Chapter 1084: Losses and Resolve in the Valley

“Sister Qing, all the crabs in the pond are dead.”

After inviting Xia Qing, Madam Shi and Yuan Yan into the cave, Zhang Wenshe—the severely wounded veteran from Territory Fifteen with a poisoned and amputated right leg—leaned on his crutch, shamefaced, and reported the losses from the Devastation Rain period to Xia Qing.

The allies had traded for crab seedlings with the Tang Family. After sending the second batch to the Hidden Valley during the last Devastation Rain, they didn’t bring them back. When it came to raising fish and crabs, Zhang Wenshe, who ran an aquaculture business before the catastrophe, had far more experience than most lords, so they used credits to hire him for the job.

Thanks to Zhang Wenshe’s careful care, the tiny crabs grew to fist-sized and thrived. But during the last Devastation Rain, every crab died in under half an hour. After checking water samples, Zhang Shi confirmed the cause: secretions from aquatic plants in the pond ruined the water quality and deprived the crabs of oxygen.

Xia Qing explained objectively, “Since the catastrophe, life has evolved in all sorts of ways—especially the Green Lantern creatures. They’re fragile once removed from their original environment. The aquatic plants you collected from the creek were fine at first, but the change in environment triggered their evolution. No one could’ve seen that coming.”

Zhang Wenshe had taken his task seriously, searching everywhere for the best animal and plant-based food to nurture the crabs. But since the disaster, so many plants and animals have evolved in ways humans can’t control. Accidents were bound to happen.

Madam Shi added, “It’s tough keeping anything alive these days. Even our spring chicks grew up fast, so we didn’t move the adult chickens in. The Devastation Rain still took a few of them out.”

Yuan Yan nodded along in agreement.

Through Xia Qing, the lords rented small Evolution Stones from the Azure Dragon Squad to protect key crops and poultry on their territory, so they hadn’t brought the chickens over. The Evolution Stones blocked the Devastation Element, but they couldn’t stop the scent from Devastation Grass in the passage. That drove the chickens in the territory wild, making them hurl themselves against their cages.

Still, Zhang Wenshe blamed himself. “I double-checked with Brother Huai. The Tang Family uses this exact aquatic plant for their crabs. It must have been my failure to manage the water temperature and sanitation that caused this.”

Zhang Wenshe, whose poisoning led to his amputation, knew he still had lingering toxins in his body. He believed trace poisons from himself contaminated the water, which then triggered the plant’s evolution.

Xia Qing didn’t try to console him. She simply asked, “Do you still want to raise crabs?”

Zhang Wenshe nodded at once. “I do!”

Keeping busy was the only thing that made him feel his life still had worth.

Xia Qing nodded calmly. “Alright. Next year, when your crabs are ready for market, give us a ten percent discount.”

Zhang Wenshe froze, eyes slowly reddening.

Including himself, nineteen brothers brought here by Brother Yue—most of them gravely wounded and waiting to die—had been sent into the valley from Territory Fifteen. Fourteen have died, two recovered, and now only three of them are left. Zhang Wenshe had to take medicine every day to keep the poison from ruining his mind and body. For him and the other two, every day was borrowed time. They never dared dream of making it to next year.

But here was Xia Qing, saying he would survive until next year. She sounded so certain his crabs would go to market…

Choking up, Zhang Wenshe straightened and lifted his scarred face. “I’ll give you a thirty percent discount, Sister Qing. The extra twenty percent is to thank you for exchanging Devastation Element Antidote for my brothers and me.”

Without Xia Qing’s antidote and Zhang San’s Miracle Medicine, not a single one of those nineteen men would have survived.

Xia Qing accepted. Then she stopped to greet the two wounded survivors sunning themselves on a bamboo cot and Li Kai, who was busy weeding, before heading off to check on her peanut crop.

Yuan Yan and Madam Shi went to visit their two plots in the valley, where they were growing high-evolution spinach, potatoes and peanuts.

The valley’s mild climate, clean irrigation water, and support from Evolution Stones kept Xia Qing’s peanuts safe from the Devastation Rain. Most were thriving, but about 150 plants near the fissure looked wilted and discolored.

During the Devastation Rain, fungi exploded outside the mountain fissure. Their spores slipped through the fine insect net and settled on the peanuts.

Just like the mutant pond plants that killed the Green Lantern crabs, these spores damages crops—it was a normal kind of loss. Unless, of course, you regularly cleared and disinfected the huge area outside the valley fissure, just like the fields back at the territories.

But if they did that, they’d expose the valley. If their location was revealed, they’d need even more guards to protect it—which just wasn’t worth it.

Zhang Shi, wearing glasses, came out from the lab and joined Xia Qing to check on the peanut damage. Even though Xia Qing’s magnetic field was calm as ever, Zhang Shi still tried to console her. “At least all the peanuts here are Green Lantern peanuts.”

“I think these thirty or so plants should recover. We might get a little harvest out of them,” Xia Qing replied.

As they walked through the fields, Zhang Shi took the chance to ask about the territory. “I heard from Third Brother that it’ll take at least a month to clear the passage soil?”

What Zhang Shi really cared about wasn’t the Devastation Grass in the passage, but whether it was safe for her daughter to walk there.

The day after tomorrow, the Ninth Center School would start. Little Shiyi, now armed with textbooks, had to walk over four kilometers along the passage with Tan Qi to get to class, backpack and all.

Xia Qing explained, “What’s left in the passage won’t harm people, but it will rot plant roots and stems. That’s why we have to clean it up completely. For now, anyone walking there has to wear special shoe covers. Car tires must also be disinfected.”

Territories at the edge of Section One of the North could enter and exit through doors that bordered the barrier, but the inner territories had to use the passage. If the passage was closed, a temporary one would need to be opened within the internal territories.

Doing that wasn’t just a problem for the lords whose land was used—a lot of people didn’t want others cutting through their territories, either.

The catastrophe completely changed how people lived together. After surviving eleven years, no one wanted to wander among others’ territories or just let outsiders come and go through their own. The risks were too high.

Hearing Xia Qing’s explanation, Zhang Shi finally felt a bit better. She lowered her voice for her next question. “I heard the lord of Territory Fourteen was injured?”

Xia Qing nodded. “That’s what I heard, too—he’s badly hurt.”

Yan Meng, lord of Territory Fourteen, hurt his calf during rescue efforts in the Devastation Rain. Thanks to fast treatment, he avoided contamination from Evolution Bacteria. Yet his wound wouldn’t heal because he kept taking body repair medicine made by Fire Phoenix.

Fire Phoenix’s medicines, unlike the ones developed by Zhang San, only treated symptoms. You had to take them long-term to stay functional, and if you stopped, your condition and immunity plummeted fast.

Fire Phoenix’s medicine was expensive. Yan Meng worked as a distributor for Fire Phoenix to get his supply. After Apocalypse raided Fire Phoenix following the third Devastation Rain, operations shut down, leaving Hui Three Northern Perimeter without a steady supply. Once Yan Meng ran out, his health failed quickly—physically and mentally.

Xia Qing knew all this because Yan Meng and Feng Wen had been arguing inside Territory Fourteen, and some people from Territory Fifteen overheard them.

Yan Meng had written a will: if the child Feng Wen was carrying died before age fifteen, that child would have no inheritance rights and Territory Fourteen would go back to the Territory Management Department. Now Yan Meng was nearly out of time, and Feng Wen wanted him to change the will. Yan Meng refused, so they fought every day.

Seeing Xia Qing was also paying attention, Zhang Shi typed a message on her phone and showed it to Xia Qing. Unsurprisingly, Xia Qing showed no visible emotional reaction to the news.