Chapter 150: Yellow Clover

Chapter 150: Yellow Clover

Ye Yuqing swiftly departed Guixu with the Tianlang team aboard a helicopter.

To ensure a grand exit, Shen Lan generously lent him a luxury helicopter belonging to a drug lord, naturally charging a hefty rental fee.

Not only that, but aside from the Tianlang team, members of the Nirvana team, including Zen Master Xinhai and Xiao Yi, along with Shen Lan, Ge Chen, Zhang Guangming, Li Ming, and others, were paid high fees to escort Ye Yuqing and Ling Dingxiu back, making the escort team an elite assembly.

Zhou Yun suspected that the Nirvana team was just there to watch the show.

The Taoist priest said earnestly, "I’m passing by to visit some fellow Taoists—a rare opportunity."

Even Qin Sheng volunteered, "I’ll go too!" He rubbed his hands eagerly, "A rare chance to make a big impression."

Dong Kexin thoughtfully provided Ye Yuqing and Ling Dingxiu with brand-new uniforms appropriate to their military ranks, while the other psychics were outfitted with full sets of special operations team members’ camouflage protective suits, complete with weapons and equipment.

On the day they were seen off, Guan Yuanfeng was busy, so Zhou Yun went to bid farewell to Ye Yuqing.

Ye Yuqing wore aviator sunglasses, a crisp general’s uniform, and a military greatcoat, standing tall and radiating a profound and enigmatic presence. Surrounded by a group of psychic special operations team members, he looked every bit the high-ranking military officer.

He felt a touch of emotion, genuinely appreciating the beauty of collective discipline and power.

Perhaps because he lacked it himself—this beauty was something to admire from afar. He still preferred a more casual and random liberalism.

At the base of the boarding steps, Ye Yuqing removed his gloves, raised his right hand to touch the brim of his hat, and saluted Zhou Yun in farewell. The enamel officer’s badge on his general’s cap gleamed brightly. "The debt of rebirth will never be forgotten. Thank you for seeing me off—please stay."

Zhou Yun, somewhat unaccustomed to such solemnity, waved his hand. "Take care. Return for a follow-up once things settle down."

Ye Yuqing smiled, boarded the plane, and saluted him again at the cabin door before entering.

Ling Dingxiu, wiping his teary eyes, tightly grasped Zhou Yun’s hand before departing. "Dr. Zhou, you must come to the Lindong base. I will ensure you are well taken care of."

Zhou Yun smiled. "You are welcome to visit at any time, General Ling."

===

After seeing off Ye Yuqing, a significant task was accomplished. Zhou Yun and Yao Huan studied the experimental data on volcanic algae at the hospital in the herb garden. This was well within his expertise, and once the data was ready, the basic paper could be published.

Having done it all in a previous life, he found it rather tedious and uninspiring this time around.

Moreover, he had been occupied at the herb garden these days, only managing to return home briefly once. Guan Yuanfeng was also busy, so they hadn’t seen much of each other.

Originally, with so much going on, it wasn’t a big deal. But today, after seeing Ye Yuqing and Ling Dingxiu in their military uniforms, he couldn’t help but privately compare them to Guan Yuanfeng in uniform—and of course, the tall Guan Yuanfeng won. Still, he simply wanted to see him.

Yao Huan noticed his absent-mindedness and said, "Professor Mi has arrived. He’s been settling in these past few days and will bring Duoduo over once he’s ready. He’ll be here soon. I’ll chat with him. There’s nothing much left to do here. You haven’t been home for days—go and see how Team Guan is doing."

Zhou Yun felt a bit embarrassed but finished the experiment at hand. Seeing the pleasant spring weather and the gentle breeze, he rode his mountain bike back to the city alone.

The Nanshan herb garden wasn’t far from Guixu city, and he soon returned, spotting the cactus walls blooming with flowers from a distance. The thick, dark green walls were densely covered with thorns, and the vibrant flowers of the columnar cacti and thorny tendrils filled the walls, stretching for miles—a spectacular sight.

Recently, this blooming cactus wall had become a striking scenic spot, with residents of Guixu city taking photos and posting them online, attracting countless tourists. Zen Master Xinhai’s business was thriving.

Too lazy to go through the main gate, he rode his bike, planning to climb over the wall near the reservoir for a shortcut.

This section of the wall was the least crowded, desolate and uninhabited. He rode his bike around, commanding the thorny tendrils on the wall to lower and lift his bike and himself over, then lowered them down the other side.

