These long, thick bamboo strips are secured at one end to the edge of the field, and the other end is tied to the top of a bamboo strip secured on the other side of the field, forming an arched frame for the rain shelter.
After these arched frames, spaced half a meter apart, are erected, they are secured with a top crossbeam and side secondary beams. Then, an entrance and front support are installed, completing a standard rain shelter frame measuring 150 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 3 meters high.
Although the crops inside the shelter are currently less than one meter tall, the shelter's height must not be less than three meters. Below three meters, firstly, movement inside will be inconvenient, and secondly, the crops will grow at least twice their normal height in a short period, damaging the shelter.
Once the frame is erected, a tarpaulin is placed on top, and secured tightly to the frame using wire, nylon rope, strips of cloth, and any other available securing material. The sides are then pressed down firmly, and the rain shelter is complete.
Even the planting experts from the safe zone would acknowledge the professionalism of her rain shelter.
Xia Qing had worked on the construction team for five years, and she had helped build more than half of the professional greenhouses at the safe zone's planting center. Therefore, the greenhouses on her territory were naturally professionally constructed, although the materials couldn't compare to those at the planting center. However, the bamboo-framed greenhouses could easily withstand two days of 90 millimeters of rain.
Territory No. 3 was surrounded by high mountains on its northwest sides, making it unlikely to be hit by strong winds. But Xia Qing, habitually cautious, still meticulously carried out every step.
The greenhouses for sweet potatoes and pumpkins, which only climb and don't grow tall, could be lower. However, Xia Qing had no shortage of bamboo and tarpaulins, and since the sweet potatoes and pumpkins were next to the potatoes, she planned to build a standard greenhouse for all three crops together.
Although she had enough materials, Xia Qing wasn't going to tolerate the pumpkin vines' unruly climbing habit. She carefully straightened and neatly bundled the pumpkin vines, which were over ten meters long, and stuffed them into the rainproof greenhouse. Looking at the orderly green clusters, Xia Qing felt exceptionally satisfied.
After the greenhouse was built, Xia Qing then constructed rain shelters to protect the two red-light peanut fields, Sheep Boss's pasture, and a large patch of evolved white-haired chicken-dung vines in her territory. By the time she finished, it was completely dark.
Xia Qing had enough materials left to build a standard greenhouse, but she had no intention of sharing them with Zhao Ze and Tang Huai. Instead, she stored the materials separately in the various rain shelters as reserves.
The next morning at ten o'clock, the sky was cloudy turning overcast, and a southeast wind carrying moisture blew in. Xia Qing immediately put on her protective suit and took Sheep Boss to a small hut by the farmland.
This hut was built by Xia Qing some time ago using building materials she had salvaged from an abandoned village. The hut had a pointed roof, one door, one window, and was 12 square meters in size, serving as a place for her and Sheep Boss to rest.
If crops are damaged by evolved vines and not removed quickly, they will affect the surrounding crops. If the vines are dangerously damaged, the consequences of not removing them in time are even more serious.
However, Xia Qing wasn't too worried about her crops developing medium-to-high-risk evolution. The vast majority of the seeds for her crops came from safe zones, and these seeds had been cultivated for generations. As long as the red-level rain didn't exceed the limit, the possibility of dangerous evolution was very low.
Dangerous evolution refers to the enhanced new skills that evolved by organisms, posing a threat to humans. This threat includes the evolved organism releasing toxins or developing active attack skills.
According to the level of danger, dangerous evolution is divided into high, medium, and low. The dangerous evolved tree that appeared in Xia Qing's territory during the first rainstorm, Tan Junjie said, belonged to the medium-level dangerous evolution category.
Medium-level danger is something that even most evolved humans might not be able to withstand.
For the next two days and forty-eight hours, Xia Qing inspected her farmland every hour, promptly removing any dangerous evolved plants and preventing or killing any dangerous evolved animals.
Xia Qing had already informed Hu Zifeng that if she became too busy, she would ask his team for backup.
The eldest sheep, who went out of control during the first destructive rainstorm of the year, might also go out of control again in this one. If it went out of control again, it could at best destroy the house, and at worst completely lose its mind and become a violent and highly aggressive evolved animal.
Therefore, Xia Qing had another important task during the second destructive rainstorm: protecting the eldest sheep and preventing it from going berserk again.
Xia Qing had two options: one was to give the eldest sheep a soothing capsule beforehand, and the other was to keep the eldest sheep with her at all times. The soothing capsule had too many side effects, so Xia Qing chose to stay with the eldest sheep near the farmland, trying to do both.
