Chapter 548: Hunting Plans and the Green Lantern Soybean Deal

After waiting more than ten seconds with no reply from Xia Qing, her ‘boyfriend’ Hu Zifeng fired back, “Xia Qing’s busy, she doesn’t have time for you.”

And Xia Qing really was busy—she was carefully following the secret Growing Manual her idol had given her, pollinating the Devastationweed flowers.

When Zhang San, her idol, heard she had Devastationweed, his eyes brightened and his voice turned almost doting. In just two days she’d already mastered the technique, and he’d reserved six Devastationweed leaves, paying for each by the leaf with credits.

They couldn’t trade the leaves right away, though. The Devastationweed was in bloom, and cutting leaves now would ruin pollination and lower seed quality.

According to the Growing Manual, Devastationweed is wind-pollinated in the wild, but in cultivation—especially enclosed environments—it needs artificial pollination.

Xia Qing wasn’t growing hers in a sealed greenhouse, but inside the Spring Cave the air hardly moved at all, so she had to help things along.

Tang Huai ignored Hu Zifeng and sent another team-up invite in the Lords’ channel.

“Xia Qing, how about we team up to hunt edible animals during the beast tide in the south? With your shooting and my hearing, we could totally bag some Green Lantern prey. My family’s got a secret recipe for five-spice jerky—I’ll handle the seasoning, you bring the meat, and we split it seventy-thirty. This chance won’t come around twice, you know? No way you’d pass it up, right?”

Jerky? Please.

Holding her breath, Xia Qing gently fanned the Devastationweed flower. These little things were finicky—single plant, separate male and female blooms. If the female flower got contaminated during pollination, she’d get nothing. No seeds, no harvest. That’s one big reason wild Devastationweed was so rare.

To keep things pure, careful Xia Qing didn’t use a wool brush. She just fanned the air, letting the pollen waft over from the male flowers to the female ones—delicate work, but it did the trick.

“Xia Qing, for real? Madman says no and you just clam up? You’re an advanced evolutionary! What’s so scary about him? Seriously, what do you see in the guy? Do you have a thing for ugly dudes or something?” Tang Huai’s shouting echoed over the channel.

Everyone listening in on their walkies went silent. Even in Section Four, Tan Qi picked up her ears.

Zhao Ze’s mother, who was in the middle of her lesson, turned and yanked open the curtain, yelling at her son sitting by the wood stove with his walkie-talkie. “You’re still loafing at home? Get out to the greenhouse and pull weeds!”

Back in Section Three, Xia Qing—halfway inside the cave—ignored Tang Huai and focused on gently fanning the Devastationweed flowers.

Hu Zifeng just snorted. “Doesn’t matter what I look like, at least I’ve got a girlfriend. You’re just a lonely loser. Xia Qing’s not scared of me, and even if she wanted to team up, no way she’d pick a lame Auditory Evolutionary like you.”

“Screw you! You’re the lame one—your whole family’s lame!”

Zhang San logs on, sounding lazy as always. “Tang Huai.”

Tang Huai immediately switched tones. Cursing forgotten, he spoke with utmost respect. “Here, Third Brother. Anything you need, just say the word.”

“Did your dad head back to the Safe Zone?” Zhang San asked.

Tang Huai replied with a cheerful laugh, “Yeah, he left this morning. He said he’ll bring you some fresh Green Lantern abalone from Lan City when he gets back. What flavor do you like? I’ll cook it up and deliver it myself.”

Zhang San didn’t reply. Everyone knew what that meant—he was sulking again.

Last year, Tang Huai had traded a chunk of spoiled meat to Territory Seven. Zhang San still hadn’t let that go.

Tang Huai logged off. His younger brother Tang Heng came online and repeated the whole offer.

Only then did Zhang San ask, “So what dishes can you make?”

Tang Heng rattled off the menu right away: “Sichuan-style abalone in sauce, lemon-roasted abalone, spicy grilled abalone, Green Lantern soybean braised abalone, and abalone with crab roe and autumn eggplant—we can do them all.”

