[This train has arrived at the Fifth Base. Please take your luggage and exit the train. Pay attention to safety.]
After nine long hours, the train finally pulled into the Fifth Base. The first three hours after departing from the Ninth Agricultural Base were filled with varied scenery, but thereafter, the view consisted only of the endless silver-gray high walls, with no sight of barren mountains or vegetation.
As the train came to a halt, He Yuesheng and Zhao Linong stood up, gathered their belongings, and disembarked. Looking up, they were greeted by the sight of the base’s entrance, framed by a massive stone structure and a high wall. The words “Fifth Base” were carved in deep red on the center stone, creating a striking and majestic impression.
The platform was bustling with people, many of whom had boarded the train at the Central Base station four hours earlier.
“Workers signed up for picking, follow me!” a planter in blue work clothes called out near the gate.
Rows of blue buses were already lined up, waiting to transport the newcomers. Zhao Linong joined the throng of people and eventually boarded one of the blue buses, while He Yuesheng took a seat a few rows behind her.
At first, it felt as if she had returned to the Ninth Agricultural Base, but as the bus began moving, it became clear that the Fifth Base was different. Unlike the centralized structure of the Ninth Agricultural Base, the agricultural buildings here were spread out. Blue houses dotted the landscape, surrounded by neatly cultivated fields. Some houses were nestled in valleys, with trees all around, adding a natural charm to the area.
The roads were also heavily patrolled by agricultural guards—far more than those at the Ninth Base. Along the way, vast agricultural fields came into view, where rows of crops were being tended, and harvesters were hard at work. Agricultural workers, all clad in blue work uniforms, moved between the fields with purpose.
After an hour and a half, the bus finally pulled into a small parking lot. The driver opened the door and turned to announce, “We’re here.”
Hundreds of people—six or seven hundred—disembarked from a dozen buses. Across the road stood a tall, expansive building surrounded by a wall. Embedded in the wall were black, round objects.
Zhao Linong now knew that these were control devices designed to spray protective liquid. In case of an attack by mutant plants, the liquid could help shield the area and keep the plants from encroaching. However, it was only effective against mutant plants below level B.
“Men and women, line up separately! Come here to get your room cards. Four people in a room. You can get food on the first floor using your room card,” the planter in blue announced loudly at the front of the line. “Rest tonight. At eight o’clock, head to the first floor to eat. There’s a card slot on each table; remember to insert your card to claim your assigned task.”
He continued with a stern reminder: “Points will be issued in a week. If you die during the process, your points will be sent to the emergency contact you provided. If no emergency contact is listed, no points will be issued.”
The atmosphere was quiet as everyone received their room cards and proceeded towards the building across the way.
When it was Zhao Linong’s turn, she took her blue room card and then glanced back at He Yuesheng, who was in another line. She pointed toward the tall building ahead and headed up with her suitcase.
Zhao Linong followed the room number on her card and swiped it at the door, which did not open immediately. Instead, a light screen lit up, prompting her to enter her name. After doing so, the door unlocked automatically. Inside, the room was simple, with four beds lined up in a row. Two older women were already seated on the middle beds. Their complexions were yellowish and dark, their fingers rough and thick from hard labor, and one had a prominent black mole on her face. When they heard Zhao Linong, they turned to glance at her, fatigue still lingering in their eyes.
Zhao Linong hesitated briefly before choosing the bed on the left. She walked over, dragging her suitcase behind her. A few minutes later, the door opened again, and a young, thin girl in her teens entered the room. She scanned the three women already present, her gaze lingering on Zhao Linong before quickly looking away when their eyes met.
At 7:30 in the evening, when the sky was darkening, people in the room began getting ready to head downstairs. The thin girl was the first to speak up, asking, “Should we go down now?”
The woman with the black mole stood up quickly and asked in a low voice, “Are we going to the first floor?”
The young girl nodded, confirming, “Yes, that’s what they said earlier.” She then looked around at the others and asked, “Do you want to come with us?”
Zhao Linong had no objections. After quickly replying to a message from He Yuesheng, she joined the others as they made their way downstairs. The lobby on the first floor was already packed with people, all waiting for the cafeteria to open.
At 7:50, the doors to the cafeteria opened, and the crowd rushed inside. Each table was marked with a room number. “That’s our table,” the girl pointed to one in the right corner. Zhao Linong followed her lead.
Once seated, the food carts rolled in to distribute dinner, rather than having people serve themselves. While waiting for the food, Zhao Linong inserted her room card into a socket on the table, which brought up a light screen displaying her task for the following day.
[Harvester: Zhao Linong]
[Harvesting Task: Black and Red Gastrodia]
[Harvesting Time: 7:00–10:00 AM, 3:00–6:00 PM]
“We all have the same task,” the girl noted, pointing to the other tables where similar screens had popped up. “It seems like the tasks are assigned by room.”
