Chapter 1084: All the Green-Light Crabs Died

"Qing-jie, all the crabs in the pool are dead."

After inviting Xia Qing, Mother Shi, and Yuan Yan into the cave, Zhang Wenshe—a severely wounded resident of Territory Fifteen whose right leg had been amputated after poisoning—leaned on a single crutch and reported the losses from the Calamity Rain period to Xia Qing with deep shame.

The crab fry the allies had traded from the Tang family were sent to the hidden valley after the second Calamity Rain and never brought back to the territory. Because the retired soldier Zhang Wenshe, whose family had run aquaculture before the catastrophe, had more experience raising fish and crabs than the lords did, the lords paid him in points to look after them.

Under Zhang Wenshe's careful tending, the crab fry of just over ten grams had slowly grown to fist-size, a most encouraging sight. But during the just-passed Calamity Rain, every single crab died within less than half an hour. After testing the water sample, Zhang Shi confirmed the cause of death: mucus secreted by the aquatic plants in the pool had affected the water quality, causing the crabs to suffocate.

Xia Qing stated the facts objectively. "After the catastrophe, biological evolution takes many directions—especially green-light organisms. Once removed from their native environment, they become very fragile. The aquatic plants you gathered from the stream were fine, but the change in environment triggered their evolution. No one could have predicted that."

After accepting the task, Zhang Wenshe had devoted himself to searching for high-quality animal and plant foods to feed the crabs, but post-catastrophe evolution of flora and fauna was often beyond human control, so accidents happened from time to time.

Mother Shi also tried to comfort him. "It's not easy keeping living things these days. This time we all thought the spring chicks had grown up, so we didn't bring the chickens in—and during the Calamity Rain we lost several of them anyway."

Yuan Yan nodded along.

The lords had rented small-particle Yishi from the Green Dragon Squad through Xia Qing to protect the important crops and poultry in the territory, so they hadn't brought the chickens over. The Yishi shielded against Calamity elements, but failed to block the scent released by the Calamity grass in the passage, which drove the chickens in the territory into a frenzy, smashing themselves against their cages.

Zhang Wenshe was still blaming himself. "I confirmed with Huai-ge that the Tang family uses this kind of aquatic plant to raise crabs. It was my failure to control the water temperature and disinfect properly."

Zhang Wenshe had been poisoned and had his leg amputated; the residual poison in his body could not be completely purged, so he believed the trace toxins on his own person had altered the water quality and triggered the aquatic plants' evolution.

Xia Qing did not try to comfort him further, and asked directly, "Do you still want to raise crabs?"

Zhang Wenshe nodded at once. "I do!"

Staying busy was the only thing that made him feel his life still had a little value.

Xia Qing nodded calmly. "Good. When the crabs you raise next year go on sale, give us a ten-percent discount."

Zhang Wenshe was stunned for a moment, and his eyes slowly reddened.

Including himself, the nineteen brothers who had been severely wounded and waiting to die had been taken in by Yue-ge to Territory Fifteen and then brought into this valley. To date, fourteen had died, two had recovered, and only three remained in the valley. Zhang Wenshe had to take medicine every day to keep the toxins in his body from tormenting him into something neither human nor ghost. He and the two other severely wounded brothers in the valley were living one day at a time—how could they dare hope for next year?

But Xia Qing had said he would live until next year, and was certain the crabs he raised would go on sale…

Zhang Wenshe, unable to hold back, gave his nose a sniff, squared his chest, and raised his heavily scarred face. "I'll give Qing-jie a thirty-percent discount. The extra twenty percent is my thanks for the Calamity-Reduction Medicine you traded to us brothers."

If not for Xia Qing's Calamity-Reduction Medicine and Zhang San's special-effect medicine, not one of their nineteen people would have survived until now.

Xia Qing accepted this, then greeted the two severely wounded men lying on bamboo beds sunning themselves and Li Kai, who was weeding, before going over to check on her peanuts.

Yuan Yan and Mother Shi went to check on their two-fen plot in the valley, where they were growing high-Yishi-element spinach, potatoes, peanuts, and other crops.

The valley had a suitable temperature, high-quality irrigation water, and Yishi protection, so Xia Qing's peanuts had not been affected by the Calamity Rain. Most were growing well; only the leaves of the more than 150 peanut plants near the valley's fissure had wilted and discolored.

