Chapter 1235: The Blingbling Phone

After stuffing her own bamboo rat into the freezer and the head wolf's bamboo rat into the oven, Xia Qing brought the bamboo rat's innards to Lao Er, who had been waiting. Only after watching it eat its fill did she take the remaining innards to the fish pond to feed the fish.

As the temperature dropped, the green lantern snakes she kept in the snake box—the ones that had been gorging themselves like crazy a while back—had gone into hibernation. Their metabolism had stalled and their digestive systems shut down, so they no longer needed to eat. The green lantern fish in the pond were also getting less active, but they still needed to be fed every day.

Before the freeze, Xia Qing would scoop all the fish out—some processed into food for storage, the rest raised in the aquaculture greenhouse. When the temperature rose again the following spring, she'd release them back into the pond to spawn and breed the next generation.

After feeding the fish, Xia Qing went home, stepped into the living room, and got down to business with the Broken-Waist Wolf, who was studying.

"Broken-Waist, I came to you today for two things. Look, this is a new phone—an encrypted phone. It's way better than the one you're using now, and the most important thing is it's secure…"

Xia Qing rattled off the benefits of this encrypted phone, then laid out her terms. "Third Brother said he'd trade this phone to you for 50 jin of green lantern mountain walnuts. What do you say? Deal or not?"

At the purchase price posted by the Safe Zone mission hall, 50 jin of green lantern mountain walnuts totaled a certain number of points—nearly three times the price of the new phone Yang Jin had traded to Xia Qing—but Xia Qing felt the price was perfectly fair.

Seeing that Xia Qing had finished talking, the Broken-Waist Wolf turned its head and went back to watching the math lesson video.

Xia Qing had long expected this reaction, because this encrypted phone looked just like an ordinary phone, and its shell was black—not at all to the Broken-Waist Wolf's taste.

So Xia Qing pulled out the phone case she'd prepared from a drawer. "Broken-Waist, look—do you like this?"

This was the phone case she'd just traded for from Hearing Zhu Li: a pale pink case with a Wolf God on it, assembled from blingbling rhinestones, with wings on its back and four wind-fire wheels under its feet.

This was currently the most popular phone case in Hui Three Safe Zone. Supposedly, using this phone case could earn one the Wolf God's protection.

Under the light, the sparkling rhinestone wolf instantly hooked the Broken-Waist Wolf's soul—its two eyes followed the phone as it turned. And it wasn't just the Broken-Waist Wolf; even Does Daigua, Sheep Boss, and the wolf-dog Lao Er were all staring at the glowing phone.

Seeing the Broken-Waist Wolf's reaction, Xia Qing knew this deal could be struck.

She slipped the case onto the encrypted phone and showed it to the Broken-Waist Wolf. "Look, Handsome Wolf Bro—put this case on, doesn't the phone look way prettier? A pretty phone like this, you can trade for one with just 50 jin of mountain walnuts. What do you say?"

The phone case? Consider it a freebie from Xia Qing to seal the idol's and Broken-Waist's first transaction.

Last time, she'd taken videos and books on bamboo rat care from the idol. The agreed-upon condition was that she, Yang Jin, and the wolf pack would escort the idol on an autumn outing to the third peak of Mountain 49.

A sudden natural disaster had disrupted the idol's schedule. He was now throwing himself entirely into research on dealing with the disaster and had no time for an autumn outing, so that deal never went through.

The Broken-Waist Wolf jumped off the sofa, opened a drawer by the wall, and took out a laminated picture in its mouth. It laid the picture in front of Xia Qing, planted a big paw on a pigeon-egg-sized mid-grade Use Yishi, and looked at her.

Xia Qing immediately beamed. "Handsome Wolf Bro wants to trade one pigeon-egg-sized Use Yishi for this phone? Sure, of course!"

With a solemn face, the Broken-Waist Wolf extended a paw and gestured a number:

2!

"Handsome Wolf Bro wants to trade one pigeon-egg-sized mid-grade Use Yishi for two of these encrypted phones?" Xia Qing certainly wanted the Use Yishi, but this phone had come from the idol, and this was the last one she had.

If she went to the idol to ask for more…

Seeing Xia Qing hesitate, the Broken-Waist Wolf raised its big paw and set it down on a walnut-sized Use Yishi, staring solemnly at Xia Qing.

"Deal! But the second phone can only be traded when Handsome Wolf Bro brings the Use Yishi over."

Compared to Use Yishi, getting scolded was nothing. Besides, it was the idol who had proposed giving the wolf pack encrypted phones. The Broken-Waist Wolf and Fourth met the conditions, and as the queen my lord of the northern wolf pack, she certainly met them too!

Only then did the Broken-Waist Wolf bare the tips of its fangs, signaling Xia Qing to hand the phone over quickly.

"Good, this phone is Handsome Wolf Bro's now. Handsome Wolf Bro, you are absolutely an evolved wolf standing at the very top of Blue Star's taste pyramid!"

Xia Qing handed the phone to the Broken-Waist Wolf, went to the kitchen to check on the roasted bamboo rat, then returned to the living room, took out the Broken-Waist Wolf's old phone, and transferred its data to the new one.

Only after opening it did she discover that the Broken-Waist Wolf had actually taken dozens of photos with the phone.

Though the angles and lighting weren't great, she could still make out that half the photos were of the head wolf, then its two cubs, and after that the sky and the Evolution Forest.

This encrypted phone's camera and call modes worked the same as the old phone's, so the Broken-Waist Wolf could keep taking photos after switching phones.

After the data transfer, Xia Qing proposed to the Broken-Waist Wolf that she'd buy back the old phone for 3,000 points.

The Broken-Waist Wolf had a lot of shopping needs, and the points it had earned from its last mission with Xia Qing were almost spent, so it agreed to the deal readily.

After paying the points, Xia Qing took it to the lab and showed it the new instrument she'd added. "This time, after the microbes in the soil evolved, growing grain and vegetables has gotten harder. We need to test the soil microbes every two days. This is the soil microbe detector I bought for 160,000 points…"

After introducing the detector's capabilities, Xia Qing used words and gestures to lay out the deal. "Broken-Waist, you can use this detector I bought for free, but when I'm too busy, you'll have to come over and help me test the soil in my territory. What do you think?"

Once it understood what Xia Qing meant, the Broken-Waist Wolf pressed its mouth shut, indicating it disagreed.

This caught Xia Qing off guard. She proposed a second option. "Then can I let Hu Zifeng and the others into the lab to help me with the testing?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf immediately bared its fangs ferociously, signaling refusal. This was its and Xia Qing's lab—no humans other than Zhang San were allowed in.

Xia Qing had a feeling it would react this way. "Then can I let Does Daigua help me with the testing?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf thought for a moment, then bared the tips of its fangs.

Once their business was settled, the Broken-Waist Wolf left Territory Three with the roasted bamboo rat for the head wolf and the pretty phone it had just traded for. Xia Qing, thoroughly satisfied, took Lao Er on a fast run through the territory to finish tonight's training.

Early the next morning, Xia Qing got up, fed the freeloading red squirrel, and went downstairs, ready to patrol the territory, when she saw her Territory employee No. 002, the monkey Does Daigua, standing in the living room wearing a little pink hat, green shorts, and a white vest, with its patchwork little backpack on its back, staring at her eagerly.

Xia Qing was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Does Daigua, are you going back to the Evolution Forest?"

The little monkey grinned happily, showing its teeth.

Xia Qing…

Temp workers really can't be relied on!