Chapter 1214: Duan-ge and Jin-ge

The stern voice broadcasting nonstop from the loudspeaker outside, and Xia Qing leaping wildly up and down after rushing into the house, made her companions nervous. Seeing her dash back down again, Little Feimao burrowed straight into her pocket without a word, and Does Daigua stretched out his little black hand to hug her thigh.

Xia Qing fished out Little Feimao and stuffed him back into the wooden nest, giving him a walnut; Does Daigua's little black paw was also stuffed with a green-light tomato.

Sheep Boss, who had rushed in from the sheep pen, didn't even have time to bleat before Xia Qing stuffed a green-light cucumber into his mouth; Wolf Lao Er also got a strip of green-light jerky.

"Boss, Lao Er, Does Daigua, Little Feimao, don't be scared. Our territory is perfectly safe—something's happened over at Mountain Fifty. You all rest at home; I'll head over to Mountain Fifty and be back very soon."

After giving each companion food and making sure they were settled eating at home, Xia Qing stepped onto her single-soldier flyer fitted with two giant eagle talons, and lifted off directly from Territory Three, leaving the territory.

The lords of the territories in Northern Area One all looked up at the sound.

At this moment, the broadcast in Northern Area One had not yet stopped. Watching Huo Zhun had parked Xia Qing's off-road vehicle at the south gate of Territory Four; the moment Zhao Ze got in, he floored the accelerator and sped toward the east gate of Northern Area One. The great horned owl from Territory Eight was already circling at low altitude over the third peak area of Mountain Fifty, and the Blue Dragon Squad's disaster-elimination team was cutting across Mountain Forty-Nine, heading for the designated area.

Fifteen minutes after receiving Zhang He's disaster report, Xia Qing landed smoothly in High-Risk Area One beneath the third peak of Mountain Fifty.

Through her low-light night-vision goggles, Xia Qing saw that the density of the Calamity Grass pushing out of the high-risk zone was not high, which showed that a year of hard work by Zhang He's team had paid off.

But at the roots of this low-density Calamity Grass, countless super-evolved bacteria capable of killing humans and animals were breeding wildly.

After jumping off the single-soldier flyer, Xia Qing immediately pulled the Yishi protective case from her pocket, opened it, and handed it to Zhang He. "These are the Yishi we used last winter to control the spread of the red Calamity Grass. He-jie, use them to protect the red Calamity Grass zone and the ten meters around its edge, to stop the super-evolved bacteria from spreading further."

"This is the bactericide—install the Yishi and spray the chemical at the same time!"

The fast, accurate, and ruthless methods for dealing with aggressive Calamity-evolved plants and microorganisms are, first, isolating the Calamity element to curb their rapid growth and reproduction, and second, killing them with chemicals. Doing both at once is safer.

"Got it." After taking the Yishi and the chemicals, Zhang He reminded Xia Qing, "The total area of red Calamity Grass has already expanded to 3,500 square meters."

During last winter's Calamity Snow period, the red Calamity Grass covered five mu; this time it already exceeds five mu. Protecting the ten-meter ring around the red Calamity Grass as well is indeed more reliable, but there aren't enough Yishi to go around.

Xia Qing nodded. "The Yishi Third Brother told me to bring are enough. He-jie, install all the ones you have here in Area One, and protect the ten meters around the edge of the red Calamity Grass. I'll take people to install them in Area Two."

The high-risk zone was the area where the enemy had fired poison-gas shells during Xia Qing's battle with the Fierce-Beast Hunting Team. There are two sections: one is High-Risk Area One at the foot of the third peak, and the other is Area Two, five hundred meters below Xiong Dong.

After handing the Yishi to Zhang He, Xia Qing led Yang Jin's team, running in one breath to Xiong Dong—that is, High-Risk Area Two, five hundred meters below the hidden valley. She pulled a walnut-sized mid-grade intact Yishi from her pocket, used her black blade to crack open the Yishi's outer shell with clean efficiency, and handed it to Yang Jin. "This Yishi needs to be stuffed into the hole in that wooden stake fifty meters to your front-left."

"Got it." Yang Jin took the Yishi and passed it to Wang Liang beside him.

