Chapter 71
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, a whole month had passed.
Over the past month, Xie Xingchen had successively completed the propagation work for narcissus, chamomile, orchids, rice, sweet potatoes, Sichuan pepper, licorice, papaya, longan, and the “Hainan sacred tree.”
Before leaving, he also brought back portions of seven of the plants for cultivation—everything except the longan, papaya, and the Hainan sacred tree.
But for him, that wasn’t the most important thing. What mattered most now was—inspecting the completed [Breeding Factory], and finishing the system-issued purple alfalfa planting task that had been put off for over a month.
Rushing as hard as he could, Xie Xingchen finally made it in time for the [Breeding Factory] to be completed.
When the thick fog in front of him dispersed, he was delighted to find a factory even more high-end than he’d imagined.
It was even grander than the blueprint!
It gleamed with a metallic sheen under the sunlight. From the outside, the towering plant looked imposing and severe; but once you stepped inside, you’d realize that compared to a factory, it felt more like an upscale leisure resort.
Clean fences, comfortable lawns, a gentle artificial sun—there was even pleasant music!
By the time he reached the end, Xie Xingchen felt like his brain was short-circuiting.
“Is this really a breeding facility and not some famous wellness retreat?” he muttered doubtfully.
Hearing him, the breeding-management robot assigned to the factory—Bai Xi—raised a pale hand to adjust his glasses. The corners of his lips lifted faintly, and he said steadily, “This is our breeding facility!”
The steady words somehow carried a sense of generosity and fervor.
It had to be said: it was a very masculine, charming voice—but…
Hearing it, Xie Xingchen felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.
Because of that strange premonition, he stopped marveling.
Smiling, Xie Xingchen said to Bai Xi, “Sorry to trouble you, Bai Xi. Starting this afternoon, robots will be delivering forage and animal younglings in batches.”
The stern-looking man—Bai Xi—finally showed an expression other than “stern.” He nodded with restrained composure and reminded him, “No trouble. But if the forage and younglings meet the standards, I will reject them.”
Meaning: no favors, no mercy—if it didn’t pass, he would refuse it.
But the naive Xie Xingchen didn’t take that line seriously, because he didn’t believe for a second that what he’d chosen would fail to meet standards.
Xie Xingchen: “Of course. No problem. Please be strict—everything will definitely satisfy you. If it doesn’t, you can return it.”
And that single sentence ended up digging him a massive hole.
“What? The breeding factory rejected it again?” Xie Xingchen’s head throbbed. He looked utterly dead inside.
He wanted to cry so badly.
If time travel existed, he’d absolutely, definitely travel back to a week ago and slap himself awake.
Who told you to say dumb crap like that!
“Not satisfied? You can return it?”
Return my ass!
Counting this time, it had already been rejected eighteen times. Rejected so hard that Xie Xingchen got PTSD the moment he heard the words “return shipment.”
The stuff was genuinely good—yet Bai Xi refused to accept it?
If he wouldn’t accept it, fine—but he kept nitpicking endlessly!
From what Xie Xingchen understood, these sellers seemed to know each other privately.
If nothing else, the eighteenth time he bought forage from another shop, he hadn’t even spoken yet and the seller already knew who he was.
It was—insane.
He’d practically visited every well-known forage shop in the galaxy, yet Bai Xi still didn’t like a single one.
And it wasn’t just “not liking.” It was total, across-the-board disdain.
You could say: the more Xie Xingchen had once loved the phrase “high standards, strict requirements,” the more terrified he was of it now.
God knew how much silent suffering he’d endured after becoming the “supplier” for those six words.
“This time, what’s wrong?” Xie Xingchen took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
Get-Rich glanced at his master sympathetically and said, with eyes lowered, “Uh… everything is wrong.”
That answer again.
That answer again!
Xie Xingchen’s anger flared—whoosh—then immediately got doused like someone poured water on it.
He raised his head, rubbed his aching forehead, and, meeting Get-Rich’s sympathetic gaze, said, “Fine. Tell Bai Xi: the breeding factory’s start date is postponed indefinitely. They can start work when I’ve grown my 1,000 mu of purple alfalfa.”
If Bai Xi couldn’t even approve of purple alfalfa and the system-rewarded animal younglings, then the breeding factory might as well shut down.
In a daze, Xie Xingchen could practically see the scene of the breeding factory—built with 30 billion—going bankrupt. Defeated, he waved Get-Rich out and gave himself some quiet.
It had been a week since returning from Qiong Island.
That first day, he’d happily watched the breeding factory complete and ordered forage and younglings for it.
On the second day, after the first rejection, he didn’t care much—he assumed the quality simply wasn’t high enough for Bai Xi, so he went looking for better raw materials.
By the third day, after coordinating shipping schedules with sellers, he assigned robots to plant the seven species he’d brought back from Qiong Island—then poured all his energy into planting purple alfalfa.
