Chapter 13: He’s Showing Off Again
The core of a fully automated irrigation system lies in its data collection and management capabilities. For large farms and experimental fields, this can greatly reduce manpower and facilitate real-time monitoring of the entire farm’s irrigation situation.
But the land area she currently owned was more like a vegetable patch than a farm.
Jiang Ning decided to build a small one herself to save some money.
She quickly sketched a design blueprint and thoughtfully listed each component on the side.
As usual, she first went to the garbage dump behind her house and picked up a few ‘parts’ that looked usable.
Checking against the list, she then went to the hardware market and bought a few three-way pipes and some PVC pipes. These cost about 17 star coins in total.
Watching the balance on her Star Brain constantly decreasing, Jiang Ning’s heart was bleeding.
Improving her ability would undoubtedly require a lot of money.
Flower pots, fertilizer, irrigation devices, and planting soil.
The first three were small expenses, but as for the last one…
Hmm~
If only her sunlight could summon soil!
That would save a huge expense.
Jiang Ning returned home and assembled the purchased parts into a non-powered pressure booster. She connected the device to an empty plastic bottle she had picked up, then attached the irrigation pipe. A simple irrigation device was thus made.
She arranged it in a grid pattern and fixed it next to the sunflowers.
Jiang Ning tested it.
After confirming that the pipe could smoothly discharge water after activating the device, Jiang Ning put away the remaining parts.
She connected a three-way pipe to the end of the water pipe to facilitate the addition of more irrigators in the future.
Over the next two days, she added another layer to the protective wall around the farm.
She was busy until nightfall. Jiang Ning yawned, and only after ensuring her farm was foolproof did she go back into the house to prepare for bed.
The next morning, Jiang Ning went out as scheduled.
She coughed lightly and knocked on Auntie Li’s door.
“It’s Jiang Ning. Have you had breakfast? Come in and eat with us. We’re gathering at eight, so it’s still early.”
It was Uncle Li who opened the door. Jiang Ning glanced inside and saw that Auntie Li was still in the kitchen making breakfast.
She swallowed hard. On Auntie Li’s dining table were several plates of stir-fried vegetables. Having drunk only nutrient solutions for several months, her craving for fresh food had reached its peak.
Jiang Ning averted her gaze, suppressing the craving in her heart. “I ate before I came.”
She had indeed drunk a bottle of nutrient solution before coming.
“Dad, what are you dawdling for? Come and eat!” Li Xiang shouted to Father Li from behind.
Li Xiang said in a snide tone, “If others don’t want to eat, maybe it’s because they look down on our breakfast.”
Hmph!
Their family only ate fresh food once every one or two months, and his dad actually wanted to invite Jiang Ning to eat with them!
That Jiang Ning had received so much compensation money. She was probably hiding at home eating good food every day, but she had never once invited their family to eat, not even once!
By the time Auntie Li’s family finished breakfast, it was already seven-thirty. The four of them slowly walked to the central station.
Taking the No. 14 maglev bus would take them right to the signpost of the western suburban uninhabited zone.
When the four of them arrived, there were already three people waiting at the signpost.
It was also a configuration of two adults with a child.
Uncle Li and Auntie Li had already gone over to chat with the two adults, leaving Li Xiang looking sullen.
“Aren’t you going to say hello?” Jiang Ning looked at Li Xiang and asked.
She remembered how excited Li Xiang had been when he saw Yan Zhou last time.
“No, Ji Fan is much more annoying than you,” Li Xiang said, lifting his eyelids slightly.
Jiang Ning: “?”
Li Xiang: “That guy shows off this and that every day. We’re all from the slums, I really don’t get what he’s pretending to be every day.”
In comparison, Li Xiang’s gaze towards Jiang Ning was much more pleasant.
“Hey, what are you two talking about?” As they were talking, Ji Fan walked over. “You must be Jiang Ning, the orphan who got the compensation money?”
Everyone in the slums had heard that a few months ago, a rich person had given a large sum of compensation to an orphan.
Because no one knew the exact amount, the story had been passed around, and in the end, there were all sorts of versions.
Outrageous rumors like a certain orphan becoming rich overnight, having a net worth of over ten thousand, and crossing social classes had all spread.
Jiang Ning sized up Ji Fan. The boy was about fourteen or fifteen years old, very thin, with the bangs on the front half of his forehead longer than his eyebrows. Other than his somewhat strange attire, everything else seemed quite normal.
But in the next second, she witnessed what Li Xiang meant by ‘showing off’.
“Aren’t you very rich? Why are you still wearing such a cheap Star Brain?” The words that came out of Ji Fan’s thirty-six-degree mouth were extremely harsh.
Hearing this, Jiang Ning looked down at the Star Brain bracelet on her wrist. The style was a bit old, but it had all the necessary functions. It didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with it.
Just as she was puzzled, Ji Fan’s voice sounded from above her head again, “It’s nothing like the latest i15pro-max I’m wearing.”
Jiang Ning: “…”
Show off if you must, but what’s with the need to put her down?
Ji Fan’s voice was full of showing off as he looked at the two of them smugly.
Li Xiang rolled his eyes.
He thought to himself: He’s showing off again.
“Is that so?” Jiang Ning pinched her chin, pretending to think.