Wang Liang gripped the ore worth several hundred thousand, bounded to the spot in two leaps, and stuffed it into the wooden stake.

By the time he bounded back to the team, Xia Qing had already cracked open the second Yishi and handed it to Ma Jun.

After Ma Jun stuffed the fifteenth Yishi into the hole in the wooden stake, Li Xuanyu beside him, who was carrying a handheld laser rangefinder, quickly calculated the Yishi's coverage area, then looked up. "Qing-jie, these fifteen Yishi are already enough to cover the red Calamity Grass and the ten meters around it."

Xia Qing nodded, sheathed her black blade, and tucked the bag holding the shavings from the Yishi's protective outer layer into her backpack. These shavings can be used to make Yishi protective cases, and can also be used as fertilizer spread on the fields to grow high-Yishi-element spinach—not a single scrap can be wasted.

Ma Jun asked, "Qing-jie, were these wooden stakes planted in advance?"

Xia Qing was just about to answer when her phone rang. She took it out and saw it was Broken-Waist Wolf calling. Xia Qing nodded to Ma Jun, handed things over to Yang Jin, and stepped aside to take the call.

"Duan-ge."

Huh?!!! Hearing that familiar form of address, every member of Yang Jin's team pricked up their ears in unison.

Facing those green-glowing eyes on the screen, Xia Qing answered calmly, "Super-evolved bacteria have appeared in the high-risk zone on Mountain Fifty, and I needed to come handle it right away. To save time, I came on the single-soldier flyer."

"…For now I've used Yishi to keep the super-evolved bacteria from spreading, and I'm spraying the chemical—the disaster won't escalate. How's things on Duan-ge's end?"

Broken-Waist Wolf bared his fangs, indicating there was nothing unusual on his end.

"Alright, let's call again if anything comes up."

Xia Qing hung up, turned around, and found Yang Jin's team all pretending to be busy. Yang Jin was gazing at her eagerly. Even through the protective mask, Xia Qing could read exactly what he meant.

Yang Jin is her boyfriend now; she calls Broken-Waist Wolf "ge," and then turns around and addresses Yang Jin as "Captain Yang"—that really isn't appropriate.

Xia Qing gathered her thoughts for two seconds, then said, "Jin-ge, you're the fastest one here. Go down and check whether they've finished spraying in Area One. If they have, bring the spray drone back up?"

Calling someone "ge" or "jie" is the most normal form of address, but when those two words came from Xia Qing's mouth, Yang Jin felt as if the world had suddenly become bright and quiet, with only Xia Qing's voice echoing again and again in his mind.

It took him a great deal of effort to pull himself out of that state. He flashed a brilliant smile at Xia Qing, turned, and raced down the mountain toward High-Risk Area One at top speed.

The members of Yang Jin's team looked at each other, then one stared speechlessly at the sky, another looked wordlessly at the ground—pretending they hadn't seen a thing.

Xia Qing also acted as if she hadn't seen anything, and said calmly, "Zhou-ge, come with me to the office for a bit? We'll carry the rain tarps out and cover things up after the spraying is done."

"Huh? Oh, okay!" Wang Dazhou, the Level Six strength evolver of Yang Jin's team, came back to himself and immediately followed Xia Qing upward.

The Xiong Dong in the hidden valley had already been converted into an office for storing supplies.

After Xia Qing opened the iron door, she shone a flashlight on the supplies inside and had Wang Dazhou carry out a stack of bundled rain tarps.

After Wang Dazhou left, Xia Qing walked into the back of the inner office and gently tapped twice on the large stone blocking the passage to the hidden valley.

"Qing-jie?" Li Kai's voice, from the guard stationed in the cave, came from the other side of the stone.

"Mm." Xia Qing moved the stone aside, handed him a packet of Yishi, and whispered, "Stay safe."

In the three mu of land inside the hidden valley, half was planted with potatoes. Zhang Shi had messaged Xia Qing that the Calamity-element content in the soil here was also rising and needed to be protected with Yishi.

The one mu of green-light oil sunflowers Xia Qing had planted herself was in its early growth stage. With the Calamity element rising now, the quality of the sunflower plants could easily decline, so they also needed to be protected with Yishi.

"Okay, you too, Qing-jie."