Chapter 760: Chapter 760: Relocating to the Wetland

"So, are we going to go ahead with the plan here? I’m worried about one thing—if we plant trees, will they come over and cause trouble, or even dig up the seeds?" Liam Sterling’s concerns were valid.

Evelyn Ford took out a topographical map. "We’ll head upstream. I remember there’s a wetland on the prairie, probably about fifty kilometers from here."

"When do we leave?"

"The sooner the better. Let’s go tomorrow."

After they had agreed to leave, Rhys Chase was called away again. Some survivors had come looking for him. The food they had been given was almost gone, and as the base leader, the survivors were trying to get more food from him, or find out the locations of other underground warehouses.

"The base only has one underground warehouse, and all the food inside has already been distributed to everyone. The iron plate at the entrance has been pried open. If you don’t believe me, you can go inside and check for yourselves. The base truly has no more food."

Some people believed Rhys Chase’s words, while others didn’t. Some went even further, thinking Rhys Chase was feigning selflessness while hiding food for himself. They clamored for him to hand over the food, while others, remembering his kindness, desperately tried to stop the crowd from turning on him.

"The human heart is a fickle thing. Just a few days ago they were bowing in gratitude, and now that they’ve finished the food we gave them, they’ve completely turned on us." Quincy’s cynical remarks infuriated some of the people nearby. They rushed forward to start trouble, but then Ethan Dawson came out with a gun, and the troublemakers lost their nerve.

After the group left with their tails between their legs, Quincy spat at their retreating backs.

"We need to leave, now. The farther we get from these people, the better. Here we are, being all selfless, thinking about planting trees to improve the ecosystem so everyone can survive. And what’s the result? These people turn on us the moment their bellies are full."

"There are still people who see the bigger picture. A few are unreasonable and selfish, but most are kind and grateful. Didn’t you see? A lot of people just stood up for us, blocking the troublemakers. Try to see it from their perspective. If we had no food, we might act the same way. Human nature is just complex." Liam Sterling patted Quincy’s shoulder.

"Don’t be angry. What we need to do now is focus on creating an ecological forest as quickly as possible. Nothing else matters."

To leave without being noticed, the group chose to depart late at night. Although there were many survivors living around their tents, everyone was several hundred meters away. Combined with the pitch-black night, as long as they made no noise, slipping away wouldn’t be difficult.

They packed up all the tents and grabbed their pots and pans. Peter Owens and Ryan Rowe carried Flynn Hansen and Leo Denton, who were unable to walk. Led by Rhys Chase and Ronan Kendrick, the group departed silently into the night.

A day later, they finally reached the wetland Evelyn Ford had mentioned. The area had been completely devastated by the fireballs, and the ground was covered in a dense spread of craters and fireball fragments. After setting up camp, they began their planting project.

Including the dozen or so people who had been trapped with Rhys Chase’s group in the underground warehouse, their entire group numbered just over twenty people. Creating an ecological forest to improve the environment was no simple task. Evelyn Ford did a rough calculation: on average, each person would have to plant at least fifty trees a day. She had saplings in her space, so they could just transplant them. If they had to start from seeds, it would take at least three to five years to grow a single tree.

Once the tents were set up, Officer Graham stayed behind to cook while everyone else grabbed hoes and went to work.

Evelyn Ford was in her space, responsible for digging up black soil with an excavator. Ronan Kendrick and Ethan Dawson were in charge of digging holes. The others spread the black soil into the holes as fertilizer, and after the saplings were planted, covered them with more black soil. Joelle Finch, Micah Manning, and Wendy were responsible for watering, while Zoe and Annie were in charge of distributing saplings to the adults.

With the work assignments set, Rhys Chase took Liam Sterling and Ryan Rowe to survey the land. Centering on the wetland, they drew up a regional plan for an area covering hundreds of acres. Different types of saplings would be planted in different zones, with resilient Four Seasons Green grass seeds scattered in between. At the center of the wetland, Rhys assigned five people to dig a pond. Since there was no water, they would just have to make a pond.

After moving to the wetland, Evelyn Ford entered her space and hardly ever came out. She used the excavator to dig up black soil, and after that, she had to send out water tanks so the others could water and irrigate the newly planted saplings. Fortunately, the water Evelyn had stockpiled from the Corinth Reservoir more than ten years ago wasn’t used up yet. Her space also held a large amount of snow that she and Ronan Kendrick had gathered while living on the deserted island, which was now coming in handy.

The black soil remained fertile even after being moved out of the space, and the planted saplings all survived with a very low mortality rate. Everyone worked day and night; not even the two children rested. Planting hundreds of acres was not something that could be finished overnight. Worried she might not have enough saplings, Evelyn planted more in her space. The dense fog was growing thicker. Even though they had installed utility poles, run electrical wires, and set up streetlights in the wetland, it was no match for the oppressive, dark fog. Everyone had to wear gas masks and face masks whenever they went out to work. Jonas Lucas’s resistance was weaker, and he was already showing signs of poisoning. Fortunately, the special antidote was still effective against this toxin; he was fine after taking it.

Meanwhile, back at the base, when the other survivors learned that the group had left, they assumed they had fled with the food. They organized a search party, but Evelyn’s group had gone too far. After searching a twenty-kilometer radius and finding nothing, the survivors fell back into their previous life of despair. Once their meager food supplies ran out, they went back to eating Famine Clay Soil. In the crowd, a small boy glanced toward the prairie. Clutching the food he held close to his chest, he took advantage of the adults’ inattention in the distance and quietly led a few other children away from the group.

At the wetland, Evelyn Ford was inspecting the saplings with a flashlight. Looking at the vigorously growing trees, one by one, she silently thanked her past self. ’Even while on the run, I didn’t forget to dig up any saplings I could find along the way. Back then, I never would have imagined that one day, we would depend on these saplings to survive.’

Besides the saplings, Evelyn Ford had also planted numerous fruit trees, including red fruit saplings and cacti. She planted any and every green plant she had. They had been busy for a month, and although they were still a long way from their goal of planting the entire area of hundreds of acres, looking at the trees under the lights, Evelyn felt that maybe surviving wouldn’t be so difficult after all.

Next to the tents, the group had also set up a small vegetable garden. Whenever Officer Graham had free time, he would tend to the garden, and he had even planted quite a few vegetables.

The pond was already beginning to take shape. Evelyn’s plan was for it to be half the size of a soccer field. Without the pond, she would have to constantly transport water out of her space. Since she was the only one who could enter the space, if she had to transport all the water by herself, she would eventually work herself to death.

"Evelyn, even if we plant a forest covering hundreds of acres, I’m afraid it won’t be enough to purify the dense fog and carbon ash particles."

"Then we’ll plant a few hundred more acres. And if that’s not enough, we’ll head south, planting as we go. Sooner or later, the fog will be purified."

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