Chapter 15

When he woke up, the sun had already risen to the treetops, and several magpies were chirping incessantly on the branches. A white cloud occasionally drifted across the deep blue sky, and a few industrious little birds flew by, gathering food for the winter. At this time of year, there was already a hint of coolness in the morning air, giving people a chance to catch their breath after the scorching summer.

Living on his own was great; he had slept so comfortably. If he were still at Auntie's place, he would have been dragged out of bed by now with his ear pulled. For breakfast, he simply reheated some leftover dishes from yesterday and fried some rice. The golden egg-fried rice and the warm stir-fried dishes—well, they were leftovers, but Wang Yong felt that reheating the leftovers made them taste even better than freshly cooked food. The flavor made Wang Yong finish a large bowl of rice in one go, and he still felt he could eat another half bowl. But he decided to save some room for dinner.

After tidying up the bowls and chopsticks, Wang Yong wandered over to the orchard. The renovation of the greenhouses and the old house was almost complete, now standing quietly. In the next few days, they would start planting and growing seedlings. The greenhouses couldn't be left empty; they were all about money! The two greenhouses and the processing plant had cost Wang Yong nearly 100,000 yuan. If it weren't for selling a gold brick, Wang Yong wouldn't have been able to pay the final installment and might have had to borrow some money.

However, Wang Yong's purpose today wasn't to check the greenhouses but to visit the orchard. The orchard, filled with childhood memories, now had trees that looked somewhat withered. Wang Yong wanted to see how he could revitalize these trees. The simplest method would be to replace them with new varieties, but Wang Yong was reluctant. These trees were planted by his parents over several years of hard work, and he had also contributed a lot of labor. Looking at these trees, it felt as if his parents were still by his side, tending to the orchard in the yard.

"Xiao Guang, do you have any good ideas?" Wang Yong pinned his hopes on Xiao Guang. Using the Spirit Spring water might be easier, but it could also easily reveal the secret. Wang Yong didn't want that. If the Spirit Spring water made the trees instantly bear fruit, it would be a real supernatural event. If the news got out, even with the help of Uncle and the Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, he would still end up as a guinea pig.

However, finding a secluded spot and trying it on a few trees should be okay, right? Wang Yong was a bit hesitant, but curiosity eventually overcame his reason. He walked up the mountain to a deeper part of the orchard, where there was an old Fuji apple tree, a hawthorn tree, and a jujube tree. "Alright, you guys." Wang Yong looked around to make sure no one was there. Better safe than sorry; this thing couldn't be exposed. He pointed his hand, and a thin stream of water appeared in the air, heading straight for a jujube tree three meters away. The Spirit Spring water sprayed directly onto the jujube tree, but Wang Yong didn't dare to spray too much, stopping after about five or six seconds. He then turned to the hawthorn tree and the apple tree. After spraying, Wang Yong walked closer to observe. What? He couldn't see any changes? Wang Yong was greatly disappointed. Was this really the Spirit Spring? In novels, a drop of this stuff could make plants grow wildly. He had used at least a hundred kilograms on one tree, and there was no change at all?

Wang Yong angrily turned to leave. But he didn't notice that after he turned away, the three trees began to show unusual changes. The leaves turned a bright, shiny green, and the fruits became noticeably larger. Jujubes usually ripen around the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th, and it was still some time away. Normally, the jujubes would only show a hint of red. But the jujubes on this tree turned red in just a few minutes, and each one was the size of an egg, dark red, smooth, and even shiny in the sunlight. The hawthorns also grew unusually, swelling rapidly like they were inflated, though not as exaggerated as the jujubes. They grew to the size of local hawthorns, but they were all uniformly large, heavy enough to bend the branches. The Fuji apple tree was also impressive; the green skin had taken on a slight red hue, the fruits were uniform and smooth, each weighing about half a kilogram, and the apple scent was strong and fresh.

Of course, Wang Yong didn't see any of this; he was looking at the information Xiao Guang had given him.

After searching and querying, Xiao Guang finally selected a gene modification solution. This solution could make plants drought-resistant, pest-resistant, and improve their quality. The formula could be adjusted as needed to increase the acidity, sweetness, or color of the fruit. Most importantly, the ingredients for the formula could be found on Earth and were very common.

After reading the information, Wang Yong was overjoyed. This was a good thing. Not only could he use it, but he could use it boldly and confidently. If anyone asked, he could just show them the gene modification solution and say it was its doing. He could even sell the gene modification solution and become rich. Wang Yong excitedly paced around, imagining his future wealth. For areas with severe desertification, he could cultivate drought-resistant plants. For poor soil, he could cultivate plants that improve soil structure, and so on.

After a moment of daydreaming, Wang Yong had to face a reality: he needed a refining machine. Without it, everything was just a mirage, a castle in the air. But looking at the complex structure and strange materials, Wang Yong felt dizzy.

