Chapter 1456: Ten Thousand Credits for Every Word of Nonsense

After hearing Xia Qing's reason, Zhang San kindly grabbed her a handful of puffed rice candy made in Territory Seven's kitchen.

"Thanks, Third Brother!"

While stuffing the candy into her pocket, Xia Qing said, "This candy is really good. Next time I'll bring you five jin of Green Light rice to trade for more. Today I brought a bag of freshly made Green Light pork and pumpkin frozen dumplings — I gave them to Daya. Try them tonight and see if they suit your taste."

Eating her idol's puffed rice candy naturally meant she had to send her idol supplies. This wasn't a question of whether her idol needed them, but a matter of principle.

Zhang San responded, then reminded the unreliable New Human across from him, "This candy is high in sugar and fat. It can easily lead to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and bad teeth. Keep it for yourself to eat — don't feed it to monkeys."

Xia Qing nodded happily, "Understood. Thanks, Third Brother."

Last time Zhang San told Xia Qing to brush the Broken-Waist Wolf's teeth, Xia Qing had already started preparing in advance. She sold Daigua a toothbrush and had it learn to brush its teeth; once it learned, it could brush the wolf's teeth.

Zhang San asked again, "The dumplings were made by Yang Jin?"

"Yes, his cooking skills have improved again." Ever since her idol complained about the poor hygiene conditions of her territory, the supplies Xia Qing sent to Territory Seven had changed from processed foods to raw ingredients.

If today's dumplings hadn't been made by Yang Jin, Xia Qing wouldn't have sent them over. Yang Jin's cooking skills were still presentable.

Zhang San stared at Xia Qing for a few seconds, then asked, "Have you two confirmed your relationship?"

"Not yet."

Since her idol had brought up the topic, Xia Qing took the chance to voice her confusion. "Third Brother, I'm quite satisfied with Yang Jin in every aspect, and I don't feel awkward being around him, but I don't have any desire to get close to him, and neither does he. Is my condition because my estrogen levels are too low?"

Xin Yu had been wholly focused on studying chemistry and the harmful-substance-removal production at the organic fertilizer plant, and the two of them hadn't spent time together for quite a while. So Xia Qing could only raise this doubt with her idol.

Her current mode of getting along with Yang Jin was completely different from when she and Hu Zifeng had pretended to be a couple.

With Yang Jin's active advances, the two of them were definitely more intimate than ordinary friends now, but still far from being a couple. It wasn't just her own state that was off — Yang Jin's was too.

This was a major life matter, so Zhang San gave Xia Qing a detailed analysis. "The basis of female libido is testosterone and sex hormones…"

Huh? Xia Qing blinked.

Seeing her expression, Zhang San knew what she was thinking. "Testosterone is a key hormone for maintaining libido, muscle strength, bone health, and energy levels. Although it's called an 'androgen,' it's not only secreted by males — the follicular theca cells of the female ovaries and the adrenal glands also secrete small amounts of testosterone. Hypothalamic amenorrhea has left your body extremely deficient in sex hormones, and the small amount of testosterone you do secrete is all being used to boost your muscle strength, so your body lacks the physiological factors to generate libido."

After analyzing the physiological factors, Zhang San turned to Xia Qing's psychological factors. "After inhaling the Yi-28 released by the Chinese toon trees this spring, what nightmare did you have?"

The Yi synthetic element released when the large Chinese toon tree on Gao Po in the northern buffer forest of Territory Three sprouted its buds had been officially named Yi-28 by Zhang San.

Yi-28 could stimulate adrenaline secretion in humans, as well as the secretion of sex hormones, insulin, and several other types of hormones. It had positive therapeutic effects on conditions like diabetes, infertility, and stunted growth.

Xia Qing had unexpectedly inhaled a sufficient amount of Yi-28, so by all rights she should have had a spring dream rather than a nightmare — which was why Zhang San was inquiring about her psychological state.

Xia Qing answered honestly, "I dreamed about getting close to Yang Jin."

Zhang San analyzed, "This shows that in your subconscious, you do want to have intimate contact with Yang Jin. Why did you categorize this dream as a nightmare? Did you suffer harm of this kind during the Calamity years and develop psychological trauma? Or did he attack you in the dream?"

Xia Qing answered frankly, "I was grabbed twice and cornered plenty of times, but I didn't suffer any actual harm. It's not really psychological trauma — I just feel disgusted when I think about it."

Calamity after calamity caused the collapse of social order. The law of the jungle, where the strong devoured the weak, replaced the survival rules of civilized human society, and incidents of rape and violence increased dramatically.

The most serious harm Xia Qing suffered of this kind was in the second year of the Calamity.

During that period, food and supplies at home were scarce. Her parents went out to search for food, leaving Xia Qing at home to guard the supplies.

One day, after Xia Qing's parents had left, an auditory Evolver living next door violently broke into Xia Qing's home, seized the food, tied Xia Qing up and threw her on the bed, intending to assault her.

Xia Qing was no match for him, so she pretended to be afraid and didn't resist. When he was taking off his last piece of clothing, she used the rope binding her hands to viciously strangle his neck and killed him. Then Xia Qing put on her clothes, found the perpetrator's house key, moved all her family's supplies over, and took over his house and supplies.

When her parents returned, they sent the mobility-impaired Xia Qing to the hospital for a checkup, which revealed three broken ribs. Fortunately, that auditory Evolver had hidden quite a lot of supplies — otherwise they couldn't even have afforded medicine.

After she recovered from her injuries, the family of three traded half their supplies for weapons and equipment, left that human gathering point of barely two hundred people, traversed the danger-filled Evolution Forest, and joined the Hui-3 Safe Zone that was under construction.

After that, Xia Qing became doubly careful, never letting herself get hurt. Because she didn't have enough supplies or credits to receive treatment at a hospital — minor injuries she toughed out on her own, and serious injuries meant waiting for death.

After explaining her situation, Xia Qing finally answered the question about the nightmare. "I dreamed Yang Jin asked me for credits before he'd get close to me."

"…In this respect, you're both equally hopeless. This isn't psychological trauma, so your condition should be caused by physiological reasons."

After his quip, Zhang San began analyzing Yang Jin's state. "Yang Jin definitely has feelings for you. He's a top-tier Evolver, so his hormone secretion is certainly fine. The reason he doesn't want to get close to you might be that you haven't shown any need in that area, so he's suppressing his own needs. Or it could be that he's suffered psychological trauma of this kind, so he's satisfied with the current mode of getting along."

After saying this, Zhang San turned and went into the inner laboratory, took out a bottle of pills and a sheet of medication instructions, and placed them in front of Xia Qing. "Start taking this medicine on December 23rd — one pill before bed every day. After two months, you should be pretty well regulated. As for what's going on with Yang Jin, figure that out yourself."

Her idol truly was the light of humanity standing at the top of the universe's pyramid — so busy with research, yet still finding time to compound the medicine she needed to take!

Unable to contain her admiration, Xia Qing gripped the pill bottle and had just opened her mouth when Zhang San extended a hand so thin only bones remained. "1.2 million credits. Ten thousand more for every word of nonsense."

Xia Qing immediately clamped her mouth shut, tucked the pill bottle and the printed sheet into her pocket, stood up, and took her leave. "Third Brother, I'm off?"