Chapter 259: The Green Light Pine Trees on Mountain No. 50

Chapter 259: Chapter 259: The Green Light Pine Trees on Mountain No. 50

Although this Injurious Grass grew on Mountain No. 50, its seeds could easily be carried by strong winds onto territories humans had worked so hard to clear. With the next Harmful Rain, they would take root, grow rapidly, and seize living space.

After Blue Star’s great biological evolution, Injurious Grass was the Evolved Plant Xiaqing loathed the most.

After a Harmful Rain, the concentration of Harmful Elements in the atmosphere would drop, and the growth rate of Injurious Grass would slow. Normal plants whose space hadn’t been overtaken could continue to grow. However, any plants swallowed by the Injurious Grass would weaken, unable to reach the sun or compete for nutrients in the soil.

The herbivores that appeared after the great biological evolution had not developed iron stomachs, so they refused to eat the Injurious Grass, which was extremely high in Harmful Elements. If the grass was allowed to grow unchecked, the vast majority of Blue Star’s plant life would be driven to extinction, and the planet’s food chain would collapse.

After discovering the danger posed by Injurious Grass, Hua Country assembled its top research teams. It took them three years to develop a relatively safe inhibitor, which they named Weed Killer.

Once the Injurious Grass absorbed the Weed Killer, the seeding rate of its flowering spikes would drop to less than ten percent of its normal rate, curbing its rapid spread.

It was only "relatively safe" because if the Weed Killer was sprayed on agricultural crops, it would increase their probability of undergoing a Qiang Evolution.

Even when used within an Evolution Forest, the concentration had to be carefully controlled. Too low, and it was ineffective against the Injurious Grass. Too high, and it would negatively affect the other Evolved Plants.

What was more troubling was that the Injurious Grass was constantly evolving, forcing researchers to work day and night to improve the Weed Killer. Xiaqing was out of the loop; she had no idea whether the cure or the disease was currently ahead in the arms race.

Because Mountain No. 50 and Mountain No. 49 were near territories used for farming, planes and drones couldn’t be used to spray Weed Killer. As a result, in the six months since Xiaqing had moved to the territory, she had weathered three Harmful Rains, and each time they had to eliminate the Injurious Grass by hand.

Besides using Weed Killer to slow the grass’s reproduction, the base had also issued a long-term mission to collect its spikes. People could turn in the collected spikes at the administration hall to exchange them for points by weight. This was one of the primary ways many lower-class citizens obtained food rations.

Xiaqing’s team wasn’t collecting the spikes for points; they were just taking care of a potential threat while they were at it.

Once they passed through the outskirts of the Evolution Forest and entered the dense woods, the concentration of Injurious Grass dropped sharply. Xiaqing’s team stopped collecting the spikes and picked up their pace.

The depths of the Evolution Forest were like another world.

Colorful fungi and mosses grew in corners untouched by the sun. These seemingly fragile plants were, in fact, deadly killers.

Before Protective Suits became widespread, over one hundred million people in Hua Country alone had died after being infested by the spores of these fungi and mosses.

As death approached, those covered in moss and fungi would become gaunt, their skin taking on an unnatural hue, making them look disturbingly similar to the zombies from apocalyptic movies.

That was why many called the Natural Disasters the apocalypse—humanity’s apocalypse. The horrifying sights were a recurring nightmare that survivors couldn’t escape. In the years leading up to the Natural Disasters, Xiaqing herself had been jolted awake many times by nightmares of her own body being overgrown with moss.

Walking through such a dense forest, even while wearing a Level 3 protective suit and flanked by Jing Kuan and Hu Zifeng, Xiaqing still breathed softly, on high alert.

An hour later, Xiaqing suggested they switch positions. "Captain Hu, I’ll take point."

’Today I’m not some support team member who needs protecting. I’m a core member of this squad. I can’t just stay in a protected position; I need to rotate with the others and clear the path.’

After moving to the front, Xiaqing wielded a long, sharp blade in each hand, clearing obstacles as she went. Anything she couldn’t cut through, they detoured around.

