Chapter 1273: Beehive Splitting

Inside the Soil Research Lab of Territory No. 12, Zhu Li, who shared Tang Huai's love of gossip, came online. "I've been busy testing soil and didn't check my phone. What did Hui-1's people say?"

Tang Huai fumed, "They said that during Liehuo's last disaster extermination, a team member defected and stole a batch of important supplies, hiding them in the southern wolves' territory. Among those supplies was a life-saving medicine for Fire Phoenix. Liehuo went several times but was blocked by the wolf pack and couldn't find it, which is why they attacked the wolf pack—to get the supplies back. Hui-1's people think Liehuo did nothing wrong. What a load of crap!"

"Looking for supplies isn't wrong, but it is absurdly wrong to skip the tranquilizer darts and stench-repellent rounds and go straight to poison needles to kill wolves. Whoever made that decision deserves a lifetime of forced labor. That person is rotten to the core!"

Wen Nengjie immediately chimed in, "Brother Huai is right!"

"Fire Phoenix has donated plenty of points to support the construction of Hui-1's safe zone, so she's very popular there. It's normal for those people to side with her." Zhu Li asked, "But isn't Fire Phoenix a recovery-type evolver immune to all poisons? Why would she need medicine to save her life?"

Yu Shou of Territory No. 15 guessed, "Maybe she injected too much toxin into her own body and her evolution ability can't neutralize it anymore."

"I think something's off about this." Zhao Ze came online. "If the wolf pack wouldn't let Liehuo's team members in to look for supplies, how did the person who hid the supplies get in?"

"Right! That doesn't add up!" Tang Huai immediately came online. "This is Liehuo's excuse to shirk blame!"

If you knew how clever the southern wolf pack's Lao Si was, you'd know how reasonable this is. Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Tang Huai, you free?"

Tang Huai answered immediately, "Free!"

"The bees in my territory have successfully split the hive. Has the temperature in the beekeeping greenhouse in Territory No. 2 come up?"

Tang Huai was so happy he nearly jumped. "Temperature and humidity were adjusted the day before yesterday. Sister Qing, should I head over now?"

Xia Qing replied, "Sure."

Wen Nengjie immediately followed up, "Sister Qing, can I come over and see your beekeeping greenhouse?"

Shi Du also came online, "Sister Qing, I'd like to come see it too."

One after another, allies came online with requests.

After two years in the territory, everyone was already eating green-light vegetables and yellow-light grains, but other quality food was still extremely scarce. Now, if they could trade for quality green-light bees, they only needed to build an earthen-wall greenhouse in their territory and fill it with nectar-source plants to keep bees and harvest edible honey. Of course the allies wouldn't miss this opportunity.

Xia Qing welcomed everyone. "I'm in the territory right now. Anyone who's free can come over. Use the south gate. Tang Huai, drive in to pick up the bees."

The outdoor temperature was too low now, so keeping the hives warm during transport was essential. Driving them over was the best option.

Xia Qing had Wolf Lao Er pull the little yellow ox home while she went to open the territory's south gate.

Lao Da? Hearing that humans were coming in, it had gone to the northern buffer forest to protect its big Chinese toon tree.

Allies who lived nearby walked, those farther away rode bicycles, and one after another they entered Territory No. 3 through the south gate, standing outside the beekeeping greenhouse and looking through the ventilation ports of the insulation film to view Xia Qing's beekeeping greenhouse.

Tan Qi and Ye Shiyi, who had just come home from school, saw the allies coming to Territory No. 3 to learn about beekeeping and followed along.

Yuan Yan focused on how to control the greenhouse's temperature and humidity, Shi Du asked about planting density for nectar-source plants, Zhu Li inquired about fertilization and irrigation frequency, and Zhao Ze offered Xia Qing suggestions to adjust the height of several greenhouse frame poles to reduce the impact of water droplets on the bee colony.

