manynovel Chapter 7 Deadly Cabbage
Chapter 7 Deadly Cabbage
Acid rain fell on the windshield of the half-track vehicle, making a hissing, corrosive sound.
That sound is very relaxing, if you don't mind the paint peeling off the car.
Andy turned the windshield wipers to the highest setting.
He just repaired this one too, using a piece of discarded rubber tubing.
The surface environment of Furnace-7 is a huge chemical waste dump.
Thousands of years of heavy industrial emissions have turned the atmosphere into a toxic broth, where the pH value of rainwater can sometimes drop as low as 2.0.
If an ordinary person dares to walk around outside without protective clothing, their skin will first become red, swollen, and ulcerated, and then their lungs will be burned into a paste by the acidic mist.
Fortunately, Andy has no lungs or skin.
His engineered alloy casing was treated with anti-corrosion measures, so this level of acid rain only made him look slightly dirty.
A bumpy three-hour journey.
Andy finally hit the brakes.
The half-track vehicle came to a stop at the edge of a huge sinkhole.
STC's navigation system shows that the signal source is below.
This place was originally a mining shaft, but it was abandoned after the ore vein was depleted.
The surrounding area was littered with the wreckage of huge, rusted mining machines, some of which had even become fused to the rock.
Andy didn't rush down.
He backed the car into a sheltered crevice in the rocks and covered it with a few scrap iron plates.
In a world where even a screw is fought over, leaving a working car on the roadside is tantamount to inviting someone to steal it.
After taking anti-theft measures, Andy slung the automatic gun over his shoulder and walked to the edge of the shaft.
Below was pitch black, and the bottom was nowhere in sight.
But this couldn't defeat the Iron Man.
Andy activated night vision mode and structural scanning.
[Depth: 520 meters.]
[Air composition: Oxygen 18%, Methane 5%, Unidentified spores 12%.]
Unidentified spores?
Andy frowned, his eyebrows barely visible.
In general, there is only methane in these kinds of mines, so where would spores come from?
He grabbed onto a metal ladder that remained on the inner wall of the shaft and began to climb down.
The ladder was so rusted that it was just a frame and would break if you used too much force, so Andy could only use his fingers to pull himself up by inserting them into the cracks in the rock wall.
As the depth increases, the surrounding temperature begins to rise.
It's not just hot, it's humid too.
That sticky, damp feeling covered Andy's sensors.
Large patches of green moss began to appear on the originally dry and rough rock face.
These mosses are not the cute little plants; they are thick, oily, and covered with a layer of slippery slime, some even glowing faintly in the dark.
The air was filled with a cloyingly sweet, rotten smell.
"Wow, good heavens, it really is a product made under a black box." Andy exclaimed.
If Andy is not mistaken, these are the products of the "Beta-level hydroponic farm" going out of control.
The agricultural technology of the Golden Age was not the kind of lukewarm farming.
In order to feed hundreds of billions of people in various extreme environments, humans have developed extremely powerful growth hormones and gene-edited crops.
With enough energy and nutrients, a seed can grow into a towering tree within 24 hours, producing hundreds of tons of carbohydrates.
However, this system requires extremely strict control.
Once the restriction program fails or the nutrient solution leaks, these genetically modified plants will exhibit their terrifying vitality.
With a "thud," Andy landed on the ground.
The feel underfoot was terrible.
It's not hard rock, but a layer of humus half a meter thick, soft and squishy, and green sap will ooze out when you step on it.
Ahead lay a huge underground cavern.
STC vision indicates that this area should originally have been filled with neatly arranged planting racks and automated harvesters.
Now it's a green hell.
Countless thick vines intertwined, filling the entire space and even bursting the original metal support.
Each of those vines was as thick as a thigh, covered with barbs and strange growths.
Between the vines, you can see some huge, cabbage-like things, but these cabbages have mouths that open and close, and inside are all serrated teeth.
[Warning: High-energy biological response detected.]
[WARNING: Hostile target detected.]
Andy's red combat vision lit up.
He walked forward cautiously.
The STC signal source is located in the heart of this mutated jungle.
"Click."
Andy broke a dry branch.
The sound was particularly jarring in the silent underground.
The once still vine forest suddenly trembled, as if awakening a sleeping giant beast.