Before leaving, he’d already handed some alfalfa seeds to the planting robots. When he returned, the robots had produced about three fen of forage.
Honestly, that was very little.
But planting robots weren’t professional planters.
They could only plant according to natural growth cycles—they couldn’t force-growth with spiritual power. So the lively, vigorous little patch in front of him was already the best those robots could possibly do.
Given that, they were excellent.
So Xie Xingchen didn’t criticize them. Instead, he happily rewarded them—one crate of coconut-flavored energy drink per robot.
After rewards were handed out, Xie Xingchen put down roots in that field.
Forced-growth was a process that went from difficult to easy. Different plants required different amounts of spiritual power, so in the beginning it was easy to waste energy. But once Xie Xingchen fully mastered how much spiritual power purple alfalfa needed at each growth stage, not only did his fine-control improve again, his work became faster and easier too.
But honestly? He’d rather be tired than get pestered by Bai Xi every day.
All he wanted was to get the breeding factory running. The idea was sound—yet the progress got stuck at the very first gate: raw materials.
If he told anyone, no one would believe it.
No matter how many suppliers he tried, Bai Xi stayed stubbornly firm and refused to accept anything.
Not only that, Bai Xi even told him to stop sending younglings—saying that if he hadn’t even settled forage yet, why accept younglings? To starve them?
Xie Xingchen couldn’t bring himself to do that. So aside from the very first shipment—where he sent younglings and forage together—after that he focused solely on forage.
And now… he’d given up.
Rather than placing hope in others, he might as well place it in himself.
If Bai Xi wouldn’t accept other forage, surely he’d accept alfalfa grown by Xie Xingchen himself, right?
Not bragging, but the alfalfa he grew really was different—vigorous as hell.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
So today, after Bai Xi rejected forage for the eighteenth time, Xie Xingchen stopped wasting time. He mobilized the big batch of planting robots Get-Rich had purchased a month earlier, then led them to the northwest and began planting forage with great fanfare—manually creating a brand-new grassland.
1,000 mu sounded like a lot, but with enough seeds and enough labor, it really wasn’t.
Xie Xingchen’s breeding work was hard in the early stage, but after that it progressed smoothly.
Because he didn’t care about cost.
Plant growth solution, plant nutrient solution, green-matter potion—if it helped, he used it.
And he wasn’t afraid of hassle. Once seeds were bred, no matter how many, he had the robots plant them immediately.
And so, with Xie Xingchen breeding and the robots planting, the once-barren plains slowly turned green again. The lush, watery grassland from memory seemed to return.
[New Planting Task]
Task: Plant 1,000 mu of purple alfalfa
Progress: 398/1000
End time: infinite
In two weeks, Xie Xingchen had planted a total of 398 mu of purple alfalfa.
For a professional planter, it wasn’t very fast—largely because of seed scarcity.
But the longer it went on, the easier it would become.
Especially once this batch matured, he could channel spiritual power across large areas to accelerate growth, and the situation would improve drastically.
Because—raise one batch well, then collect seeds and plant in bulk.
Even if seeds weren’t collected in time, it wouldn’t matter. The wind would carry those easy-to-grow seeds far away. Then patches of purple alfalfa would sprout everywhere—and those would also count toward his task progress.
Under blue skies and white clouds, the swaying pasture grass looked charming.
Xie Xingchen had already moved here and built a beautiful vacation cabin on this land. Every time he stepped outside and saw the scene, he felt like his soul was being cleansed.
The terrain here was high—so high it felt like the sky was within reach.
Blue sky, white clouds. The weather was a little cold, yet it stirred a bold, invigorating spirit.
Strictly speaking, the temperature wasn’t ideal for alfalfa growth, but with technology, the alfalfa here grew very well.
From afar, the endless pasture looked like a natural carpet—exquisite, brimming with life, like a gift from the earth or a blessing from immortals.
Xie Xingchen stretched, then walked lightly to the stream to fetch water.
The stream had only appeared recently, fed by melting ice and snow from nearby mountains. The water was crystal clear and carried a sharp, undefinable chill—perfect for waking yourself up in the morning.
Ever since discovering it, Xie Xingchen had fallen in love with rising early to draw a bucket, dampen a cloth, and wash his face—one icy slap and he’d be wide awake.
“Boss, are we heading out now?” Get-Rich asked after pulling off his apron and loading the dishes into the dishwasher, checking the time as he spoke.
Xie Xingchen had gotten up half an hour later than usual today, so his morning workout was gone. Unless something unexpected happened, he needed to start work immediately.
Since yesterday, he’d stopped breeding seeds. His main job now was to channel spiritual power into the best-growing patch of purple alfalfa.
To keep the seeds from being blown away by wind, after choosing the plot, Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life had covered it with a protective dome.
