The flying carpet was indeed very fast, covering a distance that would normally take over ten minutes in just a few dozen seconds, landing steadily at its destination.
Bai Luan stepped off the flying carpet and onto the ground, feeling an unprecedented sense of stability.
The floor, made of an unknown material, gave him a sense of security.
However, due to the overly stimulating journey, he hadn't managed to remember the route, so Bai Luan had no idea where he currently was.
Scanning his surroundings, he felt as if he were in a forest, filled with all sorts of unknown and bizarre plants.
Some plants even exhibited strong characteristics of living creatures.
"Ms. Herta also cultivates flowers and plants?"
And not just ordinary plants.
The plants that looked normal were fine; at most, they just moved very obviously.
But some of these flowers clearly had mouth-like organs, even with sharp teeth inside.
He felt like these plants could be grown in Dave's garden to defend against zombies.
"This is a Botanical Garden created by Ms. Herta on a whim, by genetically programming plants from the Azure Star. Currently, there are probably a few hundred types of plants.
There are all kinds: moving, non-moving, beautiful, ugly, poisonous, non-poisonous."
"So, what I need to learn next is to memorize these plants?"
"Exactly. Although these plants differ in appearance and habits, they have one thing in common."
"They all photosynthesize?"
The Herta Puppet glanced at Bai Luan, its gaze as if saying, 'Could you say something we don't already know?'
Then, the Herta Puppet spoke, revealing their true commonality.
"There aren't just plants here; some plants don't even photosynthesize. Here, they have only one thing in common: they are all very, very difficult to keep alive."
"Sounds like my learning task is going to be very difficult..."
"Do you see that mushroom?"
The Herta Puppet raised its hand and pointed to a brown mushroom.
"It talks."
"This isn't a fungus anymore, is it? This is clearly a completely new type of creature!"
"That's why it's kept here. The useless ones were long ago eliminated by Ms. Herta. The ones that remain here are all valuable enough to be kept."
"What happens if I kill one?"
"I will report it truthfully to Ms. Herta. As for how she will handle it, you can guess for yourself."
He had a feeling it wouldn't end well...
"That brown mushroom, if the humidity is too high, it dies; if it's over-fertilized, it dies; if it's in a bad mood, it also dies..."
"This mushroom is like a pampered lord, so delicate?"
"You'd best not let it hear what you just said, or it might get so angry it dies."
"Does this kind of work really have to be given to me?"
Although he didn't have the luxury of being picky, it was still better to avoid such troublesome work if possible...
"Of course, you can choose not to do this job. I will find you other 'easier' jobs.
But if you can do this job well, it proves your value, and you can stay here and live as a gardener.
As for the easier jobs, robots can also do them, so your value won't be as high."
"Why didn't you say so earlier? I'll take it.
Before I start, if I finish the work here, can I use the facilities?"
"Can you even understand how to use them? And you want to use them?"
"I can learn, and I learn very quickly."
The Herta Puppet stood still, pondering for a moment, then finally said:
"Your foundation for staying here is your value. If the trouble you cause exceeds your value, you will be kicked out. Can you accept these terms?"
"No problem."
"Then go ahead and use them, just don't accidentally blow up the entire laboratory, release something that shouldn't be released, and almost destroy the entire Azure Star. That would be very troublesome to deal with."
Bai Luan's mouth twitched.
Why did it sound like it had actually happened?
No way... had it really happened?
Now he knew how the Azure Star's first eighteen world crises came about.
Ms. Herta saved the Azure Star from its crises, as for why it was in crisis, don't ask yet.
Hmm... thinking like that is too pessimistic. Maybe only four or five of them were related to Ms. Herta?
"Since you've made your choice, I'll start teaching you."
"Alright."
"First, this rose bush. As you can see, its first characteristic is its size."
Bai Luan looked at the roses, a rose bush taller than a person, with huge flowers like magnificent crowns, quite spectacular.
It gave him the illusion that the world had grown bigger and he had shrunk.
"They change color according to their mood. For example, a blue rose means it's in a good mood, while dark red means it's somewhat hostile towards you."
At this moment, the roses were all different colors: red, blue, pink, purple, white, yellow, orange, all present.
"If I make these roses unhappy, what will they do?"
"They will shoot out their thorns to prick you. But don't worry too much; their inspiration comes from the Knights of Beauty, so their temper is still very good.
If you manage to provoke them into attacking you, then I have to admit, you truly have some skill."
