Chapter 140

“Brother Zhou’s here?”

“Yeah, he just arrived.”

On the morning of November 17, Zhou Hai rode his motorcycle to the Changluo Shrubland Zone. The Shrubland Zone was about twenty kilometers from the Protective Forest. Since the two project areas were adjacent, he often came by whenever he had free time. It was now ten in the morning, and after parking his motorcycle, he asked, “Old Han’s not around?”

Dr. Han, who had a PhD, was mainly responsible for observation and restoration work in the Shrubland Zone.

Just as Zhou Hai finished asking, a staff member replied, “He’s at Plot A36.”

Plot A36 was about two kilometers away. After doing a quick calculation, Zhou Hai patted a nearby tractor and said, “I’ll take this.”

“Go ahead,” the staff member said casually.

Zhou Hai was a familiar face in the Shrubland Zone—he knew the place better than most of the staff.

The Changluo Shrubland Zone was a key ecological project in Liaoning Province, focused on planting cold-resistant shrubs. After a year of growth, the shrubs here had already reached a height of one meter. Half an hour later, Zhou Hai arrived at a grove of redbuds. A sign at the edge of the grove read: A36.

He parked the tractor and walked into the grove.

The redbuds stood about a meter tall. Before long, Zhou Hai spotted Old Han crouching down.

Old Han was holding a camera and a notepad, taking photos and recording data on the redbuds. Zhou Hai watched for a while, then asked, “How’s it looking?”

“When did you get here?” Old Han was startled.

Zhou Hai pointed toward the road. “Came by tractor.”

Old Han adjusted his glasses. He had been so focused on his work that he hadn’t noticed.

After chatting for a bit, Zhou Hai asked, “Are we using Locust Fertilizer again this year, or switching to Improved Fertilizer?”

They had been using Locust Fertilizer in the shrublands, but based on its properties, it was time for a change.

“The province just issued a notice. This year we’re using Vitality 01,” Old Han replied.

Zhou Hai was stunned for a moment before it clicked—Vitality 01 had finally been developed. Unlike other fertilizers, Vitality 01 didn’t require repeated applications. It worked like a powerful detox salve, capable of thoroughly cleansing the soil of acid rain residue.

“That’s great,” Zhou Hai said with genuine envy. Ever since Longxia had announced the development of Improved Fertilizer, he’d been looking forward to it. Now the Shrubland Zone was already using Vitality 01, while the Protective Forest was still stuck with Locust Fertilizer, and even that was in short supply…

“It won’t be long,” Old Han said reassuringly.

“I know,” Zhou Hai smiled.

At 12:10, the two returned to the living quarters.

“Brother Wang made braised pork belly,” someone announced. Lunch was ready in the service area.

“Already?” Old Han asked as he changed clothes.

“We’ve got stir-fried pork with wood ear mushrooms, garlic tomatoes, and braised eggplant with green beans,” the cook listed off the dishes one by one.

These were all simple, home-style dishes. After the Food Crisis, the price of such meals had soared to over fifty yuan per dish. For the first half of the year, the living quarters had subsisted on lettuce and tomatoes. But ever since Improved Fertilizer came into use, the variety on the table had grown. Now green beans were down to 7.8 yuan per jin, and people could finally afford everyday vegetables again.

“Tastes great!”

“The green beans are perfect.”

“These tomatoes are delicious.”

…

Five minutes later, everyone dug in. Despite the simplicity of the dishes, they ate with the satisfaction of a royal banquet.

At 1:20, Zhou Hai patted his belly contentedly. “Old Wang’s cooking is amazing.”

Old Wang, the cook for the living quarters, beamed. “There’s still rice in the pot. Go grab another bowl!”

Zhou Hai didn’t stand on ceremony and went to get more.

Though Zhou Hai wasn’t officially part of the Shrubland Zone, he visited so often and always brought pork or side dishes that over time, he’d become like one of their own.

Half an hour later, everyone was lounging around in a post-lunch stupor. Zhou Hai chatted with the others about the Hugua Virus and was just about to head to the restroom when his phone rang in his pocket.

He answered the call, and three minutes later, he grabbed his jacket in a hurry. “I have to go.”

“Something up at the Protective Forest?” Old Han asked, surprised.

“Someone from the Forestry Bureau just arrived,” Zhou Hai said as he came out of the restroom and quickly started up his motorcycle.

Three seconds later, the engine roared to life.

