Marrying My Bestie's Ferocious Brother - He Calls Me His Baby!-Chapter 158 - 157: Mutated Insect Eggs? Bewitching Gold!
West side of the Agricultural College.
There’s a row of red brick houses here.
The glass had shattered long ago, and the corners were crawling with dead climbing vines.
This is an old greenhouse abandoned for five years.
"Screech——"
The rusty iron door was pushed open.
Dust fell down in a flurry.
Professor Wang stood at the doorway, covering his mouth and nose, his brows furrowed into a knot.
"Classmate Lin, this place is too rundown."
"The equipment is broken too; should I apply to the institute for a new lab?"
Lin Wan Yi stood amidst the dust.
She wasn’t wearing a mask.
There was some dust on her white shirt, but she didn’t brush it off.
"No need."
She glanced around the empty room, her eyes landing on those old iron racks.
"This is just right."
"The things I want to cultivate don’t need a great environment."
Professor Wang opened his mouth, about to say something else.
Lin Wan Yi had already rolled up her sleeves.
"Professor, have them unload the goods."
Ten minutes later.
A green pickup truck rattled up to the greenhouse door.
The cargo hold hadn’t opened yet.
A strong smell, mixed with the scent of soil and decay, quickly spread.
The surrounding students watching scattered instantly in a burst.
"Ugh——"
Someone couldn’t hold back and dry-heaved.
"What smell is this?!"
"Dead rats?"
"It’s stinking to death!"
Chen Zhiyuan stood in the crowd, pinching his nose, his expression as if he’d eaten a fly.
He looked at Lin Wan Yi, sneering with sarcasm.
"Is this your high-tech?"
"I thought you were going to bring in microscopes and Petri dishes."
"Turns out you brought back a truck of garbage?"
Lin Wan Yi ignored him.
She walked to the back of the truck and tapped on the side panel.
"Unload."
Two workers jumped onto the truck.
One by one, bamboo baskets were brought down.
The baskets were packed full.
Filled entirely with grayish, furry cocoons.
Oak silk moth cocoons.
That foul stench emanated from these cocoons.
Moreover, some were crushed during transport, leaking yellow liquid, making the smell even stronger.
Chen Zhiyuan took two steps back, fanning the air in front of him.
"Lin Wan Yi, are you crazy?"
"You’re a wealthy young lady, playing with this filthy stuff?"
"Don’t vomit in there later and need someone to carry you out."
The classmates around also pointed and commented.
"It’s too disgusting."
"Can this cure cotton pests?"
"I think she’s just breaking the pot."
Lin Wan Yi turned around.
She took a white lab coat from her bag and swiftly put it on.
Buttoned it to the top button.
Then she donned rubber gloves.
Picked up a silver pair of long tweezers.
"Chen Zhiyuan."
She called out.
Chen Zhiyuan paused. "What?"
"Come here."
Chen Zhiyuan frowned, reluctantly moved two steps. "Speak quickly, it’s stinking."
Lin Wan Yi didn’t respond.
She walked to a bamboo basket.
Bent over.
The tweezers flashed out like lightning.
"Snap."
A light sound.
A complete oak silk moth cocoon was split open.
The tip of the tweezers steadily gripped the squirming yellow-white pupa inside.
And the densely packed eggs attached beside it.
Her movements were so quick one couldn’t see clearly.
So precise it was like performing surgery.
The next second.
The tweezers gripping the writhing pupa were directly thrust under Chen Zhiyuan’s nose.
Only a centimeter away from his nose tip.
The viscous liquid on the pupa almost dripped onto his mouth.
"Ah!!!"
Chen Zhiyuan screamed.
His entire body jolted backward like a cat stepped on its tail.
He slipped.
Landed hard on the muddy ground.
"What are you doing! You’re sick!"
He scrambled back, his face gone pale with fright.
Laughter erupted around them.
Lin Wan Yi withdrew the tweezers.
Expressionless, she tossed the pupa into the tray beside her.
"Afraid of insects."
"Are you worthy of studying agriculture?"
Her two sentences.
Like two slaps across Chen Zhiyuan’s face.
His face flushed red, he got up, pointing at Lin Wan Yi, his fingers trembling, yet he couldn’t utter a word.
Lin Wan Yi no longer looked at him.
Turned around, picked up the basket of cocoons, and walked into the stinking greenhouse.
Her figure was upright.
Not a hint of disdain.
...
Noon.
The sun was scorching.
The temperature inside the greenhouse was high, and the stink from fermentation was so intense it made one’s eyes water.
The workers ran off after unloading.
The students watching dispersed to the cafeteria.
