Chapter 90: The Launch

The next morning, just after Xie Sen and Maine finished their breakfast, Long Teng and Bai Jiao came to help them move. It was very convenient to have spatial backpacks to move their things. The four of them still had nothing in their hands.

Xie Sen thought of the old days when they used to move their dorm rooms with their luggage in their hands and felt great! Maine contacted the landlord, and checked out of the apartment. After the paperwork was cleared, the four of them headed to their new place.

It took time to organize the house, but Maine and Long Teng were strong enough to put the furniture wherever they wanted, so they didn’t feel uncomfortable moving it around.

In less than two hours, Xie Sen and Maine’s new home was set up. When he saw that it was still early, Xie Sen took out the plant seeds obtained from the Yamu continent and chose the tall tree seeds from them.

Long Teng inquired curiously, “What’s this for?”

Xie Sen told him his plan for the land next door. “I am going to plant the seeds of these trees first.” When he thought of the poor soil quality, he first took out some watermelon seeds.

The plants from the System would improve the soil quality so that the trees could grow smoothly.

Long Teng sniffed, then curiously followed them outside with Bai Jiao.

Xie Sen circled the area with white lime powder, Maine dug the holes, he threw the seeds into the holes and Maine covered the seeds with soil. They worked very well together.

Bai Jiao saw how casual they were. He couldn’t help it and said, “Is this really going to work? Why don’t I take the seeds to the lab to grow and germinate before I bring them to you?”

“No,” Xie Sen shook his head. “This will do.”

The wood energy had already been retrieved, and the watermelon had been planted next to them, so he wasn’t worried about the growth of the green plants.

The four of them moved very quickly, and finished planting the seeds in the morning.

At noon, Xie Sen made a nice lunch in the new home, and invited Xu Da over to thank him for helping to look after the contract beasts. After the meal, Xu Da left, and Xie Sen and Maine went to the Plant Research Institute.

Ma Qun had given Xie Sen access to the Institute, so Xie Sen swiped his bracelet, and went straight to Ma Qun’s cultivation base after he asked the staff. Xie Sen’s eyes lit up when he walked into the cultivation site. Not far from there, patches of chili pepper bushes were growing lushly. The green leaves and red fruits were particularly beautiful.

There were also a number of people who were standing among the bushes, walking around in the bush paths, or bending down every now and then to check things out and take notes.

“There.” Maine pointed to Ma Qun at the far end.

Xie Sen pulled Maine along the path next to the chili pepper bushes to find Ma Qun, and the more he looked at the chili pepper bushes, the more pleased he was. There were many chili peppers on the trees, both green and red, almost half of each.

“President Ma,” Xie Sen greeted as he approached, and pointed to the chili pepper bushes. “The red ones are ripe, and ready to be picked.”

Ma Qun was bending down to test a chili pepper bush. When he heard his voice, he straightened up and looked over, his face full of smiles. “This half is ready to be planted so it can continue to grow, and the other half will be picked tomorrow.”

Xie Sen smiled. “Then I’ll be lucky to have a mouthful!”

Ma Qun laughed. “You can have the first batch of peppers. The yield is much more than we expected. In half a month, the green ones will also grow, and those flowering now will be fruitful again.”

Ma Qun finished, and waved to Xie Sen. “Follow me.”

Xie Sen took Maine, and the two of them followed Ma Qun towards the edge of the pepper field. When they reached the edge, Xie Sen said with joy, “Tomato plants! You did it!”

The tomato plants were only about two fingers long, but they were very spirited. There weren’t many of them, only about 20 or 30 at a glance, but as long as they were successful, the number didn’t matter!

When those plants grew up, they would bear a lot of fruit, and by saving the seeds for sowing it would allow them to be planted in large numbers.

Ma Qun nodded and looked at the tomato plants for a while with a pleased expression. Then he looked at Xie Sen. “Thanks to you.”

Xie Sen waved his hand. “It has nothing to do with me. The tomato plant was brought back by Researcher Li You. I had nothing to do with it.”

Ma Qun said, “Even if we don’t talk about the fact that you saved him, we still have to thank you.”

Xie Sen nodded, “Yes, you already did.”

Ma Qun appeared cautious. “When I contacted you yesterday, I said there was a new discovery.” He looked at a chili pepper bush. “Since the chili pepper bushes were transplanted into the ground, we have been very careful, and do various data tests every day.” His eyes fell on Xie Sen’s face. “We found that as the chili peppers grow, the soil quality of the land where the chili peppers are located keeps changing. It becomes more and more suitable for plants to grow.”

