Chapter 762: Why Is One of Your Children Missing?

Zhang Shi nodded, her voice gentle, "Alright, I'm in charge of the rain shields, drainage troughs, and the western cracks in the western half. If anything comes up, we'll stay in touch."

Although Zhang Shi's tone was very amicable, she still couldn't conceal the aura of keeping people a thousand miles away that clung to her. Truly worthy of being a researcher who came from Territory Seven.

Last time, when Hu Ningsheng went to Territory Seven to ask the big shot whether his disfigured face could still be restored, the big shot's gaze was like a sharp scalpel. Being stared at by him, Hu Ningsheng felt as though the skin of his entire face had been peeled off by the big shot's eyes.

If his facial skin weren't completely ruined, he would surely have broken out in a cold sweat across his forehead.

Although Zhang Shi deliberately hid it, the look that inadvertently showed in her eyes was as sharp as a knife. While making Hu Ningsheng's liver tremble, it also made him unable to resist wondering what exactly these two had researched to forge such a gaze.

And that little girl called Shi Yi, what exactly had she been through to be on edge at all times?

Hu Ningsheng came back to himself, handed Zhang Shi a walkie-talkie, "The signal here isn't great. Walkie-talkies are more convenient than phones. Just turn the volume down a bit, Sister Shi."

"Alright." Zhang Shi took the walkie-talkie and asked, "The electricity used inside the valley—is it generated by those solar panels installed outside Xiong Dong?"

Hu Ningsheng didn't ask how Zhang Shi had discovered there were solar panels outside Xiong Dong, and answered directly, "No. To keep the valley from being exposed, the storage batteries we use are all delivered from the territory. You don't need to be too frugal—we have plenty of storage batteries."

Over the years, Zhang Shi and her daughter had grown accustomed to the darkness. After moving into the valley, they barely used electric lights at night, which led Hu Ningsheng to think she was being excessively frugal.

Zhang Shi didn't explain. As she walked back with the walkie-talkie, she ran through in her mind the territories that had farmland in this valley:

The electricity generated by the solar panels in Territories Four, Five, Six, Ten, and Fifteen could only supply the daily electricity needs within their own territories. Territory Three had only one person but quite a few solar panels, so they should be able to save some electricity, but it still wasn't enough to support the valley's total demand for supplemental lighting for crops and general illumination.

Then in which territory were the storage batteries sent into the valley charged?

Territory Seven, Eight, or Twelve?

Under the eaves of Territory Three lord's house, in the pattering calamity rain.

Lord Xia Qing bent down and pressed the side pouch of her companion, confirming it was carrying the Use Yishi, before putting a fully enclosed protective mask on it and turning on the earpiece-style walkie-talkie. "Boss will definitely protect our territory well, right? You are our territory's guardian, our territory's hope, our territory's pride, the evolved sheep standing at the top of Blue Star's pyramid…"

Boss Sheep raised its big head with the spiral horns, proud and overbearing.

After finishing the pre-battle pep talk, Xia Qing asked, "Does Boss want to protect the chickens in the coop, or come with me to patrol the territory and protect the food in the greenhouses?"

The chickens were all locked in cages inside the coop, protected by Yi Stones. Lightning rods had been installed on the roof of the coop, the doors and windows had been reinforced—it was very safe and didn't need Boss Sheep's protection at all.

Xia Qing asked this only because she hoped Boss Sheep could stay in a safe environment with animal companions.

Boss Sheep immediately stood beside Xia Qing, its attitude clear.

"Good, let's set out and protect the territory together." Boss Sheep wanted to follow her, and Xia Qing had no objection, so she took it to the garage.

"Baa—"

Seeing that Xia Qing was going to drive the micro-tiller instead of its beloved car, Boss Sheep was unhappy.

Xia Qing explained, "We need to mow the calamity grass, and the off-road vehicle can't fit a mowing wheel. If Boss likes riding in the off-road vehicle, how about we leave the micro-tiller by the field later and switch to the off-road vehicle?"

"Baa." Boss Sheep didn't understand, only saw clearly that Xia Qing wasn't going to switch vehicles. It bleated unhappily once before climbing onto the micro-tiller.

