Chapter 217: Thunder and Reinforcements

After the Qi couple left, the sun sank behind the western hills; night was about to fall.

Xia Qing stuffed the four sunflowers Yuan Yan had pointed out, along with the four she had discovered earlier, into her basket, and on the way past the chicken coop, she picked up the chicken cage as well.

"Cluck cluck, cluck cluck!"

The black-feathered rooster inside the cage called out in displeasure, pecking at the bamboo with its beak.

Is this it complaining she came late?

Xia Qing explained, "I just went and formed an alliance with someone, so I was held up a bit. Today I'm bringing you all back inside, and the next time I come out will be four days from now. Let's go, we're heading home."

The poultry in the cage—apart from that Green Lantern goose—were all treasures, tied to whether Xia Qing could try all hundred and twenty-eight ways of cooking eggs this winter; they had to be protected as a top priority.

After getting home, Xia Qing carried the chicken cage into the sheep shed and placed it inside the large chicken coop she had put together in her spare time over the past few days. This coop took up a quarter of the sheep shed; a layer of earth was spread beneath it, and a feeding trough and water trough were set outside.

After checking the stability of the coop, Xia Qing tucked a small piece of yi-stone into a small hole at the top of the cage.

She had four pieces of yi-stone in total: three the size of pigeon eggs, and one the size of a walnut. To preserve food and cope with this Calamity Rain, the three pigeon-egg-sized pieces had all been cut into smaller chunks and put to use.

In other words, to deal with the Calamity Rain, Xia Qing had used yi-stone worth a total of over six hundred thousand points.

Still, Xia Qing did not feel the loss.

Every supply should be made to fulfill its value; the three broken-open pieces of yi-stone had all been put to the most critical use. Besides, once the Calamity Rain was over, the yi-stone installed on the greenhouse and the chicken coop could be retrieved, sealed inside protective casings for storage, and taken out again next time Calamity Rain came.

The usable period of yi-stone lasted as long as three whole months.

After returning to her room and eating a simple but energy-rich meal, Xia Qing laid the eight sunflowers on the table and examined them carefully.

If one had to say what these sunflower plants had in common, it was that on their short, dense roots, quite a few large and small "nodules" had grown. However, Xia Qing had not dug up any other sunflowers to look at, so she did not know whether this was normal.

She put on gloves and a protective mask, and carefully used her dagger to slice open one root nodule of the Green Lantern sunflower, only to find that the inside was actually hollow.

Xia Qing cut open the large nodules on the roots of the other seven sunflowers as well; without exception, they were all hollow. Xia Qing did not know whether this was normal for sunflowers, but the root nodules of peanuts and pumpkins were solid.

She took photos of the root nodules and recorded this characteristic in her notebook, then called out to Sheep Boss, "Boss, this one's a Green Lantern plant—want to try it?"

Sheep Boss clip-clopped over for a sniff, then turned and went back to the tatami.

No tasting.

Xia Qing then called out to Sick Wolf, "Lao Er, do you see anything wrong with this sunflower?"

Sick Wolf lay on the tatami, watching Xia Qing with its clear eyes, not moving at all.

Hmm…

Xia Qing felt that its gaze was exactly the same as when it had watched Sheep Boss go crazy; she did not want to investigate what that meant, so she stood up and sealed the sunflower plants away into the cellar for storage.

If these eight sunflowers all shared the same problem, it would mean she and Yuan Yan possessed the same kind of "ability," and Yuan Yan's "ability" was stronger than hers.

This possibility was very likely, because Yuan Yan had sensed something was off before the potatoes underwent dangerous aggressive Calamity-evolution, while Xia Qing had not sensed it. This might also be because she had not been carefully observing the potato vines at the time.

Ever since the dancing potato vine incident, Xia Qing had maintained a wary attitude toward any seeds brought out from the Safe Zone, and observed them more carefully—which was how she had noticed something off about the sunflowers.

It was also possible that she and Yuan Yan did not share the same kind of "ability," which would be even better. If she and her ally had different abilities, the effect of their joint patrols over the fields would be better.

