Chapter 1030: Rain Approaches, Favors Exchanged

“Hey, Balding Weasel, are you there?”

“White Weasel, are you around?”

“Balding one…”

After leaving the Hidden Valley, Xia Qing made her way to the den where the weasel family lived, calling out for White Weasel and Balding Weasel.

Since Xia Qing always brought food whenever she visited, she barely had to call for a minute before a rustling sounded from inside. The little White Weasel, with its round ears and shiny black eyes, peeked out at her.

Xia Qing pulled six Green Lantern Eggs from her backpack and set them at the entrance. “White Weasel, Devastation Rain’s about to start. You keep these for now and don’t go hunting during the rain. It’s too dangerous out there.”

With so many chickens to look after, Xia Qing never lacked eggs. Giving a few to the albino weasel—who’d already found six medicinal herbs for her—seemed a small price for helping it make it through the rainy season.

White Weasel sniffed, whiskers twitching, then scurried out to roll the eggs back into the den.

Weasel families loved eggs. To stash their prize, this bunch had even flattened the ground at their den entrance, making it perfect for rolling the eggs inside.

Thanks to her evolved vision, Xia Qing spotted a little albino kit inside, using its tiny paws to shove the eggs deeper into the tunnel after their mother had pushed them in.

She wasn’t in a hurry to leave, chatting with White Weasel and reminding them, “Please help me keep watch over the valley with Balding Weasel. Don’t let any strangers or wild beasts get near. These eggs are your reward.”

After White Weasel and her kit finished rolling in the last of the six eggs, Xia Qing stood to go—just as Balding Weasel returned, carrying prey and accompanied by a kit with matching fur.

With the Devastation Rain coming, the whole weasel family was getting ready. Balding Weasel had two rats in its jaws, while its kit toted along two chunky-looking evolved insects of some unknown species.

Seeing Xia Qing, the young weasel hesitated to move closer. But Balding Weasel trotted over and, trembling a little, offered Xia Qing a small rat.

“Thanks. Try some of my freeze-dried pork,” Xia Qing said, accepting the offering and handing over a pouch of freeze-dried meat in exchange, asking it again to look after the valley.

Taking the dead rat, Xia Qing started down the path—only to spot the weasel kit that had gone hunting with Balding Weasel scurrying past, a fat insect in its mouth. The smaller insect it had caught was dropped on a rock nearby.

Maybe this little weasel didn’t really get why she deserved its prey, but seeing its father give her something, it just copied the gesture.

Xia Qing tucked the little rat and the chunky bug into a bag, left a few chunks of freeze-dried meat for the kit, and hurried down the mountain towards her own territory.

She still had to patrol the Ninth Planting Center before noon.

When Xia Qing arrived, the four staff members in the Ninth Center’s office, including Chief Yan Yue, all stood and greeted her. “Director.”

She nodded, motioned for them to keep working, and asked Yan Yue, “How’s your leg? Still hurting?”

Yan Yue had lost her foot and lower leg during the insect wave, but her knee was spared. After two days of using a prosthetic, she could walk over flat ground without a cane and keep her balance.

Now back on her feet, Yan Yue gave her a smile. “I can only make it about a hundred meters before I need a rest—still got work to do.”

Xia Qing nodded and sat down, listening as Yan Yue briefed her on the previous day’s assigned tasks and how everything was progressing.

Just as Yan Yue was reporting on the investigation into the staff assault in the Ninth Center, nurse Chen Xia from the infirmary just happened to walk past the window with a medical kit. Xia Qing and Yan Yue, now fully aware of her real identity, didn’t bat an eye.

“Two territories in Northern Section Three are involved, and the people connected have already been secured—they’re being interrogated…”

After finishing her report, Yan Yue moved to how they were taking care of the families of those lost. “Compensation has been paid in full, and those who want to stay in the Ninth Center’s dorm have been given meal discount cards as per regulations, thanks to Director Yue.”

“Among the six criminals caught on Hill Forty-Seven, there’s Ma Xiaoyin, a Type B Magnetic Sense Evolver who went missing from the Safe Zone a few days ago.”

