Chapter 544: Trading Secrets and Promises in Territory Seven

Next up was divvying up supplies by how much each person contributed. As today’s team leader, Xia Qing counted as three points of combat power. Everyone else was counted as one or two, depending on what they did.

Zhao Ze and Zhu Li, who had each hauled more than a hundred pounds of supplies, were given the same contribution score as Madam Shi—one point each.

When Xia Qing walked into Territory Seven carrying a hundred Green Lantern insect pupae, a hundred pounds of Green Lantern Kudzu Root, and a sample of Devastation Evolution Tree venom, Zhang San’s whole face just glowed with cheer. There was no better word for his mood than ‘fantastic.’

Xia Qing reminded her idol, “Third Brother, these insect pupae were all dug out of Green Lantern kudzu, but not all of them are guaranteed to be Green Lantern larvae. Before you eat them, you’d better run a test.”

Statistically, most of the bugs dug from the Green Lantern Kudzu Root are Green Lantern, but there’s always a chance of finding Yellow Lantern or Red Lantern ones in there. For other people, eating an occasional Red Lantern bug isn’t a big deal, but not for Zhang San—he’s allergic to the Devastation Element.

“Got it.” Zhang San answered enthusiastically, flipping through the pupae. After a while, he asked, “So, what supplies do you want to trade for these?”

Xia Qing responded without hesitation, “I’d like to exchange them for coagulants and antiseptics.”

Zhang San’s miracle medicine is a lifesaver for everyone in the Lords’ Alliance.

He picked up a test tube with a fragment of tree branch inside. “Is this the venom that can eat through secondary Protective Suits in the wild?”

Xia Qing nodded. “Not just secondary Protective Suits—it can even corrode the rocks in the Great Tree’s growth zone.”

After Zhang San put away the test tube, Xia Qing pulled out her phone and found a photo of Chai Shuling. “Third Brother, do you know this person?”

“Chai Shuling?” Zhang San glanced at the name on her ID photo, looked closer at the picture, then shook his head. “Never heard of her, never seen her before. What about her?”

Chai Shuling wasn’t anyone important—if she was assigned a specific, hands-on job like checking crop losses in Territories, it made sense Zhang San didn’t know her. That was normal.

Xia Qing explained, “She’s part of the inspection team from the Territory Management Department. She sampled every plant and soil type in my Territory, but in other Territories, she only collected samples from spinach, wheat sprouts, and soil.”

Zhang San nodded. “Be more specific.”

“The Management Department sent four inspection teams in total. The leader of the team that entered Section Three was Zhou Qianpeng…” Xia Qing then gave a detailed account of how the inspection squads entered each Territory.

When she finished, Zhang San first brought up Li Chang. “I know Li Chang. She studied at Hui One Research Institute, specialized in innovative breeding resources for crops. Last June, she tried to get permission to enter Territory Seven—her application was rejected because she wasn’t qualified. When you’re dealing crops with her, you’d better be careful. Don’t let her figure out your crops are different from the ones in the other Territories.”

“Understood,” Xia Qing said, nodding seriously. Zhang San’s warning made her suspect that Li Chang probably wanted to use her to get closer to Zhang San.

“They’re really here for your spinach. They don’t know you’ve got a spring in your Territory, but this time they’ll definitely figure out that your soil is high in Evolution Element. It’s not a big deal if that’s exposed… But,” Zhang San looked at Xia Qing, “didn’t you answer every one of Zhou Qianpeng’s questions a little too eagerly?”

Zhang San was a big shot—he couldn’t understand the survival logic of folks like Xia Qing. She explained simply, “Zhou Qianpeng is nothing but a lackey for Tang Zhengrong and the department head, Jiang Quan. He loves to bully the weak and play to the crowd. I gave him plenty of face—that way, it’s easier to deal with him in the future.”

Zhang San shot back, “If he’s the bullying type, aren’t you worried he’ll only push you even harder since you’re letting him walk all over you?”

Xia Qing was confident. “He wouldn’t dare. Right now, I’m running errands for you and I’m also Hu Zifeng’s girlfriend—the core of Azure Dragon Squad. He doesn’t see me as someone he can toss around however he wants. If that was the case, he wouldn’t have been so polite the day he entered my Territory. When I gave him face, he took it as a friendly gesture. As far as he’s concerned, I’m a person worth dealing with.”

“People like him—give them enough benefits, and there’s nothing they won’t do. Once our Alliance gets bigger, keeping this connection in the management department will only help us.”

Zhang San frowned. “Those kinds of people are a pain.”

Xia Qing agreed. “Yeah, but there are plenty of people like Zhou Qianpeng in every corner of the Safe Zone. Everyone has their own specialty. Third Brother, you just focus on your research. I’ll work on raising my combat power. Now that Zhou Qianpeng’s connection is secured, I’ll hand him off to Kuang Qingwei and let him handle maintenance from here on out.”

Zhang San gave Xia Qing a thoughtful look. She flashed a brilliant smile, showing off her white teeth. She didn’t have Zhang San’s technical ability, but in order to survive, she’d had to deal with countless disgusting characters over the years. Guys like Zhou Qianpeng barely even registered anymore.

Zhang San grinned too. “How’s your recovery coming along?”

Xia Qing responded immediately. “I’m out of Devastation Element Antidote now, but my Devastation Element level has dropped to 15 per mille, and my Evolution Element is up to 4.4.”

Before using the Evolution Element stim shake, Xia Qing’s Devastation Element was at 12 per mille. After she got hit by the Poison Gas Bomb and used the stim, that number shot up to 28 per mille.

Now, a month and a half after taking the stim, with the antidote and a strict Green Lantern diet, she’d finally gotten her Devastation Element under control. It was still three per mille higher than before, and her Evolution Element was 2.1 lower than it used to be.

Zhang San nodded. “That’s pretty good. Stick with the all–Green Lantern diet. Don’t touch any other medicine or treatments yet. Give it a month, then start soaking in medicine for organ recovery.”

Uh…

Mustering her courage, Xia Qing broached the topic carefully with her idol. “Third Brother, what about using medicine while you’re pregnant?”

Zhang San’s eyes went wide with surprise.

Xia Qing hurried to clarify. “Not me—the Alpha in the Wolf Pack might be pregnant. I’ve already agreed to the Wolf Pack’s deal. I said it could soak in the medicine with me, so…”

Zhang San shot Xia Qing a look for leaving things half–said. “Not only is soaking off–limits for pregnancy, it’s a no–go during nursing too. This is wolf breeding season—the gestation lasts about two months, and nursing takes two to two and a half more. Are you really going to wait that long?”

Over four months, huh…

Xia Qing nodded, still smiling, and cautiously discussed her options. “Since I made a promise to the Wolf Pack, I’ll keep my word. Third Brother, given my health right now, is there any medicine I can use in the meantime to get myself in top shape?”

She was being so meticulous about saving supplies that she was starting to act just like Iron Rooster Yang Jin.

Zhang San let out a grunt, got up slowly, and headed into the lab behind the glass doors. He tapped at the keypad on a locked cabinet for a while before opening it to start mixing up some medicine.

Half an hour later, Zhang San came out with two bottles, set them on the table in front of Xia Qing, and said, “Here, this one’s for internal organ repair—gentle effect, almost no side effects. Drink one milliliter of the orange-yellow one every night before bed. After a month, we’ll see how things look.”