Chapter 14: Xia Qing Gets Hurt

When it came to fighting, the evolved sheep really didn't have the brains Xia Qing did, but it had super stamina and tremendous strength.

When the evolved sheep stood up and charged for the thirty-fifth time, Xia Qing, whose arms ached, climbed onto a big rock and conceded, "You're tough, you're the boss. Let's not fight anymore, I've still got real work to do."

The evolved sheep stopped, stared at Xia Qing for a while, then flopped to the ground with a thud, mouth open, panting hard.

So it was tired too. Xia Qing collapsed onto the rock and laughed.

After catching her breath, Xia Qing hopped off the rock, took out her water bottle and gulped down a few mouthfuls, then asked the evolved sheep still lying by the rock, "Boss Sheep, want some water?"

The evolved sheep — now properly called Boss Sheep — squinted at Xia Qing. It was clearly just a sheep, yet it looked as haughty as if it ruled the world.

Xia Qing didn't bother arguing with it. She poured water into its bowl and stepped back two paces.

Boss Sheep got up, drank half a bowl of water, then turned to look at the toon tree branches that had been stomped to mush, its gaze very unfriendly.

This was... hungry?

Xia Qing put on her protective mask. "You rest first, I'll go get some more toon sprouts."

Xia Qing grabbed her machete and back basket and had only walked a few steps when she heard movement behind her. She turned and saw Boss Sheep had caught up. "You're coming too?"

"Baa."

Considering it sounded like a normal sheep, Xia Qing agreed, and pulled out a collar. "Fine, put this on?"

Seeing Boss Sheep start pawing the ground again, Xia Qing sensibly put the collar away. "Fine, don't wear it. If Captain Tan and the others catch you and eat you, don't blame me for not warning you."

After the fight, Xia Qing felt a bond forged through battle with Boss Sheep, and Boss Sheep's anger and wariness toward her seemed to have lessened. One person and one sheep, one in front of the other, passed through the buffer forest and the isolation belt, and entered the evolved forest.

After entering the evolved forest, Xia Qing slowed her pace, and Boss Sheep passed her.

Seeing how familiar it was with the way, Xia Qing simply followed behind it. Before long, Boss Sheep actually led her onto a game trail.

Xia Qing laughed. "Judging by the width of this trail and the hoofprints, you made it? How did you avoid the venomous snakes and poisonous insects?"

Boss Sheep of course didn't answer. After walking ahead for a stretch, it stopped to eat a kind of large-leaf grass purple as sin.

This stuff wasn't poisonous?

Xia Qing pinched off a leaf, squeezed out the purple-red juice, and tested it with her advanced detector. It actually showed up as a safe food, only one-thousandth lower in quality than toon sprouts.

If not for Boss Sheep eating it, Xia Qing would never have tested this grass that looked so abnormal.

As for now, she had another vegetable. Thanks, boss!

Boss Sheep ate grass, Xia Qing cut grass. When Boss Sheep stopped eating, the pair climbed up the slope together, and Boss Sheep raised its head and stared at the toon tree without moving.

"Alright, I'll go pick them. You wait here."

Yesterday Xia Qing had already broken off all the sprouts within arm's reach on the tree. Today she had a different plan.

Xia Qing cut a bamboo pole over four meters long, cleaned it up, tied the sickle sharpened to a shine from her back basket to the pole, and used the sickle to slice down toon sprouts.

"Baa."

Seeing the toon sprouts fall in clusters, Boss Sheep called out happily and lowered its head to start eating.

Xia Qing sliced down all the toon sprouts she could reach. After feeding Boss Sheep its fill, there was still a whole big bag left over.

Xia Qing didn't want to run into the soldiers clearing the forest here. "Boss Sheep, shall we head back?"

Boss Sheep lay on the ground without moving, showing no intention of leaving.

Xia Qing was quick and decisive. She took out a cluster of toon sprouts and waved them in front of Boss Sheep's nose, then shouldered today's harvest and headed down the mountain.

