Chapter 1414: I'm Flying Out of Here on a Plane

While the allies were frantically spamming the group chat with group photos, Luo Pei and Xia Qing were already sitting in Zhang San's office, discussing the plan of action that came next.

Zhang San laid out his own plan first. "Ten days from now, Zhang Song will represent me at Red One to attend the year-end reports of the domestic P3 laboratories. In the report, we will officially announce to the outside world that my team is using a natural plant rich in Yi-12 to develop a new drug. From this point on, the outside world will speculate that my repeated Yicici Sect helicopter trips out were for collecting new drug samples, and pushing Xia Qing's territory into the spotlight is also to divert outside attention."

"If the plan goes smoothly, experts from the various bases will come to my place to 'vacation' around the Spring Festival, and of course will also 'casually' wander around this territory and Mountain Fifty, to defuse the outside world's excessive focus on Territory Three."

After laying out his plan, Zhang San made arrangements for the near term. "Over the next ten days, Luo Pei will come over three times under the pretext of easing relations between me and Xia Qing and the Green Dragon Squad, to do physical examinations."

Luo Pei agreed. "So, the part of your plan that causes your conflict with Xia Qing to escalate is Xia Qing's dissatisfaction with the cooperative relationship between the two sides after her strength improved, and the funding poured into new drug R&D? Those are two pretty good points, especially the latter."

Seeing Zhang San nod, Luo Pei asked again, "Third Brother, has the project application for the new drug R&D been submitted? Is the funding enough? If not, the Green Dragon Squad can make up the shortfall for you, and guarantee no interference with your research."

The Green Dragon Squad was the cooperative partner second only to Xia Qing, so Zhang San didn't shut the door completely. "Not submitted yet, but I've already tipped off Hui Three and Red Eleven; they can provide some support. The remaining funds will be raised by Xia Qing, so for now there's no need for you to allocate anything."

Hearing her idol's words, Xia Qing, who had been drinking fresh-squeezed juice, immediately straightened her back.

Luo Pei glanced at his own disciple and said with a smile, "You really have a great eye for picking cooperative partners. Although Xia Qing can be as stingy as she possibly can when it comes to herself, she has never been sloppy on big matters."

Tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of R&D funds thrown in could very well go down the drain. As an extremely stingy cooperative partner, Xia Qing naturally hoped Zhang San would engage in drug improvement research with a higher success rate, so it was entirely reasonable that she would be dissatisfied with Zhang San over this.

The unreasonable part was: Xia Qing had not a single objection to Zhang San pouring huge sums into new drug R&D.

Finding such a high-quality cooperative partner was Zhang San's good fortune.

Zhang San gave a cold snort. "Because the big matters in her head aren't the same as the big matters in a normal person's head."

Xia Qing was silently speechless. In front of my master, Idol, could you leave me at least a little face…

Luo Pei laughed out loud, turned his head, and said to Xia Qing, "Xia Qing, to cover for the spring water in your territory, Third Brother has spent a lot of energy, and the Green Dragon Squad is pushing forward in tandem. If in the end we still can't keep it hidden…"

Xia Qing set down her juice and picked up the thread. "If in the end we still can't keep it hidden, then it's time to announce it publicly. When that time comes, I can supply some of the spring water externally, for Hui Three's safe-zone hospital to treat the sick. Internally, I can meet the spring water needs of Third Brother's place and the Territory Alliance for cultivating high-quality crops. But the total supply can't exceed half of the spring water volume; that's my bottom line. Because taking more spring water will lower the quality of the river water flowing through this territory, and reduce crop yields."

Zhang San asked, "What if the base side isn't satisfied with your bottom line?"

Xia Qing was brimming with confidence. "Because the distribution of resources is decided by strength, which interest group in Hui Three is stronger than ours?"

Zhang San stared at Xia Qing, clearly unsatisfied with her answer.

Xia Qing met her idol's gaze squarely and answered without hesitation, "If the other side isn't satisfied and can still crush me in strength, then I'll blow up the spring head, carry you on my back, and leave here for somewhere else."

