Chapter 1053: The Stinky Northern Zone One Territory

Seeing Xia Qing, who had been running around nonstop for the past two days without any rest, return, Xiao Jiang looked ashamed. "Sister Qing, I'm really sorry. Six aggressive wild paulownias burrowed up inside the territory, so we could only clear the wild paulownias first and couldn't protect all the greenhouses."

"Being able to keep fourteen sheds is already beyond my expectations. Good work." Under the attack of the bird flocks and the red damaging rain, the eight members of Beard Feng's squad cleared the aggressive wild paulownias and shot at the bird flocks while still protecting this many greenhouses—Xia Qing was truly satisfied.

Dajiang explained, "We asked the brothers from the Azure Dragon Squad, Territory Two, and the Inspection Team to help snipe the bird flocks above the passage, and the Ninth Center sent thirty-five staff members over to spray chemicals. Don't worry, Sister Qing—they were all operating within a 200-meter range in the southern part of the territory and didn't approach the core area."

The core area of the territory refers to the abandoned village where Xia Qing of Territory Three lives and the farmland she has reclaimed.

Xia Qing was in charge of disaster resistance command for Northern Zone One and had handed over full authority of her territory to Beard Feng's squad, so naturally she wouldn't question their methods afterward. "As long as everyone's fine, that's what matters. Once we finish this wave, we'll have grilled meat."

"You got it!" Dajiang grinned happily. "Sister Qing, go home and check on Boss Sheep first."

When the animals big and small in the territory went into a frenzy, the scene of Boss Sheep fighting with the wolves—they had all seen it through the surveillance. It was really fierce.

Speaking of which, why was it the herbivorous sheep that got lured into a frenzy by the smell instead of the carnivorous wolves?

Xia Qing was also worried about her two companions at home, but two other fellows were in even more danger. "Have you found the red squirrels?"

Xiao Jiang answered with a smile, "We found them. They ran off to eat the damaging grass, and the brothers guarding the passage netted them. They're in the conference room, bouncing around all over the place."

Xia Qing greeted the others who were busy, then entered the conference room. Seeing the two red squirrels in the cage with their big bellies hopping up and down, she knew these two were fine.

Chen Zheng, sitting in front of eight surveillance screens wearing a protective mask, asked, "Sister Qing, when will this stench dissipate?"

The entire territory was permeated with the stench—it was really unfriendly to olfactory evolvers.

Stench? When the bird tide dispersed, Xia Qing had seen Feng Wen in Territory Fourteen leaning out the window vomiting, and thought it was morning sickness. She hadn't expected it was from being overwhelmed by the smell. "Is it very smelly?"

Chen Zheng answered, "Not that smelly—about the same concentration as the smell when Sister Qing was carried back by Yanlian during last year's damaging snow."

Half of the worry in Xia Qing's heart was set at ease. "I'll take the red squirrels back first, change into protective gear, and come back over."

Chen Zheng smiled, "No need. We've endured so much over all these years—this little bit of smell is nothing."

Compared to the stench of decay from tens of thousands of corpses that couldn't be cleaned up in time after disasters in previous years, this bit of smell really was nothing. Xia Qing nodded and left the conference room carrying the cage.

The mother-and-daughter red squirrels, who had eaten their fill of free food, picked out Xia Qing's scent from the stench. Their fear plummeted, and they weren't jumping around as wildly.

Following the passage already swallowed by damaging grass back home, Xia Qing first listened at the quiet chicken coop, then looked at the six swallows that had died by flying into the eaves, before taking off her mud-caked protective boots inside the screen door, switching into slippers, and pushing open the security door to enter the house.

A sheep and a wolf lying side by side on the tatami both turned their eyes over at the same time.

"Boss, Fourth, I'm back."

The wolf and the sheep both held their breath and turned their eyes away, not wanting to deal with Xia Qing.

