Chapter 727: Harvest, Schemes, and New Seeds

While Xia Qing was weeding the Green Lantern peanut terraces, Tang Huai called her up and asked confidently, “Xia Qing, was it you who killed that Giant Raptor yesterday?”

“Yeah, it was me.” Xia Qing admitted right away. Dozens of people on Mountain 51 had seen her slinging a sniper rifle, climbing into a small helicopter, and then the helicopter took down the Giant Raptor.

Just last night, Luo Pei, who was tasked with searching for the Giant Raptor in the Southern Evolved Forest, had already called her. He wasn’t mad that Xia Qing snagged his target—in fact, he praised all the hard work she’d put in lately, complimenting her for her sharp instincts and saying he’d finally figured out the ins and outs of aerial sniping. Then he invited her to team up and head to Hill Fifty-Eight to hunt down the second escaped Giant Raptor. He was bent on taking it down before the next round of Devastation Rain.

Of course, Xia Qing agreed on the spot. Luo Pei was always out on missions, and she hadn’t partnered up with him in a long time.

But she never expected Alpha would drop off a big raptor claw—the exact prey Luo Pei had aimed for—at Section Three’s territory early this morning. Instantly, that team-up plan went up in smoke.

Tang Huai…

He’d expected Xia Qing to deny it, even braced himself for a heated debate, only for her to confess outright…

Tang Huai grumbled, “You’re wild! But don’t tell me you targeted it on purpose—did you really shoot it down right over Territory Fourteen?”

“Nope.” She wasn’t quite that impressive yet.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so either.” Tang Huai sighed. “Luck. Timing. Fate. Looks like the grudge between you and Old Yan’s family isn’t ending anytime soon.”

Xia Qing scooped up the weeds she’d pulled, gave them a shake, and tossed them into a basket at the edge of the field. “What did Yan Meng say about all this?”

Old Goat took a sniff of the grass Xia Qing had pulled and started to munch away.

Since Xia Qing had planted a patch of Green Lantern grass, plus several beds of alfalfa and perilla just for Old Goat, it never bothered the crops inside the terraces—even if they weren’t fenced off with thorns.

“I’m busy right now and don’t have time to watch other territories. But Yan Meng is bound to find out you killed it and will definitely think it was intentional.”

Tang Huai finally got to the real reason for his call. “My sister’s already found out—Yan Meng’s using a regenerative medicine developed by Fire Phoenix, bought from Wantong Company. Back in March, Fire Phoenix sold 60 vials of this medicine to Wantong, and Yan Meng bought one.”

The Tang family’s intel was as sharp as ever. Xia Qing asked, “How much does that medicine cost per vial?”

Tang Huai answered, “The public price is 150,000 credits per vial. With the severity of Yan Meng’s injuries, he’d need four to recover fully. He sold 150 spinach seeds to Wantong for 350 credits apiece, but that’s nowhere near enough to buy his medicine.”

Yan Meng had already emptied his savings just to treat himself. Even if he farmed for another two or three years, he’d never save up enough credits for the medicine. So his only options were to try his luck in the Evolved Forest or find credits elsewhere.

Fire Phoenix had sure found itself a reliable weapon.

Tang Huai continued, “So, what’s your plan?”

Xia Qing already had a plan in mind. “Fire Phoenix will definitely keep planting spies in Section One of the North. If they get rid of Yan Meng now, they’ll just start eyeing other territories. It’s better to keep him around for now. Yan Meng has a hot temper and lacks composure—if Fire Phoenix targets him, it actually works to our advantage.”

Her dad had said the same! Xia Qing wasn’t just all muscle anymore—she had brains too. Impressive!

“Once Fire Phoenix finishes dealing with the Trapping Team and the Western Wolf Pack, they’ll have people to spare and will come after us. So, we’ve got to raise our strength and battle power fast!” Tang Huai slipped into his usual daily chant, “So when are we heading to the Evolved Forest? I’ve been ready for ages—just waiting for your call!”

