Forge a path to success.

Chapter 364 Abundant Harvest (4)

"Think about it carefully and you'll understand. What is the main force in the war of the Jingsha city-state?"

Ji Huaisu immediately thought of those strange and unusual plants: "War plants, I suppose."

“Cultivating plants is the work of gardeners and farmers. A good gardener can cultivate fruit trees and flowers, as well as siege engines and fortresses. Production and scientific research are actually integrated in the city-state,” Wilbert explained. “Therefore, their war plants are basically edible, and most civilian plants also have the ability to be converted into military plants. This phenomenon reflects the essence of the Divine Tree City-State: they are an armed agricultural civilization that integrates military and agriculture.”

"I'm fucking speechless. So the people with the most martial spirit in this godforsaken place are actually the vegetable growers..."

Back at the base camp, Gulibo deeply sympathized: "I just felt it was strange that I left my hometown. I just wanted to grow delicious fruit."

Great-grandfather was furious: "Gulibo...you good-for-nothing! I was so busy with important matters that I forgot to scold you...Our Gubo clan has been good gardeners of the Jingsha for generations, how come we have such a good-for-nothing like you in this generation! You've been away from your hometown for several years, and now you've got a few certificates!"

Guli Bo felt deeply ashamed: "I am currently a first-class gardener and a first-class plant caretaker... I plan to take the special-grade exam next year or the year after..."

Great-grandfather was shocked: "What?! Come to the greenhouse right now!"

Great-great-grandfather, moving with lightning speed, grabbed the wailing Gulibo and ran off. Ji Huaisu skillfully blocked out the animals' magical communication; if she listened any longer, she felt she would be led astray and couldn't help but start speaking in a quirky tone.

She quietly conjured a blurry animal head, its translucent form opening its mouth to exhale a breath of air. Riding the breeze, she flew past the searchlights and landed as lightly as if weightless inside the farm.

At headquarters, Chu Hengkong clapped his hands: "Impressive skills, Miss Thief. When did you learn to use wind?"

"It was almost done, okay? If time weren't so tight, I would have almost finished crafting my mount by now." Ji Huaisu tugged at the collar of her bodysuit, which felt constricting. "Wait a minute, I'll place a few probes... Is your communication working properly? There shouldn't be any lewd cameras pointing at me, right?"

Chu Hengkong intently admired the smooth curves swaying on the screen: "Absolutely not, don't worry, keep going."

Wilbert poked him hard with her cane.

"Hey, is it a problem for you if I look at pretty girls?"

"Don't get distracted during work hours." Vilbert said expressionlessly. "Miss Ji, please go down into the well from the north."

Ji Huaisu released several self-regulating machines, each about the size of a hand mirror, the VV-001 "Millennium Bug," small items never sold to outsiders and intended only for private use. These things used some kind of high-end technology, allowing them to be folded into a paper-thin, portable form, and if there were design blueprints, they could be assembled into other machines.

The several millennium bugs combined to form a crow, which flew low around the farm, transmitting the scanned 3D map to Ji Huaisu's eyes.

"This is basically a fortress..."

There were five layers of structure beneath the surface, each so heavily guarded that not even a fly could get in. Anyone unfamiliar with the area would mistake it for a secret military research facility. The wellhead Wilbert pointed out connected to three underground layers. They watched as Ji Huaisu's signal rapidly descended, suddenly stopping in the middle of the second layer.

"Miss Ji?"

"Wait... damn it... wait a minute!" Ji Huaisu gasped, "This place is too narrow, I'm stuck!"

Chu Hengkong stepped forward anxiously: "Where's the camera? Quickly switch the camera view."

Vande glanced sideways: "Dude, you've completely stopped pretending after this upgrade..."

"Get out of here!" Ji Huaisu shouted.

Violet sighed, "You can make an oily liquid as a lubricant... just don't make too much noise..."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the dark screen: "It worked, but it looks indecent."

"It's a real shame this part wasn't filmed," Chu Hengkong said regretfully.

