Chapter 695: Cultivable Optimized Strain

It was already past midnight, and Xia Qing could not call Chang Li or her idol to consult about five little rabbits; she could only care for this litter of rabbits using the methods she had learned from the book.

She first fed the mother rabbit, who had just given birth, some green-light alfalfa. Only after it finished eating the grass and drinking water did she lift it out and place it in a bamboo basket.

The mother rabbit sniffed the little rabbits in the basket and began to lick them again. Xia Qing quickly pressed down on its neck, made it lie on its side, and then placed the little rabbits against its belly. A mother rabbit's milk is a vital source of nutrition for the growth and development of young rabbits, and it is also the only way for this litter of little rabbits within her territory to acquire resistance. Therefore, to raise these five little rabbits, they must be allowed to nurse.

Mammals are born with the instinct to suckle milk. After the injured little rabbits approached the mother rabbit's belly, they quickly found their target and began to suckle. The mother rabbit twisted its body and kicked hard several times with its hind legs, but this little bit of strength was no match for Xia Qing's large hand.

After all the little rabbits were full, Xia Qing returned the large rabbit to the rabbit hutch and carried the little rabbits home.

"Baa." Xia Qing had been gone for so long before returning; the Sheep Boss, lying on the tatami, opened its mouth and asked a question.

Xia Qing explained, "Our big rabbit gave birth to little rabbits. Boss, look."

The Sheep Boss used the dim light of a small night lamp in the first-floor living room to glance at the little meatballs in the basket, and after confirming they were not food, it lost interest.

"Boss, don't sleep too soundly tonight; listen for any sounds outside. If there's a situation, call me." Xia Qing reminded the Sheep Boss not to forget to stand guard, then carried the basket upstairs. First, she took a sample of the blood seeping from the little rabbits' skin to test their quality.

These five little rabbits shared the same quality as their parents: all were yellow-light. Moreover, one was a cultivable optimized strain with a poison-element content three points lower than the parents, at 8‰!

This might be related to her feeding the mother rabbit a large amount of green-light plants. This little rabbit must be raised carefully; the offspring it produces when grown up will surely be of good quality as well.

Uh... Xia Qing could not yet distinguish the gender of such a small rabbit, so she decided to raise it as a female rabbit.

She found a rabbit pelt with decent fur from the storage room and placed it in the small basket to keep this litter of little rabbits warm. These rabbit pelts had all been disinfected, and she had also applied hemostatic agent to the wounds on the little rabbits.

She had done everything she could; whether this litter of little rabbits would survive depended on fate.

Xia Qing yawned, washed up simply, and lay down on the bed. She fell asleep almost the moment her head touched the pillow. Hearing no more movement upstairs, the Sheep Boss, which had been chewing its cud downstairs, also closed its eyes and began to sleep.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle—"

The rooster's biological clock was extremely sensitive. When the sky began to show light just past four in the morning, the black-feathered rooster in the chicken coop woke up, flapped its wings, and let out a loud crow.

Xia Qing rolled over and pressed a pillow against her head.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle————"

Having just returned to the chicken coop, the black-feathered rooster used its crow to declare this place its territory and warn other roosters not to invade. At the same time, its loud crowing was also to attract the attention of the hens.

But damn it, there was only one big rooster in the chicken coop! What was there to declare, warn, or attract?! Xia Qing, whose hearing was sharp, grabbed the quilt again and pressed it over the pillow.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle——————"

After the rooster let out its third crow, the Sheep Boss trotted out of the room, kicked open the door to the chicken coop with one foot.

"Cluck cluck cluck—"

"Cock-a-doodle..."

The hens were frightened into screaming and scattering in panic. The black-feathered rooster, which had been crowing, immediately fell silent upon seeing the Sheep Boss. Xia Qing let out a long breath and continued sleeping.

At five-thirty in the morning, a faint sound came from outside the window; the red squirrel had come to drink water.

The red squirrel, already fat as a ball, became even rounder after becoming pregnant, yet it still moved nimbly, jumping up and down outside Xia Qing's window. When Xia Qing opened the window, it immediately jumped onto the roof, clung its claws to the eaves, and poked its head down to look.

After Xia Qing placed water and a few green beans on the windowsill and closed the window again, the red squirrel finally jumped onto the windowsill, began drinking water and eating, and kept its black, beady little eyes fixed on Xia Qing's movements.

When Xia Qing looked outside, the red squirrel immediately shook its fluffy, beautiful big tail, rubbed its little paws, and looked at her.

