LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 51 - Thinking
On the eighteenth and nineteenth days of the survival game, Mai Dongzi continued moving towards the center of the forest. Over these two days, she did not encounter anything particularly unusual or discover any new energy plants.
As a result, Mai Dongzi focused her efforts on hunting and killing many mutated beasts.
When she was in the desert oasis, she had considered the forest as an obvious opportunity for training, a chance to quickly “grow” in front of the netizens and find a clear path for her true cultivation.
However, on the second day in the forest, she discovered energy plants. After realizing that her disguise had been uncovered, she began to let herself go a bit.
Mai Dongzi believed that before Officer Chen came to see her, Prince Arthur must have had someone investigate Lucy Xi.
The fact that they even uncovered the long-term use of ability suppressants by Mrs. Xi, along with evidence, indicated that this was not something that could be discovered in just a day or two.
That day, Officer Chen sent someone to collect Mai Dongzi’s blood, and the analysis confirmed that her blood did contain traces of the ability suppressant, though it was very diluted and no longer effective in suppressing her abilities.
As long as she stops taking the suppressant, the small amount of ability suppressant in her blood will gradually be metabolized.
After confirming that she was indeed affected by the ability suppressant, Officer Chen manipulated the nutrients to include evidence of Mrs. Xi administering the suppressant to Lucy Xi and sending it to Mai Dongzi.
The implication was clear: the grudge was hers to resolve as she saw fit.
In truth, this evidence was crucial for Mai Dongzi, not because it prevented the Xi couple from using their parental influence to coerce her, but because of the message conveyed when Officer Chen provided it.
Prince Arthur had no intention of imprisoning and interrogating her.
This was Mai Dongzi’s greatest concern. She believed that Prince Arthur and his team had surely noticed the many differences between her and the original host. Moreover, given their level of expertise, they would likely be able to deduce more profound implications.
After meeting Officer Chen, Mai Dongzi was deeply worried about this situation. The information disparity made it impossible for her to guess Prince Arthur’s intentions.
When she received the evidence, Officer Chen hinted that she had made a significant contribution, suggesting that Prince Arthur would support her in the future.
This indicates that they will suppress these doubts and not make things difficult for her because of them.
Although private monitoring is inevitable, as long as they don’t make things difficult for her, Mai Dongzi is not afraid.
Prince Arthur represents the highest power of the Blue-Black Empire, and she has no means to oppose an entire nation. She has absolutely no interest in becoming a fugitive.
The Doomsday Crisis in the Dagula System was unknown to the public, but such an event would not occur without any signs.
She vaguely remembers that it was mentioned that Prince Arthur might have inadvertently captured someone from the Gaya System in the past two years. From this alien, he learned about the dire straits facing Gaya civilization and their intentions toward the Dagula System.
If this is the case, then the energy plants she discovered are not just simple aids for human cultivation.
Knowing the ambitions of the Gaya civilization, King Gujia and Prince Arthur will definitely use these energy plants to extensively cultivate high-level mech warriors.
Although Mai Dongzi caught Prince Arthur’s attention because of the energy plants, she also gained a significant accomplishment by discovering them.
Even if Prince Arthur and his group are still suspicious of her identity, as long as she can demonstrate her abilities and loyalty to the Blue-Black Empire, this level of monitoring should only last until the Dagula System’s doomsday crisis occurs.
Because of these factors, Mai Dongzi had to change her initial training goals and focus on searching for energy plants.
After not finding any energy plants for two consecutive days, she wasn’t exactly anxious, but it was somewhat frustrating.
On the twentieth day of the survival game, she finally made a new discovery at the foot of a small mountain in the forest.
Mai Dongzi had noticed a small mountain the previous day. Even two kilometers away from the base of the mountain, the terrain started to become uneven. From that point on, the trees in the forest began to thin out, the light grew brighter, and the fallen leaves on the ground became damp.
At the base of the mountain, Mai Dongzi found many mutated ginseng plants, but there were no signs of mutated tuber fleeceflower or mutated gastrodia.
The Blue-Black Empire, or rather the entire Dagula System, places great importance on martial artists.
It’s not just because martial artists make up eighty percent of the practitioners, but also because, apart from psychic-type superhumans, martial artists are the ones who can most effectively utilize the weapons and equipment of interstellar civilizations.
Especially for mecha warriors, it is truly their domain. Even if a nature-type superhuman is of a higher level, they cannot match the advantage of martial artists in piloting mechs.
Mutated ginseng is the most suitable energy plant for martial artists.
By noon, Mai Dongzi had found over twenty mutated ginseng plants, which was a significant harvest.
After confirming that there were no more mutated ginseng plants in the area, Mai Dongzi continued forward.
Deputy Chen hoped she would focus on discovering new energy plants, so she did not expand her search for mutated ginseng but prepared to climb the mountain to see if she could find new species.
The terrain was somewhat steep, but it wasn’t a challenge for Mai Dongzi, and she climbed with ease.
However, when she placed her hand on a dried and dead mutated pine tree to steady herself, she suddenly recalled one of the causes of pine tree death from her previous life.
Mai Dongzi immediately used her psychic power to “look around” and found that there were quite a few dried and dead mutated pine trees.
Before mutation, pine trees were known for their longevity, easily living for hundreds or even thousands of years. Therefore, mutated pine trees should not be shorter-lived.
In a pine forest, it’s normal to see one or two dried and dead trees occasionally, but within her psychic “sight,” there were nearly thirty mutated pine trees that were dried and dead.
This was definitely not normal.
So…
Mai Dongzi used her psychic power to examine the base of the dried and dead mutated pine trees and found something different from the tree roots.
She crouched at the base of the tree and used her wood-type psychic ability to probe into the roots. After passing through the shielding soil, she detected a faint energy fluctuation.
Her guess was correct—there was indeed mutated poria here.
Since she had other discoveries within her psychic range, she didn’t dig out the mutated poria but marked the location and moved on.
She approached the next dried and dead mutated pine tree and used the same method to probe, and again, she discovered mutated poria.