Chapter 60: A Day in the Buffer Forest

The entire mountain’s been leased out, so how could they possibly give her a share? Xia Qing let out a quiet sigh.

Besides, if you weren’t here to scope out the mountain, what kind of fool would pay thousands of points just to enter Mountain 49 when there are untouched green hills everywhere offering points practically for free? This business only traps the schemers with ulterior motives. It won’t last long, and there isn’t much to earn.

Trying to comfort herself, Xia Qing went back to patrolling the Buffer Forest.

After Tang Zheng and the others entered the Evolver Forest on Mountain 49, Yang Jin glanced in the direction where Xia Qing was, then turned and headed back—unhurried—toward Buffer Forest One.

“Jin-ge—”

Hearing Tang Lu’s saccharine voice drift over—so sweet it practically needed wringing out—Xia Qing, who hadn’t walked far, felt her skin crawl. That girl was just too much. She picked up the pace to escape—if she stayed, her ears would never recover.

Come to think of it, if we’re talking about cutesy voices, Boss Sheep’s was so much more pleasant.

“Jin-ge—”

Wrapped in a pink, form-fitting dress, Tang Lu stood strikingly in Territory Two, waving to Yang Jin as he came down from Buffer Forest at the north end of Territory One. “Jin-ge, I’m over here!” she called.

Yang Jin’s expression soured even more than it had with Tang Zheng earlier. “Did you need something, Miss Tang?”

They were still far apart, so Tang Lu had to shout. Trying to sound delicate just wasn’t working at that volume. “It took me ages to buy 50 liters of pure spring water and I brought it here overnight, Jin-ge. Take it for Officer Luo’s treatment.”

“No need. I heard from Miss Tang’s sister that the Tang family matriarch is ill. You should take the spring water home and honor your elders.” Yang Jin walked down the hillside, disappearing into the tall wild grass.

Fuming, Tang Lu stamped her foot and swung around to snap at Tang Huai. “What are you all standing around for? Can’t you see the grass is up to here? Get to work and clear it, now!”

But even if you clear the weeds in Territory Two, the ones over in Territory One are just as high—you’re still not going to see Yang Jin. Tang Huai couldn’t be bothered to explain. He just accepted the job and went off to hack at the grass, not wasting time arguing with her.

After scolding Tang Huai off, Tang Lu started in on Tang Zheng. “Why would she mention grandma being sick to Jin-ge? What is she trying to pull, pretending to be the good granddaughter? Hmph! I knew she came for no good reason! And where’s Xu Pin? How is he taking so long?”

“Miss, Deputy Xu led a group out earlier,” Tang Lu’s bodyguard reported—and punctuated it by shooting a palm-sized spider that had just leapt for Tang Lu.

“What kind of awful place is this!” Tang Lu screamed and bolted for the Village. If it weren’t for Jin-ge, she wouldn’t stay another second.

Elsewhere, Tang Huai’s younger brother, Tang Heng, led Sufeng Squad’s deputy, Xu Pin, to the signpost for Territory Seven. “Deputy Xu, Zhang San is in this territory.”

Ahead of them, a wall of grass still stood taller than a person. Even so, Xu Pin easily pinpointed the two lookouts concealed within. He stood obediently beneath the signpost and dialed Zhang San’s number.

The phone rang for ages. No answer. About what he expected. Tang Heng pulled out his walkie-talkie. “Deputy Xu, folks in these territories usually use walkie-talkies to keep in touch. I’ll check if Zhang San’s around.”

Xu Pin nodded, and Tang Heng switched on the walkie-talkie, hollering, “This is Tang Heng from Plot Two. Is San-ge from Plot Seven there?”

It didn’t take long for Kuang Qingwei’s voice to come over the channel. “San-ge’s definitely not here this morning. If you’re looking for him, you’re better off coming back at 7:45 tonight.”

Tang Heng looked at Xu Pin, walkie-talkie in hand. “Deputy Xu, Zhang San’s got a bit of a temper. If we force our way in and he finds out, good luck trading with him later.”

All for a bit of spoiled mutton, Zhang San still refuses to trade with Plot Two. That guy is petty as can be—probably a bald guy with a ruined face!

“Let’s head back.” Xu Pin turned around. If they couldn’t meet Zhang San, they’d take a look at Mountain 49 instead. He couldn’t believe Yang Jin would buy a whole mountain for no reason—there had to be something valuable up there.

With Tang Zheng being so inexperienced, there’s no way she’d uncover anything.