She pulled up the model Ji Fan mentioned from the StarNet, then opened the viewing permission, enlarged the picture several times, and displayed it in front of everyone, looking as if she were studying it seriously. “Why does it look a bit different from the one in the promotional picture?”
Ji Fan hadn’t expected Jiang Ning to pull such a stunt. He said stubbornly, “This… mine is a custom-made model, of course it’s different from ordinary people’s!”
Jiang Ning gave a meaningful look at the Star Brain on his hand. “Oh~ so that’s how it is.”
“Of-of course, you country bumpkins just don’t know any better.” Ji Fan’s face was flushed red. He silently moved the hand with the Star Brain behind his back, looking as if he didn’t want to talk to them anymore.
Seeing his attitude, Li Xiang immediately understood that there was really something wrong with the new Star Brain on his hand.
Aha! Mr. Show-off.
He’s met his match this time!
He silently gave Jiang Ning a thumbs-up. The latest Star Brain cost at least nearly ten thousand star coins. He knew there was no way Mr. Show-off’s family would be willing to buy him something so expensive.
So it was a knockoff.
Li Xiang looked at Ji Fan’s wandering gaze and felt incredibly pleased.
If he hadn’t been so pretentious, he wouldn’t have been so thoroughly humiliated.
After that little episode, Ji Fan didn’t say another word to Jiang Ning or Li Xiang for the rest of the journey.
This time, they were going to the area where the froghoppers were.
Froghoppers were D-rank mutated beasts. Their attack power was not as strong as the Thorny Devil Lizard’s, and they were not large. They liked to gather in groups, so one could catch about 80-120 at a time.
Before setting out, the group had repeatedly compared the recent prices of mutated beasts at the trading market.
Froghoppers were currently around 18 star coins, which was a very high cost-performance ratio.
The price fluctuations of mutated beasts were usually determined by the market.
Today’s price could very well be different tomorrow.
Uncle Li, Auntie Li, and Ji Fan’s parents all wanted to catch them as soon as possible and go home early.
They didn’t plan to stay overnight on this trip.
After arriving at the froghopper area, Li Xiang took out the equipment he had prepared in advance from his backpack.
He raised an eyebrow smugly at Jiang Ning.
Ever since he went back last time, he had diligently studied the “Encyclopedia of Mutated Creatures” at home for three months.
All to redeem himself from his previous shame.
This time, he was fully prepared. In contrast, what had Jiang Ning been doing for the past three months?
Watering flowers? Farming?
It didn’t sound like something a proper person would do.
He could definitely outdo Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning just thought Li Xiang’s eye was twitching and had no idea his inner monologue was so rich.
There were many dry, dead trees in this area. From these decaying trees, it was not difficult to see that this place was once a forest.
And the froghoppers lived on these dead trees.
Li Xiang always remembered what the “Encyclopedia of Mutated Creatures” said: the froghopper’s body is slightly ovoid, with a raised back. The forewings are leathery and often cover the abdomen. Its size is about the size of a palm.
Froghoppers are often buried in foam, which is how they got their name.
Froghoppers would bite, and the foam they hid in was also poisonous, so one couldn’t grab them directly with their hands.
Instead, one had to use tools like tongs.
Li Xiang took out the weapon he was carrying, lifted a piece of bark, and smoothly clamped a mutated beast in a pile of foam. Then, with his other hand, he used a dagger to cut open the shell on the froghopper’s back. After it was processed, it could be stored in the nano-ring.
He looked in Jiang Ning’s direction and found that she had no tools or dagger in her hand.
Haha, as expected, he was still more amazing.
He was truly a genius. In just three months, he had mastered all the information about mutated creatures.
He couldn’t help but walk over to Jiang Ning to show off.
As soon as he got close, Li Xiang’s pupils widened abruptly.
Jiang-Jiang Ning was catching froghoppers with her bare hands?!
“These froghoppers are covered in foam, and that foam is poisonous,” Li Xiang quickly tried to stop her.
“Huh?” Jiang Ning’s hand, which was catching a cicada, paused. She blinked at him. “But these black-spotted froghoppers are all dead.”
“Dead?” Li Xiang’s mouth fell open in shock. “How is that possible!”
Jiang Ning: “I thought you all knew before you came.”
The cicadas weren’t moving or making any noise. What else could they be but dead?
She had discovered earlier that the mutated creatures here were exactly the same as the creatures in her world. Except for some differences in their attacks at times, their other habits were more or less the same.
When she stepped into this froghopper area, she had sensed that something was wrong.
She didn’t hear any cicada calls.
Logically, there should be thousands of cicadas here, and the sound should be very piercing, but it was very quiet here.
So she immediately found a dead tree with traces of froghoppers.
She discovered that it wasn’t an anomaly, but that the froghoppers in this area had already passed their life cycle.
The lifespan of a cicada is only about 14 days, with the longest reaching 60 days. June to July is their active season, and now it was almost the beginning of autumn.
Jiang Ning handed the black-spotted froghopper in her hand to Li Xiang and demonstrated, “A dead cicada is relatively light; it’s just an empty shell.”
Li Xiang: “…”
He didn’t want to talk right now.
He had been so careful; it was like a joke.
And he even prided himself on having read books for three months.
Li Xiang’s face instantly turned bright red. He felt that in Jiang Ning’s eyes right now, he must look just like Ji Fan when he was humiliated earlier.