The two little ones stood together. Tan Qi was seriously learning how to keep bees, while little Shiyi was thinking about how to tell Auntie Qing that one of her hives had a bee with very strong magnetic field fluctuations, full of malice.

Zhang Shi stood on a big pine tree at the peak of Mountain No. 50, looking through binoculars at the daughter beside Xia Qing—taller and chubbier now—and his eyes were full of tenderness.

Wen Nengjie and Wang Damin of Territory No. 11 were concerned about how to keep nectar-source plants high-quality. Wang Damin asked, "Director Xia, do all the plants in the greenhouse need regular quality testing?"

If the quality of nectar-source plants declined, the quality of the bees and honey would certainly decline too, so controlling plant quality was key.

Xia Qing answered each question in detail. "This patch of honeysuckle has six plants in total. I take six leaves every other day to test the quality, and stop testing after the flowering period. That patch is wild banzhi—no testing needed; you can judge quality by the plant's color…"

After Xia Qing finished her introduction, Wen Nengjie immediately expressed his thanks. "Hearing you explain it, Sister Qing, I feel much more at ease. If I had to test plant quality every day, even setting aside labor, the testing fluid alone would cost a lot."

As evening temperatures dropped quickly, Tang Huai followed Xia Qing into the beekeeping greenhouse, carried out the hive he'd traded for, quickly stuffed it into the off-road vehicle with the heater on, then took his apprentice Wen Nengjie and Wang Damin, who hitched a ride, and left Territory No. 3.

It wasn't safe to move around outside the territory after dark, so the other allies also checked on the germination of the overwintering wheat in Territory No. 3 and then said their goodbyes.

Shi Du asked cheerfully, "Tan Qi, Shiyi, want to ride back on a bicycle?"

Zhu Li also spoke up, "Right, give me your backpacks. Shi Du and I will take you home."

To carry supplies, the lords' second-hand bicycles all had rear seats.

"Yay!!!" Tan Qi answered happily, and little Shiyi cheered along with her. They said goodbye to Xia Qing and caught rides on the allies' bicycles back to Territory No. 15.

After the allies left, Xia Qing closed the south gate of Territory No. 3, walked to the edge of the village, and called Wolf Lao Er, asking it to come with her to cheer on Lao Da.

To Xia Qing's surprise, Wolf Lao Er had actually grabbed the rope tethering the ox and led the little yellow ox out.

Xia Qing didn't object either. She took the rope, led the little yellow ox up to the northern buffer forest, and tied it under the big Chinese toon tree covered in fallen leaves. Then the three lords of Territory No. 3 set out together to face Xiao Pingtou, who was already banging against the iron-net fence wall.

Ram Boss, who had brought two underlings today, was in magnificent form and quickly beat Xiao Pingtou until it lay on the ground grunting, unable to get up. Then Ram Boss tilted its head and squinted up at Xia Qing.

"Boss, I've only been gone a day and a night—how did you get so much stronger! Boss, you're truly an evolution ram standing at the top of Blue Star's pyramid, the ram who pioneered Blue Star's evolution-ram history…"

Amid Xia Qing's wild praise, Ram Boss Gao Ang held its head high and returned to its own territory.

Xia Qing walked over to Xiao Pingtou, who was still grunting, and handed it a piece of freeze-dried meat. Xiao Pingtou had never once beaten Ram Boss, but the fellow kept getting back up after every defeat—its perseverance was astonishing and deserved praise.

One small piece of freeze-dried meat wasn't even enough to stick between Xiao Pingtou's teeth. Grunting, it twisted itself up and chased after Xia Qing. Xia Qing sped back to the north gate of Northern Zone One, and when she heard a "clang" behind her, she actually felt a sense of satisfaction.

The iron-net fence wall of Northern Zone One was still useful after all.

Xia Qing led the little yellow ox home. While listening to the lords chat and cooking, her phone beeped—beep, beep, beep—in a steady rhythm, popping up message after message:

The shameless wolf entered Northern Zone One's territory through the north gate at 19:25 on November 7.