Chapter 567: The Promise of Purple Sweet Potatoes

Yuan Yan spoke with excitement. “We should ask Territory Twelve if they’re willing to trade more purple sweet potatoes. They’re worth even more. If Director Tang agrees to the exchange, we’ll plant the purple sweet potatoes right alongside the rice seedlings. As long as we use Yi Stones to protect the valley during the second and third Devastation Rains, we’re bound to turn a solid profit.”

Zhu Li, who’d been helping her husband gather supplies, could hardly contain her glee. “Sister-in-law, you got it wrong. We’re not just making a profit—we’re gonna make a killing! Purple sweet potatoes are super sensitive to Devastation Rain, so you can’t really grow them everywhere, which means they’re rare and the price won’t drop. Basically, by the time we harvest, they’ll still go for 300 credits a pound! And each seedling should yield at least two or three pounds of sweet potatoes, right?”

That’s worth way more than regular grains and vegetables at 10 or even 50 credits a pound! Zhao Ze’s eyes lit up too. “These aren’t just purple sweet potatoes—they’re money machines!”

Last year, when Tang Huai was injured by a refugee inside the territory, Tang Zhengbo secured Zhang San’s help with twenty pounds of purple sweet potatoes as payment for stitching up Tang Huai’s wounds. Back then, Territories One, Eight, and Nine each traded three pounds with Territory Twelve. At the time, the rest of the Alliance didn’t have the means to grow them—so they hadn’t bothered to trade.

Now things were different. They finally had the means.

Shizhong looked worried. “I remember Director Tang saying he didn’t have many purple sweet potatoes left. Not sure we can get some in a trade.”

Yue Haiying jumped in right away. “The Military’s planting base has purple sweet potatoes too. I’ll see if I can find a way to get us a few pounds.”

Xia Qing added, “I’ll check with Tang Huai too.”

She hadn’t asked to trade with Territory Twelve at the time either, but after the fact, she’d set up a deal with Yang Jin—forty Green Lantern Sweet Potato seedlings in exchange for ten purple sweet potato seedlings.

Unlike the penny-pinching Yang Jin, Tang Huai was one of the rare, quality traders on Blue Star. If Xia Qing brought Old Goat and Er Gou for him to see, she’d have no trouble getting at least three pounds in a trade.

After leaving Territory Five, Xia Qing headed straight for Territory Seven to report the list of students entering for training to her Idol, and scheduled the training slots for two people.

“I ran a test on the severed limbs of those two self-destructed advanced evolutionaries,” Zhang San said, placing a report on Xia Qing’s desk, his face looking sour. “They drank Evolution Element stim shake about an hour before dying. Based on the blood tests, there’s a ninety percent chance the stim shake came from a batch I made. The other ten percent? Likely made by someone from Hui One Research Institute who once learned the recipe from me and later improved their own technique.”

The idea that someone had either used Zhang San’s stim shake or his patented formula to invade the territory—targeting Zhang San’s allies and the managers of Hill Fifty, sabotaging everything here—was infuriating.

Xia Qing asked, “Third Brother, I remember you saying Evolution Element stim shake only keeps for a year. In the past year, have you traded it with anyone suspicious?”

Zhang San’s pale, gaunt face radiated a mix of irritation and world-weariness. “Other than the monthly quota for Hui One Military, I’ve only given stim shake to three: you, Yang Jin, and Dongyang Squad from Hui Three.”

Dongyang Squad? Xia Qing pressed, “Was that for when you sent Dongyang Squad to dig up Green Lantern bamboo shoots for you?”

Zhang San gave a weary grunt in reply.

Letting them dig up a bit of bamboo, and he gave them Evolution Element stim shake? Xia Qing winced—it felt like watching precious treasures being handed out too easily. “Idol, why’d you go and make things so easy for them?”

