Chapter 1059: After the Storm: A Dawn of Resilience

Even though the X Nutrient Shake could keep her physically energized for a long time, Xia Qing knew the only real cure for mental exhaustion was sleep.

The soft patter of rain, the whooshing of the wind, the gentle chirping of swallows, and Old Goat’s loud snores all wove together into a lullaby made just for Xia Qing, carrying her straight through to six in the morning.

She woke up to the crowing of a rooster.

Even before she opened her eyes, a smile tugged at her lips at the sound. That was the Black-Feathered Rooster—her territory’s best adult rooster—who survived last night’s disaster brought on by Devastation Evolution and Devastation Grass, still healthy and brimming with life.

Then the sounds from inside the house and the world outside came flooding in:

Downstairs, two squirrels in their cage were scrambling all over the place, making a racket. Old Goat wasn’t in the room—he’d probably gone out to graze. The flock of swallows was up and chattering excitedly about the natural disaster from last night. There was no more rain tapping outside, which meant the Devastation Rain had paused. The rain had lasted almost twenty hours, and now the streams inside her territory were louder than ever. Fallen leaves were clogging up the channel between Wolf Valley’s pond and Section Three, raising the water level in the north. The excess water had crossed the iron mesh wall in Section Three and poured into their territory, creating a two-meter difference in height between the inside and outside water levels.

Xia Qing opened her eyes and decided on her plan: wash her face, feed the chickens, clear the Devastation Grass from the yard, unclog the water channel, then cut the third batch of bamboo before sitting down for breakfast.

After pulling on her protective suit, she glanced at her phone and saw a message from Yang Jin sent at three in the morning. The Azure Dragon Squad had captured an intruder who triggered an Evolved Wolf’s collar in the Western Evolved Forest and already brought him back to the Hui Three Base Safe Zone.

Captured meant they’d taken him alive. Once they got this intruder to talk—plus Peng Yuancai’s group of five from outside Hui One’s main prison—even if the mastermind behind the beast tide didn’t show, they’d still be able to dig up enough dirt on Hui One or Fire Phoenix.

After exposing them, Fire Phoenix would definitely be in chaos. The Red Patterned Sacred Stone Yang Jin delivered to Hui Eight would also do its job soon, steering Hui Eight and the Apocalypse Sect to attack Fire Mountain.

Xia Qing was in high spirits as she went downstairs to check on the freeloading Red Squirrel mom and Qiang Zai in their cage. Both still had round, full bellies.

Even after an entire night, they hadn’t managed to digest everything they’d eaten.

Considering the hour, Xia Qing didn’t want to disturb her idol’s rest. She only topped up water for the two red squirrels, then mixed vegetable leaves and cornmeal into chicken feed, brought it to the Chicken House, filled the coop’s hanging feeders, and poured fresh spring water into each of the bamboo tubes tied outside.

After last night’s crisis, Xia Qing had 56 chickens left—32 hens, though only ten were laying now; the rest were chicks hatched this spring. She had 24 roosters too. Aside from the Black-Feathered Rooster, all of them had hatched this spring.

Among the chicks, the descendants of the Black-Feathered Rooster and White-Feathered Hen made up thirteen—six hens and seven roosters. All thirteen had pulled through last night’s disaster triggered by hostile Devastation Grass. That proved higher-evolved chickens had stronger resilience against sudden disasters and were noticeably bolder.

In another month, three of these six hens would be ready to lay. Xia Qing decided she was going to upgrade her diet and from now on, eat only eggs from mid- and high-grade Evolved Green Lantern Chickens!

Grinning as she left the Chicken House, Xia Qing swiftly pulled all the Devastation Grass from the yard and set it out to dry on the rack. Then she hurried to the little house by the fields to meet up with Peng Jian and the others. Together they checked the night’s logs for the territory before splitting up jobs—surveying the land and clearing out Devastation Grass from greenhouses not protected by Yi Stone.

