Chapter 939: The Switched Green-Light Soybeans

At five in the afternoon, Xia Qing took a stack of printed documents from the Ninth Planting Center to Territory Seven to find Zhang San. The nominal reason was to discuss the new greenhouses and hothouses being added to the Ninth Center, but in reality she was using the opportunity to deliver Calamity-Withering Grass leaves.

The Calamity-Withering Grass leaves were very small and colorless and transparent, so Xia Qing simply tucked them into her pocket and passed through the security gate of Territory Seven. After being frisked by the female squad member of Ji Li's squad, she followed Ji Li to Zhang San's office.

All the procedures were the same as before, but Xia Qing still keenly sensed something off about Ji Li. The oddity didn't show on his stern face, but in his demeanor. Ji Li gave Xia Qing a sense of heaviness; his footsteps seemed heavier than before, as if an invisible burden weighed on his heart and shoulders.

Xia Qing asked, "Brother Ji, did Princess and the others like the green-light bamboo rats you traded for this morning?"

The tabby cat in Zhang San's territory had two kittens last year; Hu Zifeng took one, leaving one. This year Princess didn't have kittens, so there were still two cats.

Ji Li nodded and answered sternly, "They were all right."

Even mentioning cats didn't lighten Ji Li's tone much; it seemed something really had happened. Xia Qing said nothing more and followed him to the two-story snow-white building that was Zhang San's office area. After being checked once more by the security personnel wearing Zheng Chen's squad armbands, she was finally allowed inside.

Ji Li stopped at the building's entrance, and Xia Qing followed a squad member of Zheng Chen's squad to the door of Zhang San's office. After entering the office and closing the door, she handed over the printed documents. "Third Brother, the hothouse construction at our center is moving very fast; we'll have fifty hothouses finished by next month. I want to build ten more brick-walled hothouses…"

Zhang San stared down at his phone screen, and only after seeing the guard walk out of the small building did he lean back against the soft chair. He asked, "How many jin of edamame did you pick?"

Xia Qing answered, "Two jin."

Zhang San sighed. "The weight is the same, but every single one is a normal soybean."

Xia Qing's heart sank too. "I picked the edamame from twenty soybean plants, three of which were problem plants. Were the soybeans in your territory picked?"

Of the green-light soybean seeds compensated by Liehuo, Zhang San kept two jin to plant in his own territory and gave Xia Qing three jin.

Zhang San slowly shook his head. "Based on the test results of the pods, some of these soybeans came from your territory, and some from other territories."

Xia Qing guessed, "Most likely Territory Fourteen. I'll find out as soon as possible whether Territory Fourteen planted soybeans."

Zhang San nodded. "Don't be too hasty. Stay safe."

"Don't worry. I'm using Seeing Xin Yu's scout birds to reconnoiter from high altitude; they won't notice."

Xia Qing continued analyzing the current situation. "The beans in your territory are planted in standardized greenhouses, so they aren't exposed to excess Calamity elements, and won't develop aggressive Calamity-evolution situations. As long as you don't test the beans' quality, you won't notice the problem. As long as the problem beans in my territory are picked out, there's a chance Liehuo's research on bioweapon soybeans can be kept secret. Third Brother, what do you think—how is Ji Li accurately distinguishing bean quality? Does he have a tool that can screen bean quality, or is he also a high-level magnetic-sense Evolver?"

Taking beans from other territories was no challenge at all for the high-level speed Evolver Ji Li; the hard part was how he quickly picked out the problem beans from Territory Three and replaced them all with ordinary green-light soybeans.

This was also the point Zhang San wanted to understand. "It probably has nothing to do with magnetic-sense evolution ability. Once the edamame pod detaches from the plant, there's no longer any transpiration flow or translocation flow inside, so it can't generate a weak electromagnetic field."

Not magnetic sense…

Xia Qing took out her phone and showed her idol the work video of employee Xiao Feimao, No. 001 of Territory Three. "Third Brother, look—this red squirrel you saved can accurately screen seed quality, picking out cultivable optimized seeds from a massive batch. What kind of ability do you think this counts as?"

Zhang San sat up straight, took Xia Qing's phone, enlarged the video, and watched it carefully several times before reaching a preliminary conclusion. "Its nostrils kept trembling slightly while searching for seeds. It should be using its highly evolved sense of smell to detect the subtle differences in odor between seeds with different Calamity-element contents. To confirm this, we'd need detailed testing."

Xia Qing's eyes lit up. "So Xiao Feimao is a high-level olfactory Evolver! You're amazing, Third Brother—you can grasp the key point at a glance!"

Zhang San rolled his eyes at Xia Qing, too lazy to respond.

Xia Qing immediately pulled the conversation back on topic. "Third Brother, a high-level olfactory-evolution squirrel's sense of smell should be more powerful than a human high-level olfactory Evolver's, right?"

Zhang San rolled his eyes at Xia Qing again, showing his disdain for the question, but still gave an answer. "Olfaction has two key indicators: breadth and sensitivity. The former is the variety of odors one can distinguish; the latter is the detection threshold for a given odor. Different animals vary greatly on these two indicators, so olfactory evolution grades aren't compared across species. A human olfactory Evolver refers to a 'person' who possesses broader olfactory breadth and higher sensitivity than an ordinary 'person.'"

"Because humans also have highly developed vision and other abilities, their dependence on olfaction kept decreasing through evolution, causing more than half of the olfactory receptor genes to lose normal function and become pseudogenes. During the Great Evolution on Blue Star, some of the human pseudogenes recovered normal function and became functional genes…"

As a die-hard, deep-in-the-trench fan, Xia Qing understood immediately and humbly asked, "Third Brother, is it true that the more pseudogenes that convert to normal genes, the higher the olfactory evolution grade?"

As if it were that simple?!

Zhang San was getting a little impatient. "Humans have 821 olfactory receptor genes. Yan Long's olfactory receptor genes still contain 45 pseudogenes."

Xia Qing pulled out a pack of green-light original-flavor bamboo shoot strips, tore it open, and handed it to her idol, continuing to ask for guidance. "If Sister Yan's 45 pseudogenes all convert to normally functioning genes, will she be able to become a top-tier olfactory Evolver?"

With green-light delicacies in hand, Zhang San's mood improved considerably, and he continued explaining. "Beyond the number of olfactory receptor genes, the monoallelic expression of olfactory sensory neurons—that is, the expression ability that activates a single olfactory receptor gene—also depends on the influence of many factors, such as spatial interactions across different chromosomal loci and enhancers. Based on my genetic testing of Yan Long, the probability of her becoming a top-tier olfactory Evolver isn't high."

Already thoroughly confused, Xia Qing didn't dare ask any deeper questions and only asked something related to the problem they needed to solve today. "Third Brother, how many olfactory receptor genes does a red squirrel have?"

Zhang San answered, "A red squirrel of your variety should have between 1,500 and 1,800."

Xia Qing… had just gained an entire extra digit…

Zhang San rolled his eyes at Xia Qing in disdain again. "Gene count only determines breadth, not sensitivity!"

Um… Xia Qing summoned her courage and asked, "Third Brother, then is a human high-level olfactory Evolver's sensitivity in distinguishing odors stronger than a red squirrel's?"

"There are trillions of kinds of odors. Humans surpass red squirrels in sensitivity when distinguishing complex odors that humans find pleasant. As for your red squirrel, it should perform more outstandingly in perceiving the odor of Calamity elements or Yi elements…" Zhang San paused here, holding a bamboo shoot strip in his mouth without moving.