Plant Tamer Chapter 104: Exposure

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Xie Sen couldn’t help but sigh at how fast the netizens were at processing videos!

Maine opened the door, the four of them entered the living room, and Xie Sen sat down on the sofa. Maine patted his shoulder. “I’ll go cook.”

Xie Sen nodded. He thought about the cabbage that hadn’t been used, and summoned it. The cabbage was still flat and unfolded, just much smaller than at the mall. The white leaves had holes in them that were blackened by the residue of the aerial camera and they looked miserable. He pulled the trash can over, picked a cabbage leaf, shook it with his hand, and shook the pocketed residue into the trash.

Long Teng reached out curiously. “Let me help you.”

Xie Sen let go of his end. Long Teng squeezed the leaf and shook it violently. With a click, the leaf broke and the cabbage fell, Long Teng quickly reached out, and cried, “Ah, it broke! I didn’t use force, ah!”

Xie Sen took it back. “It’s okay. The cabbage is very brittle, and the outside leaves are burned a lot.”

He used his hand to hold the root of the cabbage. He grasped the bottom center, and started from the middle of the leaves. Bad leaves were pulled off, and thrown into the trash. After removing two layers, the third layer had only crumbs on top.

Long Teng didn’t mind if he got dirty, so he grabbed some into his hands and looked at them carefully. He pinched a finger-sized piece of white scraps and said in delight, “Sunflower seed!” He went to put it in his mouth.

Bai Jiao caught his hand in time. “Don’t eat it, it’s not clean. Throw it away.”

Long Teng stared at it with regret for a while, then threw it into the garbage. “Such a big sunflower seed. What a pity.”

Xie Sen also felt sorry. If there was no bomb, the sunflower seed wouldn’t be blown up, and could still be picked up for eating. Now it was mixed into the residue, so they couldn’t eat it. He plucked the third layer of leaves, and threw them in the garbage. The following layers were very good leaves, so he ordered the cabbage to shrink. Then he commanded the cabbage to separate from the root, and put the good leaves on the coffee table, ready to be stir-fried.

Bai Jiao said, “It’s really cabbage!”

Xie Sen smiled. “Yeah. It got a lot bigger before, but now it’s normal size.”

Although the large cabbage leaves were bigger and could produce a lot of stir-fry, the taste became particularly bland, which he disliked.

Long Teng squatted next to the garbage can, his eyes full of curiosity. “Can it get bigger and smaller like potatoes? That’s awesome!”

Xie Sen nodded. Long Teng looked at the sunflower on his left shoulder. “Aoi is also super awesome! It reacted so fast! I didn’t even react when I was watching the live stream!” He nodded to the sunflower. “Can I have some seeds?”

Aoi twisted its branch, became bigger, and poofed a handful of seeds into Long Teng’s hand. Then the flower disk faced Xie Sen. Xie Sen laughed and said, “I don’t want to eat.” 

Aoi nodded its flower, shrank to its finger-size, and continued to stand there.

Long Teng was so happy. “Thank you, Aoi.” He sat back on the sofa, and held the seeds in his palm in front of Bai Jiao. “Eat.”

Bai Jiao didn’t hesitate, and joined him in eating the seeds. Xie Sen laughed. “Sunflower seeds are better when fried. I’ll stock up on them, and try them once in a while when I have more.”

Long Teng’s eyes lit up. “I want to eat them.”

Xie Sen finished with the cabbage, then brushed at the scum on his hands. “You’ll get your share.” He washed his hands, and when he returned to the living room, Maine had already taken the cabbage to the kitchen.

Bai Jiao said, “The video is very hot on the Starnet. The slow speed can be watched very carefully, and there will be many people who recognize it.”

Xie Sen leaned back on the sofa, and opened his bracelet to search for his name. There were a bunch of news articles about today’s event. The top was a hot post discussing what the sudden appearance of that something was.

Xie Sen was flummoxed. He hadn’t been prepared to expose his other plants in front of the audience, but the situation had been urgent. He was barely thinking, just subconsciously summoned the cabbage. Of course now, after he had thought about it, he would still do the same thing. There had been too many people at the scene. If the debris fell and scalded people, it would have certainly caused panic, and more people would be prone to cause a stampede. It had been very dangerous.

He held his chin in thought, and looked at the three. “Wasn’t it previously announced to the public that my chili was a mimetic plant? So now if I say that the cabbage is another mimetic, does it have credibility?”

Long Teng blinked. “Isn’t that true?”

