Chapter 624: Installing the Yi Stones

"Sister Qing."

Zhang Hongda, wearing only a protective suit and no protective mask, walked over slowly and greeted Xia Qing.

Xia Qing also took off her protective mask, smiled and nodded. "Dazi, last time the situation wasn't right, so I didn't get to greet you. Looks like your body's doing better?"

Zhang Hongda's voice had more steadiness than a week ago, and he walked a little faster too. It seemed the hot springs in this valley really were good for his body.

Dazi grinned, painfully pulling out a smile. "Much better. I thought Sister Qing would be startled seeing me like this."

Would… feel disgusted.

Because he'd been poisoned with the hard-to-cure Qiang Synthetic Poison, not only was his pain unbearable, his whole body was covered in black lines, his skin bumpy like a toad's, with many bumps even festering — even his scalp was like that, and his hair had already fallen out completely.

When he learned Xia Qing was coming, Dazi had thought about wearing a protective mask, but the skin on his neck was rotting worse than his face, and putting on a mask would only worsen his injuries.

Xia Qing's face was calm, her gaze gentle. "Your condition is much better than I expected. Once the poison is cured and the bumps go away, you'll recover completely."

Zhang Hongda's eyes crinkled with a smile, and he relaxed a lot. "Even if the poison can't be cured, I'd be content just staying here to guard the valley."

Time was tight, so Xia Qing didn't chat further. She took the Use Yishi protective case from her bag, opened it to reveal the black-and-white striped, segmented Use Yishi inside, and asked, "Brother Yue, Dazi, have you used Yi Stones before?"

Yue Haiying shook his head. Dazi spoke up to explain, "We haven't used them, but we've had the relevant training, so we know how."

Since they knew how to use them, Xia Qing didn't need to explain in detail. She and Yue Haiying quickly placed the Yi Stones into the holes on the wooden stakes that had been set up in the farmland ahead of time, then handed the last three small pieces to Yue Haiying. "These three small pieces can drive out Qiang elements within a spherical area two meters in diameter centered on the Use Yishi. Keep them on you, especially when you go out to inspect high-risk areas — you must wear them at all times. If you spot any changes in a high-risk area, tell me immediately, and Territory Seven will send people to handle it. We're only responsible for patrol — safety first."

After saying that, Xia Qing still couldn't help but add one more reminder: "When moving quickly, or when you get caught in the rain, you must put on your protective mask, because the Use Yishi releases Yi elements, and it takes a few seconds to drive out the Qiang elements in the effective area."

"Understood." Yue Haiying solemnly accepted the three small pieces of Use Yishi.

Xia Qing reminded again, "After the Qiang Rain stops, don't collect the Yi Stones right away. Wait until the sun starts evaporating the excess Qiang elements in the rainwater, and the Qiang element content in the atmosphere returns to normal levels before collecting them, otherwise the seedlings will still be affected."

After saying that, Xia Qing took out a packet of dried chrysanthemum and six bright red strawberries from her backpack, handed them to Yue Haiying, and left the valley to head back.

After Yue Haiying saw Xia Qing off, Dazi held the corn-kernel-sized Use Yishi and looked at it for a long time before solemnly tucking it into his protective suit pocket. His eyes reddened slightly as he gazed at the rice seedlings in the valley.

On her way back along the same route, Xia Qing saw quite a few small animals — foxes, badgers, rabbits, and some unrecognizable evolved species. She also spotted a red squirrel leaping through the pine forest in Section Three of Mountain Forty-Nine, but she didn't see Little Lao Wu.

Presumably the little fellow had already gone back. She really had no affinity with cats, Xia Qing sighed.

In the monitoring room of Mountain Forty-Nine, after Xia Qing passed by on the screen, Little Lao Wu on the desk lowered its head and licked its snow-white paws and pink paw pads, which Hu Zifeng had wiped spotlessly clean.

Xia Qing ran both ways on this trip, and it wasn't even 11 o'clock when she got back to the territory.

She went home, caught her breath, and began installing Yi Stones for the animals at home and the Green Light wheat field.

Not only the Green Light chickens, Green Light insects, and Green Light fish, but even the rabbit cage where two Yellow Light and one Red Light wild rabbit lived — Xia Qing installed a small piece of Use Yishi there too.

The Red Light wild rabbit's broken hind leg had already healed. Eating Green Light vegetables every day and drinking pollution-free spring water, it had grown fat and strong. But its Qiang element content was still the same as when it was caught — still 25‰.

After entering the stable adult period, the Qiang and Yi elements in a living body have already reached balance, so conditioning it isn't easy.

The reason Xia Qing kept this Red Light rabbit was that next month, the cordyceps fungus she and Yang Jin were co-cultivating would be ready for harvest. Once Zhang San used the cordyceps fungus to formulate a Qiang-Reduction Agent, Xia Qing wanted to try saving it. If the attempt failed, she'd sell it to Zhong Tao for points.

Xia Qing turned her gaze to the pair of Yellow Light rabbits in the cage next door, full of anticipation. Spring was the breeding season — this Yellow Light doe should be pregnant. Hopefully this litter would have a stroke of luck and produce a Green Light baby rabbit.

For the Green Light plants in the planting greenhouse, Xia Qing only placed Yi Stones for the Green Light strawberries, mint, and Green Light pumpkins. After the Qiang Rain, she'd be planting a new crop of Green Light vegetables in the terraced fields, so it didn't matter if these vegetables in the greenhouse lost some during the Qiang Rain.

After tidying up the greenhouse, Xia Qing went home, covered the solar panels on the roof with a rainproof cloth, then stood at the sheep pen door and greeted the sick wolf, asking, "Lao Er, are the plucked one and Little Bai Mao in?"

Actually, Xia Qing had already confirmed through the camera that the plucked weasel had gone out to forage and wasn't in the cardboard box. But she still asked as usual before continuing, "This year's first Qiang Rain is about to arrive. The estimated duration is 52 hours. Do you need me to provide food for you?"

The Qiang Rain period was extremely dangerous. Animals in the Evolution Forest, unless they had special means to shield themselves from the Qiang Rain's threat, could only endure it.

Those who couldn't endure lost control or died; those who did came out to forage again.

Little Bai Mao, guarding its young in the cardboard box, didn't poke its head out or make a sound, but its body was no longer as tense as before.

Xia Qing continued to mutter, "I can provide you with food for the next three days, but you have to help me find herbs."

Dazi's situation wasn't optimistic — the sooner the herbs were found, the better.

After muttering twice, Xia Qing beckoned to the sick wolf again. "Lao Er, the Qiang Rain's about to start in a bit. Do you want to change into a protective suit? Come here, I'll put it on you."

Although the sick wolf was wearing a Use Yishi chain, getting caught in the Qiang Rain would still make it uncomfortable.

When the sick wolf obediently followed Xia Qing into the living room to put on the protective suit, Little Bai Mao carefully poked its head out of the cardboard box, gazed longingly for a while, then sniffed carefully with its nose. After that, it picked up its young one by one — already twice the size they were at birth — and carried them to the hay block at a higher spot.

This spot was higher up, so even if it rained, they wouldn't get flooded.

After putting the protective suits on Sheep Boss and the sick wolf, Xia Qing carefully checked her own protective suit and equipment before starting to make lunch.

Today at noon she had to eat her fill, to be in the best condition to face this year's first Qiang Rain.

Xia Qing wasn't particularly nervous now, because after gaining the magnetic-sense evolution ability, the natural disaster that made people turn pale — the Qiang Rain — posed a much smaller threat to her.

But she hadn't expected that this Qiang Rain would come in with such ferocious momentum right from the start.