Chapter 502: Magnetic Sense: The Power of Evolution and Companionship

Carrying her phone filled with newly received data on Magnetic Sense, Xia Qing left the Bear Cave and headed for the firebreak construction site. She truly felt Yang Jin was a reliable trading partner.

Back in late October, when Xia Qing had gone to treat Alpha and the Wolf Pack’s injuries, she’d brought back 760 jin of Green Lantern pecans from Hill Sixty.

Since pecans ripen in September, by the time Xia Qing harvested them most shells had already dried in the sun. After a few more days of airing out to remove the dried shells, she stored them in the basement storage.

Not counting her recent swap in the Bear Cave, Xia Qing had already traded 243 jin to her Idol, 60 jin and 3 nuts to Yang Jin, a dozen or so jin to Hu Zifeng and others, still leaving her with over 440 jin, about 9,000 pecans.

While these evolved wild pecans weren’t the largest among evolved fruits, their nutritional value was high. Once Zhang San confirmed Xia Qing was an Advanced Three-Path Evolutionary and checked her nutrition, he raised her daily quota of Green Lantern pecans from four to five.

In other words, if Xia Qing ate them by herself, the stored pecans could last her almost five years.

Every food had a shelf life. Even with their hard shells and being stored in a temperature- and pressure-controlled room with Yi Stone, the pecans would only keep for two years.

If Xia Qing didn’t trade away the surplus pecans, they’d just lose nutrition from being stored too long.

In a time of disasters, information was everything. Whoever controlled the news, controlled their fate. So to Xia Qing, exchanging 70 jin of pecans for Yang Jin’s valuable data was a great deal.

Yang Jin was indeed a stingy iron rooster, but he always stuck to his trade agreements. Negotiations with him were mentally exhausting and sometimes infuriating, but once a deal was made, you never had to worry about him breaking the terms or short-changing you.

Now Xia Qing felt completely at ease.

After making sure everything was normal at the site, Xia Qing walked back to Section Three, tossed a few pieces of dry wood on the fire, then couldn’t wait to turn on her laptop and upload the info Yang Jin had given her. She started reading ravenously.

To Old Goat and Er Gou, the laptop was a fascinating new toy. Both of them crowded close, staring curiously at the screen beside Xia Qing.

Old Goat peered at the words for a bit, gave the laptop a sniff, and when he decided it wasn’t edible, lost all interest and went back to his generator bike.

Er Gou stayed put, resting his head on Xia Qing’s mouse hand. His clear, rust-colored eyes watched her quietly. Xia Qing slid her hand free, set the mouse aside, and scratched his head with one hand while reading with the other.

A faint funky smell lingered in the cozy room. The only sounds were dry firewood crackling in the fireplace and the soft whir of Old Goat spinning his bike.

The file was only six pages. Besides an introduction to the basics of Magnetic Sense, most of it was the researchers’ speculations on this newly named evolutionary ability.

Xia Qing reread the not-so-long document twice before closing her laptop, then sat back in her lounge chair to quietly absorb everything she’d learned.

Er Gou got up, changed position, and nudged his head toward Xia Qing’s hand again. Seeing Xia Qing was finally done, Old Goat, who had been pedaling, noticed she was just lying there. He was clearly not happy about it.

“Baa.”

Xia Qing turned her head and looked at her squinting companion. With utter sincerity, she praised, “Boss, your back legs are getting more and more agile, and your muscles are stronger every day. You’re incredible—working out and restoring our electricity at the same time! Tell me, if not for you, how would Er and I ever survive?”

Old Goat wasn’t satisfied yet and tilted his head, signaling for Xia Qing to keep the praises coming.

Er Gou heard Xia Qing call him and broke into a wide, toothy grin.

“See? Even Er agrees with me. Boss, you’re the pillar of our territory. All the light here is thanks to you! You stand at the top of Blue Star’s pyramid. You’re the peak of sheep evolution—the pride of all sheep!”

“Boss, are you tired? Come here, I’ll give you a massage on your hind legs.”

Old Goat squinted and pretended not to hear, pedaling his generator bike even faster.

“Boss, are you hungry? Want some chestnut skins?”

Old Goat immediately stopped and trotted over to Xia Qing’s side.

Xia Qing went upstairs, unlocked the fridge, and pulled out a small pack of Green Lantern chestnuts to rinse. Sitting by the fireplace, she used a small knife to gently slice into the base of each chestnut, revealing the golden-yellow flesh. The thin slices went into Old Goat’s food bowl, while the cut chestnuts were dropped into a pot of spring water and tucked into the fireplace.

Two minutes after the water boiled, Xia Qing pulled out the pot and set it on a wooden coaster atop the small table, then started peeling the chestnuts. Peeled ones went in a bowl, chestnut skins into Old Goat’s bowl.

More than the chestnuts, Old Goat really loved the skins.

Once the peeled Green Lantern chestnuts were clean, Xia Qing mixed them into rinsed Green Lantern rice and let it simmer on the fire. She poured the water used for washing rice and chestnuts into a water bucket meant for dirty water—when it filled up, she’d use it to water the greenhouse crops.

Every drop of this pure spring water was precious. Not a single one could be wasted.

Then Xia Qing took out six Green Lantern pecans. The extra one was for Old Goat and Er Gou.

She cracked the pecan shells and scooped out the kernels, splitting them between Old Goat and Er Gou. “This food boosts brain power. Eating it does us all good.”

Old Goat didn’t really like pecans, but with them mixed into the chestnut skins, he ate them anyway without complaint.

Er Gou just curled his tongue, and half a pecan kernel went straight down the hatch. He grinned at Xia Qing with delight.

While peeling her own pecans, Xia Qing boasted to her companions, “Magnetic Sense is super important. With this evolved ability, we’ve got a much better shot at survival. All three of us are evolved mammals and now have this ability too, but my level among humans is higher. You two are probably at an average level for your own kind.”

Although this ability had just been discovered and didn’t have a clear ranking system yet, Xia Qing was sure her evolution surpassed the ordinary—she could sense abnormal plant magnetic fields, so she was definitely a Magnetic Sense evolutionary.

Xu Pin, who could detect murderous intent from animals or people within a hundred meters, was probably an advanced stimulus-type evolutionist, while she herself was likely a standard evolutionary. Yuan Yan’s level of magnetic evolution ranked above hers but below Xu Pin’s.

Old Goat flicked his ears, didn’t even look at Xia Qing, and kept munching on chestnut skins at his own pace.

Xia Qing popped another pecan into her mouth and silently repeated: I want to evolve my Magnetic Sense. I want to be an advanced Magnetic Sense evolutionary…

Compared to Speed Evolution, Magnetic Sense was even more powerful—it was the king of kings! Xia Qing wanted to be the absolute king!

After finishing her Green Lantern pecans, Xia Qing noticed Er Gou gazing at her with hopeful eyes. She patiently explained, “You can’t eat too much of this. The oil content is too high—you’ll get sick if you overdo it. From now on, you and Old Goat get half a piece each a day, I’ll have five.”

Er Gou didn’t understand everything Xia Qing said, but as soon as he heard the word ‘sick,’ he immediately shut his mouth and stopped grinning.

Seeing it was about time, Xia Qing went upstairs to the living room to check the Evolution Element Detector’s analysis of the hot spring water quality from Hill Fifty.