Chapter 576: The Purple Sweet Potato Misunderstanding

“Xia Qing, was it you or Hu Fengzi who cleared this path?”

Xia Qing couldn’t be bothered to answer such a pointless question and just scanned her way back into the territory.

Trailing after her into Section Three, Tang Huai grumbled, “No way, you really cleared the path? Haven’t you heard the saying ‘never trust what a man says’? That whole ‘walk home’ nonsense! Hu Fengzi just tricked you so he wouldn’t dirty his own shoes! You…”

Tang Huai swallowed the words calling Xia Qing foolish, worried she’d beat him up and kick him out. Still, he couldn’t help but ask the question that really stumped him:

“Seriously, what do you see in Hu Fengzi?”

Xia Qing ignored him and kept walking.

Undeterred, Tang Huai chased after her, putting on his best concerned friend act. “You’re a high-level Evolved fighter, not bad looking, fit, nothing missing. Why settle? If you really want a man, you should go for Yang Jin or Luo Pei. They’re both top-level Evolvers. They have skills, looks and solid character…”

If she didn’t value a long-term trading partnership with Tang Huai, Xia Qing would have kicked this guy—worse than a noisy crow—right out. “Did you bring the purple sweet potatoes?”

“Got them!”

Tang Huai caught up with Xia Qing, grinning. “Aside from the purple sweet potatoes, I also brought a batch of Green Lantern breadworms. How about we grab some yellow chive or chive from your greenhouse? I’ll make us breadworm stir-fry for lunch. How do you want the purple sweet potatoes prepared?”

……

So he’s actually planning to hang around for lunch before leaving…

And he brought breadworms, too…

People say breadworms taste great, but Xia Qing didn’t have time for food. “I might have to leave the territory soon to take the survey team up Hill Fifty. I’m not exchanging the sweet potatoes to eat them. I want to raise seedlings.”

Tang Huai looked surprised. “You’re building standardized greenhouses for your territory?”

Xia Qing explained, “No, I’ll use another method to block the Devastation Element.”

Tang Huai fell silent and followed Xia Qing into the small house by the fields. Only after taking off his protective mask did he mumble uncomfortably, “Did Hu Zifeng give you the Yi Stone? Looks like he’s treating you well. The guy’s willing to lose money just to keep you happy, which is so unlike someone who hangs out with the Iron Rooster Yang Jin.”

Lose money?

Xia Qing felt something was off. “Does your purple sweet potato need to be isolated from the Devastation Element throughout its entire growth?”

Tang Huai seemed puzzled, too. “Yeah, of course. It’s sensitive to Devastation, so you have to keep the element out.”

Xia Qing just stared.

She had assumed—no, actually the whole Lords’ Alliance had assumed—when Tang Zhengbo talked about his purple sweet potatoes, he meant the improved variety introduced over the territory broadcast.

Devastation-sensitive crops can’t resist the element. If they’re exposed to an environment with Devastation Element, it accumulates in their system, turning them into Red Lantern or Devastation-Evolved plants. That’s why they can only be grown in standardized greenhouses that keep the element out.

But last fall, Hui Three Base’s agriculture broadcast talked about domestic scientists having bred a purple sweet potato that could survive in open fields, offering some resistance to the Devastation Element.

Aside from a 30-40% chance of aggressive Devastation Evolution during the Devastation Rain, this improved variety doesn’t require anything special compared to regular crops.

So, back at the end of November, when Tang Zhengbo said his purple sweet potatoes had a dangerous evolution rate of 35%, everyone just assumed he meant the improved variety—not realizing they were just slightly less dangerous regular types.

She’d need to immediately warn Alliance members not to ask Territory Twelve for sweet potato exchanges anymore. Growing Evolved sweet potatoes takes 4-6 months, and relying on Yi Stones for Devastation Element isolation the whole time would be a losing deal.

Still, she could grow a few of those sweet potatoes. After all, she’d promised her Idol to cultivate even better spinach, so she’d have to use Yi Stones on a whole patch of spinach in the terraces anyway. She could plant a couple sweet potato seedlings along the edges.

While Xia Qing was weighing her options, Tang Huai wandered around the little house—now marked ‘Lounge.’ “Doesn’t look like much on the outside, but inside it’s pretty cozy. Huh, you’ve got cookware too? Are we making lunch here today? Hu Fengzi and his people stay here when they visit, right? Oh, and where are Old Goat and Er Gou? I brought gifts for them!”

Before Xia Qing could answer, Tang Huai excitedly dug a set of animal grooming brushes from his backpack, eager as ever. “Check this out: small flea comb, wide-tooth and long-short tooth combs, all anti-static and gentle on their fur. Let’s get them to try it!”

Seeing Xia Qing remain silent, Tang Huai quickly added, for the sake of survival, “Of course, you do the brushing, and I’ll, uh, watch… from a safe distance.”

Clearly, Tang Huai had only come to Section Three to see the sheep and wolf. Xia Qing nodded. “Don’t leave this house. I’ll go get them.”

Since the survey team was visiting to check the explosion site, Xia Qing had made both animal companions stay home rather than roam around. After bringing Old Goat and Er Gou out from the village, she brushed them with Tang Huai’s combs about thirty meters from the house.

Tang Huai’s brushes were miles better than the wild boar bristle ones Xia Qing had been using. Both Old Goat and Er Gou loved it, but they definitely weren’t fans of the person watching from the distant house.

Thanks to Xia Qing’s orders, Old Goat ignored Tang Huai completely when heading to the greenhouse for food. Er Gou, who always listened to Xia Qing, bared his fangs fiercely at Tang Huai as he passed, flashing those sharp white teeth.

Xia Qing understood why—Tang Huai was staring at Er Gou with burning intensity, making him uneasy. Honestly, she’d be mad too if someone looked at her that way.

Once the animals left for the greenhouse, Tang Huai couldn’t hold back a howl of excitement. “That Evolved Wolf’s fighting strength has fully recovered! Did you see its eyes and moves? Seriously, it’s the only domesticated wolf beast at Hui Three Base!”

Xia Qing corrected him. “It’s not domesticated.”

“Right, right, it’s an Evolved Wolf from the Evolved Forest. It has its own pack.” That only made Tang Huai drool with envy. If only he’d found Er Gou first.

While waiting for Zhang San to wake up and approve or reject the survey team’s trip to Hill Fifty, Xia Qing kept busy. First, she took Tang Huai to the breeding greenhouse to check on the Green Lantern yellow mealworms’ growth, then grabbed some tools and headed to the high slope greenhouse to keep repairing the damaged structure. Naturally, Tang Huai trotted along behind her.

Xia Qing took the opportunity to gather info. “Do you know which combat team took the wolf extermination mission from the task center?”

Tang Huai was well-informed as always. “Found out last night. Nobody took it. The base took it down at Red One Investigation Team’s request—apparently the paperwork wasn’t right.”

As Xia Qing paused to tie support poles to the greenhouse frame, she called over to Tang Huai, who was squatting inside, scraping through frozen dirt for bugs with a small hoe. “What paperwork?”