Chapter 55: The Sheep at the Top of the Pyramid

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: The Sheep at the Top of the Pyramid

Xiaqing took a small bite of a compressed ration, and Sheep Leader was already eager to try.

So, Xiaqing got off the bike and stood to the side, holding the ration over the bicycle to coax Sheep Leader onto it. "Sheep Leader is stronger than me and smarter too. You can definitely pedal this water pump, can’t you? If you pedal, you’ll get rations to eat."

Sheep Leader, whose eyes followed the ration, climbed onto the bicycle and sat down. The bike had already been modified to fit Sheep Leader’s body. After he sat down, his two front hooves mimicked Xiaqing’s hands by pressing on the handlebars, while his hind hooves slipped into the pedal straps—a perfect fit.

Xiaqing immediately started showering him with praise. "Sheep Leader is the best! You even know how to pedal a water pump. Here, have some of the ration."

After stuffing a little bit of the ration into his mouth to keep him steady, Xiaqing crouched down, holding his two hind legs to teach him how to push and turn the pedals. "When this hoof pushes down, this hoof comes up. Then push this one down, and the other one comes up again. It looks very simple, but only the smartest sheep can learn how."

Sheep Leader quickly mastered the essentials and started pedaling the bicycle like a whirlwind. The pedals drove the rear wheel and the small water wheel into a high-speed rotation. Paddles attached to a rope drew water into a pipe, which then gushed out from the three-way outlet.

Xiaqing hadn’t expected a sheep to learn how to pedal a bicycle so quickly and was genuinely impressed. "Sheep Leader is truly the smartest sheep on Blue Star, a sheep at the top of the Pyramid, the sheep who will make history for all Evolutionary Sheep..."

Dizzy with praise, Sheep Leader pedaled the bicycle with half-closed eyes, looking at Xiaqing and signaling her to say more. He loved hearing it.

Xiaqing continued her endless stream of praise, flattering Sheep Leader to the high heavens.

Sheep Leader was full of energy. Even after irrigating more than three acres of land, he was still pedaling furiously. After Xiaqing blocked off the irrigation channel, she stuffed the last crumbs of the ration into his mouth. "Sheep Leader, you’re amazing! The fields are watered so quickly. Shall we go home now?"

Sheep Leader didn’t listen, still pedaling furiously.

Xiaqing tried to persuade him again, but he kept pedaling furiously.

Only then did Xiaqing understand. This guy wasn’t doing it for the rations; he genuinely loved pedaling this thing.

The pumped water was about to overflow the channel. Xiaqing couldn’t discourage Sheep Leader’s enthusiasm, so she simply grabbed a shovel and quickly dug a new channel under the three-way outlet that curved back to the reservoir. This allowed the water Sheep Leader was pumping to flow through the new channel and back into the reservoir.

Sheep Leader narrowed his eyes, happily performing his useless task.

Freed from the duty of singing his praises, Xiaqing squatted by the channel to rest. Only then did she notice small, one-centimeter-long fish fry swimming quickly in the pumped water! This was the first time she had seen fish in the reservoir since she had killed that catfish.

No wonder the White Egret was always hanging around the river. It turned out there were fish.

’Can I eat these fish?’

Xiaqing began to test the Harmful Element content of the fry, testing them one by one. She would catch one, test it, and then toss it aside.

For every one she tossed, the White Egret waiting nearby would pick one up. They worked together with perfect, unspoken coordination.

After testing a hundred in a row, Xiaqing found five Yellow Light fry. This was a fairly high ratio, and Xiaqing immediately had a great idea.

’I’ll dig a pond to raise fish. After I bring the kitten back, the kitten can eat Red Light fish, I can eat Yellow Light fish, and Sheep Leader can pedal the water pump to replenish the pond. It’s a perfect solution for all three of us!’

Xiaqing started up the mini-tiller. Sheep Leader immediately stopped pedaling the water pump, jumped onto the mini-tiller, and lay down in his exclusive seat, watching Xiaqing dig and dig.

Xiaqing spent a day and a half digging a small fish pond two meters deep and over two acres in size, a hundred meters from the reservoir.

After the pond was dug and filled with water, Xiaqing collected the double-layered, fine-mesh fishing net she had placed at the narrowest part of the river channel. Over the past two days, the net had caught quite a few small fry, all of which Xiaqing put into the fish pond.

