observed the growth of various crops, and the effect was indeed remarkable. Whether it was delicious mushrooms or various mosses, they all grew exceptionally well, especially the gray moss, which had originally grown to over ten centimeters tall and had now grown to over twenty centimeters!
The only downside is that the smell in the planting area has become a bit hard to describe—the flower fairies still carry a sweet and floral fragrance, but the air in the planting area has a faint smell of rotten eggs, which is both fragrant and stinky, making it particularly unpleasant...
The flower fairies' expressions weren't good, and Shu Xin was also a little overwhelmed. She was in the moss field thinking about how the hydrogen sulfide could be released periodically when she saw Pompom fly over with a wrinkled face.
"Xi and the others rescued the city lord of Lotte City?" Shu Xin was quite happy. "We're about to enter the Land of Sin! Let's go pick them up! Oh, we need to use a cleansing spell first..."
Shu Xin was somewhat relieved that they hadn't started releasing low-concentration hydrogen sulfide onto the ground yet; otherwise, it would have been incredibly embarrassing if the city lord had been knocked over by the stench the moment he flew into the Land of Sin...
After returning to the ground and confirming several times that there was no strange smell on each other, Shu Xin called her two subordinates to go out and greet them.
As Shu Xin flew over the salt field under construction, she glanced down. The construction of the salt field was not difficult, but the area it covered was quite large. The size of the flower fairies was a disadvantage in this respect. So far, they had only leveled and compacted a small piece of land. The timing of the demons' return was just right. They would release these guys after the salt field was completed.
As they passed through the snow-white walls, before Shu Xin could even make out the distant Lord of Lotte, Xi hugged her tightly: "I missed you so much, darling!"
Shu Xin hugged him back: "I missed you too."
Although she knew perfectly well that the Flower Fairy's "thoughts" were completely different from her own, Xi still smiled and her eyes crinkled with delight.
"Good afternoon, Nana Jia." Shu Xin greeted Lord Lotte, who was flying over, with a smile.
The noblewoman named Nana, dressed in the city lord's uniform, was a female flower fairy with long blue hair and blue eyes. There was a 99% chance that she possessed water magic talent. Among the flower fairies that Shu Xin had seen, all the flower fairies with blue hair and blue eyes had the talent for water magic. Moreover, although the servants following behind this city lord looked somewhat haggard, they were not at all as disheveled as the commoners who had endured the high temperature and drought to travel here.
Behind Nanaja was a magical cat, which also had blue fur and eyes. When the magical cat flew over with Nanaja, the extremely dry and hot wind became much cooler and more humid.
Is this magical cat's ability also water-based? No wonder all these flower fairies are in such good condition.
Nana bowed and said, "Good afternoon, Your Highness. Thank you very much for your kindness and compassion."
The magical cat also lowered its head along with its owner, and Shu Xin felt a pang of tenderness. She waved her hand and said, "Let's not talk about these trivial things. Let's rest at Flower Castle first, and we can talk about it after we eat."
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