The people looked over, half curious and half puzzled. After a moment, Du Hong, having heard the raspy-voiced man’s shout, hurried over as well.
The moment he reached the edge of his field, he froze.
In the right section of the field, the once-lush seedlings had wilted overnight, slumped and messy, a stark contrast to the left section, where the seedlings continued to grow healthily.
The onlookers also saw the state of the field and began whispering among themselves:
“What’s going on…”
“Wasn’t the right side planted using Little Brother Lin’s method?”
“Could there be something wrong with his method…”
Even Du Hong muttered in utter bewilderment: “How is this possible? I’ve been watering and loosening the soil on time every day…”
Seeing his hard-earned seedlings suddenly go wrong, Du Hong paced about anxiously but couldn’t figure out the cause.
Nor could the other refugees who volunteered to check on the seedlings. They were just as baffled.
Everything seemed perfectly normal on the surface, yet the crops had suddenly withered. Could it be… that Lin Yi’s planting method was actually flawed?
Those who had been immensely grateful for the seeds they received now began to waver.
Lin Yi happened to overhear these murmurs of doubt as he was called over.
Among them, the chubby man was the most vocal, practically shouting: “It’s all because my brother listened to your nonsense! Look at all these ruined seeds!”
The people argued in low voices, but no one refuted the chubby man’s words. They all seemed uncertain. Although Lin Yi appeared very reliable, the state of the seedlings in the field didn’t lie.
Having learned the general situation, Lin Yi had no time to argue with the chubby man. He hurried through the crowd and began examining the seedlings’ condition.
The situation was worse than he had imagined. The seedlings were severely dehydrated, almost completely wilted.
Yet the soil in the field looked as if it had just been watered, still quite moist. It didn’t seem like a case of forgetting to water.
The seedlings had wilted suddenly, nor did it appear to be caused by disease.
Lin Yi racked his brain but couldn’t come up with an answer. As he remained silent, the murmuring around him grew louder and louder.
Annoyed by the noise, Lin Yi was about to raise his head and tell everyone to quiet down when he suddenly paused. A possibility occurred to him—
Lin Yi abruptly grabbed a handful of soil, brought it to his nose, and sniffed carefully. His brow immediately furrowed.
He handed the soil to Du Hong. Du Hong copied him, sniffing it carefully, then dabbed a bit on his tongue to taste. His expression changed dramatically.
Lin Yi shot Du Hong a meaningful look. Du Hong immediately schooled his features, straightened up, and barked at the onlooking refugees: “Go on, get out of here! I just forgot to water yesterday. Stop gawking!”
“Eldest son of the Du family, but the soil is still damp…” someone couldn’t help but object, only to be quickly pulled away by others.
Come on, Du Hong is clearly angry. If you stick around to watch the show, you’ll just make yourself a target.
After shooing away the bystanders, Du Hong turned to Lin Yi. But Lin Yi remained silent and glanced behind Du Hong.
Du Hong froze.
Realizing something, he turned with difficulty to his younger brother, who was following behind him, and said, “You… go back too. Don’t get involved in this.”
Only after the chubby man had slunk away in displeasure did Du Hong’s feigned impatience vanish, replaced by gravity and seriousness.
Lin Yi spoke to Du Hong: “You know what’s going on, don’t you?”
Du Hong nodded solemnly. As someone who had farmed for over a decade, with Lin Yi’s hint, he had naturally noticed the unusual briny, salty smell in the soil.
Excessive salinity in the soil causes crop roots to lose water and die, especially fragile young seedlings.
And making soil saline was all too simple: just a handful of caustic soda, or a bucket of saltwater… In other words, this was clearly deliberate!
No wonder no one could find the cause, because it would never have crossed their minds!
This was also why Lin Yi and Du Hong had chased everyone away before discussing it. The culprit might still be hiding among the crowd; they couldn’t tip them off.
“So… what now?”
“Go fetch water,” Lin Yi interrupted Du Hong’s hesitation and calmly directed. “Flush the salt deep into the soil with plenty of fresh water. There might still be a chance to save them.”
Du Hong hurried off to fetch water from the river, while Lin Yi didn’t stay idle either.
The problem had been discovered too late; fresh water alone might not be enough to remedy it.
Lin Yi reached out and brushed his hand over a seedling. Wood-based abilities flowed from his fingertips, and the plant, on the verge of withering, was revitalized with new life.
…
Even with the help of his supernatural ability, the two of them worked their hardest and didn’t finish saving the field until evening.
By then, due to excessive depletion of his ability, Lin Yi was pale and on the verge of collapsing.
Du Hong wasn’t faring much better, exhausted and gasping for breath.
As he panted, he gritted his teeth in anger. “Which bastard did this?! Who has such a huge grudge against me?”
“Who did it? Won’t we find out tonight?” Lin Yi beckoned Du Hong over and quietly gave him a few instructions.
Evening.
Du Hong returned to the refugees’ settlement, utterly worn out.
People assumed he was discouraged by the accident in the field and were about to comfort him when they heard Du Hong let out a carefree, hearty laugh. “Ah, I told you, I just forgot to water yesterday. A false alarm! See? A bit of water and it’s all saved.”
“Really?”
The refugees could hardly believe it. Quite a few of them made the trip to Du Hong’s field to see for themselves. To their astonishment, the seedlings were growing splendidly, showing no sign of having been wilted during the day.
The people were both shocked and doubtful, but the evidence was right before their eyes. So they believed Du Hong’s words and dispersed, buzzing with discussion—
“See? There’s nothing wrong with Little Brother Lin’s methods.”
“Looks like it was just a misunderstanding…”
…
Du Hong made no comment on the people’s reactions. When he got home, the chubby man greeted him excitedly: “Brother, I heard the seedlings in the field have been saved?”
“Mm.” Du Hong responded casually.
A moment later, he added abruptly, “Get a good night’s sleep tonight. Don’t go out.”
“Brother…?” The chubby man looked confused, but Du Hong had already turned and gone into his room.
Late at night, while everyone was fast asleep, a dark figure quietly slipped out of a house.
He was carrying a heavy bucket, walking a few steps and resting, struggling to haul the bucket to the vicinity of Du Hong’s field.
Whether it was his imagination or not, the night seemed unusually dark. A clump of mutant plants a few meters away was shrouded in shadow, indistinct and hard to make out.
As he approached, that clump of mutant plants seemed to sway slightly in the wind, rustling softly.
The figure was so jumpy that even this small sound put him on edge. He nervously scanned his surroundings for a long time. Only after confirming there was no other movement did he lift the bucket in his hands.
He was just about to tip the bucket and pour out its contents when suddenly, shhk!
A blinding white light shot out from the bushes in front of him, landing squarely on the sneaky figure.