Chapter 384: Pest

Fang Zhao also didn’t bring Curly Hair too far. According to the map provided, he brought Curly Hair to walk around the area where they could move about freely to first understand the topography and lifestyle of this place.

The area which Bu Base covered was huge, and the area for activity was also broad. Occasionally, they would run into soldiers on patrol. However, the atmosphere here was more relaxed, unlike the tensed vibe of the soldiers at planet Baiji’s outposts.

This place was very dry and barren, but it was also peaceful.

Curly Hair’s adaptability was very strong. An environment with low pressure and low oxygen didn’t appear to cause any changes in him. The barren sand also didn’t make his spirits fall, and he seemed to really like it here. There weren’t any other people around, so Fang Zhao also didn’t keep Curly Hair leashed. Currently Curly was running about on the sand without a care in the world. He was also very interested in the various bugs and animals beneath the soil, and regardless of whether they were big or small, Curly Hair would capture and play with them for awhile before devouring them.

Fang Zhao observed for a bit, and since Curly Hair seemed content, Fang Zhao just let him be.

After strolling around outside, Fang Zhao leashed Curly Hair and returned back to base. On the second day, Fang Zhao woke up and headed to the base’s dining hall to eat, when he ran into Woo Tianhao and Mitisy. Having gone through a day of getting accustomed to the new environment, the two had gotten stronger, just that Mitisy still appeared like he lacked sleep.

It wasn’t just Woo Tianhao and Mitisy. Zaro and Barbara also came out to walk about today. However, these two didn’t eat at the dining hall. Instead, they ate their own food which they brought along.

The program team all lamented as they watched the five guests become active and lively. “Genes are really something powerful. They are the descendants of the Great Generals after all. Their adaptability ability is really strong.”

Genes implied potential. As long as this sort of potential wasn’t wasted, they would be superior to others. Wasting them was another matter.

“Let’s not compare with the other four. After all, they are members of the Great Generals’ family clans. They have impressive genes, but what about Fang Zhao? Isn’t he still of an artistic background?! We can’t compete with the other four, but we also should learn from Fang Zhao…”

The director started to deliver “chicken soup” for the other staffers in the program team.

Actually, the director felt helpless deep down. This was the first time all the invited guests had a stronger adaptability then the staffers. He reckoned that the special guests could start filming already, but the staff couldn’t keep up.

As he thought about this problem, the director revised his arrangements. Their own end could not officially start work, but the special guests could be mobilized first.

The director gathered the five special guests together and started to mobilize them.

“The guide manual sent to you all contains a lot of important information including edible and poisonous food stuff you might see outside. If you see something that isn’t shown, it is best not to touch it. Therefore, if you see something that is unknown, it is best to leave it to the professionals.”

At the start, Zaro was still listening attentively, but as he listened on, he started to daydream. On the surface it couldn’t be seen, but deep down it was like this:

Previously I have earned quite a bit endorsing wild ginger, but the sustainability isn’t there. Fresh ginger is fine, but it is still best to endorse garlic.

Fang Zhao has already brought a dog. I will also bring one next time. I don’t like these kinds of small dog. Big dogs are way more impressive.

When will we be able to have internet connection here? I want to complain!

…

In 2 minutes, the thoughts in Zaro’s brain had completely jumped from wild ginger to dogs to something else altogether.

After emphasizing the stuff that needed to be taken care of, the director then explained to everyone about the main point of poverty alleviation.

“In the Old Era, there was this saying, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’…”

Poverty alleviation nowadays was generally about discovering an impoverished region’s bright spots and magnifying it. Following which, the next step would be to try and raise the quality of life at these impoverished regions. However easy it might sound, how many could actually achieve this?

Furthermore, theirs was a program which had an entertainment nature. They didn’t really pin too much hope on discovering any bright spots; however, they would bank on the program to let people know how arduous this place was so that they would consider this place when they made donations.

Of course, regardless of what he thought deep down or how cruel reality was, the director wouldn’t explain things too realistically when trying to mobilize them.

“See more, listen more, walk around more, understand more. Given everyone’s experienced and wise mind, you all should probably be able to discover this place’s bright spot,” the director concluded.

Woo Tianhao: See more, listen more? Definitely! Just rely on my observant and alert senses!

Mitisy: Walk around more, understand more? Seems like a rather large amount of exercise.

Zaro: My wise mind?

Barbara: Bright spot?

Fang Zhao: Slightly difficult.

