The noise on the phone died down. It was clear Zhong Tao had moved away from the crying, because Xiaqing could hear his heavy footsteps. They were noticeably louder than usual, and he was dragging his feet. Xiaqing concluded that Zhong Tao must be exhausted.
Sure enough, his voice was hoarse. "Sister Qing, can you hear me?"
"I can. Go ahead, Brother Tao," Xiaqing replied.
Zhong Tao continued, "How are things on your end? Any dangerous Evolutionary Biology you can’t handle? Don’t try to be a hero. If you can’t handle it, just tell your big bro. I can’t come over myself, but I can find someone who can."
Xiaqing knew the person Zhong Tao was talking about was Captain Tan, who was stationed at the old regimental headquarters. She also knew why he was calling. So she answered calmly, "I haven’t found any danger so far. If something comes up, I’ll be sure to tell you right away, Brother Tao."
After confirming Xiaqing was still alive and scoring some points with her, Zhong Tao quickly agreed, then couldn’t help but start complaining. "You have no idea. The Safe Zone is in total chaos. Over six thousand people are dead already..."
Xiaqing listened quietly until he was finished before hanging up. Then she thought of the person who had sent her the text message. ’Since that person could get inside information, they must be doing well in the Safe Zone. They should be fine.’
Putting her phone away, Xiaqing went back to pulling weeds and killing pests: snakes that were lightning-fast, palm-sized spiders, finger-length scorpions, face-sized fluttering moths...
Being in this endless field of head-high grass, where danger lurked everywhere, sounded like something that would drive a person mad, but Xiaqing actually felt quite happy. Because compared to the Natural Disaster, a crisis like this wasn’t even a drizzle.
After pulling the last few meters of weeds, she walked out of the village to the edge of the farmland, and her view opened up. The soil of the farmland, which had been thoroughly cleared and burned, contained far fewer types of grass seeds than the village, so the grass here was more than fifty percent sparser. And because the wood ash had a certain inhibitory effect on Qiang Evolved lifeforms, the Qiang Evolution Grass here wasn’t even as tall as Xiaqing, making it easier to clear.
Xiaqing’s gaze extended outward, toward the Buffer Forest where the vegetation was clearly much denser. There was no telling how many of the new plants sprouting in the Buffer Forest were dangerous Evolved Plants, nor how many kinds of dangerous Evolutionary Animals were hidden among them.
The Buffer Forest was now several times more dangerous than it had been before the rain.
Xiaqing’s inspecting gaze fixed on a tree, and her brow furrowed. If it weren’t for her Visual Evolution, and if she didn’t regularly observe the trees in her territory, she might not have noticed that a large, mature tree in the western Buffer Forest had undergone another explosive growth spurt during the Harmful Rain.
Generally speaking, plants in their seed and juvenile stages had the highest probability of undergoing Qiang Evolution and rapid growth when exposed to Harmful Rain. This was because seeds or seedlings at this stage couldn’t block the all-encompassing attack of Harmful Elements from the air, water, and soil. In contrast, mature plants had stable vital signs and could, for the most part, resist the assault of Harmful Elements. Plants in a state of overall senescence would experience accelerated aging and death when exposed to Harmful Rain.
Animals exhibited similar characteristics, which was why the vast majority of current Evolvers were under the age of 35. When the great evolution of Blue Star’s lifeforms occurred, adults over 25 had already passed their developmental stage. Their bodily functions were stable, making their probability of undergoing multiple evolutions far lower than that of adolescents and young adults under 25.
Humans who could still undergo multiple evolutions in adulthood definitely had some exceptionally prominent physical function, and the same logic applied to the distant mature tree that had evolved again. This kind of evolution was especially dangerous.
In the sixth year of the Natural Disaster, Xiaqing was hunting in the Evolution Forest with the Liangqing Team when they were suddenly caught in a Harmful Rain. A mature tree underwent a second evolution, and the scent it released had powerful hallucinogenic properties, covering a diameter of four kilometers. Animals that entered its domain were affected by the hallucinations and killed each other.
What was even more terrifying was that the scent could actually penetrate the filters of the Protective Masks humans used at the time, affecting their brains.
In that crisis, twenty-six people died, including the captain and vice-captain of the Liangqing Team, causing the team to exist in name only. The team’s number three, Chen Dongyang, rallied the Liangqing Team’s elite Evolvers to establish the Dongyang Team, which now ranked tenth in the base. The Liangqing Team, meanwhile, was reduced to a minor team that couldn’t even break into the top thirty.
During that crisis, Xiaqing, a Strength Evolver in charge of transport, had been at the very back of the group and didn’t enter the tree’s domain. She had braved the danger and used a rope to rescue a hallucinating Xu Juan. For a long time after that, Xiaqing didn’t dare venture deep into the Evolution Forest again.
Now, Xiaqing just stood far away, fully and soberly aware that she couldn’t deal with the tree in the Buffer Forest on her own. She was so afraid of entering the tree’s sphere of influence that she didn’t dare take another step forward.
With a swing of her knife, she sliced a toad that was leaping at her with its tongue out in two, then stuffed it into a leather pouch. Xiaqing retreated back home the way she came, quickly climbed up to the attic, and after confirming the great tree was still there and not a figment of her imagination, she decisively pulled out her phone.
Before she could call Zhong Tao, a call came in from Captain Tan. He was as serious and concise as ever. "Xiaqing, any anomalies in Territory Three?"
Xiaqing immediately replied, "Yes. In the Buffer Forest to the west of Territory Three, a mature tree has evolved again. It’s grown at least five meters taller, and its canopy has at least doubled in size."
Captain Tan immediately followed up, "Where are you? Are you all right?"
Xiaqing replied, "I’m fine. I saw it from the village entrance with binoculars."
"Good." Captain Tan’s voice grew even more serious as he spoke in a commanding tone, "Stay put. I’m taking a team to clear it out immediately. You are not to request to join."
Her unspoken words died in her throat. Xiaqing hung up, and before she could even collect herself, a loud BANG erupted from downstairs, and her building shuddered.
Xiaqing immediately shut the window tight and ran downstairs, only to find that the Sheep Leader had actually knocked her double-leaf, anti-theft front door flat on the ground.
And that wasn’t all. That damn spastic sheep that deserved to be sliced up and thrown in a pot was actually standing on her door!
What was even more outrageous was that the damn thing was squinting at Xiaqing as if *she* had done something treasonous to betray *it*!
’I’ll fucking...’
Xiaqing took a deep breath to suppress her rage and tried to gauge the Sheep Leader’s current state. She was afraid that it had undergone Qiang Evolution due to an excess of Harmful Elements in its body, or that it was being controlled by that suddenly evolved tree. "Sheep Leader?"
"MOO!" the Sheep Leader bellowed angrily. It gave a vicious kick with its hoof, and one of the fancy, high-end handles on the front door went CLANG and was destroyed.
Xiaqing’s temper flared. Gritting her teeth, she pulled a block of compressed rations from her pocket. "Want a bite?"
The Sheep Leader’s eyes immediately flew open. "Baa."
Hearing the Sheep Leader’s cutesy tone, Xiaqing finally snapped. She slammed the rations on the ground and charged, roaring.
"Fuck! If I don’t beat the shit out of you today, then my last name isn’t Xia!"