Xie Sen really wished that all people thought the same as Long Teng.

Bai Jiao laughed at Long Teng, and shook his head. “Not very credible, since some people already were suspicious before when you attacked with the potatoes. Mimicry is a change in the basic form. A chili pepper mimicking a potato by becoming round and changing color can barely be explained. Turning into a cabbage, with layer after layer of leaves…the difference is too big.”

Xie Sen felt helpless. He also felt that this excuse wasn’t credible. But, his two original kinds of contract plants had already caused a stir. If people knew that he had far more than two kinds of plants, he couldn’t even imagine what kind of consequences that would have.

As he was thinking, Long Teng jumped up from the couch. “What do you mean by that? If it’s not a mimetic plant, then…” His eyes glowed as he looked at Xie Sen. “The food we usually eat, it’s not chili peppers? Aaaahhh, that’s so cool, A’Sen! How many contract plants do you have?”

Actually, just one!

Xie Sen sighed, “It’s not necessarily chilies. The variety will increase.”

“A’Sen, you’re amazing!” Long Teng exclaimed. He grabbed Bai Jiao’s arm. “A’Jiao, why aren’t you surprised at all…” His cheeks puffed up in anger, and he stared at them with a sad look. “Did you guys know all along, and didn’t tell me?”

He already had a baby face, so his puffed cheeks looked cute and comical, but when they looked at his expression, both of them restrained their laughter.

Bai Jiao was very helpless, and Xie Sen felt the same. Xie Sen thought over his words as he tried to find a clearer explanation before he spoke. “I didn’t tell A’Jiao. A’Jiao guessed it himself. In front of you guys, I didn’t hide anything, I just gave you a bad explanation. I don’t know why my plants are like this.”

That he had the System was, indeed, something too unexpected and couldn’t be explained.

Long Teng’s sad look was instantly replaced by a bright smile that revealed a mouthful of white teeth. “Hahaha! Enough, friends. It’s good that you didn’t hide it from me alone.”

Xie Sen and Bai Jiao both burst into laughter.

Xie Sen thought, if he didn’t know Long Teng was a silly white girl, he would have thought Long Teng was an actor. He wanted to suggest that Long Teng go into acting.

Long Teng asked in disbelief after the laughter, “A’Sen, you’re so amazing. Why are you hiding? If I had many contract beasts, I would definitely tell others right away. It’s too cool!”

Xie Sen, “Unlike others, I’m afraid of being caught for experiments.” He lamented, “What should I do? Now that people know, will someone come and catch me? Should I run?”

Bai Jiao was surprised. “What makes you think that? I thought…I thought you didn’t want to be in the limelight, and were afraid that being famous would be too much trouble.”

Xie Sen, “That was another reason. But after the live room fire, I’m not thinking about the famous thing, I’m afraid of being studied.”

Bai Jiao said, “Why are you afraid of research, you don’t dare to have your blood drawn?”

Xie Sen shook his head. He thought of the film and television stories, and was shaking inside. “I’m not afraid of giving blood, but afraid of slicing, dissection, stimulation of the brain, and other cruel research methods.”

Bai Jiao was stunned and surprised. “What makes you think that? That type of intelligent body research is a major violation of the law. It’s forbidden. Except for criminals, no one would do that.”

Xie Sen whispered, “Maybe there is secret research that isn’t made public.”

Bai Jiao sighed, “No. Plants are a valuable resource that all planets desperately need. With your exposure, Brandt Star will protect you like a treasure, and will never let anyone hurt you.”

Xie Sen, “Really? They really won’t treat me as a guinea pig?”

Bai Jiao nodded affirmatively. “Of course not.” He laughed lightly. “I’m not sure those plants are all your contract plants. I just have this suspicion, but I don’t dare to contemplate it, even if it’s just a suspicion. I still think that nothing can happen to you. You are our hope.”

The last four words Bai Jiao said very slowly, and the tone of each word was very weighty. If it wasn’t for that, Xie Sen definitely wouldn’t be able to resist spitting. It was too old fashioned.

Xie Sen waved his hand in shock. “Don’t say that. I’m just an ordinary person.”

As he was saying that, Xie Sen’s bracelet rang. He answered it, and Ma Qun’s excited voice came through, “A’Sen, is it true? Do you have more than two kinds of contract plants?”