Before long, she heard the thump-thump-thump of footsteps behind her. Xia Qing curled up the corner of her mouth and smiled soundlessly.

On the way back, Xia Qing took Boss Sheep's game trail, didn't encounter any dangerous creatures, and quickly passed through the isolation belt back to her territory.

Boss Sheep went to drink from the spring. Xia Qing put out some toon sprouts and half a basket of purple-leaf grass for it, and began clearing up the trees broken by their fight.

Although this large stretch of forest was ruined, after three days of rain it would surely be lush and green again.

Xia Qing tied the cut logs with rope, carried them home, and stored them in the rack-loft storeroom of the east courtyard. Then she began collecting dry wood from the village.

Rain was coming soon, she needed to prepare more firewood.

Cooking with firewood was never as convenient as using electricity or gas. The safe zone didn't sell solar panels to individuals. Xia Qing was mulling over what supplies she could use as bargaining chips to trade Tan Junjie for two solar panels. It wasn't just for cooking — her phone couldn't keep relying on power banks traded for supplies either, it wasn't cost-effective.

Rain was coming the day after tomorrow, and Xia Qing had been so busy these past two days her feet barely touched the ground. She wanted to gather up everything usable from the three abandoned villages and store it properly, to keep these supplies from being damaged by the evolved creatures that would run rampant after the rain.

Gathering supplies was, of course, dangerous.

When Zhong Tao came to deliver her land use rights certificate, he got quite a shock at her appearance. "Sis, what happened to you?"

Her protective mask cracked, half her face swollen, covered in dirt, Xia Qing gave a brief explanation. "Ran into a nest of evolved venomous scorpions."

Evolved venomous scorpions were no easy opponents — handling them carelessly could cost you your life. Zhong Tao looked at Xia Qing and felt a chill of dread afterward. This territory really wasn't something just anyone could farm. "I've got antidote on the truck, want me to get you some? The forecast says rain starts tomorrow. We won't be coming out until after the rain stops, and even then we won't be able to move."

Xia Qing, who had already taken antidote, first handed over the leather pouch. "Tao-ge, calculate how many points these scorpions are worth."

Looking at the squirming tight-mouthed canvas bag, Zhong Tao's scalp went numb. "They're all alive?"

"Alive. Seventeen over ten centimeters, thirty-six between five and ten centimeters. Didn't count the ones under five centimeters carefully, but definitely no less than a hundred."

Holy crap!

Zhong Tao swallowed. Catching this many live scorpions — no wonder Xia Qing had been stung into this state. "Based on our base's public exchange price for venomous scorpions, that's 820 points total."

Venomous scorpions could be used to make antidote, so the price was a bit higher than other common poisonous insects. Xia Qing knew Zhong Tao hadn't shortchanged her. "I'll trade for one bottle of antidote, one bottle of insect-repelling pills, one protective mask. Trade the remaining points for rainproof cloth, for covering the roof."

Zhong Tao laughed. "Trading for all that? No wonder you can't save up points."

She had no family to look after — what was the point of saving points? Xia Qing smiled and said nothing.

Zhong Tao thought of this too, scratched his head, and turned to get the supplies.

After seeing Zhong Tao off, Xia Qing went home and took a shower first, then stood in front of the bathroom mirror, of which only half remained, and applied medicine to the wounds on her face.

After washing off the dark red paint on her face, the red, swollen scratches on her fair skin looked especially stark.

The injuries on her face weren't from scorpion stings — they were from rebar on a floor slab that suddenly crashed down while she was catching the scorpions. Luckily she was strong and dodged fast, otherwise she'd still be pinned under that slab right now.

Besides her face, Xia Qing also had quite a few impact injuries on her body, but no broken bones. Her protective suit had shielded her skin from breaking, so there was no need to treat them.

Bleeding, scarring, disfigurement — those were small matters. What mattered was that the wounds couldn't get infected. After bacteria and viruses evolved, even a tiny wound could take a person's life.