Chapter 119 Firing High-Energy Soil

Chapter 119: Chapter 118: Firing High-Energy Soil

Daytime. The fifth floor of the office building in the Yun Valley Business District.

The once-pristine office area was now permeated with the smell of dirt. Outside the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, fine drizzle drifted down from the hazy gray sky. Down on the ground below, most of the area was submerged in stagnant water, completely devoid of life. Inside the building, however, it was a bustling and vibrant scene.

Under Professor Ye’s direction, a large open-plan office space on the fifth floor had been completely transformed. The heavy curtains had been taken down to let in as much of the faint natural light as possible. Abandoned desks were pieced together to form multi-tiered shelving. Plastic storage boxes, iron buckets, and even drawers had been repurposed into various planting containers.

Wearing a worn-out outfit, Professor Ye bent over to inspect a shallow tray made from a modified plastic file box. Holding a handful of seeds, he carefully scattered them evenly over damp paper towels. He looked up at the ordinary survivors helping him and explained.

"Remember, the key to growing sprouts is keeping them in the dark and maintaining humidity.

"Spray them with water two or three times a day. You can use our domestic water, water condensed by Awakened, or purified rainwater. Just keep the soil moist. Don’t use too much, or the roots will rot and stink.

"Once the seeds sprout white shoots, we’re all set."

Despite having Han Ning’s acceleration Skills, Professor Ye still taught them the complete planting method, believing that teaching a man to fish was better than just giving him one.

"Understood."

The survivors nodded repeatedly. Mimicking Professor Ye, they carefully scattered seeds and sprayed water into their own shallow trays.

Not far away, Lin Qianqian, who was supposed to be resting, was busy packing a mixture of sawdust, dead leaves, and a little plant ash into pots made from large, cut-open mineral water bottles. This was the soil prepared for leafy greens. Nearby, Chairman Wu was drilling holes into rows of neatly arranged plastic buckets to ensure proper drainage and ventilation.

Little Xu Yinyin had also joined the workforce. She crouched beside a plastic flowerpot filled with nutrient soil that Professor Ye had specially prepared for her. With an incredibly serious expression, the little girl dropped a few round spinach seeds into a small hole. Imitating the adults, she gently pushed the fine dirt with her fingertips to carefully fill the hole.

"All buried. I can’t press it down too hard; Grandpa Ye said the seeds need to breathe..." Xu Yinyin muttered softly, as if she were talking to the seeds or perhaps reminding herself.

Once she finished, she mimicked Professor Ye again, gently patting the surface of the soil with the back of her small hand. "My spinach babies will definitely grow super, super tall!"

On the other side of the room, rows of homemade, dark-colored mushroom grow bags were neatly stacked in a dimly lit corner. Professor Ye had made these bags himself, and they were covered with a thin layer of damp cloth to maintain humidity. Professor Ye walked over to check and instructed the person in charge of watching over them.

"Mushroom bags are sensitive to light, so leave them here and don’t touch them.

"When you see the surface of the bag turn white and grow something that looks like cotton wool, that means the mycelium is growing. It’s a good sign.

"Once the white fluff fully covers it, lift the damp cloth and keep the humidity up. You’ll soon see little mushrooms poking their heads out."

Under Professor Ye’s guidance, the entire team of planters worked in perfect order.

"Grandpa Ye, when will my spinach babies sprout?" Xu Yinyin’s innocent question broke the atmosphere of earnest labor.

Professor Ye straightened his back and smiled. "Soon, soon. With Yinyin taking such good care of them, they’ll definitely grow out in no time."

Xu Yinyin nodded vigorously, her expression turning very serious. "When they sprout, I’ll be the first to tell you, Grandpa Ye!"

Meanwhile.

While Professor Ye and the others were busy, Han Ning wasn’t sitting idle either.

"Old Xu, let’s begin," Han Ning said, looking at the materials gathered on the floor.

"Right away, Mr. Han!"

Following Han Ning’s instructions, Xu Ming used a few relatively flat cement slabs and bricks to build a crude makeshift stove in a spacious corner of the office building. Some dry kindling was placed in the center of the stove. Above it sat a large metal soup barrel with slightly warped edges.

Drawing on his knowledge of the High-Energy Soil Refining Technique, Han Ning systematically organized the materials. He dumped the collected Jade Potatoes, Red Mist Tomatoes, and some plant tissue from the mysterious Seaweed Fruits into the barrel all at once. He also added a portion of plant ash, a bit of sawdust, a large amount of semi-finished compost, and a generous amount of powder ground from monster bones and flesh. Next, he lifted a bucket of relatively clean water and slowly poured it in. The water mixed with the other materials, forming a viscous, mottled-colored paste.

"Light the fire," Han Ning ordered.

Xu Ming immediately lit the kindling in the stove. Orange flames rose, scorching the bottom of the metal barrel. As the mixture inside heated up, it began to emit an indescribable odor.

Han Ning pulled the Energy Stone from his pocket and tossed it in. With a thought, several vines with hardened textures plunged into the mixture like a whisk and began stirring. WHIR WHIR WHIR. As he stirred, he channeled the Natural Spiritual Power within his body. An emerald-green halo seeped from the vines into the thick slurry.

With the infusion of Energy and the continuous stirring and heating, the mixture in the barrel began to change. Its texture became even more viscous and smooth. Catalyzed by the Natural Energy, the originally incompatible materials seemed to undergo their initial fusion.

The strange smell permeated the entire floor. It was like a medieval witch brewing some bizarre poison.

"Mr. Han, is this the ’High-Energy Soil’ you mentioned?" Xu Ming asked curiously. He continued to feed fuel to the fire, occasionally checking on the concoction in the barrel. He simply couldn’t associate the viscous slurry with the loose, soft soil he had in mind.

"Yeah, but it’s only a semi-finished product for now. Just watch," Han Ning replied.

Gradually, the Energy within the Energy Stone began to react with the slurry. The mixture in the soup barrel, which had merely been churning from the heat of the fire, began to roil violently. Visible dark blue ripples rapidly spread outward from where the Energy Stone had sunk, merging with the dark green slurry in the barrel.

HISS...

White steam gushed from the mouth of the barrel like vapor from boiling water, carrying faint Energy Fluctuations. After an unknown amount of time, the Energy Fluctuations finally began to subside. The steam dissipated, revealing a large mass inside the barrel. It had shrunk to about two-thirds of its original volume, boasting a smooth, uniform texture and a glossy, reddish-brown sheen that resembled dough.

"Hmm... aside from the color, the texture is already very close to the High-Energy Soil from the imagery," Han Ning murmured.

Seeing that the barrel of slurry had completely transformed into a dough-like substance, Han Ning wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh of relief. The energy required to control the vines was nothing to him, but the strange odor emitted during the stirring process had practically suffocated him.