Chapter 60
Su Ci hadn’t yet agreed when Lang Ze had already grabbed the flute from the activity room, dashed into the bathroom, rinsed it with water, and carefully wiped it dry.
“Here, Su Su, it’s all clean now!”
Like presenting a treasure, he held the flute out to Su Ci. He still remembered that the caretaker had wiped the flute with a cloth before playing last time. If he cleaned it this time, surely Su Ci wouldn’t refuse, right?
Su Ci looked at the boy’s eager green eyes and then at the two other children who were watching expectantly. With a soft sigh, he accepted the flute.
“Don’t wash the flute in Zheng Xin’s hands with water,” he said after some thought, gently reminding the boy.
Though it was enhanced with spells, the flute was still essentially made of paper. If it got wet, the enchantment would likely break.
“Oh, oh! That one can’t touch water? Got it!” Lang Ze promised loudly, then pulled Lu Jiao over to sit on the floor in front of Su Ci.
The previously curled-up Zheng Xin also stood up, ran over with soft thudding steps, and sat down next to Lang Ze.
The three little ones sat in a row, their heads tilted upward as they gazed at Su Ci.
Su Ci took out a bottle of water from his spatial clasp, took a sip, and then asked, “Do you want the same tune as last time?”
Lang Ze was about to ask if there were any other songs, but then he saw the usually slow-moving Zheng Xin already nodding his little head. He changed his mind and quickly agreed. “Yes! The one with the big yellow ox!”
Lu Jiao blinked, slightly confused. He didn’t know what “big yellow ox” meant, but he still hurriedly nodded along. “Um… yes!”
Fine.
Su Ci rested the flute horizontally, recalled the melody from last time, and began to play.
Of course, the previous performance had been spontaneous. It was impossible for Su Ci to replicate the exact same tune, and the images presented through the music this time were subtly different.
It was still the same countryside with fields and hills, the same clear and winding brook, and the same young shepherd riding on his big yellow ox. However, now the boy had leisurely crossed the stone bridge and was walking toward a dense forest.
Seeing the shepherd boy and the ox disappearing into the distance, Zheng Xin felt a hint of disappointment. But then—
With the cheerful melody of the flute, a cool breeze carrying the scent of grass swept through the air. Two birds flapping their wings darted past him, playfully chasing each other on the wind.
They flew behind the shepherd boy and his ox, circling and dancing. Their crisp chirping blended with the sound of the flute, accompanied by the rustling of leaves and the gurgling of flowing water…
The various sounds harmonized, presenting a spring landscape not only filled with vibrant colors but also like a feast for the ears.
The three children couldn’t help but become completely immersed in it.
*
Meanwhile, in Room 303, A-Yan, who was practicing formation patterns, suddenly paused and lifted his head, staring blankly at the ceiling.
The sound of the flute again…
Is it the caretaker playing?
Listening to the lively, vibrant melody, A-Yan couldn’t help but close his eyes, tilting his head slightly to focus on the music.
Without Su Ci’s soul power or musical techniques guiding him, he could still sense something special within the beautiful flute music.
At the same time, faint, blurry images began to appear in front of his eyes.
What is this?
A-Yan blinked in confusion. The images didn’t disappear. They felt almost as though they had really happened. In each scene, there was a figure—distant and hazy—his long, pale gold hair drifting gently in the wind.
Accompanied by the flute music, the figure sometimes seemed carefree, sometimes gentle, and at other times steeped in loneliness…
Who is that?
A-Yan focused on one particular scene—
Amidst a snowstorm, with snowflakes swirling through the sky, that figure sat beneath a withered peach blossom tree. The flute’s sound was clear and lively, yet… it didn’t carry even the faintest hint of joy.
A faint ache spread through A-Yan’s chest again.
He reached out his hand, as if wanting to touch the figure, to pat him gently and offer comfort. However, before his hand could make contact, the ethereal melody of the flute stopped.
He couldn’t touch that figure.
It was as if it had always been this way.
A hint of disappointment flashed through A-Yan’s eyes, but soon, confusion crept in. Who exactly is that person? Why do they feel so familiar?
