Chapter 1733: Insect Plague

What is the most despairing thing for a farmer? Watching the crops you've painstakingly tended for months mutate one after another, powerless to do anything.

The wheat seedlings that survived a winter of minus twenty degrees were growing and changing color at a speed visible to the naked eye, like knives stabbing into the farmer's heart, the pain making it hard to breathe.

When Xia Qing jumped off the vehicle and walked into the greenhouse, everyone turned to look at her. A frail child raised her head, her thin little face behind the protective mask full of fear, "Director, is Blue Star cutting off humanity's livelihood?"

The more than thirty employees inside the greenhouse all looked at Xia Qing, waiting for her answer.

The veteran employee who had only her right arm hadn't expected her daughter to suddenly speak up, and instinctively stepped forward half a pace to shield her, "Director…"

Xia Qing raised her hand to stop her, peeled off the one-way translucent film on her own protective mask, revealing half a face marked with obvious bruises and scars, and glanced at the employee dependent's ID badge pinned to the child's left chest.

According to the relevant regulations of the Ninth Center, a child of this age should not appear in the planting area. Her being here must have a special reason and have gone through layers of approval.

According to the Ninth Center's management regulations, this kind of personnel arrangement wouldn't be reported to Ninth Center Director Xia Qing, so she didn't need to inquire about it.

What she needed to do now was answer this child's question, and stabilize the employees' emotions as quickly as possible, so everyone could devote themselves fully to the disaster relief work.

The 188 employees the Ninth Center recruited last month brought 63 children under fifteen to live in the employee dormitories with them; 36 of those children had no blood relation to the employees who joined, and several were even adopted from safe-zone welfare homes only after the employees confirmed they'd been hired by the Ninth Center—the child in front of her was one of them.

"Zhang Yi'an." Xia Qing had looked over the employee roster and remembered this name with its auspicious meaning; now she could match the name to the face.

The child, knowing she'd gotten herself into trouble, immediately stood at attention and answered with a trembling voice, "Here."

Xia Qing asked calmly, "If Blue Star doesn't leave humanity a way to live, does that mean humanity will go extinct?"

Melted snow water flowed noisily outside the greenhouse, the mutating wheat seedlings inside were growing wildly, over thirty veterans stood silently, and eight-year-old Zhang Yi'an stared wide-eyed at Xia Qing's scarred face.

Xia Qing's expression was blank, her voice calm, as she asked again, "Answer me: if Blue Star doesn't leave humanity a way to live, does humanity have to go extinct?"

Xia Qing's face was frightening, but Zhang Yi'an, pressed close to her mother, felt no killing intent or malice from her, and gathered her courage to answer, "N…no. I, I want to…with Mommy…live together."

Her adopter—Ninth Center Planting Department employee Zhang Jiejun—showed a relieved expression.

Xia Qing's face remained calm, "I didn't hear clearly. What do you want to do?"

Zhang Yi'an, tears streaming, answered loudly, "I just got a mommy, I don't want to be separated from mommy, I want to defend our room with mommy, eat quality food, and live on!!!"

The child's young voice rose together with the wildly growing wheat seedlings in the greenhouse. Hearing this simple wish from a child born in the year of the natural disaster, the veterans' eyes reddened.

"Good, I heard you."

Xia Qing's voice remained steady, "I don't know what Blue Star wants, I only know our Ninth Planting Center has 367 greenhouses of overwintering wheat. Even if all this wheat is destroyed, in half a month we can fill the greenhouses with rice seedlings. If we can't harvest wheat, we'll harvest rice; if we can't harvest rice, we'll plant something else. As long as we keep planting, there will definitely be a harvest, and quality food."

"Mm!" Hope lit up in Zhang Yi'an's eyes, "Director, should we pull out the wheat seedlings now?"

"The mutating ones need to be cleared out as soon as possible." Xia Qing instructed Planting Department Head Mao Chuntai beside her, "Minister Mao, have everyone take proper protection and clear out the mutating plants as quickly as possible. Don't damage the root systems of the normal plants—any plant that makes it through this disaster may gain resistance and produce quality seeds."

"Yes!" Mao Chuntai immediately gave the order, telling the employees to begin clearing the mutating plants.

Xia Qing turned and left this greenhouse, asking Geng Min, the Ninth Center Magnetoception Group leader who had just walked out of greenhouse 298, "Have any aggressive mutating plants been discovered?"

Geng Min immediately reported, "No aggressive mutating plants found, but I just discovered an aggressive magnetic field in the soil of greenhouse 298. The wheat seedlings in the area of the abnormal magnetic field are slowly losing vitality. Vice Minister Li pulled one up to check and found all the roots had been bitten through. She's sending the sample to the Soil Research Department right now."

Geng Min was a Class B magnetoception evolver; the abnormal magnetic fields she could sense were either emitted by plants or by microorganisms or very small animals in the soil.

Xia Qing nodded steadily, "Report it according to regulations, you continue patrolling, stay safe. Minister Mao, immediately raise the protective suit level for the greenhouse 298 staff and execute Disaster Response Plan Three."

"Yes!"

"Sister Qing, you there?"

Before Xia Qing had even walked into greenhouse 298, Tang Heng's voice came through the lord walkie-talkie she carried with her. Xia Qing pressed the talk button as she walked, "Here."

Tang Heng reported briefly at a quick pace, "We just tested the soil samples sent over from Territory 23 and found that secretions from the mutating anaerobic Clostridium in the samples instantly stimulated the egg sacs of the root-knot nematodes to rupture. The aggressive mutating larvae that hatched, working together with the corrosive fluid from the mutating anaerobic Clostridium, can sever a wheat seedling's capillary roots within ten minutes. None of the chemicals we have in our territory can quickly kill this nematode."

The ice and snow had just melted, and the insect plague had arrived! The lords who heard Tang Heng's broadcast stared at their fields and felt a bone-deep terror. Insect plagues were far more terrifying and destructive than other types of beast tides.

Xia Qing, who had already walked into greenhouse 298, felt the aggressive magnetic field stabbing at her brow and calmly asked, "Copy that. Is Sister Tao there?"

Tang Heng answered, "Not here, the researchers from Territory Seven haven't gone out in the past couple of days."

Xia Qing's voice was steady, "Third Brother, you there?"

Zhang San came online, "Tang Heng, get the samples and test reports over here as fast as you can. Everyone hold off on the pesticides, give me 30 minutes."

"Copy." Tang Heng acknowledged and set off immediately.

Xia Qing continued giving orders, "Ye Yang, contact Captain Tan, report the situation with the root-knot nematodes."

"Copy." Ye Yang, who was on rotation at the Soil Research Department today, immediately acknowledged and contacted Tan Junjie to report the situation.

Soon, the serious announcement from Tan Junjie came through the dozens of loudspeakers mounted on the signal tower in Northern District One, "Attention all lords, attention all lords: a large number of mutating nematodes feeding on the roots of overwintering wheat have been discovered in one greenhouse of Territory 23…"

Before Tan Junjie's broadcast had finished, the phone in Xia Qing's pocket buzzed twice, and her Bluetooth earpiece announced, "Your friend Does Daigua is calling you on video. Answer?"