Even before the rain started falling, it was enough to make her irritable. Xia Qing didn't need to test it to know that the level of harmful elements in this rain was dangerously high.
Just in case, she put on the newly acquired protective mask. While the mask couldn't filter harmful elements from the air, it could filter out over 99% of toxic gases, preventing humans from being poisoned by toxic gases emitted by creatures that suddenly evolved or went berserk during the harmful rain.
This is where a major advantage of the safe zone becomes apparent. Because the safe zone has undergone repeated deep cleaning, there's no need to worry about large-scale attacks from toxic gases or insects during harmful rain. Except for personnel on duty at the perimeter, no one else needs to wear a protective mask.
However, if the harmful rain level rises to the highest, another deadly danger arises within the safe zone: excessive harmful elements can cause those with low immunity to lose control of their emotions. Red-level harmful rain lasts for more than an hour. If people with low immunity don't take soothing capsules in time, they may be injured or even die from fighting or self-harm. Many others will also feign madness during the harmful rain, engaging in widespread looting and vandalism.
In the summer of the eighth year of the natural disaster, a sudden, red-level harmful rainstorm lasted for an hour and a half. At that time, the Hui San Base, with its two million two hundred thousand inhabitants, lost over eight hundred people to fights and self-harm.
During that rainstorm, Xia Qing killed two men who tried to take advantage of her.
Thinking about this, Xia Qing couldn't help but feel agitated again. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself, collected some rainwater, and tested it. She discovered that the harmful element content of the rain had indeed reached the highest danger level, red.
The base must be on edge right now, everyone on edge.
Fortunately, she didn't need to worry about anyone plotting against her within her territory; she only needed to deal with attacks from suddenly evolved creatures.
Xia Qing opened her umbrella to check on the sheep boss. She saw it lying comfortably on the dry grass, indicating that the harmful rainstorm hadn't affected it much. The sheep boss's evolution level wasn't lower than hers, so its resistance to harmful rainstorms must be considerable; otherwise, it wouldn't have survived until now in the perilous Evolution Forest.
Xia Qing felt relieved and returned to her apartment, closing the door tightly to make a bamboo chair. Although she was a highly evolved human with strong resistance and wouldn't lose control due to the torrential rain, having something to do still helped her relax.
Time passed by, and an hour and a half later, Xia Qing still hadn't finished her chair, and it was already completely dark. An hour and a half of torrential rain had undoubtedly turned the safe zone into a living hell.
Xia Qing threw a broken chair leg into the fire, remembered the person who had texted her, took out her phone but found no new messages, so she took out her night vision goggles to check the situation in the yard.
In the yard she had cleaned, a dense layer of grass sprouted! Plants that grow rapidly in torrential rain have excessive levels of harmful elements and might evolve into some unexpected dangers. Who knows what her yard will look like in three days.
Xia Qing cursed, put on her protective suit and mask, and decided to check on Boss Yang.
She had just pushed open the door when she heard the eldest sheep pawing and panting heavily inside the pen.
Was it about to lose control?
Xia Qing immediately turned and went back inside to grab a strip of soothing capsules. When she came out, she found the eldest sheep already standing on the grass, getting soaked in the rain. Its usually squinty eyes were wide open, its square pupils faintly red in the firelight.
Xia Qing tried to calm the eldest sheep in her calmest voice, "Eldest, don't get agitated, we need to take your medicine..."
"Moo!"
Before Xia Qing could finish speaking, the eldest sheep let out a loud bleat and charged forward. Its head could easily punch a hole in a building. Xia Qing couldn't dodge; she charged straight at it.
"Bang!"
The two collided, splashing water and mud everywhere. Xia Qing instinctively grabbed the eldest sheep's neck, trying to trip it, but the out-of-control sheep was more than twice as strong as usual. Xia Qing was thrown aside and landed on the newly grown grass.
Seeing the eldest sheep charging towards her, Xia Qing rolled away, only to realize that it wasn't coming for her. It crashed through the newly built courtyard wall and charged outside, banging and thrashing about.
If it kept crashing like that, even if it survived, all the walls in the village would collapse.
Xia Qing went back into the house, grabbed a thick rope, rushed out, and bound the sheep, which was banging against the wall, into a pretzel shape. Then, while it struggled and howled with its mouth wide open, she slipped a soothing capsule into its mouth and poured half a jug of spring water down its throat.
The soothing capsule was a special medication for relieving emotional instability caused by harmful elements. Its effect was similar to a strong nerve sedative; after taking it, one would quickly become drowsy and weak, relieving depression and anxiety and reducing harm. However, improper use or overdose could lead to various adverse reactions, poisoning, and addiction. Xia Qing didn't want to give it to the eldest sheep unless absolutely necessary.
Five minutes later, the eldest sheep lay limp and motionless on the muddy ground. Xia Qing carried it back to the front of the building, untying the rope as she muttered, "I wonder how you survived all those devastating rainstorms before you met me. Those houses and walls on the hillside were destroyed like that, were they all caused by you crashing into them when you lost control?"
The sheep, Boss Lao, kept its eyes closed, unresponsive.
Xia Qing felt its bones thoroughly, making sure there were no fractures before she felt relieved. She first filled a bucket with purified water to rinse the mud off her protective suit, then boiled a large pot of water.
Boss Lao, already so filthy its fur was almost unrecognizable, was now completely covered in mud. Xia Qing took advantage of its immobility to give it a wash.
Unbeknownst to Xia Qing, Boss Lao, lying on the ground, had slightly opened its eyes, its gaze following her movements.
After mixing water, adding disinfectant and insecticide to a large aluminum basin, Xia Qing lifted the limp sheep into the bathroom and gently placed it in the basin.
As soon as the water touched the sheep, the eldest opened its eyes, opened its mouth but couldn't make a sound, and its limbs twitched slightly, looking quite pitiful.
Seeing that its eyes were bright, Xia Qing felt much more at ease. She let its head rest on the edge of the basin and began washing the sheep. "Don't worry. I'm not going to boil you, I'm just washing away the 'Hit Rain' and killing the parasites."
Perhaps sensing Xia Qing's kindness, or perhaps because the bath was comfortable, the eldest sheep's wide eyes slowly returned to normal and finally closed.
The eldest sheep wasn't just dirty; Xia Qing also found eight evolved soft-bodied ticks and two other common animal ectoparasites on its body. Evolved ticks not only suck blood, but the neurotoxins they secrete can paralyze the host's muscles, ultimately leading to death from respiratory failure. It seemed these ticks had been on the eldest sheep for some time, causing its weakness, making it unable to even withstand the 'Hit Rain'.
It was fortunate that the eldest sheep had caused this commotion today; otherwise, Xia Qing wouldn't have discovered these parasites on its body.
It took Xia Qing four large pots of hot water to thoroughly wash the eldest sheep and bring it back to the living room to dry its fur. "I found this towel at the corner store; I hadn't even used it myself, but you got it for free."
The large towel only dried the sheep halfway. Xia Qing gave it a deworming pill, threw two pieces of wood into the fire, and let it slowly dry by the fire.
After all that fuss, it was already eight o'clock in the evening. The rain outside had stopped sometime earlier. Xia Qing put on her protective gear and night vision goggles and went out to check around the area. After confirming there were no major dangers lurking around the house, she took out a pot to cook.
She made a pot of fragrant perilla dumpling soup with flour and perilla leaves. The steaming soup dispelled the cold and dampness. Xia Qing sat by the fire, stroking the eldest sheep's soft and bouncy fur, feeling so happy she almost cried.