Chapter 474: Night Battle

At four in the morning, the wind was fierce and the snow was heavy. The sheep pen door hadn't been shut tight, and wind rushed in through the crack, howling and roaring.

The head wolf, sleeping under the blanket with Sick Wolf and Xia Qing, twitched its ears, tucked its head back into the blanket, and kept sleeping. Sheep Lao Da simply buried its head in the haystack.

Broken-Waist Wolf and Handsome Giant Wolf, who were guarding by the door, twitched their ears and leaned against each other for warmth. In the swallow's nest under the eaves, well protected by a rainproof tarp, the swallows huddled in twos and threes in the warm nest, necks tucked in, sleeping soundly. In the pine tree hollow in District Three of Mountain Forty-Nine, the red squirrel whose belly had been injured and whose fur Xia Qing had shaved off was curled up tight, still shivering.

In the breeding greenhouse on the north side of the abandoned village, the flock of chickens perched on the bamboo racks was startled awake by the wind and the sound of the door opening, chirping softly as they huddled together. A beam of light swept past, and the white-feathered hen and black-feathered rooster immediately stretched their necks and chirped and clucked loudly in protest.

Hu Zifeng immediately turned off the light, tiptoed to check on the fish sleeping at the bottom of the water and the yellow mealworms sleeping curled up in the leaves, then added several large logs to the greenhouse's heated wall before going to check on the planting greenhouse.

The green-light vegetable seedlings, protected by the Yishi and the greenhouse, showed no signs of malignant evolution, just like the green-light wheat seedlings in the big shed. As usual, Hu Zifeng added a few logs to the heated wall, checked that the greenhouse had no drafts, and hurried off to the yellow-light rapeseed field.

Unlike the peace of the previous spots, the rapeseed shed was a hive of activity. Perhaps because of seed quality, the yellow-light rapeseed had considerably more malignantly evolved plants than the yellow-light wheat. Inside the shed, some people were running back and forth clearing the rapidly growing malignantly evolved plants, some were shaking the bamboo racks to knock the accumulated snow off the rainproof tarp, and others were clearing snow outside the shed.

In the greenhouses of other territories too, lights blazed as people patrolled the fields again and again, clearing the malign snow.

In Territory Seven, Zhang San ignored the roaring from his phone, put it down, put on his airtight protective suit, and led people through the raging wind and snow toward Territory Nine.

Outside the northern wasteland grass wall of Territory Nine, Tan Junjie, with over a hundred armed inspection team members, had blocked the exit from the territory; the southern wasteland grass wall was blocked just as tightly by Yang Jin with two inspection squads and two Green Dragon main force squads. The bulletproof, shockproof safety door of Territory Nine's core laboratory was locked from the inside. Li Si stood quietly inside the door with Xiao Liu and several other researchers, watching Zhang Qikun raging and roaring outside.

Wrapped in cold-weather gear, Zhou Xun and Tang Huai lay in the wasteland grass between Territory Two and Territory Twelve, covered in malign snow but not moving an inch, afraid of missing any brilliant shot.

On the halfway slope and southern foothills of Peak Three of Mountain Fifty, the malign grass was still growing wildly. Under the ground covered by a thick layer of malign snow, super-evolved fungi were rapidly multiplying and growing.

The malign snake coiled in a hidden valley flicked its forked tongue, slowly raised its bulging head, and slithered toward the fungi that gave off a snake-attracting scent.

"Clang—Crash!"

The gale finally blew the sheep pen door wide open, slamming it hard against the wall. The sheep pen's walls trembled, and the thick snow on the pointed roof was shaken loose, sliding down and crashing into the yard with a muffled thud.

The blizzard rushed into the room. Xia Qing and the four wolves all leaped up at once. Sheep Lao Da opened its eyes for one second, then closed them again and went back to sleep.

While Broken-Waist Wolf struggled to close the door, Xia Qing was still staring in a daze at the blanket that had blended perfectly with the hay.

"Queen my lord, Wolf Lao Er, lift your paws, please." Once she came to her senses, Xia Qing asked the two evolved wolves that were standing on her blanket to kindly lift their feet, then hugged the blanket and headed outside. "Queen my lord, it's too cold here. Let's go back inside."

After sleeping for a while, although her whole body still ached terribly, Xia Qing had recovered some strength and was able to move around.

Seeing that Xia Qing and the wolves had all gone out, Sheep Lao Da immediately jumped up and followed. Xia Qing fought against the gale, struggling to close and lock the sheep pen door. Half the hay in the pen was Sheep Lao Da's food, and it would be trouble if it got soaked by the malign snow.

