Chapter 169: Green Light Water Celery Seeds

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Green Light Water Celery Seeds

"Thunder! It’s going to rain!" Zhao Ze’s shout echoed on the Lord channel. "I don’t know if it’s Harmful Rain! Everyone, hurry and cover your greenhouses!"

"Damn it! Didn’t the weather forecast last night say no rain?" Kuang Qingwei grumbled, the sound of his running audible in the background.

Shi Zhong chimed in, "It doesn’t feel any colder, so it probably won’t hail."

Hu Zifeng also spoke up. "Everyone, don’t panic. The weather monitoring equipment in No.1 Territory shows that the Harmful Element content in the rain clouds isn’t high. It’s not Harmful Rain."

Zhao Ze cheered on the Lord channel, "No.1 Territory has weather monitoring equipment? That’s great!"

Despite his cheers, however, the sound of running in the background didn’t slow in the slightest.

Xiaqing had already finished quickly covering the greenhouses on the High Slope with rainproof cloth and was now running toward the lower slope. Even if there was only a one percent chance of it being Harmful Rain, she couldn’t risk exposing the Green Light plants in her terraced fields to that possibility.

Hu Zifeng’s team arrived shortly after and helped Xiaqing with the rainproof cloths. They had just two greenhouses left when the rain began to fall. The group immediately picked up the pace, got them covered, and then dashed back to the small cabin at the edge of the fields.

Hu Zifeng took out the Harmful Element Detector. After running a test, he said, "It’s normal rain."

Xiaqing breathed a sigh of relief. She decided that as soon as this rain stopped, she would go find Shi Du to learn his technique for rapidly deploying and retracting the rainproof cloths so she could put it to use.

The rain wasn’t heavy, but it looked like it would last a long while. The rainproof cloths were secured. Xiaqing thanked Hu Zifeng’s team and sent them back to No.1 Territory, then looked up at the sky and smiled.

’This is a real godsend.’

She hoped the rain would last longer and fall harder; that would truly put her mind at ease.

After making a round through the fields, Xiaqing went home, finished her breakfast, and entered the cellar beneath the tool shed. It had been raining for nearly an hour, yet the floor of the three-meter-deep cellar remained dry. This proved the cellar was sound.

Delighted, Xiaqing decided to dig the food storage chamber beneath the cellar another meter deeper. To make full use of the Yi Stone’s protective field, she planned to fashion a cubic storage room and suspend the Yi Stone in the very center. This would ensure the entire chamber was protected without any blind spots, leaving no space for evolved harmful bacteria to survive.

Xiaqing packed the excavated earth and rubble into bags, then carried them up by stepping on the footholds she had carved into the sides of the cellar shaft.

When she finished excavating the storage chamber, the cellar floor still showed no signs of seepage, putting Xiaqing even more at ease.

The rain had stopped by now. Xiaqing drove the micro-tiller out of the garage, attached the cart, and began to haul away the dirt. Despite three hours of rain, the tracked micro-tiller had no trouble on the road she had built, allowing her to work without interruption.

The real thing slowing her down was the wound on the web of her right hand. If not for the injury, a thirty-cubic-meter cellar would have been a quick job with her Strength; it wouldn’t have taken this long at all.

The PUTT-PUTT-PUTT of the micro-tiller startled the three wolves in the sheep pen. But after seeing Sheep Leader CLIP-CLOP out of the house and hop onto the machine, the three wolves settled down, lying back down to continue their recovery.

Xiaqing and Sheep Leader drove the micro-tiller to the Deserted Village in the southeast part of the territory, dumped the dirt from the cart, and began loading bricks.

Xiaqing had already meticulously picked through the crumbling ruins of the three Deserted Villages within her territory, salvaging any useful materials and storing them properly.

Bricks were, of course, useful. Xiaqing didn’t know how to fire them and didn’t want to spend points to buy any, so she scavenged old bricks from the three villages instead.

After she had loaded the cart with whole and half bricks, she started chugging back on the micro-tiller. Over in the Second Territory, Tang Huai clutched his head and groaned.