The little boy pondered blankly for a moment. Then, looking down, he saw the formation results already drawn on the paper and suddenly snapped back to reality.
I can’t get distracted anymore. This is the homework the caretaker assigned—I have to finish it seriously!
A-Yan gripped the pen tightly and continued sketching out one formation structure after another on the blank paper. At first, his movements were slow—not because of difficulty, but because each stroke was deliberate. His lines were clean and smooth, almost perfectly replicating the examples Su Ci had provided.
Once the first formation was complete, the speed at which he drew the following ones increased noticeably.
However, as he progressed, A-Yan’s formation structures began to deviate slightly from the example diagrams. Strangely, despite the deviations, the spiritual aura emanating from the completed formations seemed stronger than the originals.
Why is that?
Noticing this anomaly, A-Yan scratched his head in confusion.
As he tried once more to follow the exact example, something felt wrong. No matter how carefully he traced the lines, it didn’t “feel” right to him. But… how could there be a mistake in the diagrams that the caretaker had given him?
A-Yan felt torn. After some hesitation, he decided to set aside the formation structure for now and wait until Su Ci returned so he could ask him directly.
But before he realized it, A-Yan suddenly found himself standing up. A moment later, still holding the pen, he was already in the elevator of the nursery.
There was no trace of panic on A-Yan’s face. He calmly lifted his head and saw Su Ci standing beside him, looking down at him with a gentle gaze. Instinctively, a joyful smile spread across A-Yan’s face.
The pure white fur on his small animal-like ears perked up, standing out against his head of black hair. It looked almost as though his hair was starting to lose its color.
Su Ci reached out and gently ruffled the boy’s hair, then rubbed his soft fur-covered ears.
He had initially thought that the fur-covered ears would disappear quickly, but unexpectedly, the color only grew purer, and the quality of the fur improved. The soft texture now rivaled that of Lang Ze’s.
“Have you been practicing the formation structures seriously?” Su Ci asked.
A-Yan paused for a moment before hesitantly nodding.
Except for that brief moment when I got distracted, I’ve been very focused…
Su Ci nodded in acknowledgment, not pressing further on the boy’s hesitation. Instead, he said, “Come with me for a bit.”
After a full day of studying, it was time for a break.
“Mm!”
Hearing that he could go out with the caretaker, A-Yan’s black-and-red eyes lit up instantly. He nodded his little head vigorously, his face breaking into a delighted, carefree smile.
Seeing how happy he looked, Su Ci couldn’t help but feel his own mood lifted. He asked, “Do you like going outside, A-Yan?”
A-Yan shook his head. Then, after hesitating for a moment, he carefully glanced at Su Ci before tentatively reaching out to hug Su Ci’s leg. Seeing that Su Ci didn’t stop him, the boy beamed and snuggled against his leg, rubbing his soft cheek against him.
It wasn’t that he liked going outside—it was that he liked the caretaker.
Even though he couldn’t say it aloud, the child’s actions conveyed his thoughts clearly.
Su Ci looked at him for a moment and, in the end, chose not to widen the distance between them.
The elevator descended slowly.
When the elevator doors opened, A-Yan let go of Su Ci’s leg on his own. He waited for Su Ci to step out first and then followed closely behind, happily playing the role of the caretaker’s little shadow.
After taking a few steps, he suddenly noticed the pen still in his hand. He hurriedly tucked it back into his spatial button before trotting after Su Ci again, his small legs working hard to keep up.
Su Ci wasn’t just wandering aimlessly after leaving the nursery.
Earlier, after playing the flute for the three children and leaving a dazed Lu Jiao in Room 403, he received a voice call from the plantation as he entered the hallway.
The call wasn’t from Zhuang Shisong this time but from another worker responsible for distributing fresh fruits and vegetables.
Just as Lu Jiao had mentioned, today was indeed the day for the nursery to receive a delivery of fresh fruit. Normally, this would have been handled by delivery robots, but something unexpected had occurred.
