Chapter 1278: Pan-Fried Steak and Vinegar-Sautéed Cabbage Stem

"Got it, thanks, Third Brother." Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie and replied to her idol.

"Damn!"

Hearing Zhang San's words, Tang Huai, standing beside Xia Qing, couldn't help cursing, "Hui Six is a real bastard, they did it on purpose!"

Because Xia Qing was right beside him, Tang Huai didn't speak over the walkie-talkie, which made the lords who'd expected him to jump in and curse a few times feel very unaccustomed.

"The boss is right. I've dealt with Hui Six's people before — not a single decent one among them. The bee lice flies in the hive must have been planted by Hui Six on purpose! What do you say, Sister Qing?"

Liu Jing turned his head, saw Xia Qing fully focused on catching bee lice flies, immediately shut his mouth, and got to work.

After spending half an hour combing through Tang Huai's beekeeping greenhouse and catching three bee lice flies, Xia Qing returned to her own territory and continued catching bugs in the beekeeping greenhouse.

Until her eyes were blurred, she finally left the beekeeping greenhouse, turned on the walkie-talkie, and listened to her allies using the walkie-talkie to discuss whether the evolved bee lice flies had been deliberately released into the hive by Hui Six's people.

Xia Qing went to the meeting room by the farmland to drink some water and rest for a moment, listening to her allies' discussion while heading to Greenhouse One.

"I think we should look at this rationally."

Tang Heng began a serious analysis. "Before the territory policy was implemented, every base had its own quality agricultural and livestock projects — for example, Bai San's rice, Red Eleven's wheat, Hui Six's bees, Guicheng's fruit, Lancheng's seafood and dairy, etc. Each base didn't have enough space to develop other projects, so they all used their advantageous agricultural products to trade with other bases. After the territory policy was promoted, each base's planting area expanded, and lords could independently choose the types of agricultural products to raise and plant. Problems that arise during planting or raising aren't necessarily man-made. Without conclusive evidence, our alliance's public statements must be cautious."

Qi Fu, vice leader of the territory alliance, also came online. "Heng-ge is right. We can discuss whatever we want internally, but public statements must be cautious."

Zhu Li also agreed. "A few days ago, during the soil anaerobic bacteria evolution disaster, the potato-specific fertilizer produced by Hui Four caused the attack-mutation evolution rate of many of our potato seedlings to rise, but the same fertilizer used in Hui Four's own fields didn't cause this."

Wen Nengjie asked, "Sister Li, do you think the lords in our base who bought the potato-specific fertilizer can get compensation from Hui Four's fertilizer plant?"

"Hard to say."

Each base's management department lacked the personnel, money, and material resources, and could only handle big matters. The losses caused by the potato-specific fertilizer were a huge amount of points for the lords, but nothing worth mentioning for the base as a whole.

"Boss, this bundle's tied up." Xia Qing, in the rice terraces of Territory Three, bundled the cut rice into bundles and called out to her companion.

Ram Boss immediately trotted over, carried this bundle of rice to the threshing wooden tub at the edge of this terrace, then raised its big head with spiral horns and squinted at its little subordinate.

With her mind full of bee lice flies, Xia Qing opened her mouth and let it flow. "Boss, you're really getting more and more capable. You're the most amazing evolved ram on Blue Star. Blue Star is more beautiful and dazzling because of you…"

After cutting the rice, Xia Qing went to stare in the beekeeping greenhouse for another dozen or so minutes before returning to Greenhouse One to thresh the rice by beating the panicles.

After threshing three bundles of J-2 rice grain and putting them in the basket, Xia Qing picked an old cucumber, gave the larger half to Ram Boss, the smaller half to Lao Er, then took a small piece she'd broken off and walked outside the shed, placing it on a rock.

The big red squirrel, Qiang Zai, and Little Feimao, already drawn over by the smell of rice grain, immediately rushed over. The biggest and fastest, the big red squirrel, snatched this freebie and ran off with it in its mouth.

The second piece was snatched away by Qiang Zai.

The third piece finally went to Little Feimao.