"Ah Kong, you don't need to worry about performance this month."

"What does this have to do with me?!"

Ji Huaisu chuckled mischievously, "If you're so eager to see it, we'll talk about it when I get back~"

“Please focus on your work!” Wilbert emphasized.

The female thief landed successfully, using the wind to blow away the lubricant on her body. The screen showed a fluorescent corridor lined with retro-style statues. Next to each statue was a closed door, like the airtight private room used by scholars in ancient times to take exams.

Gulibo sneaked back again: "Statue! Zoom in on that statue!"

But Miss Ji acted before she thought, having already pried open a door and slipped out. The space behind the door wasn't large; a room the size of a four-person room was crammed with five hamster cages. The Gubo tribe members running around in the cages were panting heavily, and green energy flowed from the top of the cages into a small wooden statue in the center of the room, where another free Gubo tribe member was intently tending to the statue.

The Gubo tribe member wearing a small mage's hat was none other than the previously captured Magic Bo. Ji Huaisu didn't reveal herself, but squatted down and gently poked it: "Hey, how's it going?"

"Pop!" Magic Pop was startled. "Is that an ally coming to help?"

"I'll take you out later for a quick exchange of information. What happened to you after you were captured?"

"After being brought here, we learned a lot of things, and then we were put to work..."

Molibo's words were unclear and vague, lacking the decisive and efficient manner he had displayed earlier. Ji Huaisu frowned deeply as she listened: "Be clear! Why are you being so ambiguous?"

It suddenly looked up and said firmly, "Please go back! I'm working here voluntarily, and everyone else is doing the same thing!"

Ji Huaisu was greatly surprised upon hearing this: "Huh?!" The Gubo tribe members in the cage looked up and shouted into the air, "It's voluntary!" "We volunteered to work overtime!" "The Divine Tree needs us!" "Please leave quickly, we don't want to betray you!"

Gulibo's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets: "How could this be? My cousin only went down there for half a day and he's already become a tree traitor!"

Great-great-grandfather beat his chest and stamped his feet: "They must have been brainwashed by Phifed!"

“No obvious traces of interference from the ghost body have been observed yet.” Vilbert pondered for a moment. “Miss Ji, please come out first, so as not to alert the enemy.”

Ji Huaisu rolled her eyes. After leaving the small room, she stopped and casually patted the statue in the corridor.

"Don't you guys think this thing looks a lot like what Magic Bo and the others cultivate...?"

With a flick of her finger, Velbert zoomed in, providing more detailed information: the statues were about four meters in size, made of wood like deadwood, and seemed not to have been activated yet, their dark eye sockets devoid of light.

"It looks a lot like a level 6 war plant, the Rotten Wood Warrior." Gulibo's attention was diverted. "But how come it's so small?"

“Phifeed and his group may have achieved a lightweight version of the Rotten Wood Warriors,” Great-Grandpa judged. “Then they should have… at least level 4 combat power! Imprisoning so many citizens to create war plants, are they planning a rebellion?!”

"It's hard to say..."

Ji Huaisu gave up on forcibly opening the door and tiptoed through the corridor, slipping into a large hall that the Millennium Worm had opened for her. The situation here was even more horrifying, with transport pipes constantly carrying semi-finished rotten wood warriors out of their "cells," where they underwent a second development under the nourishment of abundant nutrient solution and dew.

Many of the lightly produced Rotten Wood Warriors have been activated. They are transported to different sites and, under the guidance of farmers, undergo practical testing of equipment such as seed cannons and tomato grenades. Ji Huaisu personally witnessed a tough-skinned hippopotamus being riddled with holes by seed bullets, and the Rotten Wood Warriors performed a standardized celebration.

"Have your war plants developed to the point where they can fight automatically?" Ji Huaisu asked.

"War plants were developed to assist soldiers, and no matter how high their mass, they all need to be controlled. War plants that act on their own are strictly prohibited!" Gulibo exclaimed in shock.

