Chapter 491: Negotiations and Seeds: The Price of Survival

Double compensation?

Yang Jin replied without hesitation. “Of course.”

It felt amazing to be on the same side as the Iron Rooster. Xia Qing grinned from ear to ear. “Captain Yang, does Fire Phoenix have any more stable varieties of rice and wheat seeds? If there’s no Green Lantern, even Yellow Lantern seeds with a Devastation Element below 8‰ would work.”

Qi Fu worked fast. Barely had Xia Qing stepped out of the Greenhouse when she received a message from him—Territory Four, Six, Ten and Fifteen, in other words all Alliance members, wanted seeds for these two major staple crops.

Grain guaranteed survival, even more valuable than credits. During disaster years, even with the right connections, you couldn’t get premium grain for credits alone.

Everyone’s wheat was grown from the six jin of Yellow Lantern m-11 wheat seeds each person received from the Territory Management Department back in spring, when they staked out their fields. Over more than three months of growth, folks tested and screened the harvests, saving only the very best seeds for next planting.

Xia Qing, lucky as always, picked out five and a half jin of Green Lantern m-11 wheat seeds from her first harvest.

Other lords not only selected cultivatable Green Lantern seeds, but also kept Yellow Lantern wheat seeds with Devastation Element under 10‰, paying to store them in the Safe Zone Food Depot for autumn planting in November.

The reason for sowing in autumn was simple: although the evolved wheat matures sooner when planted in March and is ready by late June, the broadcasts kept stressing that winter wheat sown in autumn tasted better and was more nutritious than spring wheat—and sold for a higher price.

To harvest more premium grain, the lords even traded wheat seeds with the Territory Management Department.

But nearly half the wheat seedlings grown with the painstakingly collected Alliance seeds had already been wiped out by the red-class Devastation Snow unleashed by Fire Phoenix in this region.

Xia Qing lost less of her Yellow Lantern wheat because she used seeds she’d exchanged with Idol, which had lower Devastation Element. Even then, she lost a quarter.

No wonder all the lords desperately needed high-quality wheat seeds to plant spring wheat next year.

Last year, every Territory managed to swap for 400 h-12 Yellow Lantern rice plants from the department. After all the lords tended them with great care, only 200 to 250 survived to flower and seed. But most ended up with Devastation Element between 9 and 14‰—edible, but not suitable for seed.

All this proved that the h-2 rice seeds that Hui Three Base provided only stayed stable for two generations. If the lords wanted to plant more rice, they’d need to trade food or vegetables for seeds with the Department again.

Xia Qing had 40 jin of top-quality J-2 Yellow Lantern rice seeds, but under her deal with Zhang San, she couldn’t trade them to other lords until next June once she’d harvested.

Alliance members had neither the right supply channels nor enough credits. If they wanted to plant one or two acres of premium rice next spring, Fire Phoenix’s compensation offer was their only shot.

“I’ll go talk to Fire Phoenix and do my best. But even if I convince them, the compensation will be based on your crop and casualty losses. Since you planted the least, your payout will be smaller too.” After laying out the facts, Yang Jin reassured Xia Qing. “But that’s not all bad for you either.”

“I understand. That’s only fair. Thank you for your efforts,” Xia Qing answered sincerely.

As far as Xia Qing knew, the territories’ wheat acreage from most to least was: Territory One with 150 mu, Territory Twelve with 100 mu, Territory Eight with 50 mu, Territory Five and Six each with 20 mu, Territory Fifteen with 18 mu, Territory Ten with 10 mu, Territory Four with eight mu. And then her own two and a half.

Territory One and Twelve had bought seeds from outside, with Devastation Element at 7.5‰, so their wheat evolution rates were surely a bit lower than Qi Fu’s and the others.

She hadn’t heard Xin Yu or Zhou Zhaoping mention Territory Eight’s seed quality, but she figured it was pretty good too.

As for Territory Two? No clue.

Because Xia Qing planted so little wheat but with the best seeds, her losses were the smallest—so of course her payout would be too.

Fire Phoenix’s Trapping Team had picked a fight on Hill Fifty and ended up poisoning Xia Qing, nearly costing her life. By rights, Fire Phoenix should compensate her. But chances were they’d use “Xia Qing slaughtered the Trapping Team with her wolves” as an excuse to refuse.

Since Xia Qing, as the outsider, might not get compensation for the real cause, acting a bit angrier would probably cool Fire Phoenix’s wrath toward her—a safer outcome.

But really, Xia Qing hadn’t come out a loser. Besides clearing out the constant threat from Territory Nine, she’d picked up a brand new personal flight device.

Take a hit in public, profit in secret—that was how the weak survived disaster years. Which is why Yang Jin had hinted that less compensation might not be a bad thing for Xia Qing.

And she got it, too. After thanking Yang Jin, Xia Qing changed the subject. “Captain Yang, about the firebreak digging on Hill Fifty—can I quietly discuss the job with other lords first? Territory Four’s Zhao Ze worked in engineering before, and he handled all our heavy equipment and people perfectly when we dug thornwood.”

Yang Jin agreed right away. “Just be upfront about the risks and rewards of the Evolved Forest mission. If you can’t round up 50 people, I’ll open recruitment to the other territories.”

“Got it. Thanks, Captain.” Xia Qing wrapped up the work talk, asked him what it would take and how many credits she’d need to buy Hill Fifty, then called Idol to talk about the hot spring in Hidden Valley.

Idol wasn’t impressed. “It’s just a hot spring, not pure spring water. Not exactly rare. If you have something to say, spit it out—don’t waste time beating around the bush, I’m busy with experiments.”

“Yes, sir.”

Xia Qing got straight to the point. “What if you apply to the Hui Three Base management to designate Hill Fifty as an Evolved Forest Ecological Balance and Pollution Control Research Area, using the gas bomb pollution as justification? That way, the third peak and the first and second peaks to the south would need clearing up, and nobody could hunt or forage on Hill Fifty without your permission. Would base management go for that?”

Now Zhang San understood. “Is over seven thousand mu of territory not enough for you? You want Hill Fifty too?”

“Yep.” Xia Qing wasn’t shy when talking to Idol—in fact, she read directly from her notebook outlining all the reasons she wanted Hill Fifty. “There are five. The first is, Hill Fifty is too close to us and anyone can access it, meaning disaster there could threaten our territory’s security.”

“Second, our Lords’ Alliance could use Hill Fifty’s constant-temperature valleys for low-cost rice seedlings and to grow Green Lantern peanuts and chives. Third, our alliance members need a relatively safe patch of Evolved Forest to train their survival, gathering and hunting skills—one more way to earn credits.” Idol was now part of the Alliance, which is why Xia Qing said ‘our’.

“Fourth, my gut says that hot spring on Hill Fifty is valuable—maybe it could boost crop stability. Fifth, I want a relatively safe mountain buffer between people and the wolf, bear, and other evolved beasts deeper in the forest.”

Having laid out her five reasons, Xia Qing wrapped it up sincerely, full of hope. “The soil in our territory’s pretty good, lots of trace minerals for crops. If possible, I’d like to use this as our base for future survival and development—really make it secure and thriving. What do you think, Third Brother?”

In Territory Seven, a pale and thin Zhang San understood—Xia Qing’s request was anything but impulsive.