Chapter 203 - 126: Wheat Field

Chapter 203: Chapter 126: Wheat Field

As he spoke, the old farmer’s voice suddenly grew strained, and the hand holding his pipe began to tremble. "But now my grandson... I... I don’t dare let him come near the fields anymore. Those... winged things... they’re different now..."

The old farmer opened and closed his mouth a few times, his face flushing red as veins stood out on his neck. It was as if he had a chest full of things to say, but the words were stuck, unable to escape.

Perhaps he didn’t dare to speak, or perhaps he was unwilling to reopen those bloody wounds in front of a stranger. In the end, the old farmer simply took a long, hard drag from the bowl of his pipe, as if the acrid smoke could suppress the terror in his heart.

Seeing the old man’s expression, Xu Mo understood everything in an instant.

The old man wasn’t worried about ordinary sparrows or magpies, but about the mutated birds with poisonous talons and beaks—the ones that circled over the Red Star Industrial Zone.

There was still over a month before the wheat ripened. By then, the golden, plump heads of grain would be an immense temptation for any bird. And what about the massive, highly aggressive flocks of mutated birds, which had already acquired a new taste?

If they attacked in force, it would be a catastrophe for Jiang City’s food lifeline. Scare them off? Ordinary scarecrows and noisemakers would likely be useless. Have people drive them away? That would be no different than serving the flock a snack!

"Try not to worry too much," Xu Mo said after a moment of silence, his tone as reassuring as he could make it. "Whatever you’ve thought of, the higher-ups in Jiang City have surely considered it already. They must have a way to protect these crops."

Even Xu Mo himself lacked confidence in his own words. Faced with a potentially overwhelming and highly mobile flock, could anti-aircraft fire effectively cover such vast farmlands? Could they even afford the cost? But it was all he could say to give a sliver of hope to the worried old man—and to Jiang City itself.

The old man listened, just silently nodding and then shaking his head. He said nothing more, his gaze fixed on the wheat field as he took one sullen puff after another from his pipe.

Xu Mo was no longer in the mood to admire the wheat field. He nodded to the old man, turned, and went back to his vehicle.

Starting the engine, Xu Mo turned the vehicle around and drove toward Jiang City.

Outside the window, the endless waves of wheat still rippled in the wind, full of vibrant life. But to Xu Mo’s eyes, this green sea of hope now seemed to be shrouded in an ominous shadow.

The old man’s unfinished words and his deep-seated fear lodged in Xu Mo’s heart like a thorn. He once again recalled the sight from the Red Star Industrial Zone: the massive flock that had blotted out the sun, circling endlessly over the area without attempting to hunt the zombies below.

’They might not just be lingering there. It’s more likely they’re waiting...’ Xu Mo’s grip on the steering wheel tightened slightly. ’Waiting for this wheat field to ripen.’

From grain-filling to maturity would take about thirty days.

Those thirty days were the golden period for the grains to fill with starch and protein, but they were also a countdown to an ever-approaching threat.

’Are Jiang City’s leaders really prepared? Can they fend off this impending celestial feast, one that promises both bounty and disaster?’

The SUV accelerated down the bumpy country road, gradually leaving the green ocean—a source of both joy and anxiety—behind him. Xu Mo’s gaze passed through the windshield toward the imposing walls of Jiang City, his expression complex.

’The city walls could stop the zombies on the ground, but could they stop this aerial plunder of their very means of survival?’