Very reasonable cultivation

Chapter 176: Torch Plant Ecology

The insects hurried away like a tide, greedily devouring the "poor" plants before turning away without a second thought. However, not all insects could keep up with the horde so quickly. Some of the gray-black creatures that became slow to react were left behind, becoming lonely beings on the land.

Faced with this situation, Tian Zhen couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He secretly speculated on the reasons for the Zerg's hasty escape. After some reflection, he came to a conclusion: this was simply not worth it! The damage caused by the torch to precious water resources and atmospheric components was simply not worth the loss. Therefore, the Zerg cleverly chose to only take away those plant and animal resources on the surface that could be directly converted into biomass, and then quickly evacuated this dangerous place.

Today, this once vibrant planet lies devastated. Vast tracts of barren land lie exposed, lifeless. The pale brown water still gurgles, but has lost its former vitality and clarity. A thin atmosphere shrouds the entire planet like a heavy veil. And in this silent world, only the behemoth known as Torch Godzilla slowly moves its massive body, slowly circling the planet as if patrolling its territory.

Although the Zerg had already fled, when Mecha Tian Zhen looked up at the sky, he could still see huge shadows, illuminated by the stars, occasionally streaking across the distant skyline. These shadows passed quickly beyond the planet, appearing and disappearing, making Tian Zhen sigh at the sheer size and astonishing number of the Zerg.

Over time, the relationship between Mecha Tian Zhen and the townspeople has gradually become harmonious. Initially, everyone was curious and wary of this mysterious visitor from outer space, but as time went by and their interactions increased, the sense of unfamiliarity gradually faded. Now, when they pass each other on the street, they greet each other with a smile, even occasionally stopping for a chat.

The vegetation on the planet's surface is temporarily gone, unable to produce oxygen, but the torch's massive, high-frequency life characteristics can prompt the planet's land to regenerate a plant ecosystem similar to its own. However, this process is not achieved overnight and requires a certain amount of time to achieve.

Fortunately, there's no need to worry about oxygen supply for now. The flares are still functioning reliably, providing enough oxygen to sustain life. Furthermore, given the planet's current conditions, the need for oxygen isn't particularly high.

However, the most pressing issue facing them was how to solve the problem of food source. After all, the people in the town could not continue to live on limited reserves.

So Mecha Tian Zhen began to study metal plants similar to torches, which were different variations of the same gas property, a metal plant that could produce edible fruits. This was not too difficult, after all, Tian Zhen had studied the changes in the ecological environment of the ancient elves' trees.

The hedgehog dragon fruit and ice cream meatballs are a good reference, and he also retained the plant seeds.

However, in the face of the uncontrollable changes in the metallized plants, Mecha Tianzhen needs a little guidance to ensure that the fruits produced do not become a hard lump.

These metallized plants normally transmit electromagnetic pulses outward, centered around the torch, to the affected metallized plants. This causes them to grow very rapidly, especially for metallized plants. Once they reach a certain size, when their Qi reaches a closed loop, they will generate a small atomic reactor, which they then transmit outward layer by layer. These metallized plants also provide a huge amount of energy to the torch through Qi.

Before the metal plants began to spread on a large scale, these small metal plants had been in a state of extremely slow growth. They relied on the light cast by the stars to absorb energy, but this growth rate was extremely slow, even slower than the growth of stalactites in caves on Earth.

Now Mecha Tian Zhen has successfully catalyzed the creation of a metal plant with its own small atomic reactor, the kind that can produce hedgehog dragon fruit.

As the first metal hedgehog dragon fruit tree was born on an ordinary night, the torch in the distance seemed to sense something and began to look for a suitable place to lie down.

The next day, all those who had nothing to do came over to watch a huge, strange, gray-black fruit tree that suddenly appeared here. It was full of red fruits with thorns.

When Charlotte saw the fruit, she was very happy. She went up and picked a few of them. She roasted them with flames on the spot until they were cooked, and then shared them with everyone.

"Boss! I haven't tasted this fruit for a long time! Please come out and try it, it tastes delicious! But... this tree looks a little bit wrong? It's gray-black, I clearly remember it was dark brown." Charlotte asked while chewing the delicious meatball ice cream in his mouth, with lightning flashing above his head.

"Ha, I won't eat this fruit! This is actually the result of my advance guidance, catalysis and adaptation, and the purpose is to cope with possible environmental changes in the future. If I don't do this, who knows what these plants will become in the future? Maybe even fruit won't grow!" Mecha Tian Zhen replied with lightning on the side.

"Oh, changes in the future? How often will this fruit bear fruit?" After hearing this, Charlotte stopped chewing temporarily, blinked her big eyes, and the lightning above her head continued to flash. She asked curiously.

"Well, in order to ensure the best taste of this fruit, we have carefully controlled its growth cycle. At present, the fruit can mature approximately once every week. Of course, the necessary water, nitrogen fertilizer and other substances needed by the fruit cannot be lacking. If you think it is not enough, you can also plant the seeds near this fruit. It will grow to the point where it can bear fruit in no more than a year." Mecha Tian Zhen responded.

As soon as Mecha Tian Zhen finished speaking, the people around him immediately erupted in cheers. Everyone was excited; they finally didn't have to go hungry! Previously, in order to conserve edible energy starch, they could only receive one can per day, and normally, this can was only enough for one meal.

To address their food and clothing needs, they once sent out a scavenging team of motorcyclists to search the outside world, hoping to find something edible to fill their empty stomachs. However, reality was extremely cruel. The hateful insect swarms plundered everything, leaving the scavenging team with almost nothing to show for it in recent times.

And now tell them that they now have a stable source of food, how can they not cheer.

"Iron man! Iron man! Iron man!..."

"Call me brother!" Mecha Tian Zhen put his hands on his hips.

"Brother! Brother! Brother!..."