Chapter 1576: The Spinach in the Laboratory Has Matured

In the afternoon, while Instructor Yan Long was conducting special training with Tan Qi, Ye Shiyi, Lu Fangchun, and Wang Bo on Mountain 49, Xia Qing, who was about to enter the laboratory, received a video call from Yang Jin.

After Xia Qing picked up the call, she noticed Yang Jin was not inside the Evolution Forest but in the office at the Green Dragon Squad's base, and was a little surprised: If you're not with the animals, why are you calling on video?

Yang Jin, who had prepared himself emotionally, saw Xia Qing's face on the screen covered in green and purple bruises, and his heart felt as though it had been gripped tightly by a strength-type Evolver, the pain making it hard for him to breathe.

Seeing Yang Jin's expression, Xia Qing, her face impassive, assumed something major had happened and immediately asked, "Captain Yang?"

Yang Jin steadied his breathing and explained in a casual tone, "It's not an emergency. Are you at the laboratory door, Sister Qing? The spinach is about to mature?"

"Mm, either this afternoon or tonight." Xia Qing replied, waiting for Yang Jin to get to the point.

Yang Jin explained the reason for his call, "Xie Yu has set up the situation over at Hui-2, and she needs you to cooperate by putting on a little act. During the helicopter patrol over the Evolution Forest tomorrow morning, you and Huo Zhun sneak aboard and head to Mountain 86 in the northwestern part of Hui-3's Evolution Forest. I'll send you the exact coordinates in a bit. Within a five-kilometer radius of those coordinates, there's an underground research facility belonging to the Blaze Squad. Pretend you're searching for Blaze's underground laboratory, wander around for an hour, then come back."

Xia Qing didn't agree right away, "Does this count as part of the mission to take down the laboratory?"

If it counts as a mission, she can get a share of the profits.

Yang Jin laughed, "It counts. Tomorrow we'll start by stirring up the grass to scare the snake, making them panic and jump out on their own. This part can count as 0.5 shares."

Xia Qing disagreed, "One full share."

Yang Jin nodded, "Deal."

Xia Qing... couldn't guard against it!

Seeing Xia Qing's expression grow more animated without any twitching of her facial muscles, Yang Jin knew the pain at her injuries wasn't too severe, and felt somewhat relieved. He instructed, "Mountain 86 is on the edge of the northern raptors' territory, belonging to a flock of evolved ravens. You can borrow Xin Yu's tamed raven to accompany you. Be sure to stay safe."

"Okay." Xia Qing's face returned to an impassive expression.

Yang Jin asked, "Yan Long went too hard. Can you still hold on?"

Xia Qing, her face a patchwork of bruises, replied impassively, "I can definitely hold on until the day you come back and spar with Sister Yan."

Yang Jin laughed, "As soon as Xie Yu returns, I'll rush back. Shall we have a match then?"

"No match."

After Xia Qing finished speaking, she hung up the phone directly. Even after a month of special training improved her combat ability, she still wasn't a match for Yang Jin.

Sparring with and getting beaten by Yan Long, who wasn't a speed-type Evolver, allowed Xia Qing to learn useful moves. Fighting Yang Jin, she couldn't learn anything at all—it was purely seeking abuse and crushing her own confidence!

After hanging up the phone, Xia Qing told the two companions beside her, "Boss, Wolf Lao Er, I'm going into the laboratory to watch over our spinach. If anything comes up, just call for me."

"Baa."

"Moo."

"Awoo."

The Boss, who was chewing cud, replied. The little yellow ox tethered in the distance eating dry hay followed up. Wolf Lao Er, grinning with his mouth open, also chimed in. The three had been together so long that their tones were sounding more and more alike.

Xia Qing smiled as she took the little Flying Hairy out of her pocket and let it go play on its own, then swiped her face to open the laboratory door and walked in. In the disinfection area, she changed her shoes, put on a white lab coat, and a mask, then carefully washed her hands before entering the artificial climate cultivation room.

