My abstract plant was exposed by my sister.

Xiao Kui walked to the corner and pointed to the three tomatoes that had been treated with double the amount of the inducing agent.

Their fruits have grown to the size of a fist, but they are still greenish-blue in color and have a smooth surface as if they have been waxed.

The largest one was twice the size of a regular tomato, resembling a small pumpkin hanging on the vine, bending the support frame.

Xiao Kui leaned closer, and the camera zoomed in.

"We just used a double concentration of tomato seedlings, and the fruit is abnormally large. It's not ripe yet." Lin Muyang squatted down and gently touched the huge green tomato. "I suspect they will grow to be very large."

"Double the concentration = double the explosion?"

"No, it might turn into a watermelon."

"Or perhaps a tomato version of Godzilla?"

Xiao Kui pointed the camera at the three giant green tomatoes:

"Family, do you see these three tomatoes? My brother said they were given double the dose of growth hormone. They're not even ripe yet, but they're already this big. When they're ripe, I think they might be as big as watermelons."

"Tomato turns into watermelon?"

"I want watermelon-flavored tomatoes."

"No, it's tomato-flavored watermelon."

"I suggest hybridizing it with exploding tomatoes, to create a swimming pool full of tomato sauce."

Lin Muyang stood up and patted the dirt off his hands: "Wait two more days until they are fully ripe before picking them. Picking them now might affect the taste or characteristics."

"Are you afraid it will blow you up?" Xiao Kui asked, turning her head.

"I'm afraid it will blow up the lab."

Xiao Kui waved goodbye to the camera: "See you in a couple of days, family! We'll be opening the giant tomato blind box then! Let's see what's inside! Stay tuned!"

She turned off the live stream, let out a long breath, and turned to look at Lin Muyang: "Brother, you did a good job today, introducing three kinds of tomatoes with a straight face."

"There's only one." Lin Muyang continued expressionlessly, "The control group doesn't count."

"That makes two types, plus the one that might grow into a giant."

"Um."

Xiao Kui picked up an un-fried tomato from the table, took a big bite, and juice spilled from the corner of her mouth. She squinted her eyes:

"Bro, you're amazing. Even though your tomato splattered all over my face."

Lin Muyang didn't say anything, but squatted down to continue observing the three huge green tomatoes.

He reached out and touched one of them; it felt hard and very solid.

He leaned closer and smelled it. It didn't have the strong sweet aroma of an exploding tomato, but rather a faint smell like an unripe apple.

"What will you become?" he muttered to himself.

Big Orange jumped down from the windowsill, walked to the row of giant green tomatoes, and swung its tail at the bottom one.

It didn't explode.

Big Orange glanced at it again.

It still didn't explode.

The big orange cat patted it with its paw.

The green tomato remained motionless, like a green iron ball.

Big Orange walked away boredly, and as he passed the guy with the middle finger, he got a bunch of middle fingers.

It turned around and glared at the guy with the middle finger, who then raised his middle finger again.

The orange cat bristled and rushed over to slap the flowerpot of the middle finger guy with its paws. The middle finger guy shook its head a couple of times and then frantically gave the orange cat the middle finger with dozens of fingers.

Screaming Sister, always eager for drama, let out a short "Ah!"

Lin Muyang sighed, picked up the watering can, and began to water the plants.

Inside the greenhouse, tomatoes hang quietly under the lights.

Some will explode, some will grow to enormous sizes, and others are ordinary; they themselves have no idea what they will become.

But Lin Muyang wasn't in a hurry. He would wait a couple of days until they were all ripe, and then everything would be revealed.

Before leaving, Xiao Kui turned back at the door and called out, "Brother! Wear the bomb suit next time you stream! I bought one for you!"

Lin Muyang didn't even look up: "No need."

Why?

"Because it's you who gets blown up, not me."

Xiao Kui paused for a moment, then laughed: "Brother, you've learned to roast people!"

Lin Muyang's lips curled up slightly as he continued watering the plants.

