Chapter 1306: Zhang Han's Identity and Tang Huai's Suggestion

Looks familiar?

Xia Qing paused what she was doing and began sifting through everyone she and Tang Huai both knew. She went through every person in this territory and still couldn't find a face that resembled the half visible behind Zhang Han's protective mask.

"Not familiar. Who is she?"

Tang Huai knew Xia Qing's temperament well — she hated beating around the bush and guessing — so he sent her a link directly. "Zhang Han has never shown her face publicly online, but her dad shows up online all the time. Sister Qing must have heard his name in the news broadcasts, and probably her mom's name too."

Xia Qing pulled off her gloves, opened the news image in the link Tang Huai had sent, and carefully examined the features of the four leaders in the front row whose name placards were displayed. She found one who bore some resemblance to Zhang Han. "Red Eleven Deputy Base Commander, Huan Yi?"

"That's right. Good eye, Sister Qing."

Tang Huai introduced her enthusiastically. "Huan Yi's wife, Han Chang, was a somewhat well-known local TV host at Red Eleven before the Catastrophe. She even came to our place as a guest on a show for two episodes, and I went to the scene as part of the audience just for the fun of it. The moment I saw Zhang Han earlier, I felt she looked familiar. I searched online, and sure enough…"

Listening to Tang Huai rattle on about Zhang Han's parents, Xia Qing's mind worked quickly. She understood why Zhang Han could intern at the Number Seven Territory lab before even finishing her graduate studies, and also why Zhang San had asked Zhang Song to mentor her.

Red Eleven Base was one of Number Seven Territory's partners, and Zhang San had always had a good relationship with Red Eleven.

The Zheng Chen squad currently in charge of Number Seven Territory's security came from Red Eleven. After Li Si of Number Nine Territory was arrested last year, when Zhang San applied for an out-of-territory review base for the case, he sent Li Si and her assistant Xiao Liu and others to Red Eleven, helping them break free of Liehuo's control. Currently, Li Si and Xiao Liu were doing research work at Red Eleven.

So strictly speaking, Zhang San owed Red Eleven Base a favor. Now that the deputy base commander's daughter wanted to come to Number Seven Territory for an internship, Zhang San had no reason to refuse. The reason he had Zhang Song mentor her was that before joining Number Seven Territory, Zhang Song had worked at the Red Eleven Base Research Institute.

The person Red One Base sent to investigate her was the daughter of a deputy base commander of a partner base — she had probably been selected after some screening.

Xia Qing asked, "Does Zhang Song have any connection to Zhang Han's parents or to Zhang Han herself?"

Before calling Xia Qing, Tang Huai had actually searched online. "Public information online shows Zhang Song went to the Red Eleven Base Research Institute in the fourth year of the Catastrophe. Zhang Han was in her senior year of high school at Red Eleven at that time. Although they were both in the safe zone inner city, in principle they shouldn't have run into each other. Huan Yi is a first-level Memory Brain Domain Evolver. He used to work in the municipal government of an outer city and was only promoted to deputy base commander in the eighth year of the Catastrophe. Han Chang is an ordinary person who continued working in Red Eleven's television and broadcasting department after the Catastrophe. She might have gone to the research institute for an interview, but I searched online using Han Chang and Song Mingqing's names and found nothing. I also searched academic journal sites and didn't find any papers co-authored by Zhang Song and Zhang Han."

"Thanks, I understand." Tang Huai had searched so much information in such a short time and even called to tell her — Xia Qing should thank him.

"No need for thanks, Sister Qing. We've been neighbors for years and we're in the same alliance. Helping each other is only natural." Tang Huai suggested very seriously, "The reason your territory doesn't take in outsiders is to protect Boss and Wolf Lao Er, right? If you don't want more people thinking your territory has other secrets, you could let more people in to look around. Zhang Han would be a good candidate."

Xia Qing replied, "I understand. Third Brother means the same thing. For a while now, Zhang Han will be coming frequently to the beehive in my territory to do research."

Comparing oneself to others was enough to kill you with frustration. Tang Huai in his room stared at the ceiling speechlessly. He and Xia Qing had met Zhang San at the same time, yet he himself had landed on Zhang San's blacklist over a piece of rotten meat, while Xia Qing's relationship with Zhang San kept getting better and better over a few spinach plants…

He paused for a few seconds, then offered another idea. "Sister Qing, I thought about it from the perspective of those Liehuo guys and figured out why they think there's unpolluted spring water in your territory: because of X-2. I have an idea — hear me out, Sister Qing. If you think it could work, let's do it. If not, pretend I never said anything."

Xia Qing replied calmly, "Go ahead."

Tang Huai asked, "The original strain of X-2 — those are the spinach plants discovered in your territory last spring, right? After Third Brother traded for them and found your spinach was high quality, he warned you and gave you ordinary green-light spinach to trade to me and Li Si?"

Having known Tang Huai for two years, this was the first time Xia Qing felt he was truly Tang Zhengpo's biological son. Since he had asked, Xia Qing no longer hid it and replied calmly, "Yes."

"I knew it!"

Xia Qing's straightforward and direct admission made Tang Huai extremely excited, because it meant her trust in him had increased. "The moment the spinach name came out, I guessed 'X' was short for Xia, but none of them believed me! Cultivating high-yi-element vegetables requires unpolluted spring water, which is why Liehuo thinks you have some. Sister Qing, have you considered why your territory managed to cultivate high-yi-element spinach?"

Xia Qing followed Tang Huai's line of thought and answered, "Because of the high-yi-element soil."

"Exactly!" Tang Huai continued. "It's not just your place. Territories One, Four, Five, Six, and Seven — the ones near the mountains — all have patches of high-yi-element soil, big or small. So I suspect that the underground water vein of Mountain Forty-Nine really does contain unpolluted spring water, and the spring mouth of this underground water vein is in the hidden valley of Mountain Fifty…"

Once Tang Huai got excited, his talkative nature became even harder to restrain, and he rattled on endlessly. Xia Qing listened quietly without interrupting.

"Due to tectonic movement, a huge crack appeared in the third peak of Mountain Fifty, damaging the internal structure of the mountain. This destroyed the unpolluted water source, and the water flowing from the spring mouth was reduced to ordinary spring water. But the high-yi-element soil that had formed under the nourishment of the unpolluted spring mouth was preserved…"

Xia Qing's eyes gradually lit up.

Don't say it — but you really had to say it. Tang Huai's line of reasoning actually held up under scrutiny!

"Here's my second proposal: with our alliance's current strength, there's no need to keep the spring mouth in the hidden valley hidden anymore. What if we openly draw water from the spring mouth and use the climate conditions of the hidden valley to establish a premium crop cultivation center for our alliance?"

"After the spring water is filtered to remove qiang elements, it becomes premium irrigation water. Our soil research institute can precisely monitor changes in the soil microbial community. Our organic fertilizer plant can produce high-quality organic fertilizer. Add to that the guidance of Number Seven Territory's breeding experts, and we have the right time, the right place, and the right people. Not establishing a premium crop cultivation center would be a waste of resources!"

Tang Huai picked up the cup on the table and took a big gulp of water, growing more and more excited as he spoke. "Once our breeding center is established, we'll definitely be able to cultivate crops superior to those of the safe zone planting centers and research institutes. Once we cultivate X-3, X-4 high-yi-element spinach, no one will keep staring at your territory. Multiple benefits in one move. What do you think of this idea?"