Chapter 9: Barter, Discovery and An Evolved Sheep’s Gaze

Bartering became the main way to trade goods once currency was abolished. This time, Tan Junjie didn’t refuse. “What do you want in exchange?”

Xia Qing tested the waters. “Do you guys have any sweet potato sprouts?”

Tan Junjie nodded. “Huzi, tally it up.”

“Yes, sir.”

The young team member called Huzi quickly pulled out his portable tester and scale. He checked every animal they’d caught, weighed them, and then rattled off the points. “Five Redlight Snakes, five pounds, 100 points; one Evolved Redlight Snake, four pounds, 120 points; one Yellowlight Snake, one and a half pounds, 75 points; two medicinal Evolved Poison Centipedes, six pounds, 300 points. Total: 595 points.”

The search team used an advanced portable tester, a definite upgrade from Xia Qing’s basic model. It wasn’t much bigger than a palm, but not only could it distinguish edible from non-edible creatures—it could also show harmful substance levels. Safe foods and options glowed green and yellow.

Tan Junjie glanced at Xia Qing, who was still eyeing the tester. “The army’s sweet potatoes are safe foods. These points can get you two sweet potatoes or six sweet potato seedlings. Which do you want?”

A hundred points for one safe sweet potato seedling—steep, but that’s just the way it was. Xia Qing had never handled sweet potato seedlings before, so she played it safe. “I’ll take the seedlings. Captain Tan, if I catch more animals, can I trade them for more seedlings with you?”

Tan Junjie nodded, but added a warning. “Don’t go beyond the barrier.”

“Understood!” Xia Qing answered crisply, though it was clear she wasn’t taking it to heart.

“Captain, the lord of Plot Four has already given permission. We can enter.” A team member, back from notifying the lord, ran up to report to Tan Junjie.

Leading the team east into Plot Four’s Buffer Forest, Tan Junjie headed off while Xia Qing followed the narrow mountain valley that marked the boundary between the two plots, moving south.

Before long, she overheard Su Ming whispering, “Captain, isn’t it tough for Xia Qing to farm all alone? We should just give her a few extra sweet potato seedlings.”

Tan Junjie shot back, “You gonna use your points for that?”

Then, the voices faded into silence.

Xia Qing smiled, left the buffer forest along the mountain valley, pulled off her protective mask and made a beeline for the four acres she’d just finished tilling.

Now, with six extra sweet potato seedlings, she had to till an extra half an acre.

Six seedlings wouldn’t take up much space, but if she managed to catch that sheep, she could trade for even more. Even if she missed out, once the seedlings sprouted and the vines flourished, she could propagate new ones and expand her sweet potato field.

That thought fired her up. Xia Qing plowed a full acre without stopping, then finally headed home for lunch. She hadn’t heard any big commotion coming from Plot Four, so it seemed the team hadn’t found the sheep there. That gave her hope.

After a quick lunch at home, Xia Qing worked nonstop, like an untiring spinning top, clearing out two abandoned yards to the west.

She gathered all the bones in one place and buried them. The wild grass was burned to make potash fertilizer, anything useful was put in the east neighbor’s storage, and piles of building rubble were set aside.

Just like that, she gained two new veggie gardens right next to home.

Once everything was in order, Xia Qing indulged in a rare luxury: a spring water bath. Then she washed her clothes with filtered water, hung them out to dry, changed into her protective suit and went to the back mountain to fetch water.

Since the search team had an Evolver with enhanced hearing, Xia Qing stayed well away from the mountain spring to avoid getting caught.

She didn’t want anyone to discover the drinking spring on her land, so every water trip was made cautiously, her water bucket stashed in her backpack.

Up the mountain, she was disappointed to find the flat stone still blocking the spring’s entrance—the sheep and the weasel hadn’t come back to drink. After filling up, she went home and cooked dinner, tuning in to the seven o’clock radio broadcast.

As usual, the seven o’clock news kicked off with stirring stories from across Hua Nation, then shifted to news and announcements from Hui San Base. Xia Qing listened intently.