Xia Qing first took off her protective gloves, pulled open the pocket of her protective suit, and grabbed Little Feimao out to check its claws.

When Xia Qing was sniping the bird flocks near the passage, this little fellow was affected by the damaging grass's smell and frantically clawed at her pocket trying to get out. Xia Qing had thought its claws had split or fallen off, because it didn't have a protective mask and had taken the full brunt of the smell at close range. After checking, she found it was just bleeding at the nail grooves, and she was relieved. "Having brains really is a good thing. Go rest in your nest."

Little Feimao first ran to the sand box to relieve itself, then ran back to its nest, pulled out its stored food and started crunching away. The red squirrel mother and Qiangzai in the cage started squeaking and scurrying around again at the sound.

Xia Qing went upstairs to the bathroom for a quick rinse, carefully cleaned her protective suit and mask with deodorizer, then held her breath and removed her protective mask, cautiously taking a sniff.

There was a stench, but not enough to make one nauseous to the point of vomiting—completely tolerable. There was still a lot to do in the territory, so Xia Qing didn't have time for a bath. She washed her face and went downstairs.

She first applied medicine to disinfect and sterilize Little Feimao's injured paw, then went to check on her two companions who couldn't move at all.

Boss Sheep was wearing protective gear, and later wrapped in a rainproof cloth, so it didn't get caught in the damaging rain. Fourth, who wasn't wearing protective gear, did get caught in it.

Why didn't they put protective gear on Fourth? It wasn't that they didn't want to—it was that the old wolf's family looked down on it.

So, when the head wolf came to Territory Three to call Xia Qing to execute a mission in the Western Evolution Forest, Xia Qing put the spare dog-sized protective gear from home on the head wolf. Then, this king of the northern wolf pack decided the protective gear was already his and rightfully wore it back to his own territory.

Under Boss Sheep's disgruntled gaze, Xia Qing flipped it over and flicked its forehead. "Boss, tell me, just how greedy are you? The smell of meat can drive you crazy. You didn't happen to grow up eating meat with the wolf pack when you were little, did you?"

Boss Sheep's protective mask had two holes opened at the horn positions, so its odor-blocking effect was slightly worse—it could still smell some scents.

Xia Qing had seen Boss eat jerky, but compared to jerky, it prefers to eat grass. Combining these two, grass that smells like meat—no wonder it can attract Boss.

Entrusting Boss Sheep to the old wolf's care was indeed the right call.

Xia Qing bent down and picked up the wary hero, carried it into the first-floor bathroom, rinsed the damaging rain off its body, dried it off, applied insect repellent and sterilizer, and carried it back to the tatami.

Then, Xia Qing took the freeloading mother-and-daughter red squirrels into the bathroom to rinse them off too, applied medicine, stuffed them back in the cage, and then gestured seriously as she explained to the old wolf, "Fourth, your body still needs over two more hours to recover. Stay in the house for now—I'm going to go fix up your den."

After going outside, Xia Qing first cleaned up the swallow corpses that were already being divided up by the lined-up ants, then went to the chicken coop to check on the gradually awakening flock. Only then did she climb up the overgrown ruins to the south, nimbly rebuilding Fourth's den, wiping dry the damp throne platform, laying down soft dry grass, and bringing the freeze-dried food in the basin back into the house. Without the old wolf guarding it, without the rainproof cloth wrapped around it, the freeze-dried food would quickly become food for the small animals in the territory.

Or maybe not. Because the snakes and insects in her territory had all been attracted by the damaging grass in the passage to eat meat—right now they were either stuffed full like the two red squirrels, or had become food for other animals.

After a busy round, Xia Qing entered the chicken coop and found Bai Yu the hen and the black-feathered rooster struggling to lift their heads unsteadily. She quickly cleaned the coop, added feed to the water basin and trough, and most of the chickens unsteadily raised their heads. Eight remained, lying motionless in the cage.

These eight chickens were already dead.