Chen Ming half-leaned out of the treetop, lifted the terminal, and looked northwest.
Just like the quick glance Chen Ming had taken from the air before.
To the northwest of the spaceship, there is a river running northeast to southwest.
From the small hill north of the spaceship to the opposite bank of the river, it’s a very dense forest.
Only on the southwest side of the small hill where the spaceship landed, the vegetation appears a bit sparser.
However, looking at the terrain, which is flat and a small river flows from the north but loops around there to the south.
Chen Ming thinks this might be because flooding often submerges that area.
But while floods wash away plants, they also bring fertile soil, so although the vegetation here isn’t as plentiful as in the north, it is growing quite well. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet
More importantly, Chen Ming saw several vines growing in the gaps between the trees here.
Even from a distance, Chen Ming could see in the images captured by the terminal some orange fruits on those vines.
As for the east side of the two small hills, it’s the border area between the planet’s purple and green plants.
Large numbers of purple and green plants intermingle, competing for nutrients and sunlight, making it seem at first glance the densest area of vegetation around the spaceship.
But upon closer inspection, Chen Ming found that most of the vegetation here had already withered, with only a small portion surviving off the remains of others.
It seems very unlikely that he could find the crops he wanted here.
Instead, the region near the southwestern riverbank, where there are fewer plants, seems more promising.
The soil there is fertile, water resources are ample, and he had just spotted some fruit-bearing plants.
After confirming the surrounding terrain and capturing everything with the terminal, the topographic map of the area around the spaceship appeared on the terminal.
Thanks to the technological advantage, Chen Ming completed a task he originally planned to spend all day on with high efficiency.
Now Chen Ming had two options.
One was to wait by the river to see if any animals would come to drink water.
The other was to head to the place southwest of the spaceship to find the cluster of fruits he had just seen.
Chen Ming chose the latter.
Being able to cultivate crops and seeds, and reliably obtaining these is certainly better than waiting by the river for luck.
Besides, he wasn’t entirely abandoning the first option.
The spot where the fruits were located was a small low-lying area along the river, and Chen Ming could walk along the river, watching out for animals along the way.
Chen Ming took some time to get to the riverside.
He walked along the pebble river beach toward the sparse forest with orange fruits to the southwest.
The adjacent river water was quite clear, but Chen Ming didn’t see any fish or shrimp-like animals in it.
After watching for a while, Chen Ming couldn’t decipher anything from the river, so he focused more on the riverbanks.
However, until he stepped into the forest of his destination, he saw no animals but plenty of footprints.
Those footprints varied in size, and some even appeared very fresh, recently wet with river water.
But Chen Ming didn’t get carried away tracking them; with only two legs and wearing a protective suit, how could he outrun four-legged animals?
If he pursued them and ended up with nothing, only to find out that the orange fruits he discovered were stolen, that would be a major loss.
Following the previous idea seemed more rewarding, at least allowing those fruits to end up in his pocket.
Moreover, although this river walk wasn’t fruitful, it confirmed that many animals in the area used this river as a watering point.
This time he had only taken a look along the way with no results, but next time with more preparation, he might find some mindless animals.
Soon after, Chen Ming found the vines grown in the gaps between the trees.
Just as he had seen earlier, beneath the purple curly leaves, were fruits the size of a fist with curved patterns on their surface.
Chen Ming really wanted to make a comment about their appearance but restrained himself.
He directly used an advanced plant analyzer to analyze them.
As expected, a heap of related attributes appeared.
But this time, among those attributes, there were three useful ones, unlike the previous Purple Orchid Grass and similar plants he had found.
[Name: Juice Orange Fruit]
[Growth Cycle: 15 days]
This was a plant that perfectly met Chen Ming’s needs.
Not only is it edible, but its growth cycle is also surprisingly short.
Initially, Chen Ming thought these fruits might not have been eaten by animals because they were possibly toxic or for some other reasons.
Now it seems he was overthinking it; these Juice Orange Fruits had just ripened, so herbivores hadn’t had the chance to find them, giving Chen Ming the advantage.
Chen Ming gladly accepted the harvest.
He took out a small knife from the maintenance kit and plucked the Juice Orange Fruits from the vine one by one.
He also cut one open, finding inside the curved-patterned exterior a melon-like structure with seeds wrapped in flesh.
However, unlike the firmer flesh of a melon, the Juice Orange Fruit’s flesh was more like the soft texture of strawberries.
Chen Ming scraped off the seeds, stored them in an empty jar in his backpack, and tasted a piece of the flesh.
As soon as the flesh entered his mouth, Chen Ming was hugely surprised.
The Juice Orange Fruit was not very juicy, but its taste was exceptional.
Very sweet, full of sugar, not only delicious but also a great food source.
Having gathered the fruits, Chen Ming didn’t linger outside.
He searched for more information about Juice Orange Fruit through the terminal.
He confirmed that, as a vine with a 15-day growth cycle, its vine only bore fruit once before he returned to the spaceship with over thirty harvested fruits.
He began processing the fruits.
What Chen Ming needed to do was simple: extract the seeds, store them well in the refrigerator, and place them in the farming mechanical module for the hydroponic system.
The rest would be left to the mechanical equipment.
It would automatically fill the hydroponic system with nutrient liquid from the adjacent Nutrient Liquid Extraction Device.
It would also automatically adjust the simulated environment inside the hydroponic system according to the plants’ conditions.
The line [Current Environment: None] on the hydropnic system panel changed to "Rimu Star" after the Juice Orange Fruits were planted.
In addition to the planting environment, the farming mechanical module would also allocate the appropriate planting area for each crop based on their needs.
If the plants weren’t recorded, Chen Ming would need to input this requirement himself, but Juice Orange Fruit wasn’t such a crop.
This saved him a lot of effort here.
However, in the end, the hydroponic system wasn’t fully planted, not because there weren’t enough seeds, but because Chen Ming deliberately left space.
If he found better crops in the future, what should he do when these growing Juice Orange Fruits are halfway along?
So, he left some space as a precaution, just in case he needed planting space in the hydroponic system someday.
As for the extra seeds, Chen Ming didn’t opt to store them in the refrigerator, rather he chose a spot outside the spaceship, cleared a small area, and planted them.
He would cultivate these outdoor crops according to the recordings of the farming mechanical module, leaving their survival to fate.
After finishing all these tasks, it was almost evening.
Chen Ming prepared to rest.
But just as Chen Ming turned off the spaceship’s lights, many glowing green eyes flashed outside the captain’s cabin.
Chen Ming immediately controlled the machine gun and switched on the searchlights on the spaceship’s top.
Under the intense lights, a deer-like creature bolted in fright, and some noises came from the nearby bushes.
Other animals that had been watching also disappeared into the night.
It seemed that some bold animals, noticing no major disturbances after the spaceship landed, came to check under the cover of night.
Chen Ming regretted that his initial reaction was a bit slow, not giving the machine gun time to fire and leave a few behind.
However, since they came to scout today, they might do the same tomorrow.
Chen Ming had the patience and time to wait for these animals to become bolder.
Eventually, they would fall into his hands.