Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 329 The Oasis Miracle on the Banks of the Yellow River
Many sections of the Yellow River have begun to freeze, especially in the downstream areas where the water flow is slow. However, the water level is currently at its lowest point during the dry season, so the ice does not affect Li Xiang's operations. On the contrary, it is the most suitable season for water conservancy projects.

While Li Xiang was dredging the Yellow River, Zhao Xueqing also led her team to the saline-alkali land along the Yellow River in Lankao. Although it was snowing heavily and the weather was bitterly cold, with the intervention of the state, a warm greenhouse was built on the saline-alkali land as an experimental base. The greenhouse was well-heated and warm like spring.

Moreover, this is a business trip paid for by the company, and all expenses are covered by the company, with a high monthly allowance.

Zhao Xueqing brought some of her own people with her, including her cousin Han Qifeng, who had recently retired from the military, and she had brought him into the team.

Because Lei Xiaohui has too many of her own people, with dozens of people from Leijiagou led by Lei Jiaming and Lei Xiaonan, these are all powerful "external supporters," and Zhao Xueqing also wants to have more of her own people in the team.

Not only Zhao Xueqing, but Yao Yao also brought along several relatives. Although they each had younger brothers, their brothers were too young and in school to work.

Lankao Yellow River Shoreline Experimental Base.

Heavy snow formed a white curtain outside the explosion-proof glass. Inside the greenhouse, under the constant temperature of 25°C LED supplemental lighting, Zhao Xueqing stepped barefoot into the cultivation tank, the black soil and salt frost on her soles forming mottled patterns.

On a ten-meter-long alloy experimental platform, 372 plant samples await inspection in petri dishes.

"Team Leader Zhao, this is Siberian seaweed that was just airlifted in yesterday." The researcher, wearing thick glasses, handed over a sealed jar, with frost forming spiderweb-like ice patterns on the jar's walls.

Zhao Xueqing glanced at everyone, naturally feeling a little smug. After all, she was just a high school graduate who later followed Li Xiang and, with his encouragement, obtained a correspondence college diploma, and later a self-taught bachelor's degree. She worked very hard and did indeed learn a lot, but the value of these diplomas, if examined closely, was really not worth mentioning.

Her resume wouldn't mention correspondence courses or self-study; it would simply state "University Name, Bachelor's Degree." Although she doesn't need to apply for jobs, she inevitably has to mention it in some work settings, self-introductions, or promotional posters. When you're out in the world, you define your own identity.

However, the people who are now assisting her are either masters or doctors from prestigious universities, some are even returnees from overseas, and there are even senior engineers, associate professors, professors, etc. They all adopt a very humble attitude, calling her "Team Leader Zhao" or "Teacher Zhao". How can she stand it? It is only natural to feel a little smug.

Zhao Xueqing is only in her early twenties, a young girl.

However, she always liked to keep a composed and refined demeanor and would never reveal such emotions.

Moreover, once she gets seriously engaged in her work, she puts these distractions aside.

A jade-green halo appeared on Zhao Xueqing's fingertips, and the gray-green seeds in the jar suddenly trembled, with two embryos breaking through the ice crystals and emerging—Old Wu, the engineer who was monitoring the salt content, trembled and the pH test pen fell into the nutrient solution.

"The root system is resilient enough, but 17% of the cold-resistant gene chain is missing." Zhao Xueqing opened her slightly trembling eyelashes, and the green shadows of plant veins remained in her black pupils.

She turned and walked toward Experiment Area No. 3, her hair brushing against a withered experimental reed—the "Salt-Resistant No. 3" that the original team had spent half a year cultivating. As the girl passed by, its scorched yellow leaves oozed a shameful rust-red sap.

Today, the strength of Li Xiang's superhuman team is gradually coming to light. After all, the fact that the "mysterious armored man" has been able to roam the globe can no longer conceal the fact that there are superhumans in this world!

With the end of the world approaching, it would be beneficial for everyone to appropriately reveal their identities.

Everyone present had signed confidentiality agreements. The country has a vast number of classified projects with a well-established system in place, so there's nothing to worry about.

Zhao Xueqing knelt between the improved soil ridges, her hands plunging into the salt-alkali compacted layer. Threads of spiritual energy overflowed from between her fingers, seeping into the ground like dodder. A holographic projection fifty meters away displayed a real-time network of roots: the originally stiff reed roots suddenly twisted and turned like snakes, actively avoiding the high-salt crystallization zone; the root nodules of a wild tamarisk burst forth with fluorescence, absorbing surrounding sodium ions into star-shaped crystals.

“Reorder the base pairs in the gene editor #7,” Zhao Xueqing said, sweat beading on her forehead as she stared at the suddenly twitching jujube seedling.

A doctoral assistant frantically operated the terminal, only to see the girl directly tear off three strands of her own hair—the strands fell to the ground and transformed into emerald vines, wrapping around the roots of the jujube tree and injecting a pale golden liquid.

The previously blackened root system instantly stretched out, and the speed at which it sprouted new shoots was so fast that even a high-speed camera could not get a blurry image.

Wow, everyone was stunned.

So this is the power of an extraordinary person. No wonder they have the rank of "lieutenant".

