Chapter 728: A Tasteful Sheep and Sweet Rewards

Thanks to Xia Qing’s training, Old Goat had become a sheep with good taste. Even without thorn fences around the terraces and fields, he wouldn’t barge in and munch on the crops.

Still, just to be sure, Xia Qing fenced off both the Spinach Terraces and the Green Lantern peanut terraces with thorny branches.

She put the fence around the Spinach Terraces to keep Old Goat from ruining the most precious crops in her territory; the peanuts needed fencing because once they bloomed, their needle-like leaf veins could accidentally poke Old Goat when he wandered by.

Inside the Spinach Terraces, thanks to the protection of Yi Stone, crop losses were minimal. There were still 97 original High-Evolution Spinach plants, 48 X-2s brought back from the base, 66 Green Lantern Purple Sweet Potatoes, and 96 regular Green Lantern Spinach plants.

Of the 75 X-2 seeds planted on the terraces in early March, 50 had sprouted. Two seedlings weren’t strong enough and slowly died off.

That was totally normal. Xia Qing didn’t feel bad about it, especially since she still had some of the first-generation X-1 plants. Other lords guarded their X-2s like they were made of gold—losing even one hurt for days.

Residents of the Safe Zone who only got two X-2 seeds felt real pain when the seedlings died. Some, desperate without High-Evolution Spinach sprouts, would resort to stealing or robbing others—incidents happened daily, sometimes ending in death.

This chaos wouldn’t calm down until the first harvest of X-2 seeds became widely available.

Besides the 48 X-2s on the terraces, Xia Qing also had 44 planted in the Hidden Valley fields, with Zhang Hongda and Li Kai tending them as they recovered.

The Hidden Valley had the perfect temperature and humidity. Its water quality was better than the river in the territory, but the soil wasn’t High Evolution Element Soil and there were no Yi Stones to block Devastation Element. So those X-2s weren’t quite as good as the ones in Xia Qing’s terraces.

Still, the peanuts there grew even stronger than the ones on the terraces. No doubt, Hidden Valley was made for peanuts.

That made Xia Qing’s allies in the Lords’ Alliance especially happy. After trading with her, the Yellow Lantern peanuts they grew in the valley flourished too.

To thank Li Kai and Zhang Hongda for watching over the fields, everyone who came for water always brought homemade food for the two.

Last time Xia Qing visited, she brought them jerky but ended up carrying back even more roasted jerky.

Ever since Zhang Hongda’s health started improving, every time Xia Qing visited she’d leave with freshly grilled and sealed meat thanks to his steady recovery.

She was thoroughly satisfied with this triple-system evolved ally. Wanting Zhang Hongda to recover faster, Xia Qing decided to give him her soon-to-arrive Devastation Element Antidote.

Mid last month, Xia Qing and Yang Jin teamed up to grow the first crop of Cordyceps fungus using Pure Spring Water and high Evolution Element vegetables. They harvested and sent it to Territory Seven.

According to the agreement Yang Jin signed with Zhang San, the Azure Dragon Squad would get ten doses from the first batch of Devastation Element Antidote, one of which belonged to Xia Qing.

Since Xia Qing had already taken the antidote and reduced her Devastation Element levels back to normal, she couldn’t take any more. That’s why she planned to give her dose to Zhang Hongda to boost their alliance’s strength.

Yang Jin was never one to leave things hanging. The very next day, he showed up in Section Three with the antidote and his ledger.

Following Xia Qing to the lounge by the fields, Yang Jin spotted a small plate of strawberries on the table and smiled. “The strawberries are even bigger and better than last year’s.”

Last May, on Xia Qing’s first official day apprenticing under Luo Pei, she brought two cucumbers and two strawberries as her gift.

Those strawberries weren’t much to look at, but they were the best she had and happened to be the very first and second strawberries to ripen in her territory—a true sign of sincerity for her apprentice gift.

She smiled and invited Yang Jin, “I didn’t have much experience last year. The strawberries didn’t get enough light or nutrients, so they ended up small. This year, they’re bigger and sweeter. Would you like to try some, Captain Yang?”

“Sure.” Yang Jin took off his gloves, picked up a strawberry with a toothpick, and popped it in his mouth. The sweet and slightly tart taste delighted every one of his taste buds.

He gave Xia Qing a thumbs-up. “That’s the best strawberry I’ve ever tasted.”

Seeing Xia Qing’s face, Yang Jin could tell she thought he was just being polite.

After enjoying two more strawberries, Yang Jin finally pulled out a medicine box from his backpack and handed it to Xia Qing. “Here it is—your dose from the first batch of Devastation Element Antidote. It’s stored at 4°C; good for a month.”

“Take a break, Captain. I’ll go put the medicine in the fridge.” Xia Qing had learned her way around by now. She knew that the box Yang Jin used didn’t insulate well, so she worried the antidote’s effectiveness might drop. She hurried home to store it properly.

Yang Jin waited patiently in the lounge. When Xia Qing came back, he pulled out his ledger to show her the profits from the first Cordyceps fungus harvest.

“We used 6,003 spinach seeds for hydroponics and grew 3,920 seedlings in the end. Each Cordyceps sprout sold for 20 credits, and here’s the total.”

Xia Qing’s eyes lit up as she stared at the ledger. “What was the cost?”

“Building the cultivation room cost us 630,000 credits. We needed nutrient solution and fungus starter, then labor, security, materials, the drip facilities, and daily supplies—altogether 178,600. We split the spinach seed cost equally, and your spring water investment isn’t counted. After all that, the profit from our first crop is 284,400 credits—take a look.”

“Looks good.”

A standard greenhouse only costs 350,000 credits, so Xia Qing expected a specialized cultivation room would be pricier, but not quite this much. She really wanted to see exactly where all those credits went.

While Xia Qing looked over the ledger, Yang Jin quietly watched her, gently rubbing his fingers together.

A year living in the territory, eating well and living in peace, had changed her. She was no longer skin and bones; her hair had gone from dull yellow to shiny black.

Like most people, she kept her hair short so it was easier to wear a protective mask. Yang Jin could tell she trimmed it herself in front of a mirror; a few strands on top were still bent from the mask pressing down.

He couldn’t help wanting to smooth them out for her.

After reading the ledger, Xia Qing understood why the hydroponics room was so expensive—Yang Jin had built it underground with the best new materials. “Captain Yang, how many years do you think this cultivation room will last?”

He replied, “If nothing goes wrong, at least six years. Regular upkeep is cheap, so we’ll earn even more with the next production round.”

There’d be no more construction costs for the second batch—just basic maintenance. Xia Qing nodded. “I remember you signed a two-year exclusive deal with Third Brother, right?”

Yang Jin grinned like a sly fox. “Third Brother’s your ally now. So long as he can’t mass-produce those rare active enzymes, and you’re willing to negotiate, we can keep this exclusive partnership going for as many years as we want.”

He really was an Iron Rooster—left no loose ends! Xia Qing asked, “How many doses came out in the first batch of Devastation Element Antidote?”

“Five hundred twenty.” Just thinking about the price made Yang Jin genuinely respect that big shot from Territory Seven. “With how effective it is, people would pay 80,000 credits a dose, but Third Brother insisted on selling at 8,000. Talk about fair dealing.”