Manbao and Bai Shan gave up after digging twice. With such hard ground and such a large rock, how could they possibly dig it out with just two small medicine hoes?

Manbao thought for a while and asked Keke to take photos and record videos to send to Teacher Mo.

Teacher Mo had said to seek help from the teacher when encountering difficulties. This was their biggest challenge at the moment. She didn’t want to spend a month or two digging up a stone here.

Manbao and the group first collected the other small stones scattered in the pit. They were indeed small stones, some gray-looking rocks only the size of a fist or a few fingers; Keke scanned them and found they were also radioactive, so Manbao picked them up.

After gathering all the rocks except the large one at the bottom of the pit, the two finally had the mind to examine the natural stones in the pit.

Manbao disdainfully picked up two rocks, planning to use them as meteorites, "They don’t look very nice."

Bai Shan also thought they didn’t look nice. They seemed like ordinary stones, although they really were ordinary stones, but: "Isn’t the Western Regions rich in gemstones? Why aren’t there any here?"

Manbao wasn’t sure about this, "Are there gemstones in the desert?"

"Young master, the sky is about to get completely dark; you two should come up now."

Manbao and Bai Shan exchanged glances and began supporting each other as they climbed up. During the arduous climb, they even dropped two of the stones they were holding.

Facing Daji’s gaze, Bai Shan remained unfazed and said, "We can pick them up again tomorrow; they won’t run away anyway."

Daji then withdrew his gaze.

It’s not easy to find dry grass and firewood in the desert, but if you walk a bit farther, you can still find them.

He lit the fire and touched his helmet, looking at Manbao.

Manbao seemed to consider it for a moment and then shook her head, saying, "It’s best not to take it off. Why don’t we go out? We might just need new tools."

Bai Shan knew she wanted to dig out that large stone beneath, and agreed they needed new tools, so he said to Daji, "We can walk out a bit. It’s hard to travel in the dark. Tomorrow, go back and get two large hoes and shovels, along with some extra food and water. Manbao and I will come back in."

Daji frowned, "Master, it’s too dangerous with just you and Miss Man."

Bai Shan glanced at Manbao and said, "Don’t worry. You’ve seen it too; everyone here avoids this place, even animals avoid it. What’s there to be afraid of?"

He said, "It’s almost dark now. Have you heard any wolf howls?"

Daji was startled and only then realized that not only weren’t there wolves, but there also weren’t the usual faint rustling sounds of the desert.

Bai Shan said, "Here, the pit is the most dangerous part, so as long as we are inside it, there’s no need to fear any other external dangers."

Daji then stopped talking.

He looked around and asked, "Should we go out then?"

Bai Shan looked at the faintly visible sky and simply stood up, "Let’s go."

So Daji put out the fire, bundled the dry grass and firewood, and carried them, while Bai Shan and Manbao tossed the stones back into the pit, solemnly telling Daji, "Carrying them is toxic too. We’ve already found them, so we can just take them when we need to leave tomorrow."

In fact, they simply found them heavy.

The three of them carried their baskets and walked out. After the sky completely darkened, they stopped to look at the stars.

Bai Shan pointed at the stars in the sky and calculated for a while on the ground, finally indicating a direction, saying, "Walk towards the middle of those two stars, and we can’t go wrong."

This was a method taught to them by Zhi Ren to recognize the way.

Manbao directly asked Keke, "Is that right?"

Keke: "There’s no significant deviation."

Manbao then said, "Let’s go!"

Both of their masters said so; what could Daji do?

He could only follow them.

After walking for more than an hour, Manbao finally stopped and said, "It’s about right. Let’s stop here."

In the dark, Daji found a sheltered place nearby, set up a fire at the base of a dune, and took off his helmet, "He took out water for the two of them and placed the steamed buns by the fire to warm them up before giving them to eat."

Manbao and Bai Shan didn’t mind the simplicity and directly took one to gnaw on, and truth be told, they were really hungry.

Bai Shan reminded Daji, "Take your time coming back tomorrow; we’ll be fine. Listen, we’ve come so far out and still haven’t heard a wolf howl, which shows how intimidating the pit is."

Daji couldn’t help asking, "Master, Miss Man, how are we going to deal with these toxic stones? Actually, no one is in the desert, and leaving them here won’t matter much, in time it will naturally dissipate."

Keke said, "It won’t dissipate; it’ll just get buried deeper into the ground. Maybe the immediate impact isn’t big, but in the future, as human activities expand its influence will also expand. The overlapping of the two will silently and unnoticed affect the living beings on this land, including humans."

Why are the genetic issues of the future world unsolvable?

Because by the time they discovered it, this influence had penetrated deeply into the genes, and they couldn’t find a solution. The reckless use of technology back then, along with disregard for what was left by nature, caused changes throughout the biological chain.

So from humans to the most ordinary plant species are changing, and without sufficiently advanced technology, allowing animals and plants to mutate freely would result in the world changing every day, and intelligent creatures like humans would fall from the top to the bottom, only to be slaughtered and eliminated by other species.

Currently, intelligent creatures rely on technology to stand above other species, but their risks still exist. As long as genes cannot stabilize, the sword hanging on the necks of all species will always exist, and there’s always a possibility of it falling.

Keke didn’t speak these words, but its fleeting data stream made Manbao momentarily dizzy, and when she refocused, she met Bai Shan’s concerned gaze.

Manbao slightly shook her head to indicate she was okay but felt a bit uneasy inside.

She said to Daji, "We must find and deal with them. We came to the Western Regions this time to handle them."

Daji was stunned, "What about the cowpox..." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"We’ve already found some clues about the cowpox," Manbao would naturally not say this to others, but this was Daji, she and Bai Shan trusted him, she said, "Once we get out, others will have clues too."

Daji didn’t quite understand this sentence, but Bai Shan already said, "Daji, don’t tell others about this place, not even Grandmother, don’t explain too much."

He said, "We all know what needs to be done."

Daji paused in silence, then nodded.

Ever since the Prince of Yizhou died, after he returned to his master’s side, he no longer spoke to the Old Madam about the master’s matters. They both knew, from that moment on, the master had grown up; he truly was the head of the family.

So he only obeyed the master.

Daji glanced at Zhou Man and mentally added a note, perhaps also including Miss Man.