Chapter 231: Where There’s Life, There’s Hope

Chapter 231: Chapter 231: Where There’s Life, There’s Hope

Perhaps unhappy from being cursed at, the Harmful Rain stubbornly held on until five in the morning before finally stopping, even though the clouds had already thinned enough to reveal the stars.

The third Harmful Rain of the tenth year of the Natural Disaster had lasted for a full seventy-three hours.

Since the great evolution of Blue Star’s organisms, this was the longest-lasting Harmful Rain on record, and also the one with the longest total duration of Red Level showers.

The humans who survived, though utterly exhausted, all felt fortunate to be alive.

After clearing out the Qiang Evolved crops and pulling back the rainproof cloths on the greenhouses to let the surviving plants breathe, Hu Zifeng’s team returned to No.1 Territory.

Xiaqing didn’t even have the strength to walk home. She lay beside a fiercely burning pile of Evolutionary Water Rats, panting heavily.

Why was she lying here? Because the heat from the fire drove away the Evolutionary Worms and Evolutionary Bacteria from the Injurious Grass, making it the safest place to be.

SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH...

The familiar rhythm made Xiaqing slowly turn her head. Through her Protective Mask, she saw her mud-caked companion treading down the muddy path toward her, carrying two stalks of vibrant spinach in its mouth.

Xiaqing struggled to sit up, perching on a patch of Injurious Grass that had been dried by the fire. She then took off her silver-white Protective Mask.

The acrid stench of burning Evolved Beasts washed over her, but Xiaqing simply had no energy to move elsewhere.

She took the spinach from Sheep Leader’s mouth and washed it clean with spring water from her canteen. Xiaqing ate the leaves while Sheep Leader ate the stems and roots.

That’s right. Raw.

Neither the mud-caked human nor the mud-caked sheep minded the other’s state. They leaned against each other, resting for a long while before Xiaqing finally struggled to her feet. "Leader, you head home first. I’m going to pick some vegetables and make you something delicious."

Xiaqing followed Sheep Leader’s hoofprints to the edge of the spinach terrace on the High Slope, and the knot of anxiety in her chest finally loosened. Although the barrier of thorns meant to keep the sheep out had been pulled apart, Sheep Leader had only plucked two stalks of spinach, leaving the rest untouched.

As Xiaqing was putting the thorn barrier back in place, she saw Sheep Leader trotting up the slope with the small insect-catching basket in its mouth. It stomped on a large grasshopper with its hoof, killing it, then picked it up and dropped it into the basket.

’The fish, snakes, and chickens at home all need to be fed. Sheep Leader is so capable!’

Xiaqing was so touched that she swallowed whatever scolding she had planned and instead showered it with a flood of praise more torrential than a river.

Insects were frighteningly numerous after the Harmful Rain, and the woman and sheep quickly filled a basket.

On the way home, Xiaqing couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache as she looked at her fields, which had been ravaged by the Harmful Rain.

Only three plots had suffered minor losses: the spinach on the High Slope, protected by the Yi Stone, had lost two plants—the ones Sheep Leader just plucked. The sweet potato terrace on the High Slope and the Green Rice, also protected by the Yi Stone, had no losses.

The remaining losses were substantial. The sweet potato seedlings on the lower slope terrace lost twenty plants. Since the pumpkins were in their late growth stage, their losses were relatively low, but still amounted to a fifth of the crop. Other vegetables suffered losses between one-third and one-half.

The cotton, which was in its mature stage, suffered a ten percent loss, totaling 715 plants. In contrast, during the second Harmful Rain, the cotton was still growing and had only lost 220 plants, which truly showed the power of this recent downpour.

The corn, still in its growth stage, lost a third of its plants, a staggering 1,050 stalks. The Yellow Light Mung Beans in the main field also lost a third, amounting to 2,000 plants. The Green Light Mung Beans on the terraces fared slightly better but still lost 560 plants.

Overall, the losses on the terraces were less than those in the main fields. The loss ratio for Green Light plants was lower than that of Yellow Light plants, and plants grown from seeds soaked in spring water had lower losses than those from seeds soaked in filtered water.

Another point of interest: the corn plants grown from the kilogram of seeds given to her by Luo Pei had fewer losses than the plants from the kilogram of seeds Xiaqing had bought from the Safe Zone.

Although she had lost so many laboriously grown crops, the silver lining was that there were no deaths—human or animal—within her territory.

