Chapter 1185: The Symbiotic Relationship Between Animals and Plants

Try it? No, that won't do.

The alpha of the northern wolf pack and the Broken-Waist Wolf held positions in Sister Qing's combat team far above his own. If he tried, he'd lose his spot as the team's primary human combatant.

Thinking of Wu Lianmin, Wang Man, Di Ming, and Zhang Hongda, who all had their eyes on that main-force position, and recalling his old man's admonishment, Huo Zhun held his tongue and asked with perfect seriousness, "Sister Qing, we haven't offended this pack of evolved tigers, have we?"

A group of evolved tigers was far more combat-capable than a group of evolved wolves. If these fellows launched a beast tide against human territory during the Killing Snow Period, that would be trouble.

Actually, Huo Zhun was also very curious about why that not-blind evolved tiger had been named Blindy by Xia Qing, but he held it in.

Because... in his view, all tigers looked exactly the same, so even if he asked, he wouldn't remember.

"No." If only Handsome Giant Wolf and the western wolf pack were present, Xia Qing wouldn't dare guarantee it, but since Fourth Brother was also there, they definitely hadn't offended them.

After the misunderstanding with the evolved tiger, Xia Qing noted how Fourth Brother, Handsome Giant Wolf, and Scarface Little Wolf, upon hearing the tiger's roar, rushed over to back her up without hesitation—she owed them that wolf-favor and would repay it eventually.

Western Wolf King?

It had brought the pack to support Handsome Giant Wolf, not her. Whatever was between those two brothers was none of Xia Qing's business.

After wiping her gun clean, Xia Qing gazed through the porthole at the colorful evolved forest beneath the western clouds. Although she'd scored negative points with Blindy this time, she'd successfully completed the mission her idol had assigned, so she could go rack up positive points in front of her idol.

Taking advantage of her idol's good mood, Xia Qing could trade for some of the soil disinfectant Territory Seven had newly developed.

Zhang Tao had mentioned to Xia Qing a couple of days ago that the microorganisms in their territory's soil had evolved again, so wheat absolutely could not be planted in the same field consecutively; even rotation farmland had to be sterilized before planting.

Otherwise, there might be no harvest at all.

Currently, Zhang San was leading several of Territory Seven's key research personnel, studying a more targeted disinfectant, hoping to put it into production and use before the wheat-sowing season.

After seeing her idol, Xia Qing could use the rest of the morning to visit Territory Twelve and trade with Tang Heng for green-light wheat seed WM-3, with a Killing Element content between 4-5%.

The Tang family had planted over two hundred mu of wheat this spring; the seed for over a hundred mu had been brought back from Hui-1 jointly by Tang Zhengpo and the Green Dragon combat team; another several dozen mu used the Hui-5 green-light variety WM-3 they'd obtained through other channels.

During the wheat-harvest days, when everyone reported their per-mu wheat yield on the lord channel, Xia Qing heard that Territory Twelve's yellow-light wheat yield was 9% higher than the M-14 yellow-light wheat fields in Territory Three that hadn't been protected by Yishi. She immediately pressed the button and asked if she could trade for seed.

Not only Xia Qing, but other territories also traded for some.

Yield was related to the wheat variety, but also to fertilizer, water, and management methods. With the same wheat seed, Territory Two's yield wasn't as high as Territory Twelve's, because Tang Huai, whose main business was raising insects, didn't pay enough attention to the wheat fields.

Disinfectant, trading wheat seed, harvesting rice, planting wheat... after running through everything she had to do next in her head, Xia Qing felt settled.

Upon returning to the territory, the first thing she had to do was, of course, deliver the instruments and samples to Territory Seven, rack up goodwill with her idol, and trade for the disinfectant that might already have been successfully developed.

"Third Brother, look—are the data, plant samples, and soil I collected this time enough?"

"The plant samples and soil are sufficient." Zhang San first handed those two off to his assistant to be sent for testing, then opened the instruments to examine the collected data, and finally reviewed the recordings.

Then, Zhang San looked up at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing immediately flashed a brilliant smile. After Fourth Brother returned from collecting, Xia Qing had turned off the recording, so her idol couldn't see how she'd scored negative points with Blindy.

Xia Qing was certain her idol couldn't spot any problem from the recording.

Zhang San looked at this wolfish oddball of a human in front of him for a few seconds, unhurriedly wiped his hands clean, turned, and took out a clear glass bottle and two glasses from the refrigerator.

Xia Qing immediately stood up, grabbed a disinfecting wipe and quickly dabbed her hands, "Third Brother, you sit, I'll do it."

Zhang San dodged Xia Qing's dirty paws, poured a glass of fermented milk and set it before her, poured one for himself, then put the glass bottle back in the refrigerator. "Fermented green-light fresh cow's milk. Give it a try."

"Thank you, Third Brother." Xia Qing, who hadn't drunk milk in eleven years, lifted the glass and took a small sip—her eyes immediately lit up.

"Delicious! Third Brother, the lactic acid bacteria strain you used—is it an evolved strain isolated from naturally fermented cow's milk? There's a paper on that kind of research in the latest issue of *Food Science* you forwarded me."

Drinking the very pleasantly textured sour milk, and hearing Xia Qing studying seriously, Zhang San's expression could only be called benevolent. "I isolated the evolved lactic acid bacteria using the technique described in that paper."

Xia Qing suppressed her surging admiration and joy toward her idol, took another big gulp of yogurt, and said, "It's really delicious. Once my little yellow cow produces milk, please ferment a few bottles for me too."

Why the joy? Because after her idol had forwarded her the electronic journal, she'd skimmed the titles, keenly sensed that paper would be useful, and memorized the title.

And now, sure enough, it had come in handy.

The paper's content? Too many words, too specialized—Xia Qing couldn't remember it.

Zhang San shot Xia Qing a look, then spoke unhurriedly, "You should worry first about whether your cow gets scared to death within the next two years."

"That little cow isn't really afraid of wolves anymore now." Seeing her idol had finished the yogurt, Xia Qing immediately downed the yogurt in her own glass, stood up to take her idol's glass, "Third Brother, I'll wash it."

If she weren't at her idol's place, Xia Qing would definitely use pollution-free spring water to rinse the yogurt clinging to the glass and drink it down.

This was yogurt made from green-light fresh cow's milk by an idol standing at the very top of the pyramid—every single drop must not be wasted!

"No need."

Zhang San took both glasses, washed them meticulously and put them in the sterilizer, then returned to the table to show Xia Qing the soil and plant sample test reports the assistant had just sent over.

"I originally thought it was a coincidence, but now I can confirm: the evolved purple violets on Mountain Thirty-Six have a symbiotic relationship with evolved tigers."

Huh?

Xia Qing sensed trouble. "Third Brother, do you mean this kind of purple violet only becomes evolved quality when it grows inside tiger territory?"

Zhang San answered rigorously, "Not just inside evolved tiger territory—it takes long-term watering by evolved tiger urine to turn this purple violet into an evolved variety."

Uh... ha?

Xia Qing, who had just scored negative points with Blindy, felt even more uneasy.

Zhang San stared at the screen and explained in detail, "Both the soil samples and plant leaves you collected a month and a half ago tested positive for evolved tiger urine component 666Y. The quality of the purple violets Zhang Tao's team grew from seeds in that soil dropped sharply, which is why I had you go collect data from where this herb grows. Based on the environmental data you brought back today, the air humidity, air pressure, magnetic field, wind speed, and sunlight conditions there are all within normal range. Once those factors are ruled out, only one remains."

"Only the last factor remains—tiger urine." Xia Qing picked up the thread. So that spot is Blindy's... bathroom?