Chapter 325: A Game of Fertilizer and Favors

Qi Fu asked, “Old Kuang, are you getting boron fertilizer because we can buy rapeseed seeds now?”

Well-informed as ever, Kuang Qingwei replied, “That’s right. I got reliable news that at the autumn agricultural trade fair this year, the Territory Management Department will be selling Yellowlight rapeseed seeds. Every territory can exchange or buy half a jin at a discounted price.”

Once everyone heard Kuang Qingwei say this, the others lined up to order boron fertilizer too. It was going for 30 credits a jin.

Thankfully, you don’t need much of this fertilizer. Otherwise, everyone would second-guess planting rapeseed flowers at all.

Rapeseed flowers need more than boron fertilizer; they require other base fertilizers as well. Now, the lords—who were already short on fertilizer—found themselves even more desperate.

Xiao Liu, assistant from Territory Nine, seized the chance to go online: “Lords, the corn stalks and grass harvested in your fields make great material for fermenting plant-based organic fertilizer. Corn stalks are pretty tough, so without a potent compost starter, it’s hard to break them down fully. Are you all out of compost starter?”

While doing the dishes, Xia Qing snickered, “Boss, aren’t I a genius? From now on, we’re never buying compost starter from Territory Nine again.”

Kuang Qingwei responded politely, “Assistant Liu, could you lower the price on the compost starter a bit? Folks in the Safe Zone sell a regular version for 10 credits a jin. It’s not as potent and it ferments slower, but one jin mixed with water is enough for two cubic meters of fertilizer—ten times cheaper than yours.”

With compost starter ten times cheaper now, who wouldn’t be tempted?

Xia Qing wiped her hands, then climbed to the top of the building to guard the corn with Er Gou, waiting on Xiao Liu’s reply.

Assistant Xiao Liu kept it professional and friendly: “Mr. Kuang, our high-efficiency compost starter is patented. It’s packed with live bacteria, shortens fermenting time and has sterilizing and deodorizing properties too.”

Once it was clear Xiao Liu had no plans to drop the price, Kuang Qingwei went silent.

Shizhong chimed in, “Old Kuang, how does this compost starter actually work?”

Kuang Qingwei answered, “The Squad Alliance uses this exact compost starter for fermenting animal manure—they’re already selling their fertilizer to outsiders now.”

Assistant Xiao Liu pressed on, “Is the Squad Alliance’s fertilizer fully composted? Are the weed seeds, pathogens and insect eggs in the manure all killed off?”

Now that Assistant Xiao Liu had brought it up, everyone started to second-guess themselves.

A new, unfamiliar voice piped up in the lords’ channel: “Assistant Liu, I’m Xie Yu from the Squad Alliance. The manure fertilizer we sell has passed official quality checks. Every index meets the new post-catastrophe standards, and the kill rate for weed seeds, pathogens and insect eggs in the composted raw material is 95 percent. May I ask what kill rate your territory’s compost starter achieves?”

With Xiao Liu’s public question about the Squad Alliance’s fertilizer quality, it just so happened that Xie Yu—an Alliance council member—was around to set the record straight.

Assistant Xiao Liu replied, “Ours is 90 percent, a little below your Alliance’s kill rate. But the lords here compost plant stems and leaves grown in greenhouses, which means what you listed—weed seeds, pathogens, and insect eggs—appear at levels more than 80 percent lower than what’s collected from the Evolved Forest. So hitting 90 percent is more than enough.”

Having clarified that the Alliance’s fertilizer was perfectly safe, Xie Yu didn’t press the issue. He responded courteously, “If the compost starter alone manages a 90 percent kill rate, then your starter is indeed superior to what we use. We achieved 95 percent by combining the starter with other sanitizing steps.”

No sooner had Xie Yu finished when Xu Pin from Territory Two jumped online: “Hey everyone, I’m Xu Pin from the Squad Alliance. Just like Councilman Xie said, our composted, deodorized animal manure is top quality. If you need any, place an order with our patrol teams. It’s just three credits for two jin, and we’ll cover the shipping.”

All the lords were floored.