After half an hour of destructive rain, the eldest sheep, under Xia Qing's gentle stroking and calming, showed no signs of going out of control. She was slightly relieved and went to inspect the rain shelter.
Xia Qing took a small bundle of fresh hay from the shelf and placed it in the trough. "The eldest sheep eats first. I'll just take a quick look around the shed and be right back."
The eldest sheep stood up to eat. Xia Qing, wearing protective gear, left the shed and patrolled the area according to the pre-planned sequence, stepping out from the path.
After one round, not a single crop in the territory had undergone harmful evolution.
This was because Xia Qing's rain shelter was professionally constructed and leak-proof, and the drainage ditches around it were excellent. Protected by the rain shelter and drainage ditches, the crops inside had not been exposed to harmful rain, and the concentration of harmful elements in the air had not risen to a level sufficient to trigger harmful evolution in the crops.
However, as the concentration of harmful elements in the air and soil increases, the risk of crop harm also increases.
Xia Qing hurried back to the hut. Seeing that the eldest sheep was in a normal mood, she removed her protective mask and threw a few pieces of firewood into the small stove made of broken bricks in the center of the hut. She used the smoke and heat to drive away the evolving insects, then opened the lord's channel to monitor the latest developments in the surrounding territories.
In case dangerous evolving creatures appeared in the surrounding territories, she needed to immediately devise a response plan to prevent the danger from other territories from spreading to Territory Three.
Before the second hour of the damaging rain had even finished, Zhao Ze from Territory Four was the first to report crop damage.
None of the lords were surprised, because Zhao Ze hadn't even set up enough rain shelters; some farmland was directly exposed to the damaging rain, so it was no wonder the crops were evolving.
At this moment, Xia Qing felt a little anxious. She took out her detector to check the rainwater and found that the damaging rain level had reached orange, the danger had escalated.
Xia Qing went to check the farmland again; the crops were still in good condition.
The drizzling rain continued for three hours. Kuang Qingwei reported that some cotton plants had been damaged. "Brother Qi, I see a lot of buds have sprouted on the damaged cotton plants. Do we have to pull them all out? Isn't it said that damaged cotton plants might still grow cotton?"
Qi Fu replied, "They must be pulled out, otherwise the cotton plants nearby will also be affected and damaged."
"So many buds, how many cotton bolls will grow?" Kuang Qingwei was reluctant. "Even if all the cotton is damaged, it'll be fine, as long as it grows cotton..."
No one paid him any attention. Kuang Qingwei muttered a few more words and then fell silent. Everyone understood that the damaged plants had to be removed, because widespread damage to the same type of plant could trigger dangerous damage evolution. At that point, it wouldn't be a question of how many cotton bolls would grow, but whether they could survive.
Half an hour after Kuang Qingwei finished muttering, Xia Qing directly sensed his inner turmoil. Because two cotton plants in her field had also undergone harmful evolution, the plants had grown from thigh-high to a person's height, and all the newly grown branches were fruit-bearing branches, with over fifty flower buds on them.
Xia Qing deftly used a shovel to dig up the harmful plants, roots and all, and planted them far away in the farmland outside the rain shelter, allowing them to continue growing.
Even if a not-so-tall cotton plant had undergone harmful evolution, Xia Qing could completely eradicate it with her abilities.
Four and a half hours later, the harmful rain stopped. Eighteen of Xia Qing's cotton plants, thirteen mung bean plants, and twenty-six wheat plants had undergone harmful evolution, all without exception from the fields where she had initially soaked the seeds in filtered water. In addition, six of her red-light peanut seedlings and two of her yellow-light soybean seedlings had also undergone harmful evolution.
The forecast for the second harmful rain was forty-eight hours. So many crops had been harmed in just over four hours; how much would be lost in forty-eight hours? Xia Qing felt a surge of irritation and immediately returned to the hut, removing her protective mask and gulping down several mouthfuls of spring water.
The eldest sheep's mood also noticeably fluctuated. Xia Qing stroked its fur, fed it some spring water, and gave it some dried green bamboo shoots to chew on. The fact that both she and the eldest sheep felt so agitated indicated that the concentration of harmful elements in the air had increased, suggesting the next rainstorm might be at a red level.
A red level rainstorm meant even greater danger.
The second harmful rainstorm was indeed at a red level. Kuang Qingwei was cursing and swearing in the lord's channel because a worker in his territory had suddenly lost control and gone berserk, destroying a large field of mung beans and damaging the rain shelter.