Chapter 629: Shielding the High-Risk Zone

“In just over ten minutes, the Devastation Rain will reach red level and last for more than half an hour.” After reading the message, Yue Haiying put his phone away, checked that his new protective mask was secure, and his eyes hardened. “Xia Qing, contact Third Brother now and ask if we can risk clearing the Devastation Grass in the rain.”

Yue Haiying, who regularly took on high-risk tasks in the Evolved Forest, understood even better than Xia Qing the catastrophe that would come if the aggressively mutating Devastation Grass in large patches got drenched by a red-level Devastation Rain for half an hour.

He was already prepared to let Xia Qing and Dazhi withdraw while he and Yu Shou stayed behind to face the disaster.

Xia Qing, always ready, started dialing Zhang San while calmly instructing, “Brother Yue, get into the valley and bring out all the spare wooden staffs for mounting Yi Stones. Yu, open the door on the left and grab the rain covers, metal rods and ropes. Split them into two parts, take one part up to the high-risk zone right away.”

“Got it.” Yue Haiying and Yu Shou responded immediately and set off to move supplies.

As soon as the call connected, Xia Qing spoke before Zhang San could say anything. “Third Brother, the high-risk zone is about to get hit with red-level Devastation Rain. Should I install the Yi Stones you had me bring so the high-risk zone won’t be affected? We can wait until the rain is over to spray pesticide.”

“The Yi Stones I had you bring?”

Zhang San was silent for five full seconds before replying, “Go ahead. Just make sure to be careful.”

“Understood! Third Brother, don’t worry.” Xia Qing quickly pulled three walnut-sized Yi Stones and one pigeon egg-sized Yi Stone from her backpack, split them in half with a knife, and jammed them into the holes at the tops of the wooden staffs Yue Haiying had brought out.

Even Yue Haiying, who was ready for the worst, was stunned. Yi Stones were such precious supplies, yet here they had so many at hand…

Zhang San really was a boss.

Xia Qing pulled out two blueprints for the danger zone from her backpack and showed them to Yue Haiying and Yu Shou. “I’ll throw the Yi Stone staffs into place where the blue dots are marked. You two, run ropes along the red lines and secure the rain covers. Ten minutes, tops! Move!”

After glancing at the plans, Yue Haiying finally understood the purpose of those twenty or so massive boulders scattered around the high-risk zone.

With the rain cover, ropes, and a support frame for the danger zone below Third Peak loaded on her back and the Yi Stone-staffs in her arms, Xia Qing dashed into the downpour. She hurled the sharpened end of one staff just like a javelin, driving it deep into the blood-red Devastation Grass already knee-high in the danger zone.

Once that area was secured, she left it to Yue Haiying and Yu Shou, then sprinted with supplies toward the lower section of the danger zone. Second Respondent, who had rushed over from Territory Seven with a drone to spray pesticide, saw Xia Qing hard at work and joined the emergency team without a word.

With four people and seven hands, they just managed to cover almost five acres of high-risk zone with huge rain covers before the red-level Devastation Rain began to fall.

The newly cracked-open Yi Stones poured out Evolution Element, dropping the concentration of Devastation Element in the air within range to nearly zero. Xia Qing could feel the weakening of the grass’s magnetic field herself, and she guessed that the rapidly multiplying and evolving disease spores in the soil were calming down too.

“Sister Qing, there’s still a patch of Devastation Grass growing in the northwest corner of the upper zone. It’s already budding and about to bloom. Should I just pull it out?” Just as Xia Qing caught her breath, Yu Shou’s voice came through on the walkie-talkie.

“Leave it to me. You and Brother Yue get back to the Bear Cave right away.” Xia Qing ordered. Braving the rain, she ran toward the danger zone just five hundred meters from the Bear Cave, yanked open the rain cover, and quickly found the budding Devastation Grass. As she tossed over half a pigeon egg-sized Yi Stone, she noticed the red light on the air toxin detector strapped to her arm flashing.

Some of the Devastation Grass was already releasing toxic gas!

Xia Qing glanced at the toxin detector display on her arm, pulled two gas absorption boxes from her pocket, and stuck them onto the support pole holding up the rain cover. Then she sealed the cover again. Even if the rain cover couldn’t stop the toxic gas from leaking out, at least it could block the red-level rain from soaking the high-risk zone.

She’d done all she could. If that wasn’t enough to stop the Devastation Grass from evolving, she’d have to come up with another plan after this bout of red-level rain.

After returning to the Bear Cave, Xia Qing first went to the decontamination room, took off her anti-bacterial gloves and foot covers, then washed the mud off her protective suit. Stepping out, she formally greeted the people from Territory Seven. “Second Respondent.”

“Sister Qing, just call me Second Respondent. We’ve met before—last July, when Third Brother was away from Section Three, I came over to pick up the supplies you swapped with him.” Second Respondent introduced himself, smile lines creasing the corners of his eyes.

Xia Qing had recognized Second Respondent by his voice during the rescue earlier. Not only had he visited Section Three for supplies, last July when it hailed and Ji Li had to protect Zhang San and leave Territory Seven on a mission, Second Respondent served as the temporary agent leader, fielding questions from the other lords in the Lords’ channel.

At the time, Xia Qing had thought he was a soldier sent to protect Zhang San. But when she heard he called Zhang San ‘brother’ just like Da Ya did, she realized he was one of Zhang San’s own people.

Once again, Xia Qing felt how thoughtful her idol was—even though nothing was said, he must have sent his own people here in case the military found the passage from the Bear Cave to the Hidden Valley.

It also showed Second Respondent was someone to be trusted. Xia Qing switched gears without missing a beat. “Second Respondent, Brother Yue, Yu, you all take a breather. I’ll go report to Third Brother.”

“Alright.” Second Respondent asked, “Do you want cameras set up in the danger zone? I brought equipment and a laptop.”

Territory Seven’s people really were well-prepared, but Xia Qing shook her head. “Devastation Grass in the high-risk zone is already putting out class B toxic gas. It’s too dangerous to go in now. Let me report to Third Brother first and see what he says.”

Toxic gas is grouped into four classes—A, B, C and D. Both A and B are already lethal. Second Respondent nodded immediately.

Yu Shou still felt a lingering dread at how close they’d come to disaster—just a second later and the toxic gas could’ve spread, putting them all in danger. Now that risk was under control, he had to head back to the Hidden Valley to continue protecting the seedlings and Dazhi. “Brother Yue, Second Respondent, I didn’t sleep last night. I’m beat. I’m going to crash in the lounge.”

After Yu Shou entered the ‘rest room’, Xia Qing called her idol and reported in detail about installing the rain cover and Yi Stones. She added, “Because I messed up part of the installation, about five square meters aren’t covered by Yi Stones. The Devastation Grass there bloomed and started releasing class B toxic gas. I added another Yi Stone and set up two air toxin absorption boxes to patch things up.”

Support poles, ropes, rain covers and air toxin absorption boxes were all emergency supplies pre-stocked in the Bear Cave for unexpected situations.

After Xia Qing discovered that the red Devastation Grass was mutating aggressively, she’d already started planning how to sever its growth if something went wrong. So after picking up pesticide from Territory Seven, she made a special trip back to her place to grab a handful of Yi Stones.

Yi Stones were almost impossible for others to get, but Xia Qing had well over a hundred herself.

Zhang San didn’t ask where the Yi Stones had come from, only, “The samples you brought back stopped growing in the lab. What gas was responsible?”

Thanks to book friend Handsome Wolf for the reward during the October waxing moon, and thanks to everyone for subscribing and voting.

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