Everyone listening across the territories was practically drooling now. Even Xia Qing, busy fanning the Devastationweed flowers, thought maybe teaming up for some spicy abalone with Tang Huai wouldn’t be so bad.

Zhang San, perking up, made his choice. “Since it’s fresh abalone, let’s braise it with some Green Lantern soybeans. Let me know when it arrives, and I’ll have Ji Li bring over the soybeans. Whatever you want in exchange for the abalone, just talk to Ji Li directly.”

Tang Heng accepted happily. “Thanks, Third Brother. Got it!”

Precious Green Lantern soybeans, and Zhang San was using them for braised abalone?! Over in Territory Seventeen, Wen Nengjie felt like his whole understanding of Territory Seven had just turned upside down.

“I wonder how many soybeans Third Brother has. Maybe we could trade for a dozen as seed stock?” In Territory Ten, Shi Du was pounding kudzu root and getting excited.

His father wanted them too, but said, “Better check with Xia Qing first. Don’t go asking in the Lords’ channel—you’ll ruin Third Brother’s mood.”

Yeah, if you got on Zhang San’s bad side, he’d hold a grudge forever.

Once Zhang San logged off, Tang Huai went wild in the Lords’ channel again—now that his dad was out of the territory, no one could stop him.

“Xia Qing, what are you up to?”

“Xia Qing, did your walkie-talkie break?”

“…”

“Meh!”

Even the Evolved Sheep had had enough. Mid-chew, Old Goat let out a disgruntled bleat.

Tang Huai could ignore that, but Xia Qing couldn’t. Old Goat was the type to start a fight if he lost his temper—she couldn’t risk him damaging a Devastationweed leaf worth tens of thousands.

She wasn’t afraid of tussling—she just didn’t want to lose a single leaf of such valuable Devastationweed.

So Xia Qing ducked out of the cave and hit the walkie-talkie button, responding icily, “Brother Feng’s right.”

Hu Zifeng chuckled.

Tang Huai wasn’t fazed. “So, Xia Qing, is it that you don’t want to team up or you just don’t want to team up with me?”

Before Xia Qing could answer, Tan Junjie announced over the Lords’ channel, “Attention all territories: just received word from Base. Due to a surge of large beasts in the Western Evolved Forest, for safety reasons, all teams and individuals are forbidden from leaving the Safe Zone or their territories to enter the forest without permission, until the beast tide subsides. Please acknowledge upon receipt.”

“Territory One acknowledges.”

“Territory Two acknowledges.”

Just about to crawl into the Spring Cave, Xia Qing pressed her button. “Section Three acknowledges.”

After all territories reported in, Tan Junjie posted another notice: “Per the Base Office and Territory Management Department, we are now recruiting evolutionaries from all territories to help the Inspection Team patrol and defend Section One in the north.”

“Once the mission’s done, your rewards will be based on your contribution, as decided by the Territory Management Department. You can sign up in the Lords’ channel or directly with the Inspection Team when they patrol your area.”

Half a minute after Tan Junjie announced the mission, Territory Two was first to sign up.

Zhou Xun piped up enthusiastically, “Captain Tan, Territory Two is sending twenty-five evolutionaries. I’ll give you the full list and their abilities when your team passes through.”

“Received,” Tan Junjie replied, stern as ever.

Then Zhou Xun started calling others out, “The beast tide’s coming! Territory One, Section Three—don’t tell me you’re just going to hide and leave us hanging?”

Everyone… couldn’t help feeling Zhou Xun had been possessed by Tang Huai.

Over in Territory Twelve, hearing Zhou Xun’s cocky taunt, Tang Huai frowned. “He must be spouting orders from above. Is Tang Zhengsu planning to make trouble while the beast tide’s on? Has he lost his mind?”

Tang Heng glanced up. “Bro, we should tell Dad about this.”

Tang Huai nodded. “Just a heads-up’ll do—don’t make it sound too dire. Let him enjoy some peace in the Safe Zone. But get all our leaders in for a quick meeting—we need to step up patrols. If those guys from Territory Two try anything, our greenhouses and big sheds’ll be their first targets.”