Would the Knights of Beauty, those good-natured people, really get angry?
Just then, Bai Luan noticed a black rose. Among the vibrant, colorful flowers, black seemed out of place.
"What emotion does black represent?"
"Oh, it's depressed."
"Flowers can get depressed too?"
"Why not? Taking care of their moods is also part of your job."
"How do I take care of a rose's mood...?"
"That's the difficult part of your job: figuring out what these plants are thinking."
Bai Luan secretly noted the black rose. This was a problem he, as a gardener, needed to address.
The Herta Puppet continued to lead Bai Luan forward, pointing to a pumpkin with a grimace and saying:
"This is a Jack-o'-Lantern Pumpkin. Ms. Herta, thinking 'most of them are going to be made into Jack-o'-Lanterns anyway, so why not make them grow like that from the start,' used genetic programming to design them to grow this way from the beginning."
"What if it's not Halloween?"
"Just leave it. After modification, it's no longer suitable for eating. It's incredibly hard now."
After saying that, the Herta Puppet took out its hammer and mercilessly smashed it against the Jack-o'-Lantern Pumpkin.
A heavy blow landed on the Jack-o'-Lantern Pumpkin with a dull thud, but when the Herta Puppet removed the giant hammer, the pumpkin was perfectly intact.
It was indeed very hard. He felt that the Herta Puppet's hammer strike just now could have killed him.
"Resistant pumpkin."
"If you take good care of it, the pumpkin's grimace will be a smiling face when it grows up. If not, it will be a crying face."
"What if I need a crying pumpkin?"
"You can beat a smiling pumpkin until it cries."
"...It can even change expressions?"
"Of course, it just changes a bit slowly."
Then the Herta Puppet led Bai Luan towards the brown mushroom.
"Good morning, Ms. Herta Mushroom."
"This is the talking mushroom I showed you earlier. Was it illusion spores or telepathy that achieved this effect? Never mind, that's not important. Its characteristic is that it talks and has a verbal tic of saying 'mushroom' at the end of its sentences."
"This seems more like magic than technology..."
Bai Luan looked at the brown mushroom and asked:
"What should I call this mushroom?"
"You can call it whatever you want: Big Mushroom, Brown Mushroom, Talking Mushroom, anything is fine. It doesn't have a name anyway."
"Hmm..."
Bai Luan stared at the mushroom and said seriously:
"I think it must be called Inspiration Shroom."
"Inspiration Shroom Shroom."
Hmm... this verbal tic could be exploited.
"Come on, Inspiration Shroom, repeat after me: Inspiration Shroom lee shroom lee Inspiration Shroom Inspiration~"
"Inspiration Shroom lee shroom lee Inspiration Shroom~"
Ohhhhhh!
What a perfect exploitation of the rules!
Satisfying!
After an unknown amount of time, the entire Botanical Garden had been introduced by the Herta Puppet.
"Finally, every time you enter or exit here, you must undergo a disinfection and cleaning to ensure no seeds are carried out.
These plants are based on native Azure Star plants and can also grow on this planet. If they are taken outside, they will cause a series of troublesome issues."
Invasive alien species?
"Understood."
"The documents will be sent to you later. Now you can move freely and familiarize yourself with this Botanical Garden. Whenever you're ready, come here to work."
The moment the Herta Puppet finished speaking, Bai Luan entered the Little Black Room.
He'd come out after leveling up to max.
Before him was an empty wasteland, identical in layout to the Botanical Garden outside!
The moving vines, the long-mouthed flowers, the glowing fungi, the tall emotional roses, the hard Jack-o'-Lantern Pumpkins... all were gone!
Only barren soil, empty cultivation troughs, and cold instrument stands remained, like a ransacked ruin.
"Botanical Garden?"
A familiar voice came from beside him. The Herta Puppet from the Little Black Room had appeared beside him at some point, arms crossed, a subtle, mischievous smile playing on her exquisite puppet face, as if she had successfully pulled off a prank.
Her violet eyes, reflecting the desolation, shimmered with an all-knowing light.
"Plants..."
She drew out the word, with a hint of sly amusement,
"Are also a kind of 'living thing.' So..."
She turned her head, looking at Bai Luan's frozen face, and softly uttered the cruel truth:
"They... couldn't be replicated in here."
This was a bit troublesome now.
His foundation for pretending to be a genius had been banned.
Was he about to be exposed?