Chapter 1029: Yaya in the Valley

After finishing breakfast, Xia Qing carefully inspected every door, window, and roof of her small residence, the rack-building warehouse, the sheep pen, and the chicken coop. Only after confirming none would leak in the rain did she entrust the house to Lao Da and Lao Si, hand the territory over to Liangzi and Cheng Zheng, sling on her backpack, and hurry off to the chestnut grove in Section Three of Mountain Forty-Nine.

By now the sun had risen, the valley temperature had reached 22 degrees, and the evolved hornet swarm had finished its morning feeding phase and entered a relatively calm period—perfect for a little operation.

Today she wasn't picking chestnuts, nor was she provoking that precious Gao Yi-element giant evolved hornet; Xia Qing had come to place a surveillance robot.

She had sprayed herself with insect repellent, woven herself a large camphor-branch hat, and was crouched in the grass at the outer edge of the hornets' territory, disguised as a small tree. She used a remote control to guide a spherical robot barely larger than a duck egg, rolling it slowly toward the chestnut grove.

This little ball, about the size of a hedgehog, drew no attention from the evolved hornet swarm, but caught the eye of the small animals perched in the surrounding trees. The sturdy littermate of Little Feimao darted out to capture this "prey."

"Squeak—"

The sturdy youngster was fast enough, but it hadn't expected the "prey's" spines to be sharper than a hedgehog's. The little creature fled back up the pine tree at top speed, using its short front paws to feel at its sore furry face.

Hearing her sister's cry, Little Feimao immediately poked out of Xia Qing's pocket and scurried up the big pine tree.

After confirming the squirrel youngster's face hadn't been pierced, Xia Qing paid the two little creatures no more attention and guided the spiky ball across the chestnut grove to the edge of the rock crevice.

"Buzz—"

The giant evolved hornet inside the crevice was finally disturbed. It buzzed out, circled the motionless spiky ball once, then patrolled the chestnut grove. Confirming nothing was amiss, it hovered with beating wings above a leaf, scraped down a still-struggling plump insect, and began its meal.

Xia Qing, crouched on the far bank of the stream, held her breath and guided the spiky ball slowly up the gravel slope, into the crevice, to a stop beside the enormous hive, then pressed the activation button.

"Click—"

The spiky ball emitted a faint metallic sound and switched on its camera. After confirming the camera could rotate, Xia Qing was about to send a message to her idol when she suddenly spotted something on the stone—the droppings of the giant evolved hornet—and couldn't look away.

Giant hornets are Gao Yi-element green-light animals; the quality of their droppings surpasses even the green-light chickens and green-light sheep in Territory Three. If she used giant hornet droppings as fertilizer to cultivate green-light spinach, the spinach's Yi-element content would surely increase!

The more Xia Qing thought about it, the more excited she became. She sent her idol a message, confirmed he had received the video signal from the surveillance robot, and asked: Third Brother, can we use giant hornet droppings as fertilizer to cultivate green-light spinach?

Zhang San, who was carefully observing the hornet nest, saw the message, paused for two seconds, and couldn't help laughing: You can try. Come to the chestnut grove before dark and take away the droppings the robot has collected.

Tonight, the Harmful Rain would fall.

What does it mean to be a top-tier Blue Star idol standing at the pinnacle of the pyramid? This is it! After expressing her thanks, Xia Qing put away the remote, left the valley quietly, and hurried toward Mountain Fifty.

As the manager of Mountain Fifty, she had to go inspect everything before the Harmful Rain.

After checking the airtightness of the intermediate contamination zone's laboratory and the rainwater collection pits Zhao Ze and his crew had dug, Xia Qing entered the hidden valley. She handed the Yi stones she'd brought to Li Kai and Cheng Ping, who were on duty in the valley, and instructed them to open the Yi stone protective shells and install the Yi stones when the Harmful Rain began, to protect the crops in the territory. She also reminded them, "When you enter the peanut field, be sure to wear full protective gear, walk along the ridges, and don't touch the peanut leaves."

The vein needles that extend from green-light peanut leaves will drain an animal's bodily fluids—this is no joke.

Li Kai, who had only one leg, couldn't take on this task, but Cheng Ping, who had only one arm, could. "Don't worry, Sister Qing."

There were still four seriously wounded people from Territory Fifteen recuperating in the valley. Whether lying down or sitting up, every one of them put on their best demeanor to greet Xia Qing when they saw her arrive. The two who couldn't speak also struggled to raise their hands.

All four were taking the Harmful-Suppression medicine Xia Qing had traded them, and their hopes of survival had grown. Xia Qing didn't know their names and couldn't make out their faces clearly; she nodded a greeting and continued on her way, arriving at the half-acre plot on the side of the hidden valley near Xiong Dong.

This plot belonged to Xia Qing, and it held 4,488 peanut plants in their late growth stage. If all went well, they could be harvested in another month.

Xia Qing scattered the various insects she'd brought into the peanut field. Countless leaf needles shot out rapidly from the peanut leaves, pinning down the insects trying to escape, and began sucking out their bodily fluids.

Zhang Shi, wearing glasses and a white lab coat, walked out of the laboratory and reported to Xia Qing, "Three more yellow-light peanut plants turned red-light. I pulled them out."

"Thanks for your hard work, Sister Shi." Xia Qing expressed her gratitude; her peanuts now numbered 4,485 plants.

Zhang Shi pushed her glasses up and said, "No trouble at all, it's what I should do."

Xia Qing asked, "Where is Eleven? Has she been doing better lately?"

The Eleven here is the real Ye Shiyi. The last time Xia Qing saw her, the little girl had still been unconscious, so Xia Qing didn't know what state she was in when awake.

"She's inside reading. Want to come in for a cup of tea?" Zhang Shi invited Xia Qing inside.

Xia Qing followed Zhang Shi into the wooden cabin full of homely warmth beside the fields. Ye Shiyi, sitting by the window looking at a picture book, visibly flinched when she saw Xia Qing come in, but she didn't scream or shout—better than Xia Qing had expected.

Zhang Shi's voice was gentle. "Yaya, your Auntie Qing is here."

Yaya is Ye Shiyi's nickname.

Xia Qing took a pink Daigua doll sewn by Xin Yu from her pocket, held it out, and tried to slow and soften her tone as much as possible. "Yaya, I brought you a gift. See if you like it?"

After placing the gift on the windowsill, Xia Qing stopped watching Yaya and went to the side to drink tea and chat with Zhang Shi.

Yaya, sitting in her chair, sensed that Xia Qing was no longer paying attention to her, and slowly turned her little head to look at the doll. Xia Qing, sipping her tea, watched from the corner of her eye as the little girl's complexion—clearly much improved—and her slightly fuller little face, and... her smooth forehead.

The scar at her brow was gone. Had Zhang Shi used recovery factors extracted from her own body to heal her, or had she put makeup on her?

Zhang Shi's voice was gentle. "I've given Yaya some medicine; her physical and mental condition are slowly recovering. If she can meet the enrollment standard next year, I want to send her to school."

Her daughter had taken Ye Shiyi's identity to attend school, so Zhang Shi would arrange a new identity for Ye Shiyi and send her to school as well. Children who survived the Calamity era had all had it hard; Zhang Shi would not deprive Yaya of her rightful right to an education just for the sake of her own daughter.