Chapter 527: No. 6 Ration

Waking in the middle of the night, Xia Qing rose and lifted a corner of the blackout curtain, looking out at the small house by the farmland beneath the starry sky. The blackout curtains in this little house didn't work as well as the ones at home, and the faint glow of the night-light inside seeped through the curtains and window. That faint glow, together with the smoke drifting from the chimney, blended into the star-filled sky—very harmonious.

It was winter now, so this bit of light wouldn't attract swarms of insects, and there was no real danger. Xia Qing pulled the curtain closed, got up, and opened the fireplace on the second floor, adding some firewood. Standing on the stairs, she glanced down and saw both of her companions looking up at her.

Sheep Boss was expressionless, Sick Wolf was grinning broadly, and Xia Qing laughed and said softly, "It's nothing, I just got up to check the fire."

Living in a safe zone did greatly reduce the chance of being attacked by evolved creatures, but it greatly increased the chance of being harmed by one's own kind.

Blue Star had evolved, but humans remained the species with the highest brain-region evolution and the most complex minds among all Blue Star's creatures. Among humans there were kind and contented ones, and there were also evil and insatiable ones. For humanity to develop and continue, the good had to defeat the evil, becoming the main force that set and guarded the rules and led humanity's direction of development.

Xia Qing didn't know about larger areas, but within this territory, whether the lord or the patrol teams, the good currently outweighed the evil. So for Xia Qing, although the Harmful Rain, Harmful Snow seasons and the beast tides and insect tides were several times more dangerous than the safe zone, she still preferred life here.

Here, although her body got more tired, her mind didn't have to stay constantly on edge, and she could grow or obtain natural food from the evolved forest, boosting her resistance and evolution ability.

This point was clear even to her, so Tan Junjie couldn't possibly fail to see through it.

Xia Qing yawned, pulled her quilt tight, leaned against the warm wall, and went back to sleep.

Inside the small house by the farmland, Tan Qi also woke from a nightmare and sat up with a start. She stared wide-eyed in fear at the night-light in the room, and it took her several seconds to realize where she was.

This wasn't the cramped home in the safe zone, nor her father's tiny dormitory—this was Territory Three.

Being the only person in this house didn't make nine-year-old Tan Qi feel uneasy or afraid; on the contrary, it made her feel very safe.

This house here was safe. Xia Qing, the wolf, and the sheep in the territory didn't want to eat her flesh or drink her blood, nor would they steal her supplies.

Tan Qi lay down, curled into a ball under the quilt. The walls here were warm, the quilt and padding were all soft and cozy, and she quickly closed her eyes and fell asleep again.

Early the next morning, Xia Qing was woken by her good neighbor the red squirrel. After giving it water and getting a free tail-dance show, she turned her gaze toward the small house by the farmland and saw that its curtain had already been opened. Tan Qi, just like the red squirrel, was bustling about inside, apparently doing morning training.

This little girl had a strong sense of crisis, desperately trying to make herself stronger.

"Sister Qing—"

When Xia Qing was patrolling the territory and almost reached the farmland, Tan Qi waved to her cheerfully through the window. Because she wasn't wearing protective clothing or a protective mask, she didn't open the window—having that kind of risk-awareness was very good.

Xia Qing walked quickly over, opened the door and went inside. "How did you sleep last night? Was it cold?"

"Not cold at all, I slept really well." Tan Qi smiled very happily, pointing at the small pot steaming on the stove. "I brought the latest model No. 6 compressed rations from the safe zone—they make a really good porridge. I also brought buns stuffed with wild vegetables, and I made a portion for Sister Qing too."

Xia Qing didn't refuse the little girl's kindness. "Good, I'll finish patrolling the territory first, and later I'll pick some perilla from the greenhouse so we can have it cold-dressed."

"Okay!"

Tan Qi answered crisply, without asking to patrol the territory with Xia Qing or to help pick vegetables in the greenhouse. During the calamity years, everyone had a strong sense of territory—this was Xia Qing's territory, and everything in it belonged to Xia Qing's supplies; others couldn't wander around freely.

After patrolling the territory once, Xia Qing went home, took Sick Wolf and Sheep Boss's food bowls, and headed straight for the greenhouse. She gave the fish-feeding, chicken-feeding Sick Wolf some dried meat and water, poured half a bowl of water for Sheep Boss who was chewing grass, and only then went to pick perilla.

After more than a month of growth, the vegetables in the planting greenhouse had grown up. The fence around the three vegetable beds of pasture grass had already been removed by Xia Qing, so Sheep Boss could go in and graze on the pasture grass specially grown for it.

All this pasture grass was collected by Xia Qing from within the territory during summer and autumn, grown from the seeds of the grass Sheep Boss loved to eat—the varieties included both green-grade and yellow-grade.

Besides the pasture grass, the three beds of alfalfa Xia Qing had planted were also growing well. Alfalfa, when young, could be eaten by Sheep Boss, and also by Xia Qing and Sick Wolf, so Xia Qing only let Sheep Boss into two of the beds, keeping the remaining one for herself and Sick Wolf.

The greedy Sheep Boss, now that it had fresh pasture grass and alfalfa, had stopped gnawing on the dried corn leaves.

Xia Qing cut some grass and alfalfa from the planting greenhouse and fed them to the chickens, yellow mealworms, and rabbits in the breeding greenhouse. Sick Wolf had a real talent for raising fish—it had fed the fish in the tank until they were stuffed, so Xia Qing didn't have to worry about it at all.

The rabbit cage now held three rabbits: the male rabbit was obtained by Xia Qing through an exchange with Shi Du; one female rabbit was caught by Sick Wolf; and the third was a red-grade female rabbit with bandages on its hind leg and neck, caught by Xia Qing herself. Although this rabbit's harmful element content was as high as 25‰, Xia Qing, who had harmful-reducing medicine, unpolluted spring water, and green-grade plants, felt it could still be saved.

After feeding the animals, Xia Qing took two green-grade eggs and, carrying the perilla, hurried quickly to the small house by the farmland.

She had to hurry, because the outdoor temperature had already dropped below minus 25 degrees—walk slowly and the eggs and vegetables would freeze.

Entering the small house by the farmland and taking off her protective mask, Xia Qing smelled the aroma of food.

"Wow, Sister Qing's perilla is even better than what my dad and Uncle Ying grow." Tan Qi took the vegetable basket, saw the two eggs inside, and opened her mouth so wide it was almost as big as an egg.

Xia Qing was amused by the child's vivid expression. "These are eggs just laid by the chickens I raise. Wash them and boil them in the small pot."

"Okay." Tan Qi washed the eggs clean and boiled them in the small pot, then washed the perilla, blanched it, added the salt she'd brought, mixed it well, and set it on the table in the small hall. She lifted the pot lid, took out four coarse-flour buns, and used the bowl she'd just washed to ladle out two big full bowls of porridge.

It was obvious she did this often—her movements were very practiced.

"Sister Qing, this is the safe zone's No. 6 ration. The main ingredients are mallow and corn grit, and it's specially made for cooking porridge." Tan Qi excitedly shared the food with Xia Qing. "The broadcast said it's made from grain grown by the lords—because some people risked going out of the safe zone to farm, everyone can eat better food."

Xia Qing had also heard the broadcast and knew that the corn grit content in this ration was as high as 10%, the highest grain content among rations sold to the general public. Of course, the price was double that of compressed rations with grass as the main ingredient—2 credits per piece. Of course, this price was half that of the No. 1 ration which had insect powder added, so it was still reasonable.

Ordinary people doing ordinary work in the safe zone could earn 1-2 credits a day, just enough to buy one compressed ration to get by.

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