Astral Cockroach

Banbu wasn't sure how long the rainy season lasted on that desolate continent, or when the dry season would begin. He didn't dare linger too long at Crimson Crow Mountain. After only a day of rest, and ensuring everything was arranged, he immediately set off.

For Long Bamboo, Crimson Crow Mountain was crucial to determining if a sea of trees was worth building. For the Crimson Crow Ghost King, it was a lifelong pursuit and dream.

The Crimson Crow Ghost King was exceptionally generous to Banbu, preparing a large bag full of high-quality Origin Force food condensed from God-bestowed seeds. These were dried fruits specifically purchased from the merchant caravan at the end of last summer, known for their easy preservation.

Origin Force food condensed from ordinary life-seed plants contained less Origin Force per unit volume than Origin Stones.

Origin Force food condensed from God-bestowed seed plants contained more Origin Force per unit volume than Origin Stones. Generally speaking, the higher the quality, the more concentrated the Origin Force.

This bag of Origin Stones was carefully planned.

While flying along the trestle road, he would stop at each supply base to replenish with ordinary Origin Force food. He only used a small amount of the high-quality Origin Force food along the way.

Upon reaching the Western Regions and heading south, there were no more supply bases along the route. He slightly reduced his speed to conserve the high-quality Origin Force food, trying to eat as sparingly as possible.

In this way, the journey was shortened to within two months.

Banbu had been carefully controlling his consumption and had half a bag left, intending to use it for the return trip, which would also only take two months.

…

The rainy season in the wasteland seemed to be nearing its end. When Banbu arrived, he encountered a drizzle. The rain was light and short-lived, but the thunder and lightning were intense.

The ten transplanted Dragon Bamboo plants had grown into a total of thirty-two bamboo stalks, forming a small bamboo grove, all present and unharmed.

After the drizzle, came the scorching sun.

Banbu went around collecting animal manure and fetching water from a nearby river to perform one last round of irrigation and fertilization.

He encountered two more light rains, followed by hot and dry weather.

The native plants of the wasteland were the first to sense the change, having already bloomed. Now, their fruits and seeds were entering the ripening season.

In the following period, there was no more rainfall.

Due to the high temperature and lack of water, the native plants in the wasteland were scorched yellow, but not dead, entering a state of semi-dormancy. The mature seeds dried up, each displaying its unique way of spreading.

Banbu confirmed that the dry season had arrived. According to his calendar, it was roughly the beginning of August. Based on the growth pattern of Ma Bamboo, stimulating flowering and fruiting, the fruits would be ready for harvest around the beginning of October.

Calculating the time, harvesting the mature seeds, not lingering too long, and transporting them directly, he could send them back to Li Bamboo Peak in time for next spring.

It was just right.

Banbu stopped watering the bamboo plants.

Dragon Bamboo was mainly intolerant to cold, but its drought resistance was relatively strong.

The scorching sun and the prolonged absence of rain caused the air to become increasingly dry. Changes in air humidity were also a major factor stimulating bamboo flowering.

The drought in the wasteland successfully stimulated flowering. The male and female flowers bloomed at different times, with the male flowers blooming one or two days earlier. Under natural circumstances, Dragon Bamboo relied on wind to spread pollen, with a very low success rate. In a large bamboo forest, not even one out of ten female flowers might successfully receive pollen.

Banbu now only had a small bamboo grove of thirty-two bamboo stalks, making wind pollination almost impossible. He had to take measures.

The Dragon Bamboo stalks were too tall, increasing the difficulty.

Banbu, with his large body, had to carefully flap his wings, maintaining sufficient distance from the flowers. He used a small piece of metal wire to hold a severed leg of an ordinary bee. He used his metal ability to control the hairs on the severed leg to touch the male flowers and collect pollen.

His mental power split into two, multitasking.

At the same time, he locked onto the female flower ready for pollination, and then controlled the metal wire to fly slowly, touching the pistil of the female flower with the pollen-covered severed leg, completing the pollination.

To ensure the excellence of the seed genes, Banbu adopted cross-pollination, further increasing the difficulty.

The flowering period was only two or three days, and the best pollination time was only one day. Fortunately, there were only thirty-two bamboo stalks in total, so the workload was not particularly large. After a busy day, he successfully completed the task.

With the most crucial steps of flowering and pollination completed, the following work became much easier.