Xia Qing raised a brow. “Did he leave with them willingly?”

Xin Yu’s surveillance bird had recorded footage from above—none of the ten who slipped away looked to be dragged or carried. They all ran on their own.

“Yes. They contacted him in secret and promised a generous reward, so Ma Xiaoyin disguised himself and left the Safe Zone with them,” Yan Yue continued. “This morning, Captain Lu Ying from the base’s criminal investigation squad called us to check whether any of our Magnetic Sense team members had contact with the suspects. Of the four, only Lü Ziqiang received a feeler, but he’d already reported it at the time—here’s the record.”

Wu Xinlian, Geng Min, and Wang Jun, all with families, lived in the Ninth Center, making it tough to lure them away. Lü Ziqiang was the only loner, but after one close call, he’d been scared straight—now he wanted nothing more than to hide inside the center like a turtle in its shell.

Xia Qing nodded. “Did the investigation squad mention the identities of these criminals?”

“No.”

After hearing Yan Yue’s summary of the six documents various base departments sent to the Ninth Center this morning, Xia Qing also checked all their preparations before heading back to her own territory.

There were still twelve hours before the predicted start of the Devastation Rain. But the clouds had already swallowed the sun, the wind grew chilly, and dozens of Evolved Crows circled and called above the territory—enough to urge anyone to walk faster.

“Looks like the rain won’t wait for 1 a.m. Everyone get ready ahead of schedule.” From the Lords’ channel, Shizhong of Territory Ten broadcast a reminder.

Zhao Ze asked, “Uncle Shi, are your joints already aching?”

Shizhong, who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, replied, “They are. That first rain’s going to hit hard.”

“So it’ll be here soon. No big deal—the sooner it starts, the sooner it ends,” Qi Fu said, reminding everyone, “Be sure to keep an eye on the bamboo rhizomes you transplanted, and watch for overgrowth or dangers.”

The Hardness-Evolved Bamboo was great stuff, but it was also an aggressive Devastation Evolution plant. If they’d planted these dangerous plants themselves, the Inspection Team wouldn’t clean them up for them if anything went wrong.

With the crows’ harsh cries overhead, Xia Qing hurried home. She fed the caged chickens in the Chicken House before climbing up into Elder Wolf’s territory.

“Awooo—”

Elder Wolf let out a warning growl, telling her not to come any closer.

Xia Qing wasn’t afraid. She shook out the rain cover in her hands and walked forward. “It’s going to rain. Let me cover your Royal Platform with this.”

She used big wooden stakes to steady the platform, then constructed a simple shelter using bamboo boards evolved for hardness. After securing the rain cover with ropes, she said, “There—all set. Unless it rains knives, this shelter won’t budge. Be good and stay inside when it pours. Devastation Rain is nothing to take lightly.”

Finishing up, Xia Qing pulled a Yi Stone necklace from her pocket and slipped it over Number Four’s neck. “This will keep you safe through the rainy spell. Rent’s a thousand credits a day. After the storm, go catch me four Green Lantern wild ducks.”

It was Elder Wolf’s first time wearing a Yi Stone, so he shook his neck, clearly uncomfortable.

And it wasn’t just Elder Wolf. Across Section Three, Xia Qing had protected the chicken flocks, the Green Lantern Breadworms, Green Lantern Fish, breeding sheds One and Two, the fig cuttings in Greenhouse Three, the blooming plants in the planting greenhouse, the Green Lantern sweet potatoes in the breeding greenhouse, Green Lantern corn in Shed Nine and half of Eight, Green Lantern rice and sweet potatoes in Greenhouse Eleven, and Old Goat’s pasture shed—Yi Stones shielded them all.

As the Lord of Section Three, Xia Qing and Old Goat, as well as the territory’s first staffer Little Fei Mao, always wore their own Yi Stones. No need for a last-minute scramble.

Once the stones were set up and supplies checked, Xia Qing sat in her tiny house by the fields, sipping tea and bracing herself for fifty hours of Devastation Rain. That’s when she saw an Evolved Wolf with a chunk missing from its left ear appear outside her window.

Xia Qing’s heart skipped. She sprang to her feet at once.