Chapter 710: Teaming Up for the Evolved Forest

Xin Yu noticed something off about Xia Qing and asked, “You want to team up with me for a mission in the Evolved Forest?”

Xia Qing nodded. “During the last Devastation Rain, we had an unusually high number of aggressive Devastation-Evolved Wild Tung Trees emerging in our territory. That probably means there’s a patch, or maybe a massive Devastation-Evolved Tung, in the nearby Evolved Forest. I spent the last two months checking Hill Forty-Nine and Hill Fifty but found nothing, so I thought we could check out Mountain 51 to the east together.”

Xin Yu had been wanting to team up with Xia Qing in the Evolved Forest for a while, so she agreed right away. “I’ll bring Jasmine and Owl. The two of them can work together. When do you want to head out?”

Owl was a Eurasian eagle-owl raised by Xin Yu. Last time, Jasmine and Owl teamed up to blow up Xu Pin, Su Feng Squad’s vice-captain—their combat skills were no joke. Xia Qing discussed the plan. “The sooner the better. How much time do you need to prepare? If you’re ready, we could head out the day after tomorrow.”

“Day after tomorrow works.” As Xin Yu planned out how much explosive payload to bring, she tracked the location of Raven using the tracker attached to its body.

Once she spotted Raven, she couldn’t help but blink in surprise. “Xia Qing, look, is Jasmine pecking at the toon leaves?”

Xia Qing, who had sharp eyes and ears, looked up at Raven nibbling on the tender toon sprouts and replied, “Yeah, looks like it really likes them. This tree is edible, and it should be fine for it to eat a few leaves.”

Xia Qing had given Xin Yu toon sprouts before, so Xin Yu knew that while this was a Green Lantern plant with minimal Evolution Element content, it also had very little Devastation Element. Still, it was her first time seeing Jasmine eat toon leaves, so she sounded pretty amazed. “Ravens are omnivores, like humans, but I’ve never seen one interested in tree leaves before.”

Xia Qing didn’t find it all that strange. This was no ordinary Green Lantern toon tree—it could produce and release Evolution Synthesis gas, making it a true evolution-type tree. Tons of birds and insects came by to eat the toon leaves. Whenever too many showed up, Old Goat would get anxious and ram the tree or bump into Xia Qing to get her to come chase away the intruders.

Xia Qing seriously suspected that Old Goat’s great meat quality had a lot to do with this special tree.

Xin Yu noticed a few small toon saplings around the big toon tree, each ringed with thorny branches, and made an offer to Xia Qing. “Can I trade for one of those toon saplings? I’ll give you two Green Lantern figs. I asked Uncle Ping to search for some figs over at Territory Two’s base, but unfortunately, they’re all Green Lantern—not the rarer varieties. They should arrive in a few days.”

Xia Qing had already asked Xin Yu before, since birds didn’t care for figs, which meant there weren’t any in Territory Eight. So Xin Yu had Zhou Zhaoping look for figs just because Xia Qing was interested in the tree. She was moved by her friend’s thoughtfulness. “Green Lantern figs are already really good!”

Still, touched as she was, the trade couldn’t happen. “All those saplings are already spoken for. Next year, when new ones sprout up, I’ll save you two—guaranteed Green Lantern.”

“Sounds great. I’ll leave you two Green Lantern fig saplings as a deposit, and when it’s time to swap next year, I’ll give you two more.” Trading Green Lantern saplings for Green Lantern saplings—two for two, of course.

Xia Qing agreed happily, then led Xin Yu over to admire the apple trees flowering in her Green Lantern orchard. The apple trees were showing off this year, covered in blooms. By autumn, Xia Qing would definitely have apples to eat.

Once Jasmine had eaten its fill and landed back on Xin Yu’s shoulder, the pair took a small path along the terraces and headed down the hill.

Xin Yu wasn’t big on crops, so she followed Xia Qing to the breeding greenhouse. Xia Qing first stopped by the planting greenhouse to greet Old Goat, who was munching grass, then returned to find Xin Yu counting the chicks.

When Xia Qing came over, a bunch of the chicks chirped and ran in her direction, making it impossible for Xin Yu to get an accurate count. She asked straight out, “How did you hatch so many chicks? There must be sixty or seventy here.”

Last year, her idol had suggested a trade—she’d raise fifty chickens to meet the idol’s food needs.

Xia Qing explained, “I hatched a total of ninety-two, but sixteen have already died, so there are seventy-six left. Since Third Brother likes Green Lantern food, I hatched a few extras to trade once they’re grown.”

This year, there were nine hens brooding in Section Three, and Xia Qing gave each one twenty eggs to incubate. The hatch rate was 51%, and the current chick survival rate stood at 82%.

Such a high survival rate was thanks to exchanging for chick vaccinations from Territory Seven, preventing diseases like avian flu and bacterial infections.

After this brood, Xia Qing had a whole new perspective on the prices of Green Lantern chickens.

Last year, when she traded with her idol, Green Lantern pullets fetched 2,000 credits each and cockerels 1,000 each. Xia Qing just thought they were precious, so she sold them at that price.

But after breeding her own, she realized that to guarantee the quality of Green Lantern chickens, you needed good water, good feed, regular vaccinations, and separation from Devastation Element during Devastation Rain. Otherwise, the chicken quality dropped. And all of this took credits. Once she added it all up, the price of over a thousand credits per breeding stock chicken actually made sense.

Xia Qing looked after the chicks with great care every day, hoping that more than fifty would make it to adulthood—enough to fulfill her deal with her idol and have a few left for herself.

After they finished checking on the chicks, Xia Qing gave Jasmine a few breadworms and led Xin Yu home.

Xin Yu knew Red Squirrel was raising babies in the sheep shed, so she moved carefully, kept her voice low, and tucked Jasmine into the bird pouch at her waist.

The group of swallow chicks in Xia Qing’s sheep shed didn’t tolerate any other flying creatures in their territory—which happened to be Xia Qing’s yard.

At this point, not even evolved magpies dared come near the yard. One swallow they could handle, but when over twenty swallows teamed up, even magpies backed down fast.

Ever since realizing how fierce these swallows were, Xia Qing had hoped that last year’s egrets and night herons would move back. Then she could steal an egg and see if they’d still dare smear bird droppings on her window.

But just like last year, not a single wild bird nested in Section Three this time. Xia Qing figured the departed egrets and night herons must have spread exaggerated rumors about her to the other birds—maybe that’s why not even an egret would build its nest by her reservoir this season.

The next morning at six-thirty, Xia Qing pretended to be inspecting the Hill Fifty test zone and used her personal flight gear to fly to the third peak of Hill Fifty, meeting up at the designated spot with Xin Yu, who had two birds and a bag of explosives with her.

To avoid being spotted in the Evolved Forest by spies from the Yu family, Xin Yu had slipped out of the Safe Zone the previous night and hidden in a cave on the second peak of Mountain 51.

That cave was one she’d found using a tamed bird for reconnaissance.

After meeting up, Xin Yu left her four bodyguards in the cave, then slung her bag over her shoulders and stepped into the colorful, endless forest with Xia Qing by her side.