Chapter 164: A Potent Spinach Brew and Broken Fields

“Baa~”

Boss Sheep’s voice turned squeaky—the spinach leaves are obviously working their magic.

Grinning, Xia Qing gave Boss Sheep’s head a playful rub. “It’s a waste to eat it like this. I’ll whip something up, just wait here!”

With good food on the line, there was no way Boss Sheep would stay put. It hopped up and trotted after Xia Qing, eager for its treat.

Xia Qing grabbed the juicer she’d traded with Zhang San, washed the spinach leaves, and juiced them. Half a basket yielded just ninety milliliters of thick, green spinach juice—just enough for a dose.

Next, she went upstairs to the storage room and fetched a vial of medicine from Zhang San. Carefully, she added four drops to the spinach juice and stirred it well. Using a syringe, she drew out fifteen milliliters of vibrant green juice and squirted it into her own mouth, savoring it with a look of pure bliss.

But this wasn’t just any spinach juice—this batch had a Yi element concentration of 0.06%, even more potent than the premium nutrient solution sold in the Safe Zone for two thousand points per fifteen milliliters.

Premium nutrient solution didn’t just boost your stamina—it also helped repair bodily injuries. It couldn’t fully match real Yi Solution, but at least it came with no side effects.

Watching Xia Qing mix up her concoction, you’d think she was a witch brewing poison. Luckily, Boss Sheep had no idea what a witch even was. All it knew was to gaze at Xia Qing with big eyes and bleat: “Baa~”

It wanted a taste too.

“Alright,” Xia Qing replied, drawing out another twenty milliliters of spinach juice and injecting it straight into Boss Sheep’s mouth. Not a drop was wasted—Boss Sheep polished it off instantly and then looked up at Xia Qing with those eager eyes, letting out another squeaky:

“Baa~”

Clearly, it wanted more.

“This is powerful stuff. Too much and your body won’t handle it,” Xia Qing told it, holding back. She grabbed two water basins the wolves used, dumped the water, and poured thirty milliliters of spinach juice into one.

The spinach juice barely covered the bottom of the bowl, but it was worth over four thousand points. Xia Qing set the basin outside the sheep shed and introduced it to her two VIP guests. “This spinach juice heals ultrasonic injuries. You both take a few sips—it’ll help you feel better.”

The Wolf with the Broken Leg ignored the bowl, still staring fiercely at Xia Qing. His gaze wasn’t as hostile as before, but wildness lingered—there was no reasoning with him.

The Brain-Evolved Wolf, however, was different. It understood human speech. Hearing Xia Qing, it propped itself up with newfound energy and crawled over to lap at the spinach juice.

After it drank half, Xia Qing reminded, “You can’t finish it all at once. Your body can’t take it—leave some for the wolf with the broken leg.”

The Brain-Evolved Wolf looked up, green juice dripping from the fur around its muzzle, looking strangely cute.

Xia Qing smiled, gesturing at the remaining juice and then at the wolf in the shed. “It’s medicine—let him have some too.”

Amazingly, the Brain-Evolved Wolf seemed to understand. With a single low growl, the wolf with the broken leg obediently limped over and started lapping up what was left.

Xia Qing once again had to admit—this wolf’s intelligence easily rivaled the alpha’s. No wonder it was treated with such respect.

Once both wolves had licked the bowl clean, Xia Qing washed it, refilled it with spring water, and was about to get back to fixing up the fields when she heard splashing from the bucket nearby.

Her spring-water fish were coming back to life!

Hurrying over, Xia Qing saw all four edible spring-water fish floating right side up—though they weren’t quite snappy or ready to bite just yet.

She scooped them out and dripped two drops of spinach juice into each fish’s mouth. Even the one still turning belly-up got a dose—at this point, anything was worth a try.

After saving what was left of the spinach juice, she headed out to clean up the corn, mung beans, and cotton the bird had smashed.

The crops in her fields weren’t dense, so only twenty or so stalks in each patch had been knocked down. The yellowlight mung beans could be replanted, but corn couldn’t—she had no more corn seeds left.

She picked up the walkie-talkie. “Uncle Shi, are you there?”

She wasn’t calling Qi Fu—his head injury meant he needed rest and was online less. She’d never asked about Shi Chong’s parents’ jobs before the disaster, but from the way Shi Chong chatted with Qi Fu on the Lord’s Channel, he clearly knew a thing or two about farming.

Even when the Inspection Team passed by, they chatted about how tidy and well-tended Plot Ten’s fields were. That’s why Xia Qing went to Shi Chong for advice. As for those rumors about Shi Chong’s parents wanting to set her up with their son—after Hu Zifeng publicly started ‘pursuing’ her, those plans faded away.

The walkie-talkie crackled and Shi Chong’s honest voice came through. “I’m here.”

“Uncle Shi, a bunch of my corn seedlings got crushed by an Evolved Bird. Is it okay to plant mung beans in the empty spots?”

Shi Chong replied, “You can, but corn grows tall. Don’t plant the mung beans too close or they won’t get enough sunlight and won’t grow well.”

After thanking him, Xia Qing squatted by the cornfield, trying to figure out what counted as ‘too close.’ Corn can shoot up over two meters, so unless she planted the mung beans right at the center, they’d end up in the shade.

Just two stalks? Hardly worth the seeds. She decided not to waste them and turned to tend the cotton.

Losing a handful of young corn and mung bean seedlings didn’t bother her much, but seeing those cotton plants covered in bolls and blooms broken on the ground—that stung.

In half a month, the bolls along the stems would have split open—just about time to harvest cotton. The Evolved Bird’s rampage had smashed her chance at a warm cotton cushion.

Ever since the disaster and the mass evolution of Blue Star’s wildlife, the climate had changed. Now, aside from the Xiang Rain, spring, summer, and autumn weren’t so different—winter, though, had become brutal.

Before the disaster, winter at the Hui San Base (December to February) was mild, around six degrees on average. Cold-tolerant vegetables could still grow out in the fields.

Now, though, the average winter temperature had dropped ten degrees to minus six, with lows reaching minus twenty. The bitter cold, dampness, and howling winds had turned winter into a season of pure hardship.

Her territory didn’t have giant walls to block the wind like the Safe Zone. Xia Qing knew this winter would be far colder than before. She needed whatever she could find to stay warm, which is why she’d been so careful with her cotton crop.

Cotton meant blankets and winter clothes. And those meant warmth.

What upset Xia Qing most was that two of the broken cotton plants were greenlight varieties. Of her over 8,200 plants spread across two acres, only forty-three were greenlight. Now, after the attack, there were just forty-one.

She never meant to eat the cottonseed oil, but since greenlight cotton’s chances of Xiang Evolution during Xiang Rain were lower than those of yellowlight, it was less risky to plant. She’d been treating those forty-something greenlight plants like precious jewels—saving them all for seed.

Every plant was precious in her eyes, pampered for months. And now, thanks to one stupid bird, two were gone—blood splattered, soil fouled.

She cleaned up the damaged crops in the greenhouse and by then, evening was falling. The chickens and geese were already in their cages.

Picking vegetables for dinner, Xia Qing stopped by the chicken enclosure to bring the cage home. With eight birds lost in one day, the cage felt much lighter. Not just that, the little chicks and goslings left behind—including the black-feathered rooster—had lost all their usual energy and peeps.