Chapter 420: Placing A Seed In The Soil Is The First Step
Translator: Pluto Editor: EllisBLV13
After all human activities had stopped for more than two years, the skies on this planet became unbelievably blue. As vines and weeds grew uncontrollably, the abandoned city gradually gained layers and layers of greenery. Groundwater formed tiny streams along the red pavement bricks as it escaped through the cracks in the ground. Whenever a breeze swept through the city, it brought along beautiful white clouds that decorated the sky.
Without humans, nature went unchecked and the planet started to flourish beautifully in its own unique way.
The wind was getting strong. Ji Shanqing brushed away his wind-tousled hair that hindered his view and turned to look at Lin Sanjiu who was beside him.
“Sis, do you want to go down?” he asked as he looked down at street which was almost a 100 meters below them. “It is getting chilly on the rooftop. And, you haven’t eaten for a week.”
“It’s okay,” Lin Sanjiu smiled at him. It was immediately clear that she was thinking about something else. “Hey… what do you think it will be like inside that pocket dimension?”
Ji Shanqing was a little amazed that Lin Sanjiu brought up that topic just moments before entering the pocket dimension. That question had been bothering him for over a week. However, all he could do now was to shake his head.
“Regardless, it’ll be good enough if you can get back your strength. Even if there might be other conditions,” he sighed softly. When Lin Sanjiu first received her queue number, neither of them resigned to their fate and waited without doing anything. Believing that she still had a chance to resolve the problem herself, Lin Sanjiu suggested that they experiment with different methods to see if she could consume anything. Unfortunately, none of the experiments worked.
If they couldn’t find a vacuum chamber or s.p.a.ce that was completely isolated from the air, her [Nostradamus’s card] was basically useless. Furthermore, it had a storage limit. The crypt particles on a single pie already used up 4.5% of the storage. It was impossible for Lin Sanjiu to use her card to absorb all the crypt particles even in a small area. Even if they found a place, it was also difficult to ensure that s.p.a.ce was airtight.
Ji Shanqing did suspect that the crypt particles were only activated when they reacted with acid from a person’s stomach, so had an idea. If they could inject glucose water directly into Lin Sanjiu’s bloodstream, it could sustain her for some time. However, there were two problems with that solution. First, Lin Sanjiu would not get any of the protein, minerals or vitamins she needed from that diet. Second, the apocalypse event happened two years ago, any food replacement product would be difficult to find. Even though they could try to look out for such products, Harry’s Farm seemed the best solution for now.
Since they could not find any alternative solution, they could only focus on Harry’s Farm once again.
According to Farmer Harry, seven other people were waiting to be ‘planted’, but Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing couldn’t find any traces of posthumans nearby. In fact, they even monitored the entrance to Harry’s Farm by s.h.i.+fts but did not see anyone entering or exiting. Consequently, they couldn’t even get more information about Harry’s Farm from other posthumans.
Perhaps, this was the reason why Lin Sanjiu insisted on waiting on the rooftop of this building. Looking down, they almost see the entirety of the huge farm. From afar, Harry was just the size of an ant. His daily routine was simple. He moved between the farm and his cottage, but they couldn’t tell when he was actually “planting a human”.
Lin Sanjiu felt a hint of anxiety as she waited without news until the late afternoon of the 7th day. Her numbered tag finally changed from “First in line” to “Current”.
When they arrived at the entrance of Harry’s Farm, Farmer Harry was waiting for them in front of his cottage with a shovel in his hand.
“Haha, I am sorry. The last seed was a little hard to plant so it took a little more time… This shovel? Don’t worry, this is just a prop.” His laughter seemed unnecessarily cheerful. He gestured to Lin Sanjiu to follow him and looked at Ji Shanqing, “I think…our friend here, doesn’t need to be planted, right? Are you coming along?”
Ji Shanqing thought for a moment and laughed, “If it doesn’t hinder your work, may I watch when my sister is planted?”
