Chapter 397 - 394: Vegetation Surrounds the City (2)

Chapter 397: Chapter 394: Vegetation Surrounds the City (2)

...

Qin Xiaoxia stepped out of the Secret Realm and into the Secret Place building. Just as he was about to open the old main door to go outside, Doudou and Gou Dandan came crashing out from behind him.

"Oh no! It’s Big Bro!" "Cheep, oh no, Master Sage!"

It was too late for the two of them to stop and turn back. Even though they were still several meters away, they were inexplicably pulled right in front of Qin Xiaoxia by an invisible force.

"What are you two doing out here?"

’Gou Dandan can use the Secret Realm Engraving on its body to make people ignore it, so I’m not worried about it being discovered. I wouldn’t restrict their freedom anyway. It’s just... these two are probably the most carefree individuals in this whole apocalyptic crisis. What kind of emergency could they possibly have?’

"To buy a cow!" "To buy beef!"

Doudou and Gou Dandan’s answers didn’t quite match, but the gist was the same. Qin Xiaoxia immediately thought of the beef brisket stew Su Su made.

’But can you even buy fresh beef anymore?’

Lately, the things Qin Xiaoxia had been pondering and researching were, one might say, at the highest level of technology that the entire World Alliance was concerned with. He was planning to go out and verify some of the changes based on the scenes Su Su had shown him, so this was a perfect opportunity to go take a look with Doudou and the others.

To investigate the natural Law of Order, going deep into the mountains and old forests wasn’t necessarily the most intuitive approach. Things there had been exaggerated for a long time, so the comparison wouldn’t be very direct. The familiar surroundings of Qingzhen were more suitable.

"Let’s go together, then. I’ll go with you to the market in a bit."

He opened the wooden door. Outside, a sea of green already filled his vision. The few withered trees that had been in the courtyard were now entwined with newborn vines and other greenery, as if the old trees that had accompanied the house for so many years had been revitalized.

A little farther out, patches of green trees, both tall and short, had sprung up from the fields. It was as if the surroundings had turned into a small forest instead of the flat farmland it once was.

The density of the trees wasn’t actually that high, however. Between the various trees grew stalks of rice, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other crops. These plants had also grown oversized, and although they hadn’t borne fruit yet, one could predict that their yields would be quite massive.

"Holy crap! Big Bro, our house is surrounded by a forest!!!"

"CHEEP!!!"

Doudou and Gou Dandan hadn’t left the Secret Realm in many days. Now that they were out, they saw that the area around this old-era Dawn Secret Place was completely covered in green. Weeds and trees had buried the small path leading out. If no one looked for it through the sea of green, an outsider would never know a building was hidden here.

In truth, Qin Xiaoxia could observe the outside world from within the Secret Realm. It was just that inside the Secret Realm, with the Crystal Forest, the vast number of Magical Plants, the flying rivers and mid-air swimming sea creatures, and Jilian, the attention-grabbing Ancient Demon, it was all too easy to get distracted.

Looking into the distance now, although he could still perceive the surrounding villages, he could no longer see them at a glance as he used to.

"Let’s go. To the market."

Leading Doudou and Dandan, he pushed through the vegetation covering the path and walked a hundred meters before reaching the original road outside of town.

On both sides of the road, it seemed someone was periodically spraying chemicals or clearing the growth by hand, ensuring the road surface wasn’t completely overwhelmed by greenery.

"VROOOM..."

A pickup truck passed by. The driver and passenger were both soldiers, and in the back sat about a squad of Soldiers, their eyes alert and their rifles never leaving their hands. Still, you could sense a hint of relaxation about them.

When they saw Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou, they all subconsciously glanced over, but no one spoke.

As they walked into Qingzhen, they saw several vehicles drive by. Only one looked like a private car; even the vehicles that didn’t look like military trucks were filled with soldiers in uniform.

Qin Xiaoxia thought for a moment and understood. They were Hua Country’s military patrol posts. Across the nation’s highways, mobile patrols composed of soldiers were constantly on the move. Their density varied, but according to a plan he had seen before, major highways were required to have at least one squad-sized fireteam pass by every fifteen minutes.

The area around Qingzhen was considered relatively peaceful.

