Chapter 31: Suburban Greenhouse Picking

In the center of the side hall stood a massive wooden sand table.

Yellow earth and mud covered the sand table.

Wooden blocks carved to resemble cities were placed upon it, with several tiny command flags representing armies stuck in.

This was a military sand table used by Tang generals to simulate battles against Tuyuhun.

Yesterday, Li Shimin had stood here with various generals, pointing at the sand table and discussing strategy, full of spirit and confidence.

Today, he looked at this sand table and compared it to the Tai Xu Illusion Realm on the Sky Screen, which was so detailed it replicated the texture of city bricks and even simulated the soldiers' breathing and rising and falling chests.

A world of difference.

Li Shimin walked to the sand table and gripped the heavy wooden frame with both hands.

His arm muscles bulged, and his veins stood out.

"Crash—"

Li Shimin suddenly exerted force, flipping the entire wooden sand table over by its roots.

A dull thud echoed through the side hall. Yellow earth, mud, wooden blocks, and command flags all toppled onto the floor, scattering across the golden bricks.

The ministers were shocked and immediately knelt and prostrated themselves on the ground.

"Rusty scrap! A pile of useless dirt!"

Li Shimin roared and kicked a wooden carving representing an enemy city away with one foot.

"The Great Tang has no immortal artifact capable of extracting the primordial spirit, no iron box that calculates everything!"

"But the Great Tang has a million craftsmen! And tens of millions of brave soldiers willing to die!"

"Minister of War! Minister of Works!"

The two ministers scrambled and crawled forward on their knees to step out of the line.

"Your servant is here!"

"Summon the most skilled carpenters, masons, feng shui masters, and painters from across the land!"

"Send them to the border passes! To the grasslands! To Tuyuhun!"

"Use your eyes to see, and your feet to measure."

"Upon your return, use clay, wax blocks, and wood carvings! Recreate the enemy nation's mountains, rivers, terrain, passes, and cities for me, inch by inch!"

"Even a hidden ditch, an old tree, or a gentle slope."

"Get every detail right for me; not a single detail must be missed!"

Li Shimin stepped down the stairs and approached the Minister of War.

"I want to build a miniature physical model of the entire world right here in Chang'an."

"Before the army marches out, the generals must simulate the campaign on this physical model of the world for me ten times, a hundred times!"

"If you cannot find the method to breach the city with the least casualties, or cannot devise a formation to guard against ambushes..."

"... then you are not allowed to take the military seal. Get out and go back to your mansion to hold your children!"

"Even if you must use crude methods, you must reduce the casualties for me."

"The soldiers of the Great Tang are precious; they cannot die in vain through trial and error!"

A modern apartment.

Lin Xuan took the VR Headset off Xiao Sizi's head and put the helmet back into its packaging box.

"That's enough for today. Playing for too long hurts the eyes."

Xiao Sizi rubbed her eyes, and her vision refocused on the familiar living room.

The contrast of instantly returning from a battlefield filled with blood and flesh to a peaceful indoor room left her somewhat dazed.

"Lin Xuan," Xiao Sizi walked over and grabbed the hem of his clothes, "Did you show me these things to tell me that the weapons of future generations are now unstoppable?"

Lin Xuan paused in his movement.

He turned around and looked at this Tang princess who was too intelligent.

"No matter how sharp the weapons are, they are meant to stop war." Lin Xuan patted her shoulder. "Tomorrow I will take you to the suburbs for a walk. It's boring to watch fighting all day; I'll take you to see some strange things growing in the fields."

The next day.

Lin Xuan turned the steering wheel with one hand as the black SUV drove out of the congested city area and onto a smooth highway leading to the suburbs.

Xiao Sizi sat in the safety seat in the back row.

After rushing around all day yesterday, her asthma had been suppressed by medication.

She had slept very deeply last night.

When she woke up this morning, her cheeks showed a healthy slight flush.

She leaned against the car window, watching the high-rise buildings gradually decrease outside and vast stretches of green farmland appear.

