Chapter 1238: Buying In Crab Shell Fertilizer

"Initial confirmation: the chitin in crab shell fertilizer stimulated the plant root system to secrete disease-resistant substances. Brother Huo has already sent the soil samples and data from Box 56 back to Territory Seven. I believe results will come soon."

Territory Seven has more advanced instruments and more professional researchers.

Xia Qing nodded.

Ye Yang, seated in his wheelchair, raised a risk concern. "It's only been 26 hours since the crab shell fertilizer was added, and the soil microbes have already shown significant changes. Could such a rapid response lead to new problems, like soil salinization?"

Crab shell fertilizer is made by crushing and fermenting the shells of sea crabs. Although it goes through a desalting step, using too much still carries the risk of farmland soil salinization — which is why Xia Qing reduced the dosage.

Ma Hai, the veterinarian of Territory Two, suggested, "We can cut back on the amount of crab shell fertilizer we use. The chitin in it can also suppress root-knot nematodes in the soil."

Xia Qing immediately gave the order: "Tang Heng, tell Brother Qing and Uncle Ping to confirm the current market stock of crab shell fertilizer right away. Buy it all in, split by channel and by batch — and keep it low-key."

Crab shell fertilizer costs 8 credits per jin, but it's far cheaper than the idol-configured agent that suppresses the harmful evolution of microbes in the potato fields. So they had to move early.

Two hours later, Territory Seven.

Zhang San reviewed the experimental data sheet Zhang Tao had brought over and gave his affirmation: "Members from different educational and research backgrounds, when they brainstorm together, generate a flood of creative ideas and often achieve unexpected research breakthroughs."

Zhang Tao, who had returned early from sampling outside, was also excited: "You're absolutely right. While our group was still in the lab analyzing the DNA of three evolved anaerobic bacteria, the Alliance Soil Research Department had already made a breakthrough!"

The Soil Research Department's members were diverse, and the research ideas they came up with together were many and varied.

Because time was tight and the task heavy, the group decided to try every method. So the department's lab held over seventy test boxes. Some altered soil temperature, humidity, and harmful-element concentration; some transplanted different crops from after this catastrophe to observe changes in the soil microbes around the root zones; others added different fertilizers and agents to watch how the soil microbes changed.

They hadn't expected that, when they checked those seventy-plus test boxes today, they would discover the effective substance for suppressing the harmful-evolution anaerobic bacteria — chitin!

Zhang San reviewed the experimental data and immediately laid out the next phase of research: "Zhang Tao, your group must confirm the dosage of chitin within 10 hours. The Soil Research Department side, finish testing the soil microbes in Alliance members' cultivated land within 15 hours. Xia Qing, you start buying in crab shell fertilizer in bulk — the first batch must be delivered within 10 hours, and we begin outdoor open-field pilot trials. Complete the pilot within 60 hours…"

Truly worthy of a big shot standing at the top of the pyramid — when it comes to research, he doesn't count in days or months, but in hours and minutes!

Xia Qing replied, "Already purchased. Right now 20 tons of crab shell fertilizer are being transported from the safe zone toward us, and will all arrive within 5 hours. Besides those 20 tons, I've also contacted the Agriculture Department and, through official channels, bought 285 tons from two bases in Guicheng. They'll be flown to our safe zone within three days."

20 tons of crab shell fertilizer sounds like a lot, but at normal application rates one mu of land needs over 100 jin, and the amount needed to rehabilitate the soil may be even higher.

Territory North One's winter wheat and vegetable planting area this winter will reach over 1,500 mu, plus the Ninth Center's 550 mu of winter wheat and 50 mu of greenhouse vegetables. The soil area North One needs to rehabilitate is over 2,000 mu. So 20 tons of crab shell is only a baseline amount — exactly how much fertilizer is needed will only be known in 15 hours, after the Soil Management Department and Zhang Tao's group finish their tests and research.

When Xia Qing called Yang Benming, the director of the Agriculture Department, and asked him to order the fertilizer from Guicheng through official channels, she already arranged that the fertilizer shipped back would prioritize meeting the soil rehabilitation needs of North One's farmland.

Zhang Tao hadn't expected Xia Qing to act so decisively and cleanly, and gave her a thumbs-up.

After Zhang Tao went out, Zhang San called in another researcher and had him contact the Guicheng Research Institute to pull the soil samples and data from Guicheng's safe zone and farmland over the past month. Only then did he say to Xia Qing, "In this catastrophe, Guicheng's damage was relatively light — it may be related to their heavier use of crab shell fertilizer."

Xia Qing joined in the analysis: "The hardest hit in this catastrophe were Huicheng and Red City — those regions in the central-south of our country. In the north, Baicheng, and the west, Lancheng, temperatures have already dropped below zero, so soil microbial activity is low, and that's why there's no obvious change. Third Brother, do you want to contact the research institutes over there and have them simulate the temperature and harmful-element concentration of the last catastrophe to observe changes in soil microbes?"

"Mm, but it'll have to wait a few days." Zhang San took off his glasses and pressed the Jingming acupoint at the inner corner of his eye. "Baicheng is dealing with a large-scale harmful evolution of snow worms and is fighting the disaster; Lancheng has disaster conditions too. The research institutes can't spare any hands."

Disaster-plagued humanity, crazy Blue Star!

Xia Qing pulled snacks out of her pocket and set them on the table. "Third Brother, these are sweet potato dried strips made by Er Yong — the hardness and sweetness are just right. These are sour jujube cakes I made, and these are green pineapple plum dried fruit I traded for — sweet and sour, very tasty."

Zhang San's hand paused. He put his glasses back on, wiped his hands clean with disinfectant wipes, tore open the sour jujube cake's outer packaging, took a bite, and gave a lazy assessment: "Too much sugar."

"I'll use less next time…" Before Xia Qing could finish, she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out, looked at it, and froze.

Zhang San, eating the sour jujube cake, glanced at Xia Qing's expression and asked lazily, "Wolf looking for you?"

Mm…

Not the wolf…

"Answer it. See what it wants."

"…Okay."

Xia Qing pressed the answer key and asked the little monkey with the crooked hat on the screen, "Daigua, home yet?"

"Cough, cough, cough—" Zhang San choked on the sour jujube cake and burst into a fit of coughing. Xia Qing, afraid her idol would shake his bones to pieces, hurried over to pat his back and help him catch his breath, then handed him a cup of water.

Zhang San, who had been choked to tears, held the water cup and glared hard at Xia Qing.

The screen wobbled a few times and Xia Qing was no longer visible. In Mountain Bear Cave Number Sixty-One, the little monkey Daigua shook the phone, listened carefully, then opened his mouth and asked, "Eh—"

Xia Qing braced herself and picked up the phone. "Mm, it's nothing. I'm at Third Brother's place in Territory Seven. Third Brother just choked — Daigua, are you home yet?"

Daigua immediately closed his little mouth.

That meant he wasn't home yet. Xia Qing looked at the smooth, scuffed stone wall behind Daigua on the screen and asked gently, "Daigua isn't home yet — you're at your friend Little Bear's place?"

Daigua grinned, showing his teeth, shifted his position, and revealed the evolved brown bear behind him, hugging a bottle and licking honey.

The greedy little bear had long heard that familiar human voice. Seeing Xia Qing appear in the little box in Daigua's hand, it leaned in close, lifted its nose and sniffed, and its shiny black eyes rolled in a few circles, as if searching for where that human who looked so much like its little monkey friend was hiding.