Chapter 776: The Price of Antidotes

Zhang San spoke in a voice that carried through the room—loud enough for everyone to hear, including Fire Phoenix and Section Four’s auditory evolutionary Dan Ying, and even ordinary folks like Liao Wendong could catch every word.

Because every word rang so clear, Liao Wendong felt his heart sink like a stone.

This new medicine was the result of months of work from Fire Phoenix, who poured in talent and resources just to compete when Hui Three was about to snatch away the prized Premium Nutrient Shake market.

Liao Wendong had been hustling for over a month just to help promote this promising new drug.

Fire Phoenix wore a hard look but her voice stayed deferential. “The price is set at eighteen thousand per bottle. I’ll send ten bottles over right away. Would you mind checking them for improvements?”

Dan Ying, lead researcher of the new drug, dropped her head and gritted her teeth.

Zhang San’s voice remained flat. “Eighteen thousand, huh…”

Fire Phoenix forced a bitter smile. “It does sound expensive, I’ll admit. But we had no other choice. The Premium Nutrient Shake business is on the verge of collapse, so we threw everything we had into this replacement drug. You know as well as I do—without state funds, I have to charge more credits just to survive. My body is riddled with illness and poison. Without enough medicine to keep me going, I’d dissolve into a puddle of blood by next month.”

Zhang San stripped off his blood-soaked surgical gown and gloves, then quietly turned to scrubbing and sterilizing his hands to keep infection at bay.

The voice on the phone yanked Fire Phoenix right back to those days in the sunless underground lab. Her face went stiff, breathing ragged, and her hand shook so hard she nearly dropped the phone.

The muscles in Liao Wendong’s face twitched too. Of course, Dan Ying wasn’t scared of a voice she’d known for years, but even she tensed up, bracing herself for Zhang San’s next move.

Zhang San took his time, drying his hands with a sterilized towel, before finally saying, “Next month, Hui Three Pharmaceutical will release an affordable skin injury treatment.”

The phone screen cracked in Fire Phoenix’s grip, but Zhang San’s lazy, unhurried voice cut sharper than shattered glass:

“Your wounds and your poisons aren’t my doing, and they have nothing to do with Xia Qing. I owe her a favor. This medicine is a warning. If you go after Xia Qing again, every time Fire Phoenix rolls out a new drug, I’ll release a cheaper competing version. You’ve always wanted to see if the people you keep alive with your blood are any match for my team? Well, let’s see whose medicine proves better.”

Fire Phoenix’s eyes blazed, blood dripping from fingers gashed by broken glass, but her voice stayed humble. “This time, it’s on me. I failed to keep my people in check and made trouble for you. You saved my life. If you owe Xia Qing a favor, then so do I. The score between Fire Phoenix and Xia Qing is settled.”

But whatever beef Fire Phoenix had with Xia Qing was squared away. The grudge between Dan Ying and Xia Qing, though—that was their own business. Fire Phoenix couldn’t interfere, even if she wanted to.

Zhang San could easily read between the lines. “Tell Dan Ying: It was her and Dan Xiang who started things. Xia Qing only fought back. Dan Xiang’s death was his own doing. If she doesn’t stop, I put her in prison six years ago, and with evidence from Chai Shuling, Qin Qiong, and the Zhou brothers, I can put her back there—till the day she dies.”

Qin Qiong is the true name of Territory Nine’s lord, Li Si.

Whatever calm look Dan Ying had cracked in an instant.

Once the call ended, Zhang San asked, “How are things over at Hill Fifty and inside the territory?”

Ji Li answered quickly, “The red Devastation Rain on Hill Fifty has stopped—situation under control. Aside from the three Devastation Snakes Xia Qing found in Territory Nine, we’ve spotted two more in Territory Fourteen. No new sightings in other territories for now. Out of all the water samples sent in, only Territory Nine’s tested positive for Devastation Snake venom.”

Back in the lab, Zhang San slumped into a chair, looking completely spent. “Where’s the sample from Territory Nine off?”

Ji Li handed over a lab report. “It’s from the mouse hole where Xia Qing found the first Devastation Snake. Zhang Ke says the venom got there during the snake’s fight with the Evolved Rat. Since both the water and the mouse tested positive, he’s leading a team over to clean up the site now.”

Zhang San flipped quickly through the results. “What about Territory Fourteen?”

Ji Li replied, “Tan Junjie suspects the snakes in both Territory Nine and Fourteen were smuggled in by Liao Chen, the strength evolutionary from Fourteen. They’re interrogating him now.”

“And Xia Qing?” asked Zhang San.

Ji Li hesitated a couple seconds, then answered, “She’s already back in Section Three. She’s chopping down her own aggressive Devastation Evolution bamboo—says it’s top-notch material for building greenhouses.”

Zhang San was speechless…

“Bang, bang!”

“Crack—snap!”

Standing atop the stone slab in Section Three, Xia Qing brought down another nine-meter-tall Hardness Evolution bamboo with a single swing.

She didn’t have to say a word. Old Goat immediately trotted over the stone slab, grabbed the rope tied to the bamboo pole in his mouth, and dashed downhill.

“Crack—snap!”

After Guan Tong felled a bamboo, Da Jiang hustled up, grabbed hold of the pole and hauled it off.

Passing Old Goat on his way up, Da Jiang pretended not to notice the look of disdain in Old Goat’s eyes. Puffing and grunting, he tried desperately to keep pace, only for Old Goat, now carrying another bamboo, to overtake him before Da Jiang even dragged his pole to the storage site below the hillside.

And then, Old Goat gave him another look of contempt as he trotted back. Da Jiang couldn’t even get mad—he just kept huffing down the hill.

Once the last bamboo was down, Xia Qing shook out her numb right hand and praised her companion. “Old Goat, you’re amazing. Without you, it would’ve taken all of us so much more work to haul these down.”

Old Goat clamped his jaws on the grass rope around the last stalk, shot side glances at Guan Tong and Da Jiang, then trotted off, chin held high.

Guan Tong, no match for Xia Qing’s cutting, and Da Jiang, no rival for Old Goat’s hauling, exchanged a look. They both bowed to Old Goat’s superiority.

“You guys did great too. I’ll clean up here. Go back to the hut and take a break—we’ll chop more bamboo when the next batch is ready to harvest.” Xia Qing made sure to include Da Jiang and Guan Tong in her praise.

As for herself?

She didn’t need to rest. She couldn’t either.

After stacking up the stones, Xia Qing took a hit of Premium Nutrient Shake, then hurried over to Greenhouse Six.

The red Devastation Rain had stopped, but the air was still thick with Devastation Element. Xia Qing made a full sweep of the greenhouse, cleared out six potatoes and sunflowers on the verge of Devastation Evolution, then moved straight on to Greenhouse Seven.

After that check, she was heading for Territory Nine next.

Right now, during the disaster response phase, Territory Nine was the highest-risk area. As territory’s crisis manager, she needed to stay on top of things over there.

Peng Jian was in Greenhouse Seven, pulling up stalks of Devastation Evolution winter wheat. Spotting Xia Qing, he greeted her right away. “Sister Qing, corn and soybeans look normal, not too much wheat has mutated either. Go rest, let me handle things here.”

Xia Qing agreed and kept walking. But to her, corn and soybeans that looked ‘normal’ to Peng Jian were anything but.