Chapter 72: Dangerous Qiang Evolution Potato and Pumpkin

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Dangerous Qiang Evolution Potato and Pumpkin

Red-level Harmful Rain carries an excessive amount of Harmful Elements, causing ordinary people with low resistance to easily lose emotional control. This loss of control manifests differently in people. Some engage in self-harm, while others erupt with immense destructive and aggressive tendencies.

The reason for this immense destructiveness is that humans who have lost control feel no pain or fear. The person who had lost control in No. 6 Territory belonged to this category.

Xiaqing discovered that the risk in No. 6 Territory didn’t just come from this worker; the Lord, Kuang Qingwei, was also showing signs of losing emotional control.

Just as Xiaqing was about to warn Kuang Qingwei, the calm voice of Tan Junjie, captain of the Danger Investigation Team, came over the Lord channel for the first time. "Kuang Qingwei, Lord of No. 6, get your emotions under control immediately. Otherwise, everyone in your territory will lose control one by one, all your farmland will be destroyed, and your three months of hard work will be for nothing."

The cursing Kuang Qingwei immediately fell silent. After a few ragged breaths, he calmed down and thanked Tan Junjie, "Thanks for the warning, Captain Tan."

Seeing Kuang Qingwei had calmed down, Tan Junjie continued, "Attention all Lords, the current Harmful Rain level is red. If any organism in your territory undergoes a dangerous Qiang Evolution, please contact the Danger Investigation Team immediately. The team will arrive within ten minutes of being notified. Until then, Lords should prioritize their personal safety."

The first Lord of Territory No. 1 and his worker had been wiped out by dangerously Qiang Evolved caterpillars during the first red Harmful Rain.

Xiaqing stroked Sheep Leader’s wool for a while. Once she saw his mood had stabilized, she tried to reason with him. "I’m going to do a round in the shelters. I’ll be right back. You’re in charge of watching our house, Sheep Leader."

This foodie was only a year or two old, and Xiaqing had originally planned to rename him "Sheep Second." Unfortunately, he already recognized the name "Leader," and completely ignored Xiaqing when she called him "Second." So, Xiaqing had no choice but to accept this little leader.

’Even the young can be leaders,’ she thought. ’Of the Green Dragon Team’s three heads, isn’t the youngest, Yang Jin, the one in charge?’

Sheep Leader also stood up, clearly wanting to go with Xiaqing.

Xiaqing saw distinct unease in Sheep Leader’s rectangular pupils and guessed he might have heard Kuang Qingwei’s voice and remembered losing control during the last Harmful Rain. Xiaqing patiently smoothed his wool for a while longer, until she absolutely had to leave to inspect the fields.

But Sheep Leader still insisted on following.

The guy was stubborn. If she didn’t let him come, he’d immediately throw a tantrum and tear down the house and the rain shelters. Xiaqing had to compromise. She picked up the Dog Protective Clothing and a Protective Mask and put them on him. "Alright, boss, you can come, but you can’t step on the seedlings. Otherwise, I’ll boil some water and turn you into mutton hotpot."

Sheep Leader’s Protective Mask also had a respiratory filter, and with his mouth sealed, he couldn’t nibble on the seedlings. But his powerful hooves and horns were still exposed.

’Eighteen ways to cook mutton...’ Xiaqing had been thinking about it for more than a day or two.

She patiently lavished praise on how incredibly cool and badass Sheep Leader looked in his Protective Suit, then led him out to inspect the fields.

After entering the cotton rain shelter, Xiaqing didn’t forget to loudly remind Sheep Leader, "Don’t step on the seedlings."

"MROO!" Sheep Leader roared.

The sound made Xiaqing’s ears ring. Only then did she realize that her mask and Sheep Leader’s were connected by a headset-style intercom. There was no need to shout.

Sheep Leader had put up with her the whole way. He was being a true friend.

Xiaqing softened her voice and apologized in a hushed tone, "Sorry, boss. I’ll be more careful next time. Don’t shake your head and knock the mask off. A Qiang Evolution in a plant might produce toxic gas, and if you get poisoned, you won’t be able to eat those tasty compressed rations and alfalfa."