The director felt satisfied seeing all five special guests apparently deep in thought. It seemed like these five special guests already understood his words.

Clapping his hand to rouse everyone, the director then continued, “As some of our program team staffers still haven’t fully adapted and are unable to formally start work, today we will let Colonel Song Ping bring everyone out to look around.

The personnel turnover on Planet Bu was much higher than on Planet Baiji and Planet Wai. After all, the environment here wasn’t suitable for ordinary living. A few years were fine, but if it was too long, there would be some people unable to endure it. Thus, most soldiers generally wouldn’t stay for more than ten years before being transferred to other locations.

Song Ping had served on the explorer-class spaceship Fomalhaut previously. After that, he had been transferred here for an interim period. He had already achieved enough military merits, and he would be able to get promoted again just by staying here and gaining experience. This was the second year since he had been transferred to planet Bu, and he would be transferred elsewhere after at most three years to some other planet that would basically be higher up in the development sequence.

Although he had no intention of staying long on Planet Bu, Song Ping was still rather cordial with the few special guests. Even if they couldn’t change the development outlook of Planet Bu, at leasts these special guests could bring along some financial support.

This was only the second day since the program team had arrived. After considering that some people were still in the preliminary stages of adapting and weren’t in prime condition, some cars were specially brought out to bring these people along as Song Ping introduced the various areas and their uses on the wayside.

Noticing the deserts in the distance, Mitisy pointed beneath his feet and asked, “Isn’t there oil below the deserts? I have seen some records from during the Old Era mentioning about this. In the Old Era, oil was considered a very important resource.”

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Song Ping nodded his head. “Oil has been detected in many areas of planet Bu, but it isn’t necessary. For daily usage, the thermal radiation provided by the fixed star is enough. It is even more convenient and lower cost. Our base mainly uses solar energy. As for even higher level power consumption, we use power ores that are sent over here.”

Afterwards, Song Ping brought them to see the cultivated fields.

“Every year, those sent over for military service are allocated to work in these fields, either growing crops or improving the soil quality.”

“What sort of things can be grown in this place?” Zaro asked in disbelief as he pointed at the barren patch of sand.

“Things can be grown as long as there is water. The piping layout was completed a long time ago. The water supply is able to meet the requirements,” Song Ping replied.

Very quickly, they reached the agricultural district. Crops of varying heights grew sparsely on the modified land.

“They don’t look to be growing too well.” Mitisy didn’t know much about farming, but at least he could tell that the crops weren’t doing well.

Song Ping said, “The output isn’t too high, but at least we won’t let everyone die.”

Woo Tianhao appeared to think of something and asked in a hurry. “Brother Ping, then do you all eat bugs? Planet Baiji also had bugs in the past. Bugs this —— large!”

“Bugs? We eat them too, but less. There aren’t too many bugs that are edible here. They are either too small, too difficult to catch, or too expensive to catch. Those funds would be better appropriated for agriculture. We mainly have agricultural produce here, all grown by ourselves. Sometimes we capture some edible items from the ocean to improve our diet, but those are rare. There are also large animals on dry land, but because their numbers are low and aren’t a threat to the base, most of them have been placed on the protected species list. Not only are we not allowed to eat them, but if we see these animals encountering any difficulties on the outside, we still have to land them a hand. Therefore, in our base, we tend to eat vegetarian more often than not. Other times, we would just have the nutritional dose to replenish our energy and the required nutrients.

Song Ping was saying all these to tell them that over here, don’t think about eating lavish meats and extravagant stuff. When you are here, you follow everyone and eat vegetables!

Zaro rubbed his chin and nodded. “I understand what you are trying to say. The Old Era had a saying, ‘rest in peace’.”

Song Ping: “….? ?”

Woo Tianhao was indeed someone who had interacted with Zaro the most, and immediately understood what Zaro was trying to say. “You probably wanted to say ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do, right?'”

Zaro clapped his hand. “Right! That’s the one!”

Song Ping: “…” For a second, I thought that there was a problem with my ability to understand!

“More better-suited crops for this place could be cultivated,” Mitisy said. “Find some researchers and they would surely be able to look into it.”

Song Ping shook his head. “Researchers? We can’t bring any over. The salary would be too low and the conditions are too poor; the land isn’t fertile enough for abundant crop cultivation, and we aren’t able to attract any research talent. Look at planet Baiji. They were able to attract quite a number of researchers over, but this is an aspect we cannot compete with. Of course, if you all are willing to help out, you could send some people over. Those that aren’t looking for fame are genuinely knowledgeable and capable people. It is fine even if their personalities aren’t the best.”

