Chapter 601: The Weasel That Came Seeking Help

After Xia Qing finished her nightly routine of running two laps around the territory with Sick Wolf and Sheep Boss and returned home, her allies were still on the channel, enthusiastically discussing spinach seeds, walls, and broad-spectrum antibacterial agents.

Although she had already known about two of these three things, the fact that the plan could become reality made her very happy. These were all good news greatly beneficial to the territory's development.

Xia Qing turned off the walkie-talkie and was about to quickly wash up and go to sleep when she suddenly heard dripping sounds from outside the window.

Drip, drip, drip drip…

Could this sound be the remaining snow on the roof melting?

Xia Qing pushed open the security door and saw drops of water, lit up by the lamp light, dripping down from the eaves.

The temperature was rising, the snow was beginning to melt, and she wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

Xia Qing turned the walkie-talkie back on and soon heard the patrol captain Tan Junjie report that the temperature was beginning to rise, reminding lords to take preventive measures.

She put on her protective suit, drove the micro-tiller to the greenhouse, checked the temperature and humidity gauge, and found that the temperature hadn't started climbing yet. Still, Xia Qing took out the few large logs she had just placed inside the greenhouse's fire wall after the night run and put them into a bucket of water to douse them.

Based on the climate patterns of these ten years of natural disasters, the temperature rise at the end of winter and beginning of spring was very fast. If she waited until the temperature rose to reduce the firewood, her precious chickens, precious fish, precious insects, and precious rabbits might get heat sickness.

Especially the newly hatched little yellow mealworms and the unhatched worm eggs — one careless moment and they could all die.

A rapid temperature rise would not only affect evolved animals, but would also bring considerable impact to humans. Insects that had been dormant all winter were becoming active. If this were the safe zone, the loudspeakers would already be broadcasting loudly, waking the sleeping residents to spray insect repellent and insecticide.

Last year at this time, Xia Qing had been woken by the loudspeakers and urgently assembled to participate in the mandatory pest-extermination mission in the outer city.

The territory certainly also needed to spray insecticide and insect repellent, but because she had long known the temperature would rise in these few days, Xia Qing sprayed the key areas once every morning and evening, so she wasn't in a great rush right now.

In the latter half of the night, the temperature had already risen from below minus twenty degrees to around minus ten degrees.

The chubby red squirrel curled up sleeping in the tree hole woke up, crawled to the hole entrance and sniffed here and there with its nose; in the dark greenhouse where the temperature reached twenty-five degrees, Bai Yu the rooster flapped his wings and crowed at the top of his lungs; in the snake box, a small snake covered all over in emerald green raised its head, using its bright red eyes covered by a layer of transparent membrane and its bright red forked tongue to investigate the environmental changes.

The little swallows living under Xia Qing's eaves made excited chirping sounds; the Sheep Boss and Sick Wolf inside the house moved from beside the fireplace to sleep on the tatami.

Xia Qing, who had been dozing in the bedroom for over an hour, climbed up, took off her new-material thermal suit, wore a snakeskin garment underneath with a protective suit over it, and began checking key locations in the house like the toilet and the drains. After confirming no snakes, bugs, rats, or ants had invaded, she sprayed another round of insecticide, sealed up the pipe openings, and went to check the underground food storage room.

The storage room's temperature and humidity control equipment was still operating normally, and the indoor temperature and humidity were normal. After checking the air element content, Xia Qing raised her hand and touched the dry interior wall panels of the storage room.

It really lived up to being the high-grade building material she had spent 100,000 points to buy from Territory No. 7 — top-notch quality.

Xia Qing left the food storage room and began checking the shelf-building warehouse room by room, and found that the warehouse walls were starting to get damp.

Dampness was an inevitable consequence of rising temperatures, melting snow, and rising air humidity. The shelf-building hadn't been painted with water-resistant, moisture-proof putty powder on the interior walls, nor did it have a fireplace built for heating, so the dampness would be more severe than in Xia Qing's small residence.

Fortunately, the supplies stored in the shelf-building, apart from the hay prepared for Sheep Boss, were all not very afraid of dampness.

Even if Sheep Boss's hay got damp and moldy, it didn't matter, because tender grass would soon grow in the fields, and Sheep Boss's favorite Gao Po big Chinese toon tree was also about to sprout.

Spring is the season when all things revive, and also a season full of hope and danger.

Xia Qing left the shelf-building, finished inspecting the chicken coop and sheep pen, then went to the small hut by the farmland, the greenhouse, and the large shed.

The temperature had risen, and both the greenhouse and the large shed needed their ventilation openings opened to cool down.

After making a round to confirm there were no unexpected situations, Xia Qing was about to head home to rest when she heard a "beep" notification sound from the phone in her pocket. She took out her phone and saw that it was the newly installed camera at Gao Po that had detected an intruder.

After enlarging the image, Xia Qing discovered that the intruder was actually the plucked weasel. Sick Wolf had already detected the anomaly before her and gone to Gao Po to check.

At this moment, Sick Wolf was standing on Gao Po, watching the weasel bouncing around in front of it.

What on earth was going on?

Xia Qing immediately opened the surveillance for Bear Cave No. 50 and the Hidden Valley, and after confirming everything was normal, she stepped across the stone slab bridge where she could already hear the sound of water flowing under the ice to reach Gao Po. "Lao Er, plucked one, what's wrong?"

Seeing Xia Qing arrive, the plucked weasel immediately rushed over and bounced around in front of her, letting out anxious, sharp "kaka, kaka" cries from its mouth.

Xia Qing had heard this sound once before — it was last year when this fellow had caught a big rabbit but had it snatched by an evolved eagle, and had come to Xia Qing for help.

The plucked weasel had encountered a danger it couldn't handle. What kind of danger would make it not seek help from the wolf pack, but instead come find her, a human it feared?

Xia Qing asked gently, "Plucked one, what's happened?"

She had to be gentle — Xia Qing was afraid that if it got too anxious, it would lose control and release its toxic gas.

"Ka, kaka, kaka!" The weasel couldn't even be bothered to be afraid, anxiously leaping around Xia Qing. Only then did Xia Qing notice its limbs and belly were covered in mud and water, looking very bedraggled.

Sick Wolf nuzzled Xia Qing's leg with its body, then began walking toward the north gate. The weasel immediately followed, darting out.

Xia Qing didn't know what had happened to the weasel, and decided to go over and take a look.

However, it was the early stage of the temperature rise, and the territory couldn't be left unattended. Xia Qing immediately contacted Hu Zifeng, asking him to send someone over to help guard her territory.

Although it was currently three in the morning, after receiving Xia Qing's notification, Guan Tong and Chen Zheng from Hu Zifeng's squad arrived in just five minutes. "Sister Qing, you're going out now?"

"Mm." Xia Qing, who had already fetched her weapons and backpack, nodded. "I'm heading to Mountain No. 50. I just inspected the greenhouse and the large shed — they don't need attention for an hour and a half."

Hearing that Xia Qing was going to No. 50, the two thought something had gone wrong in the high-danger zone and hurriedly asked, "Do you need us to come help?"

After Xia Qing left Territory No. 3, Sick Wolf began to speed up, and Xia Qing also started running, following the plucked weasel toward Mountain No. 50.