Chapter 32 Reward from the Paleontological Research Institute

This prompt surprised Su Ran.

As he walked towards the direction of the prompt, the mother civet cat was waiting for him in front of a plant just below the prompt.

It was a delicate aquatic plant, more like a herb.

However, its appearance is more like a small reed.

It has stamens and more than ten pea-sized fruits.

Su Ran had never seen this kind of plant before. When he took a step forward, his shoes were instantly soaked by the water in the soft soil.

Taking the phone from Chen Sisi, Su Ran pointed the light at the ground and found that the water plant was growing in a puddle of water.

The light passed through the water, and there were many wild mayflies moving around in the water. This water plant grew in the center, living in harmony with the surrounding microorganisms.

"Amazing, there are still living ancient fruits."

Su Ran let out a long breath, his excitement and joy evident in his words.

"Shen Su, it's just a water plant. Is this a significant discovery?"

"Gu Guo? Isn't this a grass?"

"Could it be that this waterweed is very rare?"

Looking at the comments from netizens, Su Ran nodded happily: "Not only is it rare, it is even more precious than any other rare plants in existence!"

"Because this is an angiosperm from ancient times that is recorded as extinct!"

Su Ran didn't care about the puddle in front of him and just walked over.

The cold muddy water seeped into Su Ran's shoes, stimulating his brain to become unusually clear.

When the light shone on the water plant at close range, Su Ran could see it more clearly. There were fluffy feathers on the top of the stem, and the texture and veins on the stem and leaves were clearly visible.

"This is the oldest angiosperm known to date. It belongs to a genus of dicotyledons and its scientific name is Chinese ancient fruit. It grew in the early Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era about 1.25 million years ago and coexisted with dinosaurs at that time!"

After hearing Su Ran’s explanation, netizens were stunned.

"What? Plants from the early Cretaceous period. Holy shit, this thing is not extinct yet?"

"If this is true, then the civet mother is the real hero!"

"But Su Shen, are you sure you didn't make a mistake?"

The netizens' suspicions are not without reason. If the system's prompt was not correct, Su Ran would not have believed that this long-extinct plant would actually grow quietly here and be discovered by him.

While netizens were discussing the issue, a professional in the field spoke up in the live broadcast room.

Xu Kehai from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences: "The host is not wrong. Comparing the existing fossils with scientific research documents, this is indeed an ancient Chinese fruit, an extinct ancient plant."

Xu Kehai on the other side of the screen had messy hair and his eyes could not hide his joy.

Having been engaged in paleontological research for more than 30 years, he is the discoverer of the ancient fruit fossils of China!
I was unable to witness this plant which no longer exists.

It's him!

It is even a common regret for these scholars who study paleobotany!
Unexpectedly, today, he actually discovered a living ancient Chinese fruit in a live broadcast room!
Xu Kehai from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences: "Host, could you please take some photos and send them to my email?!"

The quiet live broadcast room became restless with the appearance of Xu Kehai.

Personal certification from a big shot from an official organization!

In the face of such authority, netizens no longer doubt the authenticity of the ancient Chinese fruit.

"Professor Xu, is that you? I didn't expect to meet the vice president of our college here!"

"Anyone actually knows this boss?"

"Of course, Professor Xu is the vice president of our College of Plant Sciences, and he is also an associate senior professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences."

Su Ran was also stunned when he saw the barrage. He didn't expect that he had actually alarmed such a big shot.

Xu Kehai's comments floated out from the right side of the screen again:

"It seems that you, the host, are also very knowledgeable about ancient Chinese fruits."

"You are right. This is the oldest angiosperm to date, a new group called 'Archaeaceae'. Although this angiosperm does not have colorful petals, it has the reproductive organs of flowers."

"According to current literature research, the ancient Chinese fruit is very likely the world's first flower!" Where did the first flower to bloom on Earth come from?

It is very likely from China!

A sense of pride instantly arose in the hearts of netizens!

When their eyes fell on the unremarkable "water plant" again, netizens seemed to see this strange ancient Chinese fruit breaking out of the ground from the strata 145 million years ago.

A prehistoric contact spanning hundreds of millions of years!
At Xu Kehai's request, Su Ran took several close-up photos and planned to send them to him for research purposes.

Xu Kehai asked in a private message: "Little anchor, if possible, please call the police and ask professionals to come and protect this only ancient Chinese fruit."

As the only ancient Chinese fruit, Xu Kehai was afraid that it would be damaged by other wild animals.

However, Su Ran felt that since it could survive here for so long, it would naturally not attract the attention of other wild animals.

Moreover, Su Ran stretched the camera and walked forward a little. In a place where the light could not find, there was a field of young Chinese ancient fruit seedlings.

Xu Kehai rubbed his eyes and almost froze.

I didn’t expect there were so many!

Following Xu Kehai's suggestion, Su Ran called the police.

"Hello, is this the police? I'm a villager from Qijiaqiao. I found an extinct wild plant in the mountains."

"That's right, send someone over here quickly."

Soon, the local police came with a group of experts.

With the arrival of professionals, Su Ran took Chen Sisi and Dahei down the mountain first.

On the way, Su Ran couldn't help but say, "The flowers of the ancient Chinese fruit may not be called beautiful. They don't have bright petals, only separate stamens and pistils, and they don't even have calyxes. They can't enjoy the breeze and the warmth of the sun."

"But I have to say that its vitality is stronger than I imagined."

"It seems that there are too many 'miracles' hidden in the North Forest Sea that have not been discovered by people."

Netizens also deeply agree with this.

"But speaking of which, host, aren't you going to deal with the civet cats?"

"Deal with it? Are you kidding? I helped you discover such an important living ancient fruit, and you are so petty that you want to deal with me."

"Su Shen, how are you going to explain this to the villagers?"

What netizens said is right. The civet mother has realized her mistake and atonement for it. It is a great contributor to the discovery of China's ancient fruit.

In the case of poultry being killed by wild animals, the matter is generally handled by the forestry authorities at or above the county level.

Su Ran plans to find a time to apply for compensation from the higher authorities.

However, the process will be more complicated and the waiting time will be quite long.

The civet cat is a second-level protected animal, and Su Ran had no choice but to kill it.

The weasel that was wrongly accused before had not left yet. The little fellow curled up pitifully in the corner. Su Ran touched its head and said, "Okay, it's okay. We wronged you this time."

The little weasel looked up, his eyes full of tears.

Su Ran smiled helplessly, picked up the weasel with one hand and sent it back to the woods safely.

As a forest ranger, Su Ran has to protect nature and wild animals from being harmed, while also protecting the interests of the villagers, and he cannot act on impulse during the process.

What Su Ran didn't expect was that at around three in the morning, a police car drove up to the door.

The flashing red and blue police lights attracted Su Ran's attention. He put on his coat and walked out, and saw Yang Shulin coming over with a paleontologist from before.

"Xiao Su, let me introduce you to this professor of paleontology in our city." Yang Shulin introduced.

"Hello." Su Ran shook hands with the other party.

The professor said to Su Ran excitedly, "Little comrade, thank you very much for providing us with such valuable information. After on-site confirmation, it is indeed an extinct ancient Chinese fruit."

"That's good if it's confirmed." Su Ran nodded.

The professor said with a pleased look on his face: "This has been a great help to our entire paleontological research process. To thank you, our paleontological institute has decided to reward you with a bonus of 50,000 yuan!"

(End of this chapter)