The distance between Qian Gu Mountain and Fire Camp is nearly 300 kilometers, which is not easy to reach given the current transportation conditions in the Damo Realm.

Additionally, there might be a passage to the Demon Realm and other risks near Qian Gu Mountain, so it took the command center several days to determine a suitable reconnaissance candidate:

The reconnaissance mission to Qian Gu Mountain was entrusted to an eighteen-man scout team personally led by Lin Ziming, each member being a top-notch reconnaissance elite, including many 'old hands' who have fought on the secret front for many years.

The entire team is absolutely top-ranking in both reconnaissance ability and reaction speed.

The reason the command center dispatched a scout team instead of a larger battalion or brigade unit for a sweeping exploration is simple:

Currently, the rabbits do not have much confidence on the anomalies potentially existing in Qian Gu Mountain, mobilizing a large force may not only expose their tracks due to the large movement but also result in futile efforts.

At present, the rabbits' manpower is not abundant enough to be squandered at will, so it is certainly led by small reconnaissance units at this time, with further measures to be taken based on progress.

In addition to these eighteen warriors.

There's also an eight-man communication team heading to Qian Gu Mountain together to provide communication support for the scout team.

As for the accompanying cultivation power, Lin Li invited Patriarch Wei to take charge.

It's been more than four months since the earliest siege battle, and now Patriarch Wei has not only fully recovered, but also has made a new breakthrough in his cultivation level in the past few days.

Of course.

Rather than saying it's an insight gained through battle, it's better to say that Patriarch Wei enjoyed a lot of resource advantages after the rabbits appeared — for instance, a portion of the resources previously purchased from Ziqiong City by the rabbits was provided to everyone in the Wei Mansion.

With such resource inclination, it would be unreasonable for Patriarch Wei not to make a breakthrough.

In general, a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm Fifth Layer still holds some deterrence in this southern region — whether to people or to demon beasts.

The above constitute the reconnaissance module configuration arranged by the rabbits this time, they will conduct a relatively long search at Qian Gu Mountain, and the command center will arrange the next step based on their findings.

Five days later, a new round of sun rose over the Damo Realm.

The reconnaissance team officially set out.

At the same time, Lin Li at the command center in Fire Camp welcomed a rare guest:

Xiang Hua.

Xiang Hua's earlier roles were not many, and the main scenes he had were 404'd due to irresistible force.

But his identity is unusual — he is Elder Yuan's assistant and disciple, a formal researcher of the Xiangchu Rice Research Center, and also a member of the Outstanding Youth.

To be selected for the Outstanding Youth list... as the saying goes, those who understand, understand.

In the command center.

Looking at Xiang Hua who came to report news, Lin Li felt quite excited:

"What? Researcher Xiang, the first generation of hybrid rice in the Damo Realm has already yielded results?"

Then he put down the file in his hand and pointed toward the direction of the breeding center:

"Let's go, take me to see!"

No wonder Lin Li reacted so intensely, after all, farming and harvesting grains are instincts engraved in the DNA of every rabbit.

Not to mention the benefit that premium cultivars bring to the Damo Realm.

It's not an exaggeration to say that they are not just stalks of wheat, but lives.

Seeing Lin Li gripping his wrist, Xiang Hua gently smiled and nodded:

"Alright, let me take you there."

After leaving the command center, as they headed to the breeding center, Lin Li curiously asked:

"Researcher Xiang, how did the breeding center achieve results so quickly?"

While leading the way, Xiang Hua explained:

"Academician Lin, don't be too excited. Our center has only developed the first generation of hybrid rice this time. It is still far from perfect maturity, you'll know the specifics when you see it in person.

As for the time... it's actually not that fast.

Our team has been in the Damo Realm for three and a half months, which is about a hundred days.

The maturity period of our native southern rice is approximately 104 days, while due to various reasons, Damo Realm rice matures slightly faster than the native variety, taking about 80-85 days.

Plus, with the help of spiritual butterflies bred by Wood Jia Crystals, it's not too extraordinary that we harvested the first batch of rice seeds on the day before yesterday."

Upon hearing this, Lin Li slowly nodded.

The shorter maturity period of Damo Realm rice compared to the native kind is something he still remembers.

A shorter maturity period for rice is indeed a major advantage for the hybrid team.

The practice of hybrid rice technology is highly technical, but theoretically, it is not difficult to understand:

So-called hybrid rice involves planting two or more kinds of rice that need to be hybridized together, controlling their flowering periods to overlap, and then having them pollinate each other is considered complete.

The remaining work involves selecting and promoting new varieties, which falls under non-technical processes.

As for Damo Realm rice's early maturity, it was not deliberately endowed as a convenient setting by any will, but related to the Damo Realm's beast tide.

Over the last hundred years, occurrences of beast tides have become increasingly frequent.

Additionally, with the existence of demon beasts like the dual-headed ox, fertile land in the Damo Realm has gradually diminished.

Unstable factors force Damo Realm farmers to choose rice varieties with shorter maturity periods, eliminating those with longer maturity periods.

This situation has many precedents in the native land, where in wartime, the maturity cycle of crops also shortens significantly.

For instance, during the Eastern Han Dynasty's late period, rice harvesting cycles in the Jiangnan region were 18-25% faster compared to the time of Emperor Wu of Han.

Of course.

As the saying goes, there are gains and losses.

The shortened growth cycle of rice corresponds to reduced yield per acre.

This is an unfortunate situation; after all, it stems from the high risks brought about by social instability.

Harvesting once every 80 days, with a yield of 100 pounds, though low in output, matures quickly, at least ensuring there's something to eat.

Meanwhile, 300 pounds per acre rice that matures every 130 days would mean the whole family has to flee and abandon everything if affected by war or natural disasters during the filling period, leading to no harvest at all.

The longer the time, the greater the risk.

Besides the short breeding cycle, the team led by Elder Yuan has another advantage:

The two Wood Jia Crystals initially found by Wang Qiang and Wu Fan, one was given to Cao Yi and the other to Elder Yuan.

This unusual item, apart from optimizing spiritual roots, also spawns a kind of butterfly-type spiritual pet.

This spiritual pet is innately close to vegetation and has a certain maturation accelerating ability for crops, effectively shortening their growth period,

Though the spiritual butterfly's effect is not exaggerated to directly shorten by half or a third of the growth cycle, it's not difficult to shorten the 80 days cycle by ten days.

The breeding center is located a few hundred meters from the Fire Camp, just around a corner from the exit — Hua Xiaomo was 'caught' in this way by Elder Yuan back then.

Lin Li and Xiang Hua weren't talking much before they reached the entrance of the breeding center.

"Our breeding center isn't large, it's a mid-to-short-term temporary center; the left side is the hybrid rice planting area, roughly over ten acres."

Inside the breeding center, while leading the way, Xiang Hua introduced to Lin Li:

"As for the right side, that's the spiritual material planting area, with the soil foundation being the Damo Realm's unique 'Spirit Field', whose exact effectiveness is still under analysis, as medicinal materials also require a maturation period.

Originally, our center only had one acre of Spirit Field from the Wei Mansion to experiment with, but Colonel Lin and his team found two acres of Mo Family's Spirit Field during the Sheepback City inspection process a few days ago, which Patriarch Wei later transported here via spellcasting.

Therefore, the entire Spirit Field planting area now has three acres of Spirit Field. Without any restrictions of being single scope, we were able to employ some bold analysis methods, and we will likely have preliminary results soon."

Saying this, the two reached a certain area on the right.

Xiang Hua glanced in a certain direction and then said to Lin Li:

"Captain Lin, the teacher may be resting, so let me introduce you to our breeding situation."

....

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