Because Dawn Headquarters was located here, there were almost no Demons from the Otherworld in the vicinity. Even if a few emerged from randomly appearing rifts, they would be discovered by the Shadow of the Secret Realm projected by the Red Demoness, then pulled into the Secret Realm and eliminated.

Evidently, the military had its own internal classifications for dangerous areas. That was why when passing near Qingzhen, you could feel the Soldiers relax their nerves just a little.

Several houses on the outskirts of town had been requisitioned by the military, turned into outposts and observation stations. Soldiers were positioned on and around them.

Entering Qingzhen proper, there was a noticeable touch of life. It wasn’t as densely populated as before, and people moved with haste, but at least there was still market activity.

In the area where Qingzhen’s supermarket used to be, you could see military posts every few dozen meters, manned by three to five soldiers each. Their presence offered a twofold sense of reassurance to the common folk—reassurance against both crime and monsters.

Qin Xiaoxia glanced at the nearby high-rises. On their rooftops were a few individuals with steady breathing. He couldn’t tell if they were snipers or something else.

If a small town like Qingzhen was like this, one could only imagine what the major cities were like.

"Big Bro, the meat stall is over there!"

Doudou dragged Qin Xiaoxia in the direction of the smell he’d caught, not toward the supermarket, but toward the original farmers’ market.

They hadn’t even gotten close when the bustling clamor of a crowd already echoed in their ears.

There were many more people here, even more than before. You could even call it crowded. The liveliest spots were the fresh meat and vegetable stalls.

’As expected, the major nations of the World Alliance would never let the economy truly collapse. And prices are controlled much better than I imagined.’

"Come on, come on! This beef is from a cow slaughtered just this morning! We have all the cuts! Except for the tenderloin, it’s all 87 per half-kilo!"

"No way, it’s that expensive already!"

"Ma’am, back during the government’s Memorandum Initiative, it was already 50 a half-kilo. A lot of meat is being supplied to the front-line troops now. This price is a real bargain! I can sell a whole cow in a single day!"

They had only just entered the market, and while Qin Xiaoxia was still observing his surroundings, Doudou had already returned with a large bag of peas. Even though they were tender peas that could be stir-fried in the pod, they were all quite large.

"Big Bro, this whole bag of two-and-a-half kilos was only twenty."

Qin Xiaoxia paid some attention to the haggling in the market and noticed that vegetable prices were, for the most part, unexpectedly cheap. It seemed to be because vegetation yields had increased dramatically, and the growth cycles had become very short.

Besides, unless they lived in a residential complex, most people around Qingzhen who lived in villages had a bit of land in front of or behind their houses. Aside from safety concerns, they probably weren’t short on vegetables. Most of the trading was for fresh meat.

"SCREEEEEECH—"

A sharp, strange cry echoed from the sky, and a commotion immediately broke out. Amidst the hubbub, Qin Xiaoxia could even make out the CLICK-CLACK sound of rifle bolts being pulled.

On the roof of a high-rise residential building, a Lieutenant was observing a long-tailed monster in the sky through binoculars. Soldiers around him had already raised their man-portable guided weapons, but he didn’t rush to give the order to fire.

A few seconds later, the monster in the binoculars looked as if it had been snagged by something. It flapped its wings chaotically, let out a panicked cry, and then suddenly vanished.

"Log it. Time from appearance to disappearance: nine seconds."

Down in the market, the soldiers on guard at the perimeter had already blown their steel whistles, signaling for everyone to maintain order.

"It’s fine, it’s fine! It’s real peaceful around our Qingzhen. I’ve seen this kind of thing a lot these past few days. Any monster that appears vanishes right away. My son and his friends have this whole elaborate story about it. They say there might be a Barrier around here! You know, like one of those Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands!"

The meat stall owner was reassuring a customer who had likely just worked up the courage to leave home for the first time in days.

Telling Doudou to go ahead and buy what he wanted, Qin Xiaoxia let his Magic Power surge, rapidly fading his presence from the eyes of those around him. Then, with a single leap, he shot into the air. Using the Ice Spike Stomp from his Reaction Technique, he bounded a few more times to reach a high altitude.

Qingzhen and its surrounding villages looked like a few dots enveloped in green woodland. Although this trend had already started back when he and the Holy Spirit were flying around, it hadn’t been this exaggerated. It wasn’t just the sheer scale, but the increasingly overwhelming natural vitality.

PS: First Chapter for Tuesday.