Song Ping had only made an offhand remark. He didn’t pin his hopes on an entertainment program being able to bring capable researchers over.

“Let me bring you over to the plot.”

Song Ping deactivated a region’s defensive net and brought Fang Zhao and the others in. He wasn’t going to forget to speak about Bu Base’s strong point.

“Our students here on military service do not have to mine. Although farming might be a little more tiring, it is still safer than on planet Baiji. Just solely this point makes recruits more willing to come here.”

As he spoke, Song Ping glanced at Fang Zhao. He had been transferred over from the explorer-class spaceship Fomalhaut and had heard about Fang Zhao’s application to serve his military service onboard the Fomalhaut and Arcturus. Unfortunately, the applications were rejected, and Fang Zhao chose to serve on the planet Baiji that had arduous conditions. Sometime later, unexpectedly, planet Baiji discovered deposits of high-grade power ores as it took off and flourished.

Many people knew that it was Fang Zhao who had discovered the new power ore, but many people also knew that even without Fang Zhao, other people would also be able to discover it, just that it might take slightly longer. As such, there were still many people who considered Fang Zhao to have an element of luck. Bu Base Commander Flemington had taken this into account when he had agreed to collaborate with the program team. Otherwise, Flemington wouldn’t have dared to take such a risk. He would be in line for a good promotion if he guarded this planet smoothly for another one or two years. He wasn’t willing to meet any hiccups during this period.

Song Ping didn’t think about that stuff. He introduced Fang Zhao and the others to the crops here.

“We are such a big planet and we cannot always rely on supplies. Only through self-reliance can we truly establish ourselves. We can’t let ourselves starve to deaths if something unexpected happens to our supplies. Pests have to be prevented in the fields, but the effects of pesticides are limited. We also can’t poison ourselves just trying to kill pests.”

Song Ping sent a few images to Fang Zhao and the others, introducing them to some of the commonly seen bugs and animals that were harmful to their crops.

“Especially this sort!” Song Ping pointed at one of the images and gritted his teeth. “These are one of the largest pests here. A large reason for our low output is because of them. They can eat a lot, and just a moment of inattention can allow them to destroy a large patch, with everyone’s hard efforts going to waste!”

The animal that Song Ping was talking about had a long, narrow body with developed claws and a tail. Its body appeared to be covered with segments of scales, and an adult one was about the size of a human palm. “These things are highly resistant to drugs and are very nimble in the earth. It is very difficult to catch them without relying on traps. This type of animal is a big headache for the base. Luckily, it isn’t too poisonous and doesn’t pose too much danger to humans.

“To protect the crops, we have deployed the defensive net; however, the net isn’t always sealed at all times. The fields require large amounts of manpower to tend to them, and each time we open up the defensive net, a few sneak in. We also have assigned personnel to exterminate pests regularly, but trying to get rid of them completely is simply impossible. These animals bury too quickly into the ground. Even when the pest exterminators do discover traces of them, there’s always the concern about collateral crop damage. With their hands tied, the difficulty of pest extermination is rather high.”

Fang Zhao studied the image. “It’s like a lizard?”

“It only looks a little similar, but its internal structure is completely different. There are specimens in the base. I will show them to you all when we get back. If the pest exterminators are able to catch one next time, I will dissect it to let you all see,” Song Ping said.

“You can’t catch one now?” Woo Tianhao cracked his knuckles, eager to give it a try.

“They aren’t easy to catch. You will probably need guidance from a professional if you want to catch one, as well as equipment. Also you mustn’t damage the crops as well. In short, catching them isn’t as easy as you think.”

Song Ping had just said this when he saw Curly Hair running like the wind. He bit at something in the soil and dragged it out before hitting it against the ground for a few times. He then raised his head and tossed it into the air. Curly Hair leapt up and caught it in his mouth before hitting it twice and tossing it into the air again.

“Is this the pest you were talking about?” Fang Zhao pointed at the thing that was tossed into the air.

Song Ping: “…Seems so.”

Curly Hair held it in his mouth while playing with it excitedly before swaggering over to Fang Zhao as though he was trying to take credit.

Fang Zhao took a look at the animal held in Curly Hair’s mouth and then glanced at Song Ping.

Song Ping’s voice was tart. “Indeed.”