“Yesterday, we harvested a batch of Star-chain Fruit from the plantation. The quality is excellent, and the director wants to distribute them to all departments in the base while they’re at their peak for consumption,” the worker said.
The man’s face was full of joy, the kind of happiness that comes from a bountiful harvest.
Clearly, the Star-chain Fruit that had grown so abundantly this time had passed all the tests without any issues. In fact, it turned out to be the best-quality fruit the plantation had managed to produce in years.
Such fruits were far too precious to be sold to other bases. After Wu Yunqin saved enough seeds, she decided to distribute the remainder so they wouldn’t go to waste.
The worker contacted Su Ci because there weren’t enough delivery robots. He wanted to know if the nursery could send a nanny robot to pick up the fruits.
Su Ci, who had already planned to go out for a walk, readily agreed. Instead of heading back to his dormitory, he simply teleported A-Yan to his side.
After all, there was no way he would leave A-Yan alone in the nursery.
As for Lang Ze and the other two staying behind—whether they might fall into bloodline berserk states while Su Ci was gone—he wasn’t overly concerned.
When he played the flute for them earlier, he had infused it with a calming technique used by Sound Sect. Under the suppression and relief provided by the melody, their bloodline powers wouldn’t erupt for a while.
At the very least, it would hold until he returned.
Su Ci brought A-Yan onto a hovering bus and began the journey to the plantation. Along the way, his spiritual senses extended outward, gathering information about his surroundings.
The damage caused by the Blood Rain had largely been repaired after emergency work, but it was still clear that the atmosphere in the base had grown more tense.
The monsters actively attacking buildings during the Blood Rain was a new development—one that loomed like a dark cloud over everyone’s hearts after the news spread.
Even new recruits who had recently joined were quickly briefed on the potential dangers posed by this change.
Footage from ten or twenty years ago—before the Blood Mist had receded—was still preserved. The tragic events of that era were a constant reminder of how terrifying the monsters lurking in the Blood Mist could be.
Quite a few people were considering leaving, but apart from researchers and caretakers, almost all positions in the base were filled by personnel with military status. If they wanted to leave Prison Star, they had to submit an application for a transfer.
Even if their applications were approved quickly, they would still have to wait for the next supply ship, which would take at least two months.
And in two months’ time, on Prison Star, they could easily experience several extreme weather events.
No one could guarantee that during the next bout of extreme weather, the monsters wouldn’t continue attacking and destroying buildings. It was no wonder that the atmosphere in Base 24 had become increasingly tense and restless.
But none of this had much to do with Su Ci.
After observing for a while, he filtered out that information. When he arrived at the plantation’s station and stepped off the hover bus, he immediately noticed something unusual.
The concentration of resentful energy around the plantation was significantly lower than in other areas, but there was something else…
“Why does it smell like garlic here today?”
A familiar voice caught Su Ci’s attention. Turning his head, he saw Luo Shengfei not far away, complaining to a maintenance team member. “This garlic smell is way too strong. It stinks…”
As he spoke, he seemed to notice something and glanced over, meeting Su Ci’s gaze.
“Oh! Caretaker Su, what a coincidence!” Luo Shengfei greeted him cheerfully and jogged over.
Su Ci gave him a small nod, listening as he continued, “The thing you asked me to fix is pretty much done, though I couldn’t get it exactly the same as before.”
Luo Shengfei scratched his head awkwardly. “But the core part is fine, and all the data has been preserved…”
“Mm. Thank you for your trouble.”
“Ha ha ha! No trouble at all!” Luo Shengfei laughed heartily. “I’ll send it to you later once I’m done with some stuff.”
With that, he waved goodbye to Su Ci and returned to his maintenance team.
Su Ci watched them for a moment. In the distance, he could faintly hear the other maintenance workers talking quietly.
“Why do you think the plantation suddenly needs water samples from underground? Do you think something’s wrong with the underground river?”
“That’s unlikely, right? But I heard some workers even went to the logistics building to fetch water today. Seems like a few other departments are doing water sample checks too…”
The maintenance workers were exchanging low murmurs, their tones carrying worry. The plantation’s sudden actions after the Blood Rain had left them uneasy.
