However, it was too late when Qianyue reminded her.
Hulu took a bite and immediately tore the leaves of the plant into pieces.
By the time Qianyue quickly got up and walked over, Hulu had already gnawed a hole in the plant's leaves.
"Be good and don't eat this."
Qianyue quickly pulled it away, then turned around to look at the plant, and suddenly felt her heart bleeding.
Although it is called a plant, the one in front of us is actually very different from other plants in the desert.
To reduce water loss through evaporation, most common desert plants are short and slender - at least that's how they appear from the part that's exposed above the soil.
But the one in front of me is about the size of a suitcase, with flat and wide leaves, and looks like a tropical plant.
Compared with the tiny patches of grass around it, it looks like a noble lady who has strayed into the film set.
It's just that this lady seems a little too sloppy in appearance.
Countless small flowers like dead grass bloomed in the middle of the plant, followed by broad leaves that spread out in all directions in layers.
The leaves are long and short, but most of them are about half a meter long.
The part near the center of the plant is all green, but from the middle it gradually changes from green to yellow, and finally it completely dries up and shrinks, and is permed by the scorching sun into fashionable big waves.
The "big waves" were spread out in a mess on the ground, scattered everywhere in all directions.
From the perspective of shape, it looks like a pile of randomly stacked dead grass, which is so abstract and outrageous.
After the little camel took a bite, the whole plant looked even more indescribable.
The more Qianyue looked, the more heartbroken she felt: "You have such good taste."
Hulu blinked and continued chewing the still green leaves in his mouth, while he ruthlessly spat out the dry parts.
Qianyue was a little amused and helpless for a moment.
There are so many plants around, but it doesn't eat them. Instead, it chooses this Welwitschia.
Qianyue sighed and said, "It took at least hundreds of years for this Welwitschia plant to grow to this size. With this bite, you've at least taken away decades of other people's hard work."
Little Hulu doesn't understand what decades or hundreds of years mean. In its eyes, these are all food.
But it wasn't obsessed with it, and it had just happened to eat the Welwitschia plant. Now Qianyue pushed it away, and it went off to find some grass to eat somewhere else.
However, the barrage became lively again.
"23955233: Hundreds of years? Isn't that older than my grandfather's grandfather?"
"Buye-chan~: Are you kidding me?"
"Sweetheart: Holy shit, I checked, it's true."
The Welwitschia plant is also called the "desert octopus" because its abstract appearance resembles an octopus. At first glance, it looks like a big octopus lying there.
But don't be fooled by its abstract appearance, its value is immeasurable.
The name "Qian Sui" tells you how tenacious its vitality is. Even in a desert environment, it can survive for thousands of years, making it a living fossil among plants.
Qianyue is a biology student. In biology, they usually use phylum, class, order, family and genus to classify plants and animals - just like humans divide their family tree based on blood relationships.
In Qianyue's impression, because the Welwitschia has survived for too long, the plants of the same class, order, family and genus - that is, its relatives - have all died out thousands of years ago, leaving only the Welwitschia.
Just like the "unlucky star" in fantasy novels, this situation is rare.
Another plant with a similar situation to the Welwitschia is the Ginkgo biloba, but because the latter is planted in large numbers, its tortuous "life story" is often easily overlooked, so it lacks that sense of loneliness.
"Mrs. Quan-GY: I wanted to laugh at this pile of dead grass, but after doing some research, I just can't help but sigh at how amazing nature is."
"Zhao Yan: My great octopus is amazing."
Qianyue used her exploration cane to lift up the leaves of the Welwitschia plant and examine them carefully. After a moment, her mood became visibly lighter.
"Hulu, maybe we can reach the oasis soon."
In the desert, the growth conditions of any plant can reflect the local water resources situation.
Especially "large plants" like Welwitschia, which are simply living measuring instruments - because they will continue to move in the desert following water sources.
That's right, mobile.
However, this movement does not mean growing two legs like animals, but rather controlling the growth of the root system, shortening the roots in the direction of water shortage and lengthening the roots in the direction of water abundance, and finally completing the movement with the help of the flow of wind and sand.
Someone once joked: If you follow the Welwitschia, you might even find yourself at the oasis.
But jokes are just jokes after all. In fact, this process is very slow, and it is not surprising that it takes hundreds of years. Other creatures simply do not have that much lifespan to copy its route.
But then again, it is undeniable that where there is Welwitschia, there must be water, or even underground rivers.
The proportion of green on its leaves can almost accurately reflect the water content underground.
Although the ground is covered with its curls, the yellowing on the leaves of the Welwitschia plant in front of us is not very high. On the contrary, it is growing well.
——This proves that the groundwater resources under their feet are quite abundant.
As long as Qianyue takes out the shovel and digs down now, he will definitely be able to reach the aquifer within three meters.
