Chapter 71: Out of Control in the Rain

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Out of Control in the Rain

One end of these long, thick bamboo strips was buried and secured at the edge of the field. The other end was tied to the top of another long bamboo strip secured on the opposite side, forming an arched frame for the rain shelter.

After erecting the arched frames at 1.3-meter intervals, she secured them with a top crossbeam and side purlins. Then, she installed the door headers and front supports, completing a standard rain shelter frame that was one hundred and fifty meters long, over four meters wide, and three meters high.

Although the crops inside were not yet over a meter tall, the shelter’s height had to be at least three meters. Any lower would be inconvenient for movement inside. Furthermore, crops undergoing Qiang Evolution could suddenly double in height in a short period, which would destroy the shelter.

Once the frame was built, she covered it with the rainproof cloth. She used iron wire, nylon rope, fabric strips—any usable cordage—to act as tie-down lines, stretching the rainproof cloth taut over the frame. After pressing down and securing the sides, the rain shelter was complete.

Even the planting experts from the Safe Zone would have to call the rain shelters she built professional.

Xiaqing had worked on a construction team for five years and had helped build more than half of the specialized greenhouses at the Safe Area Planting Center. So, of course, the shelters in her territory were sufficiently professional. The only difference was that her materials couldn’t compare to those at the Planting Center. Still, a shelter built from bamboo could absolutely withstand ninety millimeters of Harmful Rain over two days.

The Third Territory was ringed by high mountains to the northwest, making strong winds unlikely. But Xiaqing, ever cautious, performed every step with meticulous care.

The shelters for the sweet potatoes and pumpkins could have been lower, as they only vined without growing tall. But Xiaqing had plenty of bamboo and rainproof cloth, and the sweet potatoes and pumpkins were adjacent to the potatoes, so she planned to group the three crops together under one standard shelter.

Even with enough materials, Xiaqing refused to indulge the pumpkin vines’ nasty habit of crawling everywhere. She painstakingly straightened out the evolved vines, some over ten meters long, coiled them neatly, and tucked them inside the rain shelter. Looking at the well-behaved green bundles, Xiaqing felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

After building the main shelter, Xiaqing then built more rain shelters to protect her territory’s two patches of Red Light peanuts, Sheep Leader’s pasture, and a large plot of Evolutionary White-haired Chicken Shit Vine. By the time she was done, the sky had turned completely dark.

Xiaqing had enough materials left to build another standard shelter, but she had no intention of sharing them with Zhao Ze and Tang Huai. Instead, she distributed the leftover materials among the existing rain shelters to serve as backup supplies.

「The next morning at ten o’clock.」

The cloudy sky turned overcast, and a southeasterly wind, thick with moisture, began to howl. Xiaqing immediately put on her Protective Suit and led Sheep Leader into the small cabin by the fields.

Xiaqing had built this cabin in her spare time a while back, using materials scavenged from the Deserted Village. It had a peaked roof, one door, one window, and was twelve square meters in area—just enough space for her and Sheep Leader to rest.

If a crop that underwent Qiang Evolution wasn’t uprooted quickly, it would affect the surrounding plants. In the case of a dangerous Qiang Evolution, the consequences of not removing it promptly were even more severe.

However, Xiaqing wasn’t overly concerned about her crops developing intermediate- or high-danger Qiang Evolutions. The vast majority of her seeds came from the Safe Zone and had been cultivated for several generations. As long as the volume of Red Harmful Rain wasn’t excessively high, the likelihood of a dangerous Qiang Evolution was low.

A dangerous Qiang Evolution was defined as an organism gaining a new, enhanced ability post-evolution that posed a threat to humans. Such threats included the release of toxins or the development of active-attack skills.

Dangerous Qiang Evolutions were classified into three levels: high, intermediate, and low. Tan Junjie had classified the dangerous evolved tree that appeared in Xiaqing’s territory during the first Harmful Rain as an Intermediate-danger Qiang Evolution.

Even a General Evolutionary might not be able to handle an Intermediate-level danger.

For the next two days—forty-eight hours—Xiaqing would have to patrol her fields every hour. She needed to promptly remove any plants that underwent Qiang Evolution and guard against and kill any dangerous Evolutionary Animals.

Xiaqing had already spoken with Hu Zifeng. If she got overwhelmed, she would call on Hu Zifeng’s team for reinforcements.

Sheep Leader, having lost control during the first Harmful Rain of the year, might do so again during this one. If that happened, a mild episode would mean a wrecked cabin; a severe one would mean it would lose all reason and become a frenzied, highly aggressive Qiang-evolved animal.

Thus, Xiaqing had another critical task during this second Harmful Rain: protect Sheep Leader and, under no circumstances, allow it to go berserk again.

Xiaqing had two options. The first was to give Sheep Leader a dose of Relaxing Capsules beforehand. The second was to keep Sheep Leader by her side at all times. The side effects of the Relaxing Capsules were too severe, so Xiaqing chose to stay with Sheep Leader by the fields, killing two birds with one stone.

