Chapter 162: Xiaqing’s Injury

Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Xiaqing’s Injury

Of the Evolutionary Birds Xiaqing had killed herself, one had collapsed the compost shed, and another had splattered blood all over her attic and roof. Over twenty roof tiles were damaged, and two panes of the attic window were shattered.

The losses weren’t huge, but the cleanup was going to be a real pain.

Xiaqing first shoveled the blood-soaked soil into a pile, placed branches on top, and set them ablaze to sterilize the earth. Then, she repaired the broken shed frame and insect netting before spraying everything with antiseptic, insecticide, and Deodorant.

The three patches of crops crushed by the Evolutionary Bird’s corpse would have to wait. Xiaqing didn’t have time to deal with them now; she had to fix and clean the house first.

Back at the house, Xiaqing saw Sheep Leader lying in its designated spot, looking a little listless. The two wolves were still motionless. When the three Evolutionary Animals saw Xiaqing enter, their eyes followed her in unison. They clearly hadn’t recovered from the shock; even the broken leg wolf looked pitiful.

"I’m back. I’m going to put the chickens and geese in their pen, then clean the attic," Xiaqing said, enduring her headache and the tightness in her chest. She then carried the chicken coop, goose cage, and back-basket outside.

Four Green Light Chicken hens and two roosters were dead. Among the goslings, one Green Light and one Yellow Light had perished. The survivors were all limp and spiritless.

The ultrasound attack had inflicted immense damage on the fowl, especially the young ones. Xiaqing suspected that Zhao Ze’s and Qi Fu’s chicks weren’t faring well either, but her head was pounding too much right now; she didn’t want to turn on the walkie-talkie to hear about the other territories.

Xiaqing put the living ones in the pen, adding water and a mix of wheat bran and grass. Then she boiled water to begin the Plucking of the dead chicks and goslings. ’Edible food must never be wasted.’

At that moment, however, Xiaqing dearly missed the Weasel that was so good at Plucking. ’I wonder where the Wolf Group and the Weasel were when the humans were fighting the bird flock? And what about the little squirrels hiding in the tree hollows?’

’I hope they all survived the ultrasound attack.’

After cleaning the chicks and goslings, Xiaqing put them directly into a large pot with mountain spring water and seasonings to stew. Although all the birds were Green Light, aside from one Yellow Light gosling, Xiaqing didn’t have the energy for any refined preparation, nor could she trade them with other territories.

’Why not trade them? Because I got my Green Light Chickens from Zhang San. Now that I’ve let them die, I’m too embarrassed to ask Territory Land No. 7 if they want the meat.’

’Besides Territory Land No. 7, the only ones nearby who could afford Green Light Chickens are the Tang Family father and son, and No.1 Territory. No. 8 Territory, with its gold watch, should also be able to afford them.’

’But the patrol team is busy dealing with bird corpses in their jurisdiction, with no time to help me pass messages or transport goods. And Lord No.8 is probably busy taking care of the injured Evolved Sea Eagle in her territory and won’t be in the mood to trade.’

’The people from No.1 Territory just helped defend my land, and some of their members were injured, so it would be inappropriate to propose a trade. As for the Tang Family father and son... I don’t want to trade with them. So, I might as well stew it all in one pot.’

Once the meat was stewing, Xiaqing divided the offal from the chickens and geese into three portions: one for the edible snakes in the Snake Box, one she tossed into the fishpond for the fish, and one she saved for the two injured wolves.

When she went to feed the snakes, Xiaqing discovered that the ones in the boxes were quite active and seemed unaffected. Apparently, the frequency of the ultrasound attack was outside her snakes’ hearing range.

The snakes weren’t afraid, but the fish were.

In the fishpond, three Yellow Light Fish, two Green Light fish, and many small fish were floating belly-up. It was a good thing the ultrasound had scared away all the nearby birds; otherwise, these fish on the surface would have long since been snatched up and eaten by waterfowl.

The small fish were completely dead, but the larger ones still had a heartbeat. It seemed they had only been stunned by the ultrasound, though she didn’t know if they would recover. Xiaqing scooped the large fish out and brought them home in a bucket of spring water.

’If the fish recover, I’ll keep raising them. If not, I’ll kill them for meat.’

After returning home, Xiaqing greeted the pitiful-looking two wolves and one sheep, then grabbed her tools and went to clean the attic without a moment’s rest.

The small building Xiaqing lived in had a gabled roof, with a long, narrow storage attic above the second floor. Since the building had plenty of rooms and Xiaqing had few supplies, she didn’t store anything in the attic aside from the solar battery.

It was a good thing she hadn’t stored any supplies in the attic; otherwise, her losses would have been much greater.

A large section of the resin roof tiles had been torn off by the Evolutionary Bird. The attic windowpane was shattered and its frame was warped. The floor had five or six cracks in it where Sheep Leader had rammed its head. Luckily, the floorboards were thick enough that the bird’s blood hadn’t seeped through to the level below.

Even though she was wearing a Protective Mask, Xiaqing knew the smell in the attic must be horrendous. All three Evolutionary Animals had vomited during the ultrasound attack. Xiaqing strongly suspected the device that emitted the ultrasound had been deployed near her territory; how else could it have been powerful enough to harm three mask-wearing Evolutionary Animals so severely?

Forcing herself to keep going, Xiaqing started by repairing the building’s exterior. She washed the bird blood off the roof and outer walls, then retrieved resin tiles, a new window frame, and glass from the warehouse to make the replacements.

After finishing the exterior, Xiaqing started cleaning the inside. She scraped off the blood-stained plaster and threw it away, swept up the filth from the floor, and mopped it as clean as she could with a wet mop before spraying it with insect-repellent and deodorizing medicine.

As for the cracked floorboards and the scraped walls, she would deal with them later when she had time.

Xiaqing had worked on a construction team for several years, and repairing combat-damaged buildings was the task she performed most often. It was second nature to her. Even so, by the time she finished repairing and cleaning the house, she was so exhausted she didn’t want to move a muscle.

She returned to the first-floor bathroom for a long, refreshing shower, then changed her clothes and collapsed into a chair. Taking a deep breath, Xiaqing pulled off her right glove. The force of her struggle against the diving Evolutionary Bird had torn open the webbing between her thumb and index finger. With the glove off, her entire palm was covered in blood. Through the gash, she could even see the soft tissue attached to the bone.

Luckily, her gloves were high quality and had prevented the wound from being directly contaminated by the Evolutionary Bird’s blood. Otherwise, she’d be lying down just like Qi Fu right now.

Xiaqing had suffered this kind of injury many times before and knew exactly how to treat it. First, clean and disinfect the wound, then apply hemostatic medicine, and finally, wrap it in a bandage. All done.

As Xiaqing treated her wound, the two wolves and the sheep all stared at her. Sheep Leader even pushed through its discomfort and walked over, its hooves tapping against the floor.

"It’s nothing, just a small wound." Xiaqing said this not just to comfort Sheep Leader. She was a High Level Evolver with a robust constitution; as long as the wound didn’t get infected with Evolutionary Bacteria, an injury like this would heal in about a week. That was why she hadn’t treated it immediately. She still had work to do, and treating it earlier would have been a waste of medicine.

After treating her wound, Xiaqing noticed the two wolves could now move their front legs and heads and knew the anesthetic had worn off.

These two were wild wolves from the Evolution Forest. Even though they were injured, having them inside the house still made Xiaqing uneasy.

So, Xiaqing consulted with Sheep Leader. "Leader, could you take your friends out to the yard? I’m completely spent and don’t want to move anymore."