Chapter 633: Night Duty Before the Storm

As soon as the alarm chimed at one thirty in the morning Xia Qing’s eyes snapped open.

She got dressed, washed up in record time, then headed downstairs for a simple yet hearty breakfast—steamed eggs. Afterward she drove the rotary tiller out of the warehouse under the rack building, with her two companions in tow. They cut their way through chest-high Scourge Grass, heading straight for the little house by the fields.

Hu Zifeng, Da Jiang, and Xiao Jiang had just finished their shift from four in the afternoon until two in the morning and went to the back room to catch some sleep. Xia Qing, joined by Chen Cheng and Er Yong, took over the second half of the night.

According to the forecast, there’d be a red-level Devastation Rain lasting quite a while tomorrow morning around seven, so everyone needed proper rest to handle whatever the weather might throw at them.

Right now the yellow-level Devastation Rain was still coming down in a steady, soaking drizzle.

First stop: the Breeding Greenhouse. Xia Qing found Er Gou with his rusty-colored eyes already busy, claws digging industriously at the Scourge Grass. Xia Qing smiled warmly. “You’re doing great, Er. If you’re tired just take a break. Once I finish my rounds, we’ll pull up grass together.”

Er Gou lifted his rusty eyes, looking joyful as he stood on the rough, pitted ground and gazed up at Xia Qing.

Her smile softened. “Your eyes just keep getting brighter. That means you’re getting healthier. Once the Devastation Rain lets up, we’ll go see Third Brother for a checkup. Who knows, your stomach might be all better.”

In just two more days Xia Qing and Er Gou would finish the last dose of the medicine for internal injuries and would need a follow-up. If Er Gou’s stomach recovered enough to handle raw meat, he could return to the Wolf Pack.

Xia Qing couldn’t help but ruffle his dense fur before checking on the livestock, poultry, and insects inside the Breeding Greenhouse. Thanks to the Yi Stone’s protection, all the animals were resting soundly, unaffected by the rain.

When she reached the chicken coop, peering through her night vision goggles, Xia Qing spotted a Barred Hen off to the side, not snuggled up with the others but settled firmly in her nesting box.

Excitement flooded her as she reached in to check. The hen squawked in protest, clucking angrily and pecked at Xia Qing’s gloved hand, stirring up the rest of the flock in a chorus of shrill squawks.

The beak might’ve been sharp, but it couldn’t get through her protective gloves. Xia Qing’s fingers brushed against a warm egg beneath the hen, and she whispered excitedly, “Er, get over here—the hen’s broody!”

Er Gou, who’d been busy digging, raced at once to Xia Qing’s side. He didn’t know what brooding meant, but Xia Qing’s joy was infectious so he wagged and grinned alongside her.

She pointed to the basket on the rack by the north wall. “Er, fetch that basket for me.”

The fresher the eggs, the better for hatching chicks. Xia Qing had been saving those eggs over the past two or three days in that exact basket.

Er Gou carried it over gingerly in his mouth. Xia Qing took the eggs and gently tucked each one under the broody hen. The hen immediately pulled the eggs in tighter with her sharp beak, protective and wary Xia Qing might try to snatch them away again. Watching her nest, Xia Qing finally relaxed.

Altogether she set nineteen eggs under the hen, and counting the one already there, that made twenty in total. If all went well, they could expect to hatch out ten Green Lantern chicks.

This year, Xia Qing needed to hatch and raise at least fifty Green Lantern chickens to meet her Idol’s demand for both chicken and eggs—a deal she’d struck with Idol last winter before the Devastation Snow fell, one of the key conditions for trading the Devastation Element Antidote.

Even without the trade, she’d still want more chickens. More hens meant more eggs and meat, but just as important, more Green Lantern chicken manure for top-notch fertilizer. With better fertilizer, the crops and vegetables on her fields would thrive.

