Chapter 12: Blood Profit

Tan Junjie stared at Xia Qing as if she were a disobedient soldier under his command. "Any evolved creature that appears outside a territory is not protected by the Territory Law."

"Even ones wearing collars."

"Yes." Xia Qing answered loudly, then asked in a small voice, "Captain Tan, if I clear out that hillside, can it be counted as part of my territory?"

After the catastrophe, Hua Nation was vast and sparsely populated, and land overrun with evolved creatures was something nobody wanted.

Tan Junjie stared at Xia Qing in silence for a few seconds. "What's on the hillside?"

Xia Qing answered truthfully, "There's an edible Chinese toon tree. My sheep love eating it."

Tan Junjie understood. He pressed his brow and asked, "How many wild boars have you caught in total?"

This...

Xia Qing hesitated, knowing she couldn't hide it for long, and simply answered truthfully, "Three. There's still one in the territory."

"Alive and edible?"

"... Yes."

Tan Junjie was silent for a moment, then asked, "Male or female?"

This time, Xia Qing was embarrassed. "I didn't notice. Once I confirm, I'll send you a text."

Tan Junjie laid out his terms, "I'll trade that little wild boar for the hillside and 'your' sheep."

Xia Qing, who had been planning to raise the little melon-rind pig to trade for a pile of points, hesitated, then offered her own condition, "Can I clear the hillside myself?"

Is she really treating that toon tree like a treasure? Tan Junjie looked at Xia Qing's dark, thin face and promised, "It's too dangerous for you alone. We'll only clear out the harmful creatures and won't touch anything on that hillside."

Xia Qing immediately beamed. "Deal! Thank you, Captain Tan!"

After Xia Qing left carrying the grain, Tan Junjie took out his phone to report the situation to his superiors, then requested, "I apply to immediately lead a team into the evolved forest to catch wild boars... Yes, I guarantee the mission will be completed."

Inside Territory Three, Xia Qing sat guarding a huge pile of rice and flour sealed in one-pound small bags, drooling. In the safe zone, she couldn't bear to eat staple food even once a week, but now she had sixty jin all at once!

Tonight she would treat herself to rice, but before dark, she still had to take care of something important.

Xia Qing cut a piece of red cloth from an old garment, sewed a collar, and after clumsily stitching the five characters "Territory Three Xia Qing" onto it, she re-entered the evolved forest.

Even if she couldn't bring the evolved goat back to her territory today, she had to get the collar on it. Only then could she feel at ease.

That evolved goat and that piece of land—she had traded a boar worth over ten thousand points for them.

Xia Qing didn't know if this goat was an edible animal. She didn't want to eat goat anymore; she wanted to keep it as a beast of burden, and she also wanted to keep that tree that could endlessly provide Chinese toon sprouts.

Xia Qing hurried to the hillside and, sure enough, saw the evolved goat lying under the tree, watching her with half-closed eyes.

Man and goat stared at each other for a while. Xia Qing took the initiative and poured half a kettle of water into the broken clay pot that the goat had licked clean.

The evolved goat squinted at her, motionless.

Xia Qing stepped back three paces, took off her protective mask, took a sip of water, shook the kettle, and began to lure the goat. "Come back with me, and you can drink as much water like this as you want. You can even bathe in the spring water. Look at you, you're getting as dirty as a coal ball—you must be itchy, right?"

The evolved goat ignored her, got up, and drank the water.

Xia Qing secretly took one step closer. The evolved goat didn't react, so she took another step. Just as she pulled out the collar, the evolved goat suddenly leaped up to butt her. Xia Qing dodged quickly.

Man and goat—one chasing, one running—circled the big toon tree more than a dozen times.

Nearly dizzy, Xia Qing climbed up the toon tree. The evolved goat's temper still hadn't cooled, and it rammed the tree—bang, bang, bang.

Whether its big spiral horns hurt or not, Xia Qing didn't know, but she herself was nearly shaken to the point of vomiting.

