For a fledgling that had never tasted the pleasures of the flesh, taking that first bite was like opening the door to an entirely new world.
Nuo Xiao had no technique to speak of, but that straightforward approach was precisely what made him so difficult to resist.
Yunyang hadn’t managed to get any rest all night.
After sleeping until noon and eating lunch, she finally had time to water the antique plants outside her home.
In the Federation’s high-tech era, she could easily have installed an automatic sprinkler system to water the plants at fixed times and intervals, even controlling the amount of water according to each species.
Alternatively, she could simply have instructed the four robot butlers to water them every day.
But she enjoyed the activity, and so she was willing to carry the watering can around and water the plants at her leisure.
The antique plants seemed to enjoy being watered this way as well. Over the past few days, Yunyang had clearly noticed that they looked much livelier than when they had first arrived.
She skillfully took photos to record their condition, then continued watering.
Yunyang refused to let her beastmen husbands help, so whenever she watered the plants, the ten of them split into two groups and stood guard around the garden plots.
That way, no matter which side Yunyang encountered trouble on, they would be able to react immediately.
Yunyang thought her husbands were being overly cautious.
The estate was equipped with the Federation’s highest-grade defensive system. Even if an insect queen came, it could hold out for a while.
As long as she didn’t leave the estate, she wouldn’t be in any danger.
But her husbands refused to listen and insisted on watching over her, so she let them do as they pleased. After all, watering the plants didn’t take very long.
But what was that saying?
Even a horse can stumble, and people can lose their footing.
Yunyang had thought there was nothing dangerous about watering plants. Yet as she walked toward another section, she tripped over an unfamiliar stone.
She lost her balance and nearly fell.
Fortunately, Fu Shiyi and Nuo Xiao reacted in time. One activated his supernatural ability while the other transformed into his beast form, and they reached her as quickly as possible, catching her before she hit the ground.
Yunyang leaned against Fu Shiyi’s chest and quickly steadied herself.
The other husbands hurried over as well, looking at her anxiously.
“Mistress, did you twist your ankle?”
“I’m fine.” Yunyang straightened up, then looked at the thing that had tripped her.
She had bought this planting soil online, and she clearly remembered checking it beforehand. There shouldn’t have been any stones or anything similar in it.
As she wondered about it, she got a clear look at the object.
It was an insect core.
Nuo Xiao saw it too. He crouched down, dug the insect core out of the soil, and immediately stuffed it into Pei Wenye’s hand.
Pei Wenye activated his supernatural ability and washed the dirt off the core before handing it to Yunyang.
“Mistress, this is an insect core that has already been drained. There’s very little energy left inside,” Fu Shiyi said, still supporting her.
How had an insect core ended up in the planting soil?
Yunyang opened her photobrain, took a picture, and sent it to the store where she had purchased the soil, asking what had happened.
The store replied quickly.
“Dear Lady, this is what happened: Previous laboratory research discovered that adding low-grade insect cores to planting soil could provide nutrients, increasing the yield of the plants grown in it.”
“The insect core you found was probably the result of an operational error in the laboratory. It was not ground up.”
“This was our mistake. We will issue you a full refund. If this insect core caused you any harm or affected your mood in any way, we are also willing to provide you with appropriate compensation.”
Before Yunyang had even finished reading the message, she received a notification that the refund had been deposited.
The refunded amount was three times what she had paid.
With the seller taking such a responsible attitude, it was impossible for a customer to remain angry.
Yunyang had only wanted to ask why there was an insect core in the planting soil. Now that she had received an explanation and the seller had issued a refund, she didn’t pursue the matter any further.
Besides, the soil in the garden plots had been laid very thickly. Even if she had actually fallen, she probably wouldn’t have been hurt.
“Compensation won’t be necessary. I only wanted to understand what happened.”
After sending the message, Yunyang explained the situation to her ten husbands.
The beastmen frowned when they heard.
“Could there be other insect cores in there?”
Before Yunyang could even nod, Rong Jin took out a detector and began examining the planting soil.
The other husbands immediately followed suit. Only Fu Shiyi didn’t join them because he was still supporting Yunyang and couldn’t free his hands.
Yunyang opened her mouth, but ultimately didn’t stop them.
It was a good idea to check, just in case she really did fall next time.
With that thought, Yunyang temporarily left the garden plot so she wouldn’t disturb the men while they searched.
Fu Shiyi took a chair out of his spatial button, pressed her down into it, and then joined his rivals.
While her husbands were busy, Yunyang looked at the insect core in her hand and tentatively absorbed it.
Since it was only a first-level insect core, it contained very little energy, but she had indeed absorbed a tiny amount.
In other words, the thing providing nutrients to the planting soil was the energy inside the insect core.
And that energy could also be absorbed by supernatural ability users.
To put it another way, the energy required by the planting soil—or rather, by the plants growing in it—was the same kind of energy required by supernatural ability users.
Then… would her Blessing have any effect on these plants?
The question suddenly occurred to Yunyang. After thinking about it for a moment, she decisively began circulating her supernatural ability.
She established a Blessing Domain around the garden plot on the left and placed a seventh-level insect core inside it to provide energy for the domain.
The ten husbands were already working inside the garden plot, so of course they could all feel the Blessing falling upon them.
Fu Shiyi stopped what he was doing and looked toward Yunyang.
Yunyang explained, “I want to see whether my Blessing has any effect on these antique plants.”
Upon hearing this, Fu Shiyi adjusted his glasses and turned his gaze to one of the antique plants in front of him.
He activated the scanning function. All sorts of data about the plant appeared before him, and at a glance, it looked no different from before.
But this was something Yunyang wanted to try, so he only said, “Understood. I’ll keep an eye on the condition of these antique plants over the next few days.”
Yunyang also recorded the plants’ current condition and numbers once again.
After establishing the Blessing Domain, she sat there and waited for her husbands to finish searching.
The ten husbands thoroughly turned over the entire garden plot, but they didn’t find a second insect core.
It seemed the seller hadn’t been quite as careless as they feared.
The husbands finally relaxed. They helped Yunyang water the remaining antique plants, then returned to the villa with her to wash the dirt off themselves.
Over the next few days, the first thing Yunyang did after waking up was check on her antique plants.
With the robot butlers regularly replacing the insect cores, the Blessing Domain remained active the entire time. Yet after a week, the antique plants still showed no particularly obvious changes.
Then, one morning half a month later, Yunyang woke up to discover that the number of antique plants in the left garden plot had doubled.
Not only that, several species that had never bloomed in the antique botanical garden had now flowered and produced seeds!
The antique plants in the right garden plot showed no significant changes from before, and not a single plant of the same species had bloomed.
By comparing the two plots, Yunyang was certain that her Blessing really did work on the antique plants.
If that was the case…
Wouldn’t she be able to grow enough vegetables to eat freely?!
