Chapter 115: Can't Afford It

A lord pressed, "It must be fake—how could the difference be that huge? If we buy your 'Guide' and don't reach the yield you claim, what then?"

Assistant Xiao Liu replied with a gentle smile, "That would mean your cultivation conditions didn't meet the standards required by the Guide."

Another lord, a woman in her forties, pressed on, "Miss, what exactly are these cultivation conditions you're talking about?"

"That involves our lord's patented techniques. You'll only learn after purchasing the Guide."

Scam, an absolute scam! The other lords had all lost interest in buying, but lords one through ten, who had dealt with Li Si before, were still itching to try.

Ji Li, the representative of Plot Seven, didn't want to move, because Plot Seven's cultivation techniques were certainly no worse than Plot Nine's.

Zhao Ze turned his gaze to Xia Qing, his tone sour, "Xia Qing, you bought so many rice seedlings—aren't you going to buy a Guide to improve things?"

"No points left." Xia Qing's reply was crisp and clean. In truth, even if she had points she wouldn't buy it, because she could trade privately with her idol—it was just a matter of one fish.

Hearing Xia Qing say she had no points, Qi Fu, Shi Zhong, and Kuang Qingwei all sighed at the same time. To maximize the wool they could pull from the Safe Zone, they had spent every last point—truly couldn't afford the Guide anymore.

The truck fell quiet again. Xia Qing keenly noticed that Lord Fifteen inside the vehicle had glanced several times at Tan Junjie, who was maintaining order. Only after Tan Junjie gave a slight shake of his head did he look away.

What was the relationship between Lord Fifteen and Tan Junjie? Or rather, between Plot Fifteen and Tan Junjie? Could Plot Fifteen be Tan Junjie's territory? The more Xia Qing thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

After lords twenty-nine through fifty gradually got off, the military truck sped up through the ruined town. Xia Qing closed her eyes, leaned against the truck bed, and listened carefully to the sounds outside. Until the truck passed through the ruins and entered the wilderness, she still hadn't heard a child's crying.

Xia Qing opened her eyes and saw that most of the lords were hugging their supplies and dozing off. Only Assistant Xiao Liu beside her had her head down, writing and drawing in her notebook—no wonder her eyes were nearsighted. Human visual nerves may have evolved, but they couldn't withstand this kind of abuse.

After Xiao Liu finished writing, she nudged Xia Qing with her shoulder, signaling her to look down. Only then did Xia Qing realize Xiao Liu had written it for her to see. She looked down and found Xiao Liu asking if what was on her skin was evolved blood vine juice.

Xia Qing gave a slight nod to confirm she was right. Xiao Liu could tell at one sniff exactly how many spices Tang Huai used in his fried golden cicadas—she must be an olfaction evolver, so being able to smell what was on her face was nothing strange. This stuff could only fool amateurs.

Xiao Liu lowered her head again and scribbled two more lines, pitching her territory's specialty to Xia Qing: "Need a medicinal juice that both protects skin and adds color? A thousand points for 20 milliliters—just neck, face, and hands, it'll last a month."

A thousand points? Xia Qing took Xiao Liu's pen and wrote three words on the paper: Can't afford it.

Even if she could afford it, Xia Qing wouldn't bear to buy it. A thousand points for only one month—that's twelve thousand points a year. Way too outrageous.

Xiao Liu regretfully put away her paper and pen and began carefully examining the rice seedlings in her hands. From leaves to roots, she checked every single one meticulously.

Xia Qing didn't ask what she was checking for, not giving Xiao Liu the chance to pitch the Guide to her.

After the military truck entered the territory range of Plots One through Twenty-Six, it slowed down and lords gradually got off. When the truck reached the end, Xia Qing said goodbye to the only ones left aboard—Wei Chengdong and Tan Junjie—and headed back to her territory with a full haul.

Though she'd only been away two days, Xia Qing truly missed home, truly missed Boss Sheep.

She hurried along the path she had cleared herself, across the grassy cultivated fields, went home first to put her things down, then rushed toward the farm hut.

Dajiang, the hearing evolver, had long heard the sound of the vehicle and was waiting by the hut. "Sister Qing, Boss Sheep is waiting for you by the northern isolation belt."

"Alright, thanks for your hard work these two days." Because Xia Qing now often entered the private training ground from the northern isolation belt, Boss Sheep thought she'd gone to the training ground again this time, which was why he was waiting for her at the northern isolation belt.

Seeing Boss Sheep in the distance—filthy, his wool long in patches and short in others—Xia Qing excitedly called out, "Boss!"

Boss Sheep turned his head, saw Xia Qing actually coming up from the hillside, pawed the ground, flashed his spiral horns, and charged. Guan Tong shouted, "Sister Qing, careful!"

"I'm fine, you stand back." Xia Qing neither dodged nor yielded, charging straight at him.

"Bam!" Man and ram collided, and then Xia Qing went flying.

Guan Tong watched, wincing. Yesterday he'd tangled with Boss Sheep twice and knew exactly how much that charge hurt.

The airborne Xia Qing spun once in the air, landed steadily on both feet, and went to meet Boss Sheep charging at her again.

This time, Xia Qing didn't meet him head-on, but went with the momentum and hugged Boss Sheep around the neck. "Boss, I brought you something delicious!"

Saying so, Xia Qing pulled a compressed ration from her pocket, tore open the wrapper, broke off a small piece, and stuffed it into Boss Sheep's mouth. "An improved version of your favorite flavor—how is it? Good, right?"

Boss Sheep chewed a few times, squinted at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing quickly fed him a little more, and the delighted Boss Sheep calmed down.

Guan Tong was impressed. "These two days while Sister Qing was away, he wouldn't eat anything we fed him."

Naturally—he's my sheep, my companion. Xia Qing rubbed Boss Sheep's hard forehead. "Thanks for your hard work these two days."

"Not hard at all." Just quite the eye-opener. Turns out Sister Qing facing people and facing sheep are two completely different modes. From Xia Qing and Boss Sheep's head-on collision just now, Guan Tong judged that Xia Qing's strength evolution level was definitely above five.

Not only was she strong, but Brother Luo had been coaching her hand-to-hand. The slow-tongued Guan Tong felt he might already be no match for Xia Qing—better to behave. Otherwise, after getting beaten by the sheep, he'd get beaten by Xia Qing too.

After seeing off Dajiang and Guan Tong, Xia Qing chatted idly with Boss Sheep and patrolled the territory and farmland. Then she returned to the planting zone on the low slope, moved the three giant boulders blocking the spring's cave mouth, and drew unpolluted spring water.

While drawing water, Xia Qing praised Boss Sheep. "Boss is so clever—for two whole days you didn't dig open the stones to drink, protecting our territory's biggest secret. Your friends didn't come looking for you these two days?"

Because Beard Feng's squad didn't know about the spring, Xia Qing had repeatedly trained Boss Sheep and poured mind-soup into him, making him understand that the spring water had to be drawn out by her before he could drink it.

No matter how Boss Sheep understood it, he had remembered—when thirsty, go home and drink the water in the basin, not run up the hill to scrabble at the big rocks.

After drawing water, Xia Qing also picked some vegetables, then headed home with Boss Sheep. The sun set in the west, the evening glow reddened the sky, and reddened Boss Sheep beside her too. Xia Qing felt the sunset in her territory was countless times more beautiful than the Safe Zone's.

(End of Chapter)