Xie Sen hesitated. Bai Jiao’s words reassured him a lot, and he was looking forward to discussing it if his personal safety wasn’t affected after the disclosure. Then he would no longer have to hide, he could eat whatever he wanted to eat, and grow whatever he wanted to grow. He just couldn’t say anything about System. After thinking about it, he admitted, “Yes.”

Ma Qun was silent for a while, then his voice rose abruptly, “Great, that’s great!” He took a deep breath. “Did you not trust me? Was that why you didn’t tell me?”

Xie Sen, “… It’s not that I don’t trust you, I was just afraid that someone would catch me and take me away for research.”

Ma Qun was amazed. “What made you think that? Who scared you like that? Someone who doesn’t want you to tell anyone else? Who!? I suspect that person is part of a conspiracy!”

“Myself.” Xie Sen was even more reassured by Ma Qun’s attitude.

Ma Qun choked, and advised with heartfelt sincerity, “You young people. Don’t always think nonsense! Things like that aren’t true, but by thinking about them, they become true.”

Xie Sen gave a dry cough. “Oh.”

Ma Qun tentatively asked, “How many plants do you have now? Do you have fruits? Can you provide some of them to the researchers? Or do you want to sign a contract as you asked before?”

Xie Sen, “There are still quite a few. I’ll sort them out and send them to you. Some of them are already available at the Institute. The plants that Professor Lu found.”

Xie Sen bristled. If he had known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have bothered Lu Qingxing, and let him get into danger. But on second thought, if that hadn’t happened, the research base wouldn’t have been discovered, and a few years later the number of fae would have increased and might have attacked Star City on their own.

Ma Qun, “You boy, hey. Such a really good boy. Even if you’re afraid, you still think of ways to send the plants to the Institute. That’s hard work.”

Xie Sen, I don’t have such lofty ideas, I just want to eat happily!

Ma Qun didn’t know what Xie Sen actually was thinking, and the more he considered it, the more he felt that Xie Sen was of noble character, so he made himself feel like a mess, and praised Xie Sen all over the place.

Xie Sen was so embarrassed that he had to interrupt his compliments, and said that he would send the seeds when they were ready, then he ended the communication.

Long Teng laughed, and patted him on the shoulder. “What are you so afraid of when you get complimented?”

Xie Sen slapped his hand off. “A high hat is too scary. It’s not like you don’t know the truth. I just do it to eat well.”

Bai Jiao laughed. “It doesn’t matter what the reason is, your act of providing seeds deserves praise.”

As he spoke, Xie Sen’s communicator rang again, this time it was Mu Lin, “A’Sen, you’ve been lying to me. How many contract plants do you have?”

Xie Sen rubbed his ears and told him his concerns, then said, “President Mu, I’ve been very cooperative.”

Mu Lin, “Could your brain be any bigger? No wonder you’ve been refusing to come to work at the Contract Beast Research Institute. You’re afraid that I’ll dissect you for research.”

Xie Sen, “I’m not going to work there because I don’t fit in. I’m not suspicious of you, otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed to cooperate with you. I’m just afraid of some mad scientist.”

Mu Lin, “Bullshit, I’ll kill one if there is one! Hiss…” Xie Sen faintly heard Gu Luo’s voice, and Mu Lin quickly said, “Okay, okay, okay. Be civilized, no profanity.”

Mu Lin continued, “I must re-do a full examination on you. It’s amazing, I’ve been studying bonding for so many years! Bonding is all one-to-one and mutually loyal. In all our history there has been no one-to-many.”

Xie Sen refused without thinking. “The usual checkups are comprehensive enough. Drawing blood is the bottom line for me.”

Mu Lin laughed. “What are you thinking? The blood draw is enough. Are you still thinking about being dissected?”

The corner of Xie Sen’s mouth twitched. “I don’t think so! I just had my blood drawn not long ago. My body hasn’t changed, so I don’t need to be examined again for now…But, how are you going to respond to the public’s doubts?”

The Institute of Contract Beasts was the authority on bonding, and with all the public debate, the Institute must eventually give an explanation.

Mu Lin said, “Species diversity.”

Xie Sen was silent for a moment, and then said, “Good reason.”

Mu Lin, “If you are afraid, Gu Luo and I will go to your house to examine you. Don’t worry, absolutely no harm will come to you.”

Xie Sen recognized his persistence, thought about the last time Gu Luo checked him, and agreed.

As soon as he hung up, Long Teng looked at him with shining eyes. “A’Sen, can we still have boiled fish for lunch? Is there watermelon for lunch?”