After locking the door, Xia Qing turned around and saw the wolf pack and Sheep Lao Da all rolling around in the dirty-yellow malign snow, as if trying to rub the filth off their bodies.

Could it be that the malign snow also had a deodorizing function? Xia Qing hung the dirty, stinking blanket on the clothesline under the eaves, then clipped the corners with large clips to keep the wind from blowing it away, and also lay down in the malign snow in the yard to rub herself. She rubbed her back, then her front, then her sides, and after that used the malign snow to scrub clean the protective mask the plucked-fur yellow weasel had crawled all over.

When the wolf pack and Sheep Lao Da stood up and shook their bodies, Xia Qing also stood up, patted the snow off herself, and opened the security door to go inside.

The soft yellow night-light on the first floor made the room feel peaceful and cozy, but Xia Qing didn't dare take off her protective mask or protective suit.

After scuffing the snow off her soles on the hay by the door, Xia Qing turned on the lights and first contacted Hu Zifeng through her earpiece walkie-talkie. Learning that the fields and greenhouses were all normal, she decided to take advantage of her energy to disinfect the house.

She first turned on the air toxin detector and discovered that a Class C toxic gas—ethanethiol—was present in the indoor air.

Ethanethiol was exactly the extremely foul-smelling toxic gas sprayed from the evolved yellow weasel's glands, the smelliest and highly corrosive substance on Blue Star. Inhaling ethanethiol causes headaches, eye pain, coughing, nausea, vomiting, and rapid breathing; inhaling a large amount can cause direct suffocation and death.

As if being incredibly foul-smelling, toxic, and hard to remove weren't enough, damn this toxic gas is also flammable and explosive. Tell me, isn't that infuriating?

Fortunately, the concentration of ethanethiol inside Xia Qing's house was already below 0.1%, so it wouldn't ignite or explode even if exposed to an open flame. She lit the fireplace to warm the house up as quickly as possible.

Handsome Giant Wolf was still guarding outside. Head Wolf, Sick Wolf, and Sheep Lao Da crowded by the fireplace, staying as far from the tatami as possible. No need to ask—the tatami must stink terribly.

Xia Qing didn't dare take off her protective mask. Her body was weak right now, and she urgently needed to replenish herself with green-light food. She wasn't afraid of the stench, but she was afraid that the ethanethiol would make her so nauseous she'd vomit and be unable to eat.

Where was Broken-Waist Wolf?

Xia Qing turned her head and saw this thrifty evolved forest wolf actually carrying a rolled-up new grass mat in its mouth, walking out of the tool room.

Noticing Xia Qing looking at it, Broken-Waist Wolf stopped and stared at Xia Qing.

When did this evolved wolf learn that she kept the grass mat in the tool room? Besides the grass mat, what else did it know? Life isn't easy. Xia Qing sighed. "Good work, Broken-Waist. Bring it over and lay it down."

Broken-Waist Wolf immediately dragged the grass mat to the fireplace. Xia Qing untied the cord and spread the mat on the ground. Head Wolf lay down right in the center of the mat, then Broken-Waist Wolf, Sheep Lao Da, and Sick Wolf climbed on too.

After Sick Wolf lay down, it turned its head and stared at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing put the backpack she'd brought back down in the spot Sick Wolf had saved for her, then discussed with Broken-Waist Wolf and Sheep Lao Da, "Lao Da, Broken-Waist, would you two first throw that stinking old grass mat on the tatami outside?"

Sheep Lao Da narrowed its eyes and chewed its cud. Broken-Waist Wolf lay next to Head Wolf, staring at the firelight, as if both had lost their hearing. Clearly, neither of them wanted to touch that grass mat.

"Wolf Lao Er, rest. I'll go throw it out." Xia Qing held down Sick Wolf, which was about to stand up, endured the pain, slowly walked over, rolled up the grass mat, and threw it into the malign snow in the yard.

The silver-gray giant wolf standing in the windbreak under the eaves had already gotten a layer of malign snow on its body in such a short time. Meeting its ice-blue eyes, Xia Qing turned to discuss with Head Wolf, "Queen my lord, the territory is very safe right now. Let Big Guy Giant Wolf come inside too. The wind and snow outside are too heavy, too cold."

Head Wolf didn't move, and Handsome Giant Wolf didn't move either. Clearly, Head Wolf didn't consider this place safe.

Xia Qing stopped interfering with Head Wolf's decision, closed the door, and prepared for the night battle.

Night battle against the toxic gas.