Chapter 10: The Stubborn Evolver Sheep and the Springtime Toon Harvest

Under Xia Qing’s watchful gaze, the evolver sheep wandered over to a young Chinese toon tree, lifted its head and chomped off the tender shoots at the very top.

Xia Qing glanced at the now-shortened tree branch, then stared wide-eyed at the sheep’s annoyingly smug face as it chewed away.

Wait… did this sheep evolve better teeth or something?

After swallowing the toon shoot, the little fat-tailed sheep looked up at Xia Qing again. Seeing her frozen in place, its eyes narrowed even more, it scraped the ground with its hooves and… suddenly charged at the large toon tree.

Bang!

Xia Qing hugged the violently trembling tree trunk, feeling her own heart jolt with it.

No need to guess—this thing’s a strength-type evolver sheep! But what’s it doing, headbutting the tree just to shake me off?

This was her first time encountering an evolver sheep. Do they even eat meat now?

Bang!

The evolver sheep rammed the tree trunk again. Seeing Xia Qing still hanging on, it suddenly turned around, aiming its spiraled horns toward her basket under the tree.

That scared Xia Qing stiff. She yelled, “Don’t!”

Seeing the sheep stop, Xia Qing quickly pleaded, “Come on, big guy—let’s talk this out. Don’t ram anything.”

The sheep didn’t charge, but it started scraping the ground, ready to go again. Xia Qing snapped off two clusters of toon shoots and threw them over. “Hey big guy, have some toon shoots. They’re way tastier than ginger or garlic.”

The evolver sheep dropped its stance, lowered its head and scarfed down the toon shoots.

Once Xia Qing saw it liked the toon shoots, she hurried to toss down a few more handfuls, coaxing the sheep away from her precious basket.

She wasn’t sure how much this sheep could eat, but it devoured more than a hundred clusters of toon shoots before finally settling down with a satisfied grunt, no longer interested in ramming trees or eyeing Xia Qing’s basket.

Evolver animals were split into two types: those who absorbed more Xiang (Life Drain Element) and turned aggressive, and those with more Yi (Vitality Element) who stayed true to their original habits. Since this sheep calmed down after eating, it was probably a Yi evolver.

Relieved, Xia Qing stuffed her basket full of toon shoots, climbed down from the tree and continued her foraging. The sheep, sprawled beneath the toon tree, lazily cracked one eye open at her before dozing off again.

There were five families living on this hillside. After checking all five homes and finding nothing new, Xia Qing returned to the big toon tree, dug up a few saplings poking through the soil, and planned to transplant them to her own territory.

“Baa.”

The evolver sheep suddenly called out as it saw Xia Qing getting ready to leave.

She turned, catching it eyeing her basket, and couldn’t help but sigh. “Still want more toon shoots?”

“Baa.”

“Didn’t you just eat your fill?”

“Baa.”

“I’m heading out. Next time we meet, I’ll bring you more.” Xia Qing picked up her pace, but the sheep actually stood up, scraped its hooves and aimed those spiraled horns right at her.

Crap!

That got Xia Qing fired up too. She set her basket and toon saplings aside and squared off. “Come on, let’s see who’s really stronger!”

The evolver sheep barreled right up to her, raised its front hoof and slammed its spiraled horns at Xia Qing.

She braced her arms and shouted, “Open!”

Only, the sheep didn’t budge. Instead, Xia Qing found herself sent flying by the blow.

She tumbled back in a somersault and gave up, now behaving. “What, you want more toon shoots?”

“Baa.”

“Fine.” Xia Qing dumped all the toon shoots from her bag onto the ground. “Eat up.”

The sheep shot her a look of utter contempt, flopped down to guard its pile of shoots and began slow, contented chewing.

With no way to match the sheep’s strength, Xia Qing climbed the tree again, picked another half-basket of toon shoots and came down.

Seeing the evolver sheep get up and eyeing her again, Xia Qing poured some spring water into a cracked clay jar and set it in front of the sheep. “Tired from eating? Have some water.”

The sheep sniffed at the jar, then began to drink.

Seizing the chance, Xia Qing swooped up her saplings and basket, dashed straight down the hillside, crossed the barrier and hurried back into her Buffer Forest. She glanced back, saw the sheep hadn’t followed and burst out laughing.

She honestly hadn’t felt this happy in a long, long time.

She wasn’t a match for the evolver sheep’s strength, but with her weapons, Xia Qing was confident she could kill it if she wanted. Only, this sheep was clever and strong and she really didn’t want to kill it—she wanted to keep it.

If she ran into it again that afternoon, she’d lure it back to her territory with toon shoots and spring water.

Because she’d sprinted so fast, most of the dirt had fallen off the toon sapling roots. Xia Qing couldn’t be sure if they’d survive the transplant. She put two saplings by the spring, five along her courtyard and watered them thoroughly.

If that didn’t work, she’d just collect more next time she craved toon shoots. After all, she’d checked—the only big animal on that slope was the sheep.

After planting the saplings, Xia Qing went inside, pulled out a book on ginger and garlic cultivation, broke off seven pieces from the ginger by its buds and separated all the garlic into cloves. She made sure to keep some original soil, planted them in her west garden bed and doused them all with plenty of spring water.

Then she took the toon shoots that had been soaking in salt water, blanched them in boiling water, chopped them up, mixed them with salt and chili powder, and packed them into sterilized glass jars.

Those two jars of spicy pickled toon shoots would be enough for a whole month.

After such a productive morning, Xia Qing decided to treat herself. She poured a little oil and stir-fried a big plate of toon shoots, ate until she was completely full with some compressed rations, then flopped down in a chair.

Days like this were just too comfortable.

To keep life this pleasant, she’d have to work hard. After cleaning up the kitchen, Xia Qing locked the door, grabbed two water buckets and headed straight for the back mountain. She set the buckets under the spring, blocked it with a stone, then crossed the barrier, put on her protective mask and stepped into the Evolver Forest.

This time, to avoid the gluttonous sheep guarding the toon tree, Xia Qing headed north from Plot Four into a different part of the Evolver Forest.

She was extra cautious now. After climbing over a 300-meter-high slope, Xia Qing discovered a valley dense with trees. She could just make out old terraced fields up the slopes, a pond in the center, and some ruined houses.

Valleys with water and thick forest were always far more dangerous than bare hillsides. Xia Qing was about to retreat when she heard faint grunts—wild piglets by the pond.

Wild boars. Meat!

Piglets—meat she could actually catch!

Mouth watering, Xia Qing gripped her machete and crept downhill. The noises got louder. By the pond, a huge brown-black sow appeared, easily over 300 pounds and coated with a thick layer of mud.

Boars this big could brush off bullets, let alone her machete. But Xia Qing’s eyes darted to the little piglets playing near their giant mom—those were her real target.