Chapter 1089: Fire, Honey, and the Taste of Home

As Chonglian’s medium helicopter thundered through the air over Territory Eight, Yang Jin, wearing a special protective suit and with a few flesh-colored bandages on his face, carried a suitcase straight into the little kitchen next to the meeting room.

When Yang Jin opened the case, Xia Qing saw beef sealed in transparent vacuum bags, completely enveloped in a milky, sticky liquid—her appetite dropped by half just looking at it.

So this is wax-sealed beef? It really doesn’t look appetizing at all…

But Yang Jin exuded confidence. “Sister Qing, do you have a charcoal oven here?”

Xia Qing tore her gaze away from the meat and nodded calmly. “Yeah, I’ll go get it. That bucket has drinking water, and the tap over there gives filtered water.”

Of course, in Section Three, the drinking water can only be pure spring water.

Once Xia Qing left the kitchen, Yang Jin quickly checked the recipe and notes burned into his memory, took a deep breath, took off his protective suit, washed and disinfected his hands and started preparing the beef step by step.

After leaving the meeting room and heading south for more than two hundred meters, Xia Qing bent down beside Er and joined it in stealthily watching the little yellow calf tied to a big tree fifty meters away.

Er, who’d never lost in front of the wolf pack, Old Goat, Number Four, Red Fox’s Family and Xia Qing, had finally met his match with this little calf. Even though Xia Qing had bathed him last night and he smelled fresh with not even a trace of blood, the calf was still scared of him and refused to eat the food he brought.

Honestly, you couldn’t blame the calf. As a herbivore, being afraid of a sharp-clawed, fanged evolved wolf was just natural.

Yang Jin watched quietly through the kitchen window, taking in the sight of Xia Qing and the wolf crouching together to watch the calf, his eyes full of happiness. Not far away, Old Goat was munching on grass, shooting an unhappy look toward Yang Jin in the kitchen before finishing his grass stalk and shuffling to a basket under the tree to eat the fresh pasture grass inside.

Since entering Section Three, the little calf hadn’t eaten a bite. Seeing the grass in the basket slowly disappear, hunger finally won out and the calf walked over to Old Goat and took a few tufts for itself.

The second the calf started to eat, Er and Xia Qing turned to each other at the same time, both breaking into big, happy grins.

As long as the calf’s eating grass, it’ll survive for sure!

If they could raise the calf to adulthood, Xia Qing and Er would finally get to drink milk.

To keep Er from constantly drooling over one of Section Three’s most important livestock, Xia Qing had spent ages last night explaining the benefits of keeping this calf around.

Once she finished explaining, obedient Er finally stopped crouching by the windowsill, peering into the sheep shed with those glowing green eyes.

Xia Qing scratched Er’s neck, stood up and headed home to fetch the oven and rice cooker. As she walked past the meeting room, she caught the sweet scent of honey and picked up her pace.

The moment she stepped into the kitchen, Xia Qing froze for a second. Yang Jin had taken off his protective suit, now stood in a loose black t-shirt and an apron tied around his waist, scraping sticky waxy honey from the beef at the stove.

Xia Qing never felt anything when awkward Tang Huai or chubby Er Yong filled the tiny kitchen, but with Yang Jin there the place suddenly felt shabby and cramped.

But so what if it was shabby? She didn’t even have enough building materials to finish the new barn, let alone time or supplies to upgrade a kitchen she barely needed herself.

Noticing Xia Qing sneaking a look, Yang Jin grew a little nervous, set down his knife and asked with a smile, “Did you make this oven? Looks solid and sturdy. The meat’s almost ready. Can you get the charcoal burning?”

“Sure.” Xia Qing set the oven by the stove, pulled out a bamboo basket filled with charcoal from under one of the shelves and started lighting the fire.

Xia Qing had made the charcoal herself using dead Green Lantern pines. After more than a year in the territory, her charcoal-making skills had improved a lot and the results were now solid—with minimal smoke once lit.

Yang Jin glanced sidelong at Xia Qing crouched beside him, heart pounding out of control and his ears gradually turning red.

After the fire started, Xia Qing stood up and asked, “Should I start steaming the rice now?”

“Yeah. Once the rice is on, how about picking some vegetables you want?” Yang Jin thought with Xia Qing standing there he’d definitely mess up the beef.

Of course, that worked for her.

Xia Qing rinsed the rice quickly, added four thick slices of Green Lantern pumpkin and grabbed a basket to pick veggies from Greenhouse One. Since they’d already have something hearty for lunch, she planned to make a spicy-sour cucumber stir-fry and a simple tomato egg drop soup. Perfect!

“Third Brother, you there? I’m Xin Yu’s cousin, Yu Wenchuang. I brought some newly cultivated edible Green Lantern hazel mushrooms from White San Base. Thought I’d drop them off—maybe something extra for lunch?”

Yu Wenchuang’s voice came over the lord communicator, sounding overly friendly.

Hearing that White San Base had grown edible hazel mushrooms, Tang Huai was practically drooling. But since Yu Wenchuang called for Zhang San, he’d have to hold back his cravings.

Three whole minutes passed before Zhang Jingwu responded through the communicator. “Territory Seven has nothing to trade.”

After getting turned down by Territory Seven, Yu Wenchuang changed targets. “Miss Xia, Lord of Section Three, are you there?”

Suddenly all the lords perked up their ears. Aside from newcomer Yu Wenchuang, everyone else knew exactly who was at Xia Qing’s territory.

Sure enough, Yang Jin’s voice came through, “Xia Qing went out to pick veggies and didn’t take her communicator. Yu, you got business with her?”

Yu Wenchuang went quiet for a few seconds, sounding uncertain. “Are you Captain Yang of the Azure Dragon Squad?”

Yang Jin’s tone was teasing. “Yu, you must have evolved your brain domain. Your memory’s even sharper than a level-one brain evolver’s.”

Everyone else…

Why did Captain Yang, always so cold, sound so different today?

Yu Wenchuang was silent for a good ten seconds before asking, “Captain Yang, you’re inside Miss Xia’s territory?”

“Yeah. Finally managed to finish up with the squad so I could come over and relax, and cook Xia Qing the juicy beef she’s been craving since before the Devastation Rain. You needed something from her?”

Everyone else…

Yu Wenchuang sounded unruffled. “There’s something I’d like to discuss with Miss Xia.”

Not only did Yang Jin not turn him away, he even offered, “Have you had lunch yet, Yu? If not, come over and join us—we can talk while we eat.”

“Like I could hold any sort of discussion right in Section Three!” Yu Wenchuang retorted irritably. “Already ate.”

Yang Jin pressed the button again. “Alright. So is the hazel mushroom you brought dried or fresh? What supplies would you want in exchange?”

Everyone else…

Yu Wenchuang was so frustrated he wanted to scream, but with Chonglian in crisis he couldn’t risk angering the top-ranked Azure Dragon Squad’s captain—so he forced out an even reply. “Really sorry, I didn’t bring many mushrooms this time.”

Back in Territory Two, Tang Huai was laughing so hard he almost rolled off the floor.

Meanwhile in Section Three’s little kitchen, the smell of burning wafted through the air. Yang Jin fumbled to flip the roast meat, quickly sliced off the charred outside, blew on it twice and popped it into his mouth before carrying on calmly, pulling out a few pieces of charcoal and going back to grilling as if nothing had happened.