The huge, layered leaves pressed down, like Princess Iron Fan's banana leaf fan, capable of extinguishing even the Flaming Mountain.
The fire in Xia Chuhe's hand turned into a wisp of smoke and dissipated with the wind, leaving the four people covered in soot and dirt.
"We can't get out now." Xia Chuhe walked along the winding cracks in the dry soil. "Let's see what it wants us to do."
The outside was cracked like a broken peach shortbread, but the inside was even more moist.
The further you go in, the wider it becomes, and a hole suddenly appears ahead of the crevice, with light coming from inside.
Li Qiusheng stopped Xia Chuhe: "I'll go take a look first."
Li Qiusheng pressed himself against the earthen wall, and in the blink of an eye, his figure disappeared into the earthen wall. Only a few protruding clods of earth could be seen rising and falling as they swam toward the cave entrance.
...
Inside the cave, the area was clearly divided into three sections, and three men were locked in a stalemate.
"There are only three rooms. That cunning plant must be hiding in one of them. Let's each choose one, and one of us is sure to be right."
"What about the two people who made the wrong choice? Should they die for making the wrong choice?"
"Everyone's using their own methods; if you make the wrong choice, good luck to you!"
"Stop arguing, let's choose together. The chances of three people escaping are greater than one person's."
A man with a thick beard made the final decision.
The three of them rubbed their hands together, eager to get started, and placed their palms on the far right.
The earthen wall shook, opening a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.
As soon as the three entered, screams erupted from within. Through the crack in the door, a figure swept out like a whirlwind. Li Qiusheng could vaguely make out that it was the bearded man who had taken charge.
However, even faster than this person were the orange-red tentacles following behind him.
The tentacles rolled up the bearded man's body, some even piercing into him.
His beard visibly thinned, and in just a few breaths, he became a skin and bones corpse in front of Li Qiusheng.
The satiated tentacles lazily dragged the bearded corpse back into the earthen wall through the open crack, and the earthen wall slowly closed, completely erasing the traces of the murder.
Li Qiusheng trembled and shrank back outside the cave: "Let's run away. I'll get out and find someone to dig a tunnel to rescue you. Five Star Company didn't say this job was this dangerous!"
With the inventory and the growth rate of plants and animals on Xia Chuhe Farm, several people could easily live out their retirement here.
But since we're already here, we should still go in and take a look. Mainly, the people there revealed a lot of information in their conversation; Xia Chuhe could roughly guess how the room selection game would work.
"Choosing a room should be about selecting the right place for your plants. Different rooms represent different soil types. Different plants prefer different growing environments. With a bit of logic, you can choose the right room. Don't be afraid."
Unfortunately, Li Qiusheng's loyalty level is currently below 60, so Xia Chuhe cannot use Li Qiusheng's special ability. Otherwise, she could see for herself what the "orange-red tentacles" are, and her choice would be more accurate.
Xia Chuhe looked up and glanced again at the layers of leaves in the gap.
Although these leaves look large, they are actually made up of small, pinnate leaflets. The leaves are not covered with fine hairs, nor are they smooth enough to reflect light.
The view through the gap is limited, and you can't see much else.
Generally, plants that prefer moist and watery conditions tend to have larger leaves with thinner, even translucent, epidermis.
Without considering plant variations, Xia Chuhe could not determine what kind of plant this was based solely on what he saw. He could only deduce that it was a relatively drought-resistant plant, though its drought tolerance was much lower than that of plants like cacti.
The group walked along the crevice to the cave entrance.
Lu Dangui tugged at Xia Chuhe's sleeve: "The pollution concentration is very high, it's dangerous."
Her words reminded Xia Chuhe that Lu Dangui had mentioned her special ability to purify pollution when they first met. Over time, Lu Dangui had rarely used her ability, to the point that Xia Chuhe had almost forgotten about it.
Can you pinpoint where the concentration is highest?
The area with the highest concentration must be the true hiding place of plants.
Lu Danggui: "We can give it a try."
Zhao Maomao stayed at the very back of the group the whole time, as quiet as a chicken.
As they were about to go inside, he timidly called out, "Boss."
Xia Chuhe gave him a look that asked, "What's up?"
Zhao Maomao immediately fell silent.
Lu Dangui saw through his thoughts: "It's dangerous, I'll go myself."
Xia Chuhe held the gun in his hand: "Together."
She gestured with her chin towards Li Qiusheng: "In case of any trouble, come and help us out."
Li Qiusheng, fully focused, replied, "Okay."
Xia Chuhe and Lu Danggui entered the cave one after the other. The soil in the cave was slightly damp and soft, felt good underfoot, and had a faint smell of humus. The soil quality was comparable to that of the farmland.
Above the cave, there was a hole through which light could be seen, revealing the thin stems of the leaves. This further confirms the assumption that this plant is quite drought-tolerant.
The cave wall is clearly divided into three areas, which do indeed look like three rooms from the outside.
The leftmost room perfectly matches the overall style of the place; the soil is dry and compacted, looking like it could be crushed with a single punch.
The middle room was neither dry nor wet, somewhat like wet clay used for making pottery.
The room on the far right was very damp, with water constantly seeping out from the earthen walls. The seeping water gathered into thin streams, slowly flowing into the soil where Xia Chuhe and Lu Danggui were standing.
If Xia Chuhe had to choose one of these three rooms, he would choose the middle one.
The bearded man and his companions chose the leftmost room.
Xia Chuhe squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil from beside her feet, and soft, dark brown soil particles leaked out from between her fingers.
Lu Danggui closed his eyes, stretched out his palm, and carefully felt the concentration of pollution in every inch of air and soil.
Lu Dangui took a few steps, her face expressionless.
After about three to five minutes, Lu Dangui opened his eyes and shook his head: "They are all...dangerous."
Li Qiusheng couldn't hold back any longer: "Boss, Mao Mao and I are here too!"
Before Xia Chuhe and Zhao Maomao could respond, Li Qiusheng grabbed Zhao Maomao's arm and hopped and skipped into the cave.
Li Qiusheng suggested, "The bearded man has eliminated a wrong answer for us. It's a two-choice question with a very high success rate. We can send one person in. If we choose correctly, everyone will be happy. If we choose incorrectly, there will be three people outside to help us. This will greatly increase our chances of survival."
Li Qiusheng volunteered: "My special ability is good for running away, so how about I choose? I think the middle room is more normal."
"Stop making noise." Xia Chuhe rubbed his forehead.
Judging solely from humidity levels, the middle room is indeed the most normal.
But plants need to breathe in the soil, and no plants can grow in clay soil; the middle room is too sticky.
"Don't worry about which room we choose. As long as we choose the right one, we can take the plant with us, right?" Xia Chuhe said. "It seems we've been misled by the bearded man."
Li Qiusheng was speechless.
“If you choose wrong, you’ll die. If you choose right…” Xia Chuhe laughed, “you still can’t avoid a battle. It really is… a very cunning plant.”
Xia Chuhe took a hoe and a sickle from the farm. She tucked the pistol and sickle into her waistband and handed the hoe to Zhao Maomao.
Xia Chuhe pointed to the soil beneath their feet and said fiercely, "Dig!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
