Chapter 792: Busy Days, Wild Boars, and a Playful Sheep

The Buffer Forest covers a huge area, but the thick vegetation means Devastation Grass seeds can’t get enough space or nutrients to thrive, so there’s not much Huanggan-39 here.

Xia Qing worked nonstop until nightfall. The next day, she was up early, grinding away until nine in the morning before finally clearing out all the Huanggan-39 in the Buffer Forest.

Meanwhile, the teams from Section Fifteen and Seventeen had already finished clearing Huanggan-39 in their zones and started tackling other types of Devastation Grass. On the flatter areas, they used rotary tillers or sickles. In rough, uneven, or ruined parts, they just yanked the grass out by hand.

Xia Qing left Er to keep watch over the Farmland Zone and her house. Leaving the territory behind, she set out for Hill Forty-Nine to clear Huanggan-39 in Section Three.

Her first stop was the valley where the wild boars lived.

Not long after she entered the valley, a big wild boar came snorting and charging at her, ready to brawl. No need to guess—it had clearly lost control. Xia Qing was no stranger to this valley; she often came to clean up wild boar manure, and the dozen or so boars here had long been intimidated by her, never daring to cause her trouble.

This one must’ve lost control just recently, since everything seemed normal on her patrol yesterday.

Once a wild boar loses control, its brain gets wrecked by the Devastation Element. There’s no reason left, no fear—just endless fighting to the death.

If it dies, it’ll be worth less on the market.

Xia Qing dropped her basket of Huanggan-39 and dashed forward. Just as the boar was about to crash into her, she leapt and swung onto its back, locking her legs tight and grabbing its ear to steady herself. With her right hand, she squeezed an oral painkiller into the boar’s gaping mouth.

The big boar let out a furious howl and thrashed like crazy, but within ten minutes, it crashed to the ground, unconscious.

Xia Qing tied it up securely with rope. She’d sell it to Zhong Tao when his patrol truck came by the next day.

Out-of-control Red Lantern animals fetch the same price as the normal ones: 25 credits per pound if alive, 20 credits if dead. This one weighed over 300 pounds, which should be enough to trade with Tang Huai for that Level 3 Wilderness Protective Suit Crippled Wolf wanted.

She laid the unconscious wild boar on a clean rock and was about to get back to clearing more Huanggan-39 when she suddenly heard footsteps on the slope above.

After a few days away, Little Flathead the honey badger appeared at the top of the valley, its beady eyes fixed on the wild boar lying on the rock. After watching for a bit, it rolled down the slope, baring its tiny teeth, all set to chow down on pork.

Xia Qing just stared in disbelief.

Seriously, could your eyes and brain be any worse?

She picked up the wild boar and stuffed it into the Wolf Den, sprayed it with antiparasitic pills, and let it rest. Then she left the den, shooing away Little Flathead as it tried to bite her, and got back to clearing Huanggan-39.

Denied its pork, the little honey badger, Flathead, chased Xia Qing around, snapping at her ankles in a fury. Even after being kicked away again and again, it refused to give up!

Once she finished clearing out Valley One, Xia Qing moved on to other areas.

Little Flathead? Its legs were too short to climb out of Valley One anyway. She’d come back for it later.

Around noon, Xia Qing stopped searching for more Huanggan-39. She hauled the big wild boar onto her shoulder and, with the bagged-up Huanggan-39 in tow, headed back to the territory.

With help from Yu Shou and the others, Xia Qing brought all the collected Huanggan-39 from Section Three and the Farmland Zone to the south gate. Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui helped her load it into the dump bed of a huge truck.

Both Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui had bloodshot eyes—they’d been swamped with work since the Safe Zone was hit by a Devastation Explosion. On top of that, Xia Qing had heard from Xu Juan that Zhong Tao’s father was killed in the explosion, and his wife was injured while protecting their child and was now in the hospital.

Xia Qing asked, “Tao, are you interested in a wild boar that’s lost control? It’s alive—I just caught one.”

“I’ll take it.” Zhong Tao’s voice was hoarse and weary. “I heard you didn’t have any trouble here. Everything alright in your territory, Sis?”

“We’re good.” Back at the territory, Xia Qing quickly brought out the 300-pound wild boar and exchanged it for credits, then handed Zhong Tao a bag of Green Lantern vegetables and half a frozen rabbit. “I heard your wife was injured. Take these home for her and the kid, help them recover.”

The dead no longer feel anything, but the living have to carry on.

“Thanks.” Zhong Tao’s voice was raspy and his eyes red. “Sis, you wouldn’t believe what the Safe Zone looks like now…it’s hell out there…”

But Xia Qing knew. She’d seen plenty of photos and videos online: wide swathes of residential areas turned to rubble, mangled corpses, flocks of scavenging birds circling overhead, and desperate people fighting with everything they had for supplies.

A natural disaster really did look like the end of the world.

Zheng Kui? No need to ask—he lost all his family in last year’s Devastation Rain.

With Wen Nengjie and his crew casting envious looks, Xia Qing tucked the points card into her pocket, keeping her cool as she headed back to work.

By noon on the third day, the teams from Section Fifteen and Seventeen wrapped up their tasks and collected their pay before leaving Section Three.

After they left, Xia Qing fired up the rotary tiller and cleared all the Devastation Grass from inside the isolated farmland. She then hauled out a three-meter-wide iron rake from the warehouse, dangled a bunch of toon leaves in front of Old Goat, and together, human and sheep started raking up the leftover grass.

The afternoon before, while bringing some meat to her good friend in Territory Eight, Xia Qing learned that the Chonglian Group had just developed a small weed-removal machine for territories like hers.

This new weed-removal machine was twice the size of a rotary tiller. Its big shovel blade could uproot Devastation Grass, grind it up, and send it straight into a furnace to be burned to ash. The Devastation Grass ash could be spread directly on the ground, or bagged and stored as fertilizer or even food.

Next month, two helicopters would deliver machines to Xin Yu. If Xia Qing wanted one, Xin Yu could ask them to bring an extra.

The machine sounded handy—even if it did use a lot of energy, Xia Qing didn’t mind. But with a Power-Evolved Sheep in the territory who thought hard work was a game, she didn’t really need it.

After all, she had Old Goat.

With Old Goat pulling the three-meter-wide iron rake at full speed from the east end of the barren field to the west, they could clean over eight acres of grass roots in one go. Xia Qing would clear the rake tines, heap up the roots, shower Old Goat with praise, then toss it a cucumber or a ration bar. Old Goat would happily take another run—from one end to the other, another eight-plus acres cleared!

Riding on the massive iron rake Old Goat was pulling, flying across the field—it was a thrill. Xia Qing loved it. Together, they turned work into play.

Looking back over the freshly cleared ground, Xia Qing felt nothing but pride and accomplishment.

After a dozen rounds, Old Goat was winded, so the pair flopped onto the half-dried pile of Devastation Grass, basking in the sun and breeze while Xia Qing lavished Old Goat with praise.

Once Old Goat caught his breath, the two of them jumped right back into work—or play.

As for Er? Once Wen Nengjie and Yu Shou’s team stopped roaming around Section Three, it headed off to Hill Sixty with the twenty pounds of freeze-dried meat Xia Qing had packed up for it.

This time, Xia Qing didn’t feel too down about Er leaving. After all, she knew Er would be back whenever it had time—and she could visit Hill Sixty herself when she was free.