On the windowsill, "Middle Finger Guy" once again raised his middle finger towards the tomato vines.

On the tomato vine, a giant green tomato swayed as if holding a grudge.

When Su Mingzhe pushed the door open for the second time, Lin Muyang was measuring the diameter of a giant green tomato.

After three days of growth, the three tomatoes that had been given double the amount of growth promoter had grown from the size of a fist to the size of a small bowl, and their color had changed from green to light yellow, with fine lines appearing on their skin.

Lin Muyang measured three times a day with calipers and recorded the data in a small notebook.

"12.7 centimeters in diameter," he muttered to his notebook, then looked up at the tomato and down at the ruler. "You're 2.3 centimeters bigger than yesterday."

The green tomato shook, as if to say, "Okay, okay."

The laboratory door was pushed open, and Su Mingzhe walked in, wearing a clean lab coat and holding a kraft paper envelope in his hand. His expression behind his gold-rimmed glasses was as serious as ever.

He still had a band-aid on his right index finger, from when he was pricked by a cactus thorn.

"Mu Yang." He placed the envelope on the operating table: "The gene sequencing results are in."

Lin Muyang put down the caliper and picked up the envelope, tearing it open.

Inside was a thick stack of A4 paper, densely packed with data, charts, and gene sequence comparisons. He flipped to the first page and glanced at the abstract.

Then his brows furrowed.

"What's wrong?" The elusive Xiao Kui poked her head out from outside the door.

She's here again, followed by Wu Yufei carrying a camera. Having nothing to do today, she's come to the lab again to find footage.

Lin Muyang ignored her and continued flipping through the report.

Xiao Kui leaned closer, stood on tiptoe to look at the stack of papers, but couldn't understand anything, only seeing a bunch of ATCG and percentages.

"Brother, could you translate this into plain language?"

Lin Muyang flipped to the last page, stared at the conclusion for five seconds, then looked up with a complicated expression.

"The cactus's 'middle finger' behavior... is related to a gene mutation called 'DRD4'."

Xiao Kui was still completely bewildered: "What D what 4?"

"DRD4. Humans also have this gene. It is related to dopamine secretion and affects impulse control and novelty-seeking behavior."

Simply put, ADHD, a penchant for adventure, and even antisocial personality traits in humans are all related to mutations in this gene.

Xiao Kui blinked, finally understanding: "You mean, cacti have 'ADHD'?"

"It's not just ADHD." Su Mingzhe pushed up his glasses and continued, "There's a variant of the DRD4 gene in humans called the '7R allele.' People who carry this variant are more impulsive, thrill-seeking, and unruly."

We detected a highly similar sequence variation in the sting cells of the cactus.

He paused, glancing at the cactus on the windowsill.

The cactus gave him the middle finger.

Su Mingzhe remained unfazed: "In other words, the cactus's middle finger gesture is essentially an 'impulsive social signal.' It's not insulting anyone; it's just... unable to control itself."

The lab was silent for two seconds, then Xiao Kui burst into laughter, laughing so hard she squatted down on the ground.

"So the cactus didn't do it on purpose? Is it sick?"

"Strictly speaking, it's a genetic mutation that causes behavioral instability," Su Mingzhe tried to correct her.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Xiao Kui laughed until tears streamed down her face. "Brother, the cactus you planted is sick! It's mentally ill!"

The comments section is going crazy.

Wu Yufei turned on the live stream at some point, and the camera was pointed directly at Su Mingzhe's serious face.

"The glasses guy is here again!"

He said the cactus is sick, hahaha.

What is DRD4? Is it the ADHD gene?

"Cactus: I didn't mean to, I just couldn't control myself."

Lin Muyang stared blankly at the report, then looked up at the cactus, which gave him the middle finger.

"You can't control yourself?" Lin Muyang hadn't expected this reason.

The cactus switched to a different finger and continued to stand upright.

"It says yes," Xiao Kui answered for the cactus, laughing so hard she couldn't stand up straight.

Su Mingzhe pulled another piece of paper from the envelope: "There's another discovery."