Chen Hao squatted beside the manure pile, his fingers just touching the thin thread carried by ants, when the clouds overhead suddenly pressed down. The wind picked up without warning, whipping up bits of grass and whipping his calves. He looked up at the sky; the dark clouds were like a lid, completely covering everything.

"I'm going to bet big," he said, taking a step back.

Nana stood two meters away, the camera panning across the ants on the ground, her voice a beat faster than usual: "The underground heat source signal is stronger; this isn't a normal ant colony migration."

"What do you mean?"

"Insect egg hatching countdown, outbreak within three minutes."

The moment he finished speaking, the first raindrop hit Chen Hao's nose. Immediately afterward, the entire sky seemed to have been overturned, with rain pelting down relentlessly, making the ground steam in the blink of an eye.

He didn't even bother to wipe his face; he reached into his pocket for his notebook, only to have it soaked through as soon as he pulled it out. The paper absorbed the water, and the writing immediately blurred, turning into a gray mess.

"Damn it, my data!" he cursed, stuffing the notebook back into his pocket.

Nana had already turned and run towards the tool rack. As the robotic arm unfolded, a metal rod popped out from the back hatch and opened the umbrella with a click—it was a temporary rain cover that she had converted from the sunshade of the shed.

"Prioritize protection for Zone B," she said. "The crops have just recovered and cannot be soaked in water."

Chen Hao wiped his face, grabbed the shovel leaning against the edge of the field, and said, "What are we waiting for? Dig a ditch!"

He rushed into the rain, nearly slipping and falling. Muddy water seeped into his shoes, making him shiver from the cold. But he didn't stop, continuing to dig, shovel by shovel, following the white lime lines Nana had marked the day before.

The soil quickly became sticky, and each dig felt like pulling a radish out of glue. Rainwater streamed down the shovel handle and into my sleeves, making my arms numb with cold.

"This soil is soaked with water. If we don't drain it, the roots will all rot!" he shouted, panting.

Nana set up four lamps behind him. Those maintenance lamps, originally used for general lighting, were now converted to ultraviolet light sources, their blue rays sweeping across the field ridges. A few seconds later, the ground began to tremble.

"I'm out," she said.

The soil clumps rose up, cracking open. Small, green-shelled beetles, the size of fingernails, emerged and swarmed all over the cucumber stems. Their mouths opened and closed, instantly creating honeycomb-like holes in the leaves.

"Holy crap!" Chen Hao's eyes widened. "Is this eating leaves or risking your life?"

“Food consumption estimate: Each animal consumes three times its own body weight in plant tissue per day.” Nana brought up the projector. “If left unchecked, the main cultivated area can be emptied within forty-eight hours.”

"Then why don't you hurry up and destroy them?"

"Executing." She pressed the switch, and the frequency of the ultraviolet lamp suddenly changed, spreading out with a low hum.

The beetles paused, some began to spin in place, and some fell to the ground convulsing. But most continued to climb upwards, seemingly unafraid of the light.

"The attempt to drive them away failed?" Chen Hao turned around and asked.

"The fact that some individuals exhibit approach-avoidance delay indicates that adaptive variation has already occurred."

"So that means it's evolved?"

"To be precise, it is a rapid screening under environmental pressure."

"Who's nitpicking with you!" He shook his head, sending a spray of rainwater flying. "Save the seedlings first! My ditch is almost cleared!"

He kept digging, his shoulders aching so badly he could barely lift them, and his palms blistered and bleeding. But he dared not stop, watching as the water upstream began to overflow the paddy field ridges, flowing downhill like a small river.

"Twenty centimeters deeper, and most of the water will be diverted!" he shouted through gritted teeth.

Nana suddenly exclaimed, "Watch out to the right! The soil structure is unstable!"

Just as Chen Hao was reacting, half of the ditch wall beside him collapsed with a crash. Muddy water mixed with debris rushed down, knocking him to the ground. He tried to get up, but his hand slipped, and he rolled down the muddy river.

The shovel flew out of his hand and hit a wooden stake in the distance.

"Hey—!" he cried out, instinctively reaching out to grab something, only to scoop up a handful of wet grass, which he tore off along with the roots and mud.

Just as he was about to be swept into the downstream ditch, a silver light shot out from the rain. Nana rushed to the edge of the ditch, her back hatch fully open, and an alloy tentacle shot out at high speed, wrapping around his wrist and pulling hard.

Chen Hao was thrown ashore like a fish, landing on the hard ground and coughing up a mouthful of muddy water.

"Where...where did you hide this thing?" He lay on the ground, panting, looking at the retracted mechanical arm. "You should have taken it out sooner!"

“In non-lethal crises, prioritize energy-saving mode,” she said. “Now we can switch to high-intensity operations.”

"Okay, okay, whatever you say is right." He struggled to sit up, soaked to the bone, his clothes clinging to his body like a shroud. His right arm was scraped raw, burning with pain.

But he still pointed upstream: "Dig a little deeper over there, connect it to the old canal, and 80% of the water can be diverted!"

Nana scanned the terrain and replanned the route: "The new drainage channel is twelve meters long with a slope of 3.7 degrees. Three obstacles need to be removed."

"You've calculated things very meticulously," he said with a wry smile. "But right now, I can't even stand up straight."