"Twenty meters straight ahead, there’s a patch of purple glowing moss. Let’s go around it from the left."

"Roger that," Hu Zifeng and Jing Kuan replied in unison, following her as they circled to the left.

After carefully bypassing the glowing moss, they continued for another thirty minutes before Xiaqing stopped. "There are tracks from a large animal three meters ahead. From the look of the prints, it’s a bear."

"Let me see." Hu Zifeng stepped forward to inspect the large prints in the soft soil. "It’s a bear. Based on the size and depth of the prints, and the length of its stride, I’d say it’s over three and a half meters tall and weighs more than a ton."

Jing Kuan tightened his grip on the gun in his hands. "An Evolution Bear."

"Correct." Hu Zifeng took a deep breath. "The tracks are heading in a different direction. We shouldn’t run into it. Shall we keep moving?"

"Let’s go." Gripping her twin blades, Xiaqing continued to forge ahead.

At 9:30 a.m., the team reached the halfway point of the second-highest peak on Mountain No. 50. Following the description Hu Zi had given them, they located two Evolved Green Light Pine Trees, each over forty meters tall.

When she saw the two pine trees, all Xiaqing could think was, ’Holy cow!’

Qi Fu had said it was a low-yield year for pine cones, and since the pines in Zone Three of Mountain No. 49 hadn’t produced many, Xiaqing had believed his assessment.

But seeing these two Big Pine Trees laden with pine cones, she couldn’t help but question his judgment. ’If this is a low-yield year, how many do they grow in a high-yield one?’

They had underestimated these two trees. There weren’t enough of them to carry all the pine cones out today. Xiaqing conferred with her teammates. "Should we start with the tree on the left for today?"

Hu Zifeng and Jing Kuan were both excited and readily agreed.

Hu Zifeng confirmed with Xiaqing, "Hu Zi said the pine nuts from these trees have a Harmful Element content of around 0.3 percent, and they taste great?"

"That’s right. He said they’re better than the ones on Mountain No. 49," Xiaqing answered.

Hu Zi’s unit had previously been stationed in a hollow west of Mountain No. 49, where the towering, cone-bearing pine trees were very conspicuous. So, before the new territory was established, they had already harvested all the edible pine nuts from the surrounding mountains.

"Once we haul these back and shell the nuts, we can trade them with Zhang San for some top-quality medicine," Jing Kuan said with a grin. "Plus, we can get Eryong to make us some corn with pine nuts."

"Count me in for the corn with pine nuts. I’m not short on medicine right now, so you guys can trade with Brother San. I’ll sit this one out," Xiaqing said, her attention focused on the evolved Cross-beaked Magpies nesting in the Big Pine Tree.

’The two halves of the bird’s beak crossed over each other. No wonder it had a name like that. She wondered if they had always been this way or if it was a result of their evolution.’

After a period of observation, Xiaqing discussed their collection strategy. "It’s not just their claws; these birds have powerful beaks, too. Captain Hu, should the three of us climb the tree together?"

Hu Zifeng nodded. "We’ll rest here for half an hour, then climb together. Two on guard, one to knock down the pine cones."

After half an hour of rest and observation of the Cross-beaked Magpies, Xiaqing made another discovery. "Their flight speed isn’t very fast," she noted. "It shouldn’t be too much of a problem."

’If harvesting the pine cones here was that dangerous, Hu Zi would never have suggested teaming up with you,’ Jing Kuan thought to himself.

The three of them gathered under the massive tree, which was more than two armfuls in circumference. They strapped on their climbing spikes and began to ascend.

The moment her climbing spikes bit into the trunk, Xiaqing knew this was another hardness-type Evolution Tree. She conferred with her teammates, "This tree’s bark has hardened through evolution. We’ll need sickles. You two stand guard while I cut the pine cones. We’ll work our way up from the bottom. Once we get too high to keep a stable footing, we’ll stop and switch to a slingshot."