No one wanted to linger a second longer in this "stench room."
Lin Wan Yi locked the door.
Pulled the curtains.
The already dim greenhouse became even more quiet.
She took off her gloves and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
Looking at the room piled high with silk moth cocoons.
This is just the first step.
She needs to cut open the cocoons, extract the eggs, make them into egg cards, and then inoculate them with Red-eyed Wasps.
Normally, in such a large batch of silk moth cocoons, many are dead eggs or inadequately vital ones.
If the hatching rate can reach 60%, it’s considered a great success.
But what she wants is 100%.
Even 200% efficiency.
Lin Wan Yi willed a thought.
A sprayer appeared in her hand.
Inside, it was filled with spiritual spring water she had specially prepared.
It’s not diluted.
It’s the original liquid.
She pressed the sprayer.
"Hiss——"
A fine mist, under the sunlight, shimmered with a faint rainbow halo.
Falling onto those dull gray cocoons.
The pungent stench in the air seemed to be purified upon contact with the mist.
Gradually fading away.
In the end, it turned into a faint scent of grass and wood.
"Rustle rustle rustle..."
From the bamboo basket came a subtle sound.
Like some form of life cheering wildly.
Lin Wan Yi picked up a cocoon.
Peeling it open.
The originally shriveled and dull eggs were now plump and shiny with a glossy luster.
Full of life force.
"Knock knock knock!"
The iron door was suddenly knocked upon.
Lin Wan Yi flipped her hand, and the sprayer disappeared instantly.
"Sister-in-law!"
"Sister-in-law, open the door! I brought you food!"
It was Gu Lan.
Lin Wan Yi walked over and opened the door.
Gu Lan, holding two aluminum lunch boxes, rushed in.
"Sister-in-law, how can you stand such a strong smell..."
Before finishing her sentence.
Gu Lan abruptly stopped her steps.
She looked at the room filled with exposed insect pupae and eggs.
Countless.
Still moving.
"Ah——!!!"
A piercing scream almost shattered the greenhouse glass.
The lunch box in Gu Lan’s hands nearly flew out.
She closed her eyes, clinging tightly to Lin Wan Yi’s arm, trembling all over.
"Bugs...so many bugs!"
"It’s disgusting! Sister-in-law, throw them away!"
Lin Wan Yi, helpless, caught the lunch box.
"Don’t scream."
"These are not bugs."
Gu Lan opened one eye, her tears almost spilling over.
"How are these not bugs? They’re just fat bugs!"
Lin Wan Yi placed the lunch box on the shelf.
Picked up tweezers, and seized a grain-sized egg.
Held it up to the light.
Her gaze was tender as if she were looking at a piece of gold.
"This is the life-saving medicine for cotton."
"And our family’s food ticket."
Gu Lan was stunned.
She looked at her sister-in-law.
So focused, so earnest.
Amidst that nauseating pile of bugs, her sister-in-law was as pure as a lotus.
Gu Lan sniffed.
Stopped shouting.
"Well... you eat first."
"I’ll... watch the door for you."
Though she was still scared, she didn’t run away.
...
Two days later.
In the inoculation room.
It was a small chamber separated within the greenhouse.
Temperature controlled at a constant 25 degrees.
On the shelves, thousands of egg cards were neatly arranged.
They were covered with silk moth eggs.
The day before yesterday, Lin Wan Yi had already released the Red-eyed Wasp colony.
According to textbook theory.
The Red-eyed Wasps will deposit their eggs inside the silk moth eggs.
After successful parasitism.
The original yellowish-white silk moth eggs will gradually turn black.
That’s the sign of wasp eggs developing inside.
As long as they turn black, it’s a success.
Lin Wan Yi held a magnifying glass, walking to the first row of shelves.
Today is the observation point in the period.
In theory, black spots should start appearing.
She leaned in closer to look.
The next moment.
Lin Wan Yi’s hand trembled violently.
The magnifying glass almost slipped to the ground.
They didn’t turn black.
The eggs didn’t turn black.
And they didn’t maintain their original yellow-white color.
Within the view of the magnifying glass.
Rows and rows of insect eggs.
Unexpectedly presented a bizarre, lurid dark golden color!
Like molten gold, sealed within thin egg shells.
Still faintly pulsating.
"This..."
Lin Wan Yi took a deep breath.
Books had never mentioned such a situation.
Never.
Too much spiritual spring water?
A mutation?
Or... a failure?
Just then.
Chen Zhiyuan’s schadenfreude voice came from outside.
"Professor Wang, come take a look!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
"Two days, not a single change!"
"I told you she was messing around, those insect eggs must be rotting by now!"
Footsteps approached.