This was near the reservoir, with the bright spring scenery by the water, the warm sunshine and breeze making it very pleasant.

He mounted his bike and rode along the road for a while, suddenly noticing a young man standing by the water not far from the wall, facing the cactus wall, holding a knife and carving into the tough, thick skin, muttering to himself, "Still not alive."

Curious, Zhou Yun stopped his bike with one foot on the ground, glanced at the cut with green leaves and yellow flowers inserted, and asked the man, "Are you... grafting?"

The young man turned to look at him, his gaze somewhat intrigued: "You noticed?" He had a pair of phoenix eyes, uncommon in the south, thin lips, and an air of arrogance in the corners of his eyes and brows, with a northern accent in his speech.

Zhou Yun parked his bike and approached to take a closer look: "This is... alfalfa, right? Alfalfa is a legume, which is quite different from the cactus family, so grafting might not work. Why is this alfalfa golden in color?"

The man said, "Yes, it's golden alfalfa, a metal-manipulating variant of alfalfa. I thought that with mutated plants, maybe the old rules about tissue structure and physiological mechanisms being similar don't necessarily apply anymore. Just trying it out, you never know."

"If grafting onto the wall succeeds, maybe the wall could inherently possess metal-manipulating abilities, eliminating the need for an inner wall, directly hardening this mutated cacti wall significantly."

Zhou Yun was amazed: "There's actually a metal variant of alfalfa?" He quickly realized: "Right, golden alfalfa can absorb metals like copper and lead from the soil into its stems and leaves."

The man was somewhat proud: "Exactly, you know your stuff. Many people only know it as animal feed."

Zhou Yun smiled: "Golden alfalfa is stunning. If grafting works, that'd be amazing. Why not try grafting directly using the crystal core?" He looked at the golden alfalfa the man had just planted into the wall, its thin golden feathery leaves in groups of three, still blooming with small golden flowers.

The man frowned: "You mean to fuse and graft the metal-wood crystal core of this alfalfa with the wood crystal core of the cactus?"

He pondered: "That's an interesting idea, but this alfalfa... was summoned, so it doesn't have a crystal core. The crystal core of this mutated cactus is too strong for me to fuse—I never thought crystal cores could be grafted."

He muttered to himself: "That makes sense, since you can manipulate plants by fusing crystal cores, naturally you could try fusing crystal cores on mutated plants, why didn't I think of that?"

He looked at Zhou Yun, quite surprised: "Are you also a wood psychic, with a source plant?"

Zhou Yun countered: "What's a source plant?"

The man explained: "When the red fog descended, my throat was dry and painful. I had some alfalfa on my balcony for raising rabbits. That night, in severe pain, I remembered it could reduce swelling and cool the blood, so I pulled a few and ate them, and then awakened my psychic ability, which is dual metal and wood. Later, I realized this golden alfalfa is probably dual metal and wood."

Zhou Yun was surprised he so casually revealed such a big secret to a stranger: "And then?"

The man said: "Later, I found I could use their abilities by fusing with some mutated plants—but not all, and fusing too many is troublesome, leveling up is slow." He was troubled: "It's a rather useless ability. I consulted experts from the Psychic Society, and they all said my case is special, wood abilities are slow to level up anyway, and suggested I focus on improving my metal abilities first."

He casually waved his hand, and several bamboo shoots sprouted from the ground, their sharp, metallic tips capable of hurting someone if unexpected.

Zhou Yun: "...Impressive."

The man shook his head: "I only know this one move, not enough lethality, unfortunately I haven't found many good mutated plants. I wanted to go to the mountains to look, but my family keeps a tight watch, won't let me go. They say there are many mutated herbs in Guixu City, but I came and saw only a few, only this mutated cactus has some creativity."

Zhou Yun said: "There are still many mutated herbs. You can sign up for the Growers' Guild, take on some wood herb cultivation tasks, and then you can take the bus daily to Nanshan Medicinal Garden to see the mutated medicines cultivated there."

The man was startled: "That simple?"

Zhou Yun was also surprised: "When you came to the base to handle your residence procedures, wasn't there someone to guide you? As a wood psychic ability user, they should recommend work content based on your abilities. Was the staff negligent?"

The man stammered: "Not really, it's my own fault. I thought they would keep these things tightly hidden. I just wanted to take a look and then go home, my ability level is low, I can't do much."