If not for the mutual aid between territories during the final stage, which helped clear out twenty-five high-risk, Qiang Evolved Huang Nai Trees, this entire area would have been blanketed in A Level toxic gas, and every living, breathing creature would have been silenced forever.

’Now the Natural Disaster is over, and they’re all still alive. That’s more important than anything. As long as you’re alive, it’s a victory. There’s hope.’

After returning home with Sheep Leader, Xiaqing first removed the Protective Masks from the Wolf Group and set out some Pollution-free Spring Water for them. Only then did she go inside to give Sheep Leader a good scrub, rinse herself off, change into clean clothes, and immediately prepare a special feed for Sheep Leader. After all that, she finally went to check the underground storage room.

The storage room was undamaged, and the food inside was safe.

She had herself to thank, and the five years of sweat she’d poured into the Safe Zone’s construction team.

She had the Wolf Group to thank, for bringing her the Yi Stone.

And she had Zhang San, her idol, to thank, for selling her the equipment and interior wall panels.

There was no fresh meat left in the storage room. Xiaqing boiled some dried meat for the Sick Wolf and fed some insects to the lively Spring Water Fish before carrying the chicken coop, which had been in the tool shed for four days, out under the eaves of the house.

’The chicken run is destroyed and needs to be rebuilt. I’ll let these guys out for some air first.’

Having not seen the sun for four days, the Black Feathered Rooster flapped its wings, stretched its neck, and let out the very first crow of its life.

"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO—"

"Well, look at you," Xiaqing said, her voice hoarse. She sighed.

’The rooster knows how to crow now, so I can’t hide the fact that I have chickens on my territory anymore.’ Xiaqing poured some Evolutionary Worms into the trough. Without any prompting, the flock of chickens and the little gosling rushed over, scrambling to eat.

As she poured insects into the snake enclosure, a snake shot out from the opening of the wooden box with extreme speed. Xiaqing slapped it to the ground with a single swat.

Before she could make another move, the Broken-leg Wolf darted over. With a single swipe of its claw, it sliced the snake in two. The move was brutally fast and precise.

"Nice one, Broken-leg! Impressive!" Xiaqing praised. A scan revealed the snake was already indicating Red Light. This meant that without protective measures, some of the edible snakes she was raising had become inedible, going berserk and losing all reason.

Berserk snakes had no rationality and couldn’t feel pain. They would fight until their very last drop of blood was spilled.

Therefore, they had to be eliminated as quickly as possible.

Xiaqing grabbed a bag and scanned every snake in the enclosure. She removed all the ones that had turned Red Light or gone berserk, then stuffed the rest back inside to continue raising them.

Because she hadn’t discovered the problem sooner, only a third of her edible snakes remained—just over twenty. Xiaqing’s heart ached at the loss.

The Harmful Rain had just ended, so Zhong Tao and his group wouldn’t be able to come over for at least five or six days. The culled snakes could only be burned or buried.

Just as Xiaqing was about to dispose of the Red Light snakes, the Broken-leg Wolf snatched one up and began to eat.

A wolf that hadn’t eaten in four days would eat any meat it could get. This, at least, saved Xiaqing the trouble.

After a simple breakfast, she downed a vial of freshly prepared Special Level Nutrient Liquid. Forgetting all about sleep, Xiaqing immediately began clearing the Injurious Grass from her yard.

It wasn’t a matter of diligence; the Harmful Rain had simply lasted too long. The first wave of Injurious Grass had already started to head and produce seeds. If those seeds matured and fell, the density of new growth during the next Harmful Rain would be terrifying enough to drive a person mad.

So, for a farmer, there could be no rest until every last stalk of Injurious Grass was cleared.

After pulling up all the Injurious Grass in the yard, Xiaqing drove out her mini-tiller, attached the cutting wheels, and began clearing the rest of the territory.

’Time was short, so she couldn’t worry about the roots. She had to cut the stalks down first and deal with the roots later.’

Xiaqing had already modified the mini-tiller’s cutting blades, adding four extra wheels. This made it three times more efficient than before. It used more fuel, but the work speed was drastically higher.

The CHUGGA-CHUGGA of the mini-tiller’s engine and the WHIRRING of its blades carried all the way to the Second Territory. Tang Huai, who had just fallen asleep only to be jolted awake by the noise, was at his breaking point. "Is that woman made of iron? Does she not need to sleep?"