Chapter 1212: Danger Escalates

The potatoes planted after the third Qiang rain have now entered the late growth stage, which is the tuber bulking period.

About 80% of the tuber yield accumulates during this period, so this is the key stage that determines whether the potatoes will have a bumper harvest. At this stage, potatoes need reduced watering and supplemental nitrogen-potassium fertilizer. Hui Si's potato-specific fertilizer launched this year is the top choice for many territories.

Territory Five lord Yuan Yan also came online, "I also think it's related to that potato-specific fertilizer. Has Territory Twenty-Three applied the potato-specific fertilizer?"

Territory Six lord Kuang Qingwei responded, "Territory Twenty-Three definitely bought it, but whether they used it I don't know."

"That was really close, I almost bought it too!" When he heard Territory Six promoting the potato-specific fertilizer, although the price wasn't cheap, Zhao Ze was tempted.

The reason he didn't buy was that after hearing Zhang San and Xia Qing's conversation about this fertilizer on the lord channel, he couldn't find a stability test report for it online and felt it wasn't reliable.

Fortunately he gave up!

"Same here." Territory Fifteen lord Little Tan Qi stood in the shed holding a blade, looking at the potato vines that were nearly as tall as she was, both fearful in retrospect and feeling sorry for those who had bought the fertilizer.

Tang Heng came online, concerned?

Hearing Zhu Li immediately came online, "No. After we discovered this fertilizer wasn't reliable, we returned all the delivered goods, didn't sell a single bag."

Tang Heng responded, "That's good then."

Qi Fu calmly reminded his allies, "Even if it's related to the potato-specific fertilizer, the potatoes in each territory undergoing aggressive Qiang evolution at the same time period must be related to the rise in Qiang element content in the soil and atmosphere. Everyone must not let down their guard, focus on protecting crops in the early growth stage."

Inside the Ninth Center.

He Hui, wearing a prosthetic limb, jogged to Xia Qing and reported the latest change, "Director, the technical department detected that the Qiang element concentration in the potato field soil sampled twenty minutes ago has risen to 16‰."

Hearing this number, everyone held their breath. Except for those responsible for watching the potato fields, everyone looked at Xia Qing, waiting for her orders.

16‰ has already exceeded the normal range, reaching the Qiang element concentration of a blue-grade Qiang rain period, which means it now counts as a disaster period. If the soil Qiang element concentration stays above this level for more than half an hour, Qiang grass will start sprouting from the ground!

Xia Qing calmly gave orders, "Director Yue, ring the bell to activate the full-center disaster response state. Everyone must wear protective masks and protective clothing; Minister Mao, immediately seal the four potato greenhouses, add a layer of rain cloth to isolate indoor-outdoor air circulation as much as possible, reduce the frequency of personnel entering and exiting; Minister Zhong, go get eight bags of No. 1 Qiang-Absorbent from the warehouse and quickly spread them evenly in the potato fields..."

The highest administrator of the Ninth Center, Xia Qing, issued orders one after another. The administrators and employees of the Ninth Center responded and moved into action. Yue Haiying ordered someone to sound the assembly call, and all employees who were resting assembled.

Tang Huai's inquiry came through the lord walkie-talkie, "Sister Qing, what's the situation at the Ninth Center?"

Xia Qing calmly announced, "Captain Tan, the Qiang element content in the soil of the Ninth Center's potato fields has climbed to 16‰, entering disaster response status."

"Received." Tan Junjie calmly replied.

Territory Seven's senior researcher Zhang Tao came online, "Director Xia, besides the potato fields, has the soil Qiang element content in other fields changed?"

"According to the latest monitoring data, the rice fields have changed more, rising three points to 11‰, other fields have risen 1-2 points."

During non-Qiang rain and Qiang snow periods, the Qiang element content in the atmosphere and soil is between 4-15‰, with specific values varying by geographic location and environment. 11‰ is a bit high, but still within normal levels.

"Understood, we've now confirmed it's a sudden large-scale Qiang evolution of three anaerobic bacteria in the soil. Our lord is currently leading the team in formulating sterilization agents."