Xie Sen looked at the time. It was after twelve o’clock. He was a little hungry, and there was still ginger and garlic and fish from earlier. He nodded, “Yes, there is.”

Maine wouldn’t let him do it, just had him go and rest. When he returned to the living room, the bracelet rang. It was the front door bell.

Xie Sen tapped his finger on the bracelet, and the virtual screen unfolded over his wrist. It showed the scene at the gate, where five men stood, all tall males, dressed in military uniforms.

The man at the front had his hands on his chest. He was looking up at the wall and staring at the python that was poking its head out. Xie Sen connected to the speaker at the door. He was surprised, “Qi Shao? What are you doing here?”

Qi Shao was still staring at the python with interest in his eyes. “You have a special status, so the military department has issued an order that protecting your safety will be handled by the special combat team in the future.”

Xie Sen automatically wanted to refuse. “No need, I’m safe at home.”

Qi Shao, “No. Plants are a precious resource. After the news spreads, the rest of the planets will definitely want you. The military department has strict orders. Your security level is now the highest level, and you must have someone close to protect you.”

Xie Sen frowned, “Is this disguised surveillance?”

Qi Shao, “You misunderstand, We won’t restrict any of your activities. Of course, if you really resent it, I won’t arrange someone to be around you when you are in your residence, but the security system of your current residence is too low. My people have to install some protective equipment personally.”

Xie Sen thought about it, and opened the door. “I don’t want people around me, just higher security for the house. You guys come in and go straight ahead. Don’t go to the big house on the left, and don’t do anything to the contract beasts.”

Qi Shao nodded, “Okay.”

After they entered the door, the contract beasts that were playing outside curiously looked at the visitors. Qi Shao raised his eyebrows, didn’t say anything, and went straight ahead.

His four men’s eyes glowed, and they said in excited voices, “It’s so handsome!”

“Yes, look at that body type, that muscle, and heart!”

“I want it! If the snake and crab are steamed, they will taste so good!”

As soon as those words fell, the python that had been swimming behind them hissed and swept the blond soldier who spoke with his tail. It was very fast. The blonde soldier shouted loudly, his body wobbled, and he rolled over then stood up near the troop.

Several contract beasts roared one after another. Then roared while they ran towards Qi Shao’s five. The big crab held up its two big pincers, as it ran across. THe big pincers, like scissors, snapped open and closed, while its closed mouth shone silver in the sunlight.

“Shut up! What nonsense!” Qi Shao yelled.

“What to do?” A man spoke with a tight voice.

The giant tiger beast, giant python beast, two giant leopard beasts and the big crab surrounded the five people. The flying dragon beast flew overhead as aerial suppression. The giant python kept sweeping its tail at the blond soldier who had developed an appetite for the big crab. The blond soldier was in good shape, but he was jumping around in a mess.

He shouted with a white face, “Qi Shao, help me!”

Several other soldiers moved their feet, and were reprimanded by Qi Shao, “Don’t move. Don’t you see they are all doing it?”

Long Teng said excitedly, “Are they looking for trouble?”

As long as they were looking to fight, no matter what the identity, to Long Teng it was something to be happy about.

Xie Sen, “No, don’t try it, They were sent by the military department.”

When they got close, Xie Sen heard clearly what Python was saying. With every attack on the blonde soldier, it said, “Eat until you feel good? Is it good?”

The giant black leopard beast stood aside and said, “Python, you can scare him, but don’t do anything to the rest. The door was opened by Sen, so they are Sen’s guests.”

“A’Sen.” Python shouted when he saw Sen was approaching, and swept the wretched soldier in front of Xie Sen off his feet with one move.

Xie Sen looked at the soldier who fell in front of him, and thought about the Python’s words. He looked at him incredulously. “Are you out of your mind? You stared at Python and said you want to eat snake soup?”

The blond soldier grimaced and got up, “No…”

Qi Shao raised an eyebrow, looked at the python and then at Xie Sen. He pointed at the big crab, “He said eat it. It’s big enough to eat.”

The big crab’s pincers snapped shut with the loud clatter of sharp objects.

The blonde soldier subconsciously scowled.

Xie Sen asked him, “Do you still want to eat?”

“No, I don’t want to!” The blond soldier wanted to cry and strangle himself from a few minutes ago.

Xie Sen walked up to the big crab, and touched its big hard pincer shell, “It’s okay, they’re talking nonsense. They won’t eat you.”

“If I wasn’t afraid of hitting him too hard, I would have done it just now.” The big crab said slowly.

