The next morning, sunlight pierced the stable yet slightly oppressive dome of the Serenitea Pot's barrier, spilling across a specially designated area at the edge of the Core Area.
This section was near the fringe of the desert, where sand and relatively barren soil mixed together, and the air carried a dry, subtle scent of rust-like exotic vegetation. Several rows of low-growing, deep brown vining plants covered in dense, fine thorns were winding their way up custom-made trellises. This was the Power Vine cultivation base—the experimental field for Iron Thorn Vine, the core material source for Limeng's "Vigorous Farming Plan."
Limeng squatted beside the healthiest-looking Iron Thorn Vine, his expression focused, his gaze as sharp as an eagle's. Wearing thick leather gloves, he carefully avoided the thorns that gleamed with a metallic chill, using a pair of specialized tweezers to gently part the leaves and closely inspect the color of the veins and the density of the thorns. At times, he leaned in to sniff the extremely trace amounts of viscous sap oozing from a cut in the vine; at other times, he scraped off a bit of epidermal tissue with a small blade, placing it on specialized test paper to observe the oxidation reaction.
Chapter 56