Zhou Yun said: "You probably fused too many and too varied mutated plants early on, causing your crystal core energy to lag. Being dual-type, you naturally level up slower than others, and with such unrestrained fusion, naturally, leveling up is slow."

The man listened to his detailed explanation and humbly asked for advice: "What should I do now?"

Zhou Yun said: "Stop fusing other mutated plants, focus on leveling up, explore the abilities of the already absorbed mutated plants, keep using the abilities to increase proficiency, and promote advancement."

The man said: "I've absorbed many wood and metal crystal cores, but I've been stuck at the second level for a long time, absorbing crystal cores no longer helps. My family is very disappointed, finally got a psychic, but a useless one." He was very discouraged.

Zhou Yun reassured him: "You need to gradually expand your meridians. Have you heard of Ba Duan Jin?"

The man: "..." He said: "I've seen Dongjun's method for improving wood psychic abilities and tried practicing it. But I'm dual metal and wood, that method might not be suitable, progress was slow, so I didn't persist."

Zhou Yun enthusiastically instructed: "It's useful, start by practicing Ba Duan Jin daily. Then join the Growers' Guild, start by cultivating mutated herbs to gradually master them."

The man nodded: "Thank you for your guidance. By the way, my surname is Du, Du Zonghan, you can call me Xiao Du. What's your surname?"

Zhou Yun was momentarily stunned and shook his hand: "I’m Dr. Zhou—if I may ask… the new Deputy Governor…"

Du Zonghan replied cheerfully: "That’s me, but I should be transferred back soon. I thought this trip would be a waste, but I didn’t expect to meet you. Thank you for your advice, Dr. Zhou. I’ll go to the Nanshan Herb Garden tomorrow to take a look."

Zhou Yun’s expression was complicated: "Didn’t you just take office? Why are you going back already?"

Du Zonghan chuckled: "My family forced me to come; I don’t want to be an official at all. They keep calling me useless, saying I can’t do anything, yet they force me to come out. I’ve long heard that Captain Guan doesn’t tolerate any nonsense and never spares anyone’s feelings. I specifically asked my friends how to be as annoying as possible in the bureaucracy, and now I’m almost there. Just a few more moves, and I should be able to go back."

Zhou Yun: "..."

Du Zonghan checked the time and waved his hand: "Looking forward to seeing you at the Nanshan Herb Garden in a couple of days. I’ll take my leave now."

Zhou Yun watched him leave in high spirits, only then realizing that although he was only wearing a white shirt, the shirt, belt, pants, and shoes were all spotless, clearly showing he had come straight from the city hall.

He headed back to Yunding Mountain Villa, first went to the villa at Yuexi No. 3, and checked the kitchen and fridge. While he was away, Guan Yuanfeng hadn’t cooked a thing. He took out some ingredients from the fridge to thaw, planning to make sour soup with beef and perilla beef stew. The beef was brought back from Xining. He also planned to make stir-fried shepherd’s purse with cured meat and stir-fried wild mushrooms with chili and pork. Spring is the season for fresh produce.

Halfway through cooking, Guan Yuanfeng also returned and was pleasantly surprised to see him: "Didn’t you say you were writing a thesis? Why are you back so suddenly?"

Zhou Yun, seeing him in full military attire, was quite satisfied: "I missed you."

Guan Yuanfeng was instantly touched: "I’ll cook."

Zhou Yun didn’t decline and directed him: "Wash the vegetables I just picked."

Guan Yuanfeng took off his jacket and came over to wash the vegetables. Zhou Yun asked him: "That Deputy Governor today…"

Guan Yuanfeng said: "Don’t mention it. He’s always late and leaves early, and he’s absent-minded during meetings. His psychic ability level is also very low. I inquired a bit, and even his own family calls him a good-for-nothing, achieving nothing. His major is also unclear, something that’s hard to find a job with, and he hasn’t worked since graduation, staying at home all the time. They sent him here to retire. I’m planning to send him back."

Zhou Yun couldn’t help but laugh: "If you send him back, they’ll just send a new one. Might as well keep this one for peace of mind."

Guan Yuanfeng said: "He’s incredibly annoying; you wouldn’t believe it. At the end of the meeting, he gave a speech with points one, two, three, four, and five, all of which were nonsense copied from who knows where!"

Zhou Yun finally couldn’t hold back his laughter.