“Of course,” Harry agreed unexpectedly, “But the planting process isn’t that interesting, so some people may find it pretty boring.”
“Planting process?” Lin Sanjiu asked hurriedly, “What does it involve? Could you explain the process in detail?”
Harry scratched his face, probably from the slight itch due to his new stubble. “No problem. When you enter the cottage, you will naturally understand… Ah, welcome. Come, enter.”
While they talked, the three of them arrived at the door of the cottage. Harry climbed up the stairs to his cottage ahead of his guests and opened the door. Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing exchanged a doubtful glance before finally stepping into the cottage,
Even though they had tried many times to imagine what the interior of Harry’s cottage would look like, the two of them were stunned when by what they were seeing.
There was no wooden flooring. There was no fireplace. There was no sofa, rug or dining table. There was no furniture. It was completely empty except the one thing that caught their attention: a hole.
The cottage consisted of four walls made of wood; the floor was just a plot of wet soil. When Lin Sanjiu first entered the cottage, she nearly fell into the deep hole in front of her as she was unprepared. She quickly regained her footing and cautiously pulled Ji Shanqing back from the edge of the hole.
There was a mound of soil on the other side of the hole. From the color of the soil on the top portion of the mound, the hole seemed fresh. Lin Sanjiu bent over and looked into the tar-black hole but she couldn’t see where it led even with her enhanced eyesight.
“Do you still have your numbered tag?” Harry asked as he put down the shovel.
“Here,” Lin Sanjiu took out the numbered tag and wanted to pa.s.s it to Harry but he shook his hands. “You don’t have to give it to me. Please remember that you have to hang it around your neck at all times. Keeping it in your pocket doesn’t count. You are only a seed or a plant if you have that. Without that numbered tag, you will just be a normal human that has been buried alive.”
Lin Sanjiu shuddered at own imagination and immediately put on her numbered tag.
However, Harry felt that he had not stressed enough about the importance of that matter. He continued with an even more serious tone, “The numbered tag is crucial for your survival. This deep hole is a pa.s.sageway for seeds. After you go into the soil, you will be able to move and breath normally underground with that numbered tag around your neck. However, if that numbered tag leaves your neck for even half a second, you will feel the pressure of the soil on your body. You won’t be able to move. Even if you were to immediately get your numbered tag back, it would be separated from you by layers and layers of soil. If that happens, you would wish that you are a normal person without abilities because you would die faster that way.”
“Can’t you do anything about it as a farmer?” Ji Shanqing asked as his face turned a little pale.
“I’m a farmer. I will only take care of my produce,” Harry immediately replied, “If you want to dig a dead body out of the ground, you will need to find a grave robber.”
“Well… as a seed, I just have to jump down this hole, right?” Lin Sanjiu held her numbered tag tightly. While she said this, she couldn’t help thinking, “Maybe, there are hospitals nearby which are still unraided… ”
Of course, if she wanted to go back to their glucose plan, it was a little too late.
Harry crouched down and touched the edge of the deep hole as if to guide Lin Sanjiu to climb down the hole, “You are right more or less. After you go down this hole, you will see a pa.s.sageway. Walk through that pa.s.sageway and you will reach the spot I prepared for you on my farm. After you had settled down in that spot, I will add soil and water the soil bed. To prove that you are a good seed, please remember to absorb many nutrients so that you can successfully germinate.”
Lin Sanjiu frowned. She didn’t know which part of his statement made her feel a little uneasy. When she looked up, she could only see Ji Shanqing and her hallucinations looked back at her silently. Shrugging away from that thought, she asked, “What next? Once my roots grow, I won’t be able to move?”
“Oh, when I talk about germination, it is just an a.n.a.logy for your state. It doesn’t really mean that roots will sprout out from your body,” Harry grinned, flas.h.i.+ng his white teeth, “When you are still a seed, your body’s condition would remain the same. Once you germinate, you will slowly grow stronger. Before you break through the surface of the soil, there is only one thing you need to do. You have to absorb as many nutrients as you can so that you can mature.”
