Chapter 15: Qiang Rain

The fact that she could feel irritable before the rain fell made Xia Qing not need to test it; the Qiang element content of this rain must be seriously exceeded.

Just in case, she put on the newly exchanged protective mask. Although the protective mask couldn't filter the Qiang elements in the air, it could filter out over 99% of toxic gases, so that humans wouldn't be poisoned to death by toxic gases emitted by organisms that suddenly evolved or went berserk in the Qiang rain.

This was where one of the major advantages of the Safe Zone was reflected, because the safe area had been repeatedly and deeply cleaned, so there was no need to worry about large-scale attacks by toxic gases or poisonous insects when it rained Qiang rain. Except for external duty personnel, no one else needed to wear protective masks.

But if the level of Qiang rain rose to the highest, there would be another fatal danger in the Safe Zone: excessive Qiang elements would cause people with low resistance to lose emotional control. If the red-level Qiang rain lasted for more than an hour, people with low resistance might be injured or even die due to fighting or self-harm if they didn't take soothing capsules in time. Quite a few people would also pretend to be crazy during the Qiang rain and engage in large-scale smashing and looting.

In the summer of the eighth year of the catastrophe, a sudden red-level Qiang rain fell for an hour and a half. At that time, the Hui San Base, which still had two hundred and twenty thousand people, had over eight hundred people die from fighting and self-harm.

In that rain, Xia Qing killed two men who wanted to take advantage of her during the chaos.

Thinking of these, Xia Qing felt irritable again. She took two deep breaths to stabilize her emotions and tested the rainwater, finding that the Qiang element content of this rain had indeed reached the highest danger level, red.

The base must be like grass and trees, everyone in danger, at this moment.

Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about anyone plotting against her in the territory, and only needed to deal with attacks from suddenly evolved organisms.

Xia Qing took an umbrella to see the situation of the sheep boss, and seeing it lying comfortably on the dry grass, it seemed that the Qiang rain didn't have much impact on it. The sheep boss's evolution level wasn't lower than hers, and its resistance to Qiang rain must be considerable; otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to survive one Qiang rain after another in the evolved forest.

Xia Qing was relieved, returned to the building, closed the door tightly, and made bamboo chairs. Although she was a high-level Evolved Human with strong resistance and wouldn't lose control because of the Qiang rain, finding something to do could still make her mood relax.

Time passed minute by minute, and Xia Qing's chair hadn't been made yet, but it was already pitch black outside. The Qiang rain that lasted for an hour and a half must have already turned the Safe Zone into a human hell.

Xia Qing threw a discarded stool leg into the fire, remembered the person who sent her the SMS, took out her mobile phone, and found no new SMS, so she took out the night vision goggles to check the situation in the yard.

In the yard she had cleaned, a layer of dense grass buds had actually grown! Plants that grew rapidly in the Qiang rain had excessive Qiang element content and might evolve some unexpected dangers. Three days later, she didn't know what kind of ghost her yard would become.

Xia Qing cursed, put on her protective suit and mask, and wanted to see the situation of the sheep boss.

She had just pushed the door open when she heard the sound of the sheep boss panting and digging its hooves in the sheep shed.

Is this going to lose emotional control?

Xia Qing immediately turned back to the room to get a board of soothing capsules, and when she came out, she found that the sheep boss was already standing on the grass in the rain, its eyes wide open, and its square pupils faintly glowing red in the firelight.

Xia Qing used the calmest tone to soothe the sheep boss. "Boss, don't be excited, it's time to take medicine..."

"Moo!"

Before Xia Qing could finish speaking, the sheep boss let out a cry and lunged over. This head of its absolute could butt a hole in the building. Xia Qing couldn't dodge and rushed up to meet it head-on.

"Bang!"

The person and the sheep collided, splashing water and mud everywhere. Xia Qing took the opportunity to hug the sheep boss's neck and wanted to trip it, but the out-of-control sheep boss's strength was twice as great as usual. Xia Qing was thrown out and smashed onto the newly grown grass.

Seeing the sheep boss rush over, Xia Qing rolled on the spot to dodge, only to find that the sheep boss wasn't coming for her. It broke the newly built wall with one head and rushed out of the yard, banging and bumping everywhere.

If it kept banging like this, even if it was fine, all the walls in the village would collapse.

Xia Qing went back to the room to get a thick rope, rushed out, tied the sheep boss into a hemp flower, and then took advantage of the time it opened its mouth wide to howl and struggle, stuffed a soothing capsule into it, and poured half a pot of spring water for it.

Soothing capsules were special drugs for relieving emotional loss of control caused by Qiang elements. Their effect was similar to strong nerve sedatives. After taking them, one would soon feel sleepy and weak, which could relieve depression and irritability and reduce harm. But if used improperly or taken too much, various adverse reactions, poisoning, and addiction would occur. If it weren't for the last resort, Xia Qing wouldn't want to use them for the sheep boss.

