Bai Xiaohu didn’t realize how much Shi Jian didn’t want to talk about Lu Ye. After she found out Lu Ye was the one who brought her back and he is currently busy on the front line of pest control, she didn’t ask more.
When she came to the window, she saw a scene of howling wind and dark storms.
Almost everywhere that can be seen in the base has become a swamp.
Among them were streams of smoke blown crookedly, yet never completely disappearing. Bai Xiaohu looked down from the window and could see her farm. A big pit was dug on the edge of the farm. A group of creatures crawled into the pit as the fire and smoke rose from the bottom.
She watched for a while and suddenly exclaimed, “Are those bugs?”
Shi Jian also looked down from the window and said, “Well, there are a lot of insects on our farm. We can only light a fire nearby to lure the insects out to kill them. We use the wood saw from the Firewood you provided us.”
Bai Xiaohu saw that when a pit was almost full of insects, a large crane next to it would start to move. As the huge crane arm lifted, a net under the pit bagged all the insects together.
It turned out that the big pit was divided into two layers by a layer of iron bars. Firewood was burning at the bottom, and a huge net made of a certain type of material with small holes was laid on the top. The smell of the burning firewood attracts the mutant insects, so they will frantically crawl into the net voluntarily.
When the pit was almost full, the crane lifted the entire net, bagged the densely packed and constantly wriggling bugs, and then threw them into an incinerator. Next, the fire-type espers cast fireballs into it.
This method saves a lot on fuel supply.
Just around the farm of the Baishou Team alone, there are many sets of such a setup: huge pits, cranes, temporary incinerators, and people guarding the incinerator. Even in these typhoon days, showering under the violent and rapid rain storm, they still carried out the pest control work in an orderly manner. Not letting the insects in the farm crawl into the living/office areas for the slightest.
The same scene is happening across many other places in the base, forming a solid barrier ensuring most areas were peaceful and still operating normally.
Bai Xiaohu said: “I’m going down to take a look.”
Shi Jian was about to stop her, but she had already opened the door. Upon opening the door, Bai Xiaohu’s face turned green immediately. She covered her mouth and nose and retreated: “It stinks!”
Shi Jian felt helpless: “This is the stench from burning the insects.”
Yes, although the base was generally stable and the pest control work was progressing successfully, the stench also enveloped the entire base. It has caused everyone to suffer terrible ‘poisoning’. From the initial nausea and dizziness, they gradually became numb and indifferent, and then their spirits became depressed.
Even though the rumor was debunked that the smell was just bad and did not contain any toxins, the public still firmly believed that it was definitely poison gas. A type that was so rare in a thousand years.
Bai Xiaohu immediately took out the small white flower, one for herself and one for Shi Jian: “Smell this, you will feel much better.”
Shi Jian took the flower and sniffed it. A strong and refreshing flower fragrance rushed into her nose, and her brain was immediately cleared. She felt clean from top to bottom. The nerves that had been poisoned for a long time finally came alive.
Shi Jian’s eyes lit up: “Can this flower be planted?” “Probably not. This flower is quite delicate, but my stock should be able to supply one for everybody. Lu Ye is outside the base, then what about Wen Liansheng? I got something to talk about with him.”
Wen Liansheng naturally wouldn’t go out and personally participate in killing the insects. As the sole decision maker of the team, he had to preside over the entire pest control plan. After a round of inspections of the incinerator, he felt a little suffocated. He has always been calm and tried to live a refined life, he also has a mild obsession with mysophobia, so his face turned green and he looked very unwell at this moment.
Bai Xiaohu’s arrival obviously saved him.
Bai Xiaohu ran down from the dormitory building. There was a large hall on the first floor and it was connected to other halls of several other dormitory buildings. It was equipped with cafeterias, dining rooms, movie halls, game halls, badminton rooms, gyms, reading rooms, practice rooms, and other functional areas, which were quite colorful.