"Master, you can use the spatial trading system to buy or trade for a refining machine, no need to make it yourself."

Wang Yong's eyes lit up. Yes, why had he been thinking about making it himself? He quickly opened the spatial trading interface and entered "refining machine" in the buy section. A dense list of information appeared, with all kinds of refining machines available. He wanted the best, but when he clicked to buy the best one, the system prompted: "Insufficient balance. Not enough energy points." What to do? Choose a cheaper one? Suddenly, the system prompted that a seller wanted to communicate. What was going on?

Xiao Guang quickly explained: This was a buyer who wanted to trade directly without going through the system. Usually, this was a barter system, but energy points could also be used. It was a common phenomenon in the trading system.

Understanding the situation, Wang Yong boldly agreed to the conversation. A face appeared on the screen, with a horn on the forehead and wings on the back, a monster.

The system's translation function translated the other party's words: "Hello, my friend. I am Akala, a merchant from the Alpha planet. I heard you need the best refining machine, right? Is it because you don't have enough energy points? No problem, as long as you have something I need, we can trade."

Wang Yong, looking at Akala, said carefully, "I am Wang Yong from Earth. What can I trade for the refining machine?"

Akala looked at Wang Yong and said, "Earth, I haven't heard of it. But it doesn't matter, as long as you have something I need. What specialties does your planet have? You can let the system identify them."

"Okay, I'll try." Wang Yong thought for a moment, took a large radish from the small world, and activated the identification option. Just as Wang Yong was about to check the identification result, Akala quickly said, "Oh, my friend, this is a perfect species. I want this. How many do you have?"

"You want this radish?" Wang Yong was amazed at his luck. A random vegetable turned out to be something extraordinary to an alien.

"Yes, my friend. I can give you 50 energy points for each. This is 3 points higher than the system's price." Akala said eagerly.

Wang Yong glanced at the identification result, which indeed showed a value of 47.

"Okay, the refining machine costs 10,000 points, so I need to give you 200 radishes, right?" Wang Yong, seeing the radishes were so valuable, now said easily.

"Yes, my friend. If you have more of these radishes, I can buy them all with energy points, and I'll cover the transportation costs. How about it?" Akala seemed very eager.

"Okay, I'll see how many I have and give them all to you."

In the end, Wang Yong traded 1,000 radishes (the extra ones were a bonus for Akala) for what was said to be the most advanced refining machine in the universe and received 40,000 energy points. Without saying much more to Akala, they added each other as friends and exited the trading system.

Looking at the "most advanced" refining machine in the yard, it was about the size of a small 5-kilogram washing machine, rectangular in shape. It had a lid, a row of buttons around the lid, and a rectangular display, but Wang Yong couldn't understand the symbols. With Xiao Guang, everything was possible. Wang Yong quickly gathered all the ingredients according to the formula. These ingredients were very common on Earth, such as grass, which was used as a main ingredient because of its incredible resilience. Extracting life genes from grass could enhance the vitality of plants. Other ingredients included wild vegetables, pine trees, and wormwood, which were easily found in the small world.

He stuffed all these ingredients into the refining machine and had Xiao Guang input the refining program. The machine, powered by its built-in small reactor, started working quietly, almost silently. The advanced alien technology was indeed impressive! Bored, Wang Yong carried the refining machine to his room with one hand, picked a cucumber from the small world, and sat on the sofa to watch TV while eating. The 42-inch LCD TV, washing machine, refrigerator, and heating system were bought by his uncle. The kitchen cabinets were paid for by Wang Qiang, the sofa and coffee table by his aunt, the wardrobe and computer by his other aunt, and the standing air conditioner in the living room and the wall-mounted air conditioner in the bedroom were bought by his uncle after hearing that his nephew was renovating the old house. In short, none of the new items in the renovated old house were paid for by Wang Yong.

A "ding" sound came from the refining machine, and Xiao Guang reminded him that the refining was complete. Wang Yong, holding half a cucumber, ran over and grabbed an empty large drink bottle. He unscrewed the outlet, and with a fresh scent of grass and wood, the concentrated gene modification solution slowly flowed into the bottle. This time, nearly 2 liters of gene modification solution were extracted. It didn't seem like much, but this concentrated solution couldn't be used directly and needed to be diluted with water at a 1:500 ratio.

Eager to see the results, Wang Yong didn't stay at home long. He immediately took a bucket to the orchard, filled it with water from the ditch, added the appropriate amount of concentrated solution, and sprayed it on the leaves of the fruit trees using a sprayer. One bucket of water could spray about ten trees. After using half of the gene modification solution, the entire orchard was sprayed. The rest was left to see the results.

Wang Yong patted his hands, picked up the remaining half of the gene modification solution, and walked back to his home down the mountain.