After Xia Qing closed the garage door tight, she took her umbrella and carefully checked the doors and windows of the house once more. Just as she was about to set out, she suddenly saw a drenched red squirrel jump from the rooftop to under the eaves, leaping about in front of Xia Qing in a very unusual way.

A little squirrel just over a month old clung tightly with its thin, weak limbs to the fur on its mother's belly, not getting wet at all.

Knowing to protect its own child showed that the red squirrel hadn't lost control in the calamity rain.

Xia Qing asked, "Freeloader, if you've got something to say then say it. If not, hurry back to your tree hollow. I'm busy."

At the end of last month, the red squirrel took its four kits and left the sheep shed, moving back to the tree hollow in Area Three of Mountain Forty-Nine. From then on, it went back to its old life of coming to Xia Qing's window every morning to beg for water and fruit, then searching for food everywhere.

The red squirrel jumped from under the eaves to in front of the sheep shed, chirping and chittering urgently in the calamity rain, its calls even tinged with fear.

"What, you want to move back into the sheep shed again?" Xia Qing understood, went over and pried open the wooden board sealing the round hole in the sheep shed's door.

About two meters up on the sheep shed's door, there was a round hole. Xia Qing had dug it when Bai Mao was sitting the month of confinement inside the sheep shed, to make it convenient for the family to come and go.

After the red squirrel moved into the sheep shed, it also came and went through this hole. After the red squirrel family moved away, Xia Qing sealed the hole with a wooden board.

The red squirrel was truly anxious. Before Xia Qing had backed far after opening the hole, it darted in with its kits, then quickly darted back out, flashed up onto the rooftop, and disappeared.

After a short while, it returned with two kits and burrowed into the sheep shed, not coming out again.

Xia Qing was stunned for a moment. Holding her umbrella, she walked to the micro-tiller, climbed in through the door of the rain cover, reached out and patted her companion sitting in the dedicated seat on the right side, who was wearing protective clothing and a protective mask. "Boss, the red squirrel only has three kits left."

Boss Sheep, who was chewing its cud, heard that Xia Qing was in a bad mood and bleated once.

They'd only moved out less than half a month ago, and one little squirrel was already missing—caught and eaten by some natural enemy, no one knew which.

Survival is not an easy thing for any creature.

Xia Qing's gaze moved from the grass blades bowing and nodding in the wind to the distance ahead. She turned the key to start the machine and began patrolling her territory.

After using magnetic sense to confirm there were no aggressive calamity-evolved plants in the more than two thousand mu of cultivated land and the three abandoned villages, Xia Qing parked the micro-tiller by the green-light wheat greenhouse, wanting Boss Sheep to rest in this greenhouse.

But Boss Sheep refused to be separated from her, so Xia Qing had no choice but to take it with her to the reception room.

When Liangzi and the others saw Boss Sheep come in, they reflexively jumped aside. This sheep was too combative—they couldn't match its strength, yet they couldn't really fight it, so every time they were the ones getting beaten up.

Over this past year, the Hu Zi Feng squad had been forced by Boss Sheep to improve their running speed by a notch—some consolation prize, you could say.

Xia Qing stroked Boss Sheep's neck to soothe it before removing both its and her own protective masks. "There may be strong winds later, or thunder and lightning weather."

Liangzi immediately checked his phone, found he hadn't received any weather alert, and looked at Xia Qing in confusion.

Xia Qing explained, "Just now, the red squirrel moved with its kits from the pine tree hollow in Area Three of Mountain Forty-Nine into my sheep shed."

Dajiang felt it wasn't necessarily the weather. "It might have been attacked by a natural enemy."

Xiao Jiang gave his hotheaded elder brother a look. "Right now all the normal animals are hiding, so where would a natural enemy come from?"

The calamity rain had only just started less than half an hour ago—not enough to cause the hiding animals to lose control and go berserk. So at this moment, the animals in the evolved forest were very calm. The current evolved forest was the home turf of calamity-evolved plants and calamity-evolved microorganisms.

"If it had been a sneak attack by a natural enemy, the red squirrel would have moved all three kits at once, not in batches. Also, there are no signs of fighting on the red squirrel. And Boss Sheep is a bit nervous too…"

"Baa—"

"Crack!!!"

Before Xia Qing finished speaking, Boss Sheep bleated uneasily. Immediately after, a thunderbolt exploded right next to everyone's ears.