Chapter 486: Winter Fields, Faded Faces

With dark circles under his eyes and looking like he was about to waste away, Zhang San sat behind the pristine white table flipping through Xia Qing’s test reports one by one.

“Your Devastation Element levels are down to 16 per mille. Not bad. In five more days the pain should be gone, though how long it takes to regain your fighting strength from before you used the stimulant depends on how soon you can get enough energy. The bone damage hasn’t gotten worse, so no need for more medicine. How are those three wolves in your Territory holding up?”

Xia Qing answered, “Still haven’t seen the Alpha today. Crippled Wolf is fine. Er Gou’s been hyper since last night—maybe after using the Devastation Element Antidote he can actually feel his body getting better.”

Zhang San yawned. “How much of the antidote do you have left?”

“Just one dose left.”

“You and Er Gou can each take a drop daily, mixed with water. Use it up. But you can’t eat anything with a Devastation Element level above 10 per mille while you’re on it, or it’ll cancel out the effects.”

“Got it. Thanks, Third Brother.”

Xia Qing watched her idol’s exhausted face with real worry that he was about to kick the bucket. “Third Brother, I brought Green Lantern peanuts and hickory nuts for Ji Li. Want some chicken? I can go back and butcher one, bring it over for you, help you get some strength back.”

Zhang San replied weakly, “No appetite.”

Zhang San was the only person Xia Qing had met during the disaster years who still managed to starve himself like this despite having enough Green Lantern food.

She figured Zhang San’s ‘no appetite’ probably wasn’t just picky eating, but she knew better than to pry.

“Hui One Base sent people to search Fire Mountain top to bottom. Didn’t find any contraband or illegal experiments.” Zhang San’s tone and expression were both sour.

Xia Qing shot up and slammed the table. “Impossible! Absolutely impossible!”

Zhang San leaned back. “Back up, you’re making my eyes water.”

……

……

……

Reeking of sweat, Xia Qing scooted her chair back before speaking again. “Third Brother, let’s set aside how Fire Phoenix is doing things for now. But there’s no way Territory Nine didn’t use poison gas bombs with contraband chemicals—it’s basically a sure thing. This time we should finally be able to drive them out of our land, right?”

Do I look like I’m the one with nothing to do? Zhang San shot Xia Qing a glare. “That’s up to Yang Jin and Tan Junjie to handle. My job’s just disaster relief.”

With Yang Jin on the case, Xia Qing felt reassured. There’s no way they’d lose out with him around. “Third Brother, how did you get the antidote for the poison bombs?”

Zhang San grew listless at the mention. “Traded with Li Si. She wanted to leave Fire Phoenix and stay with me, but I didn’t agree—sent her to Red Eleven Base instead.”

Red Eleven Base was just north of Hui Three Base, but separated by a vast stretch of Evolved Forest. There was pretty much zero contact between the two.

That same Evolved Forest, stretching north of Hui Three Base and formed during the violent crust shifts early in the disaster years, had split Huaguo into north and south. South of the forest were Huicheng and Gui City bases; to the north, Red City, Lan City and Baicheng Base.

The forest belt was thousands of kilometers wide, cutting north and south in half. No one had ever crossed it on foot, so even though Red Eleven and Hui Three were next to each other, contact was almost nonexistent.

Xia Qing asked, “So the case will be tried by Red Eleven Base?”

“Yep.” For once, Zhang San was patient enough to explain. “The chief of Hui Three argued that a local trial would hurt fairness, so for such a major case with big consequences for humanity, they asked for it to be handled elsewhere.”

Not being tried by Hui One was a relief to Xia Qing. “Third Brother, do we have to go to Red Eleven Base for the hearing?”

“I can’t leave the Territory. But you should go out and see the world.” Zhang San yawned and nodded at the medicine packet on the table. “Take those with you—use them starting January, same way as before.”

Her idol had already made her a new batch of medicine for injuries. Xia Qing thanked him, then took the opportunity to ask, “Third Brother, is the toxin from aggressive Devastation-Evolved rapeseed that bad? I heard someone in Section Five had to get an amputation after being poisoned.”