"Lin Xuan, we have left the city."

"Today we are not going to the clinic, nor can we go to that illusory immortal realm. Are you taking me to inspect agriculture?"

Lin Xuan glanced at the rearview mirror inside the car.

"Didn't you complain before that strawberries and watermelons were growing in the wrong season? We have all the types of historical novels you like; welcome to visit p>"

"I'll take you to see with your own eyes where these out-of-season fruits come from."

Half an hour later.

The vehicle turned onto a wide asphalt side road.

Ahead, a vast complex of buildings stretched across the fields.

Lin Xuan stepped on the brake, and the vehicle stopped in an open parking space marked with white lines.

He pushed the door open and got out.

The scorching midsummer sun hung overhead.

The asphalt road baked under the heat, sending up waves of distorted air. Cicadas screamed from the distant treetops, announcing the arrival of the sweltering heat.

Xiao Sizi wore a sun hat, a fine layer of sweat beading on her forehead.

She followed Lin Xuan's finger and looked.

Dozens of massive buildings sprawled across the plain.

The walls and roofs were all assembled from transparent Glass.

The steel frames refracted a blinding metallic sheen in the sunlight.

Lin Xuan slung on his backpack, took her hand, and walked toward the largest arched Glass building in the center.

Above the main gate hung a white plaque with black characters: "Modern Agricultural Technology Demonstration Park".

The moment the heavy Glass doors were pushed open.

The midsummer heat outside, enough to roast a person, was completely cut off.

A gentle breeze, mixed with the fragrance of grass and trees, rushed to meet them.

Xiao Sizi shivered and her steps stopped abruptly.

Her gaze pierced the lobby, turning toward the planting area inside.

"This... this is farmland?" Xiao Sizi's small mouth hung slightly open, her voice trembling.

In her understanding, farmland was black, rotting mud; it was yellow dust flying everywhere; it was where farmers, barefoot and bent over, poured sweat under the scorching sun.

But before her eyes.

The ground was paved with smooth, clean cement and green anti-slip mats, spotless.

Not a speck of soil was visible anywhere in sight.

Rows of thick white pipes, supported by metal frames, crisscrossed in mid-air.

Round holes were cut into the pipes.

Emerald-green vines poked out from the round holes.

Plump red strawberries, emerald cucumbers with yellow flowers, and tomatoes hung suspended in mid-air, detached from the earth.

They grew wildly along the white pipes.

Lin Xuan pulled her further inside.

Xiao Sizi looked down at the soles of her shoes.

The white shoe edges were spotless, not a speck of mud stepped on.

She walked up to a row of A-frame vertical planting racks, one person tall.

She extended a finger and touched a red strawberry hanging in mid-air.

The flesh was firm, covered in a layer of fine fuzz.

A living thing, real and tangible.

"The Qimin Yaoshu says, 'All things are born from the soil.'"

Xiao Sizi withdrew her hand, looked up at Lin Xuan, her eyes full of confusion as her worldview crumbled. "Lin Xuan, where is the soil? Without soil, how do plants take root? How do they draw the earth's Qi?"

Lin Xuan did not answer immediately; he pointed upward.

Xiao Sizi followed his finger and looked up.

Beneath the Glass canopy, ten-plus meters high, countless long fluorescent tubes hung densely.

At this moment, the sunlight outside was extremely blinding, yet these tubes remained switched on.

They emitted no white light; instead, they cast an extremely psychedelic, deep purple-red glow.

The upper half of the entire greenhouse was shrouded in this purple light.

"Listen to the sound."

Lin Xuan tapped the thick white pipe beside him, the one growing strawberries.

Xiao Sizi leaned close to the pipe wall.

Splash... splash...

A faint, rhythmic sound of flowing water circulated and echoed within the enclosed pipes.

Lin Xuan leaned against the metal frame, arms crossed. "All things are born from the soil—that is old history."

"The plants here have never seen soil in their entire lives."