My abstract plant was exposed by my sister.

In the conference room, Lin Muyang told everyone that he was going to the desert. Several people sat around the folding table, each with a different expression.

Wu Tao was the first to speak: "I'll stay at the research institute. The opening to the public has just gotten on track, and someone needs to keep an eye on things on-site. I also need to coordinate with Director Wang."

Lin Muyang nodded; he had originally planned to let Wu Tao stay.

He looked at Xiao Kui beside him, and before he could speak, she raised her hand: "I want to go! I'll livestream desert afforestation!"

Lin Muyang glanced at her: "There's no signal in the desert."

Xiao Kui was prepared: "Don't worry, we have satellite phones. I bought one before and kept it in my room, just in case."

Lin Muyang paused for a moment, then didn't object further, but reminded him, "No live streaming is allowed before Minister Zhao gives permission."

Xiao Kui nodded obediently.

After discussion, it was finally decided that Lin Muyang, Xiao Kui, Liu Xudong, and Xiao Zhao, plus the middle finger guy, would go to the desert.

For Middle Finger Bro, a native of the desert, this trip felt like returning to his mother's home.

Wu Tao stayed at the research institute to be responsible for security and daily management during the open day, while the others went about their respective tasks: farming or training.

Lin Muyang took out his phone and called Shen Hao, who was squatting in his greenhouse pollinating the colorful dragon fruit: "Teacher Lin? What's up?"

Lin Muyang: "I'm going to the desert. Are the seeds I took last time enough?"

Shen Hao: "It's enough. Don't worry, go ahead. If any new varieties grow in the desert, save me a few seeds."

Lin Muyang: "Mm."

That evening, several military trucks parked in front of the research institute.

Minister Zhao acted quickly; less than an hour after the phone call, the truck carrying the equipment arrived at the door.

Lin Muyang directed the group to load the packed experimental equipment, seeds, and various experimental materials onto the vehicle one by one.

The middle finger guy was put into a cardboard box and placed on top. He was pointing his middle finger at the box, clearly unhappy with his environment.

The next morning, before dawn, the group arrived at the airport.

The military transport plane has a large cabin, but no seats, only two rows of simple metal benches.

Xiao Kui leaned against the porthole, Xiao Zhao sat against a cardboard box containing equipment and materials, and Liu Xudong leaned against the corner.

As the plane took off, the city outside the window grew smaller and smaller, gradually turning yellowish-brown. More than an hour later, the yellowish-brown transformed into an endless sea of ​​sand.

The plane landed at a makeshift military airfield, and as soon as the cabin door opened, a wave of heat hit us.

Xiao Kui took a deep breath and coughed because she was choked.

"It must be more than forty degrees, right?" Liu Xudong took out his phone and checked the weather; it was forty-three degrees.

Before long, they were on military off-road vehicles, and they bumped around in the desert for several hours.

Outside the window was endless yellow sand, with occasional clumps of low-lying sea buckthorn visible.

Liu Xudong was by the window and was being tossed around so much that he bumped his head against the glass three times.

As darkness fell, we finally arrived at the camp. There were tents, prefab houses, several military vehicles, and a group of soldiers in camouflage uniforms.

Minister Zhao stood at the door, his face tanned dark by the sun, and looked at them with a smile: "We've arrived? You must be tired from the journey. Let's eat first, and we'll get back to work tomorrow."

He led a few people into the canteen tent, where food had already been laid out—stewed beef with potatoes, stir-fried vegetables, steamed buns, and millet porridge.

Xiao Kui picked up a piece of beef, tasted it carefully, and said, "Delicious! By the way, Minister Zhao, can we do a live stream here?"

Minister Zhao was taken aback, then remembered her identity as a news anchor. After thinking for a moment, he nodded: "Sure, this is just a temporary camp. There's not much equipment and not many people here. Feel free to film."

Xiao Kui cheered and sped up her eating.

Minister Zhao was eating when he suddenly remembered something and turned to Lin Muyang, saying:

"Kobayashi, something strange has happened."

"After you put that lawn inside the tent, the temperature inside the tent was about five degrees lower than in the other tents."

Lin Muyang frowned. He knew that plants had a cooling effect, but the effect shouldn't be this good. There must have been some new change.

Lin Muyang put down his chopsticks: "I'll stay in that tent tonight."

Minister Zhao: "Okay. Xiao Kui will stay there too? That tent was originally meant to sleep six people, but the lawn is there, so it can still accommodate one more person."

Xiao Kui nodded: "Okay!"

After dinner, Lin Muyang and Xiao Kui moved into a tent on the lawn.

The tent wasn't big, but it was well-ventilated. Lin Muyang put down his luggage, squatted down, and touched the leaves of the grass.

The grass blades were slightly curled, but they remained green in the dry air.

The temperature inside the tent was indeed lower than in other places, and if you paid close attention, you would find that the air around the lawn was not as dry as in other places.

He took out a thermometer; it read 32 degrees Celsius. He had just checked the outside temperature, which was nearly 37 degrees Celsius.

Xiao Kui lay on her cot, wrapped in a sleeping bag, holding up her phone to livestream.

Comment: "Xiao Kui, are you in the desert?"

"Is that a lawn? Won't they be doing marching drills in the middle of the night?"

Xiao Kui read this comment aloud, then turned to look at the lawn, where it sat quietly, gleaming faintly green in the moonlight.

She was a little worried: "Brother, it won't move at night, will it?"

Lin Muyang: "No, the sand temperature is too high. It worked hard to lower the temperature of the sand below, so it won't move around randomly."

Early the next morning, Lin Muyang began setting up a temporary laboratory, and Minister Zhao arranged for several people to assemble the equipment with Xiao Zhao and his team.

Lin Muyang took out a microscope, centrifuge, petri dishes, and reagent bottles from the box and arranged them all in order.

Then he took a leaf from the lawn and put it under the microscope.

After looking for a while, his hand suddenly stopped. He could hardly believe his eyes. He adjusted the focus and looked closer again.

Lin Muyang stared at it for more than ten minutes before he believed he hadn't misread it.

To adapt to the desert environment, the surface of the lawn has developed a microporous semi-permeable membrane.

Its structure is similar to a semi-permeable membrane, and it actively accelerates transpiration during the day, with a heat dissipation efficiency 8 to 15 times that of ordinary plants.

Even in environments with temperatures exceeding 70 degrees Celsius at midday, it can maintain its activity and will not dehydrate or burn. At high temperatures, it closes some of its pores to prevent moisture loss while continuously dissipating heat through directional transpiration.

At night, it absorbs moisture from the air, condenses and stores it inside the plant, thus cooling the surrounding ground environment.

After he finished writing, he stared at the notebook for more than ten seconds. For the first time, he realized that the plants he had grown had evolved characteristics that he had never expected.

This is not the effect of the inducing agent, but the lawn's own stress response in the desert environment. It is actively seeking ways to survive in the dry and hot environment!

He glanced at the middle finger guy on the table, who was pointing the middle finger at him.

He suddenly wondered if other plants modified with the inducing agent would also experience this situation in the desert.

For example, what would happen to the middle finger if it were exposed to the high temperature of the desert?

The middle finger guy seemed to sense his malicious gaze, and his fingers froze instantly, his middle finger standing even straighter, as if with a hint of wariness: Why are you looking at me?