Luo Pei…

Zhang San snorted. "I'm flying out of here on a plane."

Luo Pei…

"No problem!" Xia Qing stood up, refilled a glass of fresh-squeezed juice for her idol, Brother Luo, and herself, and asked, "Third Brother, should I bring all the Qianwu Grass from my side over to you, so you can process it into medicine in advance?"

When outside "experts" gathered in this territory, it was precisely the dry season for the pollution-free spring water in Territory Three. To prevent anyone from using some kind of high-tech or special means to detect the existence of Qianwu Grass and thereby confirm whether Territory Three had pollution-free spring water, Xia Qing needed to clear out the Qianwu Grass in advance.

Zhang San asked, "How many plants do you still have on your side, and how many leaves in total?"

Xia Qing answered clearly, "Two mother plants, one still has 4 leaves, one still has 5; the three small plants propagated by division this year are still intact, with leaves between 4 and 7, all very small leaves."

To detoxify Luo Pei, Yang Jin had ventured deep into the snowy mountains of the evolution forest at Bai Qi's base and dug up three Qianwu Grass plants. He gave one to Zhang San for medicine, and planted two by the spring head in Xia Qing's territory, agreeing that once they were successfully grown, the profits would be split fifty-fifty between the two.

This kind of precious, scarce medicinal herb that could only grow beside pollution-free spring water could produce at most 20 leaves per plant.

Over the past year or more, to save the northern wolf pack's alpha wolf, Greedy Bear, Little Flat Top, Lu Fangchun, Wang Bo, and a "Bai Chi" that Zhang San had mentioned, 25 leaves had been cut off in succession. In the past few days, to detoxify Luo Pei, another 6 leaves had been cut off, so the two mother plants together still had 9 leaves left.

If this were Qianwu Grass grown at Red One or Bai Qi's base, with only four or five leaves left, Zhang San would just harvest it and make medicine without the slightest heartache. Because Qianwu Grass elsewhere hadn't shown division propagation, Xia Qing's two Qianwu Grass plants were remarkably capable of division propagation, so harvesting the entire plants for medicine now would really be too much of a waste.

Now it wasn't just the mother plants being harvested, but the three tiny side shoots that had already successfully taken root from division had to be harvested as well, which made Zhang San even more heartache.

Between spring head safety and high-value herbs, Xia Qing knew how to choose, and Zhang San certainly wouldn't make a mistake. "Bring them all over. The Qianwu Grass seeds planted in the soil should also be sent to my side. Seal the seeds away first, and replant them after safety is confirmed."

The lab couldn't grow Qianwu Grass, but it could preserve the viability of the seeds.

Xia Qing nodded and asked about the matter she cared most about today. "Third Brother, can Brother Luo finish using up all this Qianwu Grass?"

Zhang San shot Xia Qing a look. "What do you want to use it on?"

Seeing Zhang San's mood sour again, Luo Pei's heart immediately leapt into his throat.

Xia Qing, however, broke into a smile. "Fourth is about to start treatment. If there's any left over, could you spare some for it?"

Although he had guessed this new human's train of thought, Zhang San still felt extremely annoyed and gave a cold snort. "This herb isn't mine anyway, how it's used is none of my damn business!"

Xia Qing's smile grew even brighter. "Thank you so much, Third Brother."

Seeing the way Xia Qing and Zhang San interacted, Luo Pei was completely reassured.

After Xia Qing left Territory Seven with an expressionless face, Luo Pei stayed in the territory and underwent a number of physical examinations before leaving with a composed look.

From the two's expressions and movements, the spy Xiao Peng inside Territory Seven couldn't get any valuable information at all, but the more normal these two looked, the more abnormal Xiao Peng felt it was.

The message Xiao Peng sent out was relayed all the way into the hands of Qu Fangzhou, vice-captain of Blaze, and was clearly displayed on the PPT of Blaze's high-level video conference.