His eyes shone. “Then we tested the land near them, and the result was that it was affected too! We discussed this several times. To confirm it, we deliberately planted the tomatoes in the location closest to the pepper field, and it worked!”

Xie Sen immediately remembered how Adam had said that the plant could change the soil quality after planting. The Institute was able to find out so quickly because they were working carefully. He was impressed.

Ma Qun looked at him. “After that we tested all the land where the plants are planted, only the peppers and potatoes you provided changed the soil quality. The rest of the plants still didn’t work.”

He asked with an excited look. “Where did you get your plants from? Did your contract plants grow them?”

Xie Sen laughed. “President Ma, don’t forget, you said there are two kinds of plants. How can a contract beast plant grow two different kinds of plants? The chili is my contract plant, and the potatoes were found in the wild.”

Ma Qun mused, “Did you do anything with the potatoes after you got them?”

Xie Sen shook his head. Ma Qun frowned, and muttered to himself, “That’s strange. Why does it change the soil like the pepper?”

Xie Sen laughed again. “Maybe you fertilized it?”

Ma Qun shook his head. “No. We’ve been applying all kinds of fertilizer nutrients to the land, but the land loses its nutrients, and the plants can’t absorb them. However with the peppers and potatoes you gave us, for the land they are planted on and the land nearby, the nutrients stay in the soil and can be absorbed by the plants, so they grow well even without fertilizer.”

Xie Sen blinked. “Ah, that’s amazing!”

Ma Qun gave him a confused look, then smiled. “You really don’t know why?”

Xie Sen said, “I don’t know, if you don’t tell me!”

Ma Qun thought for a moment. “Do you have the rest of the plants?”

Xie Sen nodded. “Yes, I found a lot of plants this time, and I want to give them to you.”

Ma Qun looked pleased. “Come on, let’s go to the office.”

When they arrived at the office, Xie Sen brought out the seeds and fruits he brought back from the Yamu continent, the seeds of watermelon from the System, as well as the rice and dragon fruit.

Ma Qun called two researchers and separated the various types of seeds. The researchers were excited and thrilled to see the seeds, and carefully put them away.

Ma Qun recorded all the seeds. “Do we deal with them according to the old rules, or do we give you reward money?”

“The old rules.” Xie Sen didn’t hesitate. To him, right now, the plants were more attractive than money, and this method of sharing the bonus was definitely more cost-effective in the long run.

Ma Qun nodded, and quickly drew up a contract which was signed by both parties.

Xie Sen smiled. “I’ll leave you to it, then. I’ll be in touch.”

“Wait a minute,” Ma Qun raised his hand, to stop him from leaving. “There is one more thing.”

Xie Sen looked at him suspiciously, and Ma Qun said, “Tomorrow morning after the peppers are picked, the Institute will hold a conference at noon to announce the release of the peppers to the public.”

When he saw Xie Sen’s hesitation, Ma Qun said, “I’ve thought it through. You are a public figure, you shouldn’t be afraid to show up. Besides, you’re a Plant student, and July is the month for professional assessment of the fresh graduates, so if you attend the launch, you can get a perfect score on the assessment.”

Xie Sen had almost forgotten that he hadn’t gotten his diploma yet. He thought back to the comprehensive grading program for the diploma, the exam in March, the internship from April to June, and the professional assessment in July, then passing the comprehensive grading in order to get the diploma in August.

He didn’t know how to take a test for the whole month of July, but if he had to go around and identify plants, wouldn’t it take a lot of time? So after he thought about it, Xie Sen immediately agreed. Anyway, he had already shown up many times in the live stream room, so he didn’t have to worry about being recognized. “Okay, I will come tomorrow.”

Ma Qun said, “The launch event will be held in the lobby on the first floor of the building. Just be there at 10:00 tomorrow.”

Xie Sen agreed, said goodbye to Ma Qun and then left the Institute with Maine.

When they got back to their home, Xie Sen went to find the contract beasts while Maine went to the workroom. When Maine arrived at the workroom, he first opened the live room and projected the screen onto the wall opposite him. He watched Xie Sen for a moment before he started designing a program.

As soon as Xie Sen entered the living area, he heard the voice of the gift broadcast, “… The giant crocodile beast is great! Come to the middle of the camera!”

Xie Sen raised his eyebrows, and wondered what the giant crocodile beast had done. With a sweep of his eyes, he saw the giant crocodile beast. The giant crocodile was crawling fast, while Little Silver was lying on its flat wide back, being carried around by it.

