Chapter 32
Water source has always been a headache for researchers in the plantation.
Plants can grow without soil, but they cannot grow without water. The environmental problems on Hell Star are very bad. In addition to soil, the water also contains pollutants. It
is too costly to transport water from outer space, so in the early days of the Red Mist, the first thing that the scientists of the Star Alliance needed to solve was the problem of water pollution on Hell Star.
It was a very difficult time. Because of the lack of water, they had to drink polluted water. In the end, countless defenders died from mutations.
Fortunately, after exploration, it was found that the concentration of pollutants in the underground river water was not high. After filtering and purification, it could barely reach the level of drinking without affecting the mind.
Although long-term drinking will still have an impact on the human body, the emergence of purifiers has successfully solved this problem.
As long as the warriors with excessively high pollutant detection results are sent to the purifier for purification, not only can they prevent out-of-control madness, but they can also gradually improve their tolerance to pollutants.
As for what benefits can be gained from improving tolerance to pollutants, this is a project at the research institute.
Originally, after the emergence of purifiers, the researchers at the plantation also set up a topic, which is-
can they research plants with purifying effects?
If such plants can be cultivated and planted on a large scale, not to mention their edible value, it will also be of great help in improving the environment of Hell Star.
Unfortunately, 21 years have passed since the Red Mist of Hell Star voluntarily withdrew from the human base in 1310 of the Star Alliance, and scientists have not made any breakthroughs on this topic.
Moreover, with the increasing frequency of extreme weather, the soilless cultivation technology of the nursery has also posed a severe challenge.
Of course, challenges often coexist with opportunities.
Crop seeds that can be successfully cultivated on Hell Star can often become excellent varieties on other planets, solving the food crisis caused by population explosion on other planets.
The vegetables produced in the Hell Star nursery often have some mutants with special effects.
Not all of these mutants are edible, but after 20 years of cultivation, there are already several varieties with stable traits. The only drawback is that the yield is not high.
In order to facilitate preservation, basically, these plants with special effects will be processed into special nutrient solutions, which will be supplied to various bases on Hell Star first to enhance the strength of the soldiers.
This is also one of the reasons why no matter how dangerous the environment of Hell Star is, countries are willing to continuously transport excellent soldiers to station there.
Only a small part of the special nutrient solution will be transported to the Star Alliance headquarters for sale. Since the first batch of special nutrient solutions produced on Hell Star came out, it has been ten years, and it has always been in short supply.
It is worth mentioning that because of the dangerous environment of Hell Star, some scientists have tried to simulate the environment of Hell Star on other planets to cultivate this special crop.
They transported the soil of Hell Star to the resource star closest to Hell Star, ready to use it to cultivate special mutant plants.
However, when the soil just arrived at the resource planet, an accident happened.
The moment the container was opened, a red mist containing high concentrations of pollutants rushed out of the container, which was filled with Hell Star soil, and directly engulfed the entire transport team and the staff of the cultivation base.
Even though these personnel were wearing protective clothing, they were corroded the moment they were wrapped in the red mist, and they went out of control and mutated.
What's worse is that the area did not take strict protective measures beforehand, and the incident happened suddenly, so it paid a huge price to kill all the mutants.
Although the local area quickly blocked the news, it could not eliminate the negative impact of this negligence.
That base has been listed as a restricted area since that day, but to this day, it is still shrouded in dense and terrifying red mist.
What is even more worrying is that the red mist is still spreading around, and the pollutants contained in it are already much larger than a container.
People have only then discovered another characteristic of the red mist - the pollutants contained in the red mist are not only extremely corrosive, but also self-replicating!
Scientists have also found through testing data from previous years that the concentration of red mist that retreated to the uninhabited area on Hell Star is indeed increasing year by year.
The only thing to be thankful for is that because of the dangerous soil of Hell Star, the base on the resource star was originally located in the wilderness far away from human habitation, so that no more people were affected.
After spreading to a certain range, the red mist did not continue to spread, but it did not dissipate over time.
Instead, it became thicker year by year. It is said that terrible movements are often heard in the red mist.