Some people murmured, "If he makes a contribution this time, Team Leader Zhao's rank will probably be promoted again."

They couldn't even imagine Li Xiang's rank; it was definitely more than just a promotion of one level.

As for why this can be considered a military achievement? Making contributions in disaster relief and prevention naturally counts as a military achievement.

Meritorious service in non-war military operations, such as earthquake relief and flood control, is not considered a "wartime third-class merit," but in many places it is awarded according to the standards of a "wartime third-class merit," and the quantitative score for resettlement is twice that of a peacetime third-class merit.

Moreover, historically, anyone who contributed to the management of the Yellow River not only earned a place in history but also rose rapidly through the ranks. What's a promotion in military rank compared to that?
For example, Wang Jing during the Eastern Han Dynasty carried out significant management of the Yellow River, and was therefore promoted to Imperial Censor. His achievements in river management were recorded in history.

In addition, there are many others such as Pan Jixun of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Penghe of the Qing Dynasty, Li Yumei during the Daoguang era, and the famous Lin Zexu.

Lin Zexu was a criminal when he was managing the Yellow River. He was on his way to exile to Yili when he was ordered to participate in the damming of the Yellow River at Xiangfu in Kaifeng. After his meritorious service, although he was still exiled to Yili, he was reinstated in 1845 and successively served as Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, Governor of Shaanxi, and Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou. He was also given the title of Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent.

At the National Major Water Conservancy Project Command Center, former team leader Zhou trembled as he clutched an experimental report from three months prior: on the left side of the holographic screen were the 2869 reeds they had transplanted, with a scarlet survival rate of 3%, accompanied by the grayish images of wilted plants; on the right side were Zhao Xueqing's seven-day achievements—92% survival rate for tamarisk, 97% for Suaeda salsa, and 88% for improved Elaeagnus angustifolia, with a vibrant green percentage alongside a holographic model of the gene chain.

“This is impossible…” Engineer Zhou grabbed a wolfberry plant cultivated by Zhao Xueqing, his fingernails digging into the wood but a clear spring gushed out. His doctoral student, who had followed him for twenty years, suddenly screamed—the surveillance footage showed that in the open-air experimental field 200 meters away, the five thousand seedlings transplanted last week were pushing through the snow, their roots weaving a visible green net underground, and the salt crust collapsing into fine black soil wherever they passed.

I go.

I witnessed a miracle!
Someone instinctively reached for their phone to take a picture, but quickly realized that photography was prohibited. However, there was screen recording from the security cameras, which could be archived as confidential video material for the project team later.

The greenhouse alarm suddenly went off!

A malfunction in the simulated flood system caused high-concentration brine to flood into test area number three.

As the original team members retreated in panic, Zhao Xueqing ripped open the buttons of her lab coat, revealing a glowing vine-like tattoo below her collarbone.

"Don't turn off the valve!" She leaped into the knee-deep salt water, her long hair floating like seaweed.

Through the murky water, the crowd was horrified to see countless fluorescent roots sprouting wildly from beneath her feet—the brine rapidly cleared around her, and thirty seconds later, snow-white crystal pillars formed a ring-shaped dam. A red willow pierced through the cracks in the crystal pillars, its tender leaves, adorned with salt grains, unfurled like victory banners.

When the alarm was lifted, Zhao Xueqing, soaked to the bone, was wringing out the salt water from her hair when a holographic screen behind her displayed new data: plant survival rate exceeded 85% under extreme salt damage conditions. The rescue team, who had rushed in wearing protective suits, froze at the door, their sandbags falling to the ground with a clatter, shattering the salt crystals scattered on the floor and also shattering the last skepticism of the traditional Yellow River control team.

"This young girl... no, Teacher Zhao, she's really working hard!" Everyone felt a surge of admiration.

Zhao Xueqing's supernatural abilities are indeed powerful, capable of creating miracles. However, it is her style of doing things that leaves an extremely deep impression on everyone. It is a spirit of daring to fight, being unafraid of hardship or fatigue.

Many girls are delicate and frail; they're afraid of hurting their hands even when washing dishes or using dish soap, and many don't even know how to wash dishes at all. But Zhao Xueqing, despite her beauty, handles the mud barefoot and even voluntarily jumps into murky water. This dedication deserves her military merit.

Even Zhao Xueqing's cousin, a retired soldier, who came along to work, greatly admired his cousin.

……

Two months have passed in the blink of an eye, and the Spring Festival is approaching once again. The snowy weather has ended, the climate is warming up, and the weather is sunny and pleasant. The Yellow River dredging project has also been fully completed. Only regular maintenance and inspections are needed going forward.

Those involved in the project were naturally amazed by Li Xiang's extraordinary talent.

What would normally be a massive project that takes decades to complete was transformed in just over two months, leaving the 5464-kilometer-long Yellow River looking brand new – it's almost unbelievable.

In fact, adhering to the craftsman's spirit of taking his time to do a good job, Li Xiang was meticulous in his work. While working, he also cultivated himself, and various new insights came to him, which is why it took him a little longer.

If we rush the work, it could be completed in a month.