Not only did the goat have a temper, so did Xia Qing! She drew her machete, hacked off a branch with two cracks, and threw it down. The evolved goat immediately stopped ramming the tree and turned to eat the Chinese toon sprouts at the tip of the branch.

Xia Qing jumped down from the tree, kicked over the clay pot the evolved goat drank from, hoisted the branch, and ran. If she couldn't put the collar on, she'd bring the goat back instead.

The evolved goat took the bait, chasing Xia Qing to gnaw at the Chinese toon sprouts.

Man and goat—one running, one chasing to gnaw—they ran out of the evolved forest, and the goat stopped.

To prevent evolved creatures from entering the buffer forest, a fifty-meter-wide isolation belt had been sprayed with large amounts of powder that evolved creatures hated. Of course, the evolved goat didn't like the smell either.

But this goat should have come to her territory to drink the spring water. Under the double temptation of spring water and toon sprouts, she didn't believe the goat could resist.

After Xia Qing carried the branch through the isolation belt and entered the buffer forest, the evolved goat indeed leaped and bounded across the isolation belt, chasing after her.

Su Ming, a visually evolved person who had just entered the northern isolation belt of Territory Four, rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Captain Tan, Brother Yang, I just saw Sister Xia Qing carrying a tree branch with a goat, coming out of the evolved forest and entering Buffer Forest Three."

Tan Junjie turned his head and looked at Yang Jin beside him, who was in a camouflage protective suit, with an unreadable expression.

Yang Jin, with features dark as ink, turned and stared at Su Ming for two seconds before putting on his protective mask. "Move out."

"Yes." More than twenty members of the Azure Dragon Squad put on their masks at the same time and followed Yang Jin into the evolved forest.

Su Ming was a bit bewildered. He grabbed his teammate Cao Xianyun. "Did you see the way Brother Yang looked at me just now? Why do I feel like he was weighing how many points my flesh was worth?"

You've finally gotten something right for once. Cao Xianyun, a quadruple auditory evolved person, put on his protective mask. "Since when did you get a 'sister'?"

Hmm. Hmm?

Su Ming was even more bewildered. "No! It's Xia Qing! From Territory Three! Didn't we just meet her yesterday..."

Tan Junjie turned his head and glared. "Check your gear, maintain formation, move out."

"Yes!" Su Ming immediately stood at attention, roared, and put on his protective mask.

Su Ming's roar traveled far into Buffer Forest Three. Xia Qing, who was breaking off Chinese toon sprouts to feed the goat, turned her head and looked north.

"Bang!"

Seeing that Xia Qing wasn't moving, the evolved goat turned around, walked to the cave entrance, kicked away the stone blocking the opening with one hoof, drank a few mouthfuls of water, then walked back, lay down beside the branch, and squinted as it chewed its cud.

The way it carried on, you'd think this patch of forest was its territory.

Maybe it really was. Perhaps before this hillside was cleared out, it truly was this goat's territory. Xia Qing took off her mask and smiled. "Right now there's a big group of people stronger than me entering the evolved forest to catch wild boars. If you don't want to die, stay here and don't run around."

The evolved goat squinted and ignored Xia Qing, continuing to chew its cud.

Xia Qing gave up on the plan to put the collar on it. She casually plucked a cluster of Chinese toon sprouts and tested them with the high-grade detector she had just acquired. She was shocked.

A deep green color with a destructive element content below one-thousandth—a premium safe plant!

No wonder this goat had been guarding that Chinese toon tree. Now even Xia Qing was tempted to move right under the tree. Trading a green-light little wild boar for over a thousand mu of hillside, a premium safe plant, and an evolved goat. Although land wasn't worth much right now, a premium tree that could endlessly grow leaves was worth money!

Even without counting the evolved goat as a bonus, she had made a killing!

The evolved sheep, which had brought half-digested food back into its mouth to chew again, saw Xia Qing laughing like a fool, her eyes squinted until only a slit remained.