The chaotic film dissipated before his eyes, and a strong light pierced, causing Li Zheng's eyes to sting painfully, forcing him to blink tears.
Three to five minutes later, Li Zheng raised his hand to shield the overhead light, trying to open his eyes.
Though still uncomfortable, he could tolerate it.
The intense light continued to dazzle, illuminating the entire room with a brilliant glow, and the reflections from the metal walls made the room appear coated in fluorescent paint.
"Wow, this room is fairly large!"
Seeing a space triple the size of the previous room, Li Zheng exclaimed in awe.
"It's a pity I can't turn back within the Matrix; otherwise, using this as a temporary stopover would be perfect!"
After a moment of regret, Li Zheng walked towards several elongated facilities placed inside the room.
The elongated facility was quite sizable, over ten meters long. Upon approaching and comparing, its height was nearly a meter, reaching close to Li Zheng's waist.
"This thing looks like a fish tank, why is it filled with plants? Oh, it's a hydroponic cultivation dish—never mind then."
[Hydroponic Crop Cultivation Dish: A dish for soil-less crop cultivation, maintaining temperature inside to provide optimal growth conditions for crops.]
"Let's see what's being planted."
Li Zheng carefully examined the system's notifications marking each plant's name and basic information.
[Genetically Modified Luoshen Flower: A preliminary genetically cultivated variety of Luoshen Flower, with high nutritional value, serving as one of the auxiliary materials for making nutrient solutions.
Growth status: Normal
Growth speed: 100% (Light)
Growth progress: 89%.
Maturity time: about three hours.]
[Genetically Modified Honey Fruit: A preliminary genetically cultivated variety of Honey Fruit, sweet and delicious, serving as the main ingredient for making nutrient solutions.
Growth status: Normal
Growth speed: 100% (Light)
Growth progress: 89%.
Maturity time: about three hours.]
[Genetically Modified Snake Grass: New cultivar, effects unknown, taste unknown, toxicity unknown.
[Genetically Modified Flame Branch: Fruit-less crop, a preliminary genetically cultivated variety that blooms into flame-shaped flowers upon maturation. The flowers bloom for three minutes before wilting and leaving seeds to die.
Consuming Flame Branch flowers has a 2% chance of developing Fire Gene.
Note! There is a 30% chance of causing harm to the consumer!
There were four "fish tanks" in total, each tank containing only one type of crop, with the most Luoshen Flowers totaling ten plants.
Next were the Honey Fruits, seven plants.
Snake Grass: five plants.
Flame Branch: only one plant!
The Luoshen Flower plants were small, resembling pepper plants grown in ordinary households, with bright yellow flower buds hidden among the emerald leaves.
Roughly counting, each Luoshen Flower plant had no fewer than ten flowers!
The plant with the most even had eighteen flowers! They clustered densely on the short plant.
The Honey Fruit resembled a short pine tree, tapering off towards the top with fewer branches and leaves.
The Honey Fruit Tree had already begun to bear fruit, as large as a baby's fist, with a coarse skin like bitter melon, in a yellowish-brown color.
Snake Grass, true to its name, curled around like snakes, coiling layer upon layer at the "fish tank" bottom.
The five Snake Grass plants were distinct from each other, demonstrating their self-regulating behavior without disturbing "neighbors."
The Snake Grass leaves were very tiny, like snake fangs, lush green, and growing favorably.
The final Flame Plant was a shrub, entirely fiery red, and the system's information indicated it could bloom into flame-shaped flowers.
But upon Li Zheng's own observation, the actual Flame Plant's branches also seemed like burning flames.
"Such a pity it takes three more hours to mature."
Li Zheng reluctantly withdrew his gaze and approached facilities beside the four "fish tanks."
This machine was wholly a transparent glass jar, quite large, with an estimated capacity of fifty liters.
The jar originally contained a thick, green liquid, now nearly empty, leaving only a thin layer at the bottom.
[Crop Cultivation Liquid: Accelerates the growth speed of crops in cultivation.]
"It's a blessing to receive a pillow when sleepy, is there anything better?"
Li Zheng chuckled, worried about the lengthy three-hour wait, only to find a solution nearby.
He discovered an outlet at the bottom of the cultivation liquid storage tank. After fiddling for some time, he found it required fingerprint authentication for identity.
Only successful identity authentication would release the cultivation liquid from the tank.
Li Zheng scanned his fingerprint, and the storage tank showed no reaction, evidently failing the authentication.
Li Zheng licked his lips, revealing a mischievous smile: "Originally, I'd intended to treat you gently, but you don't recognize my kindness..."
He wrapped his fist in a coat, stepped back, and punched the glass-like jar, producing a muffled sound.
Li Zheng raised his eyebrows, noting his punch left no mark on the jar.
He regretted discarding the stone in the previous room.
"But without stone, I have something harder to open your head..."
Li Zheng retrieved an Iron Ingot from the capsule house, his mischievous smile growing wider: "Didn't see this coming, did you? I have an iron block!"
He unwound the coat that wrapped around the Iron Ingot, swinging it like a Meteor Hammer.
The Iron Ingot, living up to its name, cracked the glass jar in a single strike, leaving several fractures.
Nevertheless, Li Zheng marveled at the durability of this transparent material.
Knowing the hardness of the Iron Ingot was no joke, swung as a convertible hammer—such force would cause bone fractures, even if hitting a person.
Yet it produced only a few fractures, indicating this transparent material was not ordinary glass.
"Ouch, twisted my waist..."
The transparent jar finally succumbed to the "Meteor Hammer's" bombardment, the upper part shattered into pieces, some fragments falling inside the jar and splashing a bit of cultivation liquid.
"Luckily, the cultivation liquid is thick, otherwise, splashing outside would waste it."
Li Zheng stood rubbing his back, drenched in sweat—cold sweat from the waist pain.
He restored the Meteor Hammer, brushing off the fragments from the coat and putting it back on, considering it might be useful in the future, so he avoided carelessly discarding it.
The Iron Ingot disappeared from his hand, and he retrieved an item.
It was the can of nutrient solution he previously drank.
"Waste reuse, whoever said gray quality items are garbage?"
Li Zheng beamed, cautiously pouring the cultivation liquid into the can, then proceeding to irrigate the growing crops one by one.
Since the amount of cultivation liquid was limited, Li Zheng tried to distribute it evenly, giving each plant a share.
Thinking it was too wasteful to leave the sticky residue at the jar's bottom, he gritted his teeth and added some water to dilute it, then scooped it out while rinsing the can.
"Grow quickly, grow quickly, time is life, time is money!"
Li Zheng, the diligent farmer, mumbled as he irrigated the last of the nutrient solution.
As if doing so would somehow accelerate the plant growth.
After finishing the irrigation work, all crops showed a growth status change to "Fertilized."
The growth speed increased from 100% to 200%.
With accelerated growth, the remaining time to maturity was reduced to an hour and a half.
After completing the irrigation task, Li Zheng attempted to decompose the cultivation liquid storage tank, but the system notified: [Excessive damage, unable to decompose.]
This annoyed Li Zheng, making him almost take out the Iron Ingot to "dismember" the cultivation liquid storage tank.