With the windows properly secured, the room became airtight, making sleep exceptionally sound.
Xia Qing, after a night of good sleep, dreamt of a high-level Evolution cattle running into her territory and refusing to leave.
Xia Qing put a plow on it, and it could cultivate fifty acres of land a day.
When she woke up, Xia Qing couldn't help but laugh.
If only she really had a cattle, it would be great; cattle eat grass and don't require fuel, and now diesel and gasoline are very expensive, too expensive for ordinary people to afford.
After washing up with water and eating a ration for breakfast, Xia Qing carried three drinking water buckets to fetch water.
Yesterday, she used a 20-liter bucket of water for drinking, cooking, and washing; the two extra buckets were found in a half-smashed kitchen cabinet in the village ahead, their lids tightly screwed, and they were still usable after a good wash.
After killing three venomous snakes along the way, Xia Qing arrived at the stone cave and found that the stone she had used to block the entrance had been pushed aside.
She gripped her machete, listened intently, and observed carefully with her eyes, only slightly relaxing after confirming that there were no large animals within a fifty-meter radius besides herself, a few sparrows, and a few snakes.
The ability to observe the surroundings within fifty meters was because Xia Qing was actually a three-system Evolutionist.
In addition to Strength, her Vision and hearing had also evolved.
Although she hadn't gone to the research lab for testing and grading, by comparing with other Evolutionists, Xia Qing judged that her hearing and Vision Evolution were no lower than Level 4.
Also, her Strength was not the reported Level 4, but Level 6.
Therefore, Xia Qing was not a low-level Evolutionist, but a three-system high-level Evolutionist.
Multi-system Evolutionists were very rare; among the two million people in the entire Hui San Base, there were only twelve two-system Evolutionists, and only two three-system Evolutionists.
Furthermore, these two three-system Evolutionists had not disclosed their identities or Evolution directions; Xia Qing only knew that one held a position in the military and the other went to the research institute at Hui One Base.
After that, there was no news of these two people; rumors in the Safe Zone claimed they had been dissected for research and had long since died.
After Xia Qing evolved into three systems, her father feared she would be taken for research, so he only reported her most inconspicuous Strength Evolution.
Her three-system Evolution abilities were Xia Qing's reliance for avoiding danger time and again, and also her confidence to venture out of the Safe Zone alone to farm.
At the cave entrance where Xia Qing left her water buckets yesterday, there were clear footprints left by three types of animals: one was a bird, one was a Weasel, and the other was a sheep or deer.
How could the animals in the mountains not know about the Spring that Xia Qing could find?
After the water in the Reservoir down the mountain became polluted, it was perfectly reasonable for smart animals to come here to drink water.
Birds were fine, Weasels were natural predators of mice and should be kept, and sheep or deer… she was their natural predator, so she would take them!
Xia Qing's eyes lit up as she looked around, and she quickly made a new discovery: a few white hairs were hanging on a tree branch two meters away.
Their length, curly shape, and toughness, combined with the footprints, confirmed it was undoubtedly a sheep.
Xia Qing wished she could do nothing else today but guard the cave and wait for the sheep.
She hadn't eaten lamb in many, many years.
There was no accumulated water in the pit that Xia Qing had cleared under the Spring inside the stone cave; it all flowed away through the cracks in the stone, which Xia Qing was not surprised by.
If the stone cave could hold water or if the water flowed out, it would have been discovered and cordoned off by the search team long ago.
She put the water buckets into the pit to collect water, then tested the meat quality of the three venomous snakes, and was pleasantly surprised to find that one snake's meat showed a green light.
This made Xia Qing overjoyed and even more eager to stake out that sheep drinking water.
However, this snake was enough for today; Xia Qing used the time while collecting water to select and test the wild vegetables she recognized.
Only after all three buckets were full did she find seven small wild vegetables.
Although they were only enough for a single bite after blanching, Xia Qing was already very satisfied with this harvest.
After washing the wild vegetables with water and finding a larger stone to block the stone cave entrance, Xia Qing took her belongings home and then grabbed a shovel to prepare the farmland.
