Chapter 1344: Xia Qing Working Round the Clock

Not long after Xia Qing and Xin Yu finished lunch, Qi Fu, Shi Du, Huo Zhun, and Yu Shou arrived at Territory Three to pour the beams and slabs of the concrete structure for two rooms.

Casting the beams and slabs as a single unit ensures the monolithic integrity and seismic performance of the reinforced concrete structure, but poor workmanship can lead to problems like internal voids, aggregate settlement, or secondary cracking. So Shi Du and Huo Zhun, who lacked sufficient building experience, played supporting roles, while Xia Qing and Qi Fu, the two professionals, handled the technical aspects.

Xin Yu? Occasionally she handed tools to everyone nearby; when there were no tools to hand, she sat beside them in a daze. Huo Zhun and Shi Du glanced at her from time to time, afraid a stray pebble might fall on her head.

The four strength evolvers finished the job before four o'clock. The curing work over the next few days Xia Qing could handle on her own, without needing anyone's help.

When they knocked off and left, Xin Yu noticed Qi Fu and Shi Du had come by bicycle, while Huo Zhun had walked over, so she spoke up and invited him, "Brother Huo, want a ride back in my car?"

Although Territory Eight and Territory Eleven were adjacent, and Xin Yu could drop him off on the way, Huo Zhun shook his head sheepishly. "I'm dirty. I'll just jump back from Territory Two."

After the other three left, Xin Yu stared at Xia Qing for a few seconds, as if she had made some kind of decision, but without saying a word she drove off.

After seeing her friend off, Xia Qing locked the south gate of Territory Three, brought Sheep Boss and the wolfdog Lao Er back home, released the two melons, then shouldered a pickaxe and grabbed a large iron shovel and began digging the basement.

Considering the stability of the laboratory and the basement, and taking into account the geological conditions and construction difficulty, the basement was not directly beneath the laboratory, but three meters east of the laboratory's edge, with its exit in the decontamination and changing room inside the laboratory, at a depth of three to five meters.

In other words, Xia Qing had to dig a pit seven meters long, four meters wide, and five meters deep. Once built, the basement interior would be 6.6 meters long, 3.6 meters wide, and three meters tall, divided into two rooms—a living room and a work room.

Any smaller and the comfort of underground living couldn't be guaranteed. Ye Yiyi already had psychological issues; if the living environment was too cramped, it might worsen her condition.

Although the nighttime low was now around 5°C, the concrete used an early-strengthening agent, so the curing time for the reinforced concrete structure of the kitchen and bathroom above ground would be at most seven days.

In other words, by the time her allies entered her territory again to help her lay the brick walls of the kitchen and bathroom, not only would the basement have to be finished, but the ground would also have to be restored to its original state.

Soil and rubble from above three and a half meters could just be tossed up with a shovel, but the earth and stone from three and a half to five meters down would need to be hauled up by cart, so the later construction pace would definitely slow down.

To ensure concealment, she couldn't use the micro-tiller for all of it; roughly half of these 140 square meters' worth of earth and stone would have to be excavated by hand.

Fortunately, she had Sheep Boss, a good helper who loved doing heavy work.

Sheep Boss's hooves weren't suited for digging pits, but it could pull a cart to haul earth and stone up.

When she and Sheep Boss came across a stone too heavy for either of them to move, she'd call Lao Si over, and the three strength evolvers would push it up together. If it still wouldn't budge, she'd call the Broken-Waist Wolf over and have it drive the micro-tiller to pull it up while the three of them pushed.

Over the next seven days, besides building the basement, Xia Qing also had to inspect the construction progress at Center Nine and the Hidden Valley, harvest the potatoes in Center Nine's greenhouse, and prepare for the Killing Snow Season.

The workload was considerable; she'd have to work round the clock.

Xia Qing was a woman of action—once she decided something, she never procrastinated, and started immediately.

When she had dug down a little over a meter, she struck a large boulder!

With Sheep Boss's help, Xia Qing finally hauled this three-ton-plus stone out of the pit. She took off her protective mask, wiped her sweat, and warmly praised her companion, then broke into a brilliant smile.

