Chapter 761: Year Eleven of the Heavenly Calamities: The Second Calamity Rain

The second Calamity Rain of Year Eleven of the Heavenly Calamities came on with terrifying force.

On her second day at Territory No. 15, Jiang Mother was eating a hearty and delicious breakfast in the territory's cafeteria with her daughter and Tan Qi when a loud broadcast blared from the loudspeaker; everyone fell silent and pricked up their ears to listen.

"All territories, attention please, all territories, attention please: according to the meteorological forecast, Calamity Rain will begin within half an hour. The first wave of Calamity Rain is rated Orange, lasting no less than 40 minutes. All territories, please prepare. If uncontrollable dangerous situations occur within the territory, please contact the Investigation Team immediately via walkie-talkie."

"All territories, attention please…"

Orange, forty minutes! Jiang Mother's nerves instantly tensed, and she gripped her chopsticks tightly. Before the second broadcast finished, Territory No. 15's agent Yue Haiying had already stood up. "First Squad, in position in five minutes."

"Yes!" everyone in the cafeteria answered loudly, and several people immediately poured their porridge into their mouths and ran out with coarse-grain buns clamped between their teeth.

"Auntie, Sister Yingzi, take your time eating. I'm leaving now." Tan Qi, assigned to the First Squad, also finished her meal quickly and turned to run.

Jiang Mother couldn't help but speed up her eating, then followed her daughter back to the newly built sturdy house, watching the numbers on the air quality monitor rise at a speed visible to the naked eye, trembling with fear.

Jiang Ying, who had been terrified before, had now calmed down instead. She placed the homemade rifle she had made on the living room table, took out a whetstone, and began sharpening a machete.

Inside Territory No. 6, Kuang Qingwei stood by the farmland, once again repeating the Calamity Rain period tasks to the twenty people he had just hired a few days ago. "Squad One is in charge of the greenhouses, Squad Two is in charge of the rest of the territory, Squads Three and Four rest and rotate in two hours…"

The scenes in other territories were much the same as in Territory No. 6, except that Territories No. 9 and No. 14 were empty and silent, putting immense pressure on Territory No. 10, which lay between the two.

Inside Territory No. 2, Tang Huai's right eyelid kept twitching as he muttered, "Something's not right, something's not right…"

In the meeting room by the farmland of Territory No. 3, Xia Qing took out five vials of premium nutrient solution and placed them on the table. "These are premium nutrient solutions, one per person. Take them when you need them. Don't skimp on them; there's more once these are finished."

Beard Feng's squad is divided into two groups. The first group of five is now in position. If no Red-rated Calamity Rain occurs, the second group will take position at noon.

After distributing the premium nutrient solutions, Xia Qing began assigning tasks. "The greatest danger in this Calamity Rain is the aggressive Calamity-evolved plants that may burrow out of the ground within the territory at any time, and the pumpkins, potatoes, and sunflowers in the greenhouses that may undergo aggressive Calamity evolution. Those are the first four screens."

Xia Qing pointed to the eight display screens mounted on the wall. Each display screen was divided into four smaller screens, and all the areas within the territory that needed monitoring were included on the screens. This set of equipment was purchased from Territory No. 7, and the technical expert Da Ya from Territory No. 7 was hired to install and calibrate it. With this equipment, the patrol workload could be reduced to a quarter of the original, greatly saving manpower and improving the territory's safety rating.

Purchasing this equipment not only emptied Xia Qing's wallet but also put her in idol-point debt to him. This set of equipment is also one of the reasons Xia Qing dared to agree to reinforce the Investigation Team during the Calamity Rain period.

"We'll divide into three groups. I'm in one group with Boss Yang; Liangzi and Dajiang are in one group; the remaining three form one group. Liangzi and Dajiang stay in the monitoring room, monitoring from different camera positions, and report any anomalies to the patrol group immediately. Greenhouses 1-5, 14, and 15 don't need patrolling. The focus is on Greenhouse 6 and Greenhouse 7. When patrolling the territory, work in pairs and drive the off-road vehicle or the micro-tiller. Don't worry about fuel consumption; I have enough gasoline stored."

To facilitate management, Xia Qing numbered the planting zones within the territory. Zones 1 and 2 are greenhouses on the high slope and low slope; Zones 3-12 are greenhouses for crops and vegetables in the cultivated land; Zone 13 is the planting greenhouse; Zone 14 is the breeding greenhouse (currently empty); Zone 15 is for Bai Mao's paederia foetida and Boss Yang's pasture grass.

The greenhouses that don't need patrolling are because they contain Green-rated or important Yellow-rated crops, all protected by Yi Stones. As long as the greenhouses aren't damaged, the crops inside won't be affected by the Calamity Rain.

Using Yi Stones to protect the important crops within the territory is the second reason Xia Qing dared to agree to provide support.

After hearing Xia Qing's words, Dajiang, holding the premium nutrient solution, wondered what supplies Sister Qing had used to trade with their boss for so many Yi Stones.

Yi Stones are precious supplies. Even Territory No. 1 only has Yi Stones installed in two of its greenhouses, yet Sister Qing has seven here!

Premium nutrient solutions, a full set of military-grade monitoring equipment, Yi Stones, micro-tillers, combat vehicles… Territory No. 3 now has been completely transformed compared to when they first carried out the Calamity Rain defense mission here last year.

After assigning the tasks, when Xia Qing drove the off-road vehicle home, the Orange-rated Calamity Rain had already begun to fall in a light drizzle. Although there wasn't much wind now, the muffled thunder in the distance seemed to be announcing that a greater disaster was already on its way.

"It's started raining. According to the notification from the territory, it's currently Orange-rated, lasting approximately 40 minutes."

The Calamity Rain fell on the crack halfway up the third fissure of Mountain No. 50, pattering against the slanted rain shield inside the crack, then flowing along the water channel toward the depths of the fissure. The sound of the pattering and the flowing water echoed through the empty valley, but the people inside the valley were very relaxed.

Because all the crops in this entire valley were protected by Yi Stones, the atmospheric Calamity element content within the Yi Stones' coverage approached zero, and the crops would not undergo Calamity evolution. So they only needed to monitor whether the rain shields and water channels were damaged, and whether the dense nets and rainproof cloth at the fissures on the left and right sides of the valley had been damaged by external creatures.

Because he had taken the Calamity-Reducing Agent, Ye Yang, lying on the hospital bed, had regained some strength in his voice, and instructed Hu Ningsheng, "Go check the west side, and tell Researcher Zhang not to approach the western fissure."

Animals all have the instinct to seek good fortune and avoid disaster. During the last Calamity Rain, quite a few animals of various sizes outside tried to burrow into the valley to take shelter. A small number of small animals, such as ants, reptiles, fungal spores, and extremely tiny microorganisms, had gotten through the mesh into the valley.

So before this Calamity Rain, Zhao Ze, Qi Fu, and Shi Du specifically spent two days coming over to work with Hu Ningsheng to reinforce the diamond mesh, and installed ten-meter-high rainproof cloth at the fissures on the left and right sides near the external ground, cutting off the path of external microorganisms and small animals.

Even so, the areas near the fissures on both sides of the mountain remained relatively dangerous.

Hu Ningsheng nodded, left the tent, and walked toward the west side of the valley. To be honest, he was a little nervous.

Zhang Shi and her mother had moved in nearly ten days ago, and the total number of words Hu Ningsheng had spoken to Zhang Shi added up to fewer than ten sentences.

Zhang Shiyi? She would only use those large, distinctively black-and-white eyes to warn Hu Ningsheng not to approach, and never spoke.