Once four acres of land were leveled, all the seeds distributed by the base could be planted.
Xia Qing chose a spot only a hundred meters from the Reservoir flood control wall; irrigation here was convenient, and with the flood control wall present, there was no fear of being submerged by river water.
The first step in leveling the land was to turn over the soil once, picking out large stones, tree roots, grass roots, and visible pests from the soil.
Xia Qing pressed down on the straw hat on her head and began working.
She didn't know until she turned it over; she was startled by what she found.
On the land previously covered by a thick layer of plant ash, many tender sprouts had already emerged.
Xia Qing couldn't distinguish what kind of sprouts they all were; after testing showed they were all red light, she treated them all as weeds.
Without the aid of machinery and plowing cattle, and relying purely on human labor for cultivation, the advantage of a Power Evolutionist became apparent.
Xia Qing broke four shovels in one morning, clearing two acres of land.
At this rate, she could clear all four acres today, and Xia Qing felt a great sense of accomplishment.
"Sister Xia Qing, Sister Xia Qing."
Hearing Zhong Tao's amplified shouts through a loudspeaker, Xia Qing wiped the sweat from her face with a towel, went home to retrieve the edible venomous snake, and then hurried to the signboard.
Seeing Xia Qing arrive, Zhong Tao jumped out of the car and waved to her; he abided by the rules and stood outside, not stepping into Xia Qing's territory, "Little sister!"
Xia Qing smiled and stepped forward, "Tao Ge came to inspect?"
Zhong Tao looked at the much cleaner and refreshed Evolutionist Xia Qing and asked with a smile, "Yes, I surveyed the nearby plots yesterday, and today I'm checking out this area down the mountain.
How is it, everything alright?"
"Everything's fine."
Xia Qing handed over the woven grass bag containing the snake, "I was lucky; I caught a snake this morning while clearing the hillside, Tao Ge, take it back to add to your meal."
Zhong Tao quickly waved his hand, "That won't do; snake meat is good stuff, you keep it for yourself."
Xia Qing firmly pushed it forward, "I don't eat snake meat."
Zhong Tao saw that she wasn't being polite, so he took the grass bag and handed it to Zheng Kui, who was holding a cigarette, and said with concern, "I remember this mountain was cleared quite thoroughly.
Are there many snakes? Should I report it and have someone come clear it again?"
"Not many, no need to send anyone."
Xia Qing directly refused, then handed Zhong Tao a slip of paper with her mobile number written on it, "This is my mobile number, what's your mobile number, Tao Ge?"
As the team leader of the convoy, Zhong Tao was equipped with a satellite phone.
He reported his mobile number, then lowered his voice and asked, "Little sister has a satellite phone?"
Seeing Xia Qing nod, he immediately grinned, "This makes things much more convenient; little sister, just call me if you need anything.
There are also two other things I need to make clear to you: one is to pay attention to the base broadcast every evening from seven to eight, and the second is that the military will send troops to regularly patrol the isolation zone and Buffer Forest on the mountain.
They will greet you when they arrive, and they will only enter your land with your permission."
Xia Qing pressed, "Is it the army stationed at the regiment headquarters patrolling?"
"Yes.
Huh?"
Zhong Tao accidentally revealed a secret he shouldn't have, looked around guiltily, and lowered his voice to ask Xia Qing, "Little sister, how did you know there were still people at the regiment headquarters?"
Xia Qing shook her head with a serious expression, "I guessed.
I don't know anything."
Zhong Tao scratched his head and also laughed, "It's fine that you know this, just don't spread it around.
How about I give your number to the patrol team, so it's easier for them to contact you when they come?"
"Alright."
In the ten years of natural disasters, the army had made huge sacrifices to protect the people and was the most trustworthy group among all; Xia Qing added, "Don't tell anyone in the Safe Zone that I have a phone."
"Understood."
Just as Zhong Tao was about to leave, he saw a person running wildly from the east, immediately raised his gun, and shielded Xia Qing behind him, "Stop, I'll shoot if you get any closer!"