The fine, slender fuzz on the swollen rice grains trembled faintly, like steam escaping from a pressure cooker. The sight made Jiang Luokui’s scalp tingle.
She immediately turned to the nearby agriculture students. “Quick, help move him away! That rice plant is about to explode!”
The stunned students snapped back to their senses and rushed forward to help.
Jiang Luokui, Lin Zihan, and three others lifted the injured Chu Zi’an and carried him over twenty meters away from the mutated rice before setting him down.
The screams, combined with the scene, terrified the students. They gathered around anxiously, trying to check his condition.
“Your protective suit is torn? Are you hurt?”
“Where are you injured? Hang in there—teachers are coming!”
Chu Zi’an’s face was pale, his lips trembling in fear. He could feel it clearly—the fine hairs from the rice had pierced through his suit and burrowed into his flesh, as if they were alive.
Worse still, his suit had been damaged. Though the tear was small, it still exposed him to a Level 5 radiation environment. Despair overwhelmed him.
His thoughts were in chaos—one moment he believed he might be fine, the next he was certain he would die of radiation sickness.
“Check how many tears there are in his suit! Those wearing advanced suits, come help seal the openings and block the radiation!” Lin Zihan frowned as she searched for the damage on his leg, then turned to Jiang Luokui. “Luokui, you should leave. If there are more mutated plants like that in the field, your suit won’t hold up.”
Jiang Luokui actually wanted to test whether her spiritual energy would flow more smoothly in a radiation environment.
But seeing Chu Zi’an in such agony, she gave up the idea.
“Alright,” she said, scanning the surroundings. “Those in standard suits, stop watching and move to an open area—it’s safer.”
At that moment, two teachers arrived with students who had been scattered further away.
Researcher Dong quickly reassured them. “Don’t worry, students. This was likely caused by small mutated insects that weren’t completely eliminated in the rice field. Advanced suits can block them.”
Teacher Li pushed through the crowd to check on Chu Zi’an. “A doctor’s already been called. Don’t be afraid.”
Seeing that Chu Zi’an was relatively stable and the tear in his suit was small and being covered, Researcher Dong finally wiped the sweat from his brow.
If someone died here, the farm would bear serious responsibility.
Still, a report would definitely need to be written.
“Did anyone see how this student got injured?” he asked.
Jiang Luokui had been about to leave, but thinking of the sudden second mutation and the abnormal cucumber vine earlier that morning, she sighed and turned back.
“Teacher Dong, I saw it. A mutated rice plant underwent a second mutation, and the fine hairs on its grains burst out and attacked Chu Zi’an.”
Normally, mentioning both mutation and attack together would attract serious attention. Surprisingly, Researcher Dong showed no sign of shock.
He thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright, I understand.” Then he turned to Pu Qing. “Student Pu Qing, can you come with me to locate that rice plant?”
Pu Qing nodded, though she felt something was odd—why did he sound so familiar with the term “second mutation”?
Jiang Luokui watched them leave, then shrugged. Whatever happened, it wasn’t a student’s responsibility to worry about the sky falling.
Now was the perfect time to confirm the location of that fertile land.
She deliberately walked onto a field path, making sure no one was around, and gently tapped her pocket.
Bubu crawled up from under her clothes inside the protective suit, its carrot-like head popping out at the collar.
“Abu!”
Though hidden in her pocket, Bubu hadn’t been idle—it had been listening to the lesson attentively, occasionally making soft “Abu” sounds in agreement.
Still, even for a carrot, listening to lectures could be sleep-inducing.
Just before it dozed off completely, its master finally called it.
Bubu perked up, waving its chubby arms excitedly.
I sense the aura of fertile land!
Jiang Luokui smiled. “Which direction?”
Bubu pointed toward a vague area in the distant outskirts.
She coughed lightly. “Wait, I’ll open the map.”
As someone from the south who couldn’t distinguish directions well, she relied on maps for orientation.
She activated her communicator in offline mode. The system allowed maps to function without internet so citizens could locate themselves and call for help if lost outside the base.
After comparing, she narrowed it down to a northern area in the outskirts.
“Is it plot 7896 in Chongshan Ridge?”
That area lay between Jiangnan Base and Xiakou Base. On the map, it was deep red—indicating radiation levels between 9 and 10.
She frowned. “What kind of standard is this? The higher the radiation, the better the land? If that’s true, plot 147 should be the most fertile.”
But in reality, plot 147’s soil quality was average.
Bubu was equally confused.
“Abu.”
It didn’t know why—but it was certain the good land was there.
“Alright, I’ll remember it. Let’s work hard and save up to buy that land,” Jiang Luokui said, hurrying to catch up with the group. “This lesson was really worth it.”
Not only had she found the location, she also discovered that her spiritual energy flowed faster in high radiation.
“Make way! Make way!” Two doctors rushed forward carrying a stretcher.
Soon after, two more people arrived to assist.
One of them asked, “You’re the students from the experiment class, right? Teacher Dong sent us. What happened?”
The voice sounded familiar. Jiang Luokui turned to look.
“It seems a mutated rice plant injured someone,” a freshman explained. “We’re not sure exactly, but Jiang Luokui saw everything!”
“Jiang Luokui?!”
Wang Meng looked over in surprise and immediately recognized her.
“Oh! Junior Jiang! So it’s your class today!”
Jiang Luokui was equally shocked. “Senior Wang? Isn’t this a restricted area?”
Wang Meng clicked her tongue. “I thought the students here would be second- or third-years. Why are you freshmen already doing something this intense?”
The students exchanged bitter smiles.
Indeed, this class had been terrifying.
…
(continued)