Dredging the Yellow River was a high-intensity and extremely arduous training exercise for Li Xiang, far more intense than growing vegetables in the garden. Therefore, it greatly benefited his training. Li Xiang also used this training to advance two levels, both of which were advancements made only after his foundation had been solidified to the absolute minimum.

Putting aside everything else, there are many earth-based abilities that I never had the chance to use before, so I wasn't very proficient with them. But when I dredged the Yellow River, I tried them out quite a bit and used them to perfection.

One of his greatest achievements was "Starfall Flowing Sand". In the process of settling the Yellow Riverbed, he needed to use his immense strength and earth-based abilities to compress the riverbed, making it solid and allowing it to settle. Thus, he innovated and created this technique, "Starfall Flowing Sand".

This skill can transform soil and rocks into microscopic stardust with a density comparable to that of a neutron star, with a single grain weighing hundreds of tons. The sand grains can be freely manipulated to form offensive and defensive formations. For example, "Defensive Stance: Star Ring Protection": Sand grains orbit the body at hypersonic speeds (e.g., Mach 20), forming an absolute defensive layer (similar to the tightly packed molecular structure of a droplet in "The Three-Body Problem"), capable of withstanding the impact of a nuclear explosion.

There is also the "Offensive: Galactic Shower," which involves compressing thousands of grains of stardust into pencil-sized projectiles and firing them, with penetrating power exceeding that of depleted uranium armor-piercing projectiles by tens of thousands of times.

Of course, he hasn't condensed that much star sand yet, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't be able to activate it with his current level of cultivation.

Currently, he has only condensed three grains of star sand, each weighing a hundred tons.

He plans to condense at least a thousand grains. Later, as his cultivation level improves, he can increase the weight of each grain of star sand, such as a thousand tons or ten thousand tons per grain. This is much more powerful than a bullet. If one grain is fired, it will kill you instantly if it grazes you, and you will die instantly if it touches you.

This can be considered his biggest gain from this trip, and also one of his most powerful attack methods.

Therefore, he later selected high-quality Yellow River sand and stored 100,000 tons in a warehouse, just enough to condense 1,000 grains. However, this was a slow and laborious process, and it took about three days to condense one grain. He could only condense it when he had time later.

When Li Xiang condensed the fourteenth spiritual energy vortex, no special ability inscription appeared. However, when he condensed the fifteenth spiritual energy vortex, a cold and clear special ability inscription, "Invisibility," appeared alongside it.

This is also a very practical superpower.

As for the interdimensional warehouse, after two upgrades, it has now been upgraded to a cube with a side length of 32768 meters. Its spatial volume has expanded to 32.768 km × 32.768 m × 32.768 m, totaling 35184.37 cubic kilometers (1 cubic kilometer = 10 billion cubic meters, or 35 trillion cubic meters).

The previously estimated amount of Yellow River sand that needed to be dredged was only 32 trillion cubic meters.

Li Xiang's "speed" has also increased, now reaching Mach 23, while his "strength" is 38 jin.

The ability to sense earth veins has made a significant breakthrough, reaching a radius of fifty kilometers.

……

And the hashtag "#YellowRiverMiracle#" has finally gone viral. Such a massive undertaking, such a profound change—it's no exaggeration to say it's earth-shattering—couldn't be kept secret from the world forever.
Moreover, we live in the internet age.

In a time-lapse video that went viral on Douyin, the suspended river in Zhengzhou dropped five meters in three days, and ancient willows that had been withered for twenty years sprouted new buds (thanks to Zhao Xueqing).

As a BBC reporter was broadcasting live from Hukou Waterfall, a thousand-ton cargo ship loaded with coal was sounding its horn and undergoing a sea trial in the background.

Popular comments from netizens
@YellowRiverCarpSpirits: "This fish is filing a formal complaint: the tunnel vibrations scared away three broods of my fish fry!"

@InfrastructureManiacSupportGroup: "Seeing the crystal vein filter layer adsorbing heavy metals, this material science guy knelt down and cried through three packs of tissues."

A report by a Paris-based think tank stated: "This project has increased the value of land in the Yellow River basin by over one trillion yuan, and we recommend that the EU send a delegation to visit and learn from it."

The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun used a sour picture to compare Mount Fuji with the stepped Yellow River shoreline, with the title "Clash of Tradition and Superpower".

In the futures market, Zhengzhou cotton futures contracts surged 17%, as expectations of a shipping recovery prompted coal mine owners in Shanxi and Shaanxi to place overnight orders for 10,000-ton cargo ships.

At the bottom of the river, a newborn school of Yellow River carp swims upstream, their scales refracting the faint light of the crystalline filter layer, like a flowing galaxy.

……

At the victory celebration banquet, Li Xiang and Zhao Xueqing were the center of attention, and their new military ranks were announced. Li Xiang was promoted two ranks to "Senior Colonel," while Zhao Xueqing became "Captain."

Zhao Xueqing, who was previously behind Yao Yao, is now on par with her. Only Lei Xiaohui remains a "lieutenant," having been left behind by her two sisters, which makes her rather sullen.

Li Xiang comforted her, saying there would be other opportunities in the future.

(End of this chapter)