Inside was just a slightly larger reception room than the outside, empty. There was another door at the end of the reception room.
A lively, vibrant melody came from within that door. Through the crack, fine spores on the green moss danced gently with the music.
Seemingly aware of someone's arrival, the music stopped, still lingering. Soon after, the door slowly opened, and the old man emerged, holding a strange double reed wooden wind instrument.
He scrutinized Lin Chen for a while, and the ripples in his ancient, still eyes suddenly began to stir. He asked with interest, "Little guy, what do you think of the tune just now?"
Lin Chen retracted his gaze from the door, his heart filled with uncontrollable curiosity. He thought he had seen the ground behind the door covered in green grass?
In response to the old man's question, he instinctively replied, "The green moss there really enjoys listening."
The old man laughed, his face crinkling with joy. "Haha! Well said! This tune was meant for them to hear. Come, little guy, sit down, and we will chat slowly. Oh, right, you can call me Xiao Mu."
"You know, finding a territory that meets my requirements is not easy. Most people immediately convert all the plants within their territory into energy or materials. Even Druids, at first, might not have fully understood the meaning of their profession. Yet you could even formulate territorial rules specifically to protect these trees. You must have a naturally high affinity for Nature and truly love it!"
"Oh? You also have Half Elf blood, its origin is unclear even to me. No wonder, no wonder!"
Xiao Mu stroked his long beard, looking at Lin Chen with surprise.
"Grandpa Xiao Mu, was not the Elf bloodline bestowed by the Apocalypse Game?" Lin Chen had long suspected that the origin of his Half Elf bloodline was a bit problematic.
"I can not say much more, but everything you possess now is real and completely yours," Xiao Mu said, winking mischievously.
Lin Chen understood. This meant that one of his paternal or maternal relatives was an Elf.
He was a Half Elf, and Bai Lang was a mixed blood Space Time Werewolf, but the only intelligent race on Deep Blue Star was humans. Both of them were born near Green Mountain Forest. He wondered if there was some deeper connection.
"Alright, do not overthink it. Quickly take out the seeds you brought so I can see them. Your world is very special, and I am quite looking forward to it," Xiao Mu rubbed his palms, looking at him expectantly.
Perhaps Grandpa Xiao Mu gave him a feeling of an elder, and both being Druids, he felt both close and respectful. This made him, who was here to sell things, feel a sense of déjà vu, like having his homework checked by a senior.
"Ah, let me guess, this is rice, cabbage, this is tomato, this is corn, chili..." Xiao Mu looked at each seed, effortlessly naming the varieties. "These, these... I have never seen them!"
"These seeds are indeed very common, it is fine if you do not take them... Ah? Never seen them?" Lin Chen suddenly reacted.
Seeing the little guy in front of him widen his eyes in surprise, like a startled kitten, Xiao Mu burst into laughter. "There are words in the common tongue that describe these plants, so of course I have seen them. But the seeds you brought all have subtle differences from what I know. So, to be precise, I have both seen them and not seen them."
"May I ask what the differences are?" Lin Chen asked curiously.
"If you want to know, then follow me," Xiao Mu stood up and pushed open the door at the end of the reception room.
This time, Lin Chen clearly saw that the area behind the door was lush and densely planted with vegetation.
He followed him involuntarily.
"This is my Plantation, made from a shattered demiplane. Every tree, every flower here, I personally cultivated. They are my treasures," Xiao Mu introduced as he walked, his face full of pride.
If Wu Ya Ya were here, it would immediately tell Lin Chen to run away. Old man Xiao Mu was obsessively in love with these flowers and plants. Once he started talking about them, he could not stop, even more long winded than Wu Ya Ya.
Lin Chen went from being amazed, to envious, to feigning understanding, and finally offering false agreement.
At first, he would ask with great interest about things he did not understand, and Grandpa Xiao Mu would happily explain. But the more he talked, the more he said, and the more obscure it became, interspersed with a large number of words derived from druidic and wood elf language.
Lin Chen realized that if he wanted to understand all the questions, he might not finish discussing one plant in a whole day. If he accidentally showed interest in a certain plant, Grandpa Xiao Mu could talk about it from its appearance, its uses, to its cultivation process, original plant, mutation directions, and even countless variants.
He was both impressed and helpless, so he could only tightly close his mouth, becoming an emotionless nodding machine. Finally, before dark, they reached their destination: a paddy field.
It was filled with rice plants, tall and short, thick and thin, and of various colors, but looking at the rice ears, they were indeed rice.
"Grandpa Xiao Mu, this paddy field seems to be near where we entered, right?" There was only a clump of bamboo in between, which he remembered clearly. It was said to be miniature soft bamboo. When he passed by earlier, Grandpa Xiao Mu even broke off two bamboo shoots for him, and Yuan Gun Gun was still gnawing on one in his mouth.
Xiao Mu awkwardly stroked his beard. "Old people get old, and their memory gets a bit bad, haha!"
"..." There was something he wanted to say but did not know if he should. Lin Chen thought his memory was excellent; otherwise, how could he remember such a vast amount of knowledge about plants?
"Look, these are all essentially rice, but they are all different. For example, the rice seeds you brought, compared to these rice varieties, yield much more, but they do not seem very stable. The offspring probably will not be able to guarantee such excellent yields."
"You are amazing. This rice is indeed like that. We call it hybrid rice here..."
Lin Chen explained the general principle of hybrid rice using the knowledge he learned from biology textbooks. Fortunately, he had just finished his third year of high school in this life, so the knowledge was still fresh.
Xiao Mu was very interested in hybridization technology, emptying him of all his biological knowledge, and even diligently pulled out a small notebook to record it. However, he insisted that this unstable rice could not yet be considered a completely new rice species, and he planned to make this rice species his next research topic.
"Alright, alright, I have seen enough. I can not wait to start researching. If you have time, please help me collect more of these rice seeds, and other seeds and saplings are also welcome."
Lin Chen stood at the entrance of Grandpa Xiao Mu's Plantation, carrying a backpack full of miniature soft bamboo and holding a thick bark book, full of complaints, "That old man is a complete research fanatic!"
However, the rewards were also plentiful. The miniature soft bamboo in the backpack was a snack Grandpa Xiao Mu gave to Yuan Gun Gun, and the bark book was a rare 1st ring Spell.
This book was an advance payment. He still needed to deliver 100 species of Deep Blue Star's native plants and 100 catties of hybrid rice to Grandpa Xiao Mu.