"Understood, thank you for your hard work, Sister Tao." Xia Qing put down the walkie-talkie, picked up the two bags brought over by warehouse staff, went directly into Greenhouse No. 3 which was having a second layer of rain cloth added, and used her black blade to swiftly cut open the sealed bag mouths. Inside the greenhouse, except for the employees responsible for monitoring the fields, all other employees began spreading No. 1 Qiang-Absorbent on the potato vines.

Qiang-Absorbent is made from seeds of Qiang-element-sensitive plants whose embryos and radicles have been destroyed through human intervention. It is one of the effective components in making protective mask filters and standardized greenhouse air filtration system filters.

As long as given a small amount of water, the seeds made into Qiang-Absorbent will absorb large amounts of Qiang elements from the air and soil, storing them in the cotyledons or endosperm of the seeds. After absorbing Qiang elements, the seeds will swell but cannot take root or sprout.

No. 1 Qiang-Absorbent is made from Qiang grass seeds, has relatively poor stability, and is a controlled emergency supply. Besides the Ninth Center, no territories in the northern first district have it in reserve.

Under the current Qiang element concentration, using double-layer rain protection to temporarily isolate the potato greenhouse's air circulation with the outside, turning on the oxygenator, and spreading two bags of Qiang-Absorbent will quickly bring the Qiang element concentration inside the greenhouse down to normal levels, but it can only be maintained for two hours.

This is already the best protective measure the Ninth Center can take for the potato greenhouses under the current conditions.

Two hours isn't a long time, but it's already enough. Xia Qing believes that with her idol's ability, one hour is enough to formulate the sterilization agent recipe, and as long as raw materials are sufficient, the agent can be delivered within two hours.

Tan Junjie's serious and calm voice came through the walkie-talkie again, "Emergency bulletin: Qiang grass has already grown in Territory Twenty-Three's potato shed. All territories please immediately inspect your potato fields and report the situation."

"Territory One potato field soil Qiang element concentration has reached 17‰, Qiang grass has not yet grown."

"Territory Four doesn't have instruments to detect soil Qiang element concentration, Qiang grass has not yet grown."

"Territory Five..."

While the lords were reporting their situations in turn, the phone in Xia Qing's pocket began to vibrate.

After the call connected, Zhang He, stationed at Mountain Fifty, urgently reported, "Xia Qing, the activity level of Qiang-evolved anaerobic bacteria in the medium-danger zone of Mountain Fifty's Third Peak is higher than in other areas, causing super-evolution of Salmonella in the soil. Red Qiang grass has already grown, the situation is critical!"

Before last year's Qiang snow, during Xia Qing's fierce battle at the foot of Mountain Fifty's Third Peak with three evolved wolves and the Fierce Fire Hunting Squad, the Fierce Fire Hunting Squad used poison gas bombs to counterattack, causing Mountain Fifty to be polluted by poison gas.

Based on pollution severity, the polluted area was divided into three zones: the poison gas bomb explosion zone is the high-danger zone, covering an area of 5 mu; the area covered by poison gas diffusion is the medium-danger zone, covering approximately 31 mu; the area affected after the poison gas was blown by the wind is the low-danger zone, covering approximately 165 mu.

After the disaster, Zhang He led the research team in day-and-night battle until now, having already downgraded the high-risk zone to medium-risk zone, currently in the final stage of downgrading the medium-risk zone to low-risk zone. If all goes well, they can finish this stage of treatment tasks by the middle of next month and return to Territory Seven.

Unexpectedly, a natural disaster struck at this final stage. No wonder the usually calm Zhang He showed emotional fluctuation.

As an administrator, Xia Qing must remain calm at all times. She calmly asked, "Sister He, what is the total area where red Qiang grass has already grown?"

Zhang He steadied her heartbeat and answered, "Spreading outward from the original high-danger zone as the center, it's visually estimated to be close to three thousand square meters."

Three thousand square meters is four mu, almost approaching the spread area of red Qiang grass during last year's Qiang snow period. Damn, this really never ends!