Xia Qing had been busy roaming Mountain 51 for a few days and weeds had overrun her fields. She really didn’t have time to drag Tang Huai along. “I’m tied up for the next few days. But you can apply for the clean-up mission on Mountain 51—it’ll last another three days.”

Xia Qing and Xin Yu had spent four days scouring most of Mountain 51, blasting apart eighty-eight Wild Tung Trees that attacked on sight. Not only did the squads have to clear away all that debris, but they also had to search untouched areas and finish the job.

“Alright, I’ll check it out.”

That job didn’t sound fun at all. Tang Huai didn’t want to go! He worried if he annoyed Xia Qing, she’d skip over him next time she formed a team. So even though he agreed, he grumbled to himself.

Xia Qing could totally tell from his tone, but honestly, Tang Huai wasn’t her kid—he could think what he wanted. She had plenty of her own work to do.

Whenever she hired members of Hu Zifeng’s Squad to guard the territory, she’d have them help with a bit of farm work. But everything in the terraces on the hills—irrigation, weeding, daily care—she handled herself without their help.

These terraces served as test plots for breeding high-grade seeds—they used only the finest fertilizer, and the water used for irrigation was filtered river water, nearly free of Devastation Element.

Taking a leaf from the Evolved Bear, which placed a Yi Stone in the Hidden Valley pool to remove excess Devastation Element, Xia Qing had dug a pit at the bottom of the hill. She’d put a Yi Stone inside, waited half an hour, and let the released Evolution Element purify the water.

After that, she’d use the water from the pit to irrigate her terraces.

Twenty-five terraces sounded like a lot, but each was only about fifty square meters. Altogether, they didn’t even make up two acres. With two Strength Evolution lords in Section Three, hauling water to these terraces was a breeze.

Every time Xia Qing watered the terraces, she’d silently thank one particular wolf:

Handsome Huge Wolf.

She was grateful he’d led her to the stash of Yi Stone Su Feng had hidden in the Western Evolved Forest. With those stones, Xia Qing could finally relax.

Even with over a hundred pieces of Yi Stone, it still paid to be frugal. So after each irrigation, Xia Qing would fish the stones out of the water and tuck them back in their protector—ready for the next round.

Once she finished the Green Lantern peanut terraces, Xia Qing cleaned up the sunflower and potato plots too. By then, she was getting thirsty.

She headed down to the lower slope where vegetables grew in terraces, plucked a cucumber off the rack, rinsed it with Pure Spring Water, and snapped it in half—half for Old Goat and half for herself.

This year, Xia Qing raised thirty-five Green Lantern cucumber seedlings. Twenty she planted in the terraces, the other fifteen in the greenhouse.

Thanks to all her careful work, the Devastation Element inside the cucumbers from the terraces was down 0.1‰ compared to those from the greenhouse. Once the second Devastation Rain ended, the terrace cucumbers would keep their quality, while the greenhouse batch—without Yi Stone protection—would drop. But those were for trading anyway, so as long as they were edible, she didn’t mind.

All the vegetables she and Old Goat ate came from the terraces.

Just as they were happily munching away, Old Goat’s ears twitched and Xia Qing heard something too. She turned to see Red Squirrel perched on a tree outside the greenhouse, tail flicking and little paws working—staring longingly at the cucumber in her hand.

That little guy—back for free food again.

Without a word, Xia Qing and Old Goat kept chewing. The only difference was Old Goat crunched everything, not even a scrap left, while Xia Qing broke off a bit and set it outside on a stone.

As soon as she was back indoors, Red Squirrel darted in lightning quick, snagged the cucumber tip before two big magpies could, and dashed all the way to the sheep shed at Xia Qing’s place.

After finishing her snack and resting a while, Xia Qing headed to the upper terraces to clear weeds from the spinach beds.