Chapter 532: A Fairyland on Earth

Shi Du came online too. "Third Brother, can I trade green-light mung beans for a filter cartridge?"

Zhang San refused. "I can't eat that many mung beans. Do you have any water celery?"

"Yes!" Shi Du hurriedly replied. "We grow them in a greenhouse, but the plants are still too small—we can only pinch off a few to eat next month. Third Brother, can we reserve one from you in advance?"

Zhang San replied lazily, "Your dad's health isn't good, so take it over for him to use first. Once the water celery grows, send some my way."

"Okay, thank you so much, Third Brother!" Shi Du said gratefully. Officially, he had traded green-light food for the filter cartridge, but in reality, hidden inside the cartridge was a medicinal agent to treat his father's illness.

This trading method had been proposed by Xia Qing, and Shi Du sincerely felt that Xia Qing was becoming more and more impressive.

After everyone had gone through the proper channels, Seeing Xin Yu came online. "Third Brother, can I trade green-light peanuts for one?"

Everyone...

Oh no!

Zhang San's tone didn't change in the slightest. "Sure."

Hearing Zhang San agree to trade with Seeing Xin Yu, the members of the Lord Alliance finally understood that Zhang San had truly developed a filter cartridge with a 10‰ filtration effect against the Calamity element.

Third Brother is awesome!

Those who had formed an alliance with Third Brother were riding on his coattails, puffed up with pride!

After Seeing Xin Yu's trade, Tang Zhengpo also came online and traded for one.

Xia Qing pressed the button and discussed with Zhang San, "Third Brother, I'd like to bring a few people to Burning Zone No. 50 tomorrow to check the burning condition of the tree roots and calculate how many pine trees need to be planted. Is that alright with you?"

"Fine." Zhang San replied lazily. "You're the manager of Mountain No. 50. Just manage it according to the employment agreement I signed with you. Don't bother me with these little things in the future."

"Understood." Xia Qing immediately responded.

The next day, Xia Qing brought Qi Fu and his wife, Zhao Ze, Kuang Qingwei, Shi Du, and Yue Haiying. After reporting the reason for the trip, the number of people, the destination, and the approximate return time to the inspection team, she led the group toward Mountain No. 50.

The high-danger burned areas of Mountain No. 50 had already been fitted with multiple cameras, allowing Xia Qing to use her phone to check whether anyone had entered the monitored zones.

Of course, Xiong Dong and the mountain crevices on the halfway slope were also within the monitoring range. After stepping into the monitored area, Xia Qing checked and confirmed there were no reconnaissance birds or reconnaissance devices in the air, then used a key to open the iron door of Bear Cave No. 2 and led the alliance members into the Xiong Dong office.

The disaster-mitigation command work had already ended, and Yang Jin had withdrawn his equipment from Xiong Dong, but had not dismantled the hardware facilities here. This was because the hardware had been allocated from disaster-mitigation transfer funds, not paid out of Yang Jin's own pocket.

After entering Xiong Dong, Qi Fu was delighted. "Xia Qing, can we stay here while watching over the rice seedlings?"

Xia Qing nodded. "We can stay here, or we can stay inside the valley."

Looking at such a large cave, Zhao Ze couldn't help feeling a lingering fear. "So the evolved bears used to live this close to us? Didn't the Territory Management Department say there were no large predators within two hundred li of our territory?"

Kuang Qingwei chuckled. "If they hadn't said that, would you have dared to come out and farm? Xia Qing, the evolved bears living here won't come back, right?"

Xia Qing explained, "Wild animals have an extremely keen sense of danger. The evolved bears previously occupied this mountain because it had the food they needed. So before this mountain's ecological environment recovers, the evolved bears probably won't return. Just to be safe, I've brought the bear-repellent agent Third Brother made. Bears hate the smell of this medicine—once they smell it, they won't come close."

Xia Qing handed the medicine to Qi Fu. "Spray the agent later. As long as it doesn't rain, spraying once every half a month is enough."

Zhao Ze felt reassured. "Even if they do come back, with an iron door this thick, the evolved bears can't break it open."

"They can break it open." Yue Haiying, who had fought evolved bears before, reminded the allies, "The strength of evolved brown bears is terrifying. Given our current strength and equipment, angering an evolved bear would only lead to one outcome."

Xia Qing also reminded the allies, "This evolved forest was cleared out by poison gas bombs, so it looks about the same as the buffer forest in our territory. But once the Calamity snow melts, this place will be full of danger everywhere."

Yue Haiying took out his watch and glanced at it. "From the isolation belt to here, it took us a total of one hour and eight minutes. Once the Calamity snow melts, coming here will take even longer."

The melting of the Calamity snow meant winter was over and spring had arrived. The area would be overgrown with Calamity grass and other plants, and where there were plants, there would be animals and microorganisms—and danger. The time required to travel from the territory would then be even longer.

"So we need to finish installing the facilities inside the valley as soon as possible, and lay down all the planting soil layers." After saying this, Xia Qing easily pushed aside the boulder blocking the passage entrance and led the alliance members into the hidden valley.

After entering the valley and seeing the lush plants growing inside, the beams of light piercing through Shanfeng into the valley, and the icicles near the cracks at the top of the mountain—formed because the huge temperature difference between inside and outside caused the valley's water vapor to condense near the mountain-top crevices and constantly drip down—the members of the Lord Alliance were all stunned.

"A fairyland, this is a fairyland on earth. If it weren't for the natural disaster, this place would definitely have been developed into a tourist attraction." The usually calm and taciturn Yuan Yan was, for once, sentimental.

Kuang Qingwei's eyes gleamed. "It should be a hot spring resort—a hot spring resort where you'd have to queue for a year and still might not get a spot to enter the valley."

Qi Fu, on the other hand, sighed. "The engineering work required to carve out this valley was massive..."

Shi Du stamped hard on the stone. "I wonder how deep the mountain crevices go, and whether the bottom has been completely filled in with stone."

Zhao Ze was intently studying the bullet holes on the stone wall, calculating how much ammunition had been used to blast open the mountain and create the valley.

Yue Haiying asked Xia Qing in a low voice, "There are quite a few poisonous insects and evolved fungi in this valley, aren't there?"

Xia Qing nodded. "There used to be a lot, but I've already cleaned it out repeatedly four times and sprayed the agent. There aren't many left now."

The poisonous insects and harmful fungi inside the valley had already been exterminated by Xia Qing. The evolved fungi and small animals in the area below Xiong Dong, if not cleared out by the poison gas bombs, had been burned to death. Later, the only ones able to enter this valley were small animals or birds that had run over from afar.

Yue Haiying nodded and pointed at the bulge pressed down with plastic sheeting on the westernmost side. "Is that bear dung?"

"Yes, I added compost fungus powder. Once it's fermented, it can be used to cultivate rice seedlings." After introducing the situation in front of them, Xia Qing led everyone to the spring eye located in the center of the long, narrow valley.

Seeing the spring eye emitting steam, everyone's eyes welled up with tears.

Shi Du was excited. "This water is so clear—there definitely aren't any bugs in it."

"This is spring water gushing up from underground; otherwise, the temperature wouldn't be this high." Qi Fu bent down and touched the edge of the pool as he spoke. "The person who built this pool was a pro. Look how smoothly the cement surface was troweled."

"Yesterday, when I heard Tang Dong and Seeing Xin Yu trading filter cartridges with Third Brother at high prices, I was already calculating the value of this spring eye." Kuang Qingwei's eyes gleamed. "In a few years, once our strength grows, we won't need to do anything else. Just selling this water, we could still rake in profits by the bucketful."