Chapter 886: A Deal for Crimson Veins

One look at Xia Qing’s face told you she wasn’t asking for much in this trade, but Yang Jin was calm and confident—he’d brought some seriously top-notch plants.

“All of these are high-quality Green Lantern plants from Hui Six. The honeysuckle has a Devastation Element content of 3.3‰, wild ba zi comes in at 2.8‰, and this evolved Bidens pilosa, which can bloom year-round, sits at 3.1‰.”

Wait, year-round blooming? That’s a perfect stable honey source for bees!

Though Xia Qing was thrilled inside, she kept her composure, masking any excitement from her face.

Seeing Xia Qing remain so unfazed even after he highlighted the plants’ strengths, Yang Jin couldn’t help but smile a little at the corner of his lips.

He slid his phone over to Xia Qing and calmly stated his offer. “I’ll trade six honeysuckle, four wild ba zi, and two thousand evolved Bidens pilosa seeds for a single ore block.”

Ore block?

Xia Qing leaned in and glanced down at the new phone in her hands, its screen displaying an image.

It was a stone—inky black shot through with deep pink or dark red streaks. Unlike the even black-and-white of Yi Stone, the colors on this ore were totally random. Xia Qing had never seen anything like it before. She looked up and asked, “What is this?”

“That’s rhodochrosite, or Crimson Vein Stone. The one in the picture is a ‘glacial’ grade, which is a rare type used as gem material. According to intel, there might be some glacial Crimson Vein Stone on Hill Sixty-Five. I’m looking for a piece at least the size of a duck egg, with the deep pink portion forming a solid chunk.”

With glacial ore being so rare, Xia Qing figured the price wouldn’t be low. She kept her cool and asked, “What do you need this stone for?”

“They say this stone relieves stress and stabilizes moods. A few religious groups even treat it as a holy relic.” Yang Jin swiped to another image, showing Crimson Vein Stone carved into jewelry. “I’m planning to use this stone to strike a trade with the Apocalypse Sect from the Hui Eight Base.”

Hui Eight lay in the south of Hui One, with their evolved forests bordering each other. The Blazing Fire Squad was stationed some fifty miles into the southern edge of Hui One’s safe zone, while the Apocalypse Sect’s base was more than seven hundred miles from there.

After clashing with Blazing Fire, Xia Qing started combing through the map and realized Hui Eight’s combat team had the perfect terrain advantage to ambush Fire Mountain. So lately, she’d been gathering info on Hui Eight’s combat team.

She’d hardly ever paid attention to them before, but the more she looked, the stranger they seemed.

Turns out, Hui Eight was kind of an oddball among Hui City’s ten bases. Despite being small, it was packed with different religious sects, and the majority of people inside the safe zone were fanatical believers.

The Apocalypse Sect was one of Hui Eight’s three main religious factions. Their evolved fighters, the Apocalypse Squad, currently held the top spot in Hui Eight’s power rankings.

Hearing Yang Jin talk about trading with that sect, Xia Qing hazarded a guess. “You want the Apocalypse Sect to move against Blazing Fire?”

Yang Jin nodded. “Fire Phoenix has an enemy over at Hui Eight’s research institute, and he’s hired members of the Apocalypse Squad as bodyguards. This March, the Blazing Fire Squad poisoned and killed a main ten-man Apocalypse Squad team, so now there’s bad blood between them. If you can find that holy stone, I’ll have a way to get the Apocalypse Sect to attack Blazing Fire. Then, Hui Five’s teams and I can move in quietly and blow up half of Fire Mountain.”

The reason the Azure Dragon Squad was butting heads with Blazing Fire came down to Xue Yuan.

During the second Devastation Rain, Xue Yuan was assigned to guard Hill Fifty. He ended up betraying the Azure Dragon Squad, lying in ambush in the parking lot below Third Peak to snipe Xia Qing. In the end, he blew himself up with a bomb strapped to his body.

Xue Yuan, Xie Yu, Hu Zifeng and other Azure Dragon old-timers had all studied at the same military academy as Yang Jin. Their families were lost or missing after the disaster, so these classmates stuck together, forming a team for survival.

After Xue Yuan’s death, Yang Jin managed to uncover why he was forced to obey Blazing Fire: he thought his younger brother Xue Shao—believed long dead—was actually in Fire Phoenix’s hands.

