Chapter 212: New Ability Evolution?

Chapter 212: Chapter 212: New Ability Evolution?

In the Disaster Years, even the slightest anomaly demanded attention. Ignoring one could lead to a major crisis, or even death.

Xiaqing moved the strange sunflower out of the vegetable greenhouse and replanted it in a small shelter far from the main one. A Yellow Light ground-cherry plant had once grown in this small shelter, but its main stem had been snapped during a hailstorm last month, and it had died.

Five days after the sunflower was moved, the patch of sunflowers it had been near caught up to the growth rate of the others within a few days. This confirmed Xiaqing’s suspicion: the strange sunflower had been harming them.

As for *how* it was harming them, Xiaqing had no idea.

Over the next few days, Xiaqing carefully inspected the sunflower field and found three more that felt strange. She moved them into the small shelter as well. Because she had been careful to transplant them with a large enough root ball, she hadn’t damaged their root systems. So, although the four sunflowers wilted for two days, they all recovered and resumed growing.

Even after they recovered, they still felt wrong to Xiaqing. And this wrongness was unusual.

After getting to know Hu Zifeng better, Xiaqing had asked him how he had determined that the bamboo with the Green Light Bamboo Shoots was an aggressive Evolved Plant when they had teamed up to dig for shoots in the Evolution Forest in early April.

Hu Zifeng’s judgment was based on the external characteristics of the dangerous Evolved Creature and its surrounding environment. For example, the leaves of that Green Light bamboo were sparser than other bamboos, the main stalks of the bamboo around it had scars from being cut or pierced by its leaves, and there were no animal bite marks on the Green Light Bamboo Shoots.

The reason Xiaqing felt this was so unusual was that, apart from stunting the growth of the sunflowers around them, the four she had found were identical to other Yellow Light Sunflowers in every way—from their gray-green leaves to the fine fuzz on their main stalks.

Xiaqing didn’t want to tell anyone about this vague, indescribable feeling, because she didn’t know if this was the result of one of her abilities evolving.

’If it wasn’t, that would be fine.’

’But if it was, then she, Xiaqing, would have gone from a Three-System Ability Evolver to a Four-System Ability Evolver.’ In the ten years since the Natural Disasters began, Xiaqing had never even heard of a Four-System Ability Evolver. The possibility made her both thrilled and deeply uneasy.

So, Xiaqing decided to keep this a complete secret, even from her closest companion, Sheep Leader.

Having made her plan and finished her training for the evening, Xiaqing said her goodbyes to Sheep Leader and the Sick Wolf. "Leader, Second, I’m going to bed. The territory is in your hands tonight. Keep a good watch, and I’ll make you something delicious when I get up in the morning."

"BAA." Hearing the promise of a tasty meal, Sheep Leader bleated in response.

The Sick Wolf looked up at Xiaqing, tilting its emaciated head. It was clearly in a good mood as well.

Sheep Leader couldn’t see at night, so the real guardian of the night watch was the Sick Wolf.

Evolutionary Wolves are nocturnal, sleeping during the day and active at night. Even in their sleep, they are extremely alert and will wake at the slightest disturbance.

Ever since the Sick Wolf’s vision returned and it was able to move around slowly, it had voluntarily taken on night watch duties. Not the slightest disturbance in the territory escaped its ears.

After the great evolution of life on Blue Star, it wasn’t just humans whose abilities evolved; wolves did too. Already superior to humans in terms of vision, hearing, sense of smell, and running speed, wild wolves became even more exceptional after evolving. Although Xiaqing was a Level 7 Hearing Ability Evolver, her hearing was still no match for an average Evolutionary Wolf.

Twice in the last half-month, wild rabbits had snuck into her territory at night, tearing through the insect netting to get into the greenhouse and steal vegetables. Because they hadn’t touched any of the tripwire traps, the sleeping Xiaqing hadn’t noticed them, but the Sick Wolf discovered them both times.

Xiaqing had only found out because she’d heard the Sick Wolf go out the door, but hadn’t heard it return after relieving itself. When she went out to check, she discovered the rabbits’ tracks.

Xiaqing was sure that if the Sick Wolf hadn’t been so weak, it would have caught the rabbits and torn them to shreds. After that incident, Xiaqing officially handed over night watch duties to the Sick Wolf.

With the Sick Wolf on watch, Xiaqing slept more soundly.

The next day, the first thing Xiaqing did after rising with the sun was to open her window and check the items on the windowsill.

After releasing the Red Squirrel with the locator attached, Xiaqing had left some Pollution-free Spring Water, a few grains of food, and a wad of tobacco on the windowsill, hoping the little creature wouldn’t get caught stealing from other territories again.

Just ten minutes ago, Xiaqing had heard a rustling sound outside the window. She checked the app on her phone and saw that the little red dot representing the Red Squirrel was on the windowsill, just two meters from her phone. This was the first time it had come so close to her since she’d released it.

Opening the window to check, Xiaqing discovered the little creature had not only drunk some water but had also made off with a wad of Red Light Smoke. For a moment, she couldn’t decide which had been the bigger draw for the Red Squirrel: the Red Light Smoke or the Pollution-free Spring Water.

After going downstairs to wash up, Xiaqing informed Sheep Leader and the Sick Wolf she was leaving, then slung a large backpack over her shoulders, picked up a chicken coop, and left the house.

After placing the chickens and geese in their new coop, Xiaqing left her territory and headed for the abandoned cave in Zone 3 to deliver medicine to the injured wolves.

On the way, she pulled out her phone to check the Red Squirrel’s location. The little creature had already traveled quite a distance this morning. The arrow indicating its direction of travel was pointing northwest, toward Mountain No. 50. ’Maybe it’s gone to look for Chestnuts,’ she thought.

Upon arriving at the cave, Xiaqing fed the medicine to the Brain Domain Evolution Wolf. Afterward, the Broken Leg Wolf dropped a kill at her feet that looked very similar to the one from yesterday.

This one was bigger than yesterday’s; it was probably its mother. Xiaqing praised it earnestly, "Broken Leg, you’re so capable! This kind of animal looks like it runs incredibly fast. You caught the baby yesterday and the mother today, that’s amazing. But if you keep hunting them like this, will we have anything left to eat next year?"

The Broken Leg Wolf dropped its prey and turned to get a drink of water, completely oblivious to Xiaqing’s concerns.

When Xiaqing’s test revealed this animal was also a Yellow Light, she became even more certain the Broken Leg Wolf was hunting them straight from their den. She explained seriously, "The third Harmful Rain is coming in two days. Do you understand what Harmful Rain is? It’s the kind of rain that causes plants to grow uncontrollably and animals to go into a frenzy."

The Broken Leg Wolf wasn’t interested. After getting its drink, it went back into the cave to rest. The Black Wolf, tasked with protecting the injured wolf, was busy catching bugs nearby. Only the Brain Domain Evolution Wolf seemed to be listening intently to Xiaqing.

Xiaqing sealed the prey and stuffed it into her backpack, continuing her one-sided conversation with the wolf. "The Queen has been gone for so long. How are you all planning to ride out this Harmful Rain?"

The Brain Domain Evolution Wolf stared at Xiaqing, a thoughtful expression on its face.

’The language barrier makes communication impossible.’ Xiaqing sighed, shouldered her heavy backpack, and returned to her territory. After storing the kill and eating breakfast, she immediately got to work.

According to the plan she had made, the first order of business in preparation for the Harmful Rain was to harvest the peanuts.