Chapter 601: Night of Melting Snow

By the time Xia Qing finished her usual nightly two laps around the territory with Er Gou and Old Goat, her allies were still busy chatting in the channel about spinach seeds, the perimeter wall and the broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Even though Xia Qing had already known about two of these things, seeing the plans finally coming together filled her with joy. After all, every piece of good news meant real progress for the territory.

Xia Qing switched off the walkie-talkie and was about to get ready for bed when she suddenly heard the sound of dripping water from outside her window.

Drip, drip, drip… the sound continued.

Could that be the leftover snow on the roof finally melting?

She pushed open the security door and saw droplets shining in the lamplight, steadily falling from the eaves.

The temperature was rising. The snow was starting to melt. Well, so much for sleep tonight.

Xia Qing turned the walkie-talkie back on and soon heard a transmission from Tan Junjie, the head of the inspection team, reporting the temperature rise and reminding all the lords to take proper precautions.

She put on her protective suit, started up the rotary tiller and hurried over to the greenhouse. After checking the temperature and humidity meter, she saw the temperature hadn’t actually started climbing yet. Still, just to be safe, she pulled several large logs she’d added to the greenhouse fire wall after her run, and dunked them in a bucket of water to put them out.

Based on ten years of weird climate patterns from the Cataclysm, she knew how fast temperatures could shoot up in late winter and early spring. If she waited until the heat kicked in to burn less wood, her precious chickens, fish, insects and rabbits might all get sick.

This was especially true for the newly-hatched yellow lantern mealworms and unhatched eggs. One careless move and she’d lose them all.

Sudden warming didn’t just mess with evolved animals. It could wreak havoc on humans, too. Bugs that had slept all winter would get active again. If they were in the Safe Zone, the megaphone would already be blaring, waking everyone up to spray insect repellents and pesticides.

This time last year, Xia Qing had been jolted out of bed by that very megaphone, racing to join a mandatory pest control run in the Outer City.

Her own territory needed repellent and pesticide as well, but since she already knew the temperature was about to rise, she’d been spraying the key areas twice a day. There was no need to rush tonight.

By the second half of the night, temperatures had crept up from a biting twenty below zero to just around minus ten.

A chubby red squirrel, curled up in its tree hollow, woke and poked its nose outside, sniffing the warmer air. In the darkness of the greenhouse where it was a balmy twenty-five degrees, a white-feathered rooster flapped his wings and crowed at the top of his lungs. In the snake box, a small bright green snake lifted its head, red tongue flicking and eyes—hidden under a transparent membrane—scanning for any change.

The little swallows nesting under Xia Qing’s eaves chirped with excitement, while inside, Old Goat and Er Gou stretched out on the tatami, abandoning their cozy spot by the fireplace.

After dozing in the bedroom for over an hour, Xia Qing dragged herself up, peeled off her new thermal clothes, slipped on her snakeskin jacket and protective coat and started checking the key places—like the toilet and sewer—making sure no snakes, bugs or rodents had snuck in. She sprayed another layer of pesticide and stuffed up all pipe openings before heading down to the underground food storage.

The climate control devices in the storage room were still humming, keeping everything perfectly in check. Xia Qing checked the devastation element reading in the air, then ran her hand along the room’s dry wall panels.

Quality stuff, honestly. She’d blown one hundred thousand credits on this high-end building material from Territory Seven, but it was worth every bit.

With that done, Xia Qing set out to check each warehouse in the rack building. She soon noticed the warehouse walls were starting to get damp.

This dampness was inevitable: rising temperatures, melting snow, wetter air. Unlike her own little building, the rack building lacked water-resistant paint and didn’t have a fireplace, so moisture issues here were always worse.

Fortunately, nothing inside was especially vulnerable to damp—except Old Goat’s stash of hay.

But even if that hay went moldy, it was no big deal. Spring grass would soon be sprouting in the fields, and Old Goat’s beloved toon tree on the high slope was about to bud.

Spring wakes everything up. It’s a season filled with hope—and danger.

After leaving the rack building, Xia Qing checked the chicken house, sheep shed, then made her way to the small cabin by the fields and circled through the greenhouse and main structure.

With the temperature on the rise, it was time to open vents in the greenhouse and main building to let out some heat.

Once she’d made the rounds and found nothing out of the ordinary, Xia Qing was ready to finally rest—when her phone chirped in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw a notification: the new camera on the high slope had picked up an intruder.

Zooming in, Xia Qing saw the culprit was none other than the balding weasel. Er Gou had beaten her to it and was already checking out the disturbance.

Right now, Er Gou was standing atop the high slope, watching the weasel leap around in agitation.

What on earth was going on now?

Xia Qing quickly brought up the surveillance feeds for both the bear cave on Hill Fifty and the hidden valley. Once she’d confirmed everything looked normal there, she set off across the stone bridge—ice melting beneath her feet—to reach the high slope. “Er, baldy, what happened?”

As soon as the balding weasel spotted Xia Qing, it rushed over, leaping and squeaking a sharp, urgent “ka ka, ka ka” at her.

That sound was familiar. Last year, this same weasel had caught a big rabbit but got robbed by an evolved hawk and squealed out for Xia Qing’s help.

Something had spooked the balding weasel—enough that it came to her, a human it normally feared, instead of running for help from the Wolf Pack.

Xia Qing crouched down and coaxed gently, “Baldy, what’s wrong?”

She had to keep her voice soft. If the weasel panicked, it might accidentally release its poison gas.

“Ka! Ka ka! Ka ka!” The weasel was so anxious it didn’t even remember to be afraid, dancing frantically at Xia Qing’s feet. Only then did she notice its belly and legs were caked with muddy water. The poor thing looked a mess.

Er Gou nudged Xia Qing’s leg with his body, then started off toward the northern gate. The weasel bounced after him without a second thought.

Xia Qing still had no clue what was wrong with the weasel, but decided to go along and find out.

But with the thaw just starting, she couldn’t leave the territory unattended. Xia Qing radioed Hu Zifeng and asked him to send someone to keep watch over the territory for her.

Even though it was three in the morning, as soon as Xia Qing called, Hu Zifeng’s squad had Guan Tong and Chen Zheng at her door within five minutes. “Sister Qing, are you heading out right now?”

“Yeah.” Xia Qing had already grabbed her gear and her backpack. “I’m heading to Hill Fifty. I just checked the greenhouse and main building—they’ll be fine for the next hour and a half.”

Hearing she was going to Hill Fifty, they assumed something urgent had happened in the High-Risk Area and quickly asked, “Want us to come help?”

“Let me check things out first.” Xia Qing left Section Three, picked up her pace as Er Gou began to run, and followed the balding weasel straight toward Hill Fifty.