Chapter 320: Birds, Corn, and Clever Deals

Xia Qing picked off the only three kernels left on a white corn cob and carefully placed them on a stone outside the greenhouse. Then she called out to the Red Squirrel, who was putting on quite a performance nearby.

“Here you go, freeloader. This is all the kernels from the very first corn cob the boss shelled today. Take them—no need to trade, they’re all yours. Go stash them somewhere safe.”

As Xia Qing turned to head back to the corn greenhouse, the Red Squirrel shot forward like a bolt of red lightning, sweeping up every kernel from the stone just before a flock of hungry birds swooped in. Not one was left behind as the squirrel made its escape.

The birds, missing out on the prize, fluttered back to perches in the trees and on stones, their eyes glued to the greenhouse, determined to snatch food next chance they got.

Maybe the corn was giving off some scent Xia Qing couldn’t detect, because whatever it was, it seemed irresistible to birds.

A few impatient birds had already started pecking at the insect net, trying to find a way into the greenhouse.

More and more birds flocked to the area, making the scene even more chaotic than wheat harvest season.

Frowning, Xia Qing pressed the button on her walkie-talkie. “Hey everyone, is anyone else harvesting corn today? When you’re peeling back the husks, are birds gathering around your greenhouses too?”

Shizhong replied right away. “Same here. It’s kind of alarming. I don’t even dare peel any more—definitely not taking the ears outside. I’m worried I’ll get mobbed by birds.”

A single bird isn’t much, but when dozens or even hundreds rush you at once, they could seriously injure—or even kill—someone.

Zhao Ze’s mother, who hadn’t started harvesting yet, chimed in with concern. “If too many birds gather, they’re bound to attract raptors. If it’s just the birds they eat, fine—but if those predators attack people or damage the greenhouse, then we’re in real trouble.”

Tang Huai logged on, full of enthusiasm. “Xia Qing, harvesting corn? That’s some tough, messy work! Need a hand? Totally free of charge. Just let me take a fresh ear home to boil afterward and I’m happy.”

If she gave Tang Huai the cob with only three kernels as a reward, would he blow his top?

Xia Qing grinned. “There aren’t that many plants—it’s all done already.”

Tang Huai was speechless.

Did she think he hadn’t been to her territory? With all that corn, how could she have finished so fast?

Qi Fu, who hadn’t started harvesting either, weighed in. “Corn’s not like wheat. Wheat dries out in two or three days, but with corn—even in good weather, it takes over half a month to dry. Bad weather, a month or longer. We can’t spare people to shoo birds away for that long. We need a better idea.”

Assistant Xiao Liu from Territory Nine immediately spotted a business opportunity and jumped into the chat.

“Esteemed lords, Territory Nine offers a chemical compound that drives away birds. Just one bottle—only 300 credits—will protect 60 square meters for ten days. During that time, not a single bird will touch the fruit of your hard labor—corn that’s taken you 110 days to grow.”

Kuang Qingwei asked politely, “Assistant Liu, is this a new formula? Last time you said the repellent only worked on birds below level six.”

Assistant Xiao Liu replied warmly. “That’s a sharp memory, Mr. Kuang. No, it’s not a new product—still only effective against birds under level six. But more than 95% of birds above level six are raptors, and they don’t care about corn.”

“Got it, makes sense,” Kuang Qingwei replied, clearly amused.

Sensing that Kuang Qingwei wasn’t planning to buy the bird repellent, Assistant Xiao Liu turned to a new potential target. “Miss Xia, are you interested? Your territory doesn’t have much manpower, so you need every method you can get to protect your corn.”

Xia Qing replied politely, “I’m good for now. I can cover the corn with the same covers I use to dry cotton—they help keep birds away. Plus, I need to save credits to build a fence. Living alone, I really need the security a fence brings.”

Even if she didn’t have covers, Xia Qing wouldn’t use Territory Nine’s bird repellent. It’s a chemical product, and she planned to save seeds—no way she’d risk letting chemicals touch her corn.

And she wasn’t the only one. The other lords felt the same way.

Before the disasters, synthetic chemicals were essential for farming. But since the world changed, it’s been proven that chemicals raise the chances of mutated crops and poison the soil.

Whatever Li Si’s reasons for obsessing over that research, Xia Qing wasn’t about to risk her own crops and land just to help him gather data.

With no deal in sight, Assistant Xiao Liu logged off. Kuang Qingwei switched gears. “Did you all hear the farm knowledge broadcast last night? They talked about corn harvesters!”

“Yeah, I heard it. Qing, you pulled some strings for a harvester? Which type did you get?” After several days away from the chat, Zhao Ze finally joined in.

Xia Qing had listened to the broadcast too and learned that there are two main types of large corn harvesters: kernel harvesters and ear pickers. The first turns corn straight into loose kernels, the second picks whole ears.

These two types of machines require the corn to be at different stages of ripeness.

Kernel harvesters need the corn ears to be fully mature. Otherwise, the threshing will damage the kernels.

With Blue Star’s mutated atmosphere, full of destruction elements and aggressive microbes, any damaged kernels will mold in just a few days.

That kind of machine is useless, since once the corn’s this hard, you’ve missed your window to plant wheat. The fields need clearing and prepping for the next crop right after the corn’s picked.

Ear pickers don’t require fully mature corn, so they could be used now, but they mostly help crush stalks and pick the ears—a small plot barely justifies that kind of machine.

It wasn’t just the territories— even the Safe Zone’s crop center used manual labor to harvest corn to save on resources.

Xia Qing figured there was no way Kuang Qingwei had gotten those big machines—no one would buy or rent them.

Sure enough, Kuang Qingwei clarified, “I didn’t get any big harvesters. I got a corn thresher powered by an electric motor.”

“If you shell the corn and let it dry for two days, you can then use the thresher to strip the kernels from the cobs. Dry them another one to three days, and they’re ready for storage. With this thresher, drying corn takes less than five days.”

Xia Qing was tempted—this machine really sounded amazing.

Kuang Qingwei named his price. “This thresher is the newest model developed at Hui Two Base. It can process 2,000 jin of corn per hour. To buy, it’s 1,500 credits per machine. Renting is 20 credits per hour, including a worker to run it.”

Since this sort of machine only gets used once a year, renting is much smarter than buying.

Xia Qing immediately booked the first slot. “I’ll take it the day after tomorrow at ten in the morning, for one hour.”

Kuang Qingwei was delighted at landing a customer. “Deal. I’ll have the machine and an operator waiting at the bus stop by a quarter to ten.”

Once the other lords also signed up to rent the thresher, everyone turned their attention back to the bird problem—how to keep them away from the drying corn.

Zhang San, who never usually joined such discussions, popped into the chat. “My cats are experts at catching birds. I’ll take the job for free, as long as my cats get to keep what they catch. I can help anywhere except Section Three.”

When Xia Qing heard that, she nearly burst into tears.