Xia Qing grabbed Little Feimao, who was gnawing the cucumber, brought it back inside the shed, and placed it on the rim of the basket holding the rice grain. Employee No. 001 of Territory Three, in front of the three lords, crunched through the cucumber, jumped into the basket, picked out the quality seeds with the lowest mutation element content, and stuffed them into Xia Qing's pocket for storage while she worked.

Seeing Little Feimao eating rice grain, the big red squirrel that had returned to the shed's edge stared at the fragrant rice grain with its little black eyes, rubbing its small paws while swaying its fluffy big tail. Qiang Zai returned to the rock where the cucumber had been placed to look for food scraps.

After swaying around for a while, the big red squirrel found that the human inside wasn't paying attention to it, hopped around cursing a few times, and left. Qiang Zai squeaked at Xia Qing a few times, found that Xia Qing wasn't responding to it, and ran off too.

That day, Xia Qing brought the breeding rice, Chinese cabbage, and green radish home, and went to crouch in the beekeeping greenhouse every hour to search for bee lice flies mixed in with the bees.

Although Lao Er didn't roar at the beekeeping greenhouse again, Xia Qing didn't dare relax at all. When Yang Jin returned to Territory Three from the disaster-extinction site, it was already getting dark, and Xia Qing was still sitting in the beekeeping greenhouse, eyes closed, using her hearing to search for bee lice flies.

Hearing her phone beep, Xia Qing took out her phone and glanced at it, left the beekeeping greenhouse, and saw Yang Jin walking toward her.

Just from his gait, Xia Qing knew Yang Jin was tired. Being the cross-base disaster-extinction vice commander was no easy job — it was a seriously brain-burning role. Xia Qing went to meet him and asked, "Has Captain Yang eaten dinner yet?"

"Not yet." Yang Jin raised the steak in his hand and asked in a hoarse but cheerful voice, "Pan-fried Green Light steak tonight. What vegetable does Sister Qing want?"

Xia Qing reached out to take the steak. "You go shower and change clothes, I'll cook."

"Already showered at Territory One," Yang Jin handed the meat to her and asked, "How many bee lice flies did you catch?"

Xia Qing carried the meat toward the meeting room. "Fifteen."

Yang Jin responded and followed behind her. "Lucky you spotted it early."

Xia Qing, walking ahead, shook her head. "Lao Er spotted it."

Yang Jin asked, "Is Lao Er a Class C magnetic-sense evolver?"

"Not necessarily. Animals in the Evolution Forest all have strong abilities to detect environmental anomalies and dangers." Xia Qing asked, "Did you figure out the composition of the drug used by the Blaze team members who snuck into Mountain Twenty-Two?"

Yang Jin understood that Xia Qing didn't want him to focus on the wolf-dog Lao Er, so he followed her lead and changed the subject. "Similar in composition to the drug the blue-skinned wanderers used before, but more effective. Based on the inventory you transported out of the Blaze drug factory warehouse, the testing personnel confirmed this drug was produced by Blaze and is a non-restricted medication."

This kind of drug that could fool an evolved wolf's sense of smell didn't harm fierce beasts and was beneficial for humans venturing deeper into the Evolution Forest to find more supplies — of course it wasn't a restricted medication.

Pinning a crime on Blaze wasn't going to be easy.

Xia Qing carried the sealed bag of meat into the kitchen, took off her protective mask. "You rest, I'll cook. Pan-fried beef, steamed rice, and how about a vinegar-sautéed cabbage stem?"

Dishes like vinegar-sautéed or hot-and-sour — once you add vinegar and chili, the flavor won't be bad. These were dishes Xia Qing was good at making.

"Okay." Yang Jin, who had taken off his protective suit, rolled up the sleeves of his long-sleeved T-shirt, washed his hands, and didn't leave the kitchen. Instead, he assisted Xia Qing and began breaking apart the cabbage leaves.

Noticing Xia Qing looking at him, Yang Jin put a weak look on his face, pitiful yet utterly sincere. "Sister Qing, staying by your side eases my headache."

Watching Xia Qing glare and bristle, Yang Jin added pitifully, "Sister Qing, the pan's hot, time to add oil."

Xia Qing…