"There's quite a lot of greenery around here, so the underground water content must be quite high. Maybe there's a lake in the nearby oasis."
The little camel didn't understand what she was saying at all and was concentrating on eating.
Qianyue didn't care. After her occupational disease took over, she carefully looked at the Welwitschia in front of her and muttered to herself:
"It's growing well, not much yellowing."
"Ye is only a little over one meter tall. Excluding malnutrition, it's probably because he's still young."
"The flowering seems a little less than ideal, probably due to a sandstorm or something. I don't think the sowing rate for this crop will be good..."
Welwitschia: ...
"Please check your package: It looks just like the old doctor I had my physical with at the school hospital, hahahaha"
"Celery: Is that the wind? I feel like I see that Welwitschia trembling, hahahaha."
"Yituanbai: When I watched it before, she was still a cool sister. Today, I feel like the anchor is a different person 2333"
"Winter Fish: The host is so cute even when he's mumbling to himself."
"Chu: "Hulu: The human world is so complicated. I'd better continue eating grass."
"Three: I'm suddenly curious about what the anchor studied. How come he seems to know so much about everything?"
"Yan Buxian: Want to know +1"
"Lala Lulu: I'm sure the host's job is definitely related to plants. That expression is like a forensic doctor seeing a corpse."
"Ten-Yuen Tanuki:??? The medical examiner's reputation is damaged."
"Nani: I feel like the host's style is very similar to that of a forum host (very quiet)"
"Eating 300 lychees a day: Is that the one with the salty fish post? I felt the same way at first!"
Seeing that Qianyue’s forum account was in danger, the topic suddenly took a sharp turn.
"Hou Li: ...Wait a minute, I think I know who the host is. Holy shit, no wonder she's so awesome!!!"
"Yuzu: So?"
"Hou Li: No, I'm too excited ahhhhhh!!!"
"A bowl of soup: Stop sighing and say something!"
"Fuzhu: Tell me quickly! I'm so curious!"
…
"Xiao Ge: Where are the people?"
"Sanliubufen: Ah, I remember this ID. He seemed to say that his mentor asked him to watch the live broadcast and asked him to take notes. Could he be his schoolmate?"
…
There was a lot of discussion in the barrage.
However, the person with the username "Hou Li" disappeared after posting this sentence, and there was gradually no follow-up.
The sun gradually rose higher, and the temperature climbed again. It was so hot that it felt like being scorched. At the same time, the aftereffects of the long journey the day before also showed up. My whole body was sore and painful, but I couldn't use any props to completely relieve the pain.
The players all looked tired, and it was clear from the scenes in the live broadcast room how exhausted they were.
In this situation, the simple black tent on the cover of a live broadcast room once again became the focus of curiosity in the eyes of the audience.
After clicking in, I found that it was a female player and her camel.
After discovering the Welwitschia, Qianyue did not leave immediately, but found a suitable place nearby to repeat the shed-building operation of yesterday.
Hulu still stood obediently as a trellis, with the hump on its back pushing the sunshade net high to the ground.
For this, Qianyue took out the carrot from her bag and fed it to Hulu as a reward.
The little camel probably had never eaten carrots before. He was stunned for a moment at first, but then he ate it very happily, causing everyone in the barrage to exclaim "so cute".
I don’t know if it was Qianyue’s illusion, but I always felt that after a day, Xiao Hulu seemed to be a little bigger than when I first saw it yesterday.
Unlike the common Bactrian camel, Hulu is a typical dromedary camel, which looks like a "convex" character from the side.
This type of camel is typically taller and larger than a Bactrian camel of the same age, and can run faster. Historically, many police officers in desert countries even patrolled on dromedary camels.
Thinking of this, Qianyue couldn't help but say to it: "Grow up quickly."
She clearly has a mount, but cannot ride it and can only lead it around. This kind of suffering is enough for her to endure for one or two days, but she must not let it be like this for the entire dungeon!
Because she was wary of the rule of "reporting coordinates once an hour", Qianyue was much more cautious this time. However, she rested in the same place for nearly two hours and did not encounter any strange people.
After the temperature started to drop in the evening, Qianyue packed her bags and set off again with Hulu.
The sun sets in the west, the moon rises in the east. Countless stars twinkle in the night sky. Under the stars, a man and a camel, holding flashlights, search for traces of green plants step by step in the Gobi Desert.
Because Qianyue firmly believed that there must be an oasis near the Welwitschia, this time she did not insist on moving forward in one direction, but began to circle around and conduct a carpet search.
On the way, they first encountered a desert cat that came out to hunt in the middle of the night, and then Hulu accidentally stepped on a snake hidden in the sand.
Fortunately, Qianyue reacted quickly. The light from the flashlight frightened the desert cat, and she kicked the snake away. Neither incident caused any major impact.
Finally, on the morning of the third day of the game, they arrived at a lake.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
