Chapter 636: After the Scourge Rain: Rebuilding Territory

“How do we fix this mess? There’s no way!”

Tang Huai ranted in the Lords’ channel, “Before we established our territory, the Evolved Forest was open to any animal. Humans burned down the woods, cleared the land and forbade other animals from entering. The Wolf Pack didn’t complain—they moved on. And yet those bastards from Dongyang Squad had the nerve to raid their den, abusing their pups. Of course the Wolf Pack went berserk!”

“But…” Wen Nengjie quietly mumbled, “Brother Huai, wasn’t this land always ours?”

Tang Huai snorted, “You’re talking about territorial rights before the Cataclysm to wolves born and raised after it? All the top properties on East Street in Territory Two have my name on the deeds. Since the Cataclysm, all those new shopkeepers—who the hell pays me rent? If people can’t reason with people, you think you can reason with Evolved Wolves?”

Zhang San lazily chimed in, “Tang Huai, are you losing control to Devastation Evolution again?”

“No,” Tang Huai grumbled, his anger deflating. “Third Brother, I just felt stifled after watching those videos.”

Driving the rotary tiller home while cutting the Scourge Grass, Xia Qing eyed the dark sky through the rain shield, her expression solemn.

Zhao Ze’s voice came through, raspy and exhausted, “The Lords of the Western Territory just weathered 53 hours of Devastation Rain. We were starting to think about planting spinach, and then the Wolf Pack slashed the Greenhouse’s rain cover.”

Shizhong, another Lord, shared the frustration, “Can those western fields even be planted now?”

No one had an answer for that.

Xia Qing returned home, trimmed the Scourge Grass in the yard with the rotary tiller and noticed the Balding Weasel had left two big evolved locusts on the mat by her security door.

True to his meticulous style, the plucked one had removed all the wings and legs from the locusts.

Xia Qing was too drained to check the locusts’ quality. With a hoarse thank you toward the sheep shed, she tossed the bugs into the snake box, dragged her tired body inside and washed both herself and her companions’ protective suits before collapsing into her loungewear and passing out the moment her head hit the bed.

The next morning at six, the sound of soft rustling woke Xia Qing from a nightmare. Instantly, her hand gripped the gun at her side.

She waited a few seconds for her nerves to calm, then eased the gun down. Pulling back a corner of the curtain, she saw the Red Squirrel perched on the windowsill, its wet tail twitching as it rubbed its tiny paws, begging for water.

This was the first time the Red Squirrel had come for a drink since Xia Qing had knocked down that Dawn Redwood ten days ago. The little guy was still skittish, standing sideways for a quick getaway if anything seemed off.

As soon as Xia Qing moved to open the window, the Red Squirrel bolted onto the roof.

She cleaned out the little rainwater-filled jar on the sill, refilled it with pure spring water and shut the window. Only then did the Red Squirrel climb back down, bury its head in the jar and gulp down a long drink.

This little one had no Yi Stone to protect it, yet survived over 53 hours of relentless Devastation Rain. That was no small feat.

Once it finished drinking, the Red Squirrel stared at Xia Qing for a moment. Realizing she wasn’t offering food, it sat on the sill, using the spring water to groom its fur and bushy tail.

Sitting on the bed, Xia Qing pulled out her phone and checked the surveillance cameras around her territory and at the Bear Cave’s entrance. Finally, she tapped into the sheep shed feed, where she saw the Balding Weasel and White Weasel napping atop a heap of straw, five pups sheltered snug between them, all sleeping soundly.

In that moment, Xia Qing missed the Queen and Crippled Wolf more than ever.

Snapping a screenshot for her phone, Xia Qing shook off the gloom and bounded downstairs, greeting her companions with fresh energy, “Good morning, Boss!”

“Baa.”

Maybe because the three days of rain had finally ended, Old Goat was in a good mood and gave Xia Qing a hearty reply.

“How about Toon Sprouts for breakfast today?”

“Baa!”

“Alright, I’ll take the rotary tiller out to pick some then.”

Xia Qing stepped outside. Looking at all the knee-high Scourge Grass stubble and the little bugs hopping everywhere, she didn’t even feel frustrated.

That grass? She’d just wait a couple days for the ground to dry, then have Old Goat comb over it with a rake. Easy.

As for all the bugs? Ha, there was a whole flock of swallows under her eaves who loved nothing more than a snack of insects. These bugs didn’t stand a chance—those birds would clean them out soon enough.

What mattered most now was fixing up the fields and planting new seeds. Oh right, the red Scourge Grass in the high-risk zone on Hill Fifty needed to be dealt with, too.

Xia Qing fired up the rotary tiller, and Old Goat hurried out to join her in his designated spot. Together they cut a path through the Scourge Grass on the way to the house ruins on the west side.

Hearing the familiar sound, Tang Huai, still asleep in Territory Two, grumbled and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head to keep sleeping.

Spotting Er Gou emerging from the grass with a basket in his mouth, Xia Qing stopped the rotary tiller and opened the door, taking the small basket from Er Gou’s jaws.

But this trip wasn’t just about cutting grass—it was to pick up Er Gou.

“Look at all these bugs you caught, Second! That’s amazing!” Xia Qing praised her hardworking friend, peeking into the basket brimming with insects.

Er Gou hopped into his seat, his tail wagging with delight. He rubbed his head against Xia Qing’s facemask, showing off his joy.

In return, a smear of long and short wolf fur stuck to her face shield.

Arriving at the Greenhouse, Xia Qing and her two partners went inside to check on the animals. Then they toured the planting greenhouse and the three fields, taking a quick detour across the wide river into the Buffer Forest, stopping beneath the towering Toon Tree.

The Toon Tree wasn’t an evolved Devastation plant, so its Toon Sprouts barely grew during the Devastation Rain period.

Xia Qing fetched the long-poled sickle, hooked enough Toon Sprouts to fill a small basket, drew a big bucket of pure spring water and then, with Old Goat, headed back home.

Er Gou? He wasn’t coming back until his fish breakfast was served.

After a hearty breakfast, Xia Qing grabbed a hoe and set out to clear the Scourge Grass from the Yellow Lantern Rapeseed field.

With sparse seedlings and thick grass, but plenty of muscle and the right tool, Xia Qing cleared an acre of Scourge Grass in no time.

Once she tossed the grass outside, she counted carefully. Of the acre of rapeseed sown last November, after weathering last winter’s Devastation Snow and this spring’s Devastation Rain, only 265 plants were left.

Judging by leaf color, fifty or sixty of them had mutated into Red Lantern Rapeseed. Even if they bloomed and produced seeds, she couldn’t press them for oil.

In other words, of the ten thousand rapeseed grains she planted last autumn, only two hundred remained. The seeds handed out by the Safe Zone were frighteningly unstable.

Looking at the contrast, it was obvious how superior the M-14 Yellow Lantern Wheat from her trade with the Idol was. Those endured both Devastation Snow and spring’s harsh rain, and she still had half left.

Idol, you’re a legend!

After cleaning up both acres of Yellow Lantern Wheat, it was already eleven o’clock. Xia Qing tidied up quickly and took Er Gou to Territory Seven for their routine “checkup,” and to hear Third Brother’s plan for handling the red Scourge Grass on Hill Fifty’s high-risk area.

She still had several Yi Stones left out in that danger zone. Those were all credits waiting to be earned!