"Whoosh!"
There was no warning.
A vine covered in purple spots shot out from the shadows above Andy's head, heading straight for his neck.
The speed is astonishing.
But Andy is an iron man; his reaction speed is in the microsecond range.
Just as the vines were about to entangle him, he raised his left hand and grabbed them.
The immense kinetic energy caused Andy's arm to tremble.
The vine writhed wildly in his hand, its barbs trying to pierce Andy's palm, making a screeching sound.
"Want to eat me?"
Andy snorted coldly.
He pulled hard.
"Pfft!"
The vine was torn off.
A thick green liquid spurted from the broken end, splashing onto Andy's breastplate and immediately producing a puff of white smoke.
[WARNING: Strong acid corrosion detected.]
In their struggle for nutrients, these plants have evolved extremely ferocious aggression.
The broken vine was still wriggling on the ground like a snake, trying to reconnect.
Andy stomped on it and smashed it.
The surrounding jungle came to life completely.
Countless vines surged out from all directions, and the giant carnivorous plants turned their heads and opened their mouths wide towards Andy.
Andy raised the automatic gun.
"Da da da da da!"
Flames shot out from the muzzle of the gun.
The bullets hit the vines, splashing green sap.
But this didn't work well.
These plants have no sense of pain and are not afraid of bleeding; if one is broken, two will immediately grow back.
Andy promptly slung the gun back over his shoulder.
Using guns to deal with this kind of thing is too wasteful of bullets and too inefficient.
He pulled out the chainsaw knife he had snatched from the skinner.
Although the knife was poorly made, Andy replaced its motor with a high-powered one and lightly sharpened the serrations on the way.
"Buzz—!!!"
The chainsaw blade emitted a violent roar.
Andy rushed in.
He transformed into a ruthless harvester.
Each wave of the sword was accompanied by a flurry of plant debris and green sap flying everywhere.
The vines tried to wrap around his legs but were sawed off.
The carnivorous plant tried to swallow his head, but it was split in two.
Andy continued hacking away as he advanced towards the center.
His core logic is to rapidly calculate the optimal path, avoiding the densest root networks.
This kind of battle is a nightmare for ordinary people; they would be exhausted to death.
But for Andy, who has nuclear power, as long as the motor doesn't burn out, he can keep cutting for a whole year.
Ten minutes later.
Andy stood in a slightly open area.
His body was covered in plant fragments, and the anti-corrosion coating had been corroded by acid, leaving it pitted and uneven.
But he arrived.
Before him stood the source of the STC signal.
It was a huge metal cylinder, about five meters tall.
This was originally the main control center of the entire farm, responsible for distributing nutrient solutions and controlling lighting.
Now, it is tightly entwined by countless thick roots, with only a small part of the screen visible in the middle.
The roots were pulsating slowly, as if trying to digest the metal pillar.
Andy stepped forward and carefully used a chainsaw to cut away the layers of moss covering the screen.
To Andy's surprise, the screen was still lit up.
Lines of data are displayed above.
[Facility Name: Beta-Level Hydroponic Farm No. 39]
Current status: Standby.
[Nutrient solution dosage: Excessive (12000%).]
Growth inhibitors: depleted.
Seeing this, Andy finally understood why the place had become such a horrible sight.
The inhibitors are gone, but the nutrient solution is still being poured on like crazy. It would be a miracle if any decent crops grew from this.
Andy's gaze shifted downwards.
At the very bottom of the screen, there is a huge progress bar.
Current crop harvest progress: 99%
[Report: The facilities are operating well, and the crops are growing well.]
Andy looked back at the terrifying plants around him, ready to tear him to pieces at any moment.
"Ah, this is what you call growing well?" Andy fell into deep thought.
Just then.
The ground suddenly began to shake violently.
The humus beneath Andy's feet suddenly bulged up.
Behind that main control pillar entangled in roots, right in the center of the farm, something is about to emerge.
It was a huge flower bud, as big as a tank.
The flower bud slowly split open, revealing a bright red core inside, still pulsating like internal organs.
At the very center of the core, there is a golden seed.
A red highlighted notification suddenly popped up in Andy's STC database.
[High-value target discovered: Eden-level original species (severely mutated).]
Recommendation: Recycle immediately.