If the water source really was contaminated, life on Prison Star would become much harder. The threats they faced wouldn’t just come from monsters anymore.
Hearing their discussion, Su Ci understood immediately: the plantation must have discovered that the water had been purified and was now investigating the cause.
As the maintenance workers’ conversation grew more and more pessimistic, Su Ci quietly retracted his attention, keeping his achievements hidden.
Soon, two researchers wearing protective suits emerged from the plantation and left with the maintenance team, presumably heading to collect samples from the underground river.
Meanwhile, Su Ci followed a robot into the plantation to collect the Star-chain Fruit.
“Nursery: eight cubs and one caretaker. Allocation: 30 Star-chain Fruits. The fruits are currently being packed. Please wait a moment,” the robot said before turning and entering the warehouse.
The plantation warehouse was bustling with activity as delivery robots moved in and out, busy transporting goods.
Su Ci stood off to the side, yawning idly and half-closing his eyes in a relaxed manner.
It was only then that A-Yan realized why the caretaker had brought him here—to collect the Star-chain Fruits.
Thinking of the sweetness of Star-chain Fruit and how delicious it could be when used in recipes, A-Yan couldn’t help but beam with joy.
With these Star-chain Fruits, I can make even more delicious food for the caretaker!
Just imagining the young man’s smile as he tasted the food filled A-Yan with eager anticipation.
He watched the robots moving in and out of the warehouse, his small head turning left and right as he followed their movements.
Not far from where they stood was the greenhouse where the Star-chain Fruit vines had once grown wildly. Outside the greenhouse, remnants of the overgrown vines were still visible, not yet entirely cleared away.
Inside the greenhouse, the fruits had all been harvested, leaving behind clusters of vines in varying shades of green and brown.
The outer glass walls, once covered in Star-chain Fruit vines, still had a few shriveled tendrils clinging to them, swaying slightly in the breeze.
Just then, a small furry hand reached out and grabbed one of the withered vines.
The hand was covered in short golden fur, soft and fuzzy. Its owner plucked a small piece of the dried vine and stuffed it into its mouth before pressing its furry face against the glass wall, peeking curiously into the greenhouse.
A monkey, who had been focused on the robots coming out of the warehouse, suddenly froze in place.
The figure pressed against the glass seemed to sense something too. It remained in its position, still clinging to the wall, but turned its head slightly to look back in his direction.
Their eyes met.
A-Yan blinked, staring curiously at the strange creature that had suddenly appeared.
The creature had round, black eyes like grapes, a pale pinkish face, and a body covered entirely in golden fur that gleamed brilliantly under the sunlight.
It was a small monkey!
The little monkey was even smaller than A-Yan, only reaching about Su Ci’s knees in height.
The monkey didn’t seem afraid of strangers. After making eye contact with A-Yan, it tilted its head slightly in an adorably clueless manner, looking both curious and cute.
A-Yan paused in surprise for a moment before tugging gently at the caretaker’s sleeve.
When Su Ci opened his eyes and looked down at him, A-Yan quickly pointed toward the greenhouse.
Su Ci followed his gaze, looking in the direction A-Yan indicated.
But there, under the greenhouse’s outer wall, there was no sign of the small monkey.
A-Yan stared in confusion. Huh? Where did the monkey go?
He took two steps forward, looking around to the left and right, but still couldn’t spot any trace of the little creature. Scratching his head in bewilderment, he wondered if he had imagined it.
While A-Yan stood there, perplexed, Su Ci also observed the greenhouse.
He didn’t say anything, nor did he ask A-Yan what he had wanted him to see.
At this moment, the robot that had gone into the warehouse to pack the fruits finally emerged, holding a small box in its hands.
“There are 30 Star-chain Fruits in total: 2 per cub, 4 per caretaker, and the rest can be freely allocated. All fruits are included here,” the robot announced in a mechanical, emotionless voice. “Please confirm the count and sign here.”
Su Ci smoothly signed his name and accepted the box of Star-chain Fruits.