"This stone's a good one. We can use it to make a dining table—Sheep Boss and Lao Er on this side, Daigua and Ergua on this side, me on this side, and we'll leave a perch here for Little Feimao…"

Xia Qing spoke with great enthusiasm. Sheep Boss and the little yellow ox lay beside her, expressionlessly chewing their cud. Daigua held its phone and played a fruit-slicing game. Ergua crouched behind Daigua, grooming its fur. Only Lao Er stood beside Xia Qing, watching her with a pair of clear rust-colored eyes, listening intently.

"Squeak—"

The sound of a stone-cutting saw came from the south, and everyone and every animal in Territory Three turned to look.

Just as Xia Qing was trying to figure out which territory the sound was coming from, Tang Huai's voice came through the walkie-talkie:

"Xin Yu, what are you up to?"

Hearing that Territory Eight was under construction, the corners of Xia Qing's mouth turned up.

Tang Huai called out three or four times before Xin Yu came online and replied, "Building an outdoor glass greenhouse aviary."

Everyone…

Territory Three was building a kitchen and bathroom because, after the soil anaerobic bacteria evolved, separating the kitchen/bathroom zone from the living zone was safer. But Territory Eight was building an aviary—a full glass greenhouse aviary at that—and it filled everyone with envy, jealousy, and spite.

Tang Huai hadn't expected Xin Yu to bother answering him, and cheerfully asked on, "Why are you only starting the aviary now, with Killing Snow almost here? Could it be that seeing Xia Qing build a house this morning inspired you?"

Xin Yu naturally wouldn't reply to such nonsense. Xia Qing came online. "Xin Yu, need any help?"

Xin Yu replied, "No need. I'll have someone lay the foundation, and leave the rest to a professional construction team. Cutting stone is for making some indoor items."

Zhang San also lazily came online. "Xin Yu, has the number of birds you're raising in your territory increased?"

Xin Yu answered honestly, "Yes. We hatched over twenty parrots this year. Once the leisure area next to the new aviary is finished, I'll invite Third Brother over for tea and bird-watching."

"Sure." Zhang San agreed in a good mood, then proposed a trade. "When your raven breeds the next generation, can I trade for one? With potions or herbs."

Xin Yu naturally agreed. "Sure, but Molly hasn't found a mate yet, so the breeding time is still up in the air."

Tang Huai got excited again. "What kind of male bird does Molly like? I have a few friends who raise birds—I could help her find one."

Xin Yu didn't reply to the nonsense. The stone-cutting saw in Territory Eight started up again. Xia Qing seized the opportunity her good friend had created for her, drove the micro-tiller, and worked at full speed.

After dark, Territory Eight stopped work. Xia Qing also stopped, had a simple dinner, and then began hauling the excavated soil with Sheep Boss to fill in pits in the abandoned village.

After hauling the soil, Xia Qing spread the drying corn stalks back over the pit she had dug more than a meter deep, making it look no different from before, then fell asleep immediately.

Early the next morning, she didn't continue construction. Because that morning, the helicopter would be delivering the building materials for Center Nine's standardized greenhouses and the Hidden Valley renovation, the site wasn't in a condition for construction, and Xia Qing, as the manager of both sites, had to go receive the materials.

In Territory Eight, the clanging and banging of construction continued.

The construction of Center Nine's standardized greenhouses was handled by the center's construction chief, Wu Yunlin; the Hidden Valley renovation was handled by Qi Fu and Zhao Ze. Even ordinary people from the territory alliance went over to earn points, and no one in the lord channel was chatting anymore.

Because Territory Eight to the southwest of Territory Two was building an aviary, and Center Nine to the east was building standardized greenhouses, both producing construction noise, Tang Huai simply followed along to Mountain Fifty.

With the level-five-and-a-half hearing evolver Tang Huai and the level-four-and-a-half hearing evolver Zhu Li both away from their territories, and only three ordinary people left in Territory Four, Xia Qing could work freely without holding back. When she got tired, she'd drive to either Center Nine or the Hidden Valley for a look around, and once she'd rested, she'd come back and keep working.

On the third day, just as Xia Qing was working carefully and with all her might, Zhang Song contacted her, saying he wanted to bring Zhang Han to the beekeeping greenhouse in Territory Three to observe the bee colonies!