The Gao Yi-element spinach plants she had transplanted from the northern buffer forest greenhouse into flower pots in early November and moved into the artificial climate cultivation room, after being pollinated earlier last month, were about to mature.

Carefully opening the glass door of the cultivation unit holding 30 spinach plants, Xia Qing observed the condition of the spinach plants.

The reason she had to open each individual compartment door to observe was that Xia Qing had applied a layer of anti-impact soft film to the glass panels around and on top of this plant cultivation compartment.

The Gao Yi-element green-light spinach X-2 was Hui-3's signature specialty crop. With the base commander's special approval, Hui-3's Agricultural Department and Research Institute worked together to study how to improve the yield and quality of X-2.

This anti-impact film Xia Qing had applied to the glass was a specialized facility developed by Hui-3's Research Institute specifically to deal with the explosive threat posed by mature spinach seeds.

This film was more expensive than steel plates and thick wooden boards, but it had elasticity and toughness. When exploding spinach seeds hit the anti-impact film, they wouldn't be damaged. So Xia Qing had adopted this film without hesitation.

If she didn't buy the anti-impact film and some of the carefully cultivated, optimizable seeds among this batch of spinach seeds were smashed, Xia Qing would be heartbroken to death.

Xia Qing bent down and carefully observed the female spinach plants inside the glass compartment. Spinach before bolting and spinach after bolting looked like two different species; spinach in the mature stage and spinach in the flowering stage also looked like two different species.

At this point, the spinach plants had completely lost their fresh, tender color. The once thick leaves at the bottom had withered, yellowed, and curled. The straw-colored main stems, each nearly half a meter tall in the center of the plant, still stood tough and upright. The seed pods layered on the main stems had mostly turned from green to the withered yellow of maturity.

Looking closely at the plants, one would find these seed pods resembled 1,149 little bells hanging from the branches. The pod shells of most of the little bells had already dried out. If the wind was a bit stronger, these little bells would make soft rustling sounds…

How did Xia Qing know the number of little bells?

Of course, it was because over the past month, she had carefully counted them plant by plant, stem by stem, many times over.

The 14 spinach plants produced a total of 1,343 small green flowers. Xia Qing spent three days carefully hand-pollinating these flowers, but only 1,211 were successfully pollinated, swelling into seeds. During the subsequent growth period, another 62 immature seeds dropped off or stopped developing.

Xia Qing had recorded these numbers not only in her notebook but also etched them into her memory.

Tonight, after the seeds matured, even if she had to sift the soil in the flower pot through a fine sieve, she had to find all 1,149 seeds. Not one could be missing.

These little bells were really beautiful, and the plants in their mature stage were really beautiful… because this was the color of harvest. If she took off her mask, she could even smell the scent of harvest.

Xia Qing, bent over, couldn't help being captivated by the sight. She carefully counted once more, confirmed it was still 1,149 seeds, then gently closed the glass door and began tending to the other plants in the cultivation room.

Next to the glass compartment with the anti-impact film, there were 18 more spinach plants with a Yi-element content of just over six. These spinach had also produced seeds, but the bottom leaves had not yet fully yellowed, and the seed pods still held some moisture.

Xia Qing had deliberately controlled the temperature and humidity of this cultivation compartment to slow the growth of these 18 spinach plants. The purpose was to ensure that when that batch of "experts" with ulterior motives came to inspect the northern zone-one territory, these 18 plants would be exactly at the mature stage.

Thinking of that batch of experts, Xia Qing couldn't help frowning. Anyone who came to disturb her farming was no good person!

"Da."

A very faint sound of a seed pod breaking from the main stem rang out. The first spinach seed fell downward, striking a mid-level leaf that had not yet fully withered, tearing a small slit in it.

The leaves of this spinach plant trembled slightly from the impact. As the first seed hit the ground, the attack switch was triggered, and the seeds on this spinach plant instantly shot out in all directions.

The spinach seeds had matured!

Xia Qing, who had been in the laboratory for five hours, carefully set down the bottle of fermented giant bee excrement and quickly walked over.