Chapter 494: A Mountain of Opportunity

Hui Three Base’s Hill Fifty was massive.

“Hill Fifty stretches 16 kilometers from east to west and 12 kilometers north to south. That’s about 192 square kilometers, with four distinct peaks. The third one even towers above the highest point of Hill Forty-Nine.” Xia Qing rattled off the facts with confidence, all thanks to her new contract with her idol yesterday—she was now officially the manager of this mountain.

On top of that, she’d gained first dibs on buying the mountain as well.

“One hundred ninety-two square kilometers, that’s…” Kuang Qingwei was speechless. His mind spun as he fished out his battered phone to convert the area into hectares.

Zhao Ze, who worked in construction, had already crunched the numbers. “That comes to two hundred eighty-eight thousand mu. And that’s just the flat area. If you count the slopes and mountain faces, it’d easily double that!”

“That’s wild…”

Kuang Qingwei and Zhao Ze stared, dumbfounded. Yue Haiying’s expression turned thoughtful.

Ever since Tang Huai kept nagging in the lords’ channel about what would happen if the Azure Dragon Squad failed to guard Hill Forty-Nine and a horde of evolved animals poured into human territory, Shizhong immediately felt the pressure at the sheer size of this new mountain. “Qing, what if a beast breaks loose from Hill Fifty and hurts someone in the territory? The management department wouldn’t hold you responsible, right?”

Xia Qing explained, “As long as I don’t deliberately drive any evolved animals from Hill Fifty to attack the territory, I won’t be held liable.”

Shizhong let out a breath. “That’s good. Third Brother isn’t like those people from Territory Nine; he’d never sabotage us.”

Yue Haiying nodded too. Zhang San was a technical expert whom Hui Three Base had begged over from Hui One more than once. Zhang San had planned to turn Hill Fifty into an experimental zone, and the base had agreed. What he hadn’t expected was for Zhang San to hand management over to Xia Qing.

This proved Xia Qing’s ties with Territory Seven were even closer than Yue Haiying had guessed—a good thing, since it meant the Lords’ Alliance was only getting stronger.

Xia Qing continued, “Six large machines will be delivered to Hill Fifty tomorrow to start clearing trees and making firebreaks. We’ll need to recruit fifty people for this task; it’ll run fifteen to twenty days. Captain Yang from Azure Dragon will lead the operation, with security handled by the Azure Dragon Squad and the Inspection Team. The requirements for volunteers are…”

After Xia Qing laid out the tasks, qualifications, and rewards, everyone in the alliance was tempted.

Zhao Ze couldn’t hide his excitement and asked, “But isn’t the beast tide coming soon? Doesn’t Captain Yang have to go back to the Safe Zone?”

“The disaster prevention work at Hill Fifty is even more dangerous than a medium-scale beast tide. Yang Jin has already been drafted by Zhang San, so if anyone wants to recruit Yang Jin as commander for the beast tide defense, they’ll need Zhang San’s approval. As for Xie Yu and much of the Azure Dragon main force, they’re still at the Safe Zone, so the command won’t likely summon Yang Jin back.”

The ever-experienced Yue Haiying turned to the alliance leader, Xia Qing, after answering Zhao Ze’s question.

“All the animals in the disaster area on Hill Fifty were cleared with poison gas bombs. So the firebreak clearing job should only be C-rank risk. Why’s the pay so high? Are we at risk of catching Super Evolution Fungus on this task?”

Everyone stiffened at Yue Haiying’s words, then turned to Xia Qing for an answer.

Xia Qing explained, “All the expenses for this operation are being paid by the Blazing Fire Squad—the ones who caused the disaster—so the reward’s higher than normal. I’ve already spoken with Captain Yang. We’ll recruit people from within our territories first—go back and figure out how many from your group want in, then report the numbers to Qi. By noon today, we’ll compile a total, and I’ll pass it to Captain Yang.”

“Zhao,” Xia Qing called out to Zhao Ze, “I told Captain Yang about your skills as a project leader. He said if you sign up, your pay is fifty credits per day. Talk it over with your aunt—see if you want in.”

Zhao Ze’s eyes lit up. His pay was over three times the standard rate. “Count me in! Of course I’m going—thanks, Sis!”

Qi Fu and Yuan Yan shared a look, smiles forming in their eyes. They were in too, not just for the credits, but to get experience in the Evolved Forest.

Next up was the main event.

Xia Qing pulled out her phone, showing everyone a photo of a hidden valley. “This valley is inside Hill Fifty and covers about two mu. There’s a hot spring inside. When I went there the day before I used Devastation Snow, the mountaintop was minus fifteen degrees, but inside the valley, it was a warm twenty-five. This used to be just a mountain crevice, but in the second year after the calamity, some people blew open the mountain…”

When she finished, everyone stared at the five tombstones in the photo, sighing.

Kuang Qingwei perked up. “Guess luck wasn’t all bad—they all died together, and at least they got to be buried as a family. Sis, you mentioned wanting to use the valley for something—seedlings?”

“Captain Yang has already opened negotiations with the Blazing Fire Squad. Their compensation will definitely include Yellow Lantern Rice Seeds of at least second-generation stability, though the exact amount isn’t set yet.”

After explaining about the seeds, Xia Qing went on to why they’d cultivate rice seedlings inside the hidden valley. “By raising nursery rice in a temperature-controlled valley, once the first Devastation Rain of the new year comes, we can transplant into our fields. By the second Devastation Rain, our rice will already be past the vulnerable sprout and early growth phase. This should help lower the Devastation Evolution rate.”

The moment the lords realized they’d get high-quality rice seeds, they could hardly contain their excitement.

Yue Haiying, who knew little about farming, humbly asked, “Two mu isn’t much. How many seedlings could we start in there?”

Everyone looked to Qi Fu and Yuan Yan. Yuan Yan answered, “Before the disaster, here, one mu of nursery could cover eighty to a hundred mu of rice paddy. If seedlings are plentiful, we could use tiered racks and grow vertically—just add a few more grow lamps. I can’t promise more, but raising enough for six hundred mu is a sure thing.”

“Didn’t expect a two-mu valley could produce so many seedlings. That’ll meet our needs for the next two years,” Yue Haiying said, always thorough after years of fighting calamities, now eager to be a capable farmer. “I’ve just got one more question. We’ve all built greenhouses—why not use those?”

Qi Fu explained thoroughly, “Evolved rice needs a long nursery period: twenty-five to thirty-five days. If we want to transplant by mid-March, we’ll need to start in early February, while it’s still winter.”

“After the calamity, winter temperatures dropped by ten to twenty degrees. By late February, it usually jumps to around ten degrees in just a couple days. Our greenhouses can’t keep temperature controlled well enough, and rice seeds need specific warmth and humidity from sprouting to seedling stages. If we get that wrong, our seedlings grow stunted. That’s why the management department only sells seedlings in July, never seeds.”

Yue Haiying’s eyes filled with understanding. “I get it now. Thanks, Qi. So this valley for nursery work is a huge deal for the alliance.”

With good seedlings, you get good crops.