"Replenish calories and electrolytes." Nana took out an insulated bag from the side cabin and handed him a heated energy biscuit. "Eating this will restore your basic physical strength."

Chen Hao took the pancake and took a bite. The warm food slid into his stomach, and his body finally stopped trembling.

He ate while looking at the field. The ultraviolet lights were still flashing, and there were many dead insects on the ground, but many were still alive. The leaves were riddled with holes, and a patch of rapeseed flowers had fallen over.

"The fertilizer we painstakingly piled up was ruined halfway through, just as it was starting to show results," he muttered. "This life is worse than getting a bad review for takeout."

"The damage is manageable," Nana said. "Currently, 32% of the crop leaves are damaged, while the root system is more than 90% intact. If the weather clears up tomorrow, applying diluted fertilizer will restore growth."

"You're quite optimistic."

"I'm just stating the data."

Chen Hao finished the last bite of the pancake and stuffed the wrapper into his pocket. He stood up, his legs still a little weak, but his eyes were steady.

“Then let’s not rest,” he said. “Let’s drain the water first, then figure out how to control the pests.”

Nana nodded: "I suggest that when building flood control dikes, resin-mixed crushed stone should be used to reinforce the base to improve erosion resistance."

"If you say build it, I'll move the materials."

"The materials list has been generated, which includes scrap metal sheets, waterproof tarpaulin, resin residue and coarse sand."

"It sounds like building blocks."

"It is essentially the construction of an engineering structure."

"Anyway, you're in charge." He cracked his knuckles, picked up another shovel beside him, and said, "Let's go, let's keep going."

The rain was still falling, but it had lessened somewhat. The two walked along the ridges of the fields, one after the other. Chen Hao was in charge of clearing obstacles, while Nana used her tentacles to hold the drainage outlets in place. Mud and water splashed everywhere, and their shoes were full of wet sand, making a crunching sound with every step.

It took them two hours to finally clear the main ditch. The murky water flowed away along the newly opened channel, and the water in the fields began to recede slowly.

"It's working." Chen Hao stood by the ditch, watching the water level drop, and grinned.

Nana was examining samples of beetle carcasses when she suddenly looked up and said, "We found residual secretions containing organic acids, which may inhibit plant regeneration."

"They can even wage chemical warfare?"

"Potential hazards exist."

"From now on, I'll trample on every one I see."

"Inefficient, large-scale trapping is recommended."

"Just say what you have in mind."

“The smell of well-rotted compost can be used to simulate the egg-laying environment and set up trap pits.”

"Using stench to fish?"

The analogy holds true.

Chen Hao snorted and was about to speak when his stomach suddenly growled.

"I'm hungry," he said.

"Homework not completed."

"I know, but people still need to eat, right?"

"Rest can be taken in shifts."

"You should be a little more humane." He dragged his feet toward the workers' shed, then called back, "I'll be back after I heat up a bowl of noodles!"

Nana stood there, water dripping from her shell, the camera panning to the unfinished drainage ditch. Her system was calculating the amount of resin needed for tomorrow's construction, while simultaneously marking the three areas where the beetles were most concentrated.

Chen Hao walked to the entrance of the shed, pulled back the curtain, and went inside. It was dark inside. He felt for the switch on the electric heater and pressed it, and the machine started humming.

He took out instant noodles from the cabinet, tore open the packaging, and was about to boil water.

Nana's voice came from outside.

"The upstream soil layer was detected to be loosened again."

Chen Hao paused.

"What?"

"Cracks have appeared on the west bank of the embankment, and their width continues to expand."

He threw down the bucket and rushed out. The rain hadn't stopped, and the wind was blowing harder. When he reached the scene, he saw that a corner of the embankment had collapsed, and mud and water were seeping into it.

"If it collapses again, the entire western district will be flooded!"

Nana has already set up support frames on site: "We need to fill them with reinforcement materials immediately."

"Is there enough resin?"

"The remaining amount can cover five square meters."

"Then let's block this place first!"

Together, they placed the resin block into the crack, heated it with a welding torch to soften it, and then pressed it into the gap. Chen Hao burned his hand, pulled it back, shook it a couple of times, and didn't say a word.

After filling in the last spot, he sat down against his toolbox, too exhausted to speak.

Nana walked over and stood next to him.

"Today's task completion rate is 76 percent," she said. "The remaining work can continue tomorrow morning."

Chen Hao looked up at the sky and saw a crack in the dark clouds, through which a faint gray-white light shone through.

"I hope it won't rain tomorrow."

"The weather model predicts that the precipitation will continue until 2 a.m., after which it will turn into light rain."

"They're really not giving us a way out."

He closed his eyes and leaned against the box. The wind blew raindrops at an angle, hitting his face, cool and refreshing.

Nana looked down at him, and the inner layer of her armor activated its heating mode, becoming slightly hot on the side closest to him.

"Your body temperature is low; we recommend you return indoors."

“Sit a little longer,” he said. “I want to see if the water can be drained completely.”

In the distance, the water in the drainage ditch was slowly thinning. The water in the fields had receded to ankle height. Several dead beetles floated on the surface, gently swirling with the ripples.

Chen Hao stared at the ditch and suddenly said, "Let's start building the dam tomorrow."

Nana nodded: "The materials preparation is complete."

He didn't say anything more, but just placed his hands on his knees, his knuckles turning bluish-white from the cold and excessive force.