Chapter 294: A Stormy Night, Snakes, and Survival

During last night’s thunderstorm, when Zhao Ze told Xia Qing there were fish floating into Section Four, Kuang Qingwei also discovered dead fish in the river running through his own territory. The haul wasn’t as much as Section Three, but it still topped a hundred jin.

Since there weren’t that many, Kuang Qingwei told his workers to dry them up for fish feed, then toss them into the pond for the edible fish.

More than forty edible fish, all sizes, swim in Kuang Qingwei’s pond. He’d long noticed that, compared to grass or evolved insects, these fish prefer aquatic creatures from the river.

So he always scoops up things like nematodes and Red Lantern Fish Shrimp from the river to feed them. Most of these Red Lantern Fish Shrimp drift in from Section Three’s reservoir. Now that one bolt of lightning wiped out the reservoir, there’s no hope it’ll recover this year. He needs to stock up on fish feed for his prized fish.

Kuang Qingwei tapped away at the calculator app on his phone, estimating how many points he’d earn selling fish from his pond this autumn. Those few female fish—once they produce eggs next year—will need a much bigger pond and a lot more feed.

The pond will have to be well away from the river. Otherwise, it could get washed out like Xia Qing’s, and that’d be a huge loss.

After finishing the last piece of braised eel, Zhu Li licked her lips, still wanting more. “That was delicious! Honey, why don’t we head out to a wild pond and try electrofishing? If we find a big pond, we could haul in tens of thousands of points’ worth in one go.”

Kuang Qingwei quickly shook his head. “You think it’s easy to get your hands on equipment with a billion volts? Even if you could, once you zap all the fish, the smell would travel fast and attract some evolved beasts. Forget earning points, you’d be lucky to escape alive. Xia Qing only got rich this time because it was night, and the reservoir was inside the territory, so no beasts came running.”

Zhu Li thought about it and sighed. “Guess that’s true. Xia Qing really is lucky.”

Still focused on his calculations, Kuang Qingwei nodded. “Everyone who’s survived this long has had their fair share of luck. If that lightning had struck a hundred meters further south, both Xia Qing’s greenhouses would have blown sky high.”

Meanwhile, over in Section Three, Xia Qing was lost in a nightmare.

She dreamed the Pure Spring in her territory was blown apart by lightning, leaving not a drop of water. The only thing left to drink was filtered water. The terraces in the Buffer Forest couldn’t get any more spring water, killing off any chance of better sprouting rates or lowering the odds of plant mutation.

With no spring water, the Azure Dragon Squad stopped renting Hill Forty-Nine, and evolved brown bears from the north charged along the valley into her territory to steal corn. Xia Qing and Old Goat were no match for the evolved bear, so she was forced to break out her trump card—the grenade launcher—and blasted the bear sky-high.

But before Xia Qing could catch her breath, two terrifying Brain-Evolved Bears showed up, bringing dozens more brown bears—looming over her, their presence suffocating.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

The rooster’s crow jolted Xia Qing out of her nightmare. She threw on some clothes and rushed outside, not even checking if the little squirrel had visited her windowsill last night.

Old Goat spotted Xia Qing racing outside and, thinking something major had happened, scrambled up and bolted after her. The commotion startled the swallows dozing under the eaves, sending them fluttering into the sky.

Xia Qing dashed into the lower slope greenhouse, moved aside the rock blocking the spring, and finally let herself relax when she saw water still trickling out, silent and clear.

She washed her hands, scooped up a handful of that icy spring water, and took a sip. The nightmare really was only a dream. The spring water was still crisp and sweet.

“Baa.”

Old Goat, right behind her, let out a call.

“Here, drink up.” Xia Qing filled a bucket, handed it to Old Goat, her nerves still raw. “Old Goat, last night I dreamed the spring was destroyed by lightning. Scared me half to death.”

After they’d both drunk their fill, Xia Qing blocked off the spring again and straightened up—only to have a streak of green come flying at her. Snake!

Xia Qing kicked back in a flash. The little green snake missed her, hit the ground, and shot toward a crack in the rocks. It was fast, but Xia Qing and Old Goat were quicker. They both stomped down on its body at the same time.

Old Goat gave Xia Qing an unimpressed side-eye. She instantly lifted her foot, letting Old Goat take the lead.

As soon as Xia Qing moved aside, the snake twisted, aiming at Old Goat, but it was no use—the goat flipped it into the stone wall, then pinned its head with a swift stomp.

Game over.

Old Goat puffed up, head held high and squinting with pride.

Xia Qing clapped enthusiastically. “Old Goat, you’re amazing! You truly are the boss of our territory! You’re the nemesis of all snakes, bugs, mice, and ants—the protector of our land, the goat standing atop Blue Star’s food chain. I’m proud to have you as a companion! Whatever you want for breakfast, I’ll make it for you!”

Talk of food made Old Goat’s eyes shine. Ignoring the still-twitching snake on the ground, he raced out of the greenhouse straight to the corn house, then looked back, bleating for Xia Qing to hurry up.

Xia Qing, having tucked the little snake into a cloth bag, walked over with a grin. “Old Goat, craving corn this morning?”

“Baa—” Old Goat’s voice dragged out, crystal clear just how much he loves corn.

Old Goat really wanted to run into the greenhouse and eat straight from the stalks, but he remembered Xia Qing’s rules. He waited at the edge, not barging in. Truly a well-behaved goat. Xia Qing rubbed his head. “Alright, give me a minute and I’ll whip something up for you.”

“Baa!”

Old Goat, giddy with excitement, trotted back home, grabbed his little basket, and went off to catch bugs for fish feed.

Xia Qing headed to the Northern Buffer Forest to check the spot hit by lightning.

To keep her vegetables safe in the terraces, Xia Qing had gradually cleared the trees within ten meters on both east and west sides. If she hadn’t, the lightning probably would have struck a big tree last night—and that would’ve been the end of it.

With those trees cleared, and a drainage ditch dug through the greenhouse, the lightning instead struck the drainage channel, blasting out a pit over a meter deep, then followed the flow of water straight into the reservoir, wiping out all the aquatic life there.

Shattered rocks from the lightning tore more than a dozen holes in the greenhouse rain cover and insect net, and smashed one of the greenhouse’s support poles.

Good thing the northwest wind had died down by the time the lightning struck. Otherwise, the rain cover would’ve been ripped to shreds. Xia Qing patched up the holes with heavy-duty glue, then went off to collect the fish.

Xia Qing checked the insect netting carefully. The tape over the holes held firm—so did the little snake squeeze in before she patched it, or sneak in another way?

She kept going up, and sure enough, found a fist-sized hole in the insect net near the spring. The snake Old Goat trampled didn’t even have sharp enough teeth to bite through the net, so something else must have made the hole.

Ever since Xia Qing extended the greenhouse up the slope and included the spring inside, holes have kept cropping up in the insect net close to the spring every few days.

And it’s no mystery why—even though the Pure Spring water flows silently, invisible and tasteless, every evolved animal that’s drunk from it knows there’s good water here. Whenever they get thirsty, they find a way in to drink.

Xia Qing doesn’t mind the hassle. She patches and replaces that section of insect net over and over, always checking to see if whatever made the hole is still lurking inside the greenhouse.