"Isn't it a good thing for weapons to fight each other?"

"If they had wisdom, they would no longer be weapons, but citizens of the city-state! How can you force citizens to die on the battlefield? That's against morality!"

“It could also easily lead to being assimilated by the Empire,” Vandal muttered. “Many dead people have proven that giving weapons intelligence is not a good idea…”

"It seems the farmers need to brush up on their history."

Ji Huaisu quietly passed through different test sites, and the scenes that came into view were increasingly shocking. She also saw a popcorn bird, a modified version of a popcorn bomb, which would sprint at high speed and destroy itself along with its target; and an unmanned vehicle made of watermelon mines that would self-destruct and spray seed shrapnel to cause secondary damage.

Everything indicated that these farmers were preparing for an unprecedented war, a war that seemed to have virtually no moral bottom line.

“Now that things have come to this, I wouldn’t be surprised if they launch a full-scale attack on Mansa Star Fortress tomorrow,” Chu Hengkong said.

"If it were me, I would choose a different target..."

Ji Huaisu suddenly stopped communicating and hid behind a shipping container. A huge shadow swept past under the fluorescent light. She grabbed a Y2K device and silently mouthed: (It's Fife!)
She peeked out slightly so that everyone could see the farmer's actions. The unprecedentedly fat Goobo was inspecting the test results of the Wood Warriors, occasionally whispering to the farmers, then clapping its paws to signal them to listen.

"Thank you all for your hard work!" Philfield said in a strong voice. "The city-state will officially become independent in 29 days, but we need to make all the preparations in advance. Everyone has worked together to get to this point, and we can't afford to fail at the last minute! Starting today, every employee's salary will be doubled, paid daily!"

The farmers cried out in alarm, "You absolutely mustn't! If you keep throwing money around like that, you'll go bankrupt!"

"It doesn't matter! Everyone is fighting hard, how can I be stingy with my money? Please persevere with me to the very end, this is all for Lord Divine Tree!"

"For the sake of the Divine Tree!!"

The farmers enthusiastically echoed his sentiments, returning to their posts as if they'd been injected with adrenaline. Philfield nodded in satisfaction, and just as he was about to leave, the guard at the gate whispered to him, "Mr. Philfield... I'd like to offer you some advice..."

"Oh! Come on over, we always welcome reasonable suggestions."

Fife and the guard walked out of the hall, and Ji Huaisu followed stealthily. She heard the guard say, "Although the bill will not be officially implemented for another 29 days, things can change in the meantime. Shouldn't we prepare in advance and move the finished products we already have to the second phase?"

Fife took out his notebook and wrote: "Support the second pulse sequence as soon as possible... Please continue."

The guard spoke more fluently and his thoughts were extremely clear: "In addition, our Fourth Lineage is the most prominent banner of the independence faction, and those who oppose the bill will definitely come to cause trouble. We haven't caught the group from this morning yet, and relying on the small cosmos flowers alone is probably not enough. It's time to put the launch of the large lily flower project on the agenda."

"Start the large lily flower project this week..." Fife noted again, "Do you have any other suggestions?"

"I...I don't have any more!" The guard immediately reverted to his timid demeanor. "Thank you for listening to me."

Fife said seriously, "I have heard all your suggestions clearly, and I will definitely implement them immediately, please rest assured!"

Ji Huaisu, listening to this conversation from behind, found it utterly unbelievable. This was, after all, the city-state of Jingsha, and it wasn't unusual for the big boss to listen to the gatekeeper. But where did a guard get the audacity to boss people around like that, and how could he possibly make such comprehensive arrangements?

The strangest thing was Fifty's attitude. He didn't seem to be listening to advice at all; he was more like a subordinate following instructions.

Just then, she heard the guard say, "There's one more thing I'd like to remind you of..."

"The anti-bill activists from this morning probably haven't given up their evil intentions. Their spies are hiding right behind us!"

(End of this chapter)