Chapter 1311: Xia Qing's Research and Water Plant Plan

After finishing their discussion, Lao Si left with Broken-Face Little Wolf, the head wolf also took the two cubs back to the northern wolf pack's territory, Handsome Giant Wolf had long since disappeared, Wolf Lao Er was diligently patrolling the territory, and Sheep Boss, after riding the bicycle enough, went to find its cud-chewing buddy. So, in the first-floor living room of Territory Three, there was now only one person, one wolf, and two little monkeys in the tree nest.

Xia Qing played a video for Broken-Waist Wolf about how humans filter water contaminated during natural disasters to make drinking water, then used a combination of speech, writing, drawing, and gestures to discuss with Broken-Waist Wolf the value of the hot spring water in the hidden valley of Mountain Fifty.

"The hot spring water in the hidden valley on the third peak of Mountain Fifty has a Qiang element content of 17‰, so it's not great water. But the hot spring water contains no radioactive elements or toxins, and it does contain several trace elements beneficial to the human body. Filtering it with just an intermediate filter cartridge can turn it into premium green-light drinking water…"

Broken-Waist Wolf lay beside Xia Qing, watching intently.

"Broken-Waist, the river water in my territory, after filtering with an intermediate filter cartridge, has a Qiang element content of around 10‰, making it ordinary yellow-light drinking water; even if filtered with an advanced filter cartridge, it can't be brought below 5‰. But the hot spring water here, filtered with an intermediate filter cartridge, can be brought down to 4‰. Do you know what that means?!"

Broken-Waist Wolf thought for a few seconds, dug its special pen out of the basket, slipped it onto its front left paw, pushed Xia Qing aside, and wrote the four printed-style numbers "1, 7, 5, 0" on the paper, then looked at her solemnly.

……

Damn it, I've been going back and forth with you for so long, and all you care about is that my numbers aren't written standard enough?!

Xia Qing took a deep breath. "Yes, my numbers aren't written as well as Handsome Wolf-Brother's. I need to practice seriously and write the numbers well. Handsome Wolf-Brother, are you short on points?"

Broken-Waist Wolf's face was solemn, and it nodded vigorously.

Xia Qing wrote numbers in as printed a style as she could, continuing to do the math for Broken-Waist Wolf. "It means we can produce premium drinking water at a lower cost! One hundred liters of hot spring water filtered through one intermediate filter cartridge can sell for 3,500 points. After deducting costs, we can earn at least 2,000 to 2,500 points. That hot spring eye produces about three tons of water a day. Even if we only sell thirty tons of water a month, we can earn at least 600,000 points. We can also open a hot spring therapy center…"

In human eyes, Mountain Fifty is the experimental zone of Territory Seven, belonging to Zhang San; but in the eyes of the evolved beasts of the northern forest, Mountain Fifty previously belonged to the Xiong Qun, and now belongs to the wolf pack. An important member of the wolf pack—the Plucking Yellow Weasel family—currently lives near the hidden valley of Mountain Fifty.

Besides this, the north face of the third peak of Mountain Fifty and the fourth peak are hunting grounds frequently visited by evolved wolves, leopards, cheetahs, and honey badgers, with wolf pack members stationed on the fourth peak.

The Blazing Fire Beast-Hunting Squad used poison gas bombs against Xia Qing and the three evolved wolves, clearing out the wildlife in parts of the second peak, first peak, and third peak of Mountain Fifty. The ecosystem has still not recovered.

Therefore, humans purifying soil and planting crops in the valley on Mountain Fifty is fine with the wolf pack, because it doesn't affect them. But building a water plant and running a therapy center would mean large numbers of humans coming and going, which would cause the wildlife in the northern part of the third peak to flee and render that hunting area worthless. The wolf pack definitely wouldn't be happy.

Also, Broken-Waist Wolf is getting smarter and smarter. If Xia Qing earns points using Mountain Fifty's water without telling it, once Broken-Waist Wolf learns the truth, it will definitely damage the trust between Xia Qing and the northern wolf pack.

So, Xia Qing has to put the matter of earning points from the spring water out in the open.

One person and one wolf lay on the table writing and drawing for a long time. After Broken-Waist Wolf figured out what Xia Qing meant, it pressed one large paw, with its toes spread wide, down onto the paper.

It wants five-tenths!

Xia Qing……

"Broken-Waist, labor, equipment, water transportation, and sales are all my responsibility, so I can only give you two-tenths."

The remaining eight-tenths will serve as research funding for Territory Seven.

Broken-Waist Wolf's large paw didn't move, its face solemn.

Xia Qing didn't yield an inch either. "Two-tenths maximum, or no deal! This isn't like raising bamboo rats; the wolf pack can't participate in this."

Neither person nor wolf would yield, and the negotiation reached a stalemate.