Zhang San shot her a glare, so Xia Qing immediately swapped out her pained look for a model student’s attitude. “I used up one, and another is still here in the territory. Captain Yang’s team wouldn’t just lose something that valuable either. So whoever invaded could only have gotten Evolution Element stim shake from three places: Hui One Military, Dongyang Squad, or Hui One Research Institute.”

Zhang San rolled his eyes at her again. Wasn’t that just stating the obvious?

Xia Qing grinned cheekily. “Third Brother, I’ll handle checking with Dongyang Squad…”

Zhang San yawned. “Check or don’t. Either way, I’ve already reported all this to Red One Base. They’ll be sending people over for a full investigation.”

Xia Qing’s eyes sparkled instantly. “Third Brother—”

“Enough.” Zhang San cut her off, swinging his chair around before pulling out a map from a filing cabinet. “This map marks the installation zones and quantities Daya calculated. Take the cameras and get your people to set them up. These monitors are tied in with the ones watching the Third Peak high-risk area, all feeding back to Territory Seven’s monitoring hub. Ji Li will organize a team to keep an eye on everything.”

During the beast tide, the evolved bat manipulator who invaded had been hiding in the area near the base of Hill Fifty’s First Peak. Xia Qing had called her Idol about this just yesterday—she hadn’t expected everything to be ready by the very next day.

That kind of speed—no wonder her Idol stood at the very top of Blue Star’s pyramid.

Xia Qing swallowed her flood of admiration and picked up the map with both hands. “Alright, I’ll have the cameras installed and tested within two days. Third Brother, when Red One Base sends people to investigate, do I need to hide Er Gou and Old Goat?”

Zhang San shook his head. “An evolved wolf infected by a parasite and left powerless won’t impress anyone from Red One. Just hide the spring water. They’re coming for two reasons: to look into the invasion and to get their hands on those high-evolution spinach seeds. How’s your grass growing lately?”

Xia Qing knew he meant Devastationweed and immediately pulled out her phone to show him a fresh photo from this morning. “Take a look, Third Brother—I think it’s starting to set seed.”

Zhang San took the phone, zooming in close to scrutinize the picture. He broke into a pleased smile. “That’s right, it’s starting to set seed. You have Yi Stone crushed beneath the Devastationweed, right?”

“Yup. Besides the crushed stone, I spray inside the cave with water twice a day.” Xia Qing explained, “Otherwise, there’s no way to keep the humidity high enough.”

Xia Qing’s pure spring water was still in its dry season.

After inspecting Devastationweed’s growth, Zhang San nodded in approval. “Looks like you really do have a knack—and some good luck—at farming.”

Luck was a strange thing, impossible to explain or predict. By all logic, Xia Qing shouldn’t be able to grow something as temperamental as Devastationweed with barely a year of farming under her belt. Not only had she kept it alive—she’d coaxed it to bloom and now it was setting seed.

Her heart soared. Getting praise from her Idol made Xia Qing feel light as air. “It’s only because the notes you gave me were so detailed, Third Brother, that I could get Devastationweed to grow this well.”

But it sounded a bit like the Devastationweed in Section Three only grew because Zhang San had shared his notes first. Zhang San rolled his eyes at her. “Next time, bring me some of the soil you used to cultivate the grass—I want to run a test.”

“Okay,” Xia Qing agreed right away. “And when the seeds are ready, I’ll bring you a few as well.”

“No need. Just keep them for yourself.” Devastationweed was a rare evolved plant. Seeds popping up in Territory Seven would risk exposing the existence of the pure spring water in Section Three. That spring was the Alliance’s most important resource—it couldn’t be revealed now under any circumstances.

Xia Qing nodded and asked, “Can I visit Qing, Li Kai, and Yuan Rui?”

After surgery, all three were recovering in Territory Seven’s so-called observation room.

Zhang San yawned. “Go ahead, but you can only see Li Kai and Kuang Qingwei through glass. No entering their room.”

Xia Qing’s heart skipped a beat. “Third Brother, is Qing’s injury serious too?”