He stayed close, waiting for the flowers to wither and bear fruit, and for the fruits to grow.

…

Banbu quickly discovered that after not working for many years, his pollination technique had actually improved slightly. The success rate of pollinated flowers exceeded 50%. The thirty-two bamboo stalks produced a total of 244 bamboo fruits, much more than expected.

He patiently waited for a month and a half.

In early October, the ten transplanted Dragon Bamboo plants exhausted their last bit of vitality. At the same time, the bamboo fruits were also fully ripe.

Dragon Bamboo fruits, like Ma Bamboo fruits, had a hard shell on the outside and seeds inside, with more than ten seeds packed in one fruit.

The wet fruits still needed to be dried.

Banbu used a four-strand metal wire to string the bamboo fruits together, hung them on his antennae, and set off directly on his return journey.

During the dry season in the wasteland, the sun was extremely harsh, and the air was dry. The sparse, withered plants seemed likely to spontaneously combust at any moment.

After traveling for four or five days, the bamboo fruits hanging on his antennae were completely dry.

Banbu stopped, peeled open the fruit shells, and selected the seeds one by one.

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He selected 500 plump seeds, divided them into two, one for Crimson Crow Mountain, and one to take back to Li Bamboo Peak.

There were the most seeds that were not plump and round enough, nearly 2,000 of them, all discarded.

In addition, there were more than 300 shriveled and deformed seeds, all of which were kept and brought back to Li Bamboo Peak for planting. This was a habit developed over decades of cultivating bamboo, because theoretically, these seeds had a less than one in a hundred million chance of developing into a Dragon Bamboo mutant that could flower and bear fruit every year.

…

There was half a bag of high-quality Origin Force food left.

Banbu ate sparingly.

Along the way, he advanced at a constant speed, neither fast nor slow. He ran on the ground in areas with sparse vegetation, and only took to the air and flew at low altitude when encountering jungles that were difficult to cross.

Entering the trestle road opened up by Crimson Crow Mountain was much more convenient. He directly ran along the trestle road, and there was ordinary Origin Force food available at each supply station.

After traveling for two months, he successfully returned to Crimson Crow Mountain.

The Dragon Bamboo seeds were divided equally, and the cooperative relationship between the two parties ended. Next was a competitive relationship.

Banbu didn't linger too long. After resting for half a day, he set off directly.

To avoid affecting his flying speed, the seeds were placed in metal bottles and tied tightly to the tibial shells of his legs.

He flew in the air, speeding like mad.

He returned the seeds to Li Bamboo Peak at the end of early spring in January.

At this time, the members on the mountain received the news and had prepared the seedling nursery and nutrient soil in advance.

Banbu landed, and the seeds were immediately sent over. They worked overtime to make the nutrient soil into nutrient balls and planted the seeds.

Banbu, along with Hongdao and Duzhu, stayed to observe at all times.

Lotus Mist Ghost King and Hibiscus Butterfly King stayed at Li Bamboo Peak, observed for a few days, and left only after watching the Dragon Bamboo seeds germinate and the young bamboo shoots emerge from the soil.

There was no problem with the Dragon Bamboo. However, due to long-distance transportation problems, the planting time of the bamboo at Li Bamboo Peak was one month later than that at Crimson Crow Mountain, which was a big step behind.

Moreover, in their opinion, there was also a problem with the Ma Bamboo at Li Bamboo Peak. The members of Li Bamboo Peak were too inexperienced. Without the inheritance of their predecessors' experience, their breeding technology was okay, but their seed selection technology was seriously immature, and the growth of Ma Bamboo No. 1 was very poor.

The name of the hybrid of Ma Bamboo No. 1 and Dragon Bamboo had been decided. Crimson Crow Mountain and Li Bamboo Peak uniformly named it "Dragon Bamboo."

Lotus Mist Ghost King and Hibiscus Butterfly King left with confidence. Without any accidents, the God-bestowed seed of Giant Dragon Bamboo would definitely fall into their Crimson Crow Mountain.

Little did they know that as soon as they left, a batch of high-quality Ma Bamboo No. 1 seedlings were transported from Fire Bamboo Mountain and planted in the selected experimental site.

Baba, who had been hiding in the big-headed ant nest, was also sent down the mountain for emergency charging, and then sent up the mountain to scan and detect, calculate the genes of each bamboo plant participating in the breeding experiment, analyze and compare them, and select the best plants.