Chapter 146: The Jujube-Stealing Red Squirrel

The hailstorm plus downpour today came on suddenly and left just as quickly. After twenty minutes of hail and an hour of heavy rain, the sky cleared.

Beard Feng's squad ate and drank their fill and returned to Territory One. Xia Qing packed up and went home, carefully opening the sheep pen door, only to find that only three wolves and one sheep remained inside; the alpha wolf and another one had gone off somewhere.

Sheep Bro, lying beside the wolf with the injured waist, glanced up at Xia Qing without any intention of getting up.

The wolf tasked with guarding them still stood in front of the two wolves, watching Xia Qing with full vigilance; the wolf with the injured leg still looked fierce, but at least had made some progress—it didn't bare its teeth; the wolf with the injured waist gazed calmly at Xia Qing, as if asking what she wanted.

"The rain's stopped, so I'm taking off the rainproof tarp, otherwise this place will get stuffy fast." Xia Qing removed the tarp, changed the wolves' drinking water, and only then began to assess her losses from this destructive rain.

She'd bought the best-quality rainproof tarp, sturdy with a certain elasticity, so although the hail had smashed down over fifty greenhouse support poles, the tarp held up to the test and wasn't torn through.

On the crops side, the worst hit was that patch of transplanted destructive-evolution cotton. Because it hadn't been covered with a rainproof tarp, the destructive-evolution cotton plants were smashed into half-bare stalks with only a few torn leaves hanging here and there; there would definitely be no harvest this year.

The big trees of the buffer forest had also lost quite a few branches and leaves to the hail, but the tree shapes were still intact and would definitely recover. Area Three of Mountain 49 didn't need checking—the situation was bound to be about the same as the buffer forest.

The ground-berry fruits had definitely been smashed to pulp, beyond saving. But Xia Qing had already eaten plenty and dried plenty of ground-berry fruit, so she didn't feel too heartbroken.

The yellow-light pumpkins that hadn't been covered before the hail had their leaves ruined and most of their vines snapped; the two small patches of red-light peanuts, six ground-cherry plants, and Sheep Bro's two patches of forage grass and chicken-shit vine edible plants scattered around the territory that were covered last were just as pitiful as the yellow-light pumpkins.

The chicken-shit vine, red-light peanuts, and forage grass looked like they could still recover, but the ground cherries were done for.

The batch of corn sown in late June had just been watered two days before, so dozens of stalks had been blown down by this morning's gale, but they could still be propped back up; the fully mature potato vines had also all been blown flat.

Some cotton bolls had been knocked off by the wind, but the ones that could be blown off were the ones that hadn't grown on firmly—today or in a few days, they would have fallen anyway.

All in all, the crop losses weren't that great.

The green-light chickens had already started scratching for food in the mud, and the fish pond was deep enough that the hail didn't affect the edible fish much, so the animals Xia Qing raised suffered no losses.

The biggest loss was the solar panels—because she'd covered them too late, three of Xia Qing's five solar panels were smashed to pieces by the hail.

Fortunately she'd just traded with the Azure Dragon Squad for a diesel generator; she hoped Yang Jin wouldn't raise the already-set prices for diesel, oil, and generators because of this hailstorm.

Xia Qing went to check the cave she'd dug a few days before. Although the cave hadn't collapsed, the walls inside were covered in water, dripping and pattering down.

A cave that leaks like this after only an hour of rain can't be used to store food. Unless you cement the walls inside and brush on a moisture-proof layer. Xia Qing couldn't decide how to handle it right away, so she simply set the cave aside and went to busy herself with other things.

After the sun rose, the temperature slowly climbed; Xia Qing opened the greenhouse's ventilation openings to let the crops get some air. Then she ran up to Gao Po to check on her green-light orchard.

The grapes, passionfruit, and Sichuan pepper were all protected by the rain shelters and hadn't been hit by the hail; the apple and jujube trees had their branches broken and leaves shredded, but the main trunks were still intact and could recover.