He didn’t bother to contact Zhuang Shisong, nor did he ask about the state of the little garlic sprout because…
The overwhelming garlic smell that had permeated the entire plantation was enough for Su Ci to deduce that the small spiritual plant was doing just fine.
Su Ci stored the fruit box in his spatial button and left the plantation with A-Yan.
*
At the same time, not far from them, inside one of the greenhouses, Zhuang Shisong and Wei Ming were busy analyzing data from the little garlic sprout as well as monitoring the state of other plants in the greenhouse.
Just as Su Ci had guessed, the little garlic sprout was growing extraordinarily well.
After being reminded by Su Ci, Zhuang Shisong and Wei Ming conducted overnight experiments and finally confirmed that this special garlic sprout was not the purifying green plant they had originally been searching for.
While it wasn’t exactly what they expected, the two were far from disappointed because the garlic sprout’s abilities were remarkably close to their goal.
They performed multiple experiments. In one setup, they placed the garlic sprout inside a sealed container. Within a short time, the level of pollutants in the container dropped sharply.
From this alone, it seemed that the garlic sprout possessed purifying capabilities.
However, when they added an additional protective shield around the container—a shield specifically designed to minimize the leakage of pollutants—they made a surprising discovery:
The concentration of pollutants between the container and the shield initially increased but then, very gradually over time, began to decrease.
From this experiment, Zhuang Shisong reached a preliminary conclusion:
The garlic sprout doesn’t purify pollutants—it repels them!
When they arrived at this conclusion, even Zhuang Shisong found it hard to believe. Yet, something told him this was the right direction.
Such an ability aligned more with the natural properties of garlic as a plant. However, without the insight from Caretaker Su, it would have taken far longer for them to reach this understanding.
Zhuang Shisong couldn’t help but marvel at Su Ci’s intuition. How terrifying yet admirable that instinct must be!
With this breakthrough, Zhuang Shisong delegated the water sample investigation to other researchers. When Wu Yunqin reviewed the report from him and Wei Ming, she immediately approved full support for their continued research on the garlic sprout.
As for why the plantation reeked of garlic today—
Wei Ming had extracted the scent released by the garlic sprout and dispersed it in several other greenhouses. He was conducting an application experiment to determine whether the garlic sprout’s smell could also repel pollutants.
If the experiment succeeded, it would carry profound implications. Wei Ming wasn’t just considering the application of this ability in crop cultivation—he was also thinking about its potential in combat!
If the garlic sprout’s scent could truly repel pollutants, could it also have an effect on the monsters lurking in the Blood Mist?
If this hypothesis could be proven, they might be able to develop corresponding weapons. This discovery could play a critical role in the base’s fight against the monsters.
Zhuang Shisong continued to observe and record the data, carefully planning the next set of experiments. Just then, Wei Ming said, “That caretaker from the nursery… just picked up the Star-chain Fruits.”
Zhuang Shisong nodded. In truth, according to standard allocation, the nursery shouldn’t have received such a large quantity of Star-chain Fruits. However, after discussing it with Wei Ming, they had agreed to give Su Ci their own quotas.
Hearing Wei Ming’s comment, Zhuang Shisong made a small sound of acknowledgment and returned to his thoughts.
But then Wei Ming spoke again, “Do you think… he might actually manage to grow something at the nursery?”
Zhuang Shisong glanced at him and adjusted his glasses.
Seeing the faint teasing look in Zhuang Shisong’s gaze, Wei Ming froze for a moment before shaking his head. “I still don’t think he can. The nursery is for raising cubs, and those kids are a handful on their own. Even if he’s got strong theoretical knowledge, how much time could he possibly have to focus on cultivation?”
Zhuang Shisong smiled and nodded, not bothering to argue.
After all… he wasn’t the one who placed the bet.
Su Ci, with A-Yan in tow, reached the waiting station outside the plantation.
Suddenly, Su Ci lifted his head.
Above them was the rain shelter set up at the edge of the station platform. At that moment, a slender, furry tail dangled down from the edge of the shelter.
Following the tail came a small, furry head peeking down—it was that same little monkey, its entire body gleaming gold.
Where did the monkey come from?