Chapter 220: Interstellar Deserted Star Farmer Woman 27

Chapter 220 -216: Interstellar Deserted Star Farmer Woman 27

No matter how many times Dai Lixing asked, no one at the Agricultural Research Institute would give up Ji Xiaosong.

They knew full well that if they caved to pressure from a powerful authority and broke their agreement, Ji Xiaosong would probably never work with them again.

That was a loss their humble Agricultural Research Institute simply couldn’t afford to bear.

The Agricultural Research Institute wouldn’t talk, but Ji Xiaosong’s streams were so popular that Dai Lixing eventually managed to track them down.

But since Ji Xiaosong never showed her face, all he could see was an incomplete view.

A pair of hands sorting seeds floated on the holographic screen.

As Dai Lixing unfastened the collar of his uniform, his knuckles brushed against the metal clasp.

The hands were uncannily similar to a silhouette from a memory that shouldn’t exist. Even the arc of the jade-like fingertips gliding across a petri dish struck him with a heart-pounding familiarity.

The climate control in the military conference hall suddenly felt sweltering. The gland at the back of his neck began to pulse beneath the standing collar of his uniform.

“Marshal?”

His adjutant’s voice came over the encrypted channel. “The holographic sand table for Insect Race activity in the Third Star Domain…”

“Delay it by five minutes.”

He heard himself give the order in the steadiest voice he could manage, yet his eyes uncontrollably tracked the fluttering fingertips on the stream.

When those hands cupped a newly cultivated tomato vine, his Adam’s apple bobbed.

Suddenly, the monitoring system blared an alarm.

Dai Lixing glanced down at the deeply wrinkled cuff of his uniform, where the dark silver piping was digging into his palm so hard it was leaving bloody lines.

‘This isn’t right. As a Federation Marshal who has survived countless life-or-death battles, my emotional threshold should be as impenetrable as a Star Destroyer’s shields.’

But right now, the turmoil in his heart was completely beyond his control.

The holographic projection cast fragmented blue light across his retinas, and Dai Lixing suddenly realized his own iris identification system was automatically zooming in on the image.

This was a military program designed for analyzing Insect Race weak points in star domain combat, yet now it was scanning the pale wrist that flickered in and out of view with her movements.

BEEP—

His personal micro-computer suddenly displayed a biometric warning.

His heart-rate graph was climbing abnormally, increasing by 15 beats every minute.

“Marshal? The holographic sand table is ready…”

“I’ll be right there.”

Dai Lixing’s military boots strode across the conference hall’s bulletproof glass floor.

He glanced back at the stream replay one last time. As he watched those virtual hands cradle a tomato seedling, he smelled the fresh fragrance of plants, a scent that couldn’t possibly exist in the sealed room.

“Xiao Li, see if you can contact this streamer. I want her contact information.”

With that, Dai Lixing turned and headed for the conference hall.

‘Finding this streamer is important, but my military duties are just as important.’

*

Far away on Wa Star, Ji Xiaosong had already given birth to her son. The reincarnation of Shennong in this lifetime was proving to be quite interesting.

Though just an infant, he carried the calm and steady demeanor of an old man.

‘It’s a good thing he wasn’t born with his memories,’ Ji Xiaosong thought, ‘otherwise this would be really awkward.’

Ji Xiaosong gave him a name: Ji Sui’an.

“Sui An, Mommy’s eating roasted sweet potatoes today. In a bit, I’ll take you to see our sweet potato patch again.”

She ate the roasted sweet potato while holding Ji Sui’an.

The sweet and tender texture made Ji Xiaosong’s eyes crinkle in delight.

Rongrong floated over, gently taking Ji Sui’an and settling him on its body.

It even raised its edges to make sure he wouldn’t fall off.

“Song, can we sell sweet potatoes in the next stream?”

“Of course. Sweet potatoes are sweet and filling, so we can sell a lot of these. As for the price, let’s sell them for one star coin for two.”

“Then when do we start selling?”

“Let’s wait until Sui An is a month old. He’s still too little right now and needs careful attention. It’s not good for a baby to be floating around everywhere with me.”

“So we’re not doing anything for the next month?”

“Of course we are. We can still grow potatoes in the ocean, right? I plan on planting potatoes on the surface of the sea. Once we’re done selling sweet potatoes, we can start selling potatoes. We can sell the potatoes for even cheaper, maybe one star coin for two pounds.”