Little Silver seemed to be very excited, and kept his shell open, like a giant, moving, colored lamp.

When Little Silver saw Xie Sen, its shell opened and closed, and the light instantly flickered on and off. The giant crocodile soon turned around, and ran next to Xie Sen.

Xie Sen touched the head of the giant crocodile beast and asked it about its health. The giant crocodile beast waved its tail. The thick tail made a loud sound on the ground. “My body has recovered!”

Xie Sen looked at the ground, but there were no cracks. He nodded towards the giant crocodile’s head. “It doesn’t hurt, huh?”

Giant crocodile beast, “It doesn’t hurt, I didn’t exert myself. I can exert myself to show you.”

“Don’t,” Xie Sen hurriedly stopped it. “This is your place, so take care of it!”

The giant crocodile said, “Mn. Black leopard told me that I should protect our place!”

Xie Sen laughed, and reached out to touch Little Silver again. It had a soft voice but an extraordinarily excited tone, “A’Sen, I’ve been all over the place, haha! My new friends are so awesome, I can go anywhere I want.”

Xie Sen smiled, “As long as you like it.”

He went back to see the giant bear beast, who was learning to dance with the giant tiger. Xie Sen watched the two giants as they twisted around, and silently held his forehead.

The pop-ups were full of [hahaha]. Someone sent gifts again, and specifically said, [hahaha! The anchor’s expressions are so funny! Let them learn to dance. Don’t stop!]

Xie Sen laughed helplessly, the two stopped and reached their paws towards him at the same time. He touched one with each hand. The giant tiger beast said, “Hahaha, the giant bear beast is very smart then! It dances like a human, it’s definitely the king of our dance!”

Xie Sen burst out laughing, “Where did you learn that?”

The bear had one paw over its face, but its mouth was wide open and it laughed, “Haha! I still have to study hard. I watched the live show this morning, and the dance king danced much better than me.”

The giant tiger beast said, “We don’t talk about modesty here! You are the dance king. Didn’t you hear that man say it? He’s been learning for more than ten years, and you’ve only been learning for an hour!”

The giant bear immediately said, “Yes, I am the king of the dance!”

Xie Sen, It’s a bit poisoned… When he saw the appearance of the giant bear beast, he didn’t ask about its health, and he knew it was fine at first glance.

At this time the two giant leopard beasts walked over with elegant steps. The giant black leopard lifted its fleshy pad, and Xie Sen rubbed it. “What’s wrong?”

The leopard turned its head to look at the gate. “We want to go out. I looked when I came. A large area here is fenced off and it’s all your territory, right?”

Xie Sen, “…” Why does the word ‘territory’ sound strange? He said, “Yes.”

The giant black leopard said, “Then can we go to your place to play?”

Xie Sen considered it. The land he and Maine bought had a high fence built around the perimeter, a kind of closed place. The contract beasts had high IQs, and were very obedient. There wasn’t much problem with them going out.

After all, the contract beasts were used to living in the forest, not staying indoors all the time. Even if the house was bigger, it wasn’t as comfortable as being outside.

He nodded. “Alright, but don’t go outside the fence. There are also a lot of seeds planted in the ground outside, so you should be careful not to step on them.”

“No problem.” The leopard nodded its big head, and tilted its head toward the door. “Let’s go!”

Xie Sen smiled and walked towards the door. The two giant leopard beasts followed him. The rest of the contract beasts saw him open the door, and quickly ran over from every direction. Xie Sen heard the movement, and turned around. They lined up one by one.

His smile disappeared. It seemed they all wanted to go outside, ah!

[‘Little Spotted Guardian’ gave the anchor a watermelon rain. “Ahhhhh, anchor! Where are you taking them! They’re going to be out of the shot!”]

Xie Sen sniffed, “They want to go out. Well, they may go out a lot in the future. I will ask someone to install a camera outside later, so it won’t affect future live broadcasts.”

After he finished, he instructed the contract beasts on the precautions, and then opened the door to its maximum so that the contract beasts could enter and exit.

When the contract beasts saw the spacious, open-air land, they screamed in excitement, and rushed straight out. Xie Sen hurriedly shouted at them, and taught them how to identify the land where the seeds were planted, in case they stepped on it.

The contract beasts scattered. They avoided the seeded land, and ran around happily.

Xie Sen put his hand on the shell, and Little Silver said softly, “A’Sen, can you build a pond outside? I want to sunbathe in the water.”

The giant crocodile’s tail curled, and the tip of its tail landed lightly next to Xie Sen. “I want to as well!”

