Chapter 76: The Battle of the Dancing Potato Vines

“I haven’t heard Third Brother mention it, but if it’s a litter of kittens, there should be at least two or three, right?” Talking about baby kittens, Xia Qing brightened with anticipation. If she had an Evolved Cat right now, no way would those rats have chewed up her solar panels at home.

“Two or more would be perfect. When we get back, let’s dig a fish pond and raise some fish. That way, when the cats arrive, we’ll never worry about feeding them meat.” Da Jiang looked hopeful too. Zhang San had promised that if his Evolved Cat had two kittens, Plot One would get one. But if it only had a single kitten, their Captain would be told to work on making another—though Da Jiang definitely hadn’t unlocked that ability himself.

After a few more minutes of casual chat, Xia Qing and Chen Zheng got ready to inspect the rain shelters again.

Following their division of tasks, Chen Zheng checked the wheat, mung bean, and cotton shelters, while Xia Qing inspected the vegetable shelter. Once done, they returned to the cabin, where Chen Zheng reported, “There are just eight Xiang-evolved plants in the two shelters east of the road, and twenty in the three on the west side.”

The ‘road’ Chen Zheng referred to was the path Xia Qing had built from home up to the vegetable shelters on the hillside. In the eastern shelters, the mung beans and cotton had been soaked in spring water. In the west, they’d been soaked in filtered water. As for the wheat, it was half and half, but they’d all been planted on the west side.

Hu Zifeng’s Squad had no idea whether there was any unpolluted spring water in Territory Three, or that Luo Pei was recovering in the basement. In fact, besides Hu Zifeng, no one else knew about Luo Pei’s treatment down there.

Tasked personally by their division’s Captain, they just knew that Xia Qing had helped Luo Pei and was now a benefactor to their Azure Dragon Unit.

So for now, Xia Qing kept her explanation simple: “Maybe the soil and drainage are better in the eastern plots, so the crops are less affected by the Xiang Rain.”

Chen Zheng nodded, thinking that made perfect sense.

By 4 a.m., the Xiang Rain had been falling off and on for forty-two hours. According to the weather forecast, there were only six hours left until it ended.

But just as everyone started seeing light at the end of the tunnel, a wave of anxiety swept over them. Even Boss Sheep started scraping the ground with his hooves.

No one needed to say it. Everyone knew—red-level Xiang Rain was about to hit.

Before Xia Qing could issue any orders, Chen Zheng jumped up. “Da Jiang, A Cheng, scale back the patrol area. Just guard around the rain shelters—don’t let any rodents or mutated toxic insects get close or damage them. I’ll cover the inside with Qing-jie. Keep your walkie-talkies on and report if things go south.”

Grabbing her protective mask, Xia Qing added, “If you can’t handle a threat, save yourselves first—then let us know. We can always grow more food, but staying alive is what matters most.”

Facing the unknown dangers this red-level Xiang Rain might bring, Xia Qing’s words took a lot of weight off the three members of Hu Zifeng’s Squad.

“Understood.”

“You can count on us, Qing-jie.”

“If we can’t handle it, we’ll call in backup. We’ve got to keep ourselves safe, and protect the farmland too.”

“Exactly. And don’t forget we’ve got the Hazard Inspection Team on standby,” Xia Qing said, rubbing Boss Sheep’s head. No need to ask—she knew he’d insist on tagging along. With his protective mask on, the pair hurried off to the potato, sweet potato, and pumpkin shelters.

The moment they stepped inside, the rainproof tarp thundered with the pounding rain, making the place feel even more tense.

Wearing her protective mask, Xia Qing took a deep breath. Under the harsh beam of her flashlight, she started her inspection.

She cleared out a Xiangified Green-light Sweet Potato, two flowering Xiang-evolved Yellow-light Potatoes, and then, using a wooden stake, pried away a Xiang-evolved Cucumber-Pumpkin Vine. With Boss Sheep at her side, Xia Qing pressed on toward the planting fields.

Half an hour into the red-level Xiang Rain, everything except the freshly propagated sweet potato vines held steady in the fields. The vegetables inside remained stable, which gave Xia Qing some peace of mind.

After a full sweep, Xia Qing let Boss Sheep drink some spring water before they headed back down. She swatted two Evolved Water Leeches that leapt from the surface to attack. Instead of returning to the cabin, the two went straight back to the potato, sweet potato, and pumpkin shelter.

This was the riskiest part of the night—red-level Xiang Rain was the most dangerous, and out of all three shelters, this one was likeliest to see Xiang-evolved plants pop up.

She’d only walked a few steps inside when Xia Qing spotted a potato vine—almost double its normal height and with red-purple stems and leaves—dancing the seaweed shimmy all on its own.

Seriously? You’re a potato vine—you should focus on flowering and making potatoes, not mutating animal traits and busting a move!

Xia Qing grabbed her shovel and charged ahead, but Boss Sheep cut her off.

“Baa!”

Boss Sheep bleated loudly, scolding her with a stern glare.

Xia Qing nodded. “I get it, this potato vine’s tough. I’ll be ca—”

She didn’t finish. The dancing potato vine suddenly sped up and whipped a normal potato vine nearby clean off.

“You little punk, you’re looking for trouble!”

Xia Qing lost her temper, swung the shovel and rushed forward. The dancing potato vine’s strength and flexibility were way above normal—it snapped the wooden handle of her shovel and landed a heavy lash on Xia Qing.

Even with her protective suit on, Xia Qing felt the sting from that hit.

Fighting through the pain, Xia Qing tried to grab another dancing potato vine that had just broken a regular one, but Boss Sheep shoved her from behind.

“Whack!”

A potato vine lashed right where Xia Qing had just stood. Boss Sheep, who’d shoved her away but couldn’t dodge in time, took the hit on his tail, let out a howl of pain, and flattened another innocent potato plant.

“Moo—” Boss Sheep lost his cool, ready to throw down with the potato vines that hit him.

“Boss!” Xia Qing threw her arms around Boss Sheep, but was instantly struck from behind by a second dancing potato vine. The shot made her yelp—her own anger now matching the chaos around her.

Screw it—if you want a fight, let’s go!

Xia Qing, fired up and wrestling an equally fired-up Boss Sheep, was just about to attack when a third dancing potato vine popped up behind them.

“Whack!”

“Hiss—”

Another hit landed on Xia Qing, knocking the wind out of her.

“Baa…”

Boss Sheep, realizing they were outmatched by these crazy plants, cried out in fear and bolted outside.

With Boss Sheep in retreat, Xia Qing went right back in. Those three crazed potato vines were still growing as they lashed and attacked anything within reach.

Letting them run wild would ruin the whole shelter.

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button. “Hostile Xiang-variant plants detected in the vegetable shelter south of the reservoir—urgent backup needed!”

Replies came crackling through her earpiece:

“Unit Two incoming in seconds.”

“Unit Three arriving in one minute.”

“Unit Four, one and a half minutes out.”

Calling for help, Xia Qing fended off a dancing potato vine as it whipped toward the shelter’s metal supports, pulled her handgun, and fired off several rounds. She snapped one Xiangified potato vine but, as she turned to face the others, a fourth red-purple dancing potato vine shot up.

“Baa, baa!”

Seeing Xia Qing surrounded by potato vines and unable to break free, Boss Sheep pawed the ground and charged back in. “Baa!”

“Whack!”

Boss Sheep took another lash as he reached Xia Qing, ramming her in an urgent push to make her run with him.