With the eggs in place Xia Qing swung by the Planting Greenhouse. There, Old Goat was lying peacefully under the small nightlight, lazily chewing his cud. She fondly stroked his head and shared the good news about the broody hen, then inspected the flourishing Green Lantern vegetables in the greenhouse.

Hu Zifeng’s group had just cleared out the big Scourge Grass and Devastation-evolved vegetables from the planting beds. Someone was watching over the Yellow Lantern wheat and rapeseed, while the Green Lantern wheat was safely guarded by the Yi Stone. After saying hi to Er Yong, Xia Qing slipped on her Iron Umbrella and started making rounds through the territory.

The late-night hours were when fatigue hit hardest. Xia Qing kept the lord communicator close, letting the sound of rain against her Iron Umbrella mingle with the background chatter on their group channel.

“Yan, how’s it looking over there? I just did a count, we’ve only got 156 rape plants left in the fields,” Zhu Li called out to her neighbor Yuan Yan. When they first met Zhu Li used to call her “sister-in-law,” but after they grew close, she switched to just “Sis.”

“I haven’t done a headcount, but it’s looking pretty sparse. Who knows how many will be left once the Devastation Rain is over.” Like Zhu Li, Yuan Yan had sent Qi Fu to rest and was leading her own group through the late-night shift so Qi Fu would be recharged to face tomorrow’s red-level Devastation Rain.

“Can you believe it? After all our hard work this winter—the money we spent on seeds, labor, fertilizer—there’s barely any chance we’ll make it back. Growing rape is just such a loss,” Zhu Li complained.

“Total loss.” Yuan Yan echoed her sigh. “If I can’t get Green Lantern rapeseed next year, I’m just planting winter wheat and veggies—no more rape, that’s for sure.”

Xia Qing nodded along. At this stage, it was true: winter Yellow Lantern wheat suffered less loss than Yellow Lantern rapeseed. She had the same plan as Yuan Yan.

Wen Nengjie chimed in with a hint of longing. “It’s only spring and people are already figuring out what to plant for winter. That’s something special.”

“Yeah. This time last year, who would’ve dared to plan that far ahead?” Shizhong added.

In the age of disaster, survival from day to day was all most ordinary people could manage; no one had the time or energy to think six months or a year ahead. Farming was exhausting and uncertain, but it offered hope—hope enough to keep going another day.

Standing inside the Buffer Forest, Xia Qing looked out at the distant Territory Nine, where beams of light swept steadily through the dark. If only people worked together instead of infighting, maybe chances of survival would be a lot higher.

In that respect, humans still had a lot to learn from the animals in the Evolved Forest.

“Sister Qing.” Er Yong’s voice crackled over the earpiece just after four in the morning. “I just got word: the Western Wolf Pack and a group of leopards are herding a pack of out-of-control large herbivores—they’re charging forward!”

“Charging forward”—weren’t they headed straight for the human territories, right for the Safe Zone?

Seriously? Sure, animals didn’t fight amongst their own kind, but they never let a grudge slide. Payback was always on the table.

Xia Qing kept her cool. “How many are there?”

“Twenty-three wolves, four leopards, and right now the herd’s got about a hundred large herbivores. Since we’re not sure which way the Wolf Pack’s heading, there’s no official warning yet.”

A hundred animals was already enough to make a real stampede. When they barreled ahead it would whip up even more wildlife, and under red-level Devastation Rain conditions, they could easily become a medium- or large-scale beast wave—enough to smash right into human territory and the Safe Zone.

The Western Wolf Pack was using the cover of Devastation Rain to take revenge.

Send people to stop them now? During Devastation Rain, humans’ fighting power would be down; using heavy firepower would probably trigger a Devastation Burst. So how would they stop them?

Xia Qing asked, “Have you received any pictures yet?”

If that Handsome Huge Wolf was leading the charge with the Western Wolf Pack, she’d have to leave the territory right away and do what she could to stop them.