Chapter 884: A Feast After the Storm

“First, cut the green onion into thin strips, then add salt and rub it hard. Once it gets nice and slippery, that means the flavor’s coming out…”

Er Yong from Hu Zifeng’s Squad was sharing his secret for making crispy fried pork in the chat when he turned and saw Xia Qing squeeze the sliced green onion so hard it was practically mush, green onion juice dripping onto the meat below.

No wonder she’s got Strength-Based Evolution—what a grip!

Hearing Er Yong suddenly stop, Xia Qing realized she’d gone overboard. She was just about to ask how to fix it when her phone rang.

On the other end, Zhang San’s voice sounded warmer than ever. “Xia Qing, this Green Lantern Wild Boar is some good stuff.”

“Glad you like it, Third Brother. Once Er Yong’s finished stewing the pig’s head, I’ll bring some over for you,” Xia Qing replied.

“No need to bring it all. Just slice me a plate—whatever’s convenient. I’ve come up with a pretty effective insect repellent, perfect for spraying on those nets. I’ll have Zheng Chen bring you a bag this afternoon to test it out.”

With delicious Green Lantern food to look forward to, Zhang San was in a great mood. “Keep an eye out—don’t let the Wolf Pack kill every Green Lantern Wild Boar in the valley. We need a few sows left to breed. Hill Forty-Nine is perfect for raising these kinds of boars. You can fence off a few more areas for pig farming.”

“Got it, Third Brother. The Green Lantern boars are safe, don’t worry.”

Not that Xia Qing needed to worry—the wolves already knew to spare the sows.

This morning, the six wolf pups hunted down a red, a yellow, and two piglets each weighing sixty or seventy pounds, while Little Wolf took down a massive Yellow Lantern Wild Boar alone—over seven hundred pounds.

After Little Wolf brought down the big boar, the five pups tried to go after the last two adult boars, only to have Alpha leap down into the valley and stop them.

After showering the top wolf and her pup with praise, Xia Qing went and asked Alpha why they spared those two big boars.

The answer: those two are Green Lanterns, so they can’t be killed.

As for why the Green Lantern ones were off-limits? Alpha couldn’t be bothered to answer. If Xia Qing wanted to dig into it, she’d have to ask Broken Back—but she had a feeling that wolf was purposefully dodging her!

As the pack was getting ready to leave after filling their bellies, Xia Qing pleaded with Alpha to let her have a Green Lantern boar to eat.

She had no choice—her idol’s appetite had been thoroughly whetted and was still waiting on that Green Lantern tenderloin.

Maybe because Little Wolf had brought down such a huge beast, Alpha was in a good mood and didn’t even haggle. He just handed over a young Green Lantern boar before leading the pack away from Hill Forty-Nine.

Xia Qing gave the heroic Little Wolf a grand send-off, but that proud little wolf just ignored her.

But Little Wolf’s pride didn’t put a dent in Xia Qing’s good mood. After all, she’d spent months raising pigs for the Wolf Pack with Yi Stone’s help, and today she’d harvested over five hundred pounds of Yellow Lantern pork, more than fifty pounds of Green Lantern pork, and sixty pounds of Red Lantern meat!

Granted, the wolves did all the gutting and only left the meaty parts, but Xia Qing didn’t mind one bit.

During a year of disasters, who’d dare complain?

She sold the Red Lantern pork to Territory One, set aside some Green Lantern pork for her idol’s tenderloin and the pig’s head for Er Yong, and put the rest in the freezer for later.

She saved over a hundred pounds of Yellow Lantern pork for freeze-drying, sold over two hundred pounds to the lords in Section One of the North, and left a hundred-plus pounds for Hu Zifeng. His squad also helped guard the pass between Hill Forty-Nine and Section Three, so they’d earned their share.

The rest of the Yellow Lantern pork was sent off to Territory Nine.

Of course, the Yellow Lantern Wild Boar was officially sold in the name of Territory One, and the meat sent to Territory Nine was sold by Hu Zifeng at fifty credits a pound.

The cafeteria in Territory Nine had dedicated funding, after all.

The two hundred-plus pounds sold to the lords didn’t just go to Xia Qing’s allies—it was shared with other local lords too.

Even after waves of Devastation Rain, thunderstorms, gales, hail, and returning rain over the past two months, every territory had managed some kind of summer harvest. With credits from selling X-2 in May, even after buying summer seeds and fertilizer, the lords still had a little left.

So when word got out that the Azure Dragon Squad had slaughtered pigs today, the lords flocked over to buy meat and reward themselves after months of hard work.

That afternoon, the smell of meat wafted everywhere in Section One of the North. Three lords’ channels even broke into heated debate about how to make the most of limited seasonings.

Inside Territory Seventeen, Wen Nengjie took a bite of savory red-braised pork and couldn’t help but tear up. “Thanks, Zifeng, for swapping me the meat. Thanks, Third Brother, for the white sugar. Thanks, Sister Qing, for the garlic. Thanks, Qi, for the ginger. Thanks, Heng, for the pepper powder. And Uncle Huo for the iron pot. After eleven years, I finally get to eat red-braised pork with my brothers again.”

“Before the disasters, I worked at a slaughterhouse. I ate so much pork that I couldn’t even stand the smell. Now, I see raw meat and I want to gnaw on it. Life’s just been too hard—these past years, too hard. Sometimes I don’t even know how I made it this far…”

The sound of Wen Nengjie crying set off tears in many territories, and even several members of Hu Zifeng’s squad, huddled inside the little house by Section Three’s fields, had reddened eyes.

Everyone had struggled so much these past years.

When he was done crying, Wen Nengjie sniffled and asked, “Zifeng, are you selling piglets? I’d like to raise two.”

Hu Zifeng, busy gnawing on spicy pig’s feet, looked across at Xia Qing, who was having boiled pork slices. After she gave a subtle shake of her head, he pressed the walkie-talkie. “No piglets this year.”

Wen Nengjie replied right away, “Then put me on the waiting list for next year. If Territory One sells piglets, I want two!”

Zhao Ze, busy eating stir-fried pork with celery, pressed his button too. “Jie, you’d better be prepared. Pigs are easy to raise on Hill Forty-Nine, but once you get them to your own territory, they might not survive—just like what happened with my rabbits.”

Section Four had been raising rabbits Xia Qing had traded to them, using soil and pasture grass they’d dug up elsewhere, but the mother rabbits still sometimes ate their newborns. Things had improved a little, but not much.

Wen Nengjie stayed optimistic. “I know, but if I get lucky, there’ll be meat. Our territory’s all regular folks—we can’t hunt, and even the bamboo rats the eagles carried off, cage and all. Pig farming just seems more reliable.”

Now Qi Fu was tempted too. “Zifeng, I remember when the Wild Boar Breeding Center moved last year, they took a few piglets with them. Did they work out?”

Hu Zifeng actually had the answer. “After they were brought in, the piglets grew slower than they did here and the quality dropped. The breeding center folks took soil and water samples from all over, trying to see what caused it, but they still haven’t figured it out.”

“With Blue Star’s evolution, breeding high-quality livestock and poultry that humans can raise gets tougher every year.” Zhu Li sighed, then thanked Zhang San. “Thanks for trading the quality livestock with us, Third Brother.”

“Thank you, Third Brother,” Wen Nengjie echoed right after.

Once everyone had finished expressing their gratitude, Yang Jin messaged Xia Qing. All the supplies Hui Six owed Hui Three would arrive tomorrow.

That meant Xia Qing’s civilian helicopter, six jars of honey, and two boxes of Green Lantern Bees would all be delivered the next day.