Chapter 56: A Deal of Worms and Welcome for the Flock

“Qing-jie!” Sun Zhe’s voice sprang back to life. He called out and quickly lowered his voice. “Qing-jie, you’re back too?”

“No, I’m still in the territory.” Xia Qing didn’t question why he used the word ‘too.’ She kept going. “Are you free right now? There’s something I want to run by you.”

“I’m free. Of course, I’m free.”

Xia Qing heard Sun Zhe briskly leave wherever he’d been. The background noise on the call faded a bit. “Go ahead, Qing-jie, no one can hear us here. How are you making calls from inside the territory—did you switch to a satellite phone?”

“Yeah, just to make things easier. I traded points for one after a few missions with the squad.” Xia Qing got right to it. “Here’s why I called…I need organic fertilizer for the fields in our territory. Qi Fu said your dad knows how to make worm castings, so I thought I’d ask. Of course, it’s totally up to you all whether you do it or not.”

Sun Zhe sounded so excited, Xia Qing could hear his breathing hitting the phone’s mic. “Qing-jie, you’re serious? People actually want to buy worm castings?”

“I can only reach out to three Lords, but they all need organic fertilizer, including Qi Fu. Can’t guarantee anything else, but at the very least I’ll need to buy a thousand pounds myself.” Xia Qing only mentioned the three nearby Lords who genuinely farmed; she left Lords One, Two, and Seven out of it completely.

Trying to keep his excitement in check, Sun Zhe replied quickly, “Thank you, Jie. I’ll talk to my dad right away. The Planting Center in the Safe Zone raises worms for castings, and my dad even went to apply, but they wouldn’t take him because he’s disabled. Do you think we should make worm castings in the Safe Zone, or would it be better if we set up outside in a territory?”

Xia Qing was surprised. “I thought all the land was already claimed. Did the Base clear out some new territory?”

Only then did Sun Zhe realize Xia Qing wasn’t up to date inside her territory. He explained quickly, “No new territory was developed, still the same two hundred plots since the start of the year. But some Lords have died or left, so over thirty plots are just sitting empty. My dad wants to claim one—my mom isn’t so sure.”

“If you raise a lot of worms, the smell really carries. That’ll attract carnivorous evolved animals. Raising them inside the Safe Zone is much safer, but you’ll get higher yields out in the territory. It’s your call. If you do claim a territory, pick one close to the Safe Zone—the closer the better.”

Sun Zhe’s whole family were just ordinary people, so leaving the Safe Zone was a big risk. But raising worms for castings might be their only shot at a steady life. With heartfelt thanks, Sun Zhe said, “I understand. Thank you, Jie. If you ever need an extra hand, let me know—I’ll come running. Everyone misses you around here.”

“If you can manage the worm castings, that’d already be a huge help for me,” Xia Qing reminded him. “I can handle things for now. Just don’t mention to anyone that I got in touch with you.”

After hanging up, Xia Qing took a deep breath of air thick with grass and earth, then flopped down in the meadow, gazing up at the endless blue sky.

The familiar, noisy background coming through the call had pulled Xia Qing right back to the suffocating, crowded Safe Zone. Whatever anyone thought, she knew she’d never give up her territory for that packed place.

“Baa—”

“Thud, thud, thud!”

She heard Boss Sheep calling out in a panic and the sound of hooves pounding the ground. Turning, she saw it racing toward her. Xia Qing jumped up fast to show she was fine. “Hey, Boss, relax! I’m not poisoned or hurt, just taking a break. See? I’m up, I can even jump!”

Once Boss Sheep saw she was alright, he got mad. He backed up a few steps, lowered his spiral horns, and let out a deep, hoarse bellow, “Moo!”

Xia Qing sighed. “Boss, haven’t you been at the waterwheel for half a day now? Aren’t you tired?”

Boss Sheep didn’t care and charged again. Xia Qing turned and bolted. “Alright, let’s head to the open field. I’ll spar with you as much as you want!”