Zhang San explained, “There’s corrosive acid in the spikes. The guy got more than just pricked—he was infected with Super Evolution Fungus too. Amputation was the only way to save him.”

If even Zhang San’s medicine couldn’t help, it meant the Super Evolution Fungus was really untreatable. Xia Qing asked, “Third Brother, how much longer until we can make a broad-spectrum antidote for that super fungus?”

After hearing her idol’s answer, Xia Qing trudged out of Territory Seven and climbed into the rotary tiller.

Hu Zifeng hadn’t even started the tiller to head back yet when he saw Yue Haiying coming out from Territory Fifteen with two people in tow.

Hu Zifeng quickly jumped down and greeted him. “Brother Yue.”

Hu Zifeng had taken on missions with Yue Haiying’s unit plenty of times, so normally he’d salute him. But since Yue Haiying’s right arm was gone, Hu Zifeng changed to the greeting used among lords and skipped the salute.

Whatever he’d been before, whatever his title, Yue Haiying now, just like Xia Qing, was a farmer.

Trailing behind, Xia Qing was a bit slow to get out before Yue Haiying waved her off. “You’re not fully recovered. Stay in the truck where it’s safe. How are you feeling now?”

Xia Qing stubbornly climbed down anyway, joining everyone in the snow. “Much better. Third Brother says the pain will be gone in five days.”

Yue Haiying reminded her, “No pain doesn’t mean you’re healed. Eat as much Green Lantern food as you can these days.”

When he finished, Yu Tao—the strength evolutionist missing his left eye and half a hand—passed a bag to Hu Zifeng. “This is Green Lantern bamboo rat jerky. Sister Qing should eat it to get her strength back.”

“Thanks so much.” Since they’d brought the gifts out, Xia Qing didn’t refuse—she just accepted them directly.

Passing by Territory Six, Kuang Qingwei and Zhu Li were already waiting in the snow under the signpost with an umbrella. They stepped out to give Xia Qing a little bag of Yellow Lantern dried longan.

Further up, Xia Qing got Green Lantern celery from Territory Ten, Green Lantern ginger from Five, fresh alfalfa sprouts from seeds in Section Four, and eavesdropped whispers from Territory Two.

Once inside Section Three through the South Gate, Xia Qing dropped the gifts off at home, checked the greenhouse, then headed into the planting greenhouse.

It was still snowing Devastation Snow outside, but inside the planting greenhouse the grow lamps were bright and it was warm. The spinach, alfalfa, perilla, green onion, pumpkin, and pasture grass she’d planted thirteen days ago had all sprouted and were thriving.

Growing fastest were the two hundred chive roots she’d put in—the chive leaves had already shot up more than ten centimeters and were ready for harvesting.

Xia Qing picked a few chive leaves and handed them to Old Goat, then slowly sat down by the strawberry seedlings.

With the cold weather, it wasn’t good for anyone to stay outside. So the animals from Section Three, bored of staying in, would come to the greenhouse to play.

The Evolved Wolves loved to hang out in the breeding house, while Old Goat, the herbivore, liked to stay in the greenhouse full of plants, chewing his cud while watching the seedlings grow.

Old Goat, chewing chive leaves, settled beside Xia Qing and nibbled them slowly. Xia Qing leaned against him, eyes fixed on the flower buds starting to appear on the strawberry seedlings in the planting bed.

In a few days, those buds would bloom. After artificial pollination, they’d turn into green baby strawberries. If all went well, Xia Qing would be eating fresh strawberries come January.

But right now she couldn’t find any excitement. All she could think about was Third Brother’s parting words:

If we can’t protect biodiversity and keep the ecosystem’s newfound balance as stable as possible, humanity will never develop antibiotics fast enough to outpace the evolution of the 400,000 known microbes—and at least a million unknown ones—already out there.

dengbidmxswqqxswyifan

shuyueepzwqqwxwxsguan

xs007zhuikereadw23zw