The hard-to-kill red spider
"Haste makes waste."
Tian Baozhu didn't feel tired physically, but her feet couldn't keep up. She could only walk down the stairs one step at a time to give her legs time to recover.
Hei Wuchang was beside her, and she could occasionally hear him coughing softly. Tian Baozhu looked up at him and said, "You were too reckless yesterday. You didn't even have enough rest, and you kept working. I know how powerful the Soul-Snatching Scythe is. No wonder you said not to use it lightly. You should use it less in the future."
"The Soul-Catching Scythe cannot be used lightly, but I will use it when I need it."
"But didn't you say it would backfire on you? That's too bad for your health. I didn't expect your magic weapon to be so dangerous. In comparison, my summoning bell won't hurt you and is much gentler."
"The greater the backlash, the greater its usefulness. Even if I don't take it out, as long as it's on me, it will always devour my energy. The energy required by the Soul-Snatching Scythe is insatiable. If the outside world can't give it enough energy, it will take it from me. Using it also requires energy. In other words, whether you use it or not, it will erode you, it's just a matter of the amount of damage. That's it."
Tian Baozhu vaguely understood why Hei Wuchang was constantly upgrading. Magical weapons were supposed to be auxiliary tools, but the Soul-Snatching Scythe had become a deadly weapon. No wonder he was so fragile and physically weak.
"Have you ever regretted being the Black Impermanence?"
"Regret? That's not a choice I can make."
"Did the previous generation of Black Impermanence entrust it to you?"
“…”
He was silent, as if this topic was too difficult for him to answer, and Tian Baozhu did not intend to ask any further. She continued:
"But we will gradually expand the area of flower fields in the future. There will be no need for centralized cultivation. The rest is just regular watering, fertilizing, and controlling the temperature and humidity for plant growth. Compared to the previous land reclamation, these are all relatively easy tasks, and you won't have to expend so much energy."
Hei Wuchang remained silent, and Tian Baozhu also fell silent.
They went downstairs in silence, walked to the experimental flower fields in silence, and in silence...
Tian Baozhu didn't want to remain silent any longer! Still some distance away from the flower field, she asked:
"Senior, have you ever thought about how the red spider lilies will grow in the flower fields today?"
"I never imagined it in the underworld."
Appeared! The old employee who had been beaten by the underworld spoke. Tian Baozhu sighed. She knew that Hei Wuchang didn't mean to spoil the fun, and it was just a habitual response based on past experience, but she still wanted to dream big -
"I've been thinking since last night that when I go to the flower fields today, I'll see tons of emerald green shoots emerging, just like those little bamboo shoots, they can grow several centimeters overnight."
"Can they grow so fast in the human world?" Hei Wuchang finally continued to talk to her. It seemed that she should avoid talking about the past of the Soul-Catching Scythe and topics related to physical strength in the future.
"Haha, according to the laws of nature, that's impossible. We went to the field today, and there shouldn't be any significant changes. But I like it this way. After planting, I often check on it from time to time, like watching my own child, wanting to observe its growth every day. According to the growth laws of plants in the human world, it will take at least three days for it to sprout."
Tian Baozhu hadn't imagined her wish would come true so quickly. She went to the fields and saw that the red spider lilies in the row of land had already sprouted, each new green shoot emerging from the soil. And they were growing rapidly, much faster than any other plant she had planted in her human life.
When she walked around and returned to her original position, she found that the red spider lily had grown another three centimeters taller.
She marveled at how quickly plants grew in the underworld. But that was a good thing. The advantage was that it took much less time to grow lush plants than in the human world. It looked like they should be able to produce mature buds in just one more night.
After watering the plants and loosening the soil for maintenance, the day passed quickly. Tian Baozhu couldn't sleep again that night and wanted to go check on the growth of the red spider lilies.
※※※
The next day, the flower fields she visited weren't as lush and green as she'd imagined. Instead, they were covered in a thick layer of white. From a distance, it looked like a sea of cotton candy, not a sea of red spider lilies.
Tian Baozhu was trembling.
