ALL NOVEL Chapter 41 - Ginseng Part 2
The only reason Mai Dongzi was digging for ginseng was because of her past life memories, where she knew it was a valuable and precious item. But as soon as she brushed away the soil around the ginseng’s roots, revealing just a bit of the root, she sensed a faint energy.
This energy fluctuation was familiar to Mai Dongzi; it was similar to the energy found in mutated beasts. She didn’t need further explanation to understand what this meant and immediately became more cautious.
She recalled hearing in her previous life that if the roots of ginseng were damaged, its medicinal properties would be greatly diminished. Fortunately, with her mental powers, this was not difficult for her. With the help of her psychic abilities, she carefully excavated the ginseng in no time.
After clearing off the soil, she held it in her hand and immediately felt a strong energy emanating from it. Upon closer inspection, the ginseng was fully intact and weighed around 1,000 grams.
She remembered reading in her previous life that a 200-year-old ginseng weighed about 600 grams. This ginseng in her hand was at least 500 years old.
Even just holding it, she could feel the ginseng’s energy, which was at least ten times stronger than the energy found in the meat of a level-three mutated beast.
Realizing that she was under public scrutiny and not wanting to expose the ginseng’s secret, Mai Dongzi carefully stored the ginseng in her space buckle, planning to study it further that evening back in her treehouse.
As she looked at the large pit she had dug, preparing to fill it back in, she remembered that she only felt the ginseng’s energy after removing the soil. This meant the soil surrounding the ginseng had the ability to conceal the energy fluctuations.
With this in mind, she discreetly collected some of the soil as she covered the pit, storing it in her space buckle as well.
Having unexpectedly gained such a valuable find, Mai Dongzi lost her initial desire to hunt mutated beasts. After all, since humans had left the planet Water Blue, it had become a paradise for mutated creatures.
Since she had found one ginseng here, it indicated that the surrounding environment was suitable for ginseng growth. Without human interference, where there’s one ginseng, there could be two.
The ginseng discovery also opened a new line of thought for Mai Dongzi—if mutated ginseng could contain energy that aids human cultivation, what about other rare medicinal herbs?
She began patrolling the area, hoping to find more ginseng or other valuable herbs.
During her survival training with the special forces, she learned some basic knowledge about medicinal herbs. Although it was only rudimentary training, valuable herbs naturally attracted more attention, which is how she recognized the mutated ginseng.
Indeed, with the help of her mental powers, she quickly found a second ginseng, a third one, and when she discovered a fourth ginseng, she also found Polygonum multiflorum.
Mai Dongzi didn’t have as strong an impression of Polygonum multiflorum as she did with ginseng, but she was still able to confirm it by scanning the root system underground with her mental powers.
Although she was excited, Mai Dongzi did not show it and refrained from rushing in to dig up the herbs. She hadn’t realized the ginseng would have such a potent energy, and inadvertently exposed it to the public. If someone had noticed, questions would surely arise. Such a significant discovery left Mai Dongzi uncertain whether she should keep it a secret.
Until she made a decision, she planned to avoid drawing further attention to herself by digging up more ginseng in front of others.
Mai Dongzi left a mental mark on the three ginseng plants, which would last for two or three days, planning to return to dig them up at night when the live broadcast cameras were less likely to capture her, aiming to secretly reap her gains.
Mai Dongzi wasn’t sure if the mutated Polygonum multiflorum had any energy, so she also marked it with her mental power, intending to return at night to collect it.
However, as she turned to continue searching, she suddenly realized a concern.
The survival game show’s live broadcast cameras could be avoided with several methods, as long as her actions weren’t directly captured, no one would know what she did.
But what about the satellite surveillance of the Blue Water Star? The Blue Water Star had been garrisoned for over two thousand years.
With detection satellites covering the space orbit of Blue Water Star two thousand years ago, it was impossible that such an advanced interstellar civilization wouldn’t have detection satellites now.
The original host had very little knowledge about the military equipment of the Blue and Black Empire, and Mai Dongzi had just been reborn from two thousand years ago, so she wasn’t clear on the current capabilities of these satellites.
Considering the strength of the Blue and Black Empire’s military and the dominant style of the current king in the book, Mai Dongzi abandoned her plan to dig for mutated medicinal herbs in the dead of night.
Being sneaky could easily raise suspicions; even if nothing was wrong, it could lead to problems. Being discovered would definitely tarnish her reputation.
She remembered Prince Arthur from the book, who proposed the development of Blue Water Star, and the garrison there was also under his command.
Thinking about the interstellar apocalypse that would occur in a few years…
Although she didn’t have the same sense of belonging and loyalty to the Blue and Black Empire as she did to her previous nation, she was still a part of it after her rebirth.
With Prince Arthur’s status and abilities, even if the focus was on the royal family, other military leaders would also benefit from these resources.
And no matter who benefits as long as the Blue and Black Empire have more high-level cultivators, the human race in the Dacula Star System would have more room for survival when the apocalypse arrives.
As for why she knew about ginseng, it was due to the fact that the original host had seen pictures of ginseng cultivation in family archives related to their home planet.
These archives were still in the family’s library.
With such concrete evidence, Mai Dongzi wasn’t worried about exposing her cover.
Having formulated her plan, Mai Dongzi was more inclined to expose these valuable medicinal herbs to the general public. She turned and began to dig up the mutated Polygonum multiflorum.
After clearing the surface soil, she sensed the familiar energy fluctuations and was naturally delighted, quickening her pace.
Though the mutated Polygonum multiflorum was much larger than the ginseng, it lacked the dense fine roots, so Mai Dongzi quickly excavated it.
This time, Mai Dongzi wasn’t in a hurry to hide the Polygonum multiflorum . Instead, she examined it carefully in her hand.
The energy fluctuation of this mutated Polygonum multiflorum was only one-third that of the ginseng, but it was still quite exciting for her.
What Mai Dongzi didn’t expect was that after her wood-type ability became familiar with this energy fluctuation, she could sense the energy of nearby plants just by approaching them.
This was how she discovered mutated Gastrodia elata.
Mai Dongzi had no impression of Gastrodia elata leaves, and with their mutation, she would have definitely overlooked them if not for her wood-type ability.
This was actually advantageous for Mai Dongzi, as the family archives seemed to only have images of ginseng, Lingzhi (Ganoderma), and Polygonum multiflorum.
More importantly, since her wood-type ability could sense energy-containing plants, this forest was like a treasure trove for her.
And this sensing ability might not be limited to the Blue Water Star.