“Where are Prosperity and Long-Life?” Xie Xingchen asked, not seeing them.
Get-Rich replied, “Prosperity went back to the starship. Long-Life took planting robots to reclaim land to the east.”
Xie Xingchen nodded, chatting with Get-Rich as they walked to the chosen field.
Inside the protective dome, Xie Xingchen pulled out a chair from his space button.
After sitting, he put a hand on the ground and began sending spiritual power into the soil.
An hour later, drenched in sweat, he stopped.
The seedlings in that three-mu patch had grown ten centimeters. At this pace, in two more days he could harvest a batch of seeds.
He rested in the chair a bit, then packed it away and headed back toward the cabin.
There was a treatment pod in the cabin. In his current state, he needed to lie in it. After the treatment cycle, he’d have to come back out and send spiritual power into the same plot again.
Honestly, every time he reached a grind like this, Xie Xingchen felt like a soulless spiritual-power pump.
Because aside from channeling spiritual power, there was nothing else he could do—every time it got like this, he was basically dragged into the fields and couldn’t do anything else.
The thought made him briefly consider hiring an actual planter.
But thinking of how many secrets this place held, he had to abandon that unrealistic idea.
Xie Xingchen: sigh.jpg
Looks like he really was born to toil.
After two more days of that point-to-point routine, on the third morning he collected a large wave of alfalfa seeds and decided to slack off and rest a little—letting the busy clearing-and-planting robots take over.
With so many seeds in hand, Long-Life didn’t waste a word. He immediately took a batch of planting robots to work.
Having confirmed the area was safe, Long-Life’s group switched to an insane 24/7 work mode—no breaks.
That stern, serious, desperate attitude left Xie Xingchen feeling mentally unwell.
Even capitalists would see it and go, “Good lord.”
What 996? What 007?
Compared to these robots, even “blessings” were weak sauce.
Machines at least had “run a while, stop a while.” These robots?
They didn’t need even one minute of rest.
No wonder mechanical civilization was the richest in the Star Alliance.
They could work during the hours normal people slept—how could they not get rich?
Xie Xingchen was so shaken by his own robots that his conscience ached—he felt too guilty to slack off.
In the end, he worked as long as they did. Aside from time spent in the treatment pod, he was such a workhorse he basically matched them.
When both sides finally stopped, the planting task was almost complete.
Now they only needed the alfalfa to grow to the size the system would recognize; then Xie Xingchen could claim the planting task reward!
“Boss, didn’t you say you were going out to have fun today?” Get-Rich asked, confused, seeing Xie Xingchen still lazing in bed.
Xie Xingchen wanted to get up too—but he truly couldn’t.
If today were a workday, he could force himself up. But today was a rest day he’d planned ages ago!
If he didn’t have to work, why couldn’t he lie down a bit?
After struggling and rolling around, he finally dragged himself out of bed.
Get-Rich handed him a damp cloth. Xie Xingchen pressed it to his face—only that familiar icy touch fully woke him up.
“Thanks, Get-Rich,” he said muffledly.
After a moment, he lowered the cloth and asked brightly, “Right—Get-Rich, has Long-Life come back?”
Get-Rich nodded, then shook his head. After thinking, he said, “He came back, but he went out to work again.”
Of the three robots, Long-Life loved planting work the most.
He seemed to have forgotten he was a medical robot—he did planting-robot work every day, and the more he did, the more energized he became.
Now that the alfalfa planting was basically settled, Long-Life still went out early and returned late, reclaiming land.
Xie Xingchen wasn’t surprised—he was, indeed, their Long-Life.
Maybe he’d named him poorly. At this rate, Xie Xingchen felt Long-Life might not live up to his name.
While his mind wandered, Xie Xingchen suddenly remembered something: “Oh right—Get-Rich, do you remember the coordinates Long-Life gave us yesterday?”
This was important.
It was about today’s leisure plans.
Get-Rich nodded. “I remember.”
Xie Xingchen grinned. “Good. Then later we’ll take a walk over there!”
And a walk it was.
After breakfast—Xie Xingchen nearly ate himself too full—he moved at turtle speed toward the coordinates Long-Life had provided.
After walking for over ten minutes and feeling the food settle, he stepped onto a hoverboard.
This was a field-use vehicle—like an oversized scooter-board, but it could hover one to three meters off the ground, and its speed was roughly like a motorcycle.
There were railings on both sides for stability, though you could also skip them. Without the railings, the board felt like a cool viewing platform.
“Get-Rich… do you think the wild horses will come again?” Xie Xingchen asked, barely containing his excitement.
Yesterday, as usual, Long-Life had gone to reclaim land—and in the process he’d discovered a herd of wild horses!
And he’d even filmed it and sent it to Xie Xingchen immediately.
