Chapter 295: Making an Example

With the aid of her dual-system evolved hearing and vision abilities, Xia Qing quickly locked onto the culprit behind this round of damage to the greenhouse's insect netting — an evolved giant cricket hiding under a leaf, nibbling on a green radish!

"Crunch—"

When Xia Qing killed the palm-sized cricket with the flat of her blade, its sharp teeth struck the blade, producing a clear sound.

After killing the cricket, Xia Qing pulled up the radish that had nearly been eaten hollow, and her heart ached so badly she nearly dropped dead.

This radish was already thicker than her arm; in another half month it would have been ready to harvest!

After carefully checking once more and confirming no other insects had gotten in to harm the crops, Xia Qing replaced the broken greenhouse support, patched up the insect netting and rainproof cloth, and decided to spray a round of insecticide and pest repellent around the greenhouse first.

Last night's thunderstorm had weakened the effectiveness of the pesticide she'd sprayed a couple days ago, so she needed to re-spray as soon as possible — otherwise she'd soon be patching holes in the greenhouse roof again.

Xia Qing walked out of the greenhouse carrying the radish and the cricket, and when she saw Boss Sheep coming over with a basket in its mouth, she tossed the cricket into its little basket and proposed, "Boss, look, one of our radishes got wrecked by a cricket. How about you switch to radish for breakfast today? This one's juicy, it's bound to taste great."

Boss Sheep said nothing, narrowed its eyes at Xia Qing, and started pawing the ground, ready to fight.

"Fine, you eat corn, I eat radish. Let's go, pull up some corn." Xia Qing tossed the radish into her own basket and headed downhill with Boss Sheep. After checking each greenhouse one by one, she entered the corn greenhouse and, under Boss Sheep's expectant gaze, pulled up two corn stalks. One was the empty stalk from which she'd already broken off a cob the night before; the other had one large cob and one small cob growing on it.

She broke off the large cob and stuffed it into her own back-basket, leaving the rest for Boss Sheep to take home. "Boss, head back first and feed the fish. I'll spray a round of pesticide and then come back to make you breakfast."

Xia Qing worked efficiently; by the time she'd finished spraying around all seven greenhouses, it wasn't yet seven in the morning.

Back home, Xia Qing chopped up the corn stalk and the small cob that hadn't fully grown, added a small block of compressed rations, and mixed Boss Sheep a hearty breakfast.

The fully grown large cob? Of course that was saved for Xia Qing to eat herself. Just as she was about to seal the corn and put it in the fridge to preserve, Boss Sheep's big head came nosing over.

"You like corn kernels? You already ate half a plate of them last night." Xia Qing pushed its big head away, but still peeled off twenty kernels and put them in its food bowl, before sternly warning it, "The book says you're a herbivore and can't eat too much corn, or you'll have stomach problems. This one's mine; what's in your bowl is yours."

Boss Sheep narrowed its eyes and stared at the corn for a while, then buried its head and ate.

Since she'd already peeled it open, Xia Qing simply peeled off another handful of fresh, tender kernels before sealing the remaining large half-cob and putting it in the fridge to freeze.

The peeled kernels, plus a handful of rice, were cooked into porridge; then the edible parts of the radish she'd brought back were shredded and served cold, with a few pieces of dried meat added — that was today's breakfast.

Looking at the rice bag that was already nearly empty, Xia Qing sighed.

This little bit of rice was only enough for two or three meals. A few days ago Xia Qing had already messaged Zhong Tao, hoping to trade for more edible rice, only to learn he was out of stock too.

The Safe Zone Planting Center didn't sell rice to outsiders; the rice Xia Qing ate was a "benefit" the army issued to soldiers.

Although the army's missions were heavy and casualty rate high, the treatment was also good — they issued staple food every month. Soldiers without families would trade their surplus staple food for supplies they needed; the rice Zhong Tao had came from exactly that.

Rice was extremely sought-after; Xia Qing was already content to have been able to buy it twice in the past half year. When she couldn't buy rice, she could still eat the wheat, mung beans, potatoes, and chestnuts stored in the pantry.

Once spring came next year, she would plant the Green Lantern rice seeds she'd harvest in a few days, along with the forty jin of premium Yellow Lantern rice seeds she'd just traded for; after harvesting next June, she'd be able to eat her way through premium rice she'd grown herself.

Beautiful days were beckoning to her!

"Cluck, cluck-cluck."

Hearing the hen's call, Xia Qing's eyes lit up. She immediately ran outside the chicken coop and looked through the window to see a hen that had just finished laying an egg loudly calling as it hopped down from the nest.

In the nest beside it, another hen was still crouching — it looked like it was laying an egg too.

In other words, she could harvest two nutritious and delicious eggs today!

Standing outside the chicken coop, Xia Qing happily spun around twice, then immediately circled the coop and run to check everything, so that such delicious food wouldn't be stolen by some clueless animal.

While Xia Qing was busy in the yard, Boss Sheep inside the house had finished the grass in its food bowl and was lying on the tatami, eyes narrowed, staring at the porridge pot in the kitchen.

In the end, Xia Qing came back inside and drank the whole pot of porridge herself — none for Boss Sheep — and its eyes narrowed even further.

Xia Qing didn't notice her companion was off, and after cheerfully sharing the good news about the hens laying eggs with it, she took her supplies and headed to the North Isolation Belt to wait for the inspection team.

After Xia Qing went out, Boss Sheep clip-clopped up to the second floor, narrowed its eyes, and stared at the locked fridge for a while. After confirming it couldn't open it, it went out to eat pasture grass.

When the inspection team passed by, Xia Qing asked them to deliver her trade goods to Seeing Xin Yu, and also gave Tan Junjie two stiff Yellow Lantern fish, then asked quietly, "Captain Tan, those two from Jiang Xiong's squad?"

Tan Junjie replied, "This is the most serious and worst-natured territorial intrusion incident since the territory policy was implemented at Hui Three Base. The Base Commander personally ordered the Territory Management Department to punish severely. Soon a patrol car will escort the two criminals back to the Safe Zone for trial, and the other members of Jiang Xiong's squad will return to the Safe Zone together to be investigated."

Hearing that Jiang Xiong's squad was being made an example of, Xia Qing was very pleased. With Jiang Xiong's squad withdrawing along with their evolved dogs, the wolf pack would be safe too.

After briefing the situation, Tan Junjie added, "Someone from the Management Department will come ask you about the relevant details; just tell them the truth. Autumn harvest is coming up soon, so the Territory Management Department won't take up too much of your time."

"Understood." Xia Qing certainly knew exactly how to "tell the truth."

Hui Three Base's average winter temperature was about ten degrees lower than before the Catastrophe, and winter also came earlier than before the Catastrophe. Therefore, the agricultural-knowledge broadcast repeatedly emphasized that the current autumn harvest window — from late October to mid-November — had been moved up by more than ten days.

After the autumn harvest, lords had to spread fertilizer, irrigate, plow, and then sow winter crops like wheat and rapeseed. These tasks had to be completed before the end of November; any later, and the crops wouldn't be able to take root and sprout before the cold wave arrived, and the seeds would freeze to death.

So over the coming period, Xia Qing would be very busy. She asked, "Will the autumn agricultural products trade fair be held soon?"

She wanted to claim the half-jin of rapeseed the Territory Management Department had rewarded her as soon as possible, and plant it before the end of November.

Tan Junjie shook his head. "Haven't received any notice yet."

Su Ming asked curiously, "Sister Qing, I heard Company Commander Yan went fishing in your reservoir last night?"

Besides Tan Junjie, the other members of the inspection team crowded over, looking at Xia Qing with eager eyes.