The shrewd middleman Xia Qing decided to use a delaying strategy, setting aside the disagreement for now and first discussing the prerequisites for building the water plant.

"Broken-Waist, look at my hands. Is earning points from the water plant important—" Xia Qing raised her left hand to represent earning points, then raised her right hand, "—or is protecting the unpolluted spring water in Mountain Fifty-Five important?"

Broken-Waist Wolf didn't need to think at all, and raised its large paw to place it on Xia Qing's right hand.

"Right! Worthy of being Handsome Wolf-Brother standing at the top of Blue Star's pyramid, your choice is very correct. With points you can exchange for supplies you like, but if we expose the water source of Mountain Fifty-Five just to earn points, the loss would be huge."

Xia Qing said solemnly to Broken-Waist Wolf, "So, before we build the water plant, we must figure out whether the hot spring water system on Mountain Fifty is directly connected to the unpolluted spring water in my territory and the unpolluted spring water in Handsome Wolf-Brother's territory. If it is, we can't develop it."

The excitement Xia Qing felt yesterday when hearing Tang Huai's proposal has been mostly doused by her idol.

Tang Huai's proposal was based on the premise that "Territory Three has no unpolluted spring water," so they could let everyone believe the Mountain Fifty hot spring was previously unpolluted spring water, and the water system in this area wouldn't be afraid of being studied.

But Mountain Forty-Nine can't be surveyed, because there's unpolluted water here. Deep surveying would damage the mountain body and affect water quality.

Therefore, the prerequisite for Xia Qing to build a water plant and earn points is that the hot spring water system on Mountain Fifty has no direct connection to the unpolluted spring water on Mountain Forty-Nine and Mountain Fifty-Five,

Not build a water plant? The spring water in the hidden valley is already known to all core members of the Territory Alliance; exposure is only a matter of time.

She's not only considering building a water plant, but also considering turning the hidden valley into a standardized greenhouse that isolates Qiang elements, to serve as the Ninth Center's breeding base and Territory Seven's research branch.

Once built, even if the valley is exposed, outsiders can only look on with envy, and won't dare or have reason to set their sights on this hot spring.

Before doing all this, Xia Qing has to figure out the hot spring water system on the third peak of Mountain Fifty with Broken-Waist Wolf and his son.

If the water system here is unrelated to the two unpolluted water sources, and it's not a destroyed unpolluted water source, then they can go ahead.

If the water system is related? Don't develop it, find another way.

If the water system is unrelated, and the hot spring isn't a destroyed unpolluted spring eye? Develop it directly.

If the water system is unrelated but the hot spring really was an unpolluted spring eye before? This probability is very small, but it exists.

That would really be……

Great! Because according to human research on unpolluted water sources, there can only be one spring eye within a dozen kilometers.

This is also why her idol, who knows Territory Three has an unpolluted spring eye, inferred that the Mountain Fifty spring eye isn't a destroyed unpolluted water source.

Conversely, if the hot spring water is 【an unpolluted water source】, then Mountain Forty-Nine is safe.

Although high-Yi element soil areas don't necessarily have unpolluted spring water, areas where unpolluted spring water flows out must have high-Yi element soil. So Xia Qing needs to study the water system, find the area where the hot spring water flows out of the mountain body, test the soil, and look for high-Yi element soil.

This workload is too huge; she needs the wolf pack's help.

After playing two videos about water system research, Xia Qing was dizzy but still had to pretend to be enthusiastic as she asked, "Let's research this together. What do you think, Handsome Wolf-Brother?"

Xia Qing also agrees with another point her idol made: humans who know Territory Three has an unpolluted water source and can also spare the energy to do water source research are practically zero.

But among those who know Territory Three has an unpolluted spring eye, besides five humans, there's also Sheep Boss, the freeloading red squirrel, and the northern wolf pack. Among these animals, the ones interested and capable of doing geological research with Xia Qing are two wolf candidates: Broken-Waist Wolf and Little Wolf-Brother.

Xia Qing plans to study hydrogeology with Broken-Waist Wolf and Little Wolf-Brother, and survey the underground water systems together, letting these two smart wolves share her workload.

A wolf living on land definitely won't be interested in things underground or in the water. If Xia Qing had started by telling Broken-Waist Wolf to learn hydrogeology, it probably wouldn't have been interested. So Xia Qing chose to first bring up earning points to pique this smart wolf's interest, then bring up the water system research.

She didn't expect that after talking so much, Broken-Waist Wolf was still not interested.

Xia Qing continued gesturing as she lobbied, "Broken-Waist, once we figure out the distribution of the underground water system, we can understand the direction of the underground rivers beneath Mountain Fifty-Five and Mountain Sixty, block the waterway the python uses to sneak-attack here, and improve the safety of the wolf pack's territory."

Broken-Waist Wolf tilted its head, thinking.