After speaking, Xiaqing tucked a small piece of compressed ration into a pocket on Sheep Leader’s Protective Suit and instructed him softly, "You stay here. I’m getting to work."

Inside the cotton shelter, two Qiang Evolved cotton plants had appeared, growing at an incredible Speed. If Xiaqing had been half an hour later, they would have pushed a huge bulge into the roof of the rain shelter.

She dug out the Qiang Evolved cotton plants, placed them in a basket, and then the duo—one person, one goat—went to inspect the wheat and mung bean shelters.

These two types of plants were useless after Qiang Evolution, so she pulled them up, stuffed them into her back basket, and would take them out to be destroyed. After making a comparison, Xiaqing discovered that the fields planted with spring-water-soaked seeds had a lower Qiang Evolution rate than those planted with filtered-water-soaked seeds.

’Next time I plant,’ Xiaqing decided, ’aside from a small amount of crops for trading with outsiders, I’ll soak all the other seeds in spring water. Anything I can’t eat myself, I can trade with the Green Dragon Team.’

The lower the Harmful Element content in the crops, the higher the price. And she still owed the Green Dragon Team eight hundred thousand.

In the sweet potato, potato, and pumpkin shelter, three Yellow Light Potatoes had undergone Qiang Evolution, sprouting a full bush of potato flowers. Without even testing them, Xiaqing could confirm that these three slightly trembling potato stalks had evolved animal-like characteristics.

’For potato seeds obtained from the Safe Zone to undergo a Qiang Evolution with animal traits so quickly... something isn’t right.’

These three Qiang Evolved potatoes couldn’t be handled like the previous Evolved Plants. Xiaqing pulled a large, reinforced sealed bag from her backpack, covered the shivering potato stalks, and scooped them, roots and all, into the bag. She then used a vacuum sealer to remove the air before stuffing it into her backpack, preventing any further Qiang Evolution.

Xiaqing suspected the potato flowers were poisonous. She took out the Air Poison Detection Instrument she had traded for with Zhang San and ran a test. Sure enough, it showed the air now contained a C-class toxic gas, an irritant to the eyes and respiratory mucous membranes of animals.

The danger levels for toxic gases were divided into four classes—A, B, C, and D—from highest to lowest. A C-class toxin wasn’t considered severe, but it couldn’t be taken lightly either.

But seeing this result, Xiaqing still breathed a sigh of relief. A simple irritant gas was much easier to deal with than an asphyxiant gas that could suffocate both animals and plants.

Although the gas couldn’t harm her or Sheep Leader in their Protective Suits, nor would it affect the crops, Xiaqing still took a small, palm-sized box from her backpack. She broke the seal and hung it on one of the rain shelter’s support struts.

This was a C and D-class poison absorbent she had gotten from Zhang San. The substance inside the box could quickly absorb toxic gases from the air, purifying it.

She had to purify the air because even plants evolving normally under the Harmful Rain were very fragile. A change in the air’s composition could also trigger them to undergo a Qiang Evolution.

Walking a bit further, Xiaqing discovered two more Qiang Evolved Green Light Sweet Potato Seedlings whose vines had suddenly doubled in length. As she shoveled them out, her heart ached with the loss.

If their original elemental balance hadn’t been disrupted by pruning, these two sweet potato plants would have merely degraded to Yellow Light status in the face of red-level Harmful Rain as their internal Harmful Element content increased. They wouldn’t have undergone a direct Qiang Evolution.

’Perhaps the remaining fourteen sweet potato plants have also degraded to Yellow Light. The losses are too great!’

Xiaqing took a few deep breaths to suppress her rising agitation and continued forward to check on the Yellow Light Pumpkins.

If Xiaqing hadn’t straightened the pumpkin vines and marked the positions of their tips with wooden stakes beforehand, she definitely wouldn’t have noticed that two of the pumpkin plants had undergone Qiang Evolution.

Just as she was about to touch a pumpkin vine with her shovel to confirm its Qiang Evolution status, Sheep Leader rammed her with his head, knocking her flat on her butt in a nearby empty patch of ground.

"BAA."

Coming through the intercom, Sheep Leader’s bleat carried a clear warning.