The doctor once again shut up. As expected of this girl, her words are full of connotations.
Her language teacher, whoever you are, come out and get beaten! How can they teach a youth randomly?
This is a precious youth symbolizing the future of mankind!
Doctor Xiao stabilized his heart. This was still a young girl, only twenty years old. He doesn't know where her parents are, and she was living alone with a housekeeping robot. Illegal AI, to be exact.
And standing at the height of 4 feet 8, with her dreadful pale skin, it was clear to see that she was undernourished and lacking the necessary care.
For Hua Lian, there's still a long and promising road ahead. Convincing her to come under the care of the authorities was a matter that required a lengthy, proper, and informed conversation. As a reliable doctor, he shouldn't argue with her.
"Where do you want to go?"
"To the prairie," Hua Lian replied in a good manner.
"Prairie…" Doctor Xiao thought of the definition of the word. Seeing the receding dry lands turn into a desert, he concluded, "You mean, the flat lands?"
"No. The Prairie. As in, literally."
Hua Lian gave him an incomprehensible look, as if wondering which of the two of them lacked vocabulary.
The talk broke up, and Doctor Xiao didn't understand the meaning of 'literally' until they came into a vast grassland.
A vast greenery. Very, very vast. Really, that kind of literally, literally.
Poor Doctor Xiao had multiple brain crashes in a matter of days, and now even his speech data has failed.
In his stupor, he tumbled down from the hover car, rolling and squashing the tender grass.
What a sin!
Hua Lian jumped after, walking over the fresh leaves.
What a sin! What a sin!
Doctor Xiao wailed. "Wait! Wait! Don't step on the spiritual grass!"
In response to his heartfelt cries, Hua Lian grabbed his collar and dragged him along. "Doctor, don't worry. Plough the land, and you'll have more greenery!"
Tilting the land is backbreaking, though. But it doesn't matter; you'll be so tired that the tears will dry.
"Don't! Don't drag me! Stop! You are crushing them!" Doctor Xiao was horrified to see the damage left on their path. With no one to understand his heartbreak, he turned his attention to the floating garbage bin robots.
As if grasping the light, he reached out his hands. "You, hurry up and carry me!"
"You are so squeamish."
Not a good potential farmer.
Doctor Xiao, "..."
And you are stepping on millions of star coins.
In this incomprehensible mood, the two of them went to the nearest edge of the prairie, which was a wasteland.
The wasteland was covered in stones and rough dirt. As far as the eyes can see, there are only hard soils, and no life can flourish. Even a lone gust of the wind carried dust, reducing vision.
It's not an exaggeration to say that one side was full of life while the other was nothing but desolation. The contrast between the two places was too glaring and they stood at the dividing line.
"The first step of farming is taking care of the soil." Hua Lian pointed at the horizons of the wasteland. "This starts with planting grasses."
Hua Lian turned the engineering shovel into a plow and started working while humming an energetic tune. Her little body moves fluidly, proving her familiarity with the work.
The construction robots opened up their trash bins like bodies and took out their tools. They very considerately handed Doctor Xiao another one as well, taking this fellow sufferer as their comrade.
To tilt the land, one was required to dig deeper. The little robots scurried around, removing all the stone, followed by scraping the outer layers, before finally plowing the land.
Although the coarse dirt calls for more sophisticated manual work, it was standard practice for construction robots to dig through the hardest types of rocks to build foundations.
Actually, these robots would have no trouble excavating a pit and constructing an underground bunker.
Making them work step by step was like using a sledge hammer to smash a thin glass.
Doctor Xiao was not used to manual labor, but after all, he was an A-rank mimic. With his spiritual energy flowing, all fatigue was elevated before it could even set in, giving him long-lasting strength.
Seeing his performance, Hua Lian once again affirmed her correct decision. This is a farm animal that is capable of working for a whole day. As a mimic, he can replenish his energy at no cost and with minimum breaks.
No energy core recharging or maintenance are needed!
This uncle was very cost effective.
And planting the land and eating off of the land—isn't this already a miniature ecosystem?!
The flora and the fauna are interdependent; she should have thought of it earlier. She has focused on spawning plants too much, which was wrong.
Even though an alien beast is incapable of farming, it can be left in the wild and survive compared to a robot that must be brought back for maintenance and have its components and energy cores procured outside, which costs her additional money.
They will live among the plants, dependent on their shelter, supporting each other's lives, and eventually die to fertilize the lands, becoming a part of the natural cycle.
She knew how to pick up her own pollinator, and the plants outside must also have theirs.
Hua Lian hummed a joyful tune, thinking about how many laborers her mini-ecosystem could support.
A drone followed her path, continuously spraying water on the ground to ensure that the soil was hydrated. With the intense sunlight, this task was an all-out struggle against the weather.
Once an area is done, seeds rain down from the drone, and those that were exposed to Hua Lian's spiritual energy instantly germinate and sprout tall, green leaves.
Witnessing the special ability of a plant mimic, Doctor Xiao was once again amazed.
It was widely acknowledged that plant mimics ranked low, indicating how precarious their existence was. Because of their rarity, value, and fragility, their kind enjoyed great, well-deserved privileges.
However, if an unranked plant mimic was already this proficient at spawning spiritual plants, doesn't that imply that plant mimics can eventually terraform a planet?
The more Doctor Xiao got familiar with Hua Lian's existence, the more he lamented. Oh, why is this protected species left alone on a remote planet?
…..
In just a few hours, using the resilience of two mimics and the tireless robots, they reclaimed a sizable field that was more than an acre of land..
Feeling satisfied with his labor, Doctor Xiao gazed at the freshly planted field. However, before he further appreciated his efforts, the fresh green leaves gradually withered and died.
"...!!!!"
The robots cut off the dried grasses and once again tilted the land, preparing to plant another batch of grasses.
"Do you just let them die?" Doctor Xiao asked in shock, as if a life perished.
"Decomposition is the first stage in the recycling of nutrients," Hua Lian said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Grasses increase soil's fertility, improve the structure of the soil, and help rebuild topsoil, which can take between 500 and 1,000 years to form naturally. The thin, fibrous roots of grass plants are decomposed to create organic matter," Hua Lian added as if reciting a book.
That was nature's natural process and one of its foundations. It took millions of years of evolution and countless trials and errors to reach a stabilized result.
Hua Lian, a prodigal descendant, picked and chose among the fruits of labor of her kind and even had time to despite each one she found troublesome.
As the younger generation, bringing chaos to disturb order was one of her proudest roles.