The dormitory hall was also connected to the first-floor hall of the office building, so Bai Xiaohu just walked through the hall corridor to find Wen Liansheng. He was sitting in his wheelchair, thinking about life at the entrance of the office building hall with a lifeless expression due to the stench.
“Wen Liansheng!” Bai Xiaohu ran over in large steps. Wen Liansheng finally showed a smile when he saw her: “You are awake, are you still feeling uncomfortable?”
Bai Xiaohu’s answer was to give him a small white flower. Wen Liansheng’s eyes lit up, he took it and sniffed it, and he suddenly came back to life.
“What a magical flower. I was a little skeptical when A-Lu mentioned it.” He sighed. He has always been calm and elegant, but this was the first time he showed such an exaggerated expression.
Bai Xiaohu was also sucking the flower in her hand to prolong her life, and asked him: “Lu Ye already told you? Since you know I have this kind of flower, and you all are suffering this much, why don’t you ask me for flowers?” You have already provided the most important tree, and you almost passed out from motion sickness in order to deliver the trees. How could I disturb your rest for a flower?
Wen Liansheng did not explain, but said: “No need since you’re here to deliver anyway.”
So next, Bai Xiaohu started to take flowers out of the space. The ordinary citizen staying at home could ignore the smell for the time being, but the people fighting on the front line of insect extermination must not be missing a flower.
Wen Liansheng immediately gave the life-saving little white flowers to the people of the Baishou Team and the Zhongyang Team and then notified the official to come and pick up the flowers.
The official probably had been waiting for this news for a long time, and immediately sent several space-type espers to pick up the flowers. The number of space-type espers is few, and most of their spaces are not large, ranging from a few cubic meters to the size of a large house. They are very useful in transporting or storing things that cannot withstand bumps, cannot be exposed, and are extremely valuable.
Especially in the current situation where vehicles are inconvenient to travel. Furthermore, they hold great responsibility for the emergency transportation of particular materials. Now, the top space-type espers who declared loyalty to the government have emptied all the important items in their space and come to transport the flowers.
Bai Xiaohu filled the space of another space esper: “Is it full? Oh, there is still a little space, that’s perfect, take these herbs. Instructions on how to use them are here, this is more important than flowers. Also, you are going to where Lu Ye is, right? Remember to bring this package to him.”
This space esper said with a bitter face: “It can’t be stuffed in, the flower juice is about to be squeezed out.” He looked inward at his own space and said so.
Bai Xiaohu said: “Then take out some flowers!”
Space esper: “… I think we can still squeeze it in if we try.”
Bai Xiaohu: “……”
So the space esper walked out of the Baishou Team with a space full of fragrant little white flowers squeezed to the point of deformation, and headed out of the base.
He is on a mission to send these fragrant flowers to his comrades. They would be moved to tears for sure.
……
The situation outside the base was countless times more severe than inside the base. The mountains and plains were full of mutant insects crawling out of the soil and muddy water. Wind and rain in this storm seemed to give them extra strength. They grew bigger, stronger, more bizarre, and crawled faster.
Insect extermination activities similar to those in the base were everywhere out of the base. People lit fires with firewood to attract mutant insects. The crane, or a makeshift crane when there were not enough cranes, kept scooping up bags of insects and sending them for incineration. They were almost too busy to handle the demand.
In less than a minute, a huge pit can be filled up, and if it is not handled in time, the insects will overflow and directly threaten the people around.
So regardless if it is lifting the bugs, burning bugs, or digging new pits and igniting new fires, they are so busy in the wind and rain, that they can’t dare to relax.
In order to avoid being bitten by bugs, these people are fully armed, drenched in heavy rain, and sweat accumulates in their clothes. Even if their bodies are soaked and numb, even if they are suffocated by the stench, they dare not stop. Because once they stop, these bugs will immediately rush to the base behind them.
However, this sea of bugs is all over the mountains and plains, it seems endless. After killing so many, there are still so many more that continue to break out of the ground. When will it truly end?
