Chapter 47: A Fair Trade in Bamboo Shoots

When Tan Junjie’s patrol reached the barrier outside Plot Three’s western Buffer Forest, Xia Qing stepped forward. “Captain Tan, could I trouble you to pass a message to Zhang San in Plot Seven? I’d like to trade supplies with him.”

Tan Junjie glanced at the backpack slung across Xia Qing’s shoulders—nearly as tall as she was. “You want to make the trade now?”

Xia Qing nodded. “I’ve got some Greenlight Bamboo Shoots. If he’s willing, could you also give him my phone number?”

Zhang San was a food enthusiast with plenty of supplies, perfect for long-term deals. Xia Qing was sure, even without a ground station, Zhang San would have a satellite phone.

“I’ll ask him.” Tan Junjie pulled out his phone and dialed Zhang San.

As the call connected, Xia Qing’s Hearing Evolver skill picked up Zhang San’s irritated tone: “You’d better…”

Tan Junjie calmly cut in. “Plot Three just found Greenlight Bamboo Shoots. Are you interested in a trade?”

“Absolutely!” Zhang San’s voice flipped from stormy to sunshine in a heartbeat. “Where’s Xia Qing?”

Tan Junjie gave a little shake. Suppressing her shivers, Xia Qing leaned in and spoke directly. “Third Brother, it’s me, Xia Qing. I picked up some Greenlight Evolver Shoots today but haven’t tasted them yet, so I can’t say if they’re good. I’m hoping to trade for a food dehydrator, a vacuum packer, and two hundred vacuum bags. How many pounds of fresh shoots would that take?”

Xia Qing’s emphasis on “Greenlight” and “fresh” was more than enough to hook Zhang San. “Ten pounds is plenty! Can we trade now? Should Tan Junjie bring it over, or should I send someone?”

“Captain Tan will bring it over. Third Brother, please send your items with him too.” Xia Qing stepped back and handed over ten pounds of vacuum-packed Greenlight Shoots. Hu Zifeng had given her two bags, ten pounds each, no need for a scale.

Tan Junjie patrolled alongside the barrier, past the iron fence of the north-side Breeding Center for wild boars, and then further alongside the north edges of territories Four, Five, and Six. Before they even reached the north barrier of Plot Seven, a disheveled Zhang San came rushing over. “Where’s my shoots?”

Tan Junjie shot back, “Where are the machines and the bags?”

“Hand it over! Hurry, hand it over!” Zhang San barked at the two burly bodyguards behind him.

Obediently, the bodyguards brought the machines—still in their packing boxes—and turned them over to Tan Junjie, who double-checked the goods before gesturing for Cao Xianyun to hand Zhang San his bamboo shoots.

Within the thick vacuum bags, the pale yellow fresh shoots looked irresistible. Zhang San grabbed them and without so much as a thank you, sprinted straight back to his territory.

Tan Junjie just chuckled and led his team on. Su Ming muttered under his breath, “That guy, honestly…”

“Better keep your comments to yourself or you might not live to regret it.” Cao Xianyun shoved the big box with the food dehydrator into Su Ming’s arms and strode after the captain.

As they passed Territory Three, Tan Junjie handed the machines to Xia Qing. “Zhang San’s phone number is inside. He may have a temper, but he’s not a bad guy.”

After the Great Biological Evolution, the world grew ruthless. Anyone still alive now likely had blood on their hands. To survive, everyone had done things at another’s expense.

So earning the title of “not a bad guy” in the tenth year of catastrophe—that was really saying something.

Once the Inspection Team had moved off, Xia Qing stepped back into her territory, pausing when she picked up a familiar, hushed complaint. “Captain, who even is Zhang San… Why doesn’t he ask Qing-jie where she digs up those bamboo shoots? If we found them, maybe we could split some with her…”

Tan Junjie, of course, didn’t answer. Cao Xianyun just snorted. “She spends a whole day outside and comes back with bamboo. How many places within dozens of miles could grow that stuff?”

Twenty-year-old Su Ming replied honestly, “I have no idea. Where are they?”

“Doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t be able to get there anyway.”

“Why not?”

Yeah, why not? The bamboo stands weren’t far from the main camp—so why didn’t they just go themselves? Xia Qing dropped the thought, hefted the nearly weightless box home, and after making sure both machines worked, saved Zhang San’s number to her contacts.

After being out all day, Xia Qing was so hungry she felt hollow. When the smell of rice drifted from the pot, her stomach growled like thunder. She quickly stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork, tossed together a plate of perilla salad, then mixed perilla, Chinese toon shoots, and rations into a hearty special meal—the finest feast Boss Sheep had ever seen—and set it on its little table.

As for her own meal, it was easily the richest she’d had, not just since moving into her territory, but in the five years since her father died.

Those bamboo shoots were downright delicious. After both she and Boss Sheep had licked their plates (and bowls) spotless, Xia Qing kicked back in her chair, savoring the lingering aroma with Boss Sheep and chatting lazily.

“Heading for the bamboo grove was the right call, wasn’t it? If I hadn’t, would you even get to eat something this good?” Xia Qing shot Boss Sheep a teasing look, only to find him squinting longingly at the iron box in the kitchen.

Still hungry, huh?

Keep dreaming!

Xia Qing quickly cleared away the dishes and tucked the dehydrator and vacuum packer into the kitchen. The vacuum packer was the same type Guan Tong had; she knew how to use it, but she’d never operated a food dehydrator before. She’d have to figure it out.

Turns out Zhang San really wasn’t a bad sort—he’d sent not just brand-new machines, but included the instruction manuals too. Xia Qing opened them up and studied them carefully.

This food dehydrator was substantial—forty-eight centimeters long, forty-one wide, fifty-one high, weighing twenty-five pounds. It could load twelve levels of stainless steel racks, had a temperature range from thirty to ninety degrees, and a timer up to twenty-four hours. It could dry fruit, meat, seafood, and vegetables.

These days, the ocean was ruined by nuclear wastewater. Seafood was off the table, but the other three were perfect for what Xia Qing needed to dry and store. She didn’t have fruit now, but in the terraced plots there were two strawberry plants already blooming with six little white flowers!

Feeling pretty pleased, Xia Qing kept reading, but when she got to the drying times for each kind of food, she came to a halt.

The guide didn’t mention bamboo rats, but since bamboo rats were also called bamboo pigs or bamboo ferrets, she figured she could use the pork drying times as a reference. So even if she sliced the meat paper-thin—half a centimeter each—she’d need to go eight hours at sixty degrees for jerky. For bamboo shoots, referring to ginger, it’d be seven hours at the same heat.

Slicing wasn’t an issue, and oven space wasn’t either. The real headache was the power—her two solar panels on the roof just didn’t generate enough electricity.

Xia Qing picked up her phone and contacted Zhong Tao, confirming he’d show up in the morning to pick up his goods. She shelved processing the Redlight Bamboo Rat for now and opened the vacuum-sealed bag with the Yellowlight Bamboo Rat.

She had no idea how big bamboo rats got before the disaster, but this Yellowlight Evolver Bamboo Rat hit twenty-two pounds—much bigger than any from before. This one alone should yield sixteen pounds of meat—eight pounds when dried.

Eight pounds of jerky…

Xia Qing hadn’t ever tasted bamboo rat, but meat that could help her evolve was definitely good meat.

Ten years ago, when biological evolution swept Blue Star, humans faced a turning point at age twenty-five: those under twenty-five had a much higher probability of high-level evolution. If someone evolved before twenty-five, their evolver level could even keep rising.

After a decade of catastrophe, Hua Nation’s scientists found the line had shifted to thirty-five years old. If someone under thirty-five got enough energy, they had a shot at evolving further.

Humans absorbed energy from edible food, and it had to be balanced and nutritious.

Xia Qing was only twenty-five now. She could still climb the evolver ladder. Back in the Safe Zone, most of her earnings went into feeding herself. Now that she was out and had her own territory, she wasn’t about to skimp on her meals.