Chapter 488: Small Triumphs in the Snow

Even if the Wolf Pack looked down on Huo Zhun, Xia Qing thought otherwise. With both jumping power and strength, Huo Zhun was impressive. “I’m honored to work with you, Huo,” she said.

“Xia Qing.” Yan Long’s voice came through the phone. “Once the Devastation Snow passes, get ready for special training.”

“Alright, thank you, Sister Yan.” Xia Qing had been saving Credits recently, partly so she could give Yan Long a proper thank you gift. But after trading her Snake Meat for Credits with Huo Zhun, all she really had left was some Green Lantern Python meat.

So Xia Qing asked sincerely, “Sister Yan, do you need any Python meat?”

“Not me. Just remember to use the deodorizing pesticide these days.”

Xia Qing could only sigh.

Even Yan Long, a Level 9 Scent Evolution wielder, couldn’t stand how she reeked. Was Zhang San a Scent Evolution user too?

Once the call ended, Xia Qing noticed it was almost two in the afternoon. She packed up, ready to head home and cook some food to regain her strength.

But before heading home, she had one more important task.

Xia Qing gathered up the leftover straw Old Goat had been eating and brought it to the Green Lantern Chickens and Yellow Lantern Rabbits in the breeding greenhouse next door. She spread freshly picked Green Light Spinach leaves on the insect breeding trays, packed the eggs into her basket, then—together with Old Goat and Er Gou—left the greenhouse. They slowly crossed the frozen reservoir, crunching through the snow, and reached the lower slope greenhouse.

During Devastation Snow, all the rain covers were lowered over the greenhouses so inside, the light was dim. Xia Qing turned on her flashlight, made her way to the Spring Cave and opened it—she was shocked to see that the spring water was still flowing!

Her most valuable resource—Pure Spring Water—was still running, even with outdoor temperatures below minus 20 and the greenhouse below minus 10. The flow was slower, but it never stopped. Xia Qing could hardly believe her luck.

Though she’d already stored plenty, since she was here, she decided to fetch more. She placed her water bucket in the pit beneath the springhead and filled it using a clean bamboo tube.

Then she turned her flashlight toward the two seemingly colorless and transparent clumps of Devastationweed growing inside the cave. You could only make out the leaves because of faint green veins. Xia Qing paused, completely stunned.

Meanwhile, outside, Old Goat and Er Gou saw her with half her body wedged into the tiny cave entrance.

It took a long while before Xia Qing crawled out, squatting by the cave and studying a photo on her phone.

It wasn’t her imagination. Between the full-grown Devastationweed’s leaves, there was a runner just like a strawberry, but at the tip, it wasn’t a leaf bud for new plants. It looked like a flower bud.

Not only had she kept Devastationweed alive—she’d actually made it bloom!

If she wasn’t aching all over and there weren’t people around at the Base, Xia Qing would’ve whooped for joy or even wrestled Old Goat on the spot, just to vent her excitement.

All she could do for now was tap the photo and share it with her ally—Yang Jin, the Iron Rooster.

Wait—no!

She stopped just as her finger hovered over the send button. Better keep this news to herself for now; next time she negotiates with Yang Jin, she’ll use it as leverage and pluck some more of the Iron Rooster’s feathers.

Feeling gleeful, Xia Qing put away her phone, took Old Goat and Er Gou up the high slope to check out her orchard. She looked over the apple, jujube, Sichuan pepper and passion fruit trees—half-buried in soil, their tops tied in straw for protection. The rest would survive the cold, but the passion fruit was doomed.

With her rounds done, Xia Qing and her companions headed back to the lower slope greenhouse. She heaved the 20-liter water bucket into a carrying basket, let Old Goat carry it, and then had him nudge the blocking stone back over the cave entrance. The trio finally left, shuffling down the hillside together.

From a distance, Chen Cheng—out on patrol in the Territory—spotted the odd sight: one person, one sheep, one wolf, crossing the stone bridge. He couldn’t help but envy Xia Qing; if only he had a wolf that could carry baskets or a sheep built for heavy loads.

Xia Qing loaded her two companions onto the rotary tiller. After warming up the machine, they started home. Along the way, she greeted Hu Zifeng and his Combat Team, who were guarding the fields.

Once home, Xia Qing saw Alpha and Broken Back still weren’t back. She set the rice to steam and pulled out her phone to check the surveillance footage, wondering when those two wolves had left.

Alpha had left before dawn, as dashing as ever. Broken Back had slipped out that morning—skipping the gate entirely and vaulting the iron mesh wall several times to get into Hill Forty-Nine, Section Three. No wonder Xia Qing hadn’t heard the Northern Gate alarm.

No wonder she hadn’t heard the gate alert at all.

Putting her phone away, Xia Qing started prepping lunch.

Territory Four had sent her a huge bundle of Greenlight Alfalfa sprouts. Xia Qing split them into three portions: one for Old Goat, mixed with the nutritious blend; one for Er Gou in a veggie porridge; and one blanched and served cold with dressing. Then she whipped up chive and egg stir-fry, and a spicy python meatball soup. Her Idol had instructed her to eat 150 pounds of top-grade Evolved Green Lantern Python meat over three months, so Xia Qing made sure to divide it evenly over two meals per day to keep her nutrition balanced.

When the well-rounded lunch was done—hot and cold, meat and veg, soup and rice—Xia Qing set two tables by the fireplace: one for herself, and one for Old Goat and Er Gou.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to share a table with her trio, but every meal turned into a mess: one flinging soup everywhere, the other shoving straw off the table. Best to eat separately.

After lunch, Xia Qing didn’t rush back to the fields. She first completed a round of disinfection and deodorizing, then lounged by the fireplace. Settling into her recliner, she picked up the fully charged phone she’d found hidden in the cave and powered it on.

Over a minute later, the phone booted. The yellowed, dim screen showed a number pad, prompting Xia Qing for the password.

She entered the long string from the family photo hanging on the wall of the stone hut. It worked, just as she’d hoped.

With the phone unlocked, Xia Qing browsed through its content. Then she started looking through the photo album, beginning from the first year of the Cataclysm.

Like most people, the phone’s owner had started out documenting the early disasters—torrential rain, acid rain, hail, flocks of wild birds and beasts—recording everything with a mix of excitement and anxiety. Less than a month in, the videos leapt forward to desperate pleas for medicine and rescue.

Later disasters—earthquakes, red fog, insect swarms—were hardly recorded at all. She simply didn’t have the heart.

In autumn of the Cataclysm’s second year, the family had to abandon their home and take shelter at the quarry dormitory. There, they managed to celebrate two kids’ birthdays. It was a miracle they’d all survived up to that point.

One video from the following winter featured more than twenty people in thick clothes, cleaning out the Bear Cave. In the video, young and old wore ragged clothes and bore acid rain scars on their faces and hands, but their eyes still sparkled with hope.

Despite suffering through world-ending calamities, they’d found a safe place and still looked forward to the future. But in that video, Xia Qing didn’t see the family’s elderly couple or one of the children.

The next-to-last video was from autumn of the Cataclysm’s third year. The family, now down to three, celebrated a thin but radiant child’s birthday in their brand new stone hut.

The final video featured just a single person.

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