Blazing Fire used such filthy tactics to coerce Azure Dragon fighters into betrayal—there was no way Yang Jin was letting that go.

Hill Sixty-Five was sweltering and humid, filled with dense vegetation and all sorts of evolved animals. That place was Bear Pack territory—a total no-go zone for humans.

Xia Qing wanted to blow up Fire Mountain too, but said, “The Wolf Pack already retook Hill Fifty-Five, and none of their main group are sick or hurt. Sending them into Bear Pack territory for ore would be insanely dangerous—a huge risk.”

As far as Xia Qing was concerned, revenge had to come after ensuring their own strength and safety. Otherwise, it just wasn’t worth it.

She wasn’t about to drag the Wolf Pack into Bear territory for payback.

Yang Jin grinned and pointed out the window. “You’re right—finding ore is way too tough for the Wolf Pack, but there’s someone who can.”

Xia Qing glanced back and in the distance saw the Monkey in pink overalls clambering slowly toward the little house, moving just like a sloth.

Old Goat lounged in the shade, miserably eyeing the house window. Er trailed close by the Monkey, guarding it—that was Er’s assigned job from Xia Qing.

Who could’ve guessed Yang Jin had as his target the Monkey? Xia Qing explained, “This monkey will need medicine for another month. Even after that, nobody—including Third Brother—can promise how much it’ll recover.”

Yang Jin smiled. “If a Brain-Evolved Bear picked this monkey as its companion, it must be special. I believe it’ll make a full recovery, so I’m willing to gamble these three varieties of Green Lantern plants on it.”

“No need for bets. Blazing Fire is my enemy too. If the Monkey can recover enough to communicate, I’ll let it search for that ore.” Xia Qing looked at him again. “I want all three Green Lantern plants, Yang. Name your price.”

Yang Jin’s smile grew even wider. “The four hundred spinach seeds growing in your Greenhouse Two terraces right now.”

Xia Qing lifted her eyes to meet Yang Jin’s—he was really brazen.

This batch of spinach would definitely have Evolution Element content over 8.3!

“After the disaster, plant evolution became very regional. High-quality plants that thrived in their original area might not do well elsewhere. So, whether these Hui Six Green Lantern plants can grow in our territory is still a question mark.”

After pointing out the possible issues with Yang Jin’s goods, Xia Qing named her acceptable offer. “One hundred fifty seeds.”

Yang Jin grinned, “One hundred eighty. The extra thirty are my labor fee. I put in a lot of time and effort to make this deal with Hui Six happen.”

“Deal.” Xia Qing didn’t haggle. She just wanted to hurry up and see Yang Jin off.

If he spent any more time around the Monkey, Xia Qing was afraid she’d lose her patience and join Old Goat in scratching up his face.

“Thanks, Sister Qing.” Yang Jin could tell she was eager for him to leave, so he sensibly stood up and took his leave.

As soon as Yang Jin stepped outside, Er blocked the Monkey with its body, baring its sharp teeth, while Old Goat—looking itchier than ever—got up and started pawing the ground.

Yang Jin was a little exasperated. He asked, “Did these two act like this when Hu Zifeng and company visited?”

Xia Qing replied honestly, “Er is usually about the same. But if Captain Hu and the others were here, Old Goat would’ve already charged.”

Old Goat stayed put this time because Yang Jin was just too strong. It knew it couldn’t win.

Yang Jin felt better knowing that. “Did you make the Monkey’s clothes?”

Shaving the little monkey and dressing it up like this… well, it actually looked cute.

“Nope.”

She was run off her feet—Xin Yu was the one who made the clothes. Xin Yu basically treated the Monkey like a collectible figurine and had stitched up several outfits for it.

The Monkey had learned to climb these past few days, and Xia Qing was worried its stomach might get bitten by poisonous bugs, so she dressed it in one of Xin Yu’s full-body suits.

After seeing Yang Jin out, Xia Qing found the Monkey had managed to crawl another three meters toward the meeting room. The only thing drawing it that way had to be the honey Yang Jin just delivered.

Xia Qing picked the Monkey up and brushed the dirt off it. “Want some honey?”

No matter what she said, the Monkey just stared at her with that big blank face—it was enough to make anyone want to bang their head against the wall.

Xia Qing flicked its forehead and called her companions. “Old Goat, Er, let’s head home and drink honey water!”