Chapter 429 - 401: Transplant
After returning to the Gated Community, Chen Jinming couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, as if he’d lost something.
He paced back and forth, looking over his shoulder at the sealed bronze anchor-point gate behind him.
’Why do I have such a bad feeling...’
"Brother Jin Ming, what happened? You don’t look too happy." One of his subordinates noticed something was off about Chen Jinming.
"It’s nothing. Go on about your business." Chen Jinming shook his head. ’What’s done is done. I can’t go back to the Gobi Desert right now anyway, so I’d better not overthink it.’
For some reason, however, he subconsciously thought of the Giant Rock Dragon that had been stolen from him before.
...
"Hey, lend a hand! Tie that rope tighter!"
"You guys at the front, pick up the pace! The people behind you are still waiting."
"Can you hurry it up? Stop dawdling."
In the Oasis, everyone was bustling with activity.
"I have no idea who the kind soul responsible for this was, but they’re a true saint!" Qin Ziwu grunted, struggling to lift a butchered dinosaur hind leg onto a cart.
"Speaking of which, is this really okay? Can we eat this Dragon Flesh directly?" Yuan Ming asked, a little worried.
Qin Ziwu reassured Yuan Ming. "Don’t worry about food safety. After we transport this meat back, we’ll feed it to lab rats first. Once we confirm it’s safe, it’ll be sent to the feed processing plant. Then, before the canned food is released, we’ll have the rats taste it again."
Yuan Ming smiled shyly. "I’m not worried, I’m just a little surprised. This Dragon Flesh came way too easily."
"I know what you mean. It was so easy to get that you don’t know what to do with yourself, right?" Qin Ziwu roared with laughter. "Alright, let’s just focus on getting the meat back for now."
"President, President! I found a flower inside this Duck-billed Dragon’s stomach!" a voice called out from nearby.
Qin Ziwu looked over at the sound of the voice, thinking the person who shouted looked a little familiar.
Yuan Ming said in surprise, "Isn’t that Nie Pan? The guy who found the Fish Dragon Stone and the Azure Dragon Stone? What did he find now? A flower growing in a dinosaur’s stomach? That’s unheard of."
"Come on, let’s go check it out." Qin Ziwu wiped his hands and walked over, his curiosity piqued.
By now, a thick crowd had gathered around the Duck-billed Dragon’s carcass, packed several layers deep.
Someone recognized Qin Ziwu and made way for him. "Brother Wu, come over here."
"Thanks, man. No need, I can see just fine from out here." Qin Ziwu waved his hand, then climbed onto a different dinosaur carcass nearby and stood on his tiptoes to peer into the crowd.
Deep inside the circle, he saw his big brother holding a large, red flower.
It was truly massive, like he was holding a Rafflesia.
’What the heck is that thing?’ Qin Ziwu squinted, staring at it for a moment before shaking his head, jumping down, and getting back to his own work.
’I can just ask my big brother about it when we get back to Home anyway.’
"Alright, break it up. Get back to your own tasks," Cao Biansheng said, waving to disperse the onlookers.
’This flower must be the thing Mogu was talking about,’ Qin Ziwen thought to himself. The moment he saw it, he had used Insight on it.
He got the results immediately.
[Extraordinary Blood-Bone Flower Seed]: Immature. Requires consuming large amounts of fresh flesh and blood to grow. Prefers hot environments.
’It’s actually just a seed.’ Qin Ziwen toyed with it.
This thing that looked like a flower was revealed to be only a seed after he used Insight.
He had no idea what it would look like once it matured.
But if it hadn’t been a seed, he probably wouldn’t have gotten his hands on it.
The amount of flesh and blood it needed to mature must be immense; otherwise, the previous owner wouldn’t have piled up all the dinosaur carcasses in the Oasis in one spot.
’Oh well, I’ll take it back for now,’ he thought, shaking his head slightly.
’Wait a minute...’ Qin Ziwen suddenly remembered the special effect of the Treasure Garden, "Bountiful," which allowed it to ignore the planting conditions of Extraordinary Plants.
’This Blood-Bone Flower needs a lot of flesh and blood. What if I plant it in the Treasure Garden?’
’Would I be able to grow it without needing any flesh and blood?’
At this thought, the corners of Qin Ziwen’s mouth curled up slightly. This was a truly pleasant surprise.
If the Treasure Garden could ignore its prerequisite of consuming large amounts of fresh flesh and blood, then its "Bountiful" effect would be truly remarkable.
"Where did you find it?" Qin Ziwen asked.
"Inside the Duck-billed Dragon’s heart," Nie Pan said, making a gesture. "I was originally going to cut it out by itself, but I found an incision on the pericardium that had been stitched up. So I cut it open to take a look."
Qin Ziwen looked up and gave him a long, deep look.
Once could be called luck. Twice could be a coincidence. But finding good things inside Giant Beasts three times in a row...
...there might really be something to it. Either his luck was extraordinary, or he possessed some kind of special ability.
"Which team are you on now?"
"The collection team, part-time," Nie Pan answered honestly. "When I have free time, I also help out at the Military Equipment Supervisor’s office. I do all sorts of odd jobs."
"You’re not on the Hunting Team?" Qin Ziwen was a little surprised.
This Nie Pan looked strong and robust, full of vitality, yet he was only a part-timer on the collection team.
Nie Pan said frankly, "President, I have two children at home, both under ten. The Hunting Team has great benefits, but the risk is too high. If something happened to me, there would be no one to look after my kids. It’s safer on the collection team."
Qin Ziwen understood Nie Pan’s concerns and then asked, "Are there no other adults in your family?"
"No. My wife is a nurse. When we transmigrated, she happened to be on the night shift." A smile appeared on Nie Pan’s face.
"That can’t be easy." After learning about Nie Pan’s family situation, Qin Ziwen gave up the idea of transferring him to the core Hunting Team.
After a moment of thought, Qin Ziwen said, "How about this: the feed processing plant often gets prey carcasses delivered. You can take an official position there, responsible for dissecting the game."
"Thank you, President!" Nie Pan’s eyes lit up, and he quickly expressed his thanks.
"Mhm. After you’re done here, go find Jia Liangcai. I’ll have him arrange it for you." After giving his instructions, Qin Ziwen returned to Home with the Blood-Bone Flower.
Arriving at the Treasure Garden, he found it was extremely spacious, with many empty areas.
He found a sunny slope—though there was no sun this deep underground, one had to have a sense of ceremony—and spaced it far apart from the other Extraordinary Plants, giving it its own small hill.
’How should I plant this...’ Qin Ziwen pondered. ’When Nie Pan found it, it was buried in a heart.’
Should he bury the Blood-Bone Flower completely in the ground, or leave it exposed?
After some thought, he simply dug a small pit in the hill, placed the Blood-Bone Flower inside, and then sprinkled a little loose soil over its surface without burying it completely.
He stood up, dusted off his hands, and nodded in satisfaction.
Since he was in the Treasure Garden, he took the opportunity to look at the other Extraordinary Plants.
He had to admit, the environment of the Treasure Garden was very suitable for these plants to grow. Each one was growing lushly.
Whether it was the Heaven-Reaching Fruit, the Sea Pear Fruit, or the Deep Sea Oxygen, they all looked to be flourishing.
Beside these Extraordinary Plants, many ordinary crops were also planted.
Perhaps influenced by the Extraordinary Plants, these ordinary crops also seemed to be growing extremely well, with a few even showing signs of some kind of mutation.
...
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