Chapter 1043: Evolved Bai Mao Grass Roots

Xia Qing had already guessed Beard Feng would choose this. She packed up all the wanderer's supplies—along with his one rifle, three daggers, a bow and arrows, and a long saber—and handed them to Beard Feng. "We'll split the two Yi stones four-six, but there's no rush. Captain Hu, take all this back, figure out the value of the supplies, and then we'll discuss which to keep and which to trade."

The Green Dragon team had a professional supply-value assessment team. Only after they figured out the value of the wanderer's supplies could Xia Qing set an exchange price for the other six people's supplies she'd captured.

Apart from the Yi stones, that kind of root, and the point cards, Xia Qing didn't want to keep any of the other spoils.

Beard Feng took the bag. "Alright. I'll take it all back, verify the points for every item, and pull out a list before we hold a meeting."

With the spoils divided, the mission squad should disband. Jingkuan smiled and picked up the two bags belonging to Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, we'll walk you back."

"Alright." Xia Qing shouldered her backpack, slung the yellow-light antelope over her right shoulder, picked up a bag of spoils in her left hand, and jumped off the helicopter.

This bag held twelve satchels and a pile of clothing, possibly containing several Yi stones—she had to keep a tight grip on it herself to feel at ease.

Beard Feng delivered the supplies belonging to the three of them back to Territory One. Jingkuan and Eryong helped Xia Qing carry the spoils and followed behind her.

After getting off the helicopter, none of the three mentioned the Yi stones. Eryong said with a grin, "This mission was dangerous but short. The Calamity Rain only started a little over four hours ago, and it's not even fully dark yet."

Xia Qing responded and hurried toward her territory with light steps.

The pattering Calamity Rain and slanting wind drummed together against the Evolution Forest, playing a beautiful natural symphony. Even the sound of Calamity Grass jointing was so harmonious and pleasant.

Xia Qing curled up the corner of her mouth. "We came back just in time. In just over an hour, we can chop the first cutting of Red-Leaf Bamboo from this round of Calamity Rain."

Eryong……

Jingkuan……

Sister Qing truly lives up to being a farmer.

Xia Qing walked out of Mountain 49, Zone Three, and first glanced at the Red-Leaf Bamboo near the iron-mesh wall in the western buffer forest, which had already grown to about 16 meters. After entering the territory, she asked Guan Tong, who was patrolling the northern buffer forest, "Brother Tong, has our territory had a red-grade Calamity Rain?"

If it hadn't been for a red-grade Calamity Rain rapidly boosting the atmospheric Calamity element concentration, the Red-Leaf Bamboo wouldn't have grown so fast.

Guan Tong nodded. "The third wave of Calamity Rain was red-grade, lasting 28 minutes. The situation inside the territory is under control."

Xia Qing thanked him for his hard work and asked as she walked down, "The boss didn't come out, did it?"

"It's been staying in the village. Fourth won't let us get close to patrol. Although the monitoring shows no large aggressive Calamity-evolved plants have appeared around the yard, Sister Qing should still go back and check." The Calamity Rain had already been going for over four hours—Old Goat Boss and the chickens at home must be hungry. Hungry chickens didn't matter, but a hungry Old Goat Boss would lose its temper and butt people.

Xia Qing nodded her thanks, carried the prey on her shoulder and the spoils in her hand, got on the micro-tiller, and headed home. The Calamity Grass inside the territory had already grown over a meter tall, swallowing the paths. Driving the micro-tiller was safer than walking.

Xia Qing had just entered the village when she heard Old Goat Boss's angry bleating. Fortunately, the boss still had its senses and didn't charge out into the rain to teach her a lesson.

Xia Qing parked the micro-tiller in the yard, unloaded the spoils under the eaves where the rain couldn't reach, left them with a chattering flock of little swallows to watch, then took an umbrella and climbed up to Fourth's territory. Arriving in front of its little shed, she called, "Fourth, Boss, I'm back."

"Maa!!!" Old Goat Boss roared as it charged out toward Xia Qing.

Xia Qing smiled and gripped its horns, sheltering it under the big umbrella, and thanked Fourth. "Fourth, thanks for your hard work. I brought back a yellow-light prey tonight—I'll cook meat for you."

Fourth, lying on the king platform, didn't even look at Xia Qing or that annoying wolf of a goat, its face irritable.

Xia Qing cheerfully carried the boss back under the eaves, pointed at the pile of bags, and shared the joy of the harvest with her companion. "Boss, look! I brought back so many supplies this time. There's a kind of root inside—I bet you'll like it."

The moment she saw those roots, Xia Qing planned to give them to the boss as a gift. But before giving them, she had to confirm what they were and whether they were edible.

The boss sniffed with its nose, responded without much interest, and kicked open the security door to go inside.

Standing under the eaves, Xia Qing called her idol, briefly described the afternoon's battle, and asked, "Third Brother, should I bring the antelope and the samples I collected over to you? I'm short-handed and busy here—I can't spare the time to butcher the goat."

Antelope were extremely sensitive animals. They needed wide open spaces and varied natural forage, and couldn't be kept alive in the territory at all, so they had to be slaughtered while still fresh.

Her idol had taken a high-quality anti-allergy medicine, so eating yellow-light meat wouldn't cause a severe allergic reaction. If not for this, Xia Qing would have pestered the head wolf no matter what to trade a green-light prey to bring back.

"I'll have Zheng Chen come pick it up." Zhang San's voice was kind. "I'll keep half the goat. How do you want to eat your half? I'll have the kitchen prepare it and bring it back to you."

The Territory Seven head chef's skills were far better than Eryong's. Xia Qing's mouth watered just thinking about it. "I'll eat it however you eat it. Thanks a lot, Third Brother."

Zhang San was passionate about food. "Then let's roast it. There's still time—roast the whole half?"

Roasting the whole thing wouldn't do—Fourth couldn't eat seasoned meat. "Save me a three-jin piece of meat, roast the rest. Third Brother, among the two wanderers' supplies sent to you yesterday, was there a small bundle of palm-length, brown-red dried roots?"

Hearing Xia Qing ask about this, Zhang San's mood improved even more. "Those aren't roots—they're the roots of Evolved Bai Mao Grass, green-light quality, sweet in flavor. Fresh grass roots can be eaten directly; dried ones can be used for soup or steeped in water."

Xia Qing understood immediately. "Third Brother, I harvested some more grass roots today. Keep the ones from those two people for steeping."

Zhang San's voice was so kind it crumbled. "Good. I'll have Zheng Chen send the other supplies over to you. Among them are two small high-grade Yi stones, and one whole piece—probably also high-grade quality. Keep them for your own use, don't be a fool and trade them for points."

Precious supplies held their value better than points.

After thanking him, Xia Qing asked about the situation at Center Nine and Mountain 50. Just as she was about to ask about the evolved giant bees in the chestnut forest, her idol hung up.

Xia Qing smiled, dug out a small bundle of Evolved Bai Mao Grass roots from one of the captured backpacks, brought them into the kitchen, and put them in a basin to disinfect. After washing the brown-red soil off the roots, she found the grass roots were creamy yellow, jointed like bamboo, section by section. Seeing this color and shape, Xia Qing smiled.

To fill her hungry stomach, she often dug up this kind of grass root to take home and eat when out on missions. But those were all yellow-light non-evolved varieties, with only a slight sweetness. This evolved green-light grass root, enough to make Third Brother's tone turn cheerful, was bound to taste excellent.