Hei Wuchang saw Tian Baozhu with her head down and her shoulders trembling, and he wondered, is she crying?
He raised his hand and hesitated again, but then he heard Tian Baozhu smile?
Tian Baozhu laughed out of anger. The red spider, the natural enemy of the flower-growing world, lingered in the human world. She never expected to encounter it in hell. Even the underworld could not avoid the traces of the red spider. It was really a nightmare.
But it also aroused her fighting spirit.
She explained to the helpers who were looking at the thick red spider web, not knowing what to do:
"These pests are red spider mites. If they are discovered early, they must be treated early, otherwise they will reproduce quickly and a large area of new shoots will be damaged."
"Master Bai Wuchang, can these newly planted flowers still grow? Won't it be like before, where we spent so much effort only to wither away in an instant?" The underworld employees who came to help were at a loss. That was why they were not optimistic about Master Yanwang's farming plan. Planting things in the underworld, to use an allegorical saying, is a waste of effort.
"Yes, as long as we remedy the situation in time. When I was growing flowers in the human world, I encountered many pests and diseases. This one is red spider mites, which spin thick white webs that suck the plant's sap and make it sick. In the past, for such a large-scale infestation, using mild pesticides would be faster. But in our underworld, there are no pesticides, and no pesticides are sold, so we can only remove the pests manually."
"As long as we can get rid of them. Lord Bai Wuchang, can you tell us how to get rid of these red spiders?"
"Red spider mites prefer high temperatures and dryness, so we need to do the opposite to control them. We should use water as a physical control. We should first use running water to wash away the silk webs they have formed on the flowers. After the webs are rinsed clean, we can use a cloth to wipe off the spider mites where they are active."
After flushing the spider webs with water, the thick layer of white silk was washed away. "Master Bai Wuchang, your method is very effective! It can be washed away with just one rinse."
The success of this method boosted the morale of the employees, who took cloths and used all their strength to wipe off the red spider mites on the red spider lilies.
A characteristic of the red spider lily is "you can see flowers but not leaves, you can see leaves but not flowers". Most of the red spider lily seeds they tried to plant bloomed flower stalks, and some grew lush green leaves.
However, the employees did not know how to control the strength, and as soon as they wiped it, the leaf was torn into two halves.
Everyone worked very hard to help, but the opposite happened. The harder they worked, the worse the result became. Within half an hour, the leaves that were rubbed off by hand were more than those that fell due to disease.
Oh my... Tian Baozhu smiled bitterly.
It is impossible to say whether this is preventing or exacerbating the scourge.
"Stop, stop, stop, everyone. Listen to me. Use less force and wipe slowly. Otherwise, the petals and leaves will be killed before the insects are removed."
Tian Baozhu demonstrated and instructed the employees, and they followed her example, becoming gentler as if they were treating a baby.
But at the same time, it was obvious that their work efficiency had also decreased. A light wipe of the spider mites wasn't enough, and they had to wipe them two or three times, which slowed down their progress. The spider mites were like guerrilla warfare with them, and after they had killed one batch of eggs, another batch would hatch.
It can’t be completely destroyed, it can’t be completely destroyed!
Ahhhh! Tian Baozhu was so worried. In the human world, red spider mites have always been a nightmare for flower growers. They have a strong reproductive capacity and will come back if you are not careful. However, in the human world, there are pesticides that can be sprayed to kill insects in a large area. In the underworld, due to limited resources, their insect killing speed cannot keep up with the speed of insect reproduction.
Hei Wuchang saw that Tian Baozhu, who was always confident in farming, was now anxious, and he also understood that this insect called red spider was not easy to deal with. In the past, his soul-catching sickle could help with digging fertilizer and weeding, but it could not be used to kill insects.
Once the soul-catching sickle is used, both the pests and the flower buds will be taken away and they will die together.
He asked, "Is there no other way?"
Tian Baozhu replied, "In addition to physical pest control, biological control methods can also be used, such as releasing natural enemies. Or, you can exploit allelopathic interactions between plants. However, these are not solutions that can be solved overnight."
