Chapter 40: Wonderful Carrots
“No way, planting a chick is illegal!” exclaimed Jiang He. “But what if it’s a fake? Like a mannequin or a doll or something like that…”
Taking a look at the time, he realized that the skies had already darkened. He hadn’t even had dinner yet. Turning towards another corner in the yard, he saw that the leaves of the carrot tree were a lush green under the moonlight, and the tree itself was as tall as a person!
“It’s time to harvest some carrots, right? I’ll have some for dinner.”
Jiang He walked there and pulled out a carrot.[Ding!]
[Farm Points +2]
A System notification jingled in his head. It also seems that the EXP gained from sowing any crops had increased a little after Jiang He’s farm leveled up.
[Carrot]
[Effect: Improves liver function and eyesight, clears body heat, detoxes.]
[Attribute: An 18cm long carrot as thick as a child’s hand.]
“Eh?”Jiang He’s eyes twinkled.
Clears body heat, detoxes… that effect overlapped with the cucumber’s, but that was fine, since eating too many cucumbers for too long gets dull. What if he happened to get poisoned and couldn’t bear to have a cucumber just then? Incidentally, he could change his palate a bit.
“What is this ‘improves liver function and eyesight’ effect, though?”
After plucking every carrot in the yard, Jiang He counted that there were 300 of them, earning him 600 Farm Points and 60 EXP. Nonetheless, he felt hurt when he turned to the System panel and saw that his EXP had exceeded the bar.
It was a pity that his farm was still at level two, and worse still, the surplus EXP would be gone soon…
“Nope! I must hurry and level up my farm, or these 100 EXP would be wasted. It’s like losing blood!”
He then looked down at the spot where he ‘planted’ his cleaver.
No reaction at all.
Did his attempt to sow it fail?
“No, the System would have notified me if it was a failure. Maybe cleavers have a longer growth cycle… Whatever. I’m having dinner.”
Returning to his house, Jiang He washed three carrots. He dumped one each to Dumbo and Trumbo, and had one himself. Thanks to his humongous appetite, he easily finished the 18cm carrot. When that was done, he swiped through his phone, only to unexpectedly stumble upon a news post…
[Shock! A certain island nation was under attack, with an entire isle sunk…]
Jiang He shuddered, but he couldn’t find more related news anywhere else, and the earlier post was 404ed as well. Still, his mind couldn’t help churning.
“The Revival of Qi has evolved all wild beasts to a certain extent… but when it comes to numbers, would land animals ever be a match to marine animals? Even before the Revival of Qi, there are many animals in the sea that are powerful and devastating… If those things evolved with Qi, they really would have the power to destroy islands… Hold on… Which island nation was that?”
But that was the instant when the lights of his house flickered and went out.
“The circuit breaker tripped again?”
Jiang He sat up on his bed, but he was used to blackouts like this. The circuitry in his house often developed such issues due to its old age. Rising to open the circuit box, Jiang He suddenly did a double take. Flicking out a shot of True Qi with his fingers to blow up the lightbulbs, he then turned to study his room.
That was when he realized that he could still see the layout of his own room.
“Rank-five martial artists may have vision that surpasses the average person, but it shouldn’t reach such extent now, should it? Could it be…”
Jiang He suddenly got the idea.
The carrot.
Improves liver function and eyesight!
To prove his theory, Jiang He whipped out another carrot and crunched away at it. As he expected, his vision immediately improved a little.
“Awesome. Won’t I have night vision if I eat a dozen more? When that happens, there’ll be no difference between darkness and light to me…”
Jiang He was delighted. Still, it was a pity that he was rather stuffed after eating two carrots, or he would have another. As for the broken lightbulb…
“Huh… I could only see for a brief time after the lights went out, but that’s fine. I should look for Wang Siyu’s brother tomorrow and discuss about building a house. But before that, I have to prove another theory of mine.”
When he had grown the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms, the neighbors never noticed a thing, even though the draconic roars were thunderous in his farm.
Indeed, no one noticed that he had been planting all sorts of weird items over the past few days. And now, Jiang He suspected that what he was growing can’t be seen by outsiders, just like his System panel.
If that really was the case, much trouble could be spared. But that could wait for tomorrow. Returning to his bed, he slept.
It was nine in the morning when Jiang He woke up the next day. After washing up, he took out ten qi pellets for breakfast, and only went to the yard when he was done eating.
There, a tree shoot that was now over two meters tall had sprung from the spot where he planted the cleaver. The tree was entirely dark. When Jiang He knocked on it with his hand, a dull thud sounded, as if it was metal, although its flower was silver.
A metal tree with a silver blossom!
There was only a single silver flower. When Jiang He looked carefully, at the center of the petals was a tiny… cleaver.
Jiang He was dumbstruck.
What the heck?
Why was it still in the shape of a cleaver?
“But I want a dragon-slaying sword…”
Even as he complained to himself, he could hear Wang Siyu’s voice outside his gates. He went out to find her and her brother there.
“Big Onion Bro, you’re back?” said Jiang He.
Siyu’s brother, Wang Sizhen, nicknamed Big Onion, takes after their father, especially at the hairline, which was receding despite his youth. And being from the same village, he was acquainted with Jiang He as well, having played around together as children.
“Jiang He!”
Wang Sizhen went up and punched Jiang He’s chest—a special, warm greeting between men.
However…
Thud!
There was a dull crack and Wang Sizhen cried out in pain, clutching his fist. “What the hell… Jiang He, do you have metal plates on your chest?’
“Huh?” After a beat, Jiang He realized what happened and quickly exclaimed, “Are you alright, Big Onion Bro? I’m protected by my Indestructible Diamond technique so I’m harder than steel, though it’s my fault for forgetting to dispel it. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Wang Sizhen’s eyes widened, and he only recovered after a while. He hence followed Jiang He around, grumbling loudly about wanting him to teach him kung fu.
“Jiang He, if you teach me real kung fu, I’ll build you a house for free! Jiang He!”
Seeing that Jiang He was unmoved, Wang Sizhen gritted his teeth and turned to glance at his sister, who was playing around with the dog nearby.
Lowering his voice, he said, “Jiang He, what do you think about my sister? As long as you promise to teach me kung fu, my sister will be a member of your family from now on!”
Blargh!
Jiang He almost spat out blood.
He promptly took a qi pellet to calm his shock before continuing, “Let me think about it, Big Onion Bro, since I only learned it myself and don’t know how to teach others. So, how about we discuss the house first? I’m thinking I want to tear down these few buildings I have and build a small mansion. If you work at top speed, how soon can it be completed?”