After checking the jujube trees, Xia Qing began picking up jujubes. There were a total of a hundred and thirty-six green jujubes on the tree; Beard Feng had only picked up just over a hundred, and quite a few had been washed away by the rain.

These were green-light food—they had to be picked up.

Xia Qing searched Gao Po carefully and found over ten green jujubes, still short by more than ten. Walnut-sized jujubes couldn't just have vanished. Xia Qing refused to believe it, and kept searching—turning over stones and rummaging through the grass.

"Found one!"

After searching for over ten minutes, Xia Qing finally spotted a big green jujube in a crack between rocks; she let out a cheer and was just about to pick it up when she suddenly heard the sound of wind behind her.

She rolled quickly and drew her knife to block, only to see a red figure flash past right in front of her.

The red squirrel was trying to steal her green jujube!

Xia Qing swung her knife to chop, but she was still a step too late—the quick red squirrel had already grabbed the jujube and scurried up the tree.

Watching the red squirrel squat on a branch and stuff the jujube into its mouth, Xia Qing flew into a rage. "You little thief! Stealing tobacco leaves was one thing, but now you dare steal my food! Give the jujube back, or I won't let you off easy!"

The red squirrel stuffed the jujube into its mouth, shook its fluffy big tail tauntingly, turned and ran; Xia Qing immediately gave chase.

After months of dedicated training, Xia Qing's running speed and her visual and auditory tracking abilities had all improved. She wasn't as fast as the red squirrel, but she could still track the direction it fled.

In one breath she chased it from Territory Three all the way to Area Three of Mountain 49, where the red squirrel vanished from her sight.

Xia Qing stopped beneath the pine tree where the red squirrel had last been seen, her hearing and vision fully alert; after observing quietly for two minutes, she looked up at the tall pine tree beside her.

There was movement up high in the trunk—there should be a tree hollow, which was probably the red squirrel's nest.

After the rain the surface of the big tree was slippery, and Xia Qing couldn't be bothered to climb it; she drew her pistol, loaded a round, and fired at the trunk.

Xia Qing used armor-piercing pointed bullets, specifically meant for dealing with thick-skinned, tough-fleshed evolved animals; the hard-wooded pine tree was punched with a deep hole.

With one shot fired in, the crunching sounds inside the tree hollow stopped.

Xia Qing kept her gun aimed at the big tree and said coldly, "Return the food you stole from my territory."

There were rustling sounds inside the tree hollow; Xia Qing waited a while, but no squirrel came out—bang, another shot.

Three months and over a thousand rounds of practice had honed her aim; Xia Qing's second shot hit exactly the same spot as the first.

The tree hollow was pierced through, and the red squirrel hiding inside gnawing on a jujube let out a sharp screech, clearly startled.

Xia Qing held up her gun, her voice colder than the hail. "Return the food you stole from my territory, or I'll split open this pine tree and hollow out your nest."

Rustling sounds came from inside the tree hollow; Xia Qing's gaze followed the direction of the sound upward, and then she saw, on a pine branch about six meters up, a red figure flash—a green jujube dropped down from the branch and landed at Xia Qing's feet.

It was a big green jujube with several bites taken out of it by the squirrel!

Xia Qing grew even angrier and fired another bang at the tree hollow.

"Squeak squeak!"

The red squirrel was terrified, and one after another tossed out big green jujubes—ten jujubes in all, plus five jujube pits. Then the little squirrel stood on the branch and looked down at Xia Qing, indicating that was all it had taken.

It seemed it knew why she'd chased it, and knew that the big green jujubes were her food. The five pits on the ground, plus the first one tossed down that had been bitten a few times—in such a short while, this little thief had gnawed six of her jujubes. If she didn't teach it a proper lesson today, however many jujubes the tree bore next year wouldn't be enough for it to steal.

Xia Qing aimed her gun at the red squirrel, her voice so cold it could freeze. "You stole and damaged my food—you must compensate me, or you'll die right now."

The red squirrel probably couldn't understand what Xia Qing was saying, but it could feel her fury; it retreated into the hollow, rummaged around for a while, and tossed down something green with a touch of red.