“Is it serious?” Old Han stood up and called out. The Forestry Bureau had visited the Protective Forest before, but Zhou Hai had always handled things calmly.

As the motorcycle disappeared past the gate, Zhou Hai’s voice drifted back faintly, “They’re here to cut down trees.”

Everyone in the living quarters: ???

Here to cut down trees?

…

Half an hour later, Zhou Hai returned to the Protective Forest cabin. Outside the cabin stood Director Changluo, along with a man in his early forties.

“Let me introduce you. This is Director Zhang from the Logging Station. And this is Forest Ranger Zhou Hai…” Director Changluo made the introductions.

“Director Zhang,” Zhou Hai greeted him quickly.

“I know you. You were in the Liaoning Daily a couple years ago,” Director Zhang said with a hearty laugh.

He was referring to the winter of 3028, when a blizzard struck Longbei. Zhou Hai and Wang Xiangdong had been trapped in the Protective Forest for half a month. After their rescue, a reporter from Liaoning Province interviewed them, and Zhou Hai’s story was featured in the provincial newspaper.

That shared reference helped break the ice and brought them closer.

Over the next two hours, Zhou Hai gave Director Changluo and Director Zhang a tour of the area. The Changluo Protective Forest was primarily composed of Korean pines, larches, and red willows. After walking a full circuit, Director Zhang patted a nearby larch and said, “These trees haven’t fully decayed yet. They could probably last another two years…”

Just yesterday afternoon, the Provincial Forestry Bureau had issued a notice: within the next ten years, all land in Liaoning Province’s Protective Forests would undergo restructuring. Reforming the land was easy, but the Protective Forests were filled with dead and dying trees. If all of them were cleared at once, it could trigger a major ecological crisis across the country.

The reason Longxia had never implemented a Protective Forest was simple: all the trees in the Protective Forest were dead. Not just one or two, but hundreds of millions of mu of dead trees. Though lifeless, these trees still provided some function in windbreaking and sand fixation. After careful planning by the Provincial Forestry Bureau, Liaoning Province decided to carry out a Two-Step Plan for the province’s Protective Forest.

Step one: clear out the dead trees by region, spray the area with Vitality 01, and plant new protective saplings.

Step two: once the saplings grow tall, move on to clear the dead trees in the next area. And so on, repeating the process until the entire Protective Forest is filled with towering trees.

…

“Probably twenty years,” Director Changluo said with a sigh.

It takes ten years to grow a tree, a hundred to nurture a person. Now, three generations of forest guardians in Longbei had seen their efforts wiped out. All they could do was start over.

Zhou Hai fell silent after hearing this. He was born and raised in Changluo Township. His grandfather had been one of the old-generation forest guardians. He had watched many of these trees grow up, and in recent years, he had watched them rot, dry out, and die.

Looking at the vast stretches of death before him, Zhou Hai had often wished the trees might miraculously come back to life overnight. But there were no miracles here. Dead trees stayed dead. All they could do was cut them down and replant.

Over the next two days, the Provincial Forestry Bureau sent professional planners to survey the area. After on-site measurements and planning, they decided to designate ten thousand mu in the southern part of Changluo Township as the first phase of the project.

At the front of the Phase One site stood rows of towering dead trees. These trees could still hold out for another year before decaying. By the time they weathered away, the saplings would be tall enough to serve as windbreaks.

With the project confirmed, the next step was to bring in professional logging teams. There were no green branches to obstruct the work, so the trunks and limbs were quickly loaded onto trucks and hauled away. A week later, the ten thousand mu in southern Changluo lay bare and empty.

“All cut down?” It was a rest day. Old Han showed up with a bottle of baijiu in hand to visit Zhou Hai.

“All done,” Zhou Hai replied. He had thought about lighting a cigarette, but remembering the forest guardians’ code, he refrained.

Open flames were forbidden in forest zones. Even though the area was now barren, no longer a forest, he still didn’t want to break the rule.

“Out with the old, in with the new,” Old Han said, patting Zhou Hai on the shoulder in consolation. Then he asked, “When are they spraying the Vitality 01?”

“The pesticide just arrived. We’ll wait a couple days for better weather.”

“Machine-sprayed or manual?”

“Machine first, then manual for a second pass.”

The two chatted idly for a while. Zhou Hai suddenly felt a chill at the tip of his nose.

He looked up. Snowflakes were falling in a soft rustle.

Winter had come again.