PFC Chapter 4133 When the Pumpkin Ripens (5)
Chapter 4133 When the Pumpkin Ripens (5)
Chapter 4133 When the Pumpkins Ripen (Fifteen)
The two still didn't drive. Arrogance was running low on gas. Since the garden center wasn't far from the subway station, they took a bus first, then the subway to the garden center.
They had assumed it would be a small shop on a commercial street, but it turned out to be an exhibition at a suburban farm. Because it was Halloween, a large crowd had gathered there, browsing gardening supplies and various seeds.
"What do you plan to plant next year?" Greed asked.
"I don't know. I'll plant whatever Pamela gives me."
"Are you really not afraid of being attacked by plants?"
"I assure you, any plant you grow from any seed you buy here has a chance of jumping up and attacking you."
"How could Brainiac allow that?"
“He wouldn’t allow it. But he couldn’t control Pamela. On the bright side, even if it were for the plants to beat people, he would try his best to ensure that the plants grew strong and healthy, rather than letting them become too weak or die of disease. Compared to a good harvest, beating people is nothing.”
"You guys are crazy."
"Furthermore, Brainiac has taken measures, and Bruce has been developing a brand-new plant harvester that can effectively deal with situations where plants hit people."
"This is truly the most absurd research motivation I've ever heard."
"But it did create a lot of jobs. The Kent family farm had to hire six bodyguards to prevent Clark's father from breaking his ribs from cabbages during the busy farming season."
"Krypton should have more people left."
They strolled around the various stalls. They sold all sorts of things, but the most eye-catching were the giant pumpkins. Clearly, Pamela's seeds were widely known. And in this magical city, almost everyone could tame the squashing pumpkins, so now the pumpkins were all lying obediently on the ground.
"Hello, what would you like to order?" A woman wearing a headscarf stood behind the stall and smiled at them. "We have all kinds of vegetable seeds, as well as flower seeds and grass seeds. Some can be paid in cash, and others require points."
"Okay, what kind of payments can be made in cash?"
The woman took out several packets of seeds and said, "Asparagus, lettuce, cabbage, artichokes, and kale."
How much do grass seeds cost?
"Grass seeds require points. And I don't have many left. If you want to create an entire lawn..."
"No, it's probably just about one square foot of space to be added."
"That should be enough. You'll need to pay me three points. Don't you want vegetable seeds?"
The woman was enthusiastically promoting her vegetable seeds. Arrogance knew these seeds were relatively easy to grow. He probably wouldn't be able to handle oil crops or plants like tomatoes that required trellises.
"Okay. I'll have asparagus, lettuce, and cabbage."
Arrogance picked out a few items and paid. Afterwards, they went to the farm tools stall. Greed squatted in front of the stall and said, "You'll need a bigger pair of shears to trim the chestnut tree branches. Then you'll need a ladder to pick the chestnuts. The base for the bird's watering can be made, but the water pipe and faucet need to be bought..."
They picked out a lot of things here and there. Luckily, many of the less frequently used items could be paid for in cash. On the way back, Arrogance said, "I'm afraid we need to divide the work. You take care of things in the yard, and then I'll go carve the pumpkin."
"You really intend to carve it yourself?"
"Yes. And I want to carve two, one to take to the banquet, and the other to place in front of my house."
"Alright. The scraps that are carved off will be our lunch."
After returning home, Greed began to tidy up the yard. The first thing to do was to lower the fence. These hedges had grown so tall that from the first floor, one could barely see the lake anymore, only a small part of its edge and the distant woodland, completely wasting the beautiful view from the window.
That's easy to fix. Just take a pair of shears and trim the hedge to the right height. That way, you can see most of the lake. Of course, people outside can also see the house more clearly. But since this area is now sparsely populated, no one will care whether the homeowner is handling moose inside, so a lower height doesn't really matter.
Next comes replanting the lawn. The sparse grass seedlings are removed, and grass seed is sown on top. Of course, grass doesn't usually germinate this season, but with the haze, a little pre-germination is enough.
There couldn't be any clutter in the front yard. Everything had to be moved to the back yard so that the inspectors would consider it a good yard. Luckily, nothing was usually piled up here. Greed quickly tidied up, and the front yard became empty.
Then there's the front wall of the house, which also needs to be free of peeling or stains. After rinsing it with a water gun, it became sparkling clean.
Next up is the mailbox. Actually, the mailbox was quite new, but it's probably been blown a bit too strong by the wind recently, causing it to be slightly crooked and some of the paint to peel off. So it needs to be straightened and repainted.
Also, the fallen leaves on the road in front of the yard need to be swept clean. Although they may soon reappear, it's a good time to take some photos while the area is clean, as this will help with the application process later.
Even after everything was done, it wasn't over yet, because the backyard also needed tidying up. Brainiac's regulations clearly stated that the backyard was substandard. And from Greed's perspective, it certainly wasn't up to par either.