Because of this accident, all researchers understood the specialness of Hell Star.
After all, in the past 21 years, except for extreme weather, the red mist has not spread to human bases.
No matter what, the tragedy cannot be repeated, so the Star Alliance raised the danger level of Hell Star to the highest level, prohibiting any individual or organization from taking pollutants from Hell Star to the interstellar.
From that year on, every time a transport spaceship leaves Hell Star, it must be strictly inspected and purified.
Therefore, even though many people have noticed mutant plants with special effects on the Hell Star, they dare not act rashly and can only honestly purchase their processed products through the Star Alliance.
This also makes mutant plants one of the sources of income for each base.
The 24th Base is no exception.
However, for well-known reasons, the funds of the 24th Base have always been very tight, and it is impossible to invest too much in the construction and development of the plantation.
Therefore, the output of the plantation can barely meet the supply within the base, and naturally there is no way to obtain much income subsidies by planting mutant plants.
As the person in charge of the 24th Base Plantation, Wu Yunqin naturally wants to increase the output of mutant crops.
Not to mention the increase in income, the mutant crops themselves are very valuable for research. These powerless scholars would come to such a dangerous planet to work. Who wouldn't come for these mutant plants?
However, this is not up to her.
The cultivation of mutant plants requires a lot of manpower and resources.
Because if you are not careful, you may cultivate extremely aggressive mutants and cause harm to the cultivators, so the army is often needed to guard, and during the harvest period, the action team will be sent to assist.
As for the resource investment, it is very easy to understand.
After all, they are mutant plants, which can produce special effects such as rapid hemostasis, physical improvement, and mental expansion. The fertilizer required in the cultivation process has naturally increased exponentially.
And the 24th Base is really poor.
It was not so serious in the early years. Although the research institute also burned money, it could still produce results occasionally.
However, as the number of cubs in the nursery continued to increase, these cubs grew older and their destructive power continued to increase. The 24th Base began to become financially tense and gradually fell into a vicious cycle.
The funds that can be used for heterotrophic cultivation are very few.
In fact, Wu Yunqin had thought about going to other bases. With the skills she had, she would definitely be able to thrive in other bases, but this would make things look awkward.
After all, she was the person in charge of the cultivation garden at the 24th base, and she was the top person. If there was no job transfer from her superiors, anyone in the cultivation garden could apply to go to other bases, except her.
Wu Yunqin could only stay at the 24th base and run the cultivation garden with all her heart.
The reason why we are so worried now is that this batch of ordinary vegetables, in addition to supplying this base, has also signed an agreement with two other bases -
because other bases have set up prisons, in addition to prisoners, there are also many guards, and the demand for vegetables is very large. Although Base 24 cannot cultivate exotic plants on a large scale, it has no problem with ordinary vegetables, so it has cooperated with surrounding bases to obtain some financial income and resources.
Originally, it was planned that the harvest would be ready in the next two days, but because of yesterday's bloody rain, the concentration of pollutants in the air increased sharply, and it is estimated that it will take several days to drop.
In the past few days, the vegetables in the cultivation garden will definitely be affected. It is in the harvest period and there is no way to carry out any effective intervention. It is unknown how much can be harvested in the end...
"Huh?"
The surprised voice from the side caught Wu Yunqin's attention.
She turned her head to look at the young man sitting in front of the machine and asked, "Xiao Zhuang, what's wrong? Have you found anything?"
Those who can enter the cultivation gardens of various bases on the Hell Star to work are basically talents who have made outstanding contributions in the field of agriculture from various countries in the interstellar space.
Like the assistant next to her, although he is young, he has already produced several scientific research results, especially in the field of soilless cultivation. He is a rising star in the agricultural field.
Wu Yunqin has always attached great importance to his views.
After all, Hell Planet is not like other planets. It is always full of surprises. If you are not careful, serious consequences may occur, threatening the base and personal safety.
Hearing her question, Zhuang Shisong came back to his senses.
He pushed up the glasses on his nose, shook his head, and said uncertainly: "Nothing, I just feel that the water today... seems to be a little clearer than usual."