Despite her young age, the girl’s hands bore the marks of hard labor, much like the older women. She turned to Zhao Linong, curiosity shining in her eyes. “Why are you doing this kind of harvesting task?”
Zhao Linong, puzzled, replied, “Why wouldn’t I?”
The girl quickly waved her hands. “No, it’s just that you look… like those planters from the outside bases.”
“I’m a student at the Ninth Agricultural Base,” Zhao Linong explained.
The girl’s eyes lit up with envy. “I wish I could be an agricultural student at the Ninth Base and become a planting officer. But I’m not twenty yet.”
“Two years isn’t too long to wait,” Zhao Linong reassured her.
The girl sighed wistfully. “I just hope I live to see twenty.”
Turning to the two older women, the girl asked, “Is this your first time at the Fifth Base?”
The woman with the black mole nodded excitedly. “It’s not easy to get this job. Earning 50,000 points will help my family for a long time.”
Her companion added, “It’s my first time too.”
The mole-faced woman hesitated. “I’m not sure how to pick Gastrodia tomorrow. I’ve never seen it before.”
The girl remained optimistic. “Don’t worry, the planter will guide us.”
When dinner finally arrived, Zhao Linong examined the meal: one dish, one soup, and a bowl of heated canned rice. The soup was thin and tasteless, soaked in dried vegetables, while the dish, diced chicken, had been heavily thickened with starch. It wasn’t purely chicken.
Zhao Linong ate in silence, finding the food even worse than the meals provided at the Ninth Base. At least there, the food was fresh. Yet, when she glanced up, she noticed that her roommates were eating with enthusiasm.
“This food is delicious,” the woman with the black mole said, holding her can of food tightly. Noticing Zhao Linong’s glance, she added, “The base treats us well. I wonder if I can take some home when I leave. I want my daughter to try it.”
The young girl looked up, her mouth full, and offered, “I’ll ask about it for you when we leave.”
“Thank you,” the woman replied softly. “She’ll love this diced chicken.”
Zhao Linong felt a lump in her throat but kept her face expressionless, quietly finishing her meal.
At five in the morning, the room was already bustling as everyone prepared for the day ahead. After a quick meal of canned food on the first floor, they gathered at the bus station at six, ready for their harvesting task. Zhao Linong received a message from He Yuesheng on the bus, learning that he had accepted another assignment.
When they arrived at the foot of a mountain, over two hundred workers disembarked, facing a vast field of tung plants1
. Some murmured uneasily at the sight. Several planters in blue overalls stepped out of a nearby cart. The lead planter addressed the crowd, “There’s a guard team stationed at the foot of the mountain, and another ten-man team will follow us. Hurry and get down the mountain as soon as you finish picking. Don’t linger past noon.”
A video demonstration followed, showing how to dig out the 2
Gastrodia tubers correctly and reminding them that too few tubers would result in point deductions.
Zhao Linong, along with her three roommates, joined the others as they ascended the mountain and began their work. The mountain was covered in Gastrodia elata3
, which grew among mosses. The task was physically demanding—smaller tubers could be pulled by hand, but most required careful digging with their fingers. Using too much force could damage the delicate tubers. Zhao Linong bent down repeatedly, carefully loosening the soil with her hands to retrieve the precious tubers and place them in the cloth bag tied around her waist.
The morning heat was relentless, even at 8 or 9 a.m., making the work exhausting. After three grueling hours, the workers had only managed to dig halfway up the mountain. Zhao Linong’s cloth bag was heavy with harvested tubers when the loudspeaker blared.
“Time’s up! Prepare to head back down!” shouted the planter from the base.
At the foot of the mountain, there was no water to clean their hands, so Zhao Linong, like the others, boarded the bus with mud caked between her fingers. As the bus began its journey back, the sky darkened, and heavy rain began to pour.
“Good thing we finished when we did,” the young girl in the front row sighed, watching the rain pour down outside. She cracked open a window, stretching her hands out to let the rain wash away the dirt. But the wind blew the water inside, much to the annoyance of the person sitting nearby.
“Close the window! The dirty water is blowing in!” someone scolded.
“Sorry,” the girl muttered as she quickly shut the window. With her hands still dirty, she hesitated before wiping them on her clothes.
The woman with the black mole sitting beside Zhao Linong carefully pulled out an old, yellowed handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to the girl. “Here, wipe your face. You’ll catch a cold.”
“Thank you, sister!” The girl wiped her face gratefully. “I’ll wash it for you when we get back.”
“It’s okay. I’ll wash it myself,” the woman replied with a warm smile. “My daughter gave me this. She’s a few years younger than you—thin and small like you.”
By the time they returned for lunch, the rain had stopped. However, it began to pour again just as they prepared to head out for their afternoon shift. The planters distributed raincoats to everyone, and despite the weather, they were sent back up the mountain to continue the harvest. The rain made the soil softer and easier to dig, but the wind and rain stung their faces, and even with the raincoats, everyone felt drenched.