“How do I absorb—”
“I will tell you the full process in detail when I make a public announcement to all the seeds to help all of you grow.” Harry interrupted her with a wide smile. “If I spend too much time explaining these things to you… There are still quite a few seeds waiting for their turn.”
“I have a question,” Ji Shanqing suddenly spoke while Lin Sanjiu hesitated. “I know this is a pocket dimension, but what do you gain from planting these seeds?”
Harry paused for a moment and smile, “This is good for me because I can continue living— albeit in this way.”
“In other words, it is compulsory for him to do this because of the type of pocket dimension he is in?” Lin Sanjiu thought to herself when she suddenly heard Marcie’s voice, “This type of pocket dimension is rare.”
“Sis,” When she was still deep in her thoughts, Ji Shanqing called out to her softly. Lin Sanjiu looked up and found Ji Shanqing looking back at her with an exceptionally serious face.
“Please be careful down there. This is the best option for us… If you don’t need to eat any food over the next few months, you will be unable to acc.u.mulate potential growth value. I think you will completely recover soon,” he said softly as if he didn’t want Harry to hear, “I will wait for you at the building where we were hiding.”
Lin Sanjiu nodded. Since she had already made the decision, it was too much of a fuss to worry too much about things. She would just have to adapt to whatever G.o.d wanted to throw at her. Sounding a lot more light-hearted, Lin Sanjiu advised, “You have to be careful too. Find and wear more clothes. Take care of the things I gave you.”
After Lin Sanjiu said a simple farewell to Ji Shanqing, she climbed slowly into the hole.
She had already sensed that the hole was alarmingly deep when she was looking from above. However, she only realized how steep it was after climbing into the hole. She had only climbed for a few minutes when the light above her suddenly dimmed. As her body was weak, she slipped after she missing a step. She fell noisily down the whole. As she rolled down the hole, she could faintly hear the shocked gasp that Ji Shanqing made.
Thankfully, the soil was soft, and there weren’t many stones. It was also funnel-shaped. When Lin Sanjiu finally steadied herself, she felt disoriented but unhurt. She touched the numbered tag on her chest and shouted upward, “I’m fine!” She didn’t hear Ji Shanqing’s respond even after some time, so she figured out that was already too deep in the hole for him to hear her.
After another 20 minutes, Lin Sanjiu finally reached the bottom. She took out her [Ability Polis.h.i.+ng Agent]
She found herself in a subterranean chamber. It was connected to the steep slope she came through. When she looked up, the light from the hole above was smaller than her fist. She raised her [Ability Polis.h.i.+ng Agent] and illuminated her surroundings. Lin Sanjiu quickly found a narrow pa.s.sageway. Entering her hypersensory state, she held up the silver light and headed into the pa.s.sageway.
Thinking back about what Harry said, she realized that his directions were vague. As Lin Sanjiu walked through the pa.s.sageway, she ruminated.
“What will happen once I reach my designated spot? Will I suddenly be covered with soil and water? I can get nutrition this way?”
Lin Sanjiu had experienced all sorts of strange pocket dimensions, but this place was the most incomprehensible. After holding the silver beacon in her hand for some time, she suddenly slowed down. Even without her hypersensory state, she knew that she was nearing the end of the pa.s.sageway. She could vaguely hear the sounds of human conversation and see a dim light from the exit at the end of the pa.s.sageway.
Her footsteps were almost inaudible but the noise from the exit suddenly stopped.
“There is a newcomer!”
A bright female voice rang out. Following which, someone peeked into the pa.s.sageway before Lin Sanjiu could even reach the end. Under the silver light, Lin Sanjiu found herself staring at a girl with an oval face. The girl gave her a hasty smile and quickly pulled her head back.
“The eighth person is also a female! Are you happy now?” Lin Sanjiu heard the girl announcing blatantly.