While the rain was holding off and the wind wasn’t strong, Xia Qing also opened the rain covers on the greenhouses shielded by Yi Stone, letting the plants inside get some fresh air.

“Sister Qing, you there?”

Zhao Ze from the neighboring territory called out, sounding energetic and lively.

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie. “Here.”

“The Magnetic Sense Evolved team will finish sweeping my territory in about twenty minutes. After that, we’ll head for your north gate.”

According to the rules from the Territory Management Department, Magnetic Sense Evolved fighters had to sweep through the territory’s fields once a day during Devastation Rain.

Today was the second day of Devastation Rain, and the magnetic survey team from the Ninth Center had started bright and early.

Xia Qing pressed the button again. “Copy that. Was it you who cleared out the blocked river up by our north wall?”

Zhao Ze replied, “Yeah. I found it clogged during my sweep and had my team clear it out.”

“Okay. I’ll take care of cleaning the north river this morning,” Xia Qing added, “By the way, did your rabbits get through the night all right?”

Technically, rabbits ate bugs too, so they could’ve been affected.

“They freaked out for a while but managed to get through it. But… we lost a hen. My mom was heartbroken—she even cried.” Zhao Ze spoke of the lost Yellow Lantern Chicken, his own voice tinged with regret.

Back in spring, Section Four swapped five Yellow Lantern Chickens with Section Seven. One died of illness in May, now another had died of fright. Only three left: two roosters and one hen.

Zhu Li joined the chat. “One of my roosters died of fright too. How about your side, Sister Qing?”

“Lost eight,” Xia Qing replied calmly.

Eight! The other lords winced at the loss on her behalf. Yuan Yan chimed in, “This kind of Devastation Grass only grows along the passageways. It’s obvious someone snuck into our territory and secretly scattered those seeds.”

Tan Qi spoke up too. “Exactly! We have to catch whoever did this and make them pay for our losses. My Yellow Lantern Hen, the one with 6.7‰ Devastation Element Content, died!”

The loss hit hard—the girl’s voice trembled as she mourned her precious young hen.

The conversation turned into a support group for grieving lords as Xia Qing listened in, quietly making her rounds.

Soon, Security Team One and the Sixth Patrol Squad from the Ninth Center arrived, escorting Magnetic Sense Evolved fighters Wu Xinlian and Lü Ziqiang into Section Three. They began sweeping the fields, searching for any lurking hostile Devastation-Evolved crops.

The main threat now was Devastation-Evolved Oil Sunflower. In Xia Qing’s territory, the oil sunflowers grew on the terraces of Greenhouse One. The two fighters checked it thoroughly and found no dangerous plants.

Wu Xinlian smiled. “No problems with the oil sunflowers over here, Chief.”

Xia Qing nodded. “Two of them evolved aggressively last night, but I already cleared them out.”

Lü Ziqiang quickly asked, “Anyone hurt?”

When oil sunflowers undergo hostile Devastation Evolution, the seeds in their sunflower disks swell up fast and shoot out like bullets. They’re no joke.

Xia Qing shook her head. “We had steel plates set up and the patrols spotted them in time. No one got hurt.”

Even with Yi Stone installed, Xia Qing did like the other territories—set up steel plates by the sunflower fields and pulled up two high-content Yellow Lantern Sunflowers to prep for inspection by the Magnetic Sense Evolved team.

There were only about a dozen greenhouses in Section Three, so the two fighters finished up quickly. Under the guard of the security team and patrol squad, they headed out of Section Three.

Tan Junjie lingered at the back with Xia Qing to discuss something. “Northern Section Three just called again. They’re asking us to send Magnetic Sense Evolved fighters to sweep their fields. If we refuse, they’ll report us to the Territory Management Department.”

The news made Wu Xinlian and Lü Ziqiang’s faces darken.

Xia Qing’s expression didn’t budge. “There was an intruder in the Western Evolved Forest. Unless the Safe Zone sends a Special Ops Team over by helicopter, the Magnetic Sense Evolved staff from the Ninth Center are not leaving Section One of the North for any outside tasks.”