Xie Sen looked at the patch of land and thought about it. After the trees grew up, it seemed better if there was a river alongside the trees. It would be easier to water them, and it would also satisfy the needs of Little Silver.

He nodded, “Okay, I’ll arrange it.”

He walked around, looked it over and quickly made the decision to extend an artificial river from the living area’s pond to the top of the fence diagonally, which was the maximum length that could fit.

This would make it easy to water the saplings. At the same time, Little Silver, as well as the other water-loving beasts, could travel between the outside and the living area through the man-made river.

After he thought about it, he immediately contacted the construction company and then the crew who installed the cameras, both of whom said they would come to the house as soon as possible.

Twenty minutes later, Xie Sen’s bracelet rang along with the beep of the gate doorbell. The image outside the gate showed up on his bracelet, while the doorbell at the gate also rang.

The python was closest to the gate. It coiled its body in the shadow of the wall, heard the sound, then lifted up its head and leaned over the wall to look out.

“Ah!” In a flash, several screams came.

The python’s jasper eyes blinked, and it retracted its head to reach out to Xie Sen.

Xie Sen was going to open the door remotely, but instead he had to run over, and touch its head. The python whispered, “I didn’t mean to.”

Xie Sen laughed and said, “It’s okay.” He stepped forward and opened the door.

The five people at the door, some with frightened faces and some with excited faces, had their emotions double when they saw the rest of the contract beasts inside the door were watching them curiously.

Xie Sen said, “Please come in. You don’t need to be afraid. As long as you don’t mean them harm, they won’t attack you.”

The five men returned to their senses, and entered the door. Xie Sen closed the door behind them, and first spoke to the person installing the camera. “I want the whole outside to be included in the camera view.”

The man said, “A spherical global camera can do it, but it’s a bit expensive. At least 200,000.”

“That’s it.” Xie Sen decided on it, and the camera person responded. They inspected the area, chose the middlemost position and started the installation.

Xie Sen told the construction company about his plan for the location of the man-made river and asked, “If it is at least three meters wide, with white tiles on the bottom and walls of the river, how long will it take to complete?”

The construction head said, “If we rush the work, we can finish it today, but we will have to call for more people to start the water diversion facilities and the river at the same time. That will be much faster.”

Xie Sen looked at the contract beasts gathered there. He saw the nervous and excited look of the staff, and immediately said, “Then call the people and finish it today.”

The head builder didn’t delay and called ten people to come over, each with a digging truck and other tools. The head builder neatly arranged the work for them, with one person in charge of a section, so they all started to work at the same time.

When Xie Sen saw the situation, he finally understood why the construction team was so efficient.

The head builder scanned the crew. He was checking the progress of their work, when his eyes suddenly stopped. “Oh my god, what’s that?”

Xie Sen looked over and saw that the giant armored beast was digging a hole. It was particularly fast and dug a small section in one go. Xie Sen lost his smile. “It’s a giant armored beast. It likes to dig holes.”

The head builder looked envious. “If only it could work in our company!”

Xie Sen laughed and walked over to it. “If you’re tired, rest.” The beast nodded and started digging again, its tail was wagging happily from side to side.

Xie Sen watched for a while, but couldn’t stay in the sun, so he said goodbye to the staff and contract beasts, ready to go back home.

The head builder was shocked. “This, how can this be? With so many senior contract beasts here, what if…? What if something goes wrong?”

Xie Sen reassured him. “Look. They’re all playing their own games. They’ll be fine. As long as you don’t hurt them, they won’t hurt you.”

He went back home. Maine was coming down from the second floor when he walked into the main room, and Xie Sen told him about his plans.

Maine sat him on the couch, and poured him a glass of water, “Get some rest.”

The next day at 10:00, Xie Sen and Maine arrived at the lobby of the Plant Research Institute on time. Xie Sen swiped his bracelet to enter, and was shocked when they went inside.

Xie Sen subconsciously lowered the brim of his hat. He and Maine had come with duck-tongued hats that covered most of their faces, so they weren’t noticed along the way.

“Sen.” A man quickly walked over. Xie Sen looked up, saw it was Li You, and immediately smiled and greeted him.

Li You smiled and said, “This is the reception area for the press and the draw audience. Follow me, and I will take you to the back room.”

When they arrived in the back room, Xie Sen saw President Ma, who had obviously dressed up on purpose, and several researchers who looked familiar.

Xie Sen nodded, and then a staff member called out, “President Ma, you have two minutes to speak.”

Ma Qun got up, straightened his clothes, and pointed to the wall at the back of the room. “You can view the live broadcast here, so you can watch it for a while then stand next to me when you go out,” he said and then quickly walked out.

