Chapter 191: Winter Preparations and Squad Alliances

Xia Qing set up the greenhouse for two reasons: to have fresh vegetables all year round and a steady supply of Greenlight spinach. As long as she could grow spinach throughout the seasons, she’d never run out of Premium Nutrient Solution.

The Premium Nutrient Solution wasn’t just essential for her and Boss Sheep—Evolved Wolves loved this “medicine” too. It made for a great trade: she could swap it with the wolves for Yi Stones and Greenlight prey.

Qi Fu agreed right away. “I’ve been waiting for you to say that! Don’t worry, my wife and I would never hold you back. Once we’re in the Evolver Forest, just tell us what to do and we’ll do it.”

Xia Qing asked, “Qi Ge, is your wife also a Strength Evolver?”

Qi Fu answered, “Back in the Safe Zone, she had one-point-eight times the normal strength. After six months here, she’s gotten a lot tougher—definitely second-level now. If it’s a risky job, I’ll go with you. If it’s somewhere safe, the three of us can go together and you can let my wife help carry supplies and get some experience.”

Well, both husband and wife were Strength Evolvers. If they had kids, no doubt they’d pass it down. Xia Qing thought, if their days kept getting better, having a child would be the next thing on their minds.

Xia Qing shared her excitement with Boss Sheep. “Boss, looks like we’ve got more allies now.”

Unlike Hu Zifeng’s squad from Plot One, Qi Fu and his wife had the same goal as Xia Qing—they were all determined to farm well. Qi Fu brought a wealth of farming knowledge, plus he knew a lot about plants. Teaming up with him to explore the edges of the Evolver Forest would get Xia Qing much better results than going solo.

If Shi Du also decided not to head back to the Safe Zone for winter, she could rope him in as well. Even the greenhouse plans could be discussed with the people from Territory Five and Territory Ten to work together.

The more she thought about it, the more Xia Qing looked forward to this winter.

A group made up of three or four Strength Evolvers could carry a lot, but their ability to handle risks was pretty low. Even if they were just exploring a few kilometers along the edges of the Evolver Forest, they needed to prepare thoroughly.

Xia Qing didn’t lack gear for forest expeditions. Her main focus right now was on improving her abilities.

No matter how busy she was, Xia Qing always made sure to set aside time for training—physical strength, aim, reaction speed, and pinpoint sound localization. Every session, she pushed herself to exhaustion, then gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep going for at least another half-hour, training until she was too tired to get up.

After two weeks of high-intensity training, Xia Qing saw clear progress: where it used to take her fifteen minutes to circle her territory, now she could do it in twelve.

Territory Three was nine kilometers around. Finishing a loop in twelve minutes was already second-level Speed Evolver territory. Sure, she was still a long way off from the fourth-level benchmark Luo Pei had mentioned, but every bit of progress was worth celebrating.

Flat on her back, grinning up at the blue sky, Xia Qing called out, “Boss, pretty impressive, right?”

Boss Sheep, who had joined her on the run, flopped down beside her, panting. Strength Evolver or not, this kind of sprinting was tough for it.

She had no idea what was going through its head. Even though Boss Sheep was totally spent each time, it still insisted on running with Xia Qing—however long or fast she ran, it matched her pace.

It wasn’t just Boss Sheep. The Sick Wolf came along too, though its body was weak. Unable to keep up with Xia Qing and Boss Sheep, it just meandered along the hills, fields, and valleys they’d passed, and who knew where it had wandered off to by now.

“Done with your run, Xia Qing?” Tang Huai piped up in a friendly tone over the Lord’s Channel. “If you’re finished, I’m heading over to dig bugs at the wild grass wall north in Territory Two.”

Xia Qing’s daily runs around her territory didn’t bother her neighbor to the east, Zhao Ze, but they really got on the nerves of her southern neighbor, Tang Huai, the Hearing Evolver in Territory Two.

Ever since Tang Huai had been chewed out by his father, he didn’t dare curse out people outside Plot One in the Lord’s Channel anymore. Now, he just threw in sarcastic jabs.

Xia Qing was in such a good mood that she picked up her Walkie-Talkie and replied, “All done.”

She hadn’t expected Tang Huai to respond, but he couldn’t help asking, “Xia Qing, what’s the point of working yourself to the bone like this?”

Xia Qing answered seriously, “I want to be able to better defend my territory if there’s another attack.”

Tang Huai scoffed, dripping with sarcasm, “So you think running faster can protect your territory? You think you can outrun evolved beasts on the ground, or flying predators in the sky?”

Before Xia Qing could reply, Hu Zifeng chimed in. “Xia Qing doesn’t have to outrun the best runners or fliers among the evolved beasts. When disaster hits, she just has to run faster than most people to survive. And you—well, you’re the ‘most people.'”

Damn it!

Tang Huai was about to slam his Walkie-Talkie and curse back when his father cut in, “Captain Hu’s got it right.”

Tang Huai was speechless.

His dad had completely ruined his day!

Even though Hu Zifeng argued fiercely with Tang Huai almost every day, he was still plenty respectful to Tang Zhengbo. “Director Tang, still no sign of Sufeng Squad’s pangolin?”

With Hu Zifeng bringing up the pangolin, everyone with a Walkie-Talkie pricked up their ears. Xia Qing even sat up to listen.

After sending Zhang Yong and Xu Juan to sound out Xia Qing and confirm the pangolin wasn’t in Territory Three, the Sufeng Squad poured most of their manpower into combing the Evolver Forest—especially the swamp in the north of Mountain Forty-Nine.

Seven days later, the Sufeng Squad had scoured that swamp clean but still hadn’t found a single new scale. Tang Sufeng, who’d never suffered a setback this big, blew a gasket. He slammed the two scales they’d managed to find onto the big desk at Hui San Base and demanded compensation from the Azure Dragon Unit.

But getting a single point out of that tightwad Azure Dragon Unit? Dream on.

After Tang Sufeng kicked up a huge fuss, Yang Jin revealed ironclad proof on the spot that Sufeng Squad members had sneaked into Mountain Forty-Nine. With no way to argue, the Sufeng Squad had to swallow their anger and cough up three hundred thousand points to compensate the Azure Dragon Unit.

“You should be glad the pangolin died outside of Mountain Forty-Nine. If it had died just three li farther south, you’d be owing me a lot more than three hundred thousand.”

Chen Cheng cracked Xia Qing up imitating Yang Jin holding a gun and confronting Tang Sufeng. Xia Qing doubled over with laughter and couldn’t help but admire Yang Jin’s sharp mind.

Sufeng Squad lost two pricey, auction-bought pangolins, never found a single Yi Stone, and still had to pay Azure Dragon Unit three hundred thousand.

Three hundred thousand—exactly the amount Luo Pei had given Xia Qing in exchange for two pangolins. Maybe Yang Jin and Xie Yu had already come up with a plan the moment Xia Qing called.

Now that Hu Zifeng was the one asking about the pangolins, Xia Qing wondered: Was Plot One up to something, or was the Sufeng Squad making another move, and Plot One caught wind of it? She leaned against Boss Sheep, listening eagerly.

Tang Zhengbo replied at an even pace, “This morning, Huai got notice from the squad—he’s to keep assisting in the search for the pangolin’s whereabouts.”

Still searching?

Could it be the two pangolins caught by the Wolf Pack weren’t actually the ones Sufeng Squad lost?

Hu Zifeng voiced Xia Qing’s doubt outright. “So those two scales you found weren’t from your missing pangolins?”