Chapter 1285: Changing Strategy

Xia Qing beamed and asked the broken-waisted wolf, baring its little fangs, "Handsome Wolf Bro, would you trade nine Yi stones for this pretty stone?"

The broken-waisted wolf immediately closed its mouth and looked at Xia Qing with a solemn expression.

Don't want to? Then why the hell are you clinging to my crystal pillar?!

Xia Qing returned to her usual expressionless state. "Broken-waist, move aside, I need to carry this pretty stone home."

After Xia Qing carried the crystal pillar home, removed the rainproof cloth, wiped it dry, and placed it in the corner of the living room, it instantly elevated the style of her two-story little house by several levels, and the living room looked brighter.

The broken-waisted wolf squatted by the crystal pillar with an obsessed look, liking it more and more.

Xia Qing ignored the stingy wolf and called Sheep Boss and wolf-dog Lao Er to follow her to the edge of the farmland to haul the hickory nuts back.

Daigua? One monkey had already run into the first-floor bathroom, turned on the water to soak in a bath and do laundry.

After being out all morning, Xia Qing had harvested fourteen bags of hickory nuts, but not all of them were hers. Besides the eight jin exchanged to Huo Zhun, there were also the 100 jin exchanged to her idol, and Yang Jin's 60 jin.

Of the idol's hickory nuts, 100 jin was used to exchange for two encrypted phones; of Yang Jin's 60 jin, 10 jin was his payment for providing Xia Qing with information on magnetic-sense evolvers, and 50 jin was used by Xia Qing to exchange for dark web equipment.

After the equipment was exchanged back, Xia Qing went on the dark web a dozen or so times and witnessed the darkest, most brutal side of humanity on Blue Star. Shocked, she realized that the human nature she had personally witnessed during these eleven years of natural disasters couldn't even be called ugly.

Humanity's lower limit, as expected, has no lowest, only lower.

The more darkness she witnessed, the more she cherished the current peace, and the more she wanted to protect her companions and territory.

With a determined gaze, Xia Qing sent a message to her idol, then carried the bags back with Boss and Lao Er.

Before she even reached home, the idol's call came through.

After Xia Qing picked up, she spoke first. "Third Brother, I thought you were sleeping."

Zhang San, woken by Xia Qing, spoke in a hoarse voice. "Slept for two hours, got up to eat lunch. How many hickory nuts did you collect?"

Xia Qing answered honestly. "Just weighed the gross weight: 690 jin of green-light, 780 jin of yellow-light, and 120 jin of uncertain quality."

How could it be even more than last year?!

Zhang San asked, "Doesn't Mountain 60 only have two hickory trees in their fruiting period?"

A single tree yielding up to 400 kilograms far exceeds the biological limits and actual cultivation records of hickory trees before the natural disasters.

Evolved life on Blue Star is truly crazier than the last, constantly refreshing Zhang San's understanding. He raised his hand and pressed his head, which ached from being battered by these numbers.

Xia Qing answered cheerfully, "Those 120 jin of mixed hickory nuts weren't taken from the two trees on Mountain 60."

Zhang San was pleasantly surprised. "Discovered new trees? How many?"

Xia Qing answered, "Found four hickory trees in their fruiting period in Xiong Qun's territory. I only tested two nuts, value 2.7, can't confirm they're all this quality."

Didn't you go to the wolf pack's territory to pick hickory nuts? How did you also bring back 120 jin from inside Xiong Qun's territory?

Zhang San, just awake, didn't want to hear Xia Qing's answer and continued with business. "How many jin of last year's hickory nuts do you have left?"

Xia Qing answered honestly. "A little over 140 jin."

Of course Xia Qing wouldn't exchange all the green-light hickory nuts she harvested last year.

Green-light hickory nuts have brain-boosting function, but can't be eaten in excess. Xia Qing is a four-system evolver and can eat five a day. This variety from Mountain 60 has about 15 nuts per jin, so she needs to eat 120 jin a year.

