Chapter 210: Unexpected Rain and Risk in the Safe Zone

The corn stalks had shot up over 1.6 meters, with the healthiest already towering over everyone’s heads. Out of all the crops in the territory, corn was the tallest and also the hardest to spot if it underwent Xiang Evolution.

Everyone knew the third wave of Xiang Rain was coming, so of course they started prepping in advance. Shi Chong replied, “I’ve piled a half-meter high ridge of soil inside the corn greenhouse.”

Kuang Qingwei answered, “That’s a great idea, Shi Ge. Why didn’t I think of that? I made more than twenty tall stools and lined them up in my corn greenhouse during Xiang Rain, using them to stand and watch over the field.”

But compared to tall stools, soil ridges made it much easier to move around. Xia Qing and Qi Fu followed suit and built their own ridges ahead of time.

Suddenly, Tang Huai chimed in. “Xia Qing, there’s no way you’ll last seventy hours alone. Want me to help out? One hundred points a day is all I want.”

Everyone else: …???

Xia Qing didn’t hesitate. “Already hired someone to guard the territory for me.”

Tang Huai started to protest, but his dad interrupted. “Tang Huai, if you don’t have anything to do during Xiang Rain, get back here and help out.”

“Got it, Dad,” Tang Huai answered, knowing Xia Qing would never agree. Still, he was curious—he really wanted to check up on the crazy sheep and Sick Wolf back in Territory Three.

With Tang Huai giving up the argument, Zhao Ze quietly asked, “Luo Ge, if I can’t manage things in my own territory, can I ask someone from yours to help out?”

That got the attention of the lords from Territory Five, Six, and Ten, all of whom perked up to listen.

Luo Pei replied gently, “During Xiang Rain, most of the Azure Dragon Unit’s main team will be stationed at the Safe Zone, so we’re short on people too. Each territory can only send two or three folks to help. Regular squad members cost fifty points a day, standard evolved team members are a hundred a day, and advanced evolved team members are over two hundred points per day. You’ll also need to pay for any weapons used against Xiang-infused evolved creatures.”

That’s a steep cost for the Safe Zone, but protecting a territory is much riskier than defending the Safe Zone. Facing unknowns and danger meant the higher price made sense.

For lords with at least ten acres of crops, these points were nothing. Zhao Ze quickly replied, “Thanks, Luo Ge. I’d like to hire three standard evolved team members.”

Qi Fu, Kuang Qingwei, and Shi Chong each reported their own hiring numbers, until Tang Huai couldn’t hold back. “Luo Captain, didn’t you all clear over a thousand acres of wasteland? Can you really spare so many people?”

Hu Zifeng immediately shot back, “As long as nobody’s messing around and letting evolved rats into the greenhouse during Xiang Rain, we’ll have enough hands.”

Everyone: …

Tang Huai, the proud owner of the notorious Big Iron Pot, took the blame.

Luo Pei calmly replied, “We did open up a lot of land, but most of it’s still empty, so we don’t need that many people right now.”

Tang Zhengbo spoke with Luo Pei. “You’re planning to plant winter wheat, right, Luo Captain?”

Luo Pei nodded. “Yes, but I haven’t found any quality wheat seeds yet.”

“Me too,” Tang Zhengbo agreed. “I want to plant more wheat, contribute to the Base, but I’ve been busy looking for top-quality seeds.”

After the two lords, each managing hundreds or even thousands of acres, exchanged ideas, the smaller lords with plots in the tens of acres chatted among themselves.

Kuang Qingwei asked, “Qi Ge, if I pull up the cotton with only a few small bolls and dry them, will the big bolls underneath still bloom?”

Qi Fu hesitated. “They should, in theory.”

“You can pull them out,” a long-absent, cool voice echoed through the Lord’s Channel.

The lord of Territory Nine, Li Si—who’d been detained more than a month for illegally storing hazardous chemicals—was finally back!

Li Si was an expert in crop cultivation. The moment the lords heard her voice, surprise flashed across their faces. Eager for help with the upcoming Xiang Rain, they hurried with their questions.

Kuang Qingwei quickly asked, “Fourth Sister, is it okay to just leave the pulled cotton in the greenhouse? Or should I bring it home?”

Li Si replied coldly, “After pulling, strip off the leaves. Store them somewhere dry—where they can’t get caught in Xiang Rain, the roots won’t touch the soil, and there’s enough airflow to keep them from rotting. Once the rain’s over, spread them out to dry and the mature cotton bolls will start to split open.”

Kuang Qingwei responded right away, “Got it, thanks, Fourth Sister. The weather’s been terrible lately. Take care, Fourth Sister—drink lots of hot water.”

Everyone rushed to ask their questions. Even though Li Si sounded tired, her answers stayed sharp and precise. Clearly, a month of questioning and confinement hadn’t left a mark on her expertise.

As for how she spent the past month, everyone was curious but smart enough not to pry.

Xia Qing pitched in, “Fourth Sister, is there a big risk that Yellowlight sunflowers will undergo dangerous Xiang Evolution?”

Li Si gave a measured response. “The sunflower seeds you got from the Safe Zone were evolved dwarf oil sunflower seeds, with a growth cycle of around seventy-five days. If you planted right away, the seedlings are past both the juvenile and budding stage. The plants are now slowly entering the flowering phase or have already hit their growth spurt and are maturing. Xiang Evolution is most likely to hit during flowering, more than in full maturity.”

“As for the actual chance, it depends on how well your greenhouse blocks out the Xiang element. Back in the eighth year of the calamity, during a red Xiang Rain that lasted over an hour and a half, three Bases in Huicheng had their oil sunflowers go through dangerous Xiang Evolution. The plants started shooting sunflower seeds outward at high speed, leading to massive casualties.”

A sunflower that fires seeds like a machine gun… that’s terrifying.

That Red Xiang Rain, so sudden and devastating in the eighth year, was already a nightmare for everyone. Who would’ve guessed there were even deadlier disasters hidden within it all along?

Qi Fu weakly asked, “Fourth Sister, after two years of breeding and improvements, the oil sunflowers should be more stable now, right? Otherwise, the Safe Zone wouldn’t sell the seeds to everyone, letting us plant them… right?”

The oil sunflower seeds had been sold in bulk by the Lords’ Administration at the July Produce Trade Fair. Pretty much every lord bought the limit—two hundred seeds—and planted them across their territories.

Before Li Si spoke, everyone had felt pretty confident that sunflowers, already past flowering and entering maturity, would be fine through this third round of Xiang Rain. Now they found themselves wishing they’d waited a few days to plant. Sunflowers in the flowering stage couldn’t fire seeds even if they underwent Xiang Evolution.

Why not? Because flower heads in the flowering stage haven’t formed seeds yet!

Li Si answered Qi Fu coolly, “I never tested that batch of oil sunflower seeds, so I can’t tell you for sure.”

As for why, she never got the chance. The oil sunflowers had barely been distributed before the hazardous chemical incident broke out and Li Si was taken away.

Just as everyone grew even more anxious, Li Si turned the tables with a question for Xia Qing. “Xia Qing, why are you so concerned about the risk of Xiang Evolution in oil sunflowers?”