Chapter 86: Returning Shadows and Sowing Seeds

Turn off the rotary tiller? I’m just working my own land with my own farm equipment—why do you even care?

Xia Qing kept busy until midday, heading up the hillside fields to pick some Green-glow Alfalfa and yellow-leaf Jerusalem Artichoke traded from Zhao Ze, and also grabbed some green and yellow chives she’d swapped for with Kuang Qingwei and Qi Fu.

When Xia Qing got home, she froze in shock. There were huge splatters of bird droppings all over the glass of her second-floor balcony.

What the hell! Which lowlife did this? If I catch you, I swear I’ll steal your eggs!

Muttering curses under her breath, Xia Qing washed the bird mess off, then fired up her Yi Element Tester to check the Vitality content of all those plants. Sure enough, just as she guessed, Zhao Ze’s Green-glow Alfalfa had the highest Yi reading—three out of ten thousand.

When Zhang San trades with the lords, he only takes food and favors anything with a high Vitality Element content.

If Zhao Ze can harvest six pounds of Green-glow Alfalfa at a time, that patch must be pretty decent.

Is there a spring on Territory Four too? The buffer forest slope in Territory Four lies at the foot of Mountain 49, so it’s possible, but not likely.

If the terrain beneath the buffer forest at the foot of Mountain 49 is damaged, could that ruin the spring in Xia Qing’s land? She couldn’t help messaging Luo Pei to ask.

Luo Pei replied quickly: “Based on past surveys, only damage deeper than thirty meters is likely to affect the mountain’s structure. The Azure Dragon Unit already included Plots Four, Five, Six and Seven in its cooperation plan, and we’ll connect with the four lords soon.”

So they’d already thought of that, and she only remembered just now. Xia Qing felt a bit embarrassed, but her heart eased as she set down her phone.

It took Xia Qing six days to finish clearing Xiang Grass from her cropland and the three villages.

She’d asked Hu Zifeng for a photo of the wild grape vine, as it looked completely ordinary—if she hadn’t had that picture, she’d have chopped it down thinking it was just more Xiang Grass. Over the last few days, she cleared Xiang Grass while scanning for wild grapes.

After all that, she actually found six edible vines—three yellow, three green—mixed among loads of red-tagged weeds. Zhang San had already swapped wild grapes with Qi Fu, so those six vines wouldn’t cut it for trading for baby chicks, but at least she could keep them for herself.

She covered them with a small insect net, making sure they were well-protected.

When she’d finished clearing the fields, it was time to tackle the hillside. But as Xia Qing got to the metasequoia forest, she was ambushed by a team-up of egrets and night herons.

Those four birds clearly saw Xia Qing as an enemy. Maybe they knew they couldn’t beat her directly, so they’d smeared her windows with droppings while she was away from home. Xia Qing had snatched three of their eggs but only gotten to eat one, and now she’d been cleaning up bird poop for four days straight.

She could put up with the dirty windows, but there was no way she’d let four evolved birds stop her from clearing the metasequoia forest. Xia Qing sent a barrage of mud balls from her slingshot to remind them who really ruled Plot Three, then wiped out all the Xiang Grass in the forest and kept moving uphill.

Clearing out Xiang-infused evolved creatures in the buffer forest was part of a lord’s duties. If she didn’t do it in time and the problem spread to other lands, she’d have to compensate for their losses too.

Xia Qing had already received two solar panels as compensation from Territory Two. The other lords had gotten their payouts as well. But when she asked for ammo and points as extra compensation from Territory Two, the Territory Management Agency didn’t approve it.

Tang Huai threw in an extra solar panel to win Xia Qing over, hoping it’d make future trades for Green-glow food smoother. Xia Qing accepted it graciously, figuring she’d decide about any future deals later.

The neighbor hit worst by the rat outbreak from Territory Two was definitely Plot Nine on the east—its crops were trashed, and out of four people only one survived. Su Ming heard that the survivor was utterly traumatized and decided to forfeit the land and return to the Safe Zone after collecting compensation.

