Chapter 52: The Correct Answer

Green turned to glance at Merlin, and after receiving an affirmative response, he said with excitement, "Great! As long as we get through this crisis, we'll immediately send the magic radish to the Makider Trading Company, and then we'll go find the things you need, Young Master."

Zhao Hai nodded, glanced at the screen again, and turned to Merlin, saying, "Grandma Merlin, Grandpa Green, you two still need to go to the back of the hut. I'll monitor those undead creatures in the house. We must catch more of them today."

Green and Merlin nodded, turned, and walked out of the house. Zhao Hai, in the hut, kept an eye on the changes outside. The operation to capture the undead creatures officially began.

Over the next five days, the slaves continued to practice writing every day, while Zhao Hai and the others focused their main efforts on capturing the undead creatures. In five days, using Zhao Hai's method of luring monsters, they caught over a thousand undead creatures. When these undead creatures entered the space, there was no further notification. As soon as they entered the space, the green soul fire in their eyes turned red, and then Zhao Hai threw them into the warehouse.

During these five days, Zhao Hai also harvested eight seasons of corn and two seasons of oil fruits. Now he had a considerable amount of corn and oil fruits stored. Especially the corn, as he had four acres of land planted with corn. These eight seasons, plus the previous ones, meant he now had over 100,000 pounds of corn stored, which made him consider whether he should plant something else.

However, he didn't have time to think about it because the monsters outside had retreated. After five days, almost all the undead creatures and monsters had disappeared.

This reassured Green. He had been somewhat worried that the monsters and undead creatures had come out of the corpse swamp because of their presence. But now it seemed that wasn't the case. If they had come out because of them, they wouldn't have retreated back into the swamp during the time he was luring monsters; instead, they might have come out again from the corpse swamp.

Now that the undead creatures had retreated, it clearly showed that they hadn't come out because of them. This was good news; otherwise, if they came out again after a short time, it would be a big problem.

As soon as they saw the monsters and undead creatures retreat, Zhao Hai and the others immediately came out of the space. They had been cooped up in the space for several days.

However, when they came out of the space, everyone's faces were not pleasant. The entire castle was in ruins, looking even more dilapidated than when they first arrived. Although the main buildings were not damaged, all the items outside were destroyed, leaving a mess of debris. The presence of these items made the castle look even more dilapidated.

Seeing the ruined state of the castle, Zhao Hai and the others felt very distressed. Although the conditions here were very simple, this was still their home. Seeing their home destroyed like this, how could they feel comfortable?

Although they had seen the situation outside on the screen, being there in person made the feeling even stronger. Mu Tou couldn't help but punch the wall beside him, and blood trickled down the wall.

Green, on the other hand, remained very calm. He had been in and out of the space for several days, luring monsters, and he knew the situation in the castle very well, so he didn't have any extreme reactions.

Merlin also glanced at the situation in the castle. Apart from the destroyed items, there were some monster droppings on the ground, making the castle look dirty and messy.

Merlin sighed and said, "Alright, everyone, let's clean up. Take everything out of the castle and burn it. Since the monsters have touched these things, I'm afraid they might be toxic. After we clean up, we'll go outside, and I'll wash the castle with water."

Green frowned and said, "Let's wait two more days. The water in the moat is green and seems toxic. If we use that water to wash the castle, the entire castle might become toxic."

Merlin frowned, turned to Zhao Hai, and said, "Young Master, do you want to go check the moat?"

Zhao Hai also wanted to go there. The water in the space now had detoxifying properties, and if possible, he wanted to detoxify the water in the moat.

Green clearly had the same idea and immediately turned to Zhao Hai, saying, "Young Master, can you detoxify the water in the moat?"

Zhao Hai sighed and said, "Let's see first. Meg, arrange for them to clean up the castle. They have all drunk the water from the space, so I believe they won't be poisoned."

Meg responded and organized the slaves to clean up. Zhao Hai, accompanied by Green and Merlin, left the castle and headed straight for the moat.

