Chapter 759: An Urgent Assignment and a Looming Storm

Standing outside the northern gate of Section Three, Tan Junjie nodded. “That’s right, the two helicopters didn’t take part in the attack. They only flew you over, so the four crew members split 400 credits among themselves. The rest are all yours.”

“Alright,” Xia Qing confirmed, then accepted the points card.

On the tenth of last month, Xia Qing had been urgently summoned by Tan Junjie to help with the team cleaning up the evolved wild tung trees on Hill Fifty.

She joined the effort clearing high-risk Devastation-evolved wild tung trees in the valley, netting 100 credits. She also shot down the mutated Giant Raptor with a 15,000-credit bounty from the Safe Zone. Since she wasn’t an official sniper, most of the bounty went to her. The four crew would get their own official rewards, which had nothing to do with Xia Qing.

After handing over the points card, Tan Junjie brought up a second item. “Because of the increased pressure on Section One of the North from evolved wild tung trees, the Safe Zone has deployed two more reinforcement squads. So, during the second round of Devastation Rain, we’ll have 55 members of the Inspection Team guarding this territory.”

At first, Section One of the North had three inspection squads, each with six to seven people. That barely made 20 in total.

When Yang Jin sold those high-Evolution Element rapeseed seeds to the base director, he requested additional forces and equipment for Section One of the North. The base eventually increased manpower to 35 and upgraded their gear. During Devastation Rain, another 20 were added, showing just how much the base prioritized this area.

Still, with more than 50,000 acres to cover, 55 people weren’t nearly enough to manage every risk. So, finding and taking care of threats during Devastation Rain was still the job of the lords. The Inspection Team could only provide emergency support when lords encountered danger beyond their means.

The lords had understood this risk from the beginning when they left the Safe Zone. They had two thousand acres rent-free for five years, but that meant handling these dangers themselves. If not for natural disasters, a country short on manpower and food, and the urgent need for grain, the land-grant policy would never exist.

Xia Qing understood exactly why Tan Junjie was telling her all this. Calmly, she asked, “Do you need me to help the Inspection Team during Devastation Rain if things get dangerous?”

“Exactly,” Tan Junjie said, stating the request first before moving on to rewards. “If there’s an emergency that the Inspection Team can’t handle alone, they’re allowed to ask for help from evolved fighters in the territory. When that happens, and you have energy to spare, you can sign up to help with the threat.”

“The Territory Management Department is offering Green Lantern Corn Seeds, hS-2 variety, as a reward. It’s a top-tier corn developed here at the base, stable across three generations.”

Xia Qing asked evenly, “Are the SY-2 seeds harvested now, or will I have to wait until July?”

If the SY-1 corn crops were still in the field, it would be just like the Y-3 from Red Eleven Base Xia Qing had; harvest wouldn’t come until late June or early July.

Evolved corn seeds needed at least a month of dormancy before replanting. That meant even if Xia Qing earned the seeds during the second Devastation Rain, she couldn’t plant them until next spring.

Tan Junjie got her point right away. “They’re last autumn’s seeds. You’ll be able to sow them next month.”

Xia Qing needed summer seeds to plant right after harvesting mung beans and winter wheat in early June. Still, she had one condition. “I’ll sign up for emergency support, but I’m not a speed evolver. My range is limited.”

Tan Junjie had already sorted the support ranges for evolved fighters on every territory. “As long as you’re able, you only need to offer help to Plots 1 to 10 when the Inspection Team puts out a call.”

“No problem.” All those lords were her allies anyway. Even without rewards, Xia Qing would help out in an emergency.

No sooner had Tan Junjie driven off in the patrol truck than Xia Qing heard someone running quickly along the Northern Barrier. She recognized the rhythm and stride instantly. So, she stood quietly at the northern gate and waited for Yan Long to arrive. When she did, Xia Qing greeted her with respect. “Sister Yan.”

Yan Long stopped. “Coming with me?”

No way!

In Xia Qing’s heart, her inner self was shaking her head like a rattle drum. Outwardly, she put on a sincere, regretful face. “I’ve got to deal with the cotton today.”

Yan Long nodded and kept running. Even from behind, you could tell she was in a great mood. Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief and hurried back to her territory.

Last time, out of curiosity, she’d gone to watch Yan Long and Tang Zhou spar. She’d thought it’d be a fair fight, but Yan Long crushed Tang Zhou without breaking a sweat.

After flattening Tang Zhou, Yan Long wasn’t satisfied and ended up giving Xia Qing a beating, too. Her right thigh and left calf were still aching from it.

When she limped back to Section Three, Da Jiang wasted no time explaining why Tang Zhou lost so badly: Tang Zhou, like Yang Jin, graduated from A Military Academy. His fighting skills were learned from Luo Pei and Yan Long. So the moment the fight began, his confidence vanished. In Tang Zhou’s words:

“Whenever Captain Yan lifts her leg, my calves cramp up and every bone in my body just aches.”

Xia Qing asked quietly, “Has Captain Yang ever fought Sister Yan? Who came out on top?”

Da Jiang grinned. “Captain Yan once went to Territory One to challenge our boss, but he ran faster than a mutant rabbit. She couldn’t even catch him.”

Xia Qing really did want to avoid a beating—and cleaning up the cotton was no excuse, either.

Just last winter, she’d piled up a ton of plant residue for organic fertilizer—roots, stems, leaves, the works. She’d ended up using so much of it that when fertilizing her cotton fields, she went completely overboard.

This was far from ideal.

With all that organic matter and nitrogen, the cotton plants grew tall and full but developed shallow roots, fewer buds, and lower-quality cotton.

So lately, whenever she had time, Xia Qing would wander through her half-acre cotton patch, picking off every tip and leaf bud she could find. If the plants couldn’t grow any taller, all the nutrients would go into budding and making cotton bolls.

She stood up after finishing for the day, wiped sweat from her brow, and felt grateful she was only dealing with cotton. If this had happened in the nearby sunflower plot, then during the next Devastation Rain, she’d have to face a whole barrage of sunflower seed bombs.

“Beep.”

Xia Qing pulled out her phone and saw a message from Xu Juan.

Just after hearing about the premium corn seeds SY-2 from Tan Junjie, she’d texted Xu Juan asking about it.

Xu Juan said she’d check. Xia Qing hadn’t expected an answer so fast—just a little over an hour later, she got the scoop:

SY-2 was developed by the Planting Center at Hui Three Base last year. The reason it hadn’t been released or promoted yet was that Tang Zhengrong wanted to use it to boost his results and climb up the ranks. So, he kept it a secret and stashed the seeds away in Su Feng Squad’s warehouse.

After telling her the news, Xu Juan couldn’t help adding: Tang Zhengrong is a real bastard.

As deputy director of Hui Three, he never thought about the base as a whole and only cared about his own gains. It was true—people like that deserved what was coming.

“Attention, lords, attention, lords.” Xia Qing had just replied to Xu Juan when she heard Tan Junjie’s announcement broadcast over the megaphone: “The Territory Management Department just issued a disaster warning: this year’s second round of Devastation Rain will start on May 15th, last approximately 52 hours, and will bring short periods of strong wind and lightning. All lords, please take precautions in advance.”

This year’s second Devastation Rain was starting six days earlier than last year, was lasting two extra hours, and now there’d be strong winds and lightning as well?!

Every lord working in the fields straightened up and wore a heavy look on their face.