Xia Qing opened the window and gave it a few more grains of corn. "Considering you're pregnant, I'm giving you an extra meal this morning. When will you..."

Before Xia Qing could finish speaking, the red squirrel had already zoomed away with the corn.

This ungrateful freeloader! Xia Qing closed the window expressionlessly, went to check on the little rabbits in the second-floor living room, and discovered that two of the five little rabbits were already dead. The remaining three were sniffing around looking for milk. Fortunately, the optimized-strain little rabbit was still alive.

Xia Qing put away the dead rabbits, changed the nest for the living little rabbits, then carried them to the cultivation greenhouse and pressed the mother rabbit down to let it nurse.

After the little rabbits were full, Xia Qing returned the mother rabbit to the cage, then put one of the little rabbits inside.

Newborn rabbits cannot defecate on their own; they need the mother rabbit to lick them to stimulate their defecation reflex. The book also stated that the mucus secreted by the mother rabbit would provide some nutrition and protection to the little rabbits.

The mother rabbit sniffed the hairless little rabbit, licked it a few times, and then suddenly exerted force. Xia Qing pressed down on its head in time, saving the little rabbit's life.

It seemed relying on this big rabbit was impossible. Xia Qing pressed the intercom and asked, "Territory Four, Teacher Wang, are you there?"

She wanted to find a "caretaker" for the rabbits. In the Lord Alliance, the most suitable person for this role was Zhao Mu of Territory Four. Since Territory Four had no Evolved Ones, and unlike Kuang Qingwei of Territory Six who could earn points by reselling supplies, they needed this opportunity the most.

【39】 (Note: The original text has two 【39】 lines in the source numbering logic, but the input provided only one 【39】 block containing the full paragraph. Translating the single provided block.)

Zhao Mu responded quickly, "I'm here. Qing, why are you so early today?"

Xia Qing asked, "I have something to ask you. Are you free now?"

"Free." Zhao Mu answered immediately. "Shall I wait for you outside the North Gate of Territory Three?"

"No need, I'll wait for you outside the buffer forest of Territory Four." Xia Qing carried two large rabbits and three little rabbits and walked out of the territory.

"Sister Qing." Zhao Ze, who had run out of the North Buffer Forest with his mother, saw Xia Qing appear around the corner and immediately waved and shouted a greeting.

Seeing the rabbit cage Xia Qing was carrying, the mother and son's eyes both lit up.

Xia Qing placed the rabbit cage on the ground and explained the reason for finding Zhao Mu so early. "These are two adult yellow-light rabbits. The male is an evolved breed, so it is larger; the female is an ordinary rabbit. The little rabbits in this basket were born by the mother rabbit last night after eleven..."

After explaining the whole situation, Xia Qing proposed the exchange terms. "I really cannot take care of them, and I feel it would be a pity if these three yellow-light little rabbits just suffocated to death. So I wanted to ask you first. If you are willing to raise them, any little rabbits that survive will belong to me, and you can keep the two large rabbits. If all three little rabbits die..."

"If the three little rabbits cannot be raised, I will return the large rabbits to you. Qing, thank you." Zhao Mu understood her meaning before Xia Qing finished speaking and thanked her sincerely.

"The chances of raising these three little rabbits are not high; it is very likely you will work in vain for a month." Xia Qing handed the basket containing the little rabbits to Zhao Ze, then took out a water-damaged book from her pocket introducing rabbit farming techniques. "Keep this book; it might be of some use."

Zhao Mu gripped the book tightly with her remaining hand. "This does not count as working in vain. If we can raise them, my son and I will have an additional source of income in the future."

Zhao Ze was also extremely excited. "They will definitely survive! I raised a little rabbit when I was young; it lived for several years!"

After seeing Xia Qing off, the mother and son carried the rabbits and returned to the territory happily.

Xia Qing, who had not yet gone far, heard Zhao Mu ask, "That rabbit you had in elementary school—did you count that as you raising it?"

Zhao Ze argued, "You fed the rabbit, but I was the one who scooped the rabbit droppings."

Zhao Mu's occupational disease kicked in. "Only cat droppings use the word 'scoop'; rabbit droppings are 'cleaned'. Besides, how many times did you clean them? Out of seven days a week, your father cleaned for six days."

Zhao Ze chuckled. "I know, I know. Watch your step. You can read the book after we go down the hill; it's not worth rushing for a few minutes."