Being able to form an alliance with Territory Five truly made Xia Qing happy. She now had an ally, as well as three powerful trading partners in Territory One, Territory Seven, and the wolf pack; her odds of surviving well were growing higher and higher.

After saying goodnight to Sick Wolf and Sheep Boss, Xia Qing hummed a little tune as she went upstairs to sleep. At half past midnight tonight she would have to get up, fully armed, to face the third Calamity Rain.

As it turned out, before midnight even arrived, Xia Qing was woken by a sound trap. The triggered sound trap was located by the stream at the northeast of her territory.

She put on her night-vision goggles and got up, carefully lifting the blackout curtain to look north—only to meet a pair of eyes glowing with a faint green light.

Those eyes, she knew them all too well. Xia Qing holstered her gun at her waist and went downstairs, fully armed.

Only Sheep Boss was on the tatami; Sick Wolf must have already gone out to check the situation. After saying goodbye to Sheep Boss, Xia Qing had not walked more than a few steps out of the village when she caught up with Sick Wolf, who was heading north at a leisurely pace. "Lao Er, I just took a look—it's your companions who've come."

Sick Wolf imitated Sheep Boss's manner and nuzzled Xia Qing's leg with its thin, frail body, showing affection.

The person and the wolf arrived at the stream and saw three wolves walking slowly toward them.

The brain-domain evolved wolf with the injured waist was in front, with the broken-legged wolf and the black wolf behind. All three wolves had bulging bellies—they had probably come after eating their fill—and the two in the back each had prey clamped in their mouths.

The brain-domain evolved wolf walked at a leisurely pace because the wound on its waist had not yet healed. The black wolf obediently followed behind it, while the broken-legged wolf was impatient, walking with a swaying head, occasionally darting sideways or leaping up and down.

Seeing that Xia Qing had finally arrived, the broken-legged wolf immediately bounded over to show her the prey clamped in its mouth.

Another animal she did not recognize. Xia Qing asked in a gentle voice, "Broken-leg, where did you catch this one in the middle of the night? Carrying it this far in your mouth—don't your cheeks and teeth hurt?"

Thinking it was being praised, the broken-legged wolf set the prey down in front of Xia Qing, then turned and ran back to the brain-domain evolved wolf's side. Sick Wolf also followed along at a leisurely pace, and the wolves sniffed each other in greeting.

The waist-injured wolf stopped two meters in front of Xia Qing, raised its wolf-head, and gazed at her quietly. Xia Qing removed her protective mask and gazed quietly at this wolf, both frail and powerful.

The Calamity Rain was about to arrive, and the air's humidity was rising. Because Xia Qing was wearing yi-stone, she could not judge through breathing whether the Calamity-element content in the air had increased; she only felt that the moment was very still. Even though the wind was blowing, even though the stream beside them was babbling, even though plenty of nocturnal insects were bustling about rustling in the surroundings, even though she could hear the waist-injured wolf's heavy breathing—she still felt a great stillness.

It was a very peculiar sensation.

Xia Qing asked calmly, "Waist-injured, are you planning to take shelter from the Calamity Rain inside Sheep Boss's and my territory?"

The brain-domain evolved wolf gave a low whine, and the black wolf standing behind set its prey down in front of Xia Qing. This one was a normal wolf—no need for Xia Qing to praise it.

Xia Qing lifted the two prey animals, which together weighed over a hundred jin, and nodded in agreement. "That's fine. The rain's almost here—come home with me. You all walk slowly; I'll head back first and get the prey dealt with and stored."

After getting home, Xia Qing first disassembled the chicken coop in the sheep shed, carried it into the tool room and reassembled it, then spread two rolls of straw mat inside the sheep shed before going back to her room to process the two Yellow Lantern prey animals.

When she came out of the room after dealing with the prey, she found three wolves and one sheep huddled inside the sheep shed, looking up at her. Each wolf looked more solemn than the last, while Sheep Boss, as always, chewed its cud with a face that seemed to be asking for a beating.

The black wolf, at some unknown point, had already left.