Chapter 1352: Forming a Team to Head to the Eastern Evolution Forest

For Zhang Shi, a recovery-type Evolver, this several-thousand-mu territory near the Evolution Forest—where everyone except Xia Qing was an animal—gave her a certain sense of security.

This was the only chance she had to re-enter human society without being drained of blood, and the only chance to be close to her daughter as she grew up. So she worked hard to adapt to the work environment, took on more tasks, and tried to be worthy of the all-green-light food benefits Xia Qing provided, and to live up to the trust Xia Qing had placed in her—trust that was extraordinarily rare during the Calamity.

"While Beard Feng and the others aren't in the territory, I'll handle the soil sampling and testing for the fields, alright?"

Xia Qing, short-handed as she was, certainly had no objection. "Then thanks for your hard work, Sister Shi. I'll bring you a pair of my protective boots, a protective suit, and a protective mask later. Wear them whenever you're outside the basement and lab. They're all second-hand, so let's say the whole set is 2,000 credits—deducted from your wages?"

Although Zhang Shi's base aura had been adjusted to match Xia Qing's, she was ten centimeters shorter than Xia Qing, so of course her shoes were smaller too.

Beard Feng and Peng Jian were both visual-type Evolvers and could tell shoes apart by their prints, so when moving around the territory Zhang Shi had to wear Xia Qing's shoes. For the protective suit and mask worn outside, using Xia Qing's was safer.

The fact that Xia Qing brought this up on her own made Zhang Shi feel a little more at ease. "Of course."

After Xia Qing brought over the shoes and a set of autumn-winter protective suit she often wore, she began her usual busy morning routine.

In the basement, Zhang Shi carefully inspected both rooms, confirmed there were no pinhole cameras and no air or water leaks, then opened the refrigerator's fresh compartment and saw eggs, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, sweet potatoes, and radishes inside. The first freezer drawer below held meat and bones, the bag labeled "Wild Boar Meat, Qiang Element Content 4.6‰"; the second freezer drawer held four grain bags containing rice, white flour, cornmeal, and mung beans; the third drawer held two frozen fish.

These green-light foods were enough for her and Ye Yiyi to last half a month.

Xia Qing had allowed her into the territory, given her the greatest possible trust and freedom, and provided the best food. Even though the magnetic field confirmed Xia Qing held no ill will toward her, Zhang Shi, beyond being moved, still instinctively felt anxious and uneasy—and a little excited.

She felt that her job as a dentist at Territory Three might be more complicated and dangerous than she had expected.

"Bang…"

The noise from outside reached the basement, and Zhang Shi's heart sank. She immediately pulled out her phone to check what was happening.

When she saw Xia Qing and Ram Boss fighting in East Zone 8, Zhang Shi's tension slowly eased.

She often monitored the walkie-talkie channel for Northern Zone One and knew that this evolved ram at Territory Three had a violent temper and often chased people and fought.

Zhang Shi had limited experience; in her understanding, a ram only had one move—ramming with its horns.

But this ram lord of Territory Three had already exceeded her expectations. It not only rammed, it kicked with its hooves, dodged attacks with practiced ease, and even used feints to confuse its opponent.

When Zhang Shi saw it charge at Xia Qing with its huge spiral horns, then suddenly stop, pivot on its two front legs, and lash out with its hind legs like a whip, kicking hard at Xia Qing's legs—

If that kick had landed, Xia Qing would definitely have broken a bone. Fortunately, Xia Qing had been prepared and leaped more than three meters into the air.

The ram missed its kick, yet quickly found Xia Qing's landing point and readied itself in advance to deliver another spiral-horn strike!

Only when she saw Xia Qing land steadily, grab the ram by its horns, and hurl it more than six meters away—crashing down a large patch of wild grass two to three meters tall—did Zhang Shi dare to exhale the breath she'd been holding.

No wonder that even after two years of Xia Qing living there, the abandoned village at Territory Three was still in a state of ruin. With fighting like this between the two of them, even the tidiest place would be smashed to pieces.

Didn't Xia Qing say she was going out on a mission? Wasn't she afraid of getting hurt in the fight or running out of strength afterward?

After brawling for over ten minutes and leaving the scene a complete mess, the woman and the ram lay on the ground, motionless.

Just as Zhang Shi was about to call Xia Qing to ask if she needed medical rescue, she saw Xia Qing get up, pat the dust off her protective suit, easily hoist the two- or three-hundred-jin ram onto her shoulder, and head toward home.

The ram on her shoulder held its head high, like a great general returning triumphant from battle…

Zhang Shi touched her own shoulder and decided she must show this hot-tempered ram lord sufficient respect and courtesy, and stay as far away from it as possible. Although Zhang Shi was a recovery-type Evolver and could heal quickly even if injured, over-consuming the Yi Element in her body would leave her weakened and lower her ability to withstand risk.

Zhang Shi returned to the living quarters, took a 3-gram Use Yishi from the protective case in her backpack and placed it in the refrigerator to keep the high-quality food from being eroded by Qiang Element, then began quietly packing her luggage and preparing breakfast.

With plenty of food today, she decided to make a vegetable and lean pork congee—very suitable for children.

After the lord of Territory Three, Xia Qing, carried her companion home and finished breakfast, she handed the dishwashing and cleaning to Does Daigua, left the territory in the care of Ram Boss and Wolf Lao Er, put on her special protective suit and gathered all her gear, sent a message to Zhang Shi and Beard Feng, and headed for Landing Pad Forty-Nine.

Today's mission for Xia Qing was to go to Mountain Area Fifteen of the Eastern Evolution Forest to pick mountain walnuts.

Team Leader: Lao Si

Vice Team Leader: Xia Qing

Team Members: Broken-Waist, Big Guy, Watching Huo Zhun, Wang Man, Beard Feng, Guan Tong.

Mission Harvest Distribution: Lao Si thirty percent, Xia Qing thirty percent, Huo Zhun's squad twenty percent, Broken-Waist's squad twenty percent.

This distribution ratio was only settled after several rounds of negotiation between Xia Qing, Huo Zhun, and the two wolves.

When negotiations began, Xia Qing, as mission organizer and team leader, should have received fifty percent of the harvest, but Lao Si disagreed. Lao Si argued it was most qualified to be team leader because it possessed stronger command ability and combat power than Xia Qing, and also had ties with the jackal pack there.

Xia Qing couldn't deny either point, so she had to let Lao Si be team leader. But she refused to give it fifty percent of the harvest, because it had no transport or harvesting equipment.

Broken-Waist Wolf wanted to take the vice team leader position, because it also believed its combat power was higher than Xia Qing's. Having already lost the team leader spot, Xia Qing certainly wouldn't yield, because whether Broken-Waist Wolf came or not wouldn't affect the overall situation, and Xia Qing was a strength-type Evolver who could pick and carry the mountain walnuts.

After analyzing the situation, Broken-Waist Wolf decided to bring Big Guy, because Big Guy's carrying capacity was no worse than Xia Qing's or Huo Zhun's, so it demanded its share be raised to twenty percent.

Huo Zhun's squad, which had proposed this mission invitation but ended up with only twenty percent? Huo Zhun thought it was perfectly reasonable and had no objections at all. Wang Man, who had defeated Wu Lianmin to win a spot on the team, cared even less.

Beard Feng's squad? They also had no objections whatsoever. Because Beard Feng and Guan Tong's job was to pilot and protect the helicopter—they wouldn't be going deep into the jackals' core territory—so the two of them faced the lowest risk on this trip and received fixed compensation: five jin of edible mountain walnuts each. They were already very, very satisfied with this pay.