When the three of them reached the moat, they saw that the water was indeed a strange light green, which made them feel uneasy.

What was even more puzzling was that although the water was flowing, the green color did not diminish, making them very uncomfortable.

Merlin frowned and said, "The water is flowing and still active, but it still contains a large amount of toxins. I think the problem lies in the lake in the mountains."

Zhao Hai nodded and said to Merlin, "Grandma Merlin, get some more water. I'll have the space analyze it to see how toxic it is." Merlin responded, and a ball of water appeared in her hand. Zhao Hai immediately put the water ball into the space.

The space's notification immediately reached Zhao Hai's mind: "Water contaminated by toxic compounds, toxicity level: medium, can be purified with space water." A very simple notification.

This reassured Zhao Hai. As long as it could be detoxified, he was relieved. He took a deep breath and turned to Merlin and Green, saying, "Grandpa Green, Grandma Merlin, let's go to the lake in the mountains. The water in the moat can be detoxified with space water, but the source is the lake in the mountains, so we should start from there."

Merlin and Green both sighed in relief. To be honest, they were also afraid that the space water couldn't detoxify the water. Although they believed that the toxins would eventually be carried away by the water, it would take time and have a significant impact on them.

Just as they were about to turn and head to the mountains, Zhao Hai suddenly stopped, his face pale, staring at a spot without moving.

Merlin and Green looked at Zhao Hai in confusion and followed his gaze. It was a patch of ordinary black soil, nothing special. Green looked at Zhao Hai in confusion, not understanding what he meant. Merlin was also confused but suddenly understood, and her face turned pale.

Merlin understood why Zhao Hai's face had changed. The patch of black soil that looked ordinary was the one Zhao Hai had improved. Now, the color of the soil was no different from the other black soil, meaning that the improved soil might have reverted to the original black soil of the Black Soil Wasteland.

Merlin trembled and said, "Young Master, is that it?"

Zhao Hai nodded, his face pale, and walked over to confirm. He wanted to make sure that the black soil had not reverted to its original state. If it had, it would mean his improvement had failed.

Although Green didn't understand what the two were talking about, he could tell from their faces that something bad had happened, so he quickly followed Zhao Hai to the patch of land.

Zhao Hai squatted down, carefully examined the land, and picked up some black soil with his hand. He then sighed in relief.

It turned out that the land had not reverted to its original state. It was likely that the monsters or undead creatures had brought black soil from other places to this land, covering the improved soil. His improvement had not failed.

Merlin also picked up some black soil and examined it carefully, but her face remained grim as she looked at the patch of black soil.

Green, confused, looked at the two, not understanding why they were so carefully examining the black soil. He squatted down, picked up some black soil, and examined it closely. Soon, he noticed the improved black soil beneath the black soil and exclaimed, "Young Master, is this it?"

Zhao Hai sighed and said, "This is a patch of land I improved with the soil and water from the space. The improved land can grow things. However, after the monsters came, they might have brought black soil from other places, covering the improved soil."

Green shuddered, about to say something, but Merlin's voice interrupted, "No, Young Master, I don't think it's the black soil from other places that covered this land. I think the surface of this land was affected by the toxins from the monsters and has turned back into black soil. If it were the black soil from other places, it wouldn't be so evenly distributed. Look at this land; the entire color has changed, and it's ten acres."

Zhao Hai was stunned, then his face changed as he carefully examined the ten acres of land. He found that it was indeed as Merlin said. The ten acres of improved land were uniformly colored, and none of the improved black soil was visible. This was unreasonable, and there was only one explanation: the improved land had not been covered but had been re-contaminated.

People on the continent had never known why the land in the Black Soil Wasteland had become like this, and neither did Zhao Hai and the others. However, they had just seen the polluted river, and now, seeing this land, they immediately associated it with the pollution from the monsters. Unfortunately, they had found the correct answer.