The houses in the Second Territory were built toward the north, only a few hundred meters from the Deserted Village where Xiaqing was hauling bricks. Tang Heng heard the noise as well. Seeing how miserable his brother was, Tang Heng brought over a Protective Mask. "Here, bro, put this on."

Tang Huai waved it away, complaining weakly, "Does that woman ever take a day off? Doesn’t she get tired? Doesn’t she get bored?"

Tang Heng chuckled. "After ten years of starving, finally getting a chance to work for yourself, to grow your own grain and vegetables... it’s normal to be motivated."

"But she’s *too* motivated..." Tang Huai flopped over in bed, grumbling, "She’s got more drive than all the men in this territory put together."

"Well, she is a Strength Evolution Person, Above Level 5," Tang Heng said, his tone full of envy.

Still suffering from the ultrasound attack, Tang Huai was now envious of Xiaqing as well. "Strength Evolution really is the best for farming. They should round up all the Strength Evolution People in the Safe Zone and put them to work on the fields."

Just as Xiaqing brought the load of bricks home, she heard Shi Du calling for her on the Lord channel, "Sister Qing, are you there?"

Xiaqing pressed the button. "Here."

Shi Du’s voice was cheerful. "We’ve harvested the Green Light water celery seeds in our territory! Should I bring them over to you now?"

"Okay, thank you." Xiaqing knew why Shi Du had chosen this particular moment to deliver the seeds. She quickly washed her hands and retrieved thirty pounds of vacuum-sealed Yellow Light Wheat.

The going rate for trades between Lords was twenty points per Green Light Seed, and the Safe Zone’s buyout price for Yellow Light Wheat was twenty points per pound. Xiaqing had originally agreed to trade wheat for thirty Green Light water celery seeds, which meant she needed thirty pounds.

Hearing that the Tenth Territory’s Green Light water celery seeds were mature, Little Liu, the assistant from No. 9 Territory, came online. "Mr. Little Hour, could you deliver the seeds for No. 9 Territory while you’re at it?"

Back in June, the Tenth Territory had traded Green Light water celery seeds for the No. 9 Territory’s high-efficiency compost starter.

Shi Du agreed, "Okay. Uncle Kuang, Aunt Yuan, are you there? I’ll drop off your water celery seeds on the way too."

Kuang Qingwei immediately replied, "I’m here! Thanks, Little Hour."

Yuan Yan answered, "Okay, thanks, Little Hour. I’ll go wait for you at the road sign."

The Lord of No.12, Tang Zhengpo, asked, "Little Hour, do you have any extra Green Light water celery seeds? I’d like to trade for some too."

Shi Du apologized, "Chairman Tang, we only had a few celery plants, so we had a limited number of seeds. All the ones we could trade are already spoken for."

"Alright," Tang Zhengpo responded.

Zhao Ze’s voice popped up on the Lord channel. "My alfalfa seeds are almost ready, too. Once I harvest them, I’ll make the rounds and deliver them to everyone."

For the Lords, their territory was their home. It was just a very large home—bigger than a pre-Natural Disaster village, spanning hundreds of acres.

Hearing that Shi Du had to deliver seeds to so many people, Xiaqing was no longer in a rush. She had Sheep Leader carry the sack of grain and leisurely strolled toward the Third Territory’s signpost.

When she timed her arrival at the No. 3 signpost, she was surprised to find Shi Du stopped at the No. 4 signpost, a kilometer away, chatting with Zhao Ze.

’I thought Zhao Ze didn’t trade for any water celery seeds.’

Xiaqing perked up her ears and heard Shi Du say to Zhao Ze, "Brother Zhao, I can’t chat anymore. I’ve got to go deliver these seeds."

"PFFT—"

The moment Shi Du finished speaking, Xiaqing heard a snicker from Tang Huai in the Second Territory—the unmistakable sound of someone enjoying the drama. A glint appeared in Xiaqing’s eyes. She had an idea.