Chapter 78: Spinach Explosion

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Spinach Explosion

What do they call it when it rains, it pours? This was it!

"I’ll be right there."

Xiaqing stepped out of her house. In the beam of her powerful headlamp, she looked toward the low slope north of the river channel. The rainproof cloth over the spinach patch had been torn open, and three arched supports jutted upward like a trio of middle fingers pointed at the sky.

’Fuck! Of all the times for them to ripen, it had to be now.’

Xiaqing cursed under her breath, forced herself to stay calm, and ran north with Sheep Leader.

Passing the river channel, Xiaqing swatted away several aquatic creatures that leaped up to attack her. Without breaking her stride, she charged toward the rain shelter on the low slope’s planting area.

A flustered Chen Zheng apologized profusely. "Sister Qing, I’m so sorry. I was passing this terrace and accidentally brushed against the spinach, and it just exploded."

It really was an "explosion." The mess was all caused by the spinach seed bombs.

It wasn’t Chen Zheng’s fault. Zhang San had said that when the spinach seeds were ripe, they would only spray out if you tore off a leaf, which is what Xiaqing had told Chen Zheng. But who would have thought that the spinach in her territory would explode at the slightest touch? "The spinach seeds were due to ripen in the next day or two anyway. Are you hurt?"

Chen Zheng frantically shook his head, knocking his Protective Mask askew. "I’m fine! What do we do now?"

Chen Zheng was a primary combatant on his team and had never been assigned to logistics. He really had no idea how to quickly clean up such a mess.

Xiaqing immediately gave orders. "You grab that rainproof cloth over there and cover the spinach stalks. I’ll fix the shelter frame."

"Okay." Chen Zheng immediately went to get the rainproof cloth.

After the two of them had repaired the rain shelter and cleared out several dozen destructive Evolved Insects that had gotten inside, Chen Zheng felt even more ashamed. "Sister Qing, you rest. I’ll go inspect the shelter up top, then come back to gather the spinach seeds."

While Chen Zheng went to inspect the High Slope rain shelter, Xiaqing picked up a sprayer. She went outside the lower shelter and sprayed a wide perimeter with insecticide to drive away the Evolved Insects that were gathering to eat the seeds. Then she began to pick up the spinach seeds that had landed in the mud and the patches of Injurious Grass.

If she didn’t pick them up now, it would be even harder after it rained.

The ones in the mud, she picked up. The ones shot into the stalks of Injurious Grass, she pried out. The ones stuck in tree bark or rock crevices, she dug out...

When Chen Zheng returned from inspecting the High Slope rain shelter, he started gathering seeds with Xiaqing. Da Jiang, who was on patrol, also stayed behind to help pick them up.

The three of them worked together and managed to gather all the salvageable seeds just before the next Harmful Rain and a new wave of insects could destroy them.

They had no time to gather the seeds scattered inside the shelter, so they just left it covered for now.

The sky gradually brightened. At eleven o’clock, the sun, which had been absent for what felt like a century, finally returned, breaking through the clouds to cast down countless rays of light.

The second Harmful Rain of the tenth year of the Natural Disaster finally ended after fifty continuous hours. The exhausted Lords collapsed to the ground—some numb, some crying, some laughing, and some doing a bit of both.

Xiaqing was one of the numb ones, numb with exhaustion and pain.

After Da Jiang and Chen Zheng confirmed that no more plants were showing signs of aggressive Qiang Evolution, they offered to help Xiaqing clean up the exploded spinach field. But the two men had already helped her a great deal, so Xiaqing sent them back to rest.

Limping back to her cabin with Sheep Leader, Xiaqing removed her and Sheep Leader’s Protective Masks with trembling hands. She refilled Sheep Leader’s food and water, then took out some nutrient liquid and used it to wash down two painkillers. After setting an alarm for one hour, she collapsed onto her bed and lay motionless.

After finishing its feed, Sheep Leader didn’t even have the strength to chew its cud. It just rested its head on Xiaqing’s leg and fell asleep.

An hour later, Xiaqing revived to half-health. She dragged her aching body to open the vents on the rain shelters, letting the plants, which had been cooped up for two whole days, breathe in the fresh air.

The concentration of the Harmful Element in the air was still higher than usual just after the rain, but Xiaqing had no choice but to open the vents. She didn’t have any oxygenation equipment for the shelters, and keeping them sealed for too long would be detrimental to the plants’ growth.

