Chapter 210: Dangerous Sunflower

Chapter 210: Chapter 210: Dangerous Sunflower

The corn stalks stood over 1.6 meters tall, with the healthiest ones already towering over a person’s head. They were the tallest crop in the territory, which also meant that spotting any Qiang Evolution among them would be the most difficult.

Everyone knew the third Harmful Rain was coming, so they had naturally made preparations. Shi Zhong replied, "I’ve built a half-meter-high earthen ridge inside my corn shelter."

Kuang Qingwei replied, "Brother Shi, that’s a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that? I made over twenty tall stools to place in my corn shelter during the Harmful Rain. I’ll stand on them to keep an eye on the cornfield."

Compared to tall stools, an earthen ridge was much more convenient for moving around, so Xiaqing and Qi Fu had also built them in advance.

Tang Huai suddenly chimed in, "Xiaqing, you’ll never last seventy hours alone. How about I come over and help you out? Just 100 points a day will do."

Everyone...???

Xiaqing rejected him flatly. "I’ve already hired help to guard my territory."

Tang Huai was about to say more, but his father cut him off. "Tang Huai, if you’ve got nothing better to do during the Harmful Rain, come back and work."

"Okay, Dad," Tang Huai replied. He knew Xiaqing wouldn’t agree, but he was very curious about the mad sheep and the Sick Wolf in the Third Territory and wanted to go have a look.

Hearing that Tang Huai had quieted down, Zhao Ze quietly inquired, "Brother Luo, if things get too busy in my territory, would it be possible to hire some of your people to help?"

This was a question on the minds of the Lords from the fifth, sixth, and Tenth Territories as well, and they all listened intently.

Luo Pei replied gently, "During the Harmful Rain, most of the Green Dragon Team’s core members will be stationed to guard the Safe Zone, so I’m short on people myself. I can only send two or three people to help each territory. Regular team members are fifty points per day, standard evolved members are 100 points per day, and High Level evolved members are two hundred points or more per day. There will also be a fee for any weapons used while fighting Qiang Evolved creatures."

These rates were quite high by Safe Zone standards. However, protecting a territory was a different level of difficulty than defending the Safe Zone. The territories faced far more uncertainties and dangers, so the higher price was perfectly reasonable.

For Lords growing at least ten acres of crops, this amount of points was negligible. Zhao Ze was the first to respond, "Thank you, Brother Luo, for being willing to lend a hand during such a dangerous time. I’d like to hire three standard evolved members."

After Qi Fu, Kuang Qingwei, and Shi Zhong each stated how many people they wanted to hire, Tang Huai couldn’t help but butt in again. "Captain Luo, didn’t you guys clear over a thousand acres of wasteland? If you’re sending out this many people, will you have enough left for yourselves?"

Hu Zifeng immediately shot back, "As long as some scumbag doesn’t go releasing Evolutionary Rats during the Harmful Rain, we’ll have more than enough people."

Everyone...

Tang Huai, the target of that "scumbag" jab...

Luo Pei responded calmly, "We’ve cleared a lot of land, but most of it is still vacant, so we don’t need a large crew."

Tang Zhengpo spoke with Luo Pei. "Captain Luo, are you planning to plant winter wheat?"

Luo Pei replied, "Yes, but I haven’t managed to get any high-quality wheat seeds yet."

Tang Zhengpo took the hint. "Same here. I’m planning to plant more wheat to contribute to the base, so I’ve been busy looking for superior seed stock."

After the two Lords farming hundreds or thousands of acres had finished their exchange, the "small-time" Lords with their dozens of acres resumed their own discussion.

Kuang Qingwei asked, "Brother Qi, if I pull up the cotton plants that only have a few small bolls and let them dry, will the larger bolls at the bottom still open up?"

Qi Fu wasn’t sure either. "In theory, it should work, right?"

"You can pull them up." A cold, long-unheard voice spoke up on the Lord channel.

Lord No. 9, Li Si, who had been taken away over a month ago for illegally storing large quantities of prohibited chemicals in her territory, was back!

Li Si was a planting expert. After their initial surprise at hearing her voice, the other Lords immediately seized the opportunity to ask for her advice on how to handle the Harmful Rain.

Kuang Qingwei quickly asked, "Fourth Sister, is it okay to put the uprooted cotton plants in the shelter? Or do I need to bring them inside my house?"

Li Si replied icily, "After uprooting them, strip the leaves. Place them somewhere out of the Harmful Rain, where the roots won’t touch the soil, and that has good ventilation to prevent them from piling up and molding. After the Harmful Rain passes, spread them out to dry, and the developed bolls will start to split open one by one."

Kuang Qingwei immediately replied, "Got it, thanks, Fourth Sister. The weather’s been bad lately, so take care of yourself."

Everyone scrambled to ask questions. Although Li Si’s voice was clearly tinged with exhaustion, her answers remained professional. It seemed over a month of interrogation and custody hadn’t caused her any real harm.

As for how she had spent the last month, everyone was curious, but they all knew better than to pry.

Xiaqing also asked, "Fourth Sister, what’s the likelihood of Yellow Light Sunflowers undergoing a dangerous Qiang Evolution?"

Li Si replied calmly, "The seeds you all received from the Safe Zone are for an evolved, dwarf variety of oil sunflower, with a growth cycle of about seventy-five days. If you planted them immediately, your sunflowers have already passed the seedling and budding phases. The slower ones are currently flowering, while the more vigorous ones are entering maturity. The probability of a Qiang Evolution is higher during the flowering stage than the maturation stage."

"As for the probability of Qiang Evolution, that depends on how well your shelters isolate the Harmful Elements. During the red Harmful Rain in the eighth year of the Natural Disasters—the one that lasted over an hour and a half—the oil sunflowers at three different bases in Hui City underwent a dangerous Qiang Evolution. The plants began to rapidly fire sunflower seeds outward, causing massive casualties."

A sunflower that could shoot seeds at high speed—wasn’t that basically a machine gun...?

That sudden red Harmful Rain in the eighth year of the Natural Disasters, the one that caused so many deaths, was a nightmare for everyone. To think that another, unknown disaster had occurred during that nightmare. 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Qi Fu asked hesitantly, "Fourth Sister, after two years of cultivation and optimization, the oil sunflowers should be more stable now, shouldn’t they? Otherwise, the Safe Zone wouldn’t sell the seeds for us to buy and plant, right?"

The oil sunflower seeds had been sold publicly by the Lord Management Department at the July agricultural trade fair. Almost every Lord had purchased the maximum of two hundred seeds and planted them in their territory.

Before hearing what Li Si had to say, they’d thought their sunflowers, having passed the flowering stage and entered maturity, had a high chance of making it through the third Harmful Rain unscathed. Now, they all regretted not planting them a few days later. After all, even if a sunflower in its flowering stage underwent a Qiang Evolution, it wouldn’t be able to shoot any seeds.

Why? Because a sunflower head in the flowering stage hasn’t developed any seeds yet!

Li Si replied coldly to Qi Fu’s question, "I haven’t tested the quality of this batch of oil sunflower seeds, so I cannot answer your question."

As for why she hadn’t tested them—well, that was obviously because the hazardous chemicals incident occurred just a few days after she’d received the seeds, and then she was arrested.

Just as a wave of anxiety washed over the group, Li Si suddenly singled out Xiaqing by name. "Xiaqing, why are you so concerned about the possibility of the oil sunflowers undergoing Qiang Evolution?"