Chapter 427: Planting Choices and Unexpected Negotiations

The greenhouse in Section Three stretches fifty meters long and six meters wide. Inside, that’s a total of 300 square meters. Once you subtract the corners and walkways, the plantable area comes down to 250 square meters—not even half an acre. But for a territory with just one person, one sheep, and one wolf, that’s more than enough veggies to get by.

Xia Qing divided the 250 square meters into twenty-five narrow plots running north to south. Each vegetable bed is 1.6 meters wide with a 0.3-meter ridge between them. They kept it this narrow so it’s easy to kneel on the ridges to weed and add fertilizer later on.

Once the beds were all set, Xia Qing leaned against Old Goat, her feet brushing against Er Gou’s big paw. She did her best to tune out Zhou Xun’s blaring demands on the Lords’ channel, where he was calling for a search of every territory to find the helicopter saboteur. Instead, she scribbled away in her notebook, planning what to plant in this greenhouse.

Eggplant, string beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, and chili peppers—they’d already had two harvests of these this year. Xia Qing’s underground vegetable cellar was packed with both fresh and dried versions of all five, enough to last a long while. No need to plant any more this winter.

Spinach had to be first on her list. By January, she’d be out of her supply of premium nutrient shake and would need to juice fresh spinach to make more.

Right now, Xia Qing only had 1,200 high-evolution spinach seeds left. She could plant 400 this time, saving the rest for spring when things warmed up again.

From the batch of one hundred ordinary Green Lantern spinach seeds Zhang San had given her, since she hadn’t watered them with Pure Spring Water or protected them with Yi Stone, only twenty-eight matured in the end—thirteen Green Lantern and fifteen Yellow Lantern. She harvested 7,500 Green Lantern seeds and 8,800 Yellow Lantern seeds.

To avoid drawing attention, she decided to plant 400 of the ordinary Green Lantern spinach seeds, saving the rest for trading with other territories.

Second on the list was Greenlight Perilla.

Perilla doesn’t have high demands for fertilizer or water. Even in regular soil, its Devastation Element content rises by about 0.3% per crop, pretty stable as far as species go. That’s why the base’s Planting Center grows it in bulk, using it as the main ingredient for Section Three’s compressed ration bars.

In Xia Qing’s territory, Greenlight Perilla grows in soil with high Evolution Element, but its Devastation Element only climbs about 0.12% per crop. Most still mature as Green Lantern quality, so she ended up with nearly ten thousand Green Lantern seeds. Feeling generous, she set aside two thousand seeds to fill three beds.

There was no special reason for planting this much perilla—she simply wanted Old Goat to eat well. After all, just this morning, Old Goat had risked everything battling the human powerhouse Yan Long and even called in strong reinforcements to ‘save her.’ Xia Qing was truly touched.

The third veggie on her list was Greenlight Alfalfa, for exactly the same reason—it’s Old Goat’s favorite snack.

Alfalfa, though, isn’t as stable as perilla. Back in spring, someone from Territory Four had been spying on Section Three from a tree until Xia Qing caught them, and Zhao Ze had gifted her twenty Green Lantern alfalfa plants as an apology.

She carefully planted those alfalfa in her territory. Initial Devastation Element content was about 0.43%. After two rounds of Devastation Rain, only eighteen plants survived until seeding. Of those, just one stayed Green Lantern at 0.48%, while the other seventeen turned Yellow Lantern, with Devastation Element between 0.55% and 0.75%.

Luckily, that one Green Lantern alfalfa managed to yield three thousand seeds.

Alfalfa is a perennial. With juvenile and seedling phases past, that last Green Lantern plant was now mature. Short of major damage, its Devastation Element content would hold steady, and it should stay Green Lantern for a long time.

So next autumn, Xia Qing would be able to get another three thousand seeds from it.

She made a sweeping note on her plan—Old Goat was getting 1,500 seeds’ worth of alfalfa in the greenhouse.

Xia Qing had originally wanted to plant Spike Ice Grass as the fourth crop. But life got too busy, and she hadn’t had a single chance to hunt for edible Spike Ice Grass seeds in the Evolved Forest. The two potted ones she kept had withered away before even setting seed.

She hoped Xin Yu would hurry up and deal with Xu Pin, hoped the Fire Phoenix people would just clear out, and that she’d have time before the Devastation Snow fell to comb the forest for edible ice grass seeds—and to finally dig up those peanuts from Hill Fifty.

Speaking of peanuts, Xia Qing gently nudged her loyal helper Er Gou’s big paw with her foot. Then she pulled out her phone to check on the Red Squirrel. Turned out the little guy, still recovering from his injuries, was hiding out in the sheep shed.

“Third Brother, you there?” Li Si cut in sharply during a lull in Zhou Xun’s rant.

Xia Qing set down her pen and listened in.

“Go on.”

Even though Idol just said a single word, Xia Qing could tell he was in a good mood. He was probably thrilled with the four hundred pounds of top-grade evolved Green Lantern python meat she had delivered. Xia Qing, a die-hard fan, couldn’t help but grin.

A stranger’s voice chimed in, sounding oddly familiar. “Third Brother, it’s Dan Ying. Got any free time? I was thinking of dropping by for lunch.”

Xia Qing raised an eyebrow. Dan Ying from the Blazing Fire Squad seemed pretty chummy with Zhang San. No wonder Fire Phoenix sent her.

To her surprise, Zhang San’s tone turned chilly. “You’ve really gotten bold since joining Fire Phoenix.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, Third Brother,” Dan Ying laughed. “Did you like the beef yesterday? I even brought twenty pounds of top-grade evolved Green Lantern meat—none of it farm-raised. I can deliver it right now if you want.”

Twenty pounds?

Xia Qing couldn’t help a wry smile.

Zhang San just laughed, too. “Not interested in meat, not interested in wasting time on lunch with you, and definitely not interested in your big project.”

Zhang San’s blunt rejection on the Lords’ channel really put Dan Ying on the spot. Her voice cooled. “Third Brother, a little stubbornness isn’t a problem. But if you refuse to work with me just for that—and let people who could be saved keep suffering from Devastation Element and madness—then that’s just going too far.”

Zhang San’s reply was slow and low. “Are you here to lecture me on how to live?”

Dan Ying wasn’t about to back down. “Not at all, I don’t have that right. I’m just giving you a little friendly reminder, out of basic conscience.”

“Friendly? Fine. If you can hand over thirty thousand high-evolution Green Lantern spinach seeds within ten days, promote them for large-scale planting, and use that to boost everyone’s immunity—if you can back up your conscience with action, then we can talk cooperation.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear!” Xia Qing clapped her hands.

Seriously? She’s hoarding those ultra-stable spinach seeds and won’t spread them around, but has the nerve to play the moral high ground and criticize my idol?

Dan Ying’s voice was icy. “Third Brother, that’s a separate issue and you know it. We’re a private research base—we get no government support. If we lose our main revenue source, with what are we supposed to buy materials, fund research, or drive our major projects? You know full well that every time we have to put a project on hold, it’s a huge loss for the country and the people!”