Before they’d gone far, Xu Pin and his group ran into a patrol making their rounds along the Barrier.

Xu Pin snapped to attention and saluted Tan Junjie. “Mr. Tan.”

Tan Junjie returned the salute, never taking off his protective mask, and kept his squad moving.

Xu Pin stayed put and called out, “Mr. Tan, maybe you haven’t heard—the Azure Dragon Unit’s bought Mountain 49. The Evolver Forest north of here is now under their management, so you don’t need to patrol this area anymore.”

Tan Junjie walked past without a flicker of emotion. “I’m just following orders. Who owns the mountain isn’t my concern.”

Watching his squad march off, one of Sufeng’s squad members spat on the ground behind Xu Pin. “Look at him, still acting high and mighty—he’s what, a leader of five or six people now? Does he think he’s still some hotshot military instructor from before the Cataclysm?”

“Quiet.” Xu Pin shushed him, but his face didn’t show any sign of reproach. “After the Great Evolution, humanity keeps getting ranked by ability. There’s still a lot I need to learn from the old instructor.”

“Two-faced jerk!” Cao Xianyun, now a Hearing Evolver, muttered under his breath. “How did the military academy ever produce someone like him?”

“We’ll take care of him sooner or later!”

“Keep patrolling. Stay alert.”

“Yes, sir.”

All the commotion outside had nothing to do with Xia Qing. She finished her patrol with Boss Sheep, then crouched by the potato and sweet potato fields, tuning in with her sharp ears. The wind rustled, birds chattered, earthworms wriggled through the soil, and—there!—the scuttling of cutworms.

Xia Qing’s eyes snapped open. She walked over and dug up a cutworm larva—an evolved night moth’s grub—about five meters from the potato field. She tossed it to the delighted magpies swooping in for a free meal.

The two magpies who missed out hung around by her side, shamelessly waiting for treats.

After clearing all the evolved grubs and cutworms out from the soil around both fields, Xia Qing gazed at the pale red potato vines that had shot up impressively. Those plants look tall—could there be potatoes growing at their roots already?

She felt her cravings rising again. Maybe she’d sneak out a couple of baby potatoes for a snack.

She pulled out her phone and checked the Encyclopedia of Cultivation, only to be disappointed—potatoes only start forming after the vines flower.

Potatoes won’t flower until next month, so there’s no point hoping for them now.

Shifting her gaze, Xia Qing eyed the sweet potato vines. Unlike potatoes, sweet potatoes form roots whether they flower or not. Those vines are long—maybe there are sweet potatoes already?

After crouching by the field for a full ten minutes, Xia Qing finally gave in. She stretched out a guilty hand and carefully brushed soil away from the base of a sweet potato vine. Turns out, though the roots were starting to swell, they were thinner than her pinky—definitely not ready to eat.

She patted the dirt back in place and moved on to the cotton field.

The cotton plants had already reached her knees, with three to five side branches sprouting off the main stem. The base had announced yesterday that once cotton gets this tall, it’s time for ‘pinching and pruning.’

Pinching and pruning means keeping the branches that grow flower buds on the main stem, and snapping off the leafy side branches that don’t. Since leafy branches grow faster than fruiting ones and sap more nutrients, getting rid of them helps the flower branches thrive—which boosts cotton yields.

Listening to last night’s broadcast, Xia Qing got curious about this farm task. Basically, all she needed to do was break off the extra leafy side branches. The best part? She could squeeze juice from them and test the Xiang element concentration in every plant.

After the Cataclysm, every crop is precious. Xia Qing compared the leaves and branches in front of her to the pictures in the Encyclopedia of Cultivation, but the more she looked, the less she could tell leafy from fruiting branches. She didn’t dare just snap them off.

She picked up her walkie-talkie and sure enough, heard that the lords of Plots Four, Five, and Six were already discussing pinching and pruning.

Zhao Ze was at a loss. “All the branches look the same. Which ones do I break? I don’t dare touch them.”

Qi Fu answered patiently, “Count up from the bottom. The first fruiting branch usually pops out where the fifth to seventh leaf connects to the main stem. Once you spot it, just strip all the branches below it.”

That only made Zhao Ze more anxious. “Qi-ge, my cotton hasn’t even reached the fifth leaf yet. How about you guys? Yours growing better?”

Answering that would mean revealing how far along everyone’s crops were—so no one replied. Xia Qing counted and saw seven leaves on the cotton stalk in front of her.