Hearing this, Wu Yunqin also looked at the monitoring screen and looked at the cultivation containers of those hydroponic plants. With many years of experience in soilless cultivation, she also saw the problem at a glance.
"Indeed, it rained bloody yesterday. Logically, the groundwater extracted today should have a higher pollution level."
Because rain has a great impact on underground rivers, the water quality will become turbid and even red after each bloody rain, so the cultivation circle needs to be specially treated before use.
But no matter how it is treated, it is difficult to completely remove the pollutants in the water, unless a purifier is asked to do it.
However, the number of purifiers is limited, and this is impossible, so they can only make do with it, not to mention that the water in this cultivation container is not only clear, but also looks cleaner than usual.
Wu Yunqin frowned and said, "Xiao Zhuang, go and test the water immediately."
"Okay."
After Zhuang Shisong left, Wu Yunqin continued to observe the vegetables in the culture container, and then was surprised to find that
the growth of these vegetables seemed to be better than usual? The kind of emerald green visible to the naked eye is very difficult to see in the Hell Star Cultivation Garden.
What is going on? Has there been another unknown change on Hell Star?
In a surveillance screen that Wu Yunqin did not notice, a plant that absorbed weak spiritual energy from the clean water source was gently stretching its body, constantly emitting joyful emotional fluctuations around it.
Pollutants in the air that are invisible to the naked eye actually retreated to the surroundings when approaching this plant.
On the other side, Su Ci, who was talking to No. 8, looked out the window with a sense of something.
It seemed that the arrangements he made last night began to work.
"Do you want this toy?"
No. 8's voice rang out, drawing Su Ci's attention back. He withdrew his spiritual perception, lowered his head, and saw the child looking at him with an expression of "Don't pretend, I know you."
"I haven't played this before, and it doesn't look fun."
No. 8 said, and swung the long tube in his hand again. It felt a little light when swung like a stick, and the feel was not good at all. The middle was empty, and there were several holes on the tube.
He had seen No.7 playing with the toy before. Every time the kid got it, he would blow air into one of the holes. He had observed it many times, but nothing interesting happened.
But No.7 always wanted to take this toy, like it was a treasure.
He came early today, and when he was choosing toys, he accidentally saw it, so he picked it up and tried to figure it out. As a result, when No.7 came, he snatched the long tube away without saying a word, and glared at him fiercely.
If No.7 had asked for it in a nice voice, he would have given it to him, but he snatched it from him and glared at him with that look!
It was obvious that No.7 was the one who didn't follow the rules, so why did he snatch his toy and have such an attitude?
At that time, No.8's temper suddenly came up, and he started fighting with No.7, so there was the scene that Su Ci saw when he just came in.
"Since you keep your promise, I'll give it to you if you want it."
Number 8 raised his hand and generously extended the hand holding the long tube to Su Ci, while he turned his face away and raised his chin high, looking cool and arrogant.
Su Ci took the long tube and said in a strange way: "Keep your promise?"
"Yes."
Number 8 blurted out, "You came to see me yesterday, I know..."
Before he finished speaking, the young boy paused.
Probably realizing that he had missed something, Number 8's eyes suddenly became evasive, and he stammered to change the subject, "Do you... do you know how to play with this thing?"
Su Ci looked at the boy's ears, which were gradually turning red. Although he was puzzled, he also said, "Well, this is a flute."
To be exact, it was a bamboo flute, but it was not made of bamboo. Su Ci was not quite sure what material it was made of, and no relevant common sense came to his mind.
"Flute?"
No. 8 originally just wanted to ease the embarrassment, but when Su Ci said it, his attention was really diverted.
It was the first time he heard of such a thing as a flute. He asked curiously, "What can this flute be used for? How do you play it?"
The young boy's green eyes were clear and bright, as if they contained a vibrant vitality. When he was calm and not controlled by the power of his blood, he was like a little sun.
Su Ci liked this kind of vitality very much, which was what the earth lacked today.
He walked to the corner, straightened an overturned chair, and sat down.
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