Chapter 408: Wounds, Trades, and the Silent Negotiation

Inside Territory Two, Xu Pin held back Tang Heng, who was lunging for the walkie-talkie. Tang Huai was still wracked with painful coughs, blood soaking through the bandages on his leg and starting to pool on the floor—his wounds had split open again.

Tang Zhengsu’s face was as dark as a thundercloud as he closed the distance to Tang Huai, step by step.

Pinned by Xu Pin, Tang Heng roared, “Tang Zhengsu, if anything happens to my brother, your whole family will have to pay with their lives!”

Tang Zhengsu had just started to turn away when Tang Huai suddenly let out a laugh.

“Heh… Heh—cough, cough—heh—ptui!”

Struggling to sit up, Tang Huai spat out a mouthful of bloody spit. His bloodshot eyes glared at Tang Zhengsu with utter contempt, his voice rasping, “Old Tang, even after you ‘evolved’ you’re still a coward. Go on, if you’ve got guts, kill me. Kick me right here if you dare!”

“Bro…” Tang Heng looked like he was about to crack, terrified that his brother would push this any further and Tang Zhengsu might actually kill him.

“Come on, cough—if you’ve got the guts, cough—” Tang Huai wheezed through more coughs, blocking Tang Zhengsu from hurting his younger brother.

Just as Tang Zhengsu stepped toward Tang Huai again, a voice crackled through the walkie-talkie: it was Zhou Zhaoping, the board secretary of the Chonglian Group. “Director Tang, can Territory Eight trade for your purple sweet potatoes?”

Tang Zhengbo replied warmly, “I don’t have many purple sweet potatoes, but since you want to trade, of course it’s fine, Brother Zhou. I can offer you up to three catties, no more.”

Zhou Zhaoping gave a polite smile. “Much appreciated. I have half a plant of Green Lantern–evolved ginseng for you. Give it to Young Master Tang to help restore his blood.”

Tang Zhengsu froze in place, his face stormy.

“Heh—cough, cough, cough…” Tang Huai coughed and laughed at the same time, mocking Tang Zhengsu as spineless.

Yang Jin’s voice came next. “Director Tang, can Territory One use Green Lantern Angelica to trade for your purple sweet potatoes?”

Tang Zhengbo maintained his gentle tone, utterly calm. “Certainly, but the most I can trade is three catties.”

“Thank you.” Yang Jin replied.

Then Li Si joined in. “Territory Twelve—what are the stabilization rate and Devastation evolution probability for your Green Lantern purple sweet potatoes?”

“If they’re grown outdoors and you take the second Devastation Rain of the year for reference, with its intensity and duration, the aggressive Devastation evolution rate is 35 percent,” Tang Zhengbo answered evenly.

At that probability, the regular territory leaders quickly abandoned any plans to trade.

Li Si still proposed a deal. “Can Territory Nine trade for three catties of regular sweet potatoes? We’ll offer you two doses of Blazing Fire Squad’s blood-replenishing medicine.”

“That’s fine.” Holding the walkie-talkie, Tang Zhengbo glanced at Tang Zhengsu standing by the window, his voice still unhurried as if he couldn’t hear his eldest son’s coughing or see the murderous look on Tang Zhengsu’s face.

“Third Brother, Brother Zhou, Captain Yang, Fourth Sister—my deepest thanks for helping when Tang Huai was hurt. I, Tang Zhengbo, will never forget this favor, and someday, I’ll repay you all.”

Carrying a bundle of C-section steel frames, Xia Qing glanced over her shoulder. Then Liangzi, the level-six Auditory Evolutionary in Hu Zifeng’s Squad, piped up. “Did you guys hear that? When Tang Zhengbo was talking, someone was coughing in the background. Sounds like someone’s injured.”

“Our ears aren’t nearly as sharp as yours.” Chen Cheng called out cheerfully to Xia Qing, “Sister Qing, the sweet potatoes are cooked!”

“Coming.”

Xia Qing set down the steel frames, brushed the soil from her protective suit, and called everyone over for some roasted sweet potato before they got back to work.