Arrogance barely grows any flowers in its garden. Aside from vegetables in the patch, there are only some shrubs. Aside from aesthetics, this isn't conducive to animal habitat. Brainiac's environmental regulations largely follow those of New Jersey, which stipulate that once a property exceeds a certain size, there is a responsibility to provide a suitable living environment for small animals.
So it's not that Americans are unwilling to farm in their backyards, but rather that cultivating the entire backyard could violate many environmental regulations, and in severe cases, could even lead to accusations of ecological destruction. Juries will not budge on these issues, so even if there is only a small vegetable garden, the rest of the land must have enough lawn, shrubs, and flowers.
Actually, if it were just rodents and birds, a lawn would be enough. But since there are also hummingbirds and bees here, we also have to plant flowers, set up aviaries and drinking areas for birds, and prevent squirrels and small birds from stealing our food. But we can't hurt the squirrels; at most, we can just throw them out.
Greed first trimmed the shrubs, then leveled the soil around the field, and dug out some of the flowers that had already grown—all of which he had taken from the garden in the backyard of his sanatorium and planted in the yard.
After calculating the proportions, I felt it should be acceptable. Then I hung a wooden board on the backyard fence to make a simple bird watering can, connected the water pipe and tap, and water would come out soon.
The backyard of the arrogant house also had trees, but they were all small shrubs. Greed inspected them and found they were growing quite well. But he still said to the arrogant man, "We need to get a big tree, preferably a beech. That way we can tell the experts we have experience growing this kind of tree. The application will be easier to get approved."
“Go do it yourself,” Arrogance said, busy carving a pumpkin. “If Brainiac says you stole trees, I’ll shield you from his messages.”
Greed sighed. He had no choice but to go out into the woods to find a suitable tree to plant. But as he entered the woods, he noticed that there seemed to be more footprints there.
At first, Greed thought it might be the police, since the police had been patrolling the area, seemingly thinking that their accomplices might return, and had not given up monitoring and staking out the place.
But he soon realized something was wrong, because the police wouldn't wander around aimlessly, and the person who left the footprints looked like he had been wandering in the woods for quite some time.
After a careful examination of the footprints, I determined that it belonged to an adult male, but otherwise, not much information was left. The person seemed rather cautious, and it wasn't easy to glean any further details.
Greedy thought about it and came up with two possibilities: either it was another investigator they didn't know who had been following the case and came to the scene to investigate after hearing that the child had been rescued; or it was an accomplice of the kidnappers who had left something there, forcing them to return to look for it.
Greed searched the woods thoroughly but found nothing he had missed. Then Gray Mist told him, "It might be in the lake."
"Shall we go down and look for it?"
"It's best not to. There's a monster at the bottom of the lake. No matter what falls in, no one can retrieve it."
"That means they'll never find them again."
"Hmm. If it was eaten by a monster, it definitely won't be found."
"Could it be the kind of device they used to evade Brainiac's surveillance? They tried to set it up in the woods, and then it accidentally fell into the lake. That would also explain why they were wandering around this woods before."
"But they brought children. Children don't seem to be of much use in setting up equipment, do they?"
"This could just be a form of mind control. For example, taking them to do these things might be a reward. After all, they've been locked up in that small basement. Everyone wants to go out and get some fresh air, and the kidnapper, in order to exercise his authority, decided to set an example by having the well-behaved kids go out with him."
Gray Fog also thought it was possible. However, the specifics would likely have to wait for the police report. The good news was that their equipment left behind was probably gone forever.
Greed considered whether to tell Brainiac about this. If Brainiac wanted to know what the device was all about, he might choose to go down into the lake to find it. Considering the monster in the lake, this wasn't something one or two people could accomplish; they might even have to pump water, which could be quite a commotion and disrupt their normal lives.
However, it seems that Pride is quite concerned about the child abduction case. So after bringing a tree back, Greed still told him the news and his own speculation.
"You mean they might have left their equipment in the lake? But would they really be that careless?"
"Have you forgotten? Kidnappers can do irrational things in their desire to establish authority. They might have put a child in charge of setting up the equipment, and then the equipment fell into the lake."
“Possibly,” Arrogance nodded. He knew very well that establishing authority and exerting psychological control didn't require crude methods like beatings and verbal abuse, but rather giving someone love they had never experienced before. A child who had never received encouragement in their previous family would desperately crave recognition, and the best way to give that recognition was to assign them important tasks, making them feel important. If the kidnappers wanted to achieve this, they might indeed have assigned the child important tasks like setting up equipment.
While Gotham's children are indeed gifted, not everyone is Jason. If the kidnappers had truly used alien technology, the child might not have understood it and could have easily slipped and fallen. It's safe to say that if Barry hadn't apprehended them that very night, the kidnappers would have undoubtedly killed the child in a fit of rage.