Chapter 141: Storms, Seeds, and Shifting Tides

By all rights the first batch of potatoes ran into trouble, so this set of seeds ought to be reliable.

Xia Qing knew all too well how tough it was to grow edible crops after the disaster, and she understood why sprouting rates were so low.

But Luo Pei had said the corn seeds he handed out to each Territory were the same grain seeds being traded openly inside the Safe Zone.

After all the hard work the lords put into growing food, finding out that the seed stock from the Safe Zone’s management department had a sprouting rate ten percent lower than those you’d find on the open market just didn’t add up.

After the catastrophe, base management turned into pure chaos, with anyone holding even a shred of power squeezing it for every advantage. No matter how little, every ounce got milked for personal gain.

With this mess around the seeds, who could guess how many layers of power and profit were hidden beneath the surface?

Stuff like this—Xia Qing had lost count of how many times she’d seen or been through it over the past ten years at the base’s bottom rung.

If someone tried her and she had the strength to fight back, Xia Qing hit right back on the spot. If she couldn’t, she’d jot it in her notebook and bide her time.

And if a good opportunity never came, even smashing two windows with a rock to make them suffer a bit was better than bottling up her anger.

If you kept your head down, you’d have been bullied to death long ago. Anyone still alive after ten years of disaster wasn’t some harmless pushover. No way would the lords let this slide.

Let’s wait and see.

Xia Qing recorded the germination data carefully in her notebook, then grabbed her transplanting trowel and moved seedlings from crowded patches to the bare spots, giving them all a good drink of water.

You had to move seedlings early—once the roots grew deep, moving them would only kill them off.

After finishing with the corn seedlings, Xia Qing made the rounds: first the mung bean field, then the cotton, then the vegetables. At last, she reached the sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkin patch.

She’d gotten sixteen sweet potato seedlings from Tan Junjie in a trade. During the second Xiang Rain, six of them underwent Xiang Evolution. Four more didn’t, but the Xiang element inside them rose so high they shifted from green-light to yellow-light grade.

That meant of the sixteen green-light sweet potato seedlings she’d planted in March, only six still counted as green-light now.

Out of the 200 sweet potato vines she’d put in through cuttings in mid-May, a hundred and forty made it. Sixty were green-light, eighty were yellow-light.

The cutting-grown sweet potatoes were nearly mature. As long as the third Xiang Rain didn’t turn into a long spell of red-level rain, the sweet potatoes wouldn’t Xiangify too much.

But even if it did, Xia Qing wasn’t worried. She had Yi Stones. According to Luo Pei’s numbers, her three Yi Stones could shield a circular area with a diameter of about forty-five meters. It wasn’t enough to cover all the fields, but the most important parts would be safe.

A good harvest was right within sight.

Even though the potato vines were looking worse by the day, Xia Qing wasn’t rushing to dig them out. She had nowhere to store them anyway. She’d wait until they were truly ready and then pull out the whole crop at once to stash in the cave.

Since carving out the cave, Xia Qing had kept a close eye on its temperature and humidity. The warmth stayed between thirteen and sixteen degrees, and the humidity wasn’t much different from outside.

If the third Xiang Rain didn’t flood the cave, Xia Qing would get to work waterproofing and dehumidifying. Then, she’d set up the Yi Stones and start tucking away food inside.

She felt a bit like a hardworking little squirrel, endlessly fussing over her den and gathering up whatever she needed to get through the winter.

Thinking of squirrels just ticked Xia Qing off.

Half of the six pounds of tobacco leaves she’d traded from green beans had been hauled off by that red-furred evolved squirrel. She didn’t get a single bird to show for it.

She didn’t bother stuffing the rest into the bird nest anymore. Instead, she just used it as a dehumidifier in the cave.

Past the sweet potatoes and potatoes, Xia Qing stopped by the pumpkin patch. Watching the pumpkins swell up to the size of a baby’s fist, she started wondering again—just how many pumpkins should you keep on a single vine?

She flicked on her walkie-talkie and heard Qi Fu and Shi Chong discussing whether they could raise fish and shrimp in the rice paddies.

Xia Qing didn’t care much about that subject.

Most of the fish had already evolved teeth and would crunch through iron wire without breaking a sweat. Sinking their teeth into rice roots would be nothing. Even if they picked toothless fish, Xiang Rain might spark a sudden evolution. Xia Qing only had a bit over five hundred rice plants—not enough to risk.

Once the topic finally shifted, Xia Qing asked, “Qi Ge, how many pumpkins should you keep on each vine?”