Then, Xiaqing grabbed a small notebook and began to tally her losses from the second Harmful Rain.

During this Harmful Rain, the Third Territory had lost 300 stalks of wheat, 240 mung bean plants, 220 cotton plants, 50 sweet potato cuttings, 40 Yellow Light Potatoes, 6 Green Light sweet potatoes, 5 Yellow Light Pumpkins, 2 Yellow Light Eggplants, 2 Yellow Light cucumbers, and 1 Yellow Light tomato.

The eggplants, cucumbers, and tomato had undergone Qiang Evolution because the spinach explosion had torn open the rainproof cloth, allowing Evolved Insects to get inside the shelter and bite the plants.

The potato losses were so high because the four aggressively Qiang-evolved potatoes had destroyed more than twenty normal potato plants.

Although a quarter of the sweet potato vines were lost, it was within Xiaqing’s expectations. The losses for the other crops weren’t severe. Xiaqing breathed a sigh of relief and dragged her exhausted body to gather the spinach seeds.

Fortunately, she had followed Zhang San’s method and fenced the spinach patch with four layers of rainproof cloth, leaving only the top open for sunlight and air to allow for normal growth. As a result, when the spinach seeds exploded, the seeds that shot out to the sides were all blocked by the cloth. Only the area directly above was hit by the seed projectiles. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

Gathering them wouldn’t be too difficult.

Xiaqing removed the rainproof cloth covering the spinach terrace. After confirming that all the spinach plants were still Green Light, she let out a huge sigh of relief.

If the exploded spinach plants were Green Light, it meant this batch of spinach seeds were all Green Light as well. She just didn’t know if the seeds would be affected after being exposed to the Harmful Rain during the explosion.

Logically, they shouldn’t be. The outer shells of the spinach seeds were extremely hard. With such brief contact, the Harmful Element shouldn’t have been able to penetrate the hard shell and affect the seed’s embryo.

A single Green Light Seed was worth 20 points, equivalent to what she would earn in four days on the Safe Zone’s construction crew. She had to pick up every single one; not one could be wasted.

There were spinach seeds in the soil of the spinach terrace, so she shoveled the soil itself into bags to take home, where she could dry it and sort through it later. Every seed stuck to the rainproof cloth or embedded in the shelter’s frame was picked up, one by one.

Over an hour later, Xiaqing loaded a large bag of soil onto Sheep Leader’s back and shouldered another large bag herself. Then, the woman and the sheep limped back to their home, which was overgrown with Injurious Grass.

Xiaqing first carried the two bags of soil to the second-floor living room of her small building, then poured them out to dry on the sun-drenched balcony. The second-floor balcony had glass windows, so no birds or insects could get in to steal the seeds.

Utterly exhausted, Xiaqing picked the last two strawberries. She ate one and gave the other to Sheep Leader.

The strawberry was so delicious that Xiaqing felt her strength returning.

Ignoring her pain, she carefully inspected the inside and outside of her house and the adjacent warehouse. After confirming that no snakes, insects, rats, or ants had broken through the walls or roof, she ignored the chewed-up solar panels on the roof and started a fire to cook.

Tonight’s dinner was cornmeal and spinach porridge, along with compressed rations.

She ate the spinach leaves and tender stems, which had been riddled with holes like a sieve by the exploding seeds. The old stems and roots were chopped up and mixed with compressed rations to make a concentrate feed for Sheep Leader.

After eating their fill, the woman and the sheep lay down and immediately fell asleep.

’Treat the whip welts on my body? I don’t have the energy.’

’Take a bath? Even less energy for that.’

When Xiaqing opened her eyes again, it was six in the morning the next day, and Sheep Leader was no longer in the cabin.

’A Level 7 auditory evolver, and I didn’t even hear Sheep Leader get up.’ The realization was a wake-up call for Xiaqing. ’If a person or an Evolutionary Animal had attacked me last night, I would have died eight hundred times over.’

’Something like that could absolutely not be allowed to happen a second time.’

Xiaqing sat up and got dressed, realizing that the whip-like wounds inflicted by the dancing potato vines didn’t hurt as much anymore.

’The force of the dancing potato vines’ whips was no weaker than that of a Level 3 Strength Evolved Person. Logically, an injury this severe should have hurt for a week even with medication. How could it have gotten so much better after just two painkillers?’