Chapter 182 - 149: Man and Nature

Chapter 182: Chapter 149: Man and Nature

To be precise, it didn’t look like a well in a rural courtyard; rather, it resembled a meticulously crafted piece of art meant only for display, not for practical use.

After all, the translucent green bricks lining its surface were simply too beautiful when bathed in the sunlight!

"This?" The person in charge puffed up with pride. "This is a new type of plant-based brick that just hit the market. It’s made from the cacti over on South Island—you must have heard of them, right?"

Huai Yu hadn’t heard of anything of the sort, but that didn’t stop her from widening her eyes in anticipation of his next words.

"The mutated cacti on South Island practically took over an entire city, and they were massive. After we finally conquered the area, we discovered that their flesh was highly unusual.

"After the research institute ran a few induced mutations on them, their flesh can now be used as a substitute for building materials as long as it’s cut into the right shape. Plus, it’s completely pollution-free, grows quickly, and reproduces rapidly."

Wow—

Amazed and marveling at the discovery, Huai Yu couldn’t resist reaching out to touch the translucent green bricks. She found that they felt soft and gelatinous to the touch—squishy enough to strangely remind her of the green WhatsApp icon.

"It feels so nice!"

She then peeked into the well. Unfortunately, too little time had passed; it was only a third full of muddy water. It would probably take a few more days before it could be used normally.

"Yeah!" The person in charge couldn’t help but pat the edge of the well. PAT PAT. "It needs to soak up some sun. Once exposed to sunlight, they solidify rapidly and become just like ordinary bricks—except they’re much stronger. Furthermore, the bricks don’t need any adhesive; they naturally fuse together to form a solid structure."

Huai Yu was pleasantly surprised. "Mutated plants can be used like this?"

"Of course they can!" The person in charge gave her a slightly strange look. "In our country, our first priority is whether something is edible, the second is whether it tastes good, and the third is whether it’s useful. Our research progress in this field is far ahead of other countries!"

Huai Yu instinctively thought of Kuang Biao. It was true—people still ate the bamboo shoots even though they were poisonous!

The person in charge was in high spirits now, eagerly schooling her on all sorts of mutated plants.

"For example, the uniforms of the Defense Army contain a snow-sand reflective material that is woven from mutated poplar catkins.

"Over in southern Jiangxi, there’s a mutated orange tree that can discharge powerful electrical currents.

"However, our production capacity couldn’t keep up before, so a lot of these things haven’t been truly rolled out for widespread civilian use yet.

"But now that things are slowly recovering all over the country, it won’t be long. In a few years, Little Yu, when you rebuild your house, you might just be able to buy these new materials."

At this, the person in charge glanced outside the courtyard. "By the way, are you still going to see Zhou Qian today? If you are, let him know that we’re going to run a power line from the camp over to him. As for how the electrical appliances will be distributed in the house, we’ll discuss that once he moves in."

A power line?!

Huai Yu’s eyes widened. "Run a power line all the way from Zone 69 to Zone 39?"

In that instant, every fiber of her being practically screamed, "I want one!"

However, considering that this was likely something Zhou Qian had risked his life to earn, she couldn’t bring herself to ask for the same treatment. She could only follow up with another question.

"What about the electricity bill?" she wondered. Wasn’t electricity supposed to be extremely expensive nowadays?

The person in charge sighed. "It can’t be helped. The whole country is facing power shortages. We’ll install an independent meter here. It costs fifteen points per kilowatt-hour, which is why I said we’ll wait until he moves in to decide if he wants any appliances.

"Regardless, we’ll run the wire over and have it ready for him first. Given how the country is developing, electricity prices will definitely return to normal in a year or two."

Fifteen points for one kilowatt-hour?!

Huai Yu felt as though her wallet had just been stabbed. She had always heard that electricity was exorbitantly expensive and that people in the city didn’t dare to use it casually even if they had the chance to connect to the grid, but she never imagined it would be this expensive!

Wouldn’t casually leaving a desk lamp on cost ten or twenty points a day?! Nowadays, a civilian desk job in the city only paid around a hundred points a month!

No wonder people said industrial development was stagnating—who could afford to develop under these conditions?

Her desire for the power line vanished instantly, leaving her completely unbothered. "At that rate, it would be better to buy a diesel generator and generate your own electricity," she mused conflictedly.

"Yeah." The person in charge didn’t argue. Instead, he lowered his voice and said, "That is indeed more cost-effective. However, diesel is rationed by the government, and the purchase quota is determined by your initial Contribution Value.

"Little Yu, your initial Contribution Value shouldn’t be low, right?"

Huai Yu was speechless.

Did he think she had chosen Zone 1 of the Rose Mansion out of all those houses because she disliked the villas in the city?

The sliver of hope that had just been raised within her finally died completely.

Now, as she entered the hospital to deliver a meal to Zhou Qian, Huai Yu practically danced and gestured wildly as she spoke, her mind still harboring a deep grudge against the exorbitant price of electricity and stuffed full of trivia about mutated plants.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qian held his spoon and ate the fragrant steamed locust flowers, unable to hold back his curiosity.

"I’ve practically sifted through the entire area surrounding the Rose Corridor three times over," he noted. "Where did you get these locust flowers?"

Huai Yu’s excitement ground to a sudden halt. "I found a way to get them," she stated with utmost self-righteousness.

Zhou Qian nodded. "They’re delicious. By the way, aside from that well, have any other new materials been used in my house?"

"Do you really like plant-based materials that much?" Huai Yu paused for a moment before shaking her head. "I haven’t had the time to ask about any other materials."

"I do like plants! They’ve become incredibly formidable after their mutations. If they weren’t still useful, humanity would have definitely tried to eradicate them all.

"But it’s not like the plants wanted to mutate on their own, and some of the mutated ones actually have a very gentle temperament."

For instance, there was the large pine tree on the mountain that gave her pinecones and let her collect its pollen.

Then there was the chatterbox Kuang Biao.

And the Rose Corridor!

Although the Rose Corridor was currently sheltering the people of Flower City, if the conflicts in the Wilderness were to vanish in the future, would everyone become greedy again and want to eliminate this threat as well?

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand these things; she just didn’t dare to think about them too deeply.

But if mutated plants could be put to good use, then peaceful coexistence in the future was highly possible!

Therefore, in response to Zhou Qian’s question, Huai Yu could only scrape together four words from her brain:

"Humans and Mother Nature."

Zhou Qian froze for a second before bursting into laughter, the motion pulling at the hideous scar on his face.

"Exactly!

"Peaceful coexistence, right!"

He looked at Huai Yu with a complex expression in his eyes. "I didn’t expect that little brain of yours to be capable of such profound thoughts.

"I used to wonder... if the threat of mutated flora and fauna were to disappear one day, would people start casting strange looks at Superpower Users instead?"

Lin Xuefeng had said something similar in the past. But back then, he had been very pessimistic. He had merely been airing his grievances casually, claiming that it was actually a good thing that his Superpower was slowly fading...

Hearing Zhou Qian voice a similar sentiment now, Huai Yu couldn’t help but feel elated again. "Of course! I told you I used to be in my twenties. I’m definitely very smart."

Zhou Qian begged to differ on this point. "Forget it. You should spend your free time thinking more about that ex-boyfriend of yours.

"Someone who’s lovesick can’t exactly be considered smart."

Huai Yu was speechless.

She cursed inwardly, "Despicable! That scumbag! He ruined my chance to brag!"