Chapter 244: Harvest Among the Stingers

After making sure not a single inch of her skin was exposed, Xia Qing circled to the far side of the creek, hiding behind a big tree. She quickly dug out a hole big enough to hide in, sprayed half a bottle of medicine on herself, took a deep breath and strode straight toward the chestnut tree.

If the bees broke through her defenses, she’d jump into the hole and block the entrance with her pack, then wait for the wasps to disperse before making her getaway.

The Evolved Wasps quickly spotted her, buzzing menacingly and surging her way in a swarm. But as soon as they got within two meters, they refused to come any closer, circling her in a tense hum.

“Only the best, straight from my idol!”

Relieved, Xia Qing rushed under the chestnut tree. After making sure the trunk wasn’t sticky or dangerous, she snipped off a branch to test it first.

Her luck was through the roof today—the very first tree was a Yellowlight! Without hesitation, Xia Qing climbed up and started snipping away, long-handled shears clicking as she worked.

Chestnut-laden branches soon littered the ground. The little Evolved Squirrels watching from a distance could only watch anxiously—they couldn’t get close with the wasps swarming.

Xia Qing, harassed by the angry wasps, stayed perched on the tree and kept working her four-and-a-half-meter shears until every chestnut within reach was trimmed. Just as she was about to climb higher, she spotted a super-sized wasp—bigger than her palm—emerging from the swarm, buzzing and charging right at her.

An Advanced Evolved Wasp!

Not sure if Zhang San’s medicine would work on a higher-level wasp, Xia Qing pulled her gun and shot the beast right in the head. Then she sprayed herself with another layer of medicine, eyes wary for more threats, as she climbed higher to finish harvesting the chestnuts. Only when the entire tree was bare did she finally climb down to gather her haul.

By the time she finished, Xia Qing had killed four Advanced Evolved Wasps—and confirmed the medicine only worked on the normal evolved kind.

Haul collected, she clipped a branch from a few other chestnut trees, slipped them into separate small bags, shouldered her heavy pack and made her way home. The wasp swarm chased her all the way up the hillside before finally giving up.

Leaning against a tall pine, Xia Qing let out a long sigh of relief.

Turns out the medicine really could fend off regular Evolved Wasps, but all that buzzing was about to split her head open. The racket they made was almost like being pounded by sonic waves.

Her return trip was much faster, and by midday she was back inside the territory. Liangzi, who was standing guard, saw her return filthy, covered in bits of leaves, and lugging an enormous pack, but didn’t bat an eye. Anything could happen in Evolver Forest this time of day, after all. Getting back dirty but unhurt? That was already impressive. “Qing-jie, Territory Two delivered the plastic sheeting this morning. I left it in the farm shed.”

Xia Qing had arranged a trade this morning—greenhouse plastic sheeting with Territory Two—instructing the person watching the territory to dig up ten spinach plants from the greenhouse’s westernmost field for Tang Huai.

Once Liangzi headed back to Plot One, Xia Qing shouldered her chestnuts and went home.

The Alpha Wolf was out, but the Wolf with the Broken Leg had made it over. Three wolves and one sheep lounged comfortably in the clean sheep shed, resting. Xia Qing gave them a quick greeting and went inside to shower—only to realize, to her dismay, that the sticky chestnut leaves stuck to her protective suit just wouldn’t come off. No wonder the evolved bugs never escaped once they got stuck.

She swapped into clean clothes, then put her battered protective suit back on and checked on her spring-water fish. With the fish pond partly destroyed, the fish were thriving in the water tank, so she decided to just keep raising them there.

There were no evolved insect bodies outside the water tank or by the chicken coop—proof that Number Two had helped Boss Sheep clean up. Pleased, Xia Qing tossed the chickens into the cage, then sat in the yard to shell chestnuts.

This was a first. All three wolves and the sheep came over to watch.

Boss Sheep sniffed at the leaves, still reeking of bugs and dirt, and immediately pulled away with a disgusted look. The Wolf with the Spinal Injury and the Sick Wolf watched quietly as Xia Qing shelled the nuts, while the Wolf with the Broken Leg leaped around the pile like a lunatic.

If this had happened half a month ago, Xia Qing would have freaked out and aimed her gun. But by now, she just grumbled as she worked. “See that? Just grab a side with each paw and pull. The chestnut pops right open—easy! Not that you lot can manage, none of you have proper hands.”

The chestnuts from this Evolved Chestnut Tree were twice as big as any she’d seen before, with four or five giant nuts inside each spiky shell. Shelling these was incredibly satisfying.

“Woo—”

Suddenly, the Wolf with the Broken Leg slapped a paw on the ground and whined excitedly. Xia Qing glanced over and burst out laughing.

She hadn’t noticed while collecting, but she’d brought back a spiky ball the size of her fist that turned out to be a hedgehog. Xia Qing carefully plucked the chestnut burrs from its back and set the little creature aside.

The Wolf with the Broken Leg started bouncing excitedly around the tiny bundle, pawing and leaping around it. The Wolf with the Spinal Injury and the Sick Wolf weren’t interested, but Boss Sheep found it fun and joined the broken-legged wolf in their hedgehog dance.

Xia Qing filmed ten seconds of these two maniacs acting crazy, then went back to shelling chestnuts. She’d just harvested a hundred pounds of nuts from a single tree!

And this was just the beginning. There were twenty-three trees in the grove, though six hadn’t borne any nuts—she’d only finished one, leaving sixteen untouched.

Time to check the quality of the rest. Xia Qing pulled out a small bag, took a twig, squeezed out the juice and tested it—Yellowlight!

Another branch—Yellowlight!

A third—Greenlight!

A fourth…

Amazingly, all sixteen trees were edible, and four of them were Greenlight quality!

After ten years of calamity, this was the first time Xia Qing had ever found such a generous Evolver Forest.

“We hit the jackpot! Boss, Number Two, Broken-Back, Broken-Leg—we struck gold!” She jumped up, even higher than the wolf and sheep cavorting with the hedgehog.

After coming down from her excitement, Xia Qing started planning how to harvest all the nuts as quickly as possible. If it were just one or two trees, she could handle it herself by tomorrow. But with this many, it’d have to be a team job.

Xia Qing contacted Hu Zifeng first, then switched on her walkie-talkie. “Territory Ten, Shi Du—are you there?”

The chestnut-picking crew would need three roles: harvesting, carrying, and eliminating Advanced Evolved Wasps.

In other words, they’d need sharpshooters and strength evolvers on this team.

Shi Du replied right away, “I’m here, Qing-jie.”

Xia Qing got straight to the point. “Are you available to run a mission tomorrow?”

“Absolutely! Thank you, Qing-jie.” Territory Ten suffered heavy losses during the Xiang Rain, and Shi’s mother was injured. Shi Du urgently needed supplies. Xia Qing’s willingness to bring him on a mission—especially with her strong ties to Plot One—made him especially grateful.

“Great. Meet me at the North Barrier of Territory Three at six tomorrow morning.”

Once she’d arranged things with Shi Du, Tang Huai chimed in, “Xia Qing, what sort of mission are you doing? Can I join you?”

“Are you a level-four strength evolver or higher?” Xia Qing asked.

Tang Huai replied at once, “No, but I am pretty strong. And I’m a level five Hearing Evolver!”

Xia Qing answered matter-of-factly, “That area’s got serious noise interference. It’s not suitable for hearing evolvers.”

Tang Huai was left speechless.