"Allelopathic...effect...? Speak Chinese."
"I'm speaking Chinese," Tian Baozhu complained. "Some plants emit chemicals that inhibit surrounding organisms. If there's a plant that emits chemicals that spider mites hate, they won't settle in this place."
"Living things and plants are what the underworld lacks the most." Hei Wuchang understood the reason why Tian Baozhu had a headache.
"Yes, so at the moment we have no other options except physical methods."
Tian Baozhu's face was wrinkled like a bitter melon, but she didn't stop wiping away the pests with the cloth. Meanwhile, her mind was still spinning furiously.
She thought: Why are there no red spiders growing on the other side of Wangchuan?
Is it because the humidity is high there and red spiders don’t like it so they won’t come near?
Huangquan Road is dry and dusty, creating an environment suitable for the growth of red spiders, so she increased the humidity in the environment.
She needs to work on a sprinkler system.
To be honest, Tian Baozhu had no idea whether she could succeed, but she had to give it a try. She couldn't let the red spider mites destroy the new flower buds, and she couldn't disappoint Meng Po who lent her the precious red spider lily seeds.
She must not mess up the first farming task in the underworld given to her by the King of Hell.
※※※
Tian Baozhu planned to install a sprinkler system, so he went to a farm implement store first. The owner of the store was already an old acquaintance of Tian Baozhu, and the owner was much more hospitable than before. It was said that since Tian Baozhu and his friends started growing red spider lilies, the number of farm implements used had increased, and the farm implement store's turnover had been rising rapidly. The owner began to think about whether he could expand the area of his own farm implement store when he made the year-end summary.
"Master Bai Wuchang, please patronize us more often in the future."
As expected, money makes people work harder. The boss, who used to like to let customers choose by themselves, took the initiative to ask Tian Baozhu what she wanted to buy for the first time today.
The sprinkler system requires pipes and a power machine. It can be easily built by finding a hardware store in the human world or purchasing the accessories online, but don’t forget that this is the underworld, so Tian Baozhu can only make a simple device by herself.
There are many materials to choose from for sprinkler pipes in the human world, but in the underworld where resources are scarce, the only pipes available to her in the store are made of stone. After cutting the reserved sprinkler holes, she has the employees lay the stone pipes in the ground.
The pipes have been laid, but the booster device is still missing.
There was no electricity supply in the underworld, and the farm tool store didn't have any electric motors. She had seen videos about homemade devices, and they needed an empty plastic bottle to replace it. Fortunately, the underworld had boxes of water for sale. They poured the water in the bottles into empty buckets, and after the empty bottles were inserted into the pipes and tightened, they made a simple homemade supercharger.
After another round of busy work, they finally laid out their homemade irrigation system in the trial flower field. The last step was to let the water flow to see the results.
Tian Baozhu was nervous and expectant. She knew that not only she, but Hei Wuchang and the helping staff were also watching nervously.
The water flowed smoothly through the pipes, and the sprayed mist was even and powerful, quickly wetting the flower fields. For a moment, mist was sprayed in all directions.
Under the attack of this strong water vapor, the red spiders could not hold on any longer and fell to the ground. They struggled to crawl for a while but then stopped moving.
"Yeah! Great!"
Tian Baozhu was the first to shout out with joy, and the other employees also reacted and cheered along with Tian Baozhu. Some even shouted slogans, "Lord Bai Wuchang is so great! We will always support you!"
"Senior, yeah~" Tian Baozhu stretched out his hands and raised them high, wanting to high-five Hei Wuchang. Hei Wuchang didn't understand the meaning of this gesture, so he just stretched out his hands hesitantly.
Tian Baozhu lowered her hands and clapped them together. Well, that was a high five. She turned and ran to the distant flower field to check on the elimination of the red spider.
This high-five made Hei Wuchang stunned.
Strange, how...
Although both of them were dead and without body temperature, Hei Wuchang felt that the place where they had high-fived was as hot as the magma in a sea of fire, burning from the palm of his hand to his heart...
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