Out on the barren patch, it was just the two of them. Xia Qing didn’t bother with finesse, just went head-to-head with Boss Sheep. Naturally, she got flipped right over.

An hour later, Xia Qing was sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath. “Boss, I’ve gotta say, I think you’re both a strength-type and an endurance-type Evolved Sheep.”

Endurance evolvers have stamina that’s several times higher than regular folks—or sheep. For example, an ordinary person runs at full speed for five minutes and they’re spent. A level-two endurance evolver can keep going for ten, a level-five for thirty-five. With great base fitness plus that extra endurance, they’re tough to beat. Xue Jinchang, the Dongyang Squad’s core, is a level-five endurance evolver: a true powerhouse.

Boss Sheep’s stamina was no joke either.

After teaching Xia Qing a lesson, Boss Sheep got hungry. He shook the dirt from his coat and wandered off to graze. Xia Qing dusted herself off and followed behind. “Boss, when you lived alone in the Evolver Forest, how did you make it?”

The more time she spent with him, the more Xia Qing realized Boss Sheep hated being alone. Surely, he’d had companions before meeting her. “Are any of your old flock still around? Bring them here! We’ve got water, grass—plus it’s safe. You can’t enjoy it alone and forget your buddies!”

Just imagining a whole flock made Xia Qing’s mouth water. She had to hurry and prep some cumin to welcome them properly.

In Territory Three, besides the patch of evolved perilla on the highland and the meadow beside the spring where green and yellow grass mingled under the glow, there were three more mixed patches. Xia Qing tried every kind of grass, but none tasted any good, so those three became Boss Sheep’s private pastures.

But that was before she started raising fish. These days, she’d cut the grass, boil and chop it, then feed it to the fish. Whether the fish liked it or not was their problem. If they didn’t eat, they’d go hungry—sooner or later, they’d eat.

Five days later, Xia Qing’s cucumber plants bloomed for the first time. She stopped spraying camphor tree sap for pest control and built a tight mesh net over the vegetable plot on the hillside. The fine net kept out all sorts of bugs that couldn’t bite through—like cabbageworms, leafminers, moths, aphids, and blotch flies.

By blocking off insect breeding routes on both the plants and the surface soil like this, there was no need to spray chemicals so often. Now she just had to treat the net every so often to scare away rodents and evolving bugs.

Setting up the insect net worked like building a greenhouse: put up the frame, then stretch the net over and secure it tight. Xia Qing had never seen this kind of setup even in the Safe Zone. If Qi Fu hadn’t told her, it never would’ve crossed her mind.

As for why such a great method wasn’t used in the Safe Zone’s Planting Center—Xia Qing figured it was because they had fewer pests there. Her own territory had way more bugs than that place.

With the net protecting her vegetables, all Xia Qing had to do was patrol every day, taking out any rodents that got too close. Most worked alone, thankfully, and she had help too—a flock of birds liked to perch on trees or rocks nearby, waiting to snatch bugs.

The vegetables were like a magnet—densities of all kinds of insects outside the net were way higher than elsewhere.

After setting up the net, Xia Qing noticed bird numbers rising. Now, alongside her four black-and-white evolved magpies and a few crows, there were sparrows, some beautiful long-tailed blue magpies with red bills, and lots of smaller birds she couldn’t name but who sang beautifully. Finally, she understood the meaning of ‘a land of singing birds and fragrant flowers.’

Too bad only the four evolved magpies built nests in Territory Three. The others just visited—if they’d nested, Xia Qing would’ve been eating bird eggs already.

While Xia Qing was up on the hillside squashing bugs, Luo Pei messaged her to say the mountain purchase agreement and rental contract were drafted. He asked her to review them and see if anything needed amending.

Xia Qing had spent days turning over the details—buying the mountain, renting it, or hiring someone to watch it. She finally figured it out. Keeping Mountain 49 in her own hands was way better than leaving it with the Azure Dragon Unit.