Liangzi and Chen Zheng split a piece of steaming, fragrant roasted sweet potato and kept chatting. “There’s definitely a reason Tang Zhengbo is choosing this moment to bring out the Green Lantern purple sweet potatoes.”

Peeling sweet potatoes, Xia Qing nodded. Not only had she heard someone coughing, she was certain the cougher was Tang Huai. She recognized that raspy, injury-worn voice from a previous encounter.

Tang Zhengbo had brought out the Green Lantern purple sweet potatoes now to give himself more bargaining power in his negotiations with Tang Zhengsu inside Territory Two.

And that bargaining chip was nothing to scoff at.

Xiao Jiang munched on some delicious sweet potato and asked, “Why is everyone so interested in Green Lantern purple sweet potatoes with a 35 percent aggressive Devastation evolution rate?”

Everyone in Hu Zifeng’s Squad turned to Xia Qing. They were the main fighters and had taken on the task of protecting Section Three, but none of them knew farm crops like Xia Qing did.

Always tuned in to the daily agricultural broadcasts, Xia Qing explained, “Purple sweet potatoes, like carrots or cabbages, are Devastation Element–sensitive plants. Unless you grow them in an environment shielded from Devastation Elements, the evolution rate for aggressive Devastation is about seventy percent. So a thirty-five percent rate, like those in Territory Twelve, is already excellent among Devastation Element–sensitive plants.”

Da Jiang took another bite of his sweet potato, asking, “Are purple sweet potatoes really that different from the regular ones? Why go to all the trouble to study them?”

Er Yong, whose dad was a chef, answered this one. “Purple sweet potatoes have a really high anthocyanin content. Natural anthocyanins help balance metabolism, slow aging, and improve visual sensitivity. Sound worth the effort now?”

The fact that purple sweet potatoes could boost visual sensitivity made Xia Qing, a level-nine Vision Evolutionary, even more tempted.

After helping install the steel frames, plastic sheeting, and straw curtains on the second greenhouse, Hu Zifeng’s Squad left Section Three. Xia Qing pulled out her phone and sent a message to Yang Jin:

“Captain Yang, once you finish cultivating the purple sweet potato seedlings next year, can I trade forty Green Lantern sweet potato seedlings for ten of yours?”

It was about half an hour before Xia Qing got a reply from Yang Jin:

“Sure. Tang Huai’s been injured by Tang Zhengsu and already sent to Territory Seven. Xu Pin will leave tomorrow morning, taking a helicopter to the lake north of Hill Sixty.”

There are giant pythons and Devastation Snakes in that lake. If Xu Pin is heading there, it must be related to the Devastation Snake. Knowing that, it’s certain Yang Jin will go too.

If things get ugly over there, they’ll disturb the wolf pack on Hill Sixty-One and the bear pack on Hill Sixty. Who knows what kind of chain reaction they’ll set off.

Xia Qing took a deep breath, replied “received,” then was about to put her phone away when her tracker app for the Red Squirrel pinged with a notification.

The Red Squirrel had left Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine.

Xia Qing skipped cleaning up the greenhouse, rushed home to grab her gear, and hurried to Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine to wait for the Red Squirrel’s return.

Forty minutes later, the red dot representing the Red Squirrel appeared on Xia Qing’s tracker. Soon, she spotted a flash of red high in a pine tree, about twenty meters away. Its cheeks were puffed up, its little muddy paws clutching two peanuts!

After stashing the peanuts, the Red Squirrel darted east. Its newfound speed quickly left Xia Qing far behind.

But Xia Qing wasn’t in a hurry. She calmly waited at the spot where she’d lost sight of the squirrel, and over fifty minutes later, the Red Squirrel came back.

This time, it wasn’t just carrying peanuts. It was carrying wounds.

The snowy white fur on its belly was stained red with blood. An injury like that could be fatal without treatment, making all the food it had worked so hard to store in its six pantries worthless.

After watching the Red Squirrel stumble into its tree hollow, Xia Qing tossed a vial of inhaled painkiller inside, then quickly sealed the entrance.

Once the painkiller took effect, she fished the little thing out to examine the wound on its belly.