Chapter 769: Seeing the Dancing Potato Seedlings Again

After finishing her sweep of the buffer forest, Xia Qing stood near the northern iron-net wall and observed carefully for a while. Still not spotting the little buzz-cut, she finally felt reassured enough to walk down the buffer forest and head for Greenhouse Six.

During the Calamity Rain period, normal animals all find a safe place to hide. Xia Qing hadn't seen the little buzz-cut when she wandered around Area Three earlier, and now she was active in the northern part of Territory Three, yet the little buzz-cut still hadn't appeared — which meant it was safe for now.

Area Three has cliffs, valleys, rivers, and mountain crevices, so hiding a little honey badger is pretty easy.

Greenhouse Six is the greenhouse that needs focused attention during this Calamity Rain period, because the Yellow Lantern potatoes and Yellow Lantern sunflowers growing inside are the two highest-danger-coefficient plants in Territory Three.

Just now, Liangzi reported over the walkie-talkie that aggressive Calamity-evolved dancing potato seedlings had appeared in Greenhouse Six, and Eryong and Xiao Jiang were clearing them inside.

When Xia Qing entered Greenhouse Six, Eryong and Xiao Jiang had already cleared the dancing potato seedlings and were patrolling left and right with their guns, pulling out ordinary Calamity-evolved plants.

While clearing ordinary Calamity-evolved potato seedlings that were a bit taller than normal, Xia Qing also used her magnetic sense to detect potato seedlings that hadn't yet mutated but whose internal Calamity elements had already begun to riot and were releasing a special magnetic field outward.

When clearing the magnetically abnormal potato seedlings, Xia Qing had her back to the camera and the two people in the greenhouse, so neither the people inside nor Liangzi in front of the surveillance screen noticed that, while pulling out ordinary Calamity-evolved plants, Xia Qing also removed six "normal" potato seedlings.

The last magnetically abnormal potato seedling mutated right under Xia Qing's gaze and began to tremble.

Seeing this thing again after a year, Xia Qing felt quite nostalgic.

Last year, her shooting wasn't accurate enough, and she and Boss Sheep had been whipped all over by this thing until they ached everywhere.

This year, Xia Qing simply bent down and, beating the potato seedling to it just as it started to shiver but before it could dance, yanked it out, quickly sealed it in a packaging bag, and tossed it into the bamboo basket.

Then she carried the basket to the Yellow Lantern sunflower field on the east half of Greenhouse Six and pulled out over a dozen sunflowers — only one of which had an abnormal magnetic field.

Because a Red Lantern-level Calamity Rain hadn't appeared yet, the Calamity-evolved plants in the greenhouse weren't that numerous.

After leaving Greenhouse Six, Xia Qing took Boss Sheep, who needed to get off the micro-tiller, into Greenhouse Seven.

Greenhouse Seven contains Yellow Lantern wheat M-14 planted before last winter. After last year's Calamity Snow and this year's first Calamity Rain, a little over half of the Yellow Lantern wheat in Greenhouse Seven remains.

The reason so much survived is that M-14 is a high-quality wheat strain cultivated by Territory Seven and has relatively strong resistance to Calamity elements. Other Yellow Lantern wheat varieties of different quality planted in other territories last winter — after this year's first Calamity Rain, a little over a quarter remained, and after the second Calamity Rain, being able to keep a quarter would be good.

The overwintering wheat remaining in Xia Qing's greenhouse has already passed the flowering stage and entered the grain-filling stage. Wheat at this stage is in its late growth period; the plants are relatively stable and won't undergo Calamity evolution on a large scale even during Calamity Rain.

The reason Xia Qing listed Greenhouse Seven as a key patrol greenhouse is that in the bare spots of its wheat field, she'd planted over fifty Green Lantern corn Y-3 plants and over thirty Green Lantern soybeans.

Xia Qing planted half a mu of Green Lantern corn Y-3 in Greenhouse Three and half a mu of Green Lantern soybeans in Greenhouse Four. Both greenhouses are protected by Yi Stones, ensuring these important Green Lantern crops aren't affected by the Calamity Rain period.

The reason she planted several dozen in Greenhouse Seven was to observe how these two Green Lantern crops performed during the Calamity Rain period.

Y-3 Green Lantern corn is a high-quality crop from Red Eleven, but Hui Three's climate and soil conditions differ from Red Eleven's, so she needs to observe whether it undergoes aggressive Calamity evolution during Calamity Rain.

