Chapter 19: Beat You to Death

Chapter 19: I'll Beat You to Death

The noise on the phone diminished, indicating that Zhong Tao had left the area of crying and commotion, as Xia Qing could hear his heavy footsteps. These footsteps were noticeably louder than his usual gait, and he was dragging his legs, leading Xia Qing to initially judge that he was extremely fatigued.

Sure enough, his voice was hoarse. "Sister Qing, can you hear me?"

"I can. Go ahead, Brother Tao," Xia Qing replied.

Zhong Tao continued, "How are things on your end? Any dangerous evolved creatures you can't handle? Don't try to be a hero. If you can't deal with them, tell me. Even if I can't make it over, I can find someone who can."

Xia Qing knew that the person Zhong Tao wanted to call was Captain Tan, stationed at the Old Regiment, and she knew why he was making this call. Thus, she replied calmly, "Nothing dangerous has been discovered so far. If anything happens, I will definitely let you know immediately, Brother Tao."

Having confirmed that Xia Qing was still alive and taking the opportunity to score some brownie points, Zhong Tao quickly responded, but he couldn't help complaining to her, "You have no idea, the safety zone is in total chaos. More than six thousand people have already died..."

Xia Qing listened quietly until he finished before hanging up. She then thought of the person who had sent her that text message. Since that person could obtain internal information, they must be doing well in the safety zone and likely wouldn't run into trouble.

Putting her phone away, Xia Qing continued weeding and exterminating pests. There were incredibly fast snakes, palm-sized spiders, finger-long scorpions, and moth-like insects as large as a person's face...

Staying in this endless, waist-high grassland where danger lurked was something that could easily drive a person mad, yet Xia Qing felt quite happy. Because compared to the great natural disasters, this kind of crisis was nothing more than a light drizzle.

After weeding the last few meters and walking out of the village to the edge of the cultivated land, Xia Qing's vision suddenly cleared. The various grass seeds hidden in the soil of the thoroughly cleared and burned farmland were much fewer than in the village, so the weeds in the fields were more than half as sparse as those in the village. Furthermore, because wood ash had a certain inhibitory effect on the Corruptive Evolution, the Corruptive Grass here didn't grow as high as Xia Qing, making it easier to clear.

Xia Qing's gaze expanded outward, looking toward the buffer forest, where the vegetation was significantly denser. In the buffer forest, there was no telling how many of the newly sprouted plants were dangerous evolved plants, nor how many species of dangerous evolved animals were hidden among them.

The current buffer forest was several times more dangerous than it had been before the rain.

Xia Qing's scrutinizing gaze fixed on a single tree, her brow furrowing. If not for her visual evolution, and if she didn't frequently observe the trees within her territory, she might not have noticed that a large, mature tree in the western buffer forest had actually undergone another massive growth spurt during the Corruptive Rain.

Generally speaking, plants in the seed or juvenile stages have the highest probability of rapid Corruptive Evolution when encountering Corruptive Rain, because seeds or seedlings during this period cannot shield themselves from the all-encompassing attack of Corruptive elements in the air, water, and soil. In contrast, plants in the mature stage have stabilized life indicators, and the vast majority can resist the attack of Corruptive elements; plants in the overall senescence stage will experience accelerated aging and death when encountering Corruptive Rain.

Animals exhibit similar characteristics, which is why the vast majority of current Evolvers are under the age of 35. During the Great Evolution of Earth's biology, adults over the age of 25 had already passed their developmental stages and had stable bodily functions, making the probability of multi-fold evolution far lower than that of teenagers under 25.

Humans who can undergo multi-fold evolution during their adult stage must possess exceptionally outstanding physical functions in some aspect; the same applied to that mature tree in the distance that had evolved again. This type of evolution was particularly dangerous.

In the sixth year of the natural disasters, when Xia Qing followed the Liangqing Squad to hunt in the Evolution Forest, they encountered an aggressive, mature Corruptive Evolution tree. The scent it emitted had a highly hallucinogenic effect, covering a diameter of four kilometers. Animals that entered its domain killed each other under the influence of hallucinations.

Even more terrifying was that the scent could actually penetrate the filters of the protective masks humans used at the time, affecting the human brain.

In that crisis, twenty-six people died, including the captain and vice-captain of the Liangqing Squad, causing the squad to become a mere shell of its former self. Chen Dongyang, the squad's number three, recruited the outstanding Evolvers from the Liangqing Squad to establish the Dongyang Squad, which is currently ranked tenth in the base, while the Liangqing Squad fell to a small squad that couldn't even break into the top thirty.

During that crisis, Xia Qing, a strength-type Evolver responsible for transport, was at the very back of the group and did not enter the tree's domain. She risked her life to save Xu Juan, who had fallen into a hallucination, using a rope. For a long time after that, Xia Qing did not dare to enter the depths of the Evolution Forest again.

Now, standing at a distance, Xia Qing knew with absolute clarity that she could not handle that tree in the buffer forest alone. She was even afraid to take another step forward, fearing she might enter the tree's ability domain.

Swinging her blade, she sliced a toad that was lunging at her with its tongue in half, stuffed it into a leather bag, and retreated home along the same path. She quickly climbed up to the attic and, upon finding that the large tree was still there and not a hallucination, decisively pulled out her phone.

Before she could call Zhong Tao, Captain Tan's call came through. His voice was as serious and concise as ever. "Xia Qing, is there an abnormality in Plot Three?"

Xia Qing answered immediately, "Yes. A mature tree in the western buffer forest of Plot Three has evolved again. It has grown at least five meters taller, and its canopy has expanded by at least double."

Captain Tan pressed immediately, "Where are you? Are you alright?"

Xia Qing replied, "I'm fine. I saw it through binoculars from the village entrance."

"That's good." Captain Tan's voice became even more solemn as he spoke in a commanding tone, "Stand by at your location. I will lead a team to clear it immediately. You are not permitted to request to join."

Before she could say a word, she was shut down. Before Xia Qing could even recover from the call, a loud "bang" echoed from downstairs, and her floor shuddered.

Xia Qing immediately shut the windows and ran downstairs, only to find that Boss Sheep had actually rammed her double-door security entrance so hard that it had fallen flat on the ground.

That wasn't all—that damn, erratic sheep that she had intended to throw into the pot had actually stepped on her door!

Even worse, it was squinting at Xia Qing as if she had done something treacherous and unfaithful to it!

Are you kidding me...

Xia Qing took a deep breath to suppress her rage. She tested Boss Sheep's current state, fearing that it might have undergone Corruptive Evolution due to an excess of Corruptive elements, or that it had been controlled by that suddenly evolving tree. "Boss Sheep?"

"Mooo!" Boss Sheep let out a furious bellow and gave a violent shove with its hoof, causing the high-end door handle to fall off with a "clatter."

Anger surged within Xia Qing. Gritting her teeth, she pulled a piece of compressed ration from her pocket. "Do you want to eat?"

Boss Sheep's eyes snapped open instantly. "Meeeee."

Hearing Boss Sheep's high-pitched, whiny tone, Xia Qing snapped. She slammed the ration onto the ground, let out a roar, and charged forward.

"Damn it! If I don't beat you to death today, my surname isn't Xia!"