Chapter 864: The X-2 in the Hidden Valley Has Ripened

Not to mention the people of Territory 17, even the people of Territory 15, Xia Qing could not fully trust.

In fact, Xia Qing, who had already lived through eleven years of the Calamity, could not trust anyone a hundred percent except herself — not even her idol or close friends. Believing in herself, trusting her own instincts, and staying vigilant at all times were what kept her alive.

So when dividing the activity range of the people who came to Territory 3, Xia Qing gave it careful consideration.

This round of Calamity Rain was only a little over a meter tall, not even reaching Xia Qing's waist, and could not block crops over a meter tall inside the greenhouses.

Last night's Calamity Rain was short in duration and didn't escalate to red level, so the Calamity-evolved crops appearing in greenhouses that hadn't been flipped over by the gale weren't many. Therefore, the people of Territories 15 and 17, seeing these crops rising above the Calamity Grass from a distance, wouldn't grow suspicious.

The biggest problem was the freshly transplanted sweet potato vines.

Freshly transplanted sweet potato vines were in an unstable state. Based on the lords' chat today, Xia Qing knew other territories had lost a fifth of their transplanted sweet potato vines last night.

Not a single sweet potato vine in Territory 3 was lost, because Xia Qing had placed Yi Stones in time, driving the Calamity elements out of the field. Fortunately, the freshly transplanted sweet potato vines were under 20 centimeters tall and could be hidden by the Calamity Grass.

Xia Qing expanded the ring of Calamity Grass shielding the greenhouse, making sure that people from Territory 15 standing outside the ring would have their line of sight blocked by the over-one-meter Calamity Grass and couldn't see into the sweet potato greenhouse.

After repeatedly confirming there were no problems, Xia Qing invited people from both territories over to clear the Calamity Grass.

Wolf Lao Er lay on the roof of the rack building, protecting the wheat ears drying on the roof while watching the humans working inside the territory, not letting them enter the abandoned village.

Sheep Leader guarded its Chinese toon tree on Gao Po, firmly refusing to let anyone steal its toon leaves. Guan Tong cleared Calamity Grass in Territory 3's buffer forest, while Xia Qing, with a little squirrel in her pocket, pulled out Yellow Glycoside 39 in Section 3 of Mountain 49.

Suddenly, she paused, tied up the Yellow Glycoside 39, and looked northeast.

Just now, Li Kai, who guarded the Hidden Valley, had posted a message in the Territory Alliance group saying that the X-2 in Territory 6 inside the Hidden Valley had ripened naturally.

The Bluetooth earpiece Xia Qing wore quickly played the second message from the group: "Territory 6's Zhu Li says: Brother Li, the spinach seed explosion didn't hurt anyone, did it?"

The model of new phone Xia Qing bought had several extra features urgently needed for missions outside the territory during the Calamity, such as the auto-read-message function she was using now.

With this feature, people executing missions in dangerous locations who received messages no longer had to take out their phones to read them, which improved safety.

"Territory 15's Li Kai says: The protective membrane was there, no one got hurt. Territory 12's Tang Heng says: Sister Li, if you're busy, should I send someone to harvest the spinach seeds and seedlings over there?"

For confidentiality, the lords never mentioned "valley" or "Hidden Valley" in the group, always using "over there" or "the field" instead.

The agreement signed by the Territory Alliance members stipulated that after the X-2 grown in their Hidden Valley was harvested, the spinach seeds and seedlings would be exchanged with the Tang family at market price, which was why Tang Heng offered to send people to harvest.

"Territory 12's Zhu Li says: @Territory 12's Tang Heng, can I go along with the people you send?"

The Calamity Rain had just fallen, and leaving the territory was dangerous. Kuang Qingwei was an ordinary person, but Zhu Li was a Level 3 Evolver. She had been training hard these past few months and could join a team to go out to the Hidden Valley on Mountain 55.

Spinach seeds were a high-value crop, and Zhu Li wouldn't feel at ease not going; with her there, Tang Heng would also feel more at ease.

So the two quickly set a time. The harvesting team gathered at the territory's east gate and left the territory under the pretext of checking the growth progress of Calamity-evolved bamboo on Mountain 55, to harvest the spinach seeds.

Territory 15's lord Tan Qi also asked Zhu Li in the group for seven spinach leaves, to juice and make X Nutrient Solution to feed her chickens.

After Yan Long left the territory yesterday, Ji Li sent Tan Qi six two-month-old Green Light chickens — five hens and one rooster — as a gift from Yan Long.

The Calamity struck suddenly last night. When Tan Qi checked on her precious chickens this morning, she found them a bit listless and immediately went online to ask her allies what medicine to use. It was Territory 7's Ji Li who told her which potion to use, and said she could also feed them some X Nutrient Solution.

The X-2 in the territories had all been harvested and sold to the Azure Dragon Squad on the day the Safe Zone announced spinach market prices six days ago, so now no territory had any X-2 leaves.

The news that the spinach seeds in the Hidden Valley had ripened injected a shot of adrenaline into the Territory Alliance members, energizing everyone.

Territory 17's lord Wen Nengjie, in the southern half of Territory 3, felt something was off and posted in the lord channel asking, "Why did everyone suddenly go quiet? Brother Huai?"

Tang Huai pressed a button and said, "A few dumb mealworms laid their eggs on the wooden tray last night. I'm sifting the eggs now."

"Congrats, Brother Huai, you can breed another batch of new worms." After replying, Wen Nengjie still felt something was off. He had a nagging feeling the people in the group were hiding something from him — something very important. He sped up his weeding and decided to sound Xia Qing out when he left Territory 3 in the evening.

Everyone really was hiding something from him, because he wasn't a member of the Territory Alliance.

Listening to her allies discuss in the phone chat group how many spinach seeds to plant over there next month, Xia Qing, who was in Section 3 with a little honey badger pulling Yellow Glycoside 39, kept silent and worked on, not joining the discussion.

The quality of spinach grown in the Hidden Valley was not as high as that grown in the territories' high-Yi-element soil — this had already been confirmed.

The reasons for this result were: first, the valley's temperature and humidity this season weren't as suitable for spinach growth as those in the territories; second, although the valley's land had been fertilized enough, it wasn't high-Yi-element soil; third, the spinach planted in early March had already entered maturity when the second Calamity Rain came, so even without Use Yishi protection in the territories, the spinach quality wasn't reduced.

Was the mountain spring water in the Hidden Valley better in quality than the river water in the territories?

Of course it was.

But to grow X-2 well, the lords used filtered Hidden Valley spring water to irrigate the several dozen spinach plants in their territories. If the spinach needed watering but their stored filtered spring water ran short, the lords would rather drink filtered river water themselves than give X-2 anything less than the best water.

Even so, the lords still chose to keep planting X-2 in the valley.

The reason was obvious.

According to the base broadcast, X-2 could be planted three times a year:

The first crop of X-2, planted from late February to early March, could be harvested for spinach seeds by the end of May, with a growth period of two months; the second crop, planted in June, wouldn't mature until late September to early October, with a growth period of over three months; the third crop, planted in October, needed over five months to grow and wouldn't mature until February of the following year.

So the second crop of X-2, in its mid-to-late growth stage, would encounter the third Calamity Rain. By then, the advantage of the Hidden Valley protected by Yi Stones would become apparent.

As they chatted, the lords simultaneously had the same thought: could the Territory Alliance negotiate with the Azure Dragon Squad to rent a few Yi Stones during the Calamity Rain period, to use in their territories and protect their most important Green Light crops and poultry?