Chapter 151: Applying to Join a Mission

No one from Territory Seven responded.

Zhao Ze was dejected. "When's Third Brother coming back? Without him, I just don't feel at ease."

After the crisis of Qi Fu getting infected with the evolution bacteria, the nearby lords all shared Zhao Ze's thinking.

They wanted Zhang San to come back as soon as possible, to trade with him for life-saving medicine.

But to trade with him, they'd need green-light food that could interest him — he wouldn't look twice at yellow-light stuff.

The timing was perfect. Xia Qing immediately pressed the button and asked Beard Feng, "Captain Hu, are there any Evolution Forest clearing missions these next few days? I'd like to apply to join one."

Xia Qing spoke up at this moment actually to find Shi Du and ask about the greenhouse rain protection.

If she asked, Beard Feng would surely say yes. If Beard Feng said yes, Shi Du would most likely apply to join. Once they met face to face, it'd be easy for Xia Qing to ask whatever she wanted.

The timing Xia Qing picked would only make others think she wanted to risk the Evolution Forest for green-light food, to trade with Zhang San for special-effect medicine.

Letting other lords think she often took missions to earn points would also let Xia Qing explain why she had points to trade for supplies and hire people from Territory One to guard Territory Three.

Before Beard Feng could answer, Tang Huai jumped in and answered for him. "You want to go — even if there's no mission, he'd have to make one up, right, Madman?"

Everyone…

Only after shouting did Tang Huai remember this was his old man's walkie-talkie. He hunched his neck and quickly explained, "Dad, didn't you say we have to show we don't get along with the Green Dragon Squad? That's exactly why I was going against Beard Feng."

Tang Zhengpo nodded. "Good work."

"Yes, sir." Having escaped disaster, Tang Huai raised his chin and gave his brother a smug look.

Pretending to be pursuing Xia Qing, Beard Feng stroked the cat with one hand and pressed the button with the other, very politely discussing with Xia Qing: "The roads are slippery after the rain these past two days. We're only going to clear Mountain Forty-Nine the day after tomorrow. But this mission has a high danger rating — how about waiting until after this one's done, I'll take a low-danger one and we can go together?"

Beard Feng, you simp!

Tang Huai muttered quietly to his brother, "Xia Qing's definitely going. That woman never listens to anyone's advice."

"I'll join the day-after-tomorrow mission. I'll be responsible for my own safety. Thank you, Captain Hu." Xia Qing replied.

Shi Du from Territory Ten also pressed the button. "Captain Hu, may I apply to join? I'll also be responsible for my own safety. If there's an emergency, Captain Hu and the other team members don't need to protect me."

"Sure." Beard Feng agreed readily.

Xia Qing and Shi Du going to risk the Evolution Forest at this time must be to get some good green-light stuff, to trade with Zhang San for supplies. The other lords wanted to go too, but they were all ordinary people — they didn't qualify.

Yuan Yan discussed with her husband, "Once we have protective masks, I want to go check around Mountain Fifty next door. I've gotten stronger these past six months. I might've already reached Level Two strength evolution."

Before the catastrophe, Yuan Yan had hauled and loaded cargo with her husband — she was pretty strong. After the catastrophe, she went to the safe-zone evolution ability assessment center. Her strength had evolved by 1.8 times — not enough to reach Level Two strength evolution — so she only got the ordinary person's yellow card.

Qi Fu's situation was similar to his wife's — his strength had evolved by 1.9 times.

Qi Fu knew why his wife wanted to go. Because of his injury this time, he'd drained the family's already thin savings.

But he didn't agree to his wife taking the risk. "Don't talk about Level Two — even if you were Level Three strength evolution, you can't go risk it. It took everything I had to come back alive with one life. Let's honestly farm our territory. The food we grow is enough to eat."

Yuan Yan still wanted to go. On the road back to the territory in Xia Qing's arms, she'd already made up her mind. "Xia Qing, all on her own, can hold down a territory bigger than ours, farm the fields well, and still go to the Evolution Forest to earn points. Everything she has today, she fought for with her life. Even if my strength evolution level isn't as good as hers, I still want to step out and try."

Although his wife usually listened to him, once she'd made up her mind, not even a high-level evolved ox could drag her back.

Qi Fu stopped trying to persuade her and discussed with her. "We have to wait until my injury's healed, and until we've traded with Territory One and Territory Seven for all the Evolution Forest gear. Without enough gear, going in is suicide. How about this? We harvest in October, trade then, and explore the Evolution Forest in winter."

While the husband and wife of Territory Five were discussing their next plans, the lord channel had already started discussing the potato matter.

Zhao Ze said, "I only have eight potato plants. The small ones I'll send back to the safe-zone storage warehouse. The rest I'll eat myself — they'll be gone in a few days."

