Chapter 272: Trading for Survival: Eagle, Mint, and Allies

Xia Qing handed over a cloth bag holding the Evolved Hawk and raised her voice. “I gave it a sedative and used a hemostatic, all traded from Territory Seven. I promise, none of it will make the hawk’s wounds worse. This one’s a Yellowlight breed and weighs exactly twenty-five pounds.”

She had to shout—between the roar of the helicopter, there was no other way to be heard.

A live Yellowlight animal fetches sixty points a pound in the Safe Zone. This hawk could sell for 1,500 points just for the meat. That was already Xia Qing’s lowest asking price.

“Thanks.” Xin Yu stepped up to take the bag. After a quick inspection, she started haggling. “This is an Evolved Raptor. Even with a broken wing, it’s still worth more than just the meat. I’ll give you two thousand points. How’s that sound?”

Xia Qing did tasks like this all the time and knew her prices. “Deal.”

Seeing Xia Qing agree so quickly, Xin Yu visibly relaxed. “Do you want points or supplies?”

“I’d like to trade for Greenlight Garlic and two rooted Greenlight Mint plants. Is that alright?” Xia Qing asked.

“That’s fine. Greenlight Garlic is a plantable seed, one clove for a hundred points. Mint’s the same price, a hundred per plant. Two thousand points gets you two mint plants and three garlic bulbs. I’ll give you the garlic now. The mint will have to wait until this pest outbreak is over—Captain Tan will bring them over then.” With that, Xin Yu dug out three garlic bulbs from her suit pocket and handed them to Xia Qing.

“Great, thank you.” Xia Qing was genuinely grateful, realizing Xin Yu must’ve guessed she’d ask for garlic and carried extra. A head of garlic usually has more than six cloves, but the middle ones are smaller so if you plant them the sprouts come up weak and if it rains hard the plants might mutate into Yellowlight or even Redlight levels. That’s why Xin Yu calculated generously, six cloves per head. Technically, Xin Yu was giving more than she had to.

Xin Yu didn’t say any more. She nodded, turned, and carried the hawk back to her territory.

As soon as Xin Yu walked off, Tang Huai piped up, “Xin Yu, what do you want an Evolved Hawk for? Even with one wing busted it’s still a hawk—hard to train, right? If you’re bored, wouldn’t rabbits be more fun?”

Xin Yu ignored him and kept going. Tang Huai’s pride took a hit, so he raised his voice. “Hey, seriously, don’t go too far! Stop for a second, I’ve got something real to discuss with you!”

To Xia Qing’s surprise, Xin Yu actually did stop.

She turned. Her brown protective mask was opaque, hiding whatever expression she might’ve worn, but her voice was icy cold.

“If it’s your business, I don’t care. If it’s territory business, talk to Tang Lu. If it’s your family, get your father or Tang Ning. You don’t qualify.”

When Xia Qing heard that last line—’you don’t qualify’—her opinion of Xin Yu shot even higher. Now that was backbone.

Tang Huai stomped his feet in frustration, but didn’t dare curse. Once Xin Yu was gone, he glanced around and realized Xia Qing had slipped away too. Only then did he mutter, “Every single one of them, all nuts…”

Xia Qing raised an eyebrow. ‘Every single one’ probably meant her and Xin Yu. The third? Maybe that’s why Tang Huai was having a tantrum in the Lords’ chat earlier?

She tucked the Greenlight Garlic into her suit pocket and continued touring her territory. There weren’t many pests in the greenhouse—everything looked fine. The half-bloomed cotton had been soaked with pesticide and would dry once morning sun hit. Up on the slope, Xia Qing had already sprayed the towering Greenlight Toon Tree, and it was doing better than the rest with almost no insects clinging to it.

The helicopter wouldn’t start spraying over the Buffer Forest for at least ten hours, so Xia Qing saw her earlier batch of pesticide was working and slung the sprayer on her back to coat the trees lining the walkway outside.

“The test is back. The modified pesticide works on leaf miner larvae about eighty percent of the time, but isn’t that great for Evolved Stinging Caterpillar larvae.” Zhang San’s voice sounded tired.

“These are a newly evolved type. They’re incredibly resistant; the modified pesticide only kills about twenty percent of them. I’ve got a high-grade evolved herb. Add it in and you’ll get a ninety-five percent kill rate against Evolved Stinging Caterpillars. Tan Junjie, talk to the Territory Management Department and see if they’ll buy it. Two hundred points a plant, and you only need two hundred to spray this whole area.”

“Roger that,” Tan Junjie answered immediately.

Hearing a ninety-five percent kill rate, the lords still catching bugs around the area grew excited and started chatting all at once.

Only Li Si’s voice cut through the noise, cold as ice. “San, tell me you’re not talking about the high-grade Evolved Black Gardenia I lost…”

“Not just that,” Zhang San replied, clearly in a good mood. “Some is from my own supply.”

His own supply? Where’d those seeds come from, then? Still from her high-grade Evolved Black Gardenia! Li Si gritted her teeth. “San, do you even know how rare high-grade evolved herbs are?!”

Zhang San’s voice had turned cool again—old grudges resurfacing. “I do what I want.”

Exactly. Nothing beats seeing your Idol happy! Xia Qing was about to express her awe but Zhao Ze beat her to it. “San, you’re a legend!”

Qi Fu was swept up, too. “If we can get it up to ninety-five percent, then we’ll make it through this infestation safe and sound!”

Zhu Li asked, “What about the surviving bugs? Will birds, frogs, and snakes be enough to finish them off? San, does your herb affect birds, frogs, or snakes?”

Zhang San responded, “A little. Not much. Definitely not fatal.”

The excitement died down a notch when Tan Junjie spoke up. “Since this is a small-scale outbreak in our area, the department has limited funds. They can’t buy herbs from Territory Seven. Lords, please coordinate among yourselves.”

Before Zhao Ze could complain, Xia Qing calmly replied, “Once the outbreak started, Captain Tan reported it to management right away. They applied for helicopter spraying immediately—that’s all in their job description. The Lord Law is clear. If it’s something lords can deal with themselves, we handle it ourselves.”

“I was hoping to save a little, but guess there’s no getting around it.” Kuang Qingwei, the dealmaker, started calculating. “San, you said we need two hundred plants for our whole area and you and Territory Nine don’t need any. That’s about one plant for every three acres—two hundred points a pop. How about anyone who wants the high-grade Black Gardenia pesticide just trades directly with you?”

Zhang San had put the offer out for a reason. “That works.”

“Thanks, San!” After thanking him, Kuang Qingwei jumped into action. “Everyone report in if you want some. I’ll buy it for the whole territory—trade for Greenlight plants or points.”

Xia Qing, Qi Fu, Zhao Ze, Hu Zifeng and others all put in their requests. Then Xin Yu spoke up: “Territory Eight needs the high-grade Black Gardenia pesticide—for the whole territory. We’ll trade Greenlight plants or points for it.”