Chapter 706: A Relaxing Evening in the Territory

After trying every trick it knew yet still losing to that small grass-eating sheep, the little Honey Badger flopped onto the ground and started whining, refusing to get up.

Old Goat lifted its head high, looking straight at Xia Qing.

Tang Huai? The moment the little Honey Badger stayed down, he took off running.

Chen Zheng? He already went back to Hill Forty-Nine. Now there was only one person, one sheep and one badger left.

“Flathead ran over just now to pick a fight. I wasn’t in the territory, but Old Goat went right out and pummeled him! Old Goat, you really are the most reliable sheep ever. What would this place do without you? What would I do without you? If Blue Star had a rankings for the most dependable Evolved Sheep, you’d be number one for sure…”

“Baa.”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s getting dark, and you’re hungry too. Let’s go home and eat, alright? The barley grass in the field has grown tall—want me to get you some?”

“Baa~~~”

Barley grass was just another name for Spike Ice Grass.

The Crippled Wolf had brought Xia Qing two Evolution Flat-Head Icegrass plants, but she killed both trying to grow them. Since then, every time she’s gone to the Evolved Forest, she’s searched for more of these plants—and managed to find a few that were edible. Still, that small handful of seeds wasn’t enough to plant much, so Xia Qing swapped for two more bags of wild grass seed through Zhong Tao.

Before the disaster, Spike Ice Grass was used to feed livestock. After the disaster, the evolved version became one of the main ingredients in compressed rations made by the Lancheng Base in Northwest Huaguo, and Hui Three Base’s Breeding Center was also growing it—part went into making rations, part to livestock feed. The grass seed Xia Qing traded for through Zhong Tao was actually Green Lantern wild grass seed bred at the Hui Three Safe Zone’s Planting Center.

Ever since Xia Qing traded high-grade Green Lantern meat to Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui last year, the two had gone out of their way to get her good seeds.

This spring, Xia Qing didn’t just plant some Green Lantern evolution Spike Ice Grass seeds on the terraces for breeding even better grass strains—she also sowed quite a bit in Section Three’s Buffer Forest and the valley in Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine, to feed Old Goat and the wild boars living in the valley.

Every once in a while, people would load up a helicopter and scatter quality wild grass, vegetable, and grain seeds bred by the Planting Center across the Evolved Forest outside the Safe Zone. This operation was classified by the base.

Some of these Green Lantern or Yellow Lantern plants would also get discovered by gathering teams out on missions, who’d bring their finds back to the Safe Zone and exchange them for credits at the mission hall. The hall then sorted the plants by type and quality—most went to the food processing plant to be turned into compressed rations or other foods, while a few top-grade strains went back to the Safe Zone for further breeding.

The first time Xia Qing heard Yang Jin mention this, she was speechless. It had never crossed her mind that the plants she’d followed the combat team around gathering in the Evolved Forest were actually seeded there by the base.

Yang Jin totally got where the base was coming from. “The Planting Center produces huge amounts of Green Lantern seeds that aren’t rare or precious, and trading them barely gets anything worthwhile. But if you scatter them in the forest and let nature take its course, you get way more benefits. Not only do you get to pick out the best seeds, you also improve the quality of wild animals near the Safe Zone and keep the combat team busy. Less time for them to bicker with each other.”

Xia Qing agreed—Yang Jin made a lot of sense.

Population density inside the Safe Zone was high and there wasn’t much land to plant crops, so there was no way to grow enough food for two million people. Plus, there just weren’t enough jobs to go around inside the zone. People needed something to do.

One of the main tasks for combat teams was gathering outside, so each year they’d organize lots of people to do the harvesting. To boost the haul, the teams also recruited freelancers. Evolved fighters like Xia Qing and ordinary folks who were tough enough could join and earn supplies from gathering or hunting missions.

As for why it was all so secret—once Xia Qing thought it over, she understood.

If the secret got out, people’s excitement and pride in gathering would tank, and complaints would skyrocket.

Xia Qing suspected the evolved perilla she’d found in her territory last year had sprouted from seeds scattered by the Safe Zone, since evolved perilla was the main ingredient in Hui Three Base’s Section Three feed. Same with the alfalfa in Section Four.

And honestly, that iron soy she’d babied for half a year last year—all that water, all that fertilizer, treating it like a treasure—must’ve sprouted from seeds thrown out by the Safe Zone too!

She was even pretty sure the high Evolution Element Green Lantern spinach growing on the slope of her own territory was the result of spinach seeds scattered by the base’s drones, which then evolved naturally into a stronger variety.

This possibility got Xia Qing fired up.

Because if it were true, it meant the soil in her territory’s high Evolution Element growing area was really good enough to breed even better spinach seeds. If she kept it up for another two years, she might even nurture spinach with Evolution Element content over 10%.

The Spike Ice Mist Grass seeds from the Evolved Forest were probably also scattered by the base—there was nothing rare about the species.

After the Devastation Rain, lots of the Ice Mist Grass seeds Xia Qing spread in the Buffer Forest and Section Three had taken root and sprouted, giving Old Goat plenty more snacks.

That sheep loved nothing more than sniffing around the Buffer Forest in search of tasty wild grass.

Xia Qing had started calling Spike Ice Grass “barley grass” because Yuan Yan once came to her territory, saw the spike grass growing on the terraces, and said that back in her hometown they always called this stuff barley grass. Xia Qing found the name friendlier, so she switched too.

“Old Goat, next time you go out to brawl with Flathead, wear your protective suit, alright? If he bites you, that’s going to be a real pain…”

The fuming little Honey Badger lay in the Barrier, its beady black eyes fixed on its two rivals. Only after they’d left did it roll over, scramble up, and dash into Section Three’s Evolved Forest. Looking fierce, it started practicing its claw strikes on the pine tree it had already clawed up before, then finally went looking for some food.

After dashing all the way here and scrapping again, the badger was thirsty and starving.

Wild grass was tough. It grew way faster than vegetables. Xia Qing pinched some barley grass leaves from the terraces, filled a bucket with Pure Spring Water from the Spring Cave, then tossed it all in her basket, covered it up, and headed home with Old Goat for dinner.

“Hey, what are you thinking about?”

In Territory Twelve, Tang Heng handed a napkin to Tang Huai, who was staring blankly by the sink.

Tang Huai took the napkin, dried his hands, and sat at the table grumbling, “So annoying. The people from Territory Fourteen are trying to turn me and Xia Qing against each other!”

Tang Heng laughed. “It’s not like you and Xia Qing get along anyway—nobody needs to stir that pot. What’s Yan Meng up to now?”

“It’s not Yan Meng, it’s a new guy in his territory named Liao Chen…” Tang Huai recounted everything that happened, stuffing a big bite of food in his mouth with a scowl.