Li You greeted Xie Sen and Maine, then sat down. They observed the live broadcast together.

Xie Sen looked at the bottom left corner at the popularity. More than 52 million, and it was still rising rapidly. He was surprised. “This is the real-time number?”

Li You nodded. “The live broadcast is for the whole of Brandt Star, but isn’t open to the outer stars, so the number of people isn’t large.”

Xie Sen was stunned, this wasn’t very many?

The host gave a short introductory speech, and then said, “Next, we have President Ma Qun of Plant Research Institute to make a special presentation.”

Ma Qun came to the front of the stage with his usual elegant smile and bright eyes. “Welcome. Today we are going to announce a new vegetable, the chili pepper, which was quite popular in the past and is also a seasoning.”

The pop-ups immediately praised, [President Ma is good. Open, to the point, not at all ink!]

[President Ma is so handsome today!]

Ma Qun paused for a moment, and then continued, “After careful analysis of the data, we have come up with very encouraging results. Chili peppers are rich in vitamins as well as trace elements. One of which, Vitamin E, is closely related to fertility rate. We are optimistic that it may improve the current problem of plummeting fertility rates.”

All of a sudden, a huge chatter came from the crowd at the launch site. Everyone’s expression was abruptly very excited, and the top of the live stream, which had been set up with intelligent pop-ups, was full of messages.

[Really? My God, sell it quickly, I want to buy it!]

[Want to eat! I can eat a hundred pounds!]

Ma Qun waited for the scene to quiet down before he spoke again. “At present, there are many kinds of plants being researched and planted in the Research Institute, and we will meet with you one by one soon.” He spoke with passion, “I believe that the day when we can eat vegetables and fruits at any time is not far away. One day, we will resume a normal diet, and no longer need nutrient solutions. Then all newborn babies will be healthy and strong!”

The audience echoed this, and the pop-up screen was filled with [Plant Research Institute is bull!]

Ma Qun said, “This is the result of many years of hard work, many people have given their lives for this. I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who have contributed to the cause of the plant.” He said after a pause, “Now, I will introduce the discoverer of pepper, Xie Sen, to thank him.”

At that moment, there was thunderous applause.

Maine took Xie Sen’s hand, and Xie Sen, who had been nervous, suddenly calmed down. He smiled at Maine, got up and walked out.

Once outside, as he faced the many cameras, he couldn’t help but feel some anxiety in his heart, but with a standard smile on his face, he said, “Hello, everyone.”

There were murmurs from below. Xie Sen heard the words ‘live’ and ‘contract beast’ and was not surprised he was recognized.

Ma Qun said his thanks again and then said, “That’s it for the information about the chili. Next is the question session.”

Xie Sen didn’t have to worry about it, he just nodded his head in response. It became almost a subconscious action.

Ma Qun suddenly asked, “A’Sen, do you know how to cook?”

Xie Sen nodded.

Ma Qun said, “Well, finally, as is customary, let the chili finder give us a live demonstration of how to eat it!”

Xie Sen lifted his head, which had just been lit, and was stunned.

Ma Qun asked, “What do you want to cook? What ingredients do you want to prepare?”

Xie Sen watched the staff bring the kitchen equipment to the stage and thought out loud, “Tender fish, preferably filleted.”

Soon a large bowl of fish was delivered, Xie Sen looked at the chili peppers and salt and had a deep sense that there were too few spices.

As he burned the oil, he wondered how vinegar and soy sauce were made. It seems to be made of food too, maybe he could find a culinary student to ask? It was sad to have food without seasonings!

The boiled fish with limited spices was really easy to do. He stir fried the chili pepper oil, put in salt and water then added the fish slices. The spicy smell soon spread throughout the venue.

The reporters and audience at the scene nimbly stretched their necks to look at the pot. Their mouths were hooked by the spicy smell, as they silently swallowed, and some people couldn’t refrain from shouting, “It smells so good!

“I’ll do it! I’ll try it!” The journalists and the audience raised their hands, and jumped to try it.

The camera gave a close-up of the pot. The white fish fillet was covered with a layer of red chili oil, and looked extraordinarily beautiful and delicious.

The pop-ups exploded, [President Ma! I’m at the entrance of the institute, let me in!]

[I want to go in too! Looking at the expressions of people at the scene, I am simply too curious! What is the smell?]

[President Ma is drooling too. I saw it!]

[Say it! When will they start selling? If I can’t grab it, I’ll chop off my hand!]