Ji Xiaosong laid out her plan. “We can also sell these sweet potato leaves as vegetables. They’re quite delicious when stir-fried.”

Ji Sui’an listened from the side, cooed “ah, ah” twice, and fell asleep again.

*

「On the Main Star.」

Cold sweat was trickling down Xiao Li’s back.

‘I can’t believe it. I’m a supposedly all-capable Attendant Officer, and yet I can’t even get in touch with a streamer.’

After his meeting, Dai Lixing turned and asked Xiao Li, “Did you find any information on the streamer?”

“I… I’m sorry, Marshal. I have failed you. I couldn’t find any information on the streamer, and I have no way to contact her. She was the one who initiated contact with both the Agricultural Research Institute and the Main Star Research Institute, so no one knows who she really is or how to get in touch.”

“If even you can’t reach her, she must be hidden very well indeed.”

“The reason the streamer stopped broadcasting last time was because she was going to have a child. She’ll probably start streaming again once her child is a little older.”

“Alright. Inform me the next time she goes live.”

Dai Lixing waited. A month passed.

Ji Sui’an was finally one month old. On that day, Ji Xiaosong prepared a one-month celebration feast for him in her vegetable garden.

“Rongrong, bring the nutrient solution.”

Ji Xiaosong stood on her toes to reach for a Star Moon Gourd on the trellis. The hem of her slightly loose linen clothes gently brushed against a bush laden with berries.

The moon of Wa Star hung in the sky, immersing the entire vegetable garden in a pearlescent halo.

Rongrong, the floating cloud, gave a little shake, carrying the sleeping infant as it drifted slowly toward the nutrient pool.

Rongrong used its soft, cloudy tendrils to wrap around a glass bottle of seaweed extract when it suddenly noticed strange motes of light shimmering in the pool.

The reflections of the sweet potato vines Ji Xiaosong had trimmed were weaving themselves into the shape of a cradle on the water’s surface.

“Song, look!”

Rongrong was so excited its cheeks flushed the color of a sunset. “It’s a gift for his one-month celebration!”

As Ji Xiaosong turned around, the wooden hairpin in her hair accidentally slipped out, and her black hair cascaded down like a waterfall.

In that very instant, the motes of light condensed into something solid.

Jade-like vines intertwined with glowing mycelium, weaving a floating cradle under the moonlight.

The sleeping infant waved his tiny hand unconsciously. Wherever his fingertips brushed, lily-of-the-valley-shaped flowers of pure energy bloomed in an instant.

‘It’s really… getting harder and harder to hide all this.’

Ji Xiaosong gave a wry smile and turned on the holographic streaming sphere.

She re-pinned her hair with the wooden hairpin, deliberately adjusting the angle to ensure the camera could only capture her from the shoulders down.

The moment the interstellar audience flooded in, the live comments exploded across the screen like a galaxy:

“The missing person returns! What is this floating garden?”

“Is that pumpkin glowing with golden light behind the streamer a new variety?!”

“Wait, are those glowing cabbage fish swimming in the pool?”

“Is today some kind of important festival for the streamer’s child?”

“I remember that too. Last time she stopped streaming, she said it was to have and take care of her baby.”

Ji Xiaosong pretended not to see these questions, picked up the swaddled baby, and walked towards an archway made of various fruits and vegetables.

As if on cue, Rongrong puffed, and a cloud of spores instantly transformed into twinkling motes of starlight, which gently settled on the table woven from vines.

Crystal eggplants were filled with purple sweet potato purée, and fluorescent mushrooms cradled cherry tomatoes. In the most prominent spot sat a gift for the one-month celebration, meticulously crafted from three hundred stalks of wheat.

“Thank you all for witnessing Sui An’s one-month celebration feast.”

Ji Xiaosong gently touched the baby’s small foot to the nutrient-rich soil, while the fingertips hidden in her sleeve secretly released Spiritual Power.

The moment the Spiritual Power merged with the soil, the entire vegetable garden suddenly trembled, and the tomato vines bore heart-shaped fruits at a speed visible to the naked eye.

「Main Star Marshal Mansion」

Xiao Li ran frantically towards Dai Lixing’s room.

“Marshal, the streamer you follow is live!”