He was a disabled military officer who doted on his research work in the Northwest.

Another city. The factory workers' residential compound.

It's 11 p.m.

One of the streetlights in the alley was broken, and the dim light turned everything grayish-yellow.

Shen Yao squatted outside her own courtyard wall.

She was wearing a dark coat and a black scarf over her head, almost blending into the night.

He was carrying a cloth bag.

There was a dead rat in the bag.

She found it in the garbage dump at the end of the alley this afternoon. She used a twig to pick it up, put it in a plastic bag, and hid it behind the water tank until dark.

She squatted down and poured the dead rat out of the bag—it landed with a "thud" on the stone steps in front of her house.

A stiff, gray body, a long tail. It had already started to stink.

Shen Yao glanced at it expressionlessly.

Then he stood up and patted his hands to remove non-existent dust.

He turned around and silently went back into the house through the back door.

Locked.

I lay back down on the bed.

Close your eyes.

……

the next morning.

"ah--!"

The scream of Shen's mother as she opened the door shattered the morning's tranquility.

"Dead rat! There's a dead rat at the door!"

Shen Guoping rushed out of the house and saw the gray dead rat on the threshold. His face turned ashen.

"Who did this?!"

The neighbors peeked out to see what was going on.

People whispered among themselves, "Was it done by someone from the Zhao family?"

Shen Yao slowly walked out of her room, glanced at the dead rat at the door, and her face turned pale instantly.

"Dad..." Her voice trembled, "Is it... someone from the Zhao family...?"

Shen Guoping clenched his fists.

"These people!" he cursed, "They've gone too far!"

Shen Yao bit her lip, her eyes reddening: "I...I'm scared..."

"Don't be afraid." Shen Guoping kicked the dead rat into the alley with a dark face. "I'll go find someone to reason with."

"Dad—don't go." Shen Yao grabbed his sleeve. "The Zhao family is a big and powerful family here... Even though he's no longer the factory manager... they still have tons of relatives and friends... If you go to reason with them... what if they retaliate even more severely?"

Shen Guoping was stunned.

The Zhao family is indeed a prominent local family. Although Factory Director Zhao has been suspended from his post, several of his relatives—his cousins—are still working as workshop foremen in the factory.

Locals, local influence.

The Shen family were just outsiders.

"Then... call the police?" Shen's mother said pitifully.

"What's the use of calling the police?" Shen Yao asked, her head lowered, her voice muffled. "The police come, ask around, find no evidence, and leave. And then what? Next time they'll just escalate their actions."

Shen's mother shuddered: "What should we do then..."

Shen Yao did not answer.

She just squatted at the doorway, hugging her knees, her shoulders trembling slightly.

They look so pitiful...

It's okay, just wait a little longer, it's not ready yet.

When they can't sit still anymore, I'll take them to find Shen Tang and see if she can really bear to abandon her biological parents.

If she dared to say no, what would the people in the military compound think of her?

……

A few days later, at the affiliated high school. Classroom 2.

The second period in the afternoon. Physics.

The teacher was writing circuit diagrams on the blackboard, the chalk stubs tapping against the board.

Shen Tang sat in the third row by the window, her pen flying across her notebook as she jotted down notes.

Then she stopped.

Her right wrist suddenly felt a burning sensation.

Jade bracelet.

The temperature wasn't high, but it was abrupt—like someone had lit a match inside.

Shen Tang's fingers unconsciously gripped the bracelet. Her expression didn't change, but her heart skipped a beat.

The last time the bracelet got hot was the day it was activated. Could it be...?

She closed her eyes, her consciousness sinking into the space—

The Starry Sky Farming Space unfolds in view.

Her breathing stopped.

The scene in the space is not right.

That thirty-square-meter plot of land—the mist at its edges had turned grayish-black. The leaves of the crops in the vegetable patches were yellowed and curled, as if they had been drained of moisture. The water level of the spirit spring pool—

Shen Tang stared intently at the small spring.

The water level is dropping.

This isn't normal consumption; it's loss.

One drop. Then another. The water surface shrank at a visible speed.

A system notification appeared in the center of the field of view:

[Warning: The externally bound land ecosystem is severely damaged. The symbiotic chain between the space and the external land is breaking. The spiritual spring water reserves are rapidly decreasing. Current reserves: 23%...21%...19%...]

Shen Tang suddenly opened her eyes; something had happened in the vegetable garden.

How is that possible?

But then she suddenly realized that she hadn't checked on the vegetable garden for several days.

After the commendation ceremony, their schedules were packed—she taught at school in the mornings and went to the hospital in the afternoons to provide follow-up rehabilitation treatment for the wounded. She left early and returned late every day, arriving back at the small courtyard long after dark. She hadn't visited the vegetable garden in a long time.

Mu Qinghan was also busy. The aftermath of the machinery factory accident was incredibly complex—compensation for the wounded, site cleanup, cooperating with the investigation team to collect evidence, and year-end military affairs summaries—every single one required his personal review and signature. He practically lived in the temporary command post.

He doesn't have time to be home, so the vegetable garden is basically unattended. So, has something happened to the vegetable garden?

"Shen Tang?"

The physics teacher's voice came from the podium: "Are you listening?"

Shen Tang suddenly came to her senses.

"I'm sorry, teacher." She stood up, her face slightly pale. "I—I'm not feeling well. Could I please ask for leave?"

The physics teacher glanced at her and noticed that she did look unwell: "Go. Go find the class monitor to get a sick leave slip."

"Thanks."

Shen Tang packed her textbooks into her bag and quickly walked out of the classroom.

Gu Bei called softly from behind, "Shen Tang? Are you alright?"

She didn't turn around, she just waved her hand.

Their pace quickened.

I practically ran as soon as I left the teaching building.

……

Military compound. Mu family's backyard.

Shen Tang jumped out of the car and ran to the back.

In the winter twilight, the vegetable garden looked like a desolate battlefield.

I could smell it from afar.

It has a sour, rotten smell. Not the earthy smell of normal compost, but the kind of smell unique to the decomposition of protein—sweet, nauseating, and pungent.

Shen Tang ran to the edge of the vegetable garden and stopped.

Her vegetables—bok choy, spices, and herbs—that she had planted for more than three months were all wiped out.

The leaves turned yellow and curled from the edges, as if they had been burned to death from the roots by something. The stems lay limp and sprawled on the ground, some already beginning to turn black.

The surface soil was covered with a layer of white mold—like protein crystals from dried milk, forming a thin film in the cold air.

The entire vegetable patch is dead.

Shen Tang squatted down and stuck her fingers into the soil.

Cold. Sticky. A sour, foul smell seeped out from between my fingers.

She tucked a pinch of soil under her nose and smelled it—

Butyric acid.

Lactic acid bacteria metabolites. The hallmark odor of anaerobic protein fermentation.

It's milk.

Someone poured a large amount of pure milk into the vegetable garden.

Pouring pure milk directly into the soil causes the proteins and fats to ferment and decompose, producing large amounts of harmful bacteria and organic acids. The microbial balance of saline-alkali land after improvement is already fragile—it cannot withstand such an impact.

The gut microbiota has collapsed.

The results of more than three months of improvements.

Back to before liberation overnight.

Shen Tang squatted in the ground, her fingers stuck in the soil, motionless.

She closed her eyes again, her consciousness sinking into the space.

This time—

The spirit spring pool was almost empty. The once clear spring water had turned into a murky gray, and the flow of water from the springhead was negligible.

The crops in the space were all withered. The leaves were yellow and the roots were black. Several plants had died completely.

The soil was hardened and white, as if all its vitality had been drained away.