Chapter 1368: Red Eleven's Compensation Supplies

Hearing the headline and seeing the bizarre photo beneath it of herself standing in front of a pile of potatoes with a sniper rifle on her back, Xia Qing only wanted to smash every steel pipe she was carrying into Tang Huai, leaving him flat on the ground with not a single side left, "Get to work, or I'll dock your points."

"Yes, right away, immediately!" Sensing the killing intent, Tang Huai's survival instinct kicked in hard as he hoisted a large bundle of elastic sealing rubber pads and went to assist Qi Fu.

"Let me see." Hearing Zhu Li, carrying steel materials, sidled up to Tang Huai for a look, very disappointed, "This back shot does look pretty imposing, but why didn't they pick a front-facing photo?"

Tang Huai walked forward while lowering his voice to share his insights with his melon-eating buddy, "You don't get it! A double life — Death God on the front, pastoral poet on the back. Only this back shot has enough presence, which is why I said that reporter has skill."

Xia Qing handed the steel pipes to Yu Shou, then nimbly climbed up the scaffolding, picked up the impact drill to bore holes in the stone wall, then swiftly cleaned out the cavities and inserted expansion screws, pressing the elastic rubber seals down with steel plates and tightening the nuts. This sealing work required both strength and skill; if installed poorly, allowing air to seep through the gaps between the steel and the stone wall into the valley, even the most powerful air filtration system couldn't filter the valley's miasma elements clean.

Tang Huai, Hearing Zhu Li, and Shi Du, who were assisting, kept working while discussing that double-life report, which kept drilling into Xia Qing's ears.

Actually, that reporter had taken her front-facing photo, but when the reporter left Center Nine for inspection, Yan Yue confiscated the photo on the grounds that the pictures she took didn't comply with Center Nine's photography regulations.

How could there be such a regulation? Well, of course it was Xia Qing, the director of Center Nine, who had established it.

Ever since learning that modern cosmetic surgery technology was far more advanced than before the Catastrophe, and that a person's base scent could even be adjusted through surgery, Xia Qing had decided to avoid showing her face publicly as much as possible, to avoid attracting unnecessary trouble. She didn't want some day for someone with the same scent and appearance as her to suddenly pop up.

Yan Yue thought the photo was well taken, so she sent it to Xia Qing; it was currently lying in Xia Qing's phone album.

With the full assistance of fifty employees from Center Nine's Construction Department, the renovation of the hidden valley was completed by three in the afternoon. An hour after the installed air filtration system was activated, the atmospheric miasma element content inside the hidden valley dropped from 14‰ to 8‰, and the number was still falling bit by bit, sending the lords into a frenzy.

Everyone rushed back to their territories, moving the chickens, rabbits, mealworms, spring-water fish, and other live animals they raised into the valley, isolating them from the harm that the super-high atmospheric miasma element concentration during the miasma snow period would cause to poultry.

Xia Qing didn't move the poultry and livestock from her territory over. It wasn't that she didn't want to save some Yi Stones, but because the live animals on her territory were all raised with pollution-free spring water, their quality was absurdly good, and moving them in would easily give her away.

To be safe, Xia Qing decided that next year's hatched chicks would be split into two groups for rearing: one group would maintain the current feeding standards and quality, for Territory Three and the idol to eat; the other group would be raised at reduced standards, for external trade.

With the hidden valley renovation complete and sufficient guards left behind, all preparations before the miasma snow were finished. Xia Qing drove back to her territory from the south gate, and after passing through the wild-grass wall, she spotted Wolf Lao Da and Wolf Lao Er waiting for her by the wall. The chimney of the small kitchen by the distant farmland was slowly sending up wisps of cooking smoke.

No need to ask — it had to be her "boyfriend" Yang Jin who had come back. Hadn't he been complaining nonstop that the negotiations gave him a headache? Now that he was back, how did he still have the mind to cook dinner?

Xia Qing took her two companions and drove to the meeting room first.

Yang Jin, wearing an apron and holding a spatula, pushed open the small kitchen window, ignored the evolved sheep and wolves squinting and baring their teeth at him in provocation, and greeted Xia Qing with a smile, "The valley at Mountain Fifty is renovated? Go home, change your clothes, then bring two bowls and a few kinds of vegetables over. We're having hotpot tonight."

Xia Qing sniffed the dominearing aroma of the hotpot base, looked at Yang Jin whose smile was warmer and more dazzling than the sunset in the west, and for a moment didn't know what to say. So she nodded, and took her two companions home to get bowls.

After taking a combat shower and before going to get bowls, Xia Qing first went to the underground grain storage room to grab a small bag of Green Lantern Mountain walnuts, then washed and cut some vegetables suitable for hotpot, sent a message to Zhang Shi, and only then hurried to the meeting room by the farmland.

Without Xia Qing needing to ask, Yang Jin took the initiative to explain, "Red Eleven Base compensated you with 200 bags of Green Lantern hotpot base and 300 jin of Green Lantern beef. I cooked one bag of beef tallow spicy flavor, and rolled some mung bean noodles for the staple."

For Xia Qing, who wasn't skilled at stir-frying, hotpot base was a "savior"-level existence; 300 jin of Green Lantern beef was even harder currency! Xia Qing's expression visibly softened, "Thanks for your hard work, Captain Yang."

"No hard work, Sister Qing paid the hardship fee. Besides the meat and seasoning, there are also 10 mid-grade Yi Stones, 100 jin of Green Lantern HY-4 red bean seeds, and the rest are vegetable seeds — 500 seeds each of water spinach, amaranth, Napa cabbage, and crown daisy. These are all newly bred high-quality crop varieties from Red Eleven. Apart from the red beans, the aggressive miasma evolution rate of the other varieties is so low it can be ignored. If Third Brother weren't continuing to cooperate with Red Eleven, the compensation supplies we got wouldn't be just this much. I kept 10%, brought the rest over."

Yang Jin pointed at the three large boxes beside him and asked with a smile, "Shall I cut some beef so we can celebrate?"

Hearing that Yang Jin had actually gotten his hands on Red Eleven's new red bean variety, Xia Qing's mood improved even further, "Cut three jin!"

"Okay!" Although he had long predicted that Xia Qing would like the supplies he'd negotiated for, seeing her so happy made Yang Jin sunny and brilliant too. He began talking nonstop, telling Xia Qing about the situation over at Red Eleven, "To preserve the cooperative relationship with Third Brother, Red Eleven showed enough sincerity. The deputy base director will be transferred at the end of this year, moved to a nominal position at Red Eleven's office in Red One..."

Xia Qing fished a spoonful of beef slices from the pot, "Red Eleven's base director and research institute director are old acquaintances with Third Brother. If they handle things well, Third Brother won't end the cooperation with them."

Yang Jin added some vinegar to the dipping sauce, then added more beef slices and sweet potato slices to the pot, "From a management and geographical standpoint, Red Eleven and Hui Three are both Third Brother's best cooperative partners. Red Eleven's base director shares similar political views with our base director — both belong to the moderate faction. Red Eleven's research institute director firmly opposes illegal human experimentation."

Zhang San's die-hard, deep-pit fan Xia Qing was overjoyed, "Third Brother moving the research institute here was a choice made after careful consideration."

So the geographical factor was something Third Brother actively sought out!

Yang Jin ate a bite of the sour and spicy beef slices and asked, "Third Brother had you ask Red Eleven for 10 Yi Stones to substantiate the breeding research you're doing in your territory?"

Xia Qing nodded. There was no need to hide the idol's plan from Yang Jin, because the plan still required his cooperation.