Then, Xiaqing delightedly turned on her walkie-talkie, intending to ask Qi Fu for advice on how to raise fish.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she turned it on, Xiaqing heard Qi Fu complaining, "A few days ago, I found fry in the river channel, so I went to a lot of trouble to dig a fish pond. But who would have thought that by the time my pond was ready, the fry were all gone!"

Xiaqing...

Zhao Ze replied, "Brother Qi, you’re amazing. I haven’t even seen any fish, and you’ve already finished your pond. Could it be that the first batch of fry has already passed by? If you wait a few more days, another batch is sure to come."

Kuang Qingwei from Territory Six chimed in resentfully, "So that’s why the water level in the river channel dropped today. It was you filling your fish pond. And here I thought the channel was about to dry up, so I was rushing my workers to desperately haul water for the wheat."

Xiaqing, who had just filled her own fish pond...

Zhao Ze was puzzled. "The water level dropped? I’ve been by the river all day. How come I didn’t notice at all?"

Kuang Qingwei retorted, "What work is there to do by the river?"

Zhao Ze chuckled. "Just picking up some nicely patterned stones to pave my courtyard. I used to be in landscaping, and now that the work on the territory isn’t so busy, my hands are getting a little itchy."

"What’s the use of paving with stones? A single Harmful Rain and it’ll all be ruined anyway." Kuang Qingwei scoffed. "You know why I care about the water level? Because a few territories have already had people killed fighting over water for irrigation."

This topic immediately caught everyone’s attention. Zhao Ze felt lucky. "Thankfully, I was lucky. I picked randomly and still managed to get a piece of land that won’t be short on water."

"You really are lucky," Kuang Qingwei grumbled. "I had my eye on Territory Three with the reservoir from the very beginning, but unfortunately, Sister Xiaqing picked it."

Zhao Ze brought up the topic of selecting land. "When I was picking my territory, I was right after Xiaqing. I figured since she’s an Evolver, she must be well-informed, so I chose a plot next to hers. It’s a good thing I picked Territory Four. If I had chosen Territory One, I would have been poisoned to death during the last Harmful Rain."

Xiaqing pressed the button. "Just like Brother Qing, I had my eye on the reservoir in Territory Three. Brother Qi, what do you feed your fish?"

Qi Fu loved it when people asked him for agricultural advice and immediately launched into a detailed explanation. "Back in my old village, some people raised fish. Fish feed can be either animal-based or plant-based, and buying ready-made synthetic feed is the easiest. After the Natural Disaster, though, you can forget about ready-made feed; you have to make it yourself. Animal-based feed mainly consists of infusoria, rotifers, water fleas, tubifex worms, and fly maggots. Plant-based feed is aquatic plants and algae. You can also feed them vegetables, but they have to be blanched and chopped first. The only thing is, I don’t know what these evolved fry from our river like to eat, or if the animals that were originally used as fish feed can still be used now that they’ve evolved."

Kuang Qingwei interjected, "By rights, if there are small fish, there should be big fish. Have you guys caught any big ones? I haven’t seen a single one, only a dozen or so large evolved leeches. Zhao Ze, it wasn’t you who caught all the fish, was it, you rascal?"

"I wish I had, but I can’t catch any. I dug up some worms to go fishing, but something bit through my line. I haven’t dared to fish since."

Zhao Ze had a lot of people on his territory, so they had the leisure to fish and pick up stones. Xiaqing, who was all alone, was busy planting crops, tidying up her house, and preparing to paint. She was spinning like a top.

She turned off the walkie-talkie and decided to feed the fish grass. Now that the fish feed was settled, it was time to think about top-dressing the farmland with fertilizer.

It was currently the lunch break for the Safe Zone’s construction team, so Xiaqing dialed Sun Zhe’s number.

Sun Zhe and Xiaqing had been on the same construction team for five years. Their relationship wasn’t particularly close, but they could still chat a bit. Sun Zhe was sharp; he would definitely be interested in this matter.

"Hello?" Sun Zhe’s voice was clearly exhausted. The construction team did all the hard, dirty work, so his condition was normal. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Xiaqing replied calmly, "Sun Zhe, this is Xiaqing."