Now that the new nuts are in, the old ones can be sold off.

Zhang San responded. "Besides the 100 jin exchanged for phones, bring me last year's remaining nuts, this year's 100 jin of green-light hickory nuts, and that bag of 120 jin."

"Okay, I'll haul them over in a bit and hand them to Brother Ya." That bag of mixed hickory nuts needed to be tested one by one at Xia Qing's place to confirm quality, but once delivered to the idol's territory, setting the parameters and running them through the instrument would automatically sort them out.

The idol didn't ask what supplies he wanted to exchange for the hickory nuts because they already had a tacit understanding. Any supplies the idol had and could provide, Xia Qing could exchange for.

Zhang San is the human idol standing at the very top of the universe's pyramid!

Zhang San's mood improved a lot, and his headache eased. "The yellow-light hickory nuts left over after you exchange with your allies can also be sent over. I have plenty of brain-domain evolvers here, the demand for hickory nuts is high, and Wang Shunkang also needs brain supplements."

"Okay. Don't forget to mention it to Wang Jun." If the idol is supplementing Wang Shunkang's brain, of course Wang Jun has to be told.

Because this is a high-value food, this portion of points should be paid by the Wang father and son. They can owe it for now, but the idol's goodwill and favor must be made known to them.

This is a time of scarce supplies during the natural disaster years. Only a fool would do good deeds without leaving a name.

Zhang San responded, in a good mood, and said, "Before the hickory nuts are sent over, have your squirrel sort through them first and store the good-quality ones separately."

Territory Three Employee No. 001, Xiao Feimao, can screen out cultivable optimized seeds from the fruits.

Territory Seven began cultivating hickory nuts this spring. Because the cultivation quality was poor, they had Xia Qing go to Mountain 60 to collect original soil once. The hickory nuts sent over this year, of course, also need to reserve a portion for breeding.

The juice of green-light hickory nuts attracts evolved burning insects, so they can't be planted in safe zones or territories, but can be planted in evolved forests.

Xia Qing also planned to select a portion of cultivable optimized seeds and bury them in the soil suitable for hickory nut growth in Mountain 49 Area 3 and Mountain 50.

If the planting succeeds, in three to five years she'll have more premium dried fruits.

After returning home, Xia Qing untied the bag and poured a bag of green-light walnuts under the eaves.

Under the eaves, except for the area with the swallow nest where the little sparrows lived, all other areas had been covered by Xia Qing with insect-proof netting, used for drying clothes and harvested crops.

Not long after the hickory nuts were poured out, the big red squirrel and Xiao Feimao appeared in the yard. Qiang Zai had gone out to find food and was not in Xia Qing's territory.

Employee No. 001 Xiao Feimao skillfully burrowed into the insect-proof netting and happily got to work. The big red squirrel stood a few meters away, staring at the big pile of nuts, rubbing its little paws and frantically wagging its fluffy big tail.

Xia Qing picked up a walnut and tossed it outside the insect-proof netting. Before the nut even hit the ground, the big red squirrel snatched it away, making the birds that failed to grab a nut chirp angrily in protest.

The ones cursing the loudest were a few big magpies. After losing to the sparrow group and failing to move into the swallow nest under Xia Qing's eaves, they came by every few days to provoke the sparrows.

Because Lao Er liked watching them fight, Xia Qing didn't violently intervene and let them fight to their hearts' content.

At this moment, she sat on a little stool listening to the birds, inspecting the rice seedlings one by one, plucking off the remaining rice grains and putting them into a basket, while Xiao Feimao placed the selected delicious walnuts into Xia Qing's pocket.

Boss lay beside her chewing cud, while Lao Er lay outside the insect-proof netting, watching the flock of birds.

A slight sound of movement came from inside the house, and the entry door was swiped open.

Xia Qing looked up and saw the freshly washed Daigua standing inside the door holding a washed little towel. The stingy wolf lying by the crystal pillar gazed at her with a pair of amber eyes, looking aggrieved.