As Zhao Linong bent down to dig another Gastrodia tuber, something caught her eye—a yellow and white stem that resembled a snake’s head. It was a Gastrodia elata seedling, but its appearance was unusual amidst the mature plants they were harvesting.
She stood up, scanning her surroundings through the haze of rain. Her gaze sharpened as she noticed more of these seedlings sprouting nearby. A chill ran down her spine as she raised her voice to alert the others: “There are mutant plants!”
Her warning stirred alarm among the workers. The guards rushed over, and one asked, “Where?”
Zhao Linong pointed toward the emerging seedlings. “There!”
The nearby planters, puzzled, observed the motionless seedlings. “It’s just a seedling,” one of the planters frowned. “Not a mutant plant.”
But Zhao Linong remained uneasy. She pointed to another spot where the ground had been disturbed. “There’s another one.”
Everyone turned to see another Gastrodia elata seedling standing eerily on the dug-up soil. Its unusual presence in the rain, standing alone, sent a shiver through the group. Despite the planter’s reassurances, something felt wrong. The seedlings looked too much like silent snakes waiting in the rain.
The air was thick with fear and the sound of heavy rain as the grower’s face hardened. Without hesitation, he picked up his loudspeaker and ordered, “Everyone, retreat!” The shout sent shockwaves through the group, and panic spread like wildfire. The harvesters scrambled to flee down the mountain, slipping and falling in their haste.
As they ran, more and more Gastrodia elata seedlings emerged from the soil, their snake-like heads seemingly multiplying by the second. The once-innocuous plants now filled the mountain, an overwhelming presence that made everyone feel watched, and pursued.
Someone finally reached the foot of the mountain, but just as relief washed over those halfway down, a chilling sight unfolded. Gastrodia seedlings began to erupt from the ground in droves, growing with terrifying speed. Zhao Linong’s heart lurched as she saw one of the men ahead scream—his foot pierced by a seedling that shot through his body, bursting from his shoulder and head. More screams followed, and chaos reigned as the plants surged, cutting off escape routes.
The guards at the foot of the mountain sprang into action, firing their weapons, but the thin stems of the mutated Gastrodia were nearly impossible to hit. Worse, the erratic movements of the fleeing harvesters made every shot a risk. The rain intensified, muffling the cries of the injured and the desperate gunfire. It was as if the mountain had become a battleground, but one side—the plants—was winning.
Zhao Linong discarded her cloth bag of Gastrodia, her hat long blown away by the wind, leaving her drenched and disoriented. The taste of blood filled her mouth as she pushed herself to keep running. Suddenly, a scream cut through the storm, stopping her in her tracks. Through the downpour, she recognized the voice—it was the little girl from her room.
The girl was sprawled on the muddy slope, trying and failing to get up as the slippery ground betrayed her efforts. Zhao Linong didn’t hesitate. She rushed over and grabbed the girl by the collar of her raincoat, pulling her to her feet. But the girl was frozen in fear, unable to move.
“Run!” Zhao Linong urged, but the girl stood still, trembling. Just then, the woman with the black mole appeared and pulled the girl aside, turning back to Zhao Linong. “There’s a Gastrodia right there!” she warned, gesturing to a nearby seedling.
At the foot of the mountain, the guards laid down a thick cover of gunfire, creating a narrow opening for those still on the mountain to escape. Zhao Linong, the woman, and the girl made their way toward the gap. Just as they neared safety, Zhao Linong felt a sudden movement. She turned quickly, barely avoiding a Gastrodia seedling that shot up beside her.
Her heart raced, but she kept running, adrenaline pushing her through the fear.
The woman with the black mole and the little girl were just steps away from safety when disaster struck. A Gastrodia seedling sprang up right in front of the little girl, startling her. In her panic, she shoved the woman forward, using her as a shield. The woman stumbled, falling to the ground as the girl ran past her and hid behind the guards, sobbing in terror.
Time seemed to slow as Zhao Linong watched the events unfold. The woman with the black mole had fallen into a patch of Gastrodia seedlings, and before anyone could react, the plants surged toward her. In an instant, dozens of seedlings pierced her body, lifting her into the air. Her limbs spread unnaturally as her entire body was impaled, blood mixing with the rain as it dripped down her lifeless form. The plants had claimed her, and her honest, tired eyes—once filled with warmth—were now obscured by the seedlings that had pierced them.
Zhao Linong ran on, her mind numb, her legs moving out of instinct. She passed the woman’s suspended body, unable to process what she had just witnessed. The world around her was a cacophony of gunfire, rain, and death.
Something fell from the sky, landing near her. Zhao Linong instinctively reached out and caught it. She glanced down and felt a shock of recognition—she was holding the woman’s handkerchief. It was yellowed, soaked with rain, and now stained with blood.
The little piece of cloth, so carefully kept by the woman in memory of her daughter, was now the only thing left of her.
