Chapter 533: Clearing the Valley

After an excited, lively discussion, everyone took off their heavy cold-weather gear and got to work. The cave entrance was over twenty degrees below zero, yet inside the cave it was nearly twenty degrees above—the temperature difference was almost like a joke.

Yue Haiying, Yuan Yan, Zhao Ze, and Kuang Qingwei were in charge of razing the collapsed stone houses that had been burned, hauling the stones to the rubble area on the east side of the valley where no soil covered the ground, and leveling the rubble area as much as possible.

Shi Du ran around with a sprayer, spraying disinfectant and pesticide through the valley and clearing weeds. This work was relatively dangerous and could only be done by people with all four limbs intact who had carried out missions in the Evolution Forest many times.

Xia Qing and Qi Fu, who had plenty of building experience, began installing insect-proof netting along the cracks in the mountain wall to keep small animals from getting through the cracks and into the valley.

Unlike the insect-proof netting used inside the territory—made of high-density polyethylene, easily bitten through and clawed open by gnawing-type evolved insects—the netting used here was made of fine, dense wire, much harder, and far more effective at keeping insects out.

This wire mesh was military-grade material, obtained by Yue Haiying.

Xia Qing and Qi Fu both brought professional tools and climbing ropes, and had the insect-proof netting installed in less than half a day.

After the netting was up, the group crawled into the Evolution Forest–specific tent set up by the hot spring, took off their protective masks and gloves, and started eating lunch and drinking filtered hot spring water.

When they came over today, Qi Fu had brought a mid-grade filter cartridge and a bucket for filtering water; in half a day, he had already filtered out three buckets of water.

Just as everyone had guessed, a mid-grade filter cartridge could reduce the qiang-element content in the hot spring from 17‰ down to 4‰.

Water with a qiang-element content of 4‰ and no radioactive substances or other toxins would count as premium even among Green-Light water!

"With a high-grade filter cartridge, the quality of this spring's water would surpass distilled water with added minerals—it'd only be short of pollution-free spring water in yi-element content. If word got out, every faction in Hui-3 would fight each other to a bloody pulp over it." Even Yue Haiying couldn't help reddening around the eyes, his gaze growing more determined.

Not telling Tan Junjie about this valley and this hot spring was the right call. Duty-bound, if Tan Junjie found out, he would definitely report it to the Territory Management Department. By then, no matter how capable Zhang San was, he couldn't stand up to the entire base, and the share of spring water the Lord Alliance could grab would probably be less than 1%.

Bases that had two pollution-free springs could still fall back on distilled mineral water if they lost this one. But in Territory Fifteen, to protect the base and the ordinary citizens, thirty-two brothers had been left with disabilities and ailments all over their bodies—they needed this spring water to heal their wounds and keep them alive. The Lord Alliance also needed this hot spring and this cave to grow and develop.

Yue Haiying tipped his head back and poured the last drop of spring water from his cup into his mouth.

Zhao Ze started crying again as he drank. "I really feel this water tastes even better than the bottled spring water from before the catastrophe. Today I feel like I'm dreaming… if only I were a few years younger."

Kuang Qingwei sighed along with him. "Even though I'm forty-four this year, my wife is young. If she drinks more of this kind of water and eats more Green-Light food, she'll definitely be able to become an Evolver."

Zhao Ze, who had been crying, was stunned; the others couldn't help laughing.

Shi Du encouraged the two ordinary people in the squad. "Brother Qing, Brother Zhao, don't lose heart either. My mom's forty-six this year, and after eating the python meat Sister Qing gave her, her strength evolution has already reached level two and a half. You both could still evolve."

Zhao Ze was immediately comforted, and light shone in Kuang Qingwei's eyes too. Although he said out loud that he had no chance, how could ordinary people living on this cruel planet not want to become Evolvers with stronger abilities and longer lifespans?

As long as there was even a shred of hope, they had to give it everything they had.

But Xia Qing, who had been frantically absorbing knowledge these past few days, was not as optimistic as Shi Du. After investigating large sample sizes, researchers had arrived at a result that left the vast majority of ordinary people in despair:

For ordinary people over thirty-five, the probability of evolving multiple-fold abilities and becoming an Evolver was less than one in a hundred thousand.

The reason Evolvers over thirty-five were still frequently discovered advancing in recent years was that these people had actually been Evolvers all along—only because their living conditions were so poor, their bodies didn't absorb enough energy, so their abilities weren't prominent and went undetected or untested.

Take Shi Du's mother, for example. Before eating the high-grade evolved python meat, she was already stronger than ordinary people. When she went to a safe-zone testing department, because she hadn't met the standard for a level-two strength Evolver, she wasn't recognized as one. Yuan Yan had been in the same situation before coming to the territory.

For Zhao Ze and Kuang Qingwei, who were already over thirty-five, unless they had been Evolvers who simply hadn't been detected, no matter how much quality food they ate or how much quality water they drank, their probability of becoming Evolvers was only one in a hundred thousand—effectively zero.

The reason the nation hadn't made this information public was that it didn't want ordinary people over thirty-five—who made up the vast majority of the population—to lose hope. Humanity was already living such grueling lives; if they lost hope as well, the number of people whose emotions collapsed or who took extreme measures to seize resources would multiply several times over.

Xia Qing couldn't confirm whether Zhao Ze and Kuang Qingwei were undetected Evolvers, and she didn't want to reveal this cruel truth to the two of them. Instead, she changed direction and lifted everyone's morale:

"Drinking this much premium water, even if it can't trigger evolution abilities, it can still boost everyone's resistance and physical fitness. Shi Du, your dad's condition will definitely be much better controlled."

"If we grow premium rice seedlings in the valley, by next June we can harvest several hundred, a thousand, or even several thousand catties of premium rice. Once everyone has points in hand, Aunt Zhao and Brother Yue can get bionic prosthetic limbs fitted, and life and farming will be a lot easier."

Hearing Xia Qing's words, Yue Haiying showed a smile, and Zhao Ze's eyes were lit up by her words too. "Right! I'm going to get my mom bionic prosthetic fingers that can move!"

Shi Du stuffed the last bite of jerky into his mouth. "Let's get to work, let's keep working! Sister Qing, what do you want us to do in the second half of the day?"

Xia Qing looked at Qi Fu. "Brother Qi, what do you think?"

Qi Fu suggested, "The eastern half of the stones is pretty much sorted out. How about this afternoon we split into three groups—one group carries soil in from outside into the valley, one group stays in the valley to clear the western half of the land. We've still got over a month before transplanting seedlings, and it'd be a shame to leave that bit over a mu on the west side empty. Let's clear the land today, water it once, and fertilize and plant vegetable seeds the day after tomorrow. Even if we don't sell it, we can eat it ourselves or send it to Territory Seven to add a dish for Third Brother. What do you all say?"

Everyone agreed unanimously, and in the afternoon they split into two groups to work.

Xia Qing, Shi Du, Qi Fu, and Yuan Yan—the three of them with the most strength—went out to look for suitable soil and carry it into the valley, while the rest stayed in the valley to clear the western plot of farmland.