In the video, over a dozen fine horses galloped past Long-Life. They drank at the stream. They grazed on the pasture Xie Xingchen had planted.
Xie Xingchen’s heart practically melted.
These beautiful creatures—who knew where they’d come from—were so stunning that after watching the video, he decided to take a day off and go see them.
Such pretty little beings—if you didn’t see them with your own eyes, it would be a waste!
He was already here planting pasture. Since it was so close, why wouldn’t he go see them?
Even if he couldn’t pet the elegant adult horses, there were still short, adorable foals, right?
It was a bit of a fantasy, but if he got lucky—maybe he could pet one?
Thinking of that black foal, even one with “white gloves,” Xie Xingchen’s heart trembled with cuteness.
The herd Long-Life had found wasn’t far from Xie Xingchen’s cabin.
By hoverboard, it would take about thirty minutes.
Even with Xie Xingchen’s digestion time, speeding up afterward meant it took only forty minutes total.
But when they arrived, they didn’t find the herd at all—only Long-Life waiting there.
“Long-Life, where are the horses? They haven’t come yet?” Xie Xingchen asked obediently.
Long-Life nodded, then shook his head, pointing in a direction. “They came, then they left.”
Xie Xingchen deflated. “Ah… they already left?”
Long-Life nodded. Seeing his master so downcast, he quickly added, “The herd left about an hour ago, but I deployed a small tracking camera. We can see their movement route on the lightbrain.”
Since Get-Rich, Prosperity, and Long-Life were his key assistants, Xie Xingchen had equipped them with many tools—small tracking cameras, large communicators, and a “lightbrain” (a stripped-down version; top-tier for non-awakened robots), among others.
The tracking camera Long-Life used now was one of those devices—normally for scout bots.
Scouts used it to scout; Long-Life used it to film horses.
Different purpose, same results.
Hearing that, Xie Xingchen was thrilled.
He patted Long-Life hard on the shoulder and praised him happily: “Wow—Long-Life, you’re impressive! You’ve learned to be flexible now!”
Long-Life smiled modestly, connected his lightbrain, and pulled up the tracking footage.
The dusty lens made it feel like a scene of ten thousand horses thundering past.
The leading black stallion was tall and fierce—like a battle-hardened war god, majestic and untouchable.
Its eyes were large and bright. Its body lines were smooth and taut; its bulging muscles and long limbs looked breathtaking when it ran at full speed.
When it lifted its forelegs, not a single horse behind dared move ahead—such dominance made Xie Xingchen’s eyes shine.
What a magnificent wild horse!
No boy could dislike that.
Only after seeing it did Xie Xingchen truly understand what “divine steed” meant—why ancient people loved horses so much, why horses were always linked with heroes.
Such a lively, powerful, brave creature—of course it was the best companion for heroes!
Reluctantly, Xie Xingchen dragged his gaze away. But when he saw the tiny foals following behind the stallion, a doting smile automatically appeared on his face.
If adult horses inspired awe and amazement, foals were so cute you wanted to reach out and pet them.
The short little bodies, the big watery eyes, and the tufted manes that stuck up like silly cowlicks—too adorable!
What a herd of high-visual-value babies!
“Oh my god, they’re so pretty! Get-Rich, Long-Life, look—doesn’t that white foal look super cute? And the fur on its legs is red—like it’s stepping in flames… ahhh! It’s still small now, but I can already imagine what it’ll look like when it grows up…”
Xie Xingchen rambled excitedly while tugging at the robots.
He loved these natural spirits so much that words couldn’t even describe it.
What should he do—he really wanted to sneak two foals home and raise them!
After all, they were Earth creatures, and he was the planetary lord now, so… wouldn’t these foals count as his too?
Dizzy with foal-fever, Xie Xingchen seriously wanted to be shameless for once—smuggle a foal home.
But the next second—
through the lens, he met the gaze of the herd’s king.
Instantly, cowardly Xie Xingchen’s “steal a foal” thoughts vanished.
Ahem… foals should grow up with their adults. Following him—a human—wasn’t exactly a bright future!
If he could look at horses, why raise one?
That would be wrong—it would be suppressing a foal’s nature!
Foals should be free to run across the grasslands!
Sighing, Xie Xingchen said, “Get-Rich, Long-Life… forget it. Let’s just go see the horses.”
Get-Rich & Long-Life: ?
They understood “see the horses,” but… why the sighing?
Xie Xingchen didn’t explain. He looked at the horse king with melancholy and said sourly, “Seeing horses is great, sure… but I want to raise a foal, and the parents won’t allow it.”
If he couldn’t deal with the king, raising a foal could only stay a dream.
And so, on an ordinary morning, Xie Xingchen felt like he’d lost his dream of raising a foal—and a certain beautiful foal also lost a potential owner who could’ve planted it an entire grassland.
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