Chapter 288: Territory Intruder

This storm really picked the worst possible time—she was going to be busy tonight.

There was no time to eat. Xia Qing downed her ration porridge in one gulp, wiped her mouth, stood up, and quickly put on her protective suit. She also fitted night-vision goggles on Sheep Boss. "Boss, it's about to rain. I'm going to cover our solar panels first, then close the rainproof tarps on the greenhouses. Wait for me at home."

After Xia Qing had run off, Sheep Boss—who was nibbling fodder from its own trough—clopped over to Xia Qing's dining table, sniffed around, raised its two front hooves onto Xia Qing's chair, and munched the pine-nut corn on the plate clean.

Still unaware her dishes had been eaten by her companion, Xia Qing was running out of the village to close the greenhouses when she heard Tan Junjie report the weather change on the Lord Channel and ask every territory to respond.

Xia Qing answered while running, "Territory Three, received."

Not long after Xia Qing's reply, Hu Zifeng called to ask, "Xia Qing, do you need help?"

"No need, I can handle it alone." Xia Qing didn't let Hu Zifeng's squad make the trip.

It was autumn. Based on the experience she had accumulated over the past few years, tonight the wind would most likely be a westerly. Her territory was ringed by mountains on the north and west sides, while Territory One only had mountains on its north side, so a westerly wind posed a greater threat to Territory One. Besides, her territory only had a little over six mu of farmland, while Territory One had over a thousand mu, plus the worm-cast production area under construction, so Territory One needed manpower even more.

Hu Zifeng reminded her, "Watch out for Jiang Xiazi. He's not just after Mount Forty-Nine. I'll keep you posted on their movements."

"Thanks." Xia Qing thanked Hu Zifeng.

When Xu Juan and Zhang Yong came to Territory Three with cameras, Sick Wolf had shown itself. The Jiang Xiong Squad, which was close to the Sufeng Squad, must have known there was a wolf in her territory. Others might not be interested in a sick old wolf on the verge of death, but the Jiang Xiong Squad definitely would be.

When the Jiang Xiong Squad's dogs had barked frantically this afternoon, the greed in Jiang Xiazi's single eye was plain as day to Xia Qing, and she had already prepared to stay up all night to protect her territory.

This storm would wash away the trail Broken-Waist Wolf and the others had taken back to the Evolution Forest, and it would also make the Jiang Xiong Squad focus their target on Mount Forty-Nine and Territory Three.

Xia Qing had already set a trap and was waiting for them. But before that, she had to protect her farmland first.

The Gao Po greenhouse, the low-slope greenhouse, the corn shed, the mung-bean shed, the cotton shed, the pumpkin and sweet-potato shed, Bai Mao's chicken-clot vine, Sheep Boss's pasture… Thank goodness she had converted the greenhouse rainproof tarps to a hand-pulled design following Territory Ten's method—otherwise she couldn't possibly have covered everything within fifty minutes.

When she reached the last shed, the wind inside the territory had already picked up, and it was blowing from the northwest. Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the wind direction didn't change, this sudden thunderstorm and gale wouldn't affect her territory much.

She only hoped the rain wouldn't, under the influence of lightning, absorb an excess of Qiang elements and turn into Qiang rain. It wasn't as if this had never happened before.

Only back then Xia Qing hadn't yet come out to farm, so she had no deep feeling about this kind of shift. Now that she had become a farmer, she deeply appreciated the profound meaning of the phrase "living at the mercy of the heavens."

To improve her ability to withstand harsh weather, she would need to build standardized planting greenhouses inside her territory. But at this stage, Xia Qing had no plans to build them.

First, because standardized greenhouses required large amounts of steel and new-material glass, along with supporting facilities like ventilation and air-filtration systems and irrigation systems—the cost was extraordinarily high.

Second, once a standardized greenhouse was built inside Territory Three, Xia Qing would become a tree that catches the wind, a bird that sticks its neck out—the disadvantages would outweigh the advantages.

Territory Three had only one person, one sheep, and a few chickens, so the demand for food wasn't great. Xia Qing could take good care of the few mu she had now, and that was enough.

When the wind grew strong and began to howl, Sheep Boss—its wool glowing white in the night—ran out from the village to rejoin its companion.

"Running out here now—aren't you just making yourself a live target?" Xia Qing rubbed its wool, which had been blown about by the wind, and was about to lead it back to put on a protective suit when she saw a flash of lightning in the southwest, followed immediately by a deafening thunderclap.

That sound was way too close! Xia Qing scooped up Sheep Boss and dashed into the small hut by the farmland, terrified that if she ran any slower she'd be struck by lightning.

On the Lord Channel, Zhao Ze asked in terror, "Is everyone okay?"

Qi Fu responded, "I'm fine here. That last bolt of lightning seemed to have struck a territory in the southwest—hope everyone's okay. Everyone's rooftops have lightning rods, right? If you don't have one, don't use the walkie-talkie—be careful not to get struck."

Xia Qing responded, "I'm fine too."

Tang Huai cursed, "Dammit, so damn annoying! Just strike me dead and be done with it!"

"Crack!"

Xia Qing watched a bolt of lightning strike down into Territory Two. Her vision went white, and the heavy rain came crashing down, deafening.

Everyone was terrified. Kuang Qingwei asked loudly, "Brother Huai, you okay?"

Hearing no response from Tang Huai, Tang Zhengpo grew anxious too. "A-Huai?"

Tan Junjie inquired, "Territory Two, please report your status."

Because the lightning was causing communication interference, the walkie-talkie's sound was a little off, adding to the tense atmosphere. Xia Qing frowned as she watched flash after flash of lightning outside the window, finally understanding why this was called "thunder" rain.

There were way too many thunderbolts. Xia Qing took out her Qiang-element detector and was about to collect rainwater to test the Qiang-element content when she felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

She glanced at her phone and immediately ordered Sheep Boss, "Boss, humans have broken into our territory. You wait here—I'll go deal with it."

Seeing that Sheep Boss was about to follow her, Xia Qing immediately stuffed a small piece of compressed ration into its mouth, shut it inside the small hut, and sternly warned it, "It's nighttime—your coat is too conspicuous. Wait here until I come back."

With that, Xia Qing turned on the light in the outer room, sent Tan Junjie a message, and rushed out.

"Crack!" Thunder and lightning struck almost simultaneously, illuminating the territory. Xia Qing had already slipped into the tall-grass wall between Territory Three and Territory Four.

She was wearing a full Level-3 field protective suit, so she wasn't afraid of electric shock or getting soaked. She crouched quietly inside the tall-grass wall.

Two people in protective suits were entering Territory Three along the stream between Territory Three and Territory Four. These two were sly—they knew exactly where to go to leave no footprints or scent.

But if they wanted to "steal the wolf," they'd have to come ashore. The two used a stone-slab bridge to quickly cross the reservoir, avoided the greenhouses covered with rainproof tarps and the lit-up small hut, and made their way accurately toward the abandoned village where Xia Qing lived.

Just as they passed Xia Qing, a flash of lightning lit up, followed immediately by a thunderclap. The two instinctively looked up. Through their protective masks, Xia Qing saw half of each of their faces and confirmed they were members of the Jiang Xiong Squad who had followed Jiang Xiazi that afternoon.