At this time, an airtight armored vehicle drove out of the base. A well-armed man got out of the car and stepped into the mud and water killing seven or eight insects with one step. He walked all the way to the nearest pest control team without looking around, and shouted from the top of his lungs: “Benefits are here!”
The pest control team looked at him numbly. They were really pained by the stench and were in no mood to talk.
The man was not angry. A bunch of white delicate flowers suddenly appear in his hand: “One for each person. Don’t crush it or throw it away. If you lose it, it won’t be replaced!”
As soon as the bunch of flowers appeared, a fragrance spread, refreshing everyone around. A man operating the crane took a flower first, and a muffled voice came out from the mask: “What is this?”
“It can help you never smell the stench again.”
The man quickly moved closer to smell it, and his eyes lit up immediately: “It smells so good!” If he was trapped in a hell of stench just now, feeling hopeless about life, feeling that the sea of insects was endless, could not be extinguished, and feeling that he would be suffocated to death in the next moment. Then at this moment, he seemed to be in a room full of romantic flowers, feeling refreshed and full of strength. Insects? WTF the insects! They are just a group of reptiles, watch him kill all of them!
Seeing him like this, others couldn’t wait to receive their flowers and soon became intoxicated by the smell. Some people held the flowers in their hands, some stuffed the flowers in their masks, and some pinned them on their collars. People who were no longer pained by the stench had a better mental state, and they worked more vigorously.
Lu Ye was a mobile patrol officer, wandering among various pest control teams.
His role is to kill insects when an accident occurs in a certain group, such as when a fire pile burns out and a new one is not lit in time, when a crane fails to empty the overflowing insect pit, or when an incinerator explodes and insects run out.
In short, he has to deal with emergencies in a timely manner, so this position is not easy. While walking on the muddy ground, he couldn’t help wondering if the little girl had woken up. Her weak appearance yesterday was really distressing.
However, after he sent her to the dormitory building, he was sent away on the grounds that he was not suitable to stay.
Lu Ye was a little depressed, but he did have to leave. On the one hand, staying in Bai Xiaohu’s room would have a bad influence on her, and on the other hand, he had other things to do.
However, after leaving, he couldn’t visit her when he wished to, not yesterday, not this morning.
He deeply doubted whether the decision to let Bai Xiaohu set up a new team was wrong, or whether the Zhongyang Team could be merged into the Baishou Team so that he would not have to go to the Baishou Team as a visitor.
He took out a little white flower that looked a bit wilted and dried from his pocket, put it to his nose, and sniffed it lightly, seriously considering.
The fragrance of this flower has become much lighter, and it is estimated that it will wither completely not long after, but his action still aroused the envy and jealousy of the nearby pest control people.
They all knew that the flower was very fragrant and could drive away the stink of insects. When they had to roll their eyes repeatedly because of the smell, wear gas masks, spray perfume, and let wind-type espers blow as hard as they could, yet nothing worked. The other party could still be calm and relaxed with an indifferent attitude.
So angry, if only they had someone who could give them flowers.
Just then, the space esper who brought warmth came. Everyone got a flower, and everyone cheered.
Lu Ye immediately asked the space esper: “Did Bai Xiaohu give you these flowers?”
“Yes, Captain Bai provided a lot of flowers. By the way, Captain Lu, she also has something special for you.”
Lu Ye accepted it and took a look. It was a familiar little pocket made of white cloth with dense and intricate patterns, similar to a sachet. It was bulging with some petals, some grass leaves, some plant roots, some powder, and a small stone that looked like jade but not jade.
The whole thing exuded a faint fragrance, which was more complex and diverse than the fragrance of white flowers, but long-lasting, shallow, and pleasant. There was also a note inside, on it was Bai Xiaohu’s elementary schooler-like handwriting saying: Put it in your pocket to deodorize, more convenient and lasting than flowers.
Lu Ye smiled and put the sachet in his pocket. The invisible fragrance supported a fresh and pure field around him, completely eliminating the stench.