Qi Fu answered patiently. “Can’t tell yet. Most of us start by letting two or three pumpkins grow per vine. When they get bigger, see how they’re doing and adjust. Best to keep the ones closest to the stem.”

“Got it, thanks Qi Ge,” Xia Qing replied, then hefted her machete and got to work trimming the pumpkins.

After clearing out the ten yellowlight pumpkins from the main field, Xia Qing took up her blade and headed to the terraced plot. Just as she reached the five greenlight pumpkins there, she heard Zhao Ze call out, “Xia Qing, you missed it last night. Third Brother was asking around for you.”

Xia Qing pressed the button. “I was wiped out yesterday. As soon as I finished up, I crashed. Zhao Ge, do you know why Third Brother was looking for me?”

“He didn’t say,” Zhao Ze replied, then asked with genuine curiosity, “Not much heavy work left in the fields now—what are you busy with?”

That tone made Xia Qing remember those people from Territory Four who climbed trees to peek into her land. Her answer was glacial. “Exactly because there isn’t heavy work, I found time to forge two knives. My strength’s increased, so the old blades felt too light—didn’t fit my hand.”

Zhao Ze fell silent.

She’s terrifying. Better not mess with her. I’ll steer clear.

Kuang Qingwei jumped in. “Never knew Xia Qing had skills like that! Are your iron knives for sale? How many points for one?”

Standing at the terraced pumpkin plot on the hillside, Xia Qing hit the button. “I’m no pro. Took me two whole days just to forge two knives for myself. Not for sale.”

Shi Chong chimed in. “Forging your own saves so much hassle. I already busted three machetes I brought from the Safe Zone and had to drag them all the way back just to get them fixed.”

“My machete broke, too. Took it to the smith but the points they wanted were outrageous. I had no choice but to buy the materials and fix it myself,” said Xia Qing.

Tang Huai, who was quietly cleaning his gun, muttered, “That explains all the banging from Territory Three lately—it was her forging! She really can do anything.”

Tang Zhengbo, reading nearby, reminded his son, “Don’t keep fixating on Territory Three. Xia Qing’s just here to farm. She’s not doing anything wrong.”

Tang Huai grumbled, “Dad, I haven’t been spying. She’s just so loud, you can’t help but hear. Even if I wanted to tune it out, I couldn’t.”

“You’ve had sharp ears since you were little. Your mom and I would be chatting in the living room, and you could hear us all the way upstairs with the door shut.”

Of Tang Zhengbo’s three kids, only Tang Huai had evolved hearing—that was the family’s hope. “You’re thirty now. Time you thought about settling down. Marry a high-level Evolver and the next generation will have it easier.”

“Dad, maybe think about my sister first. Find me a brother-in-law who’s a brain-evolved type and they’ll have a brain-evolved kid, guaranteed! Sis is thirty-five already.” Tang Huai quickly dodged the topic, deflecting it to his sister.

Tang Zhengbo actually considered it. “What do you think of Xie Yu?”

Xie Yu, the second-in-command of the Azure Dragon Unit?

Tang Huai instantly shook his head. “Nah, forget it. He’s bald. I don’t want my nephew to lose his hair before he’s even grown up.”

Tang Zhengbo couldn’t help but laugh, thumping his son with the book. “You brat, still judging by appearances after all we’ve been through.”

Tang Huai clutched his head and snickered. “Doesn’t matter how hard the times get—looks still count! Why do you think Yang Jin is so popular?”

Speaking of Yang Jin, Tang Zhengbo asked, “Sure, but the real reason he’s in demand is he’s a top-tier Evolver with brains. Isn’t he at Plot One now? How do you have the time to come over here?”

Tang Huai grumbled, “He just got back to the base. Didn’t even set foot in the Safe Zone, just ran straight over. I thought it was for something major, but Plot One’s been dead quiet. Wei Chengdong said Yang Jin hasn’t slept well recently—keeps locking his door and catching up on rest.”

“Yang Jin never does anything for nothing. He teamed up with Huo Fenghuang to explore Guilin City Base. Bet they brought back something good,” Tang Zhengbo said, spinning his pen lost in thought.

Tang Heng continued, “Luo Pei is now stationed at Plot One full-time, led a team to cultivate over a thousand acres. If Yang Jin went straight here and skipped the Safe Zone, I think the Azure Dragon Unit really means to shift their base of operations from the Safe Zone to this side. Dad, what do you think Mountain 49 is hiding that makes the Azure Dragon Unit invest this heavily?”