Chapter 444: A Deal Among Evolvers

Just looking at these two little plants inside the Spring Cave, you really couldn’t spot any difference. But if you compared them to the photos taken right after they were transplanted, you’d notice that the healthy one has actually grown a bit.

Usually, rare medicinal herbs like these are only transplanted into cultivation chambers that closely mimic their natural environment. When Yang Jin brought these two back and handed them to Xia Qing for planting, he honestly didn’t expect much. He never thought they’d truly start growing.

Yang Jin’s excitement was written all over his face. “You’re impressive. You really managed to keep the Devastationweed alive.”

With Yang Jin’s flawless face so close, the visual impact was almost too much for Xia Qing. She had to scoot back a little before she could modestly reply, “It’s only because the spring water, soil and climate here are just right. That’s what kept them alive.”

It had taken some effort to bridge the gap between them, but she’d just pulled away again.

“Xia Qing.”

Yang Jin called her name seriously. After she looked at him, he sat down on the ground, a bright grin on his face. “Do you need a color printer or a laptop?”

Weren’t they here to look at Devastationweed? How did this turn into a trade negotiation? Xia Qing eyed the Iron Rooster in front of her, guessing at his intentions.

Leaning forward a bit, Yang Jin explained the use for both items. “With a color printer, you could make illustrated journals to track plant growth—recording every detail about their care. If you’re not a fan of handwriting, you can do it all digitally first and just print it later.”

“A laptop lets you play videos for your sheep and wolves, teaching them the real meanings of human commands and gestures. It’ll make communication with your evolved animals a lot smoother.”

Yang Jin’s pitch had Xia Qing convinced, so she sat down as well, asking about the price. “These can’t be cheap, right?”

“These aren’t things you can buy openly in the Outer Zone of the Safe Zone. I just managed to get a few fresh off the production line from Hongcheng Base through a channel. They’re expensive for other lords, but for you? It’s only worth about thirty jin of meat.”

Thirty jin came out to fifteen thousand credits—definitely not cheap. Xia Qing started haggling. “How about twenty jin?”

“For that price, the printers and laptops you can trade for would all be old stock from before the Cataclysm. They wouldn’t last long. Why not just add four jin more and get brand new, high-quality ones? I could preload the laptop with training videos for evolved animals and even some special forces tutorials—all free. Deal?”

Xia Qing didn’t agree right away, asking instead, “Are printer supplies expensive?”

“Just toner, cartridges and paper. I can get all the supplies for you at cost. For you, that’s only a palm-sized piece of meat each time.”

Putting on a straight face, Xia Qing stated, “Captain Yang, my supply of Green Lantern meat isn’t unlimited.”

Yang Jin nodded with mock seriousness, then corrected himself. “For you, it’s really just a matter of one or two liters of spring water.”

But spring water—she had an endless supply.

Xia Qing couldn’t hold back her laughter.

Yang Jin was glad he’d managed to close the distance again and make Xia Qing laugh. He grinned. “So, what do you say?”

“Alright, twenty-eight jin.” Xia Qing wanted both items anyway. She still had 560 jin of snake meat in total. After keeping 200 jin for herself and Er Gou, she’d already meant to give some back to Yang Jin. With him bringing up the trade first, it actually saved her some hassle.

Though they were sitting in the pitch-dark greenhouse, the rain cover blocked the cold wind, so it wasn’t too chilly. The deal had gone smoothly and Xia Qing finally relaxed enough to ask what had been on her mind. “You said earlier that Shen Yongdong’s brother—the Three-Element Evolver from Hui Three Base—died on an operating table in the underground lab of Hui One. What about Shen Yongdong himself?”

Yang Jin answered quietly, “After Shen Yongdong’s abilities were exposed, he was sent to the Huiyi Research Institute for research. He was one of the first Three-Element Evolvers to be exposed. The institute couldn’t bear to lose him, so they avoided sending him to the underground lab. Later, he was transferred to Red One Base. I haven’t kept up with him, but I know for sure he was never made into a lab specimen. The supervision over there is much stricter.”

“Shen Yongdong evolved in vision, endurance and jumping ability, but none of those abilities ever reached the advanced level, so his overall combat power was average. He wasn’t highly valued, which is why he faded out of sight.” Yang Jin kept chatting with Xia Qing. “Two-Element Evolvers are pretty common now. Three-Element ones are still rare but not like before. Among advanced evolvers, there are way more multi-element types compared to average evolvers. Still, most multi-element evolvers hide their true strength and only pretend to be single-element ones.”

Taking the opportunity, Xia Qing decided to pry about her rival Tang Zhengsu. “Captain Yang, do you know how many elements Tang Zhengsu has evolved?”

The flashlight had gone out. Xia Qing didn’t bother turning it back on—they were close enough and didn’t need light to talk. In fact, the darkness actually made Xia Qing feel a little more comfortable.

Yang Jin had been waiting for her to ask. If she hadn’t tonight, he would’ve found another way to warn her not to go after Tang Zhengsu recklessly. “He’s a Three-Element: speed, vision and strength. His strength evolution is definitely at least level five.”

Xia Qing had already guessed he was an advanced speed evolver and suspected he’d evolved his vision too, but she hadn’t expected advanced strength as well.

With advanced speed and strength alone, Tang Zhengsu’s combat power was way off the charts. No wonder he was so arrogant.

Yang Jin wasn’t wearing night vision goggles either, but he knew this news would hit Xia Qing hard. Still, he also knew she’d never be crushed by it—if anything, she’d only push herself harder until she was strong enough to kill Tang Zhengsu herself and take revenge.

After seeing Yang Jin off, Xia Qing slipped on her night vision goggles and sprinted at full speed through her territory. The sound drew Er Gou out to join her for a run.

Nearly an hour later, Xia Qing returned home, took off her protective mask and hood, then collapsed onto Old Goat’s tatami.

“Boss…”

Old Goat had just lifted his hoof when he sensed the off mood and put it back down, letting out a half-hearted bleat. “Baa.”

After washing his paws, Er Gou came over too, lying beside Xia Qing and watching her with worry.

“Tang Zhengsu’s both an advanced speed and strength evolver. Not sure about his vision, but he’s seriously strong. Even Yang Jin and Queen might not be able to beat him.”

Old Goat kept chewing, his expression unchanged.

Lying there dazed for a while, Xia Qing finally gave herself a pep talk. “Boss, Er Gou, this winter I’m going to get stronger. I’ll kill him myself.”

“Baa,” Old Goat replied flatly.

“Awoo,” Er Gou chimed in.

Xia Qing leapt up and threw herself into her full training regimen before heading upstairs for a shower and some rest.