"Do you remember the Dr. Turtle at yesterday's job fair? Didn't he have a copy of the genetically modified technology information from the Nanshan Group in the United States? According to him, if the seedlings cultivated with the transgenic technology can grow more than twice as fast as similar tree species under the same growth cycle, and will also increase the yield of wood, improve the quality of trees, and have excellent ability to resist diseases and pests and wilting agents. ”

Hearing Ling Zikai say this, Zhang Nan understood the meaning of what he said just now: "Are you saying that these fir trees may have been genetically modified and cultivated? Judging from the fact that they can not be affected by soil conditions, climate and environmental conditions, and exceed the growth laws of similar tree species, and grow rapidly, there may be such a possibility." In addition, this transgenic technology has not yet matured, and in the process of practical application, there have been unstable factors, resulting in some defects in the life cells of trees, so in the process of rapid growth, there has been mutation, resulting in death. ”

Originally, Ling Zikai only speculated in his heart because he saw the returnee postdoctoral fellow in Musen Company. Now after listening to Zhang Nan's analysis, this suspicion became even stronger, and he asked:

"Is there a way to identify that these trees are genetically modified technology?"

"Of course, as long as the genetic DNA of the two trees is extracted for comparison, it's fine! Isn't the set of laboratory equipment that Professor Lin rented from the University of Forestry still in the forest farm? You just need to take a piece of wood from a fir tree from here, and then find a fir tree from Yunhai Forest Farm, give it to Professor Lin, and compare it with each other!"

The two of them were talking about forestry technology topics, and Zhang Jun seemed to understand what he was listening to, and when he looked around, he suddenly said: "No, you see, in addition to these fir trees, I see that a few other trees seem to be starting to wither!"

Seeing Zhang Jun pointing to a few red pines not far away, Ling Zikai and Zhang Nan hurriedly looked over.

I saw that although the red pines had not yet died, the pine needles on the branches were a little sparse, and a layer of needles had fallen on the ground around the roots.

Although it is now autumn and it is normal for trees to lose their leaves, Korean pine is an evergreen tree, and it is impossible for the needles to fall off and leave only bare branches.

Zhang Nan ran to the red pine tree to check the reason, but Ling Zikai did not follow, but sat down on an exposed rock.

If he wanted to know if the trees in this forest were growing normally, he had an easier way, and that was to use the Ancestral God Consciousness to investigate the life breath contained in the trees. If the breath of life is vigorous, then the growth of trees is natural and healthy, and vice versa.

When the Ancestral God Consciousness began to cover the entire small hill, Ling Zikai obviously felt that something was not normal.

Although it is said that the vitality of the trees growing in each place is different due to the influence of different regional environments.

For example, the Tiger Leaping Stream has maintained a primitive ecological environment for thousands of years, and the grass and trees growing in it can be described as full of spirituality, and the vitality contained in it is full of essence elements.

Secondly, there are primeval forests like the old forests, which are all towering trees that have grown for dozens or hundreds of years. Because in the long process of growth, it constantly absorbs the vitality of heaven and earth, and over time, a part of the essence of the vitality will be precipitated in the body, so the vitality is also very strong.

Even the plants and trees in Yunhai Forest Farm are thriving thanks to the fertile soil and suitable climate.

And the vitality exuded by these trees in front of me can only be described as languishing.

Naturally, the dead fir trees don't need to be bothered, and even those trees that are growing healthily seem to be under threat to their survival, and they seem to be a little panicked.

What's going on?

Ling Zikai felt a little puzzled, and after exploring back and forth between the trees for a while, his consciousness finally found some clues.

This anomaly comes from the dead fir trees, which no longer breath of life, but faintly exudes a gray aura from the dead branches and rotten leaves.

This aura seems to be very corrosive, and when it is emitted, it clings to the other surviving trees, slowly devouring the life force.

The whole forest is silently enveloped by a terrible plague, and if it is not effectively controlled, it will not be long before all the trees will die.

What is this gray aura?

After Ling Zikai pondered for a moment, he quietly released a trace of ancestral god energy from outside his body.

When the energy came into contact with that gray aura, Ling Zikai's consciousness instinctively produced an emotion of disgust.

At the same time, those gray auras seemed to have met a nemesis, and they all avoided the ancestral god energy.

Some of the gray aura disappeared as if it had suddenly evaporated after touching the ancestral god's energy.

After understanding that the ancestral god energy could restrain these gray aura, Ling Zikai did not destroy them all.

First, because this gray aura almost permeated the entire small hill, and it would take too much energy to destroy it all;

Second, even if these gray breaths in front of him are eliminated, who knows if there will be new breaths spreading from other places, this can only be a symptom rather than a cure, not a long-term solution.

At this time, Zhang Nan also walked back and said, "Those red pine trees do seem to be abnormal, but it is also impossible to tell what the reason is!

Although he already knew that the death of the trees must be directly related to those gray breaths, Ling Zikai couldn't say the answer.

The key issue now is to find out how these gray auras appear and where the source is!

After pondering for a while, Ling Zikai asked, "Nan Nan, let me ask you a question. In the animal kingdom, there are often some infectious diseases, such as avian flu, tuberculosis, rabies, and so on. Could something similar happen in the plant kingdom?"

"Of course, contagion will happen!"

Zhang Nan affirmed: "Plant infectious diseases can be divided into two categories: one is a non-infectious disease, caused by non-living things, such as lack of nutrients, insufficient or excessive water, low temperature frost damage and high temperature burn, as well as unreasonable use of pesticides and fertilizers, or poisoning caused by waste water and exhaust gas.

The second is infectious diseases. Diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, nematodes, or parasitic plants cause discoloration, necrosis, decay, wilting, and deformity.

The most common ones like pine needle rust and five-needle pine blister rust are important forest diseases in the world, known as the plague of the plant kingdom, and when the disease is severe, it can kill the entire forest. ”

Ling Zikai asked, "Then do you think these firs we see now are suffering from the plague?"