Chapter 419: Modern Seeds Cannot Adapt to the Wasteland's Soil and Water

"Old Ye, I'm feeling a bit nervous. Do you think we can succeed?"

Sun Hao was so nervous his palms were sweating, knowing that everyone outside the planting area was waiting for the result, his heart pounded.

If we succeed, everyone will be happy; if we fail, how desperate would that be?

After all, everyone in Bi Hu Suo knew that day they were going to start planting on their own, with seeds brought back from the Special Zone and also those given by the goddess.

The purified soil gave them hope; over the past few days, the rigorously trained planting staff have been guarding day and night, waiting for this day.

Ye Heng's gaze swept over several test plots; the soil layer sparsely sprouted a tender shoot, which indeed looked promising, but he constantly felt a vague unease brewing inside, a bad premonition—what was going on?

Sun Hao's words brought him back to his senses; Ye Heng took a deep breath, strove to stay calm, and then said to the old man in charge of managing the planting area nearby:

"Let's begin, let's inspect."

The old man, upon hearing that, immediately turned solemn and walked over to one of the test plots.

They had planted a total of three planting strips; to the naked eye, the number of sprouts could be counted on one's fingers.

The old man came to the unsprouted soil, carefully dug it up, and found a small chunk of potato lying beneath.

By now, after these days, it should have sprouted; otherwise, the roots would rot if left buried too long.

Just as he dug up the soil, the old man smelled a foul odor, and his heart skipped a beat.

At that moment, Ye Heng had already approached with a few people, and at a glance saw the rotting potato chunk; his mood plummeted to rock bottom.

The old man opened his mouth, sighed, and said:

"Team Captain, let's not rush; let's check other places first."

At this moment, Ye Heng's face was grim; he already had a premonition of the worst outcome.

He immediately waved his hand, signaling everyone in the planting area to get to work.

"Dig up everything that hasn't sprouted and take a look."

Soon, everywhere in the three planting strips where seeds or root chunks had been sown, except for the sprouted parts, were dug up.

Without exception, none of them managed to sprout; instead, they rotted and stank in the soil.

For a moment, everyone hung their heads, their expressions complex.

After working hard for several nights, many of the planting staff, who had watched day and night and tended carefully, ultimately got this result.

Sun Hao couldn't accept it at once and slammed his fist hard against the nearby railing.

"How could this be? Is it our planting method that's wrong, or is the soil no good?"

Ye Heng frowned in silence, and the others also hung their heads, dejected.

"Maybe we made a mistake in the steps, or perhaps the soil really is problematic."

"What should we do now? The failure rate of the three test planting strips is too high; if we plant on a large scale, it's likely we won't get high returns, probably just wasting effort, and more importantly, we'd waste the food the goddess gave us."

From beginning to end, no one ever doubted that the problem lay with what Lin Meng gave us.

The pumpkin seeds were plump and full, and the diced potatoes and sweet potatoes had also undergone strict pretreatment; they were confirmed to be problem-free before being buried in the soil.

Ye Heng, however, remained relatively composed; he glanced at the sparse sprouts in the three planting strips, thought for a moment, and said:

"Dig them all up and see which ones have sprouted."

Soon, the holes where sprouts had emerged were also dug up; after everyone tallied them, some couldn't believe it.

"How could this be? The germination rate of our pumpkin seeds and potato and sweet potato chunks is actually lower than that of the moldy, shriveled seeds we bought from the Special Zone—did we really plant wrong?"

"Team Captain, could it be that the things the goddess gave us are special and need a better environment to grow, and since our environment is poor, they fail instead?"

"What can we do about this? Are we really supposed to just set aside the goddess's gifts and plant the Special Zone's seeds instead?"

Ye Heng also found this headache-inducing upon hearing it; the seeds Lin Meng gave were undoubtedly the best, but perhaps, as they said, these pumpkin seeds and potato and sweet potato chunks are too precious, needing better conditions to grow, whereas those native, moldy seeds actually adapt better and are more suited to the purified soil.

But if that's the case, they would be unable to grow sweet, tasty vegetables.

The seeds brought back from the Special Zone are truly poor in quality; even if their success rate is higher than Lin Meng's, the vegetables they produce are tiny and unpalatable, with pitiful yields, making the return rate too low—better not to plant them at all.

Thinking of this, Ye Heng couldn't help but sigh.

He raised his hand to interrupt everyone's discussion, then said:

"Let's leave it at that for today; we'll tidy this up, hold off on planting, and I'll let you know when I think of a solution."

The planting with Lin Meng's seeds has run into trouble; trying again would be wasteful, and the Special Zone's seeds aren't worth planting either, so Ye Heng intends to go ask Lin Meng about it.

That evening, as soon as Lin Meng finished her bath, she heard Ye Heng's voice.

He briefly explained the test planting situation, and Lin Meng immediately understood.

"Your guess is probably correct; your purified soil cannot completely remove the contamination inside, which makes it hard for the things I gave you to survive in such soil."

"Pumpkin, potatoes, and sweet potatoes are relatively easy to grow, but after all, they're my things; they might not be suited to your soil and water."

Upon hearing this, Ye Heng's face darkened further, and his mood became extremely heavy.

In that case, their hope of relying on Lin Meng for seeds to cultivate high-yield, high-quality dual-high agricultural products is nearly impossible; they'd have to, like the Special Zone, plant on a large scale just to increase harvest numbers.

But that would entail too great a cost.

Unless……

Ye Heng really wanted to speak up and ask Lin Meng for help; if the purified soil won't work, could the soil from her place be viable?

But he really couldn't bring himself to make such a request, since Lin Meng had previously said that soil cannot be privately bought or sold in large quantities there—it's troublesome and brings endless problems.

Seeing Ye Heng fall silent, Lin Meng thought for a moment and said:

"How about this: I'll first give you the good seeds I've bought, along with some books on planting, so you can study them thoroughly first."

"According to my idea, you might as well give up using the purified soil; give me some time, and I'll help transport some high-quality soil over."

As soon as Lin Meng finished speaking, Ye Heng, who had been somewhat hesitant, instantly brightened up and couldn't help but feel excited.

Lin Meng actually took the initiative to speak, leaving him somewhat at a loss.

Ye Heng said with mixed feelings:

"Would that be too much trouble for you? Didn't you say before that soil is also very precious where you are?"

Lin Meng waved her hand, not particularly concerned.

"It's not a trouble; I have other channels, but you need to give me some time. You can first study the seeds I bought for you—there should be many you haven't seen before, recorded in the books, so you can refer to them and learn in advance how to plant."

Ye Heng naturally felt grateful; Lin Meng not only provided them with precious materials, but even willingly offered high-quality soil suitable for planting—this is tantamount to personally delivering to them the hope of long-term survival!