After the Harmful Rain had fallen for half an hour, Sheep Leader remained calm under Xiaqing’s soothing strokes, showing no signs of losing control. She relaxed slightly. It was time to inspect the rain shelters.

Xiaqing took a small bundle of fresh grass from a rack and placed it in the feeding trough. "Go on and eat, Leader. I’m just going to check the shelters. I’ll be right back."

Sheep Leader stood up to eat. Dressed in her Protective Suit, Xiaqing left the cabin. She stepped over the tufts of grass pushing up through the path and began her patrol route in its designated order.

After a full circuit, not a single crop in her territory had undergone Qiang Evolution.

This was because Xiaqing’s rain shelters were expertly constructed and leak-proof, and the drainage ditches she had dug around them worked perfectly. Protected by the shelters and ditches, the crops inside had yet to be exposed to the Harmful Rain. The concentration of the Harmful Element in the air also hadn’t reached the threshold needed to trigger Qiang Evolution.

But as the Harmful Element concentration in the air and soil increased, so too would the risk of the crops undergoing Qiang Evolution.

Xiaqing hurried back to the cabin. Seeing that Sheep Leader was still calm, she removed her Protective Mask and tossed a few sticks of firewood into the small stove she’d built from broken bricks in the center of the room. The smoke and heat would drive away Evolutionary Worms. Then, she opened the Lord channel to monitor the latest updates from the surrounding territories.

If a dangerous, Qiang-evolved Evolutionary Biology appeared in a neighboring territory, she had to devise a countermeasure immediately to prevent the threat from spreading to the Third Territory.

Before the Harmful Rain had even fallen for two full hours, the first to report crop Qiang Evolution in their territory was Zhao Ze, from the fourth territory.

None of the Lords found this surprising. Zhao Ze hadn’t even built enough rain shelters, leaving parts of his fields directly exposed to the Harmful Rain. It would have been a miracle if his crops *didn’t* undergo Qiang Evolution.

Just then, Xiaqing felt a surge of anxiety. She pulled out her detector to test the rainwater and discovered the Harmful Rain had reached the orange level. The danger was escalating.

Xiaqing made another round through her fields. The crops were still fine.

As the Harmful Rain drizzled into its third hour, Kuang Qingwei reported that his cotton had undergone Qiang Evolution. "Brother Qi, I’m seeing a lot of flower buds on the evolved cotton plants. Do I really have to pull them out? I heard they can still produce cotton after evolving, right?"

Qi Fu replied, "You have to. Otherwise, the cotton plants next to them will be affected and evolve too."

"But there are so many buds. Think of how many cotton bolls they’ll produce," Kuang Qingwei said, unable to part with them. "It’s not a big deal if the cotton evolves, is it? As long as it still makes cotton..."

No one responded to him. Kuang Qingwei muttered for a bit before falling silent. Everyone understood that Evolved Plants had to be uprooted. A large-scale Qiang Evolution among the same species could trigger a dangerous Qiang Evolution. At that point, it would no longer be a question of how many cotton bolls you could harvest, but whether you could save your own life.

Half an hour after Kuang Qingwei’s muttering stopped, Xiaqing experienced his dilemma firsthand. Two of the cotton plants in her own field had also undergone Qiang Evolution. They had shot up from thigh-high to as tall as a person, and their new branches were all fruit-bearing, covered in what a rough count estimated to be over fifty flower buds.

Xiaqing decisively dug up the evolved plants with a shovel, taking the roots and surrounding soil. She replanted them far away in a cultivated plot outside the rain shelter, letting them continue to grow.

A single, not-so-tall cotton plant, even if it underwent a dangerous Qiang Evolution, was something Xiaqing was confident she could eradicate completely.

Four and a half hours later, the Harmful Rain stopped. Eighteen of Xiaqing’s cotton plants, thirteen of her mung beans, and twenty-six of her wheat stalks had undergone Qiang Evolution. Without exception, they were all in the fields where she had used filtered water to soak the seeds. In addition, six of her Red Light peanut seedlings and two of her Yellow Light Soybeans seedlings had also evolved.

’The second Harmful Rain was forecast to last for forty-eight hours. If this many crops have evolved in just over four hours, how many will I lose over the full forty-eight?’

A wave of frustration washed over Xiaqing. She immediately returned to the cabin, tore off her Protective Mask, and gulped down several mouthfuls of spring water.

Sheep Leader’s mood was also clearly agitated. Xiaqing stroked its fleece, gave it a few sips of spring water, and pulled out several pieces of Green Light Bamboo Shoots for it to gnaw on. ’For both me and Sheep Leader to feel this restless, it must mean the concentration of the Harmful Element in the air has increased again,’ she thought. ’The next downpour might be a Red-level event.’

A Red-level event meant more danger.

The next wave of Harmful Rain was, indeed, Red-level. Kuang Qingwei was cursing up a storm in the Lord channel because one of the workers in his territory had suddenly lost control, flying into a rage that destroyed a large patch of mung beans and damaged a rain shelter.