Xie Sen laughed. “That’s smart, your pincers are too sharp. You can’t just take a shot.”

After he reassured the crab, he waved his hand at the contract beasts. “Go play. They’re just kidding.”

The contract beasts dispersed, and only then did Qi Shao’s men relax and become excited again. As they followed to Xie Sen’s home, the four of them kept egging each other on with their eyes, as they talked to Xie Sen.

Qi Shao saw their small movements and tsked. He looked at Xie Sen inquisitively. “Can you understand them?”

The plant thing was already exposed. There was already one explosion, so Xie Sen didn’t care about the other one. Anyway, many of the audience already had suspicions. “Yes, they can understand you too, so don’t get any bad ideas.”

The blonde soldier mourned, “I just said it off the top of my head. I didn’t really want to eat it.”

Long Teng laughed, and patted him on the shoulder. “Hahaha! I wanted to eat it the first time I saw it. It’s okay to want to eat it.”

The soldier looked at him with an expectant look in his eyes. “Have you been beaten by it?”

“No!” Long Teng smiled extraordinarily brightly, which showed his mouthful of white teeth.

The soldier felt the difference in treatment, and it was hard.

Once they arrived at the home, the rich aroma of the dishes reached them. The spicy smell was the most obvious, and particularly seductive. Even Qi Shao’s face quickly brightened. Long Teng gave an excited shout, and swiftly ran inside.

Maine came to the door, and saw Qi Shao’s frown. “What’s going on?”

Xie Sen explained everything to him. Maine looked at Qi Shao. “It’s forbidden to install any surveillance and listening devices inside the enclosure.”

“Of course. This won’t intrude on your privacy, and the monitoring control will be put into your hands if necessary.”

Maine grabbed Xie Sen’s hand. “Let’s go eat. You’re already hungry, right?”

Xie Sen looked at Qi Shao. He knew him, after all, and since it was time to eat he subconsciously asked, “Have you had lunch?”

Qi Shao laughed. “I didn’t eat, but they all did.” He turned around and ordered, “Get to work.”

The four subordinates’ faces twisted for a moment, then they spread out around the perimeter of home, and started installing various security devices.

Qi Shao smiled and asked, “Do you mind if I grab a meal?”

Maine gave him a look. “Come on in.”

“Holy shit, Qi Shao’s cheekiness is unmatched. Of the five of us, he’s the only one who ate two servings of meat for lunch!”

“I’m obviously full, but I can’t stand the smell. I want to eat.”

“Oh, I’ve been so distracted by the aroma, that I’m not thinking about anything at all.”

“Finish it quickly. When Qi Shao finishes eating, if he sees that our hands and feet slow, believe it or not, we won’t even have roast meat tonight.”

The four people outside the house gulped and did their work, while the five people inside ate with red faces. Qi Shao and Long Teng were particularly fast in chomping the food. They both preferred the boiled fish. The two couldn’t stop exclaiming, “Delicious!”

Qi Shao ate to his heart’s content. When he was done, he quickly helped to set up the equipment with his men, and explained its use to Maine and Xie Sen. After the explanation, he swiftly took his men to the courtyard wall and fortified it.

In the afternoon, Lu Qingxing came over. He looked pleased. “So which plants are your contract plants? I want to explain the situation to President Ma.”

Xie Sen said, “I already told him. I didn’t want to tell him before because I had concerns, but now it seems that I was overthinking things.” He smiled. “I don’t need to bother you in the future, and it’s hard for you. You also spent a lot of time dealing with those seeds, right?”

Lu Qingxing laughed. “It’s fine. If you need anything in the future, you can always ask me for help.”

In the evening, while Xie Sen was watching the news, he was surprised to find that there was less discussion about him. Maine said, “It should be for your safety. The military has taken control.”

The next day, when Xie Sen woke up, he habitually checked his energy and was stunned to see that it had increased by more than 10,000 and was still increasing rapidly. He quickly sat up, and opened his bracelet. The news headline was the official announcement from the Plant Research Institute. He clicked in and saw an announcement that was like a small essay. The announcement was about the source of the plant found by Lu Qingxing, while it also explained the reason.

Ma Qun used Xie Sen’s reason for his words, and made him sound particularly great.

The amount of comments was particularly large, and they all praised Xie Sen. Many comments about the plants were unrestrained, and just rhetorical excitement.

Xie Sen felt a little vain, but as he looked at the rapidly rising energy, he couldn’t help laughing out loud.

This wasn’t energy, this was food!