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The interior was just a slightly larger reception room than the outside, empty, with another door at the end of the reception room.
Lively music was coming from behind that door, and through the crack, the fine spores on the green moss were gently dancing to the music.
Seeming to have noticed someone's presence, the music stopped, still lingering in the air, and shortly after, the door slowly opened, and an old man came out holding a strange double-reed woodwind instrument.
He stared at Mu Ying for a while, then his placid eyes suddenly rippled with interest, and he asked with fascination, "Little girl, what do you think of the piece I just played?"
Mu Ying diverted her gaze from the door, her heart uncontrollably curious; had she just seen the ground behind the door covered in green grass?
To the old man's inquiry, she answered subconsciously, "The green moss there really enjoys listening to it."
The elder laughed joyfully, his face creasing into a full smile, "Ha-ha! Well said! That piece was indeed played for them. Come, sit down, little girl, let's have a leisurely chat. Oh, right, you can call me Shom."
"You should know that it's not easy to find a territory that meets my requirements. Most people convert all the plants within the territory's range into energy or materials. Even Druids, in the beginning, might not have understood the true meaning of their profession. You actually set territory rules specifically to protect these trees; you must naturally have a high affinity for nature and like it very much!"
"Eh? You have half Elf bloodline, and I can't even see its source clearly, no wonder, no wonder!"
Shom stroked his long beard, eyeing Mu Ying with surprise.
"Grandpa Shom, isn't the Elf bloodline given by the Doomsday Game?" Mu Ying had long suspected that there was something amiss with the source of her half-Elf bloodline.
"I can't say much, but what you have now is real, completely yours," Shom said mischievously, winking.
Mu Ying understood; it meant that one of her parents was an Elf.
One of her and Shi Yin was a Half-Elf, the other a Half-time Space Werewolf, but the only intelligent species on Deep Blue Star was humans, and both of them were born near Qingshan Forest; she wondered if there was some kind of connection.
"Alright, don't think too much, take out the seeds you've brought to have a look. Your world is very special; I'm really looking forward to it," Shom rubbed his hands together, looking at her expectantly.
Perhaps because Grandpa Shom gave her a sense of the elder and both were Druids, close and respectful, she felt like she was here to sell goods but had the feeling of being examined by a senior.
"Ah, let me guess, this is rice, cabbage, this one is tomato, this one is corn, chili…" Shom examined each seed and named them off the top of his head, "These, these... I've never seen them!"
"These seeds are indeed very common, it's fine if you don't take them... Eh? You've never seen them?" Mu Ying suddenly realized.
Watching the young girl in front of him widen her eyes in surprise, like a startled kitten, Shom laughed heartily, "There are words to describe these plants in the Universal Language, of course, I have seen them, but these seeds you brought have subtle differences from those I am familiar with, so to be precise, it's both seen and unseen."
"May I ask what the differences are?" Mu Ying asked curiously.
"If you want to know, follow me," said Shom as he got up and pushed open the door at the end of the reception room.
```
This time, Mu Ying saw very clearly that behind that door was a lush garden filled with plants.
She couldn't help but follow.
"This is my plantation, created from a fractured half-plane. Every tree and every flower here has been personally cultivated by me, they are my treasures," Shom said as he walked, a look of pride on his face.
If Wuyaya were here, she would definitely urge Mu Ying to flee immediately. Old man Shom was so obsessed with these plants and flowers that once he started talking about them, he could go on and on, even more talkative than Wuyaya herself.
Mu Ying went from amazement to envy to pretending to understand, and then pretended to agree with fake comprehension.
At first, she would ask about things she didn't understand with great interest, and Grandpa Shom would happily explain. But the more he talked, the more esoteric his explanations became, mixed with a large amount of vocabulary from Druidic and Mu Clan languages.
Mu Ying realized that if she wanted to understand all the questions fully, it might take more than a day to explain just one plant. If by chance he discovered she was particularly interested in a certain plant, Grandpa Shom could go from the plant's appearance and uses to the breeding process, original strains, mutation directions, and even countless variants.
She was both impressed and helpless, and could only tightly shut her mouth, becoming an emotionless nodding machine. She finally reached their destination just before dark, a rice paddy.
Inside were rice plants of varying heights and thicknesses, all of different colors, but judging by the rice ears that had formed, they were definitely rice plants.
"Grandpa Shom, this paddy seems to be right near the entrance where we came from," Mu Ying pointed out. There was just a cluster of bamboos in between, which she vividly remembered being called Pocket Soft Bamboo. When they had passed by earlier, Grandpa Shom had even broken off two bamboo shoots for her, and Yuan Gungun was still holding one in his mouth, grinding his teeth on it.
Shom, somewhat embarrassed, scratched his beard. "An old man's memory can be a bit unreliable, haha!"
"..." There was something she wasn't sure she should say—Mu Ying thought his memory was incredibly sharp; otherwise, how could he remember such an extensive array of plant knowledge?
"You see, all of these are essentially rice plants, but each one is unique. The rice seeds you have brought with you, compared to these, have a much higher yield, but they seem to be somewhat unstable, and the progeny may not maintain such excellent yields."
"You are amazing, this rice is indeed like that. We call it hybrid rice back home..."
Mu Ying used the knowledge she had learned from biology books to explain the basic principles of hybrid rice. Fortunately, she had just finished her senior year of high school, so the information was still fresh in her mind.
Shom was very interested in hybridization techniques. He drew out every bit of biological knowledge she possessed and took the matter seriously, jotting notes in his little notebook. However, he insisted that this somewhat unstable rice couldn't yet be considered a completely new variety of rice, and he planned to make this variety the subject of his next research phase.
"Alright, alright, we've seen enough. I can't wait to start researching. If you have the time, help me collect more seeds like this, and other seeds and seedlings as well."
Mu Ying stood at the entrance to Grandpa Shom's plantation, carrying a basket full of Pocket Soft Bamboo on her back and holding a thick tree bark book in her arms, filled with complaints, "The old man is a total research maniac!"
But the reward was very generous. The Pocket Soft Bamboo in the basket was a snack that Grandpa Shom gave to Yuan Gungun, and the tree bark book contained a rare Level 1 spell.
This book was an advance on her reward; she still needed to send Grandpa Shom 100 native plants from Deep Blue Star and 100 kilograms of hybrid rice.