The Green Lantern soybeans come from the Blaze Squad, so they need even more focused observation.

It was now close to 1 p. m., and the soybeans and corn in Greenhouse Seven were performing normally. This was normal, because Green Lantern plants' ability to resist Calamity element influence is inherently superior to Yellow Lantern plants'.

Xia Qing made a round and only cleared a few Calamity-evolved Yellow Lantern wheat plants. The overwintering wheat has already entered the grain-filling stage, and Xia Qing felt a pang pulling out every single plant. But even though she had plenty of Yi Stones, she couldn't break one open and split off a few pieces just to protect a greenhouse where only half the seedlings remained.

After carrying a handful of Calamity-evolved wheat and finishing her sweep of Greenhouse Seven, Xia Qing took Boss Sheep and made a patrol round of the other greenhouses, including the seven key greenhouses protected by Yi Stones.

Because she'd reinforced the greenhouses in advance and installed lightning rods, the crops in the seven key greenhouses had safely weathered the first six hours of the second Calamity Rain under the protection of the Calamity elements. Seeing every single seedling growing normally under the supplemental lights, Xia Qing's breathing eased again and her heart stopped aching.

After finishing the greenhouse sweep came the rest period for Liangzi's five-person team and Xia Qing. Beard Feng took the four team members and began patrolling the territory to protect the crops in the greenhouses.

During this period, the probability of aggressive wild paulownia saplings burrowing out within the territory had decreased, and with the cameras' assistance, the patrol mission was relatively easy. Beard Feng's five-person team could handle it completely.

Xia Qing took Boss Sheep, drove the micro-tiller, and mowed Calamity grass along the way home for a meal and rest.

In six hours, the Calamity grass in the yard had grown to knee height — not yet at the point of needing a cut. Xia Qing drove the micro-tiller into the garage, started steaming rice first, then mixed feed and went to feed the chickens.

The evolved chickens Xia Qing raises aren't very brave. Knowing that thunderstorms would occur during the Calamity Rain period, Xia Qing had followed the chicken coop designs in the chicken-raising books she'd previously collected and wove four coops in advance using bamboo strips and rattan.

Each coop is 1.6 meters long, 0.4 meters wide, and 0.4 meters tall, divided into four compartments each 0.4 meters long, wide, and tall. Every coop has an external feed trough and a small water basin nailed on.

During the Calamity Rain period, there are 85 chickens big and small in the coop. Xia Qing wove a total of six coops and put all the chickens inside. The Black Feather rooster, the White Feather hen, and the three hens currently brooding eggs all get single rooms; the remaining chickens share a compartment two or three to a space.

Xia Qing stacked the coops in two layers, upper and lower. The lower layer sits half a meter off the ground for easy manure cleaning. The upper layer is set further back than the lower layer, so the chickens in the upper cages don't drop manure into the lower cages. For stability, she secured the coops with wooden sticks and placed them against the wall.

The coops aren't parallel to the ground but tilted at a 5-degree angle to it. This way, eggs the hens lay inside the coop can roll into the coop's egg-collecting trough, preventing the eggs from being stepped on and broken, and making them easier to collect.

To protect the flock, Xia Qing also installed Yi Stones on the coops and sealed the chicken house's windows with rainproof cloth. However, to allow ventilation, she still left two ventilation holes in the front and back windows.

This might be why three chicks were struck by lightning during the thunderstorm.

The big and little chickens stuffed in the coops saw Xia Qing come in and immediately started clucking, chirping, and cackling, begging for food. Xia Qing first poured feed into the long trough at the front of the coops, collected six eggs from the egg-collecting trough, then went back to the house with an umbrella to share the good news with her companion: "Boss, our chickens laid six eggs!"

Boss Sheep, lying in the hammock chair in his protective suit after shedding it, had no interest and kept chewing his cud.

Xia Qing happily went into the kitchen, washed the small handful of scallion leaves she'd just pinched off, and planned to have stir-fried scallion with eggs and stir-fried pork with chili for lunch. From morning until now, Xia Qing had been busy for six hours, but she hadn't drunk any premium nutrient solution — not because she begrudged those few spinach leaves, but because she had plenty of natural Green Lantern food and wasn't exhausted enough to need nutrient solution.

"Beep."

Hearing her phone buzz, Xia Qing turned her head. Seeing the message on the screen, the smile vanished from her face.