The announcement warned that the temperature would rise by eight degrees over the next three days, followed by the first major rainstorm of the year. After the rain, it’d be prime time to plant spring wheat—everyone was urged not to miss the sowing window.

She’d tilled her land too early.

Already stretched out in bed, Xia Qing smiled. She decided to dig up another plot for wheat after the rain. The land she’d already prepared wouldn’t go to waste—it’d get planted sooner or later.

Making mental notes, Xia Qing planned to explore the northern Evolver Forest in Plot Three over the three days before the rain.

Last winter, Hui San Base had pushed the barrier out by seventy kilometers. The Evolver Forests beyond that line hadn’t seen a single human foot since the catastrophe.

Untouched Evolver Forests brimmed with both danger and temptation. With food in short supply, Xia Qing knew temptation would be her greatest risk.

The buffer forest and village within her territory had already been thoroughly scouted. Every animal had been wiped out, all plants screened and tested. There was no more hope of stumbling across a pleasant surprise.

Time to take action.

Early the next morning, fully equipped, Xia Qing slipped through the buffer forest and the barrier, entering the dense Evolver Forest.

Ever since the disaster, the temperature gap between seasons on Blue Star had grown by at least fifteen degrees. Fortunately, evolved plants had become hardier; by mid-February, everything was already green. Still, most animals stuck to old habits—hibernating in winter, then emerging to feed and breed when the weather warmed and rain returned.

These next three days would be safer than any that followed.

Even so, Xia Qing kept her senses on high alert, machete ready, moving with extra caution into the forest.

She quickly realized this part of the Evolver Forest was once within humanity’s territory. Hillsides were etched with terraces, and at the wide, flat summit stood the remains of a collapsed house.

Places like these were far more likely to hide edible plants than untamed wild forests. Eighty percent of the food the search teams uncovered in the wild came from such areas.

After an hour and a half, Xia Qing struck gold.

She discovered several little green shoots, finger-high, with her tester showing a reassuring green light. Carefully peeling back the soil, her eyes lit up.

Ginger!

A chunk of ginger already sprouting!

Score!

Since evolved plants could mutate if uprooted, Xia Qing dug out the whole clump with the surrounding soil and wrapped it up, hoping to preserve its environment.

She climbed three more terraces, caught two snakes, scared off some mice and squirrels, stomped to death a few biting insects—and finally got her second big find.

A patch of garlic sprouts, tester green.

Onion, ginger, and garlic—the holy trinity of cooking. Now she just needed the last. But after searching from the terraces to a collapsed courtyard over the next hour, not a single onion shoot was to be found.

Maybe onions hadn’t sprouted yet?

Determined, Xia Qing kept searching, and outside the courtyard’s crumbling wall, she spotted a towering Chinese toon tree—her tester said the young shoots were safe to eat.

Some animal had already nibbled most of the new shoots from the saplings around its base.

After a careful check for snakes or insects in the branches, she climbed up and plucked a fistful of deep red toon shoots. She squeezed their juice into the tester’s port, and after several tense seconds, it glowed green.

A whole tree of edible toon shoots!

Surprise after surprise. Xia Qing was beaming—she’d smiled more in five days here than in the past six months.

She’d just picked a few more toon shoots when the sound of a large animal rustling nearby caught her attention—no more than thirty meters away.

Too late to run. Xia Qing pressed her back against the trunk, holding her breath and watching.

The sounds grew closer until a filthy, white, fat sheep lumbered out of the greenery.

It was huge—an evolved sheep, easily. Xia Qing checked its hooves and was pretty sure this was the same rascal that shoved aside her stone to drink from her spring.

So the sheep she’d staked out for never showed—only to track her down under a tree instead?

Xia Qing gripped her machete, steeling herself for either a fight—or a sneak attack.

The sheep lifted its head and stared straight at her up in the tree, its eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

For the first time, Xia Qing saw pure, unmistakable contempt in a sheep’s eyes.

Seriously?

Was this sheep maybe one of those incredibly rare brain-evolved creatures?