During the Calamity Rain, fungi outside the mountain fissure had multiplied rapidly, and the spores they released passed through the fine insect-proof netting into the valley, landing on this patch of peanuts.

Just as the evolution of the aquatic plants in the crab pool had caused the green-light crabs to die, spore spread damaging crops was also normal wear and tear—unless one regularly cleaned and disinfected the large area outside the valley fissure, as was done with the fields inside the territory.

If they did that, however, the valley would be exposed. Once the valley was exposed, they would need to dispatch more Yaojia personnel to guard it, which would not be worth the cost.

Zhang Shi, who wore glasses, came out of the laboratory and joined Xia Qing, who was inspecting the damaged peanuts. Though Xia Qing's magnetic field was very calm, Zhang Shi still offered her a word of comfort out of common sense. "The good thing is, what's planted here is all yellow-light peanuts."

Xia Qing gave an acknowledging sound. "I think these thirty-odd plants should be able to pull through—we'll still get some harvest from them."

Zhang Shi followed Xia Qing on her inspection of the fields, and took the chance to ask about territory matters. "I heard from Third Brother that treating the passage's soil will take at least a month?"

What Zhang Shi cared about was not how long the Calamity grass in the passage would take to treat, but whether her daughter would be safe walking along it.

The day after tomorrow, Central School Nine would begin its new term. Little Shi Yi, who had already received her textbooks, would carry her schoolbag and walk over four thousand meters along the passage with Tan Qi to attend school.

Xia Qing explained, "The residual substances in the passage are harmless to the human body, but they cause plant roots and stems to rot, so they must be cleaned out completely. Walking on the passage this month requires wearing special shoe covers, and vehicles entering and leaving also need their tires disinfected."

Territories on the outer edge of Northern Zone One could come and go through the gate right next to the isolation belt, but interior territories could only use the passage. If the passage were closed, a temporary passage would have to be opened up within the interior territories.

Doing so would not only be opposed by the lords whose territories were requisitioned for the new passage—other people would also not dare to pass through someone else's territory.

The catastrophe had completely changed the way humans behaved and interacted. Walking through someone else's territory, or letting others come and go freely through one's own, was something the humans who had survived to Year Eleven of the catastrophe could not accept—the potential risks were simply too great.

After hearing Xia Qing's words, Zhang Shi finally felt a little more at ease, then lowered her voice to ask about another matter. "I heard the lord of Territory Fourteen was injured?"

Xia Qing nodded. "I also heard he was hurt quite badly."

Lord of Territory Fourteen, Yan Meng, had injured his lower leg while carrying out emergency rescue work during the Calamity Rain. Because he received timely medical treatment, his wound had not been infected by the evolved fungi. The reason his wound would not heal was that he had been continuously taking the physical-damage treatment medication developed by Liehuo.

Unlike the physical-damage treatment medication developed by Zhang San, Liehuo's medication treated the symptoms but not the root cause; long-term medication was required to maintain a decent physical condition. Once the drug was stopped, bodily functions and resistance would decline rapidly.

Liehuo's medicine was very expensive, and Yan Meng obtained it by serving as a downstream agent for Liehuo. After Mieshi launched a sudden raid on Liehuo following the third Calamity Rain, Liehuo's normal operations were forced to halt, and it could no longer supply medicine on time to Northern Zone One of Hui San. Cut off from the drug, Yan Meng's physical condition deteriorated rapidly—and his mental state also developed problems.

The reason Xia Qing had access to this intelligence was that the argument between Yan Meng and Feng Wen inside Territory Fourteen had been overheard by people from Territory Fifteen.

Because Yan Meng had made a will stating that if the child in Feng Wen's womb died before the age of fifteen, the child would not have inheritance rights, and Territory Fourteen would be returned to the Territory Management Department. Now that Yan Meng could not hold on much longer, Feng Wen demanded he change the will; Yan Meng refused, and the two argued about it every day.

Seeing that Xia Qing was also paying attention to this matter, Zhang Shi typed a line on her phone and showed it to her. Then, just as expected, Zhang Shi did not sense any obvious emotional fluctuation from Xia Qing because of this news.