"Same plan here." Kuang Qingwei answered. "I think the broadcast saying our territories can't store potatoes is just trying to scare us into selling them all or storing them at the safe zone. I'm planning to keep a few, save them till next year to see. Brother Qi, Brother Shi, Xia Qing — what about you?"

Qin Ziping answered, "Same as you. That's my plan too."

"Me too. The potatoes sent back should be the small ones, with lots of eyes." Qi Fu answered. Xia Qing also gave an assent.

Since there were preferential policies for lords, of course she couldn't waste them.

Xia Qing planned to pick out ten jin of small potatoes to send back to the safe-zone storage, keep the rest, and first follow what the farming knowledge broadcast said — dry the potatoes and seal them for storage. Once her food storage place was ready, she'd unseal them and put them in.

But the troublesome thing now was, from these farming broadcasts, Xia Qing had found that different foods needed different temperatures and humidity for storage. Broadly, they fell into two categories:

Staple seed-type foods — like mung beans, wheat, corn, and rice — required fifteen to twenty degrees, humidity below sixty-five percent. Root-type foods — like potatoes and sweet potatoes — required temperatures between two and eight degrees, with humidity actually needing to be between eighty and ninety percent.

In other words, these two types of food couldn't be stored in the same place.

Xia Qing put down her pen, did strength training while considering the food storage problem. After training, she listed all the questions she needed to figure out on paper, then went out to patrol the territory before going home to sleep.

The next morning, Xia Qing was woken early again by the chickens and wolves. After quickly dealing with the green-light food the wolf had brought, Xia Qing started digging a cellar.

The house she lived in was three to four meters higher than the farmland, and the farmland was one to three meters above the river's water level. By rights, digging a cellar three to four meters deep shouldn't hit water.

Xia Qing planned to dig two cellars — one at home for storing grain, and one in the abandoned village where Luo Pei was recovering, for storing sweet potatoes and potatoes. The place where Luo Pei was recovering had two basement levels dug out, definitely over five meters deep combined. Luo Pei had lived in the basement for several months without issue, so Xia Qing planned to dig nearby.

What if, after digging, the temperature and humidity still didn't meet the standard?

If they didn't meet standard, she'd find another way. Xia Qing was never the stubborn type to hang herself on one tree. If the cave wasn't reliable, she'd try digging a cellar. If the cellar wasn't reliable, she'd try something else.

Before that, she had to preserve the food properly. Xia Qing unhesitatingly split a piece of Use Yishi into three small pieces — two wrapped in Use Yishi protective shells, one hung in the storage room — then put the potatoes, mung beans, wheat, and other food into the storage room, first cutting off the influence of the Shang element.

After breaking open the Use Yishi, Xia Qing tested it and found this stone really was amazing. Centered on this piece of Use Yishi, within a 2.5-meter radius, the proportion of Yi element rose threefold, and the Shang element content dropped to a negligible level.

Staying inside this sphere, Xia Qing's breathing was smoother than outside it. No wonder Tang Lu and the Fire Phoenix wore Yi Stones even when it wasn't raining Shang rain.

Xia Qing never shortchanged herself. Since it felt comfortable, she cut another of the two planted small Use Yishi pieces in half, hanging one around her own neck and one around Sheep Boss's neck. She just hadn't had time these past two days, busy digging the cellar, to polish the pearls and make Sheep Boss a pearl necklace.

Over the next two days, every morning after being woken by the wolf, Xia Qing dealt with the food she'd gotten for free, finished the territory's daily work, then dug the cellar at home.

On the day of the mission, the lead wolf brought four black-maned geese again — still freshly dead, still followed by the dejected weasel in charge of plucking.

"Thank you, Queen, Your Majesty. You've worked hard, Queen."

Xia Qing had already given up trying to communicate with the lead wolf about having it bring live green-light animals over. She carried the geese back to the house to process them, then sent Ji Li a message.

Today Xia Qing was going to clear the Evolution Forest and had no time to process food. Although her idol Zhang San hadn't come back yet, Xia Qing still wanted to try using this goose to trade medicine with Territory Seven.

If Territory Seven didn't respond, she'd hand this green-light goose back to Beard Feng. He'd definitely take it — he was raising a cat now.

Ji Li replied quickly. "In ten minutes, I'll send someone to the north quarantine belt of Territory Three to pick it up. The code is two-five-eight, three-seven-six. We'll discuss the trade goods with you after our lord gets back."

Looks like Ji Li wasn't in the territory either.

Xia Qing immediately sealed the unplucked green-light goose whole, stuffed it into her backpack, said goodbye to Sheep Boss who was still sleeping, went out the door, and told the lead wolf who was watching the weasel pluck feathers: "Queen, I'm going to patrol the territory. I'm leaving the house and Sheep Boss in your care."

The lead wolf lying on the ground gave Xia Qing a lazy glance, then turned back to the weasel. Apart from the injured brain-evolution wolf, the other wolves were also staring at the weasel and the prey.

The weasel was so scared it trembled all over, and sped up its plucking.