Dawn was breaking, and a thin mist hung like gauze. Xiao Chen's knees were already sunk deep into the muddy water of the experimental plot, his trouser legs rolled up to his knees and stained with brownish mud.
Holding his breath, he used a delicate pair of tweezers in his rough fingers to gently part the glumes of the Hujing-16-5-2 rice plant, revealing the tender pistils. A wooden tag, written in charcoal, was stuck into the ridge, its handwriting slightly blurred by the moisture. Limeng walked over through the morning light, his shoe uppers stained with dark brown machine oil. Last night in the research lab, the deep blue glow of the Akasha Terminal substrate had mirrored his tightly knitted brows. The elemental codes winding across the screen like Abyss runes had been more head-splitting than the graphics card drivers he used to debug overnight back in Shenzhen.
"Mr. Limeng!" Xiao Chen looked up, holding up a heavy head of rice. The deep purple spots at the internodes of the rachis gleamed like brands in the rising sun. "Five generations! The plant height, panicle length, and thousand-grain weight of Hujing-16 are as stable as a Bedrock Key! The segregation ratios for three generations have been 3:1—spot on! This strain can be saved for seed! The grain harvested by the villagers themselves can be planted next year; as long as the plot is chosen well, the yield won't be far off!" His voice was filled with the awe and joy toward the earth's bounty that is unique to farmer…
Chapter 75