Chapter 193: Back in the Game: The Squad Reunites

“Third Brother isn’t exactly smart. He’s just petty,” Tang Huai muttered before pressing the button. “Third Brother, I really didn’t mean it that way. Please don’t take it the wrong way. How could I let you pay for the pangolin?”

Tang Huai’s apology was drowned out by the chorus of welcomes. No one paid it any mind.

Xia Qing, with her sharp hearing, happily noticed the background sounds when Luo Pei and Zhang San spoke were exactly the same.

So the two of them were together—or maybe they both just got back at the same time?

Inside the armored vehicle driving along the main road connecting Territories One to Twenty-Eight, Luo Pei turned to Zhang San. “Thanks, Third Brother.”

Zhang San slumped in his seat, looking utterly drained, not even sparing Luo Pei a glance.

Luo Pei then looked to Yan Long in the front passenger seat. “Thanks a lot.”

Yan Long shot him a sharp sideways glance, her phoenix eyes cold. Luo Pei just grinned wider. “Got it. When I get back, I’ll tell Old Tan and Qi Qi to come thank you in person.”

Just like Luo Pei and Tan Junjie, Yan Long had joined the army at the same time as Tan Junjie’s wife. They were comrades from the same batch.

Yan Long eyed the faint traces of poison still marring Luo Pei’s face, clearly annoyed. “The day after tomorrow, you and I—let’s have a match up on Mountain Forty-Nine.”

Ji Li, sitting beside Zhang San, lit up at the mention of two experts getting ready to spar.

“Spare me. I haven’t recovered yet, I wouldn’t stand a chance against you,” Luo Pei pleaded.

Zhang San, looking pale and sickly, asked, “Did you really catch the Sufeng Squad’s pangolin?”

The sharper Zhang San’s medical skills, the pettier he was. Luo Pei knew better than to lie. He admitted honestly, “Strictly speaking, the Sufeng Squad’s pangolin got spooked and ran off, then was killed by a beast in the woods. We just picked up the remains.”

The details about how the ‘beast’ dragged the pangolin into Xia Qing’s territory, and how Xia Qing then passed it on to them, were deliberately left out by Luo Pei.

“Was it Greenlight?”

Luo Pei answered, “Both were Greenlight. The little one’s meat wasn’t contaminated and stayed fresh. Third Brother, want to try some?”

Zhang San shook his head and offered a trade, “You don’t need two pangolins to treat your poisoning. Give me twenty scales from the back of the big pangolin, and I’ll make you a medicine to help your digestion.”

Since Zhang San had written Luo Pei’s detox prescription, he knew exactly how much of everything was needed.

“Thank you, Third Brother. I’ll have someone deliver them to the north barrier of Territory Seven in half an hour,” Luo Pei replied just as the armored vehicle pulled up under the road sign at the southern end of Territory Seven.

The first thing Zhang San did after returning to his territory was call for the chef and ask, “What’s there to eat?”

The chef of Territory Seven beamed. “While you were away, Lord, we traded with Territory Three and got one Greenlight pig, two Greenlight black-maned geese, three Greenlight wild rabbits, one Greenlight young sika deer, and half a Greenlight python. Right now, we’ve got five-spiced smoked sausage ready to eat.”

Since no one knew when the lord would be back, the Greenlight game traded from Territory Three had all been cleaned and preserved, except for some of the pork, which had been made into smoked sausage.

Zhang San’s tiredness visibly faded. “Braised pig ears, mouthwatering goose, and bitter melon snake soup.”

“Of course. Any vegetables you’d like?”

“I’ll head to the greenhouse and pick some out myself.”

With his mood finally improved, Zhang San changed clothes and entered the cultivation shed to check on his crops. He found the spinach he’d planted before leaving had grown to palm-size, ready for harvest.

As he picked spinach leaves, Zhang San called Xia Qing.

After sending so much Greenlight game to Territory Seven, Xia Qing never expected that as soon as her idol got back, she’d get a call. She answered immediately. “Third Brother, you’re finally home!”

While picking spinach, Zhang San asked, “How’s your spinach doing?”

Xia Qing walked toward her own veggie shed as she replied, “I followed your cultivation guide as best I could. I sowed three hundred spinach seeds and got two hundred plants in total. The germination rate’s up from before, but the cold snap during the hail storm really slowed them down. Should I pick some leaves now and bring them over for you?”

Previously, when Xia Qing used spring water on Greenlight seeds, the germination rate was sixty percent. With Zhang San’s method, it had increased to sixty-seven percent.

During this period, Xia Qing fed the sick wolf spinach juice every day, but never once took a leaf from the hundred spinach plants set aside for Zhang San. Thankfully, she kept her promise—her idol was back and the first thing he asked about was the spinach.

Hearing Xia Qing say the spinach was slow to grow, Zhang San picked a little extra from his own crop. “As long as they’re healthy and not smashed to bits, a slow start is normal with this weather. What do you want to trade for all those Greenlight animals you’ve sent over recently?”

Xia Qing had been sending loads of meat to Territory Seven with a very clear goal. “Third Brother, I want more of that medicine you gave me—the one to mix into spinach juice. And I need two temperature and humidity control units, each covering thirty square meters.”

Zhang San understood right away. “So you want to store food in your territory? Even with those environmental units, unless you’ve got a Xiang element filter, your food will last for three months at best.”

Of course, Xia Qing wasn’t about to reveal she had a Yi Stone. “I just want to try. I can’t bear to trade away all the food I grow myself.”

Zhang San turned and asked the people beside him before replying, “We don’t have anything for thirty square meters, only ones that cover forty. How many grams of medicine do you need?”

Xia Qing asked politely, “Could I trade for a hundred grams?”

“Sure. Two units, a hundred grams of medicine. But for the parasitic wolf’s surgery and medicine bills, as well as the other wolves’ treatment, the Greenlight food you’ve sent barely covers it.”

Passing the spinach to someone at his side, Zhang San felt cheerful enough to up the offer. “Send over another seventy jin of Greenlight meat.”

She wanted to, but couldn’t be sure how much longer the wolves could keep delivering. “Third Brother, how many more days can those two wolves stay and recover in my place? If they leave sooner and can’t send the full seventy jin, can I pay the rest in points or other Greenlight food?”

Handing off the spinach, Zhang San instructed Xia Qing, “Bring all three wolves over tomorrow morning and I’ll check their recovery.”

The brain-evolved wolf with the injured back had needed a recheck for a while now. Xia Qing agreed right away. “No problem. Now that you’re back, have a good meal and get some rest.”

With her idol home and the supplies secured, Xia Qing felt her spirits lift—and so did her appetite. She picked two extra eggplants to add to tonight’s meal!

The next morning, a little after 4 a.m., the alpha wolf delivered food to Territory Three right on time.

Ever since the Sufeng Squad left, the alpha wolf had taken responsibility for bringing food to the old wolves convalescing in Xia Qing’s territory—even without her reminders.

Xia Qing hadn’t brought the two injured wolves back, so they were still recovering in the abandoned cave. She continued to visit every other day to change the dressing on the wolf with the injured back. At least now she could go in daylight and finally get a full night’s sleep.

Hearing movement downstairs, Xia Qing went to check and saw that the alpha had brought two wild chickens—a hen and a rooster. The alpha and the sick wolf were standing in the courtyard, watching the yellow weasel pluck chicken feathers.