The second Xiang Rain did severe damage to most territories. Still, unless your fields were totally destroyed or people died, who could bear to give up mung beans just a month from harvest, or wheat in only two months?

After all, that’s real food.

Now she wondered if anyone might claim Plot Nine after it was abandoned. Was the Azure Dragon Unit thinking about it?

And what about Plots Eight and Ten nearby—what was their situation?

As Xia Qing was hacking away at Xiang Grass and letting her mind wander, she suddenly heard the rumble of helicopter blades getting closer. She stepped out of the trees and saw a small helicopter swoop in from the west, landing right inside Plot One.

So Luo Pei, Plot One’s lord, was ‘back.’

Xia Qing switched on the walkie-talkie just in time to hear Tang Huai shouting, “Hu Zifeng! Hu Zifeng! What are you guys up to?”

Naturally, Hu Zifeng wasn’t online.

Kuang Qingwei guessed, “Isn’t the Azure Dragon Unit using Mountain 49 as a training base now? They’re probably dropping off trainees, right?”

Tang Huai snorted, “Hah! The Azure Dragon Unit’s just second-rate—no way they’d have a helicopter. I bet that’s Luo Pei coming back.”

Kuang Qingwei, unlike Hu Zifeng, wasn’t about to pick a fight with Tang Huai, so he replied politely, “I hope Captain Luo’s eye is better now. It’s been ages since we heard from him.”

The channel fell quiet.

An hour later, Luo Pei’s steady, warm voice came through: “Hello everyone, this is Luo Pei from Plot One. I’m back.”

The frequency exploded with greetings, Tang Huai in particular pressing for information. It only calmed down when Zhang San finally spoke up.

Nobody wanted to cross Zhang San—he was loaded with supplies and had a reputation for holding grudges.

Luo Pei replied warmly, “Thanks, Third Brother, and thanks for everyone’s concern. My injury’s more or less healed.”

No way! Tang Huai probed further, “So Captain Luo, now that you’re back, are you going to keep farming?”

Luo Pei answered calmly, “Of course—if I’ve got land, I’ll farm it. But besides that, I’ll also be organizing a team to set up the training base on Mountain 49 as soon as possible. We might make some noise that’ll disturb you all, so let me apologize in advance.”

Zhang San lazily added, “Just a verbal apology?”

Luo Pei responded, “The Azure Dragon Unit will compensate the lords of Plots Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven with two pounds each of yellow-corn seeds.”

It’s June—time to plant corn.

Zhao Ze immediately jumped in, “Technically, my land is separated from Mountain 49 by the Breeding Center, so whatever work Captain Luo’s team does there shouldn’t affect me. But since Captain Luo offered, I’ll accept the corn. Tomorrow, I’ll bring some of my own fruit over as a little gift—hope you don’t mind if it’s not much.”

Kuang Qingwei and Qi Fu also chimed in politely, saying they’d send some veggies. Xia Qing joined in: “Luo Ge, this is Xia Qing from Plot Three. My cucumbers are finally ready, so I’ll bring a few over for you tomorrow. Also, can I join the Azure Dragon Unit’s hill-cleaning work on Mountain 49? I want to look for Green-glow food to trade with Third Brother for chick hatchlings.”

Luo Pei replied with a gentle laugh, “Thank you, everyone. Xia Qing, I’ll have someone notify you when we’re clearing the Evolver Forest up there.”

Zhang San added, “Luo Pei, if you spot any Green-glow food in the hills and want to trade, just say the word in the channel.”

“Will do.”

Right after Luo Pei agreed, Tang Huai jumped in, “Captain Luo, can I team up with you to enter the hills?”

Luo Pei gave a steady reply to Tang Huai’s request, “After Xiang Rain, the evolved forest is incredibly dangerous—ordinary people can’t enter, not even evolved humans within your territories. It’s not that I don’t trust the Tang Family.”

So not only Tang Huai, but the lords of Plots Four, Five and Six—just regular folks—were turned down by Luo Pei too.

Then, a new female voice piped up in the channel: “Hello, everyone, I’m Li Si, the new lord of Plot Nine.”