Five minutes later, the sheep boss lay limp on the muddy ground and didn't move. Xia Qing carried it back to the shed under the eaves in front of the building, and while untying the rope, she muttered, "I don't know how you survived one Qiang rain after another before meeting me. The houses and walls on the Toona sinensis hillside were ruined like that; they wouldn't have been bumped by you when you lost control, right?"

The sheep boss closed its eyes and had no reaction.

Xia Qing touched all its bones, confirmed that there were no fractures, and then felt relieved. She first carried a bucket of purified water to wash away the mud on the protective suit, and then boiled a large pot of water.

The sheep boss, which was originally so dirty that it was hard to see its fur, was now completely a mud roller. Xia Qing happened to take advantage of the time it couldn't move to wash it.

What Xia Qing didn't notice was that the lying sheep boss had already slightly opened its eyes, and its eyes were moving with her figure.

After the large aluminum basin was mixed with water, disinfectant, and insecticide, Xia Qing carried the limp sheep boss into the bathroom and gently put it into the water basin.

As soon as it touched the water, the sheep boss opened its eyes, opened its mouth but couldn't make a sound, and its limbs twitched slightly, which was very pitiful.

Xia Qing saw that its eyes were quite bright and felt much more at ease. She let its head rest on the edge of the basin and started to wash the sheep. "Don't worry. It's not to boil you, it's to wash away the Qiang rain, and by the way, kill the parasites."

Perhaps feeling Xia Qing's kindness, or perhaps the bath was very comfortable, the sheep boss's wide-open eyes slowly returned to their normal shape and finally slowly closed.

The sheep boss wasn't just dirty; Xia Qing also caught eight evolved soft-bodied ticks and two other common animal surface parasites on it. Evolved ticks didn't just suck blood; the neurotoxins they secreted could also paralyze the host's muscles, eventually leading to death from respiratory failure. It looked like these ticks had been on the sheep boss for a while, which caused its body to be weak and unable to withstand the Qiang rain.

It was also fortunate that the sheep boss made such a scene today, otherwise Xia Qing wouldn't have discovered these parasites on it.

It took four large pots of hot water for Xia Qing to thoroughly wash the sheep boss clean and bring it back to the living room to wipe its fur. "This bath towel was found in the small shop, I couldn't bear to use it, so it's cheaper for you."

A large bath towel could only wipe the sheep half-dry. Xia Qing fed it an insect repellent pill, threw two pieces of wood into the fire, and let it slowly dry by the fire.

After a toss, it was eight o'clock in the evening, and the rain outside didn't know when it had stopped. Xia Qing put on her protective suit and went out to check the situation around the house, confirmed that there were no lurking huge dangers around the house, and then took the pot to cook.

She made a pot of fragrant Toona sinensis dough soup with white flour and Toona sinensis. The hot soup dispelled the cold and dampness. Xia Qing sat by the fire and stroked the sheep boss, whose fur was soft and elastic, and felt so happy that she wanted to shed tears.

Xia Qing said 'tch' with disdain, "If you don't listen again, Big Sister will drive you out; there are plenty of others who want to be my sheep."

Sheep Leader narrowed its eyes, saw that Xia Qing wasn't provoking it anymore, and then walked forward to eat grass.

Xia Qing put the empty water buckets from her backpack inside, took out the filled water buckets, tightened the lids, put them into her backpack, and went back to cut a few large bundles of perilla.

What the sheep eats for three days and what she eats for three days must both be cut and brought back before the rain.

When Xia Qing returned again, she swapped in three water buckets, then carried and dragged them as she walked home.

The evolutionary sheep glanced at her and continued to lower its head to nibble on perilla. After Xia Qing returned, she took out the filled water buckets, blocked the cave entrance tightly, and then carried her backpack and the last four large bundles of grass as she left.

Sheep Leader, who was eating grass, wouldn't have it; it jumped up and butted her. Xia Qing didn't look back, dodged with a flash, and continued walking, thus bringing Sheep Leader home.

Xia Qing put a bundle of grass on the bamboo rack in the sheep shed, "It's about to rain, if you don't want to get soaked, stay inside honestly and don't go out."

After saying this, Xia Qing didn't care whether Sheep Leader entered the shed or not, and returned to the building with the water buckets on her back.

Sheep Leader stood in the courtyard with narrowed eyes for a long time, but in the end, it succumbed to the scent of the grass and walked into the sheep shed.

Xia Qing, standing in the first-floor living room, smiled in triumph, cut a piece of rainproof cloth, and went to the west courtyard to build a small greenhouse for the ginger and garlic she had planted.

Although the hillside where she dug the ginger and garlic already belonged to her, who knew if there was still edible ginger and garlic in that plot of land? Even if there were, who knew if they would mutate into unusable plants after a rain?

Therefore, Xia Qing had to protect the dozen or so seedlings she had transplanted back.

If they encountered a heavy rain with a high content of Qi elements, it would be a severe challenge for all living things on Blue Star; if the seedlings were destroyed, there was nothing she could do, because she had done everything she could.

Not long after Xia Qing finished tidying up the vegetable garden and returned to the first-floor living room, she heard the sound of muffled thunder coming from afar.

This sound made her irritable.