What on earth was going on? Xu Pin, the vice-captain of Sufeng Squad—ranked number one in Hui Three Base—and Xie Yu and Luo Pei, the vice-captains of Qinglong Squad—ranked number two—were all suddenly showing up in their territory?

Assistant Xiao Liu kept up his professional approach. “Lords, I’ve reported news of better compost starter competition in the Safe Zone to our lord. We’ll be reviewing the price for our high-efficiency compost starter and will let everyone know once there’s a decision.”

Zhang San lazily cut in, “A compost starter that only kills ninety percent of those harmful things isn’t exactly high tech. Just about anyone could whip up something like that.”

That just threw shade directly at Li Si’s ‘exclusive patent.’ The channel exploded.

Xia Qing gave Old Goat’s head a hearty slap. “Did you hear that, boss? That’s the wild man Zhang San, my idol!”

Old Goat squinted, then sent Xia Qing flying with a quick kick. Luckily, it knew they were on the roof, so it didn’t kick all that hard.

“Third Brother, could Territory Eight, Territory One, or the Squad Alliance work with you to produce compost starter?”

Xin Yu, Xie Yu and Xu Pin all spoke up at almost the same time. Each asked to team up with Zhang San, and almost word for word, too.

If the territory policy rollouts went smoothly, every agri-related industry would boom fast. Anyone with vision and skill wouldn’t pass up this chance.

What’s interesting—Luo Pei wanted ‘Territory One’ to work with Zhang San, while Xu Pin picked the ‘Squad Alliance.’

Before Zhang San even had a chance to respond, Assistant Xiao Liu popped up again: “Our lord has approved it. Territory Nine’s compost starter will drop to 30 credits a bag. If anyone needs some, you can place an order now.”

Territory Nine sold bags that each held four jin. So the price per jin was now down from 50 credits to just 7.5.

That price cut really stung the lords who’d splurged on expensive compost starter from Territory Nine.

But it also made clear: Territory Nine—or rather, the Blazing Fire Squad backing it—wasn’t about to give up their piece of the compost starter business.

With the Blazing Fire Squad, ranked first in Hui One Base, finally revealing their stance, both Sufeng Squad’s Xu Pin and Qinglong Squad’s Luo Pei and Xie Yu had a lot to consider. But Xin Yu didn’t hesitate for a second.

No sooner had Assistant Xiao Liu wrapped up than she sent out an invitation: “Third Brother, would you like to partner up?”

“Sure,” Zhang San replied lazily. “If you use my tech, you’ll boost the kill rate for those three harmful elements in composted fertilizer from the Evolved Forest to more than 96 percent.”

Whoa! That tops even Li Si’s fancy high-efficiency starter—that’s got to be premium stuff. When it comes to boldness, nobody beats Third Brother Zhang from Territory Seven!

Xu Pin promptly followed up, “Third Brother, could the Squad Alliance collaborate with you too?”

Xin Yu was right behind, “Third Brother, do you have time now? I’d like to visit your territory and talk details.”

Li Si went online, his voice icy. “When did Third Brother get interested in compost starter research?”

“Just now.” Zhang San’s answer to Li Si was as lazy as ever, then he replied to Xin Yu, “Come on over, and bring a pot of Green Lantern edible roses.”

“Got it,” answered Xin Yu.

Everyone else… Roses? Green Lantern? And they’re edible? Territory Eight really does have some of the most unique offerings around.

With Xin Yu’s determination, it looked like by next spring at the latest, the lords would be using ultra-effective compost starter from Territory Eight, boasting a sky-high 96 percent kill rate for weed seeds, insect eggs and pathogens.

Xia Qing flicked a stone, knocking two crows off the rooftop as they tried to peck at the netting. She sighed, “Third Brother’s a good guy. Xin Yu is really making waves. That was one heck of a contest.”

Back in Territory Two, Xu Pin’s face turned so dark it could have smudged a pot—completely ignored by Zhang San.

Over in Territory One, Xie Yu ruffled his curls. “Luo, do you think Xin Yu’s trip to Hui Three Base territory is all about Zhang San too?”