Chapter 1614: Resonant Evolvers

"Okay, thank you, Third Brother!"

High-definition equipment not only costs more than twice as much as ordinary equipment, but is also easily damaged. When Xia Qing moved through the Evolution Forest, she frequently suffered various intentional or unintentional attacks and obstructions from the forest's creatures; tripping and bumping into things was commonplace, and her gear wore out fast.

So of course her first choice was sturdy, durable, cheap equipment — this actually had little to do with being stingy.

The recording was just to keep evidence, to have a shadow of what happened so people could understand what went on. But since her idol was willing to replace her gear for free, Xia Qing naturally wouldn't refuse and happily agreed.

Then she began pulling out of her backpack the gifts she had brought back for her idol while making this trip to deliver goods deep in the Evolution Forest:

a yellow sprig of grass that emitted a strong offensive magnetic field, two saplings of Evolution Black Persimmon trees, two live Yi Snakes…

As Xia Qing pulled out more and more samples, Zhang San's expression grew ever more benevolent. He stood up to take the sampling case holding the Yi Snakes and asked benevolently, "How did you catch these Yi Snakes this time?"

Her idol was happy, so Xia Qing relaxed too. "I had pretty good luck today. After washing the golden snub-nosed monkeys, I just cast a few nets casually at the spot where Xiong Wang soaks in the hot spring, and caught two."

Yi Snakes were food rich in Yi elements and high in nutritional value. Xia Qing had only managed to catch two, hadn't kept a single one for herself, yet had brought them over — this moved Zhang San deeply, and his expression softened even more. He first put the Yi Snakes away properly, then turned and pulled a dragon fruit from the refrigerator, handed it to the new human whose face was roughly the same color as the dragon fruit, and only then asked gently, "Was Xiong Wang eating Yi Snakes at the time?"

Xia Qing nodded. "I only went over to cast a few nets because I saw it had caught Yi Snakes."

"Your being able to net Yi Snakes isn't just luck. Xiong Wang knows Yi Snakes very well; the hot spring spot it chose is very likely the Yi Snakes' activity area." After guessing at the reason, Zhang San made another reasonable inference. "Xiong Wang being able to maintain its current combat power is probably related to its frequent consumption of Yi Snakes, a high-quality food. Its body, aided by the Yi Snakes, should have achieved a highly harmonious, sustainable super-evolutionary steady state, so it hasn't been brought down by the metabolic pressure, inflammation, or immune problems triggered by its giant-sized body."

Her idol was interested in discussing professional questions, so Xia Qing, a die-hard fan to the bone, naturally went along. She nodded with great seriousness, then worked hard to keep up with her idol's train of thought and discuss professional matters with him. "Does studying Xiong Wang's physical condition have value for your new drug research?"

After testing revealed that juvenile Yi Snakes had a high flavonol content and that its activity was activated by Yi-7, showing good anti-allergic effects, Zhang San's team began researching how to extract the active ingredients from juvenile Yi Snakes and develop a new drug that could reduce the intestinal and immune damage in humans caused by Qi elements.

Xia Qing followed this research very closely, because this new drug was a blessing for patients suffering from Qi element allergies — including her idol.

Xia Qing was as sharp as ever, and Zhang San's expression softened further. He gave a detailed introduction: "It has very high value. I want to test Xiong Wang's serum Yi element binding protein concentration, element-mitochondria coupling efficiency, neural Yi element oscillation frequency, serum sodium cromoglycate-like active substances, and indicators like Yi Snake-derived anti-tumor peptide antibodies or active substances in its body. Can you obtain a blood sample from Xiong Wang while ensuring your own safety? I want to use its blood sample for a lateral comparative analysis with brown bears from other regions."

Xia Qing, who was in the middle of biting into her dragon fruit, froze. That was a giant bear weighing over five thousand jin, standing over four meters tall on its hind legs, sitting at the top of the northern Evolution Forest's combat power pyramid! Idol, aren't you overestimating me just a little?

"Xiong Wang's trust in me isn't as high as the northern wolf pack's, so it won't let me draw its blood. I only have a chance to get a blood sample when Xiong Wang is injured and bleeding and lets me treat its wounds. Third Brother, would Xiong Wang's feces work?"

"…You brought bear feces back?" Zhang San raised a hand to press his forehead — he should have seen this coming long ago. This new human, who daily roamed the mountains with her wolf-dogs looking for honey badger droppings, would definitely bring bear feces back from deep in the Evolution Forest.

Xia Qing swallowed the last bite of dragon fruit. "Mm, bear feces is rich in basic nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. After fermentation it's a high-quality organic fertilizer that improves soil structure."

Xiong Wang was a giant bear — it could drop over a dozen jin of Green Lantern quality feces in one go! Seeing such a huge pile of premium fertilizer, a farmer naturally couldn't just stand by.

Zhang San cautioned the bizarre human across from him, who could still munch on dragon fruit with great relish while discussing feces: "After fermentation you must test the quality strictly, or it may cause the spread of pathogens and parasites."

Xia Qing nodded immediately. "Understood, don't worry. There won't be any problems on that front."

On this point, Zhang San was indeed very reassured, because the new human across from him had already reached the level of a professional researcher when it came to fertilizer. "Is what you brought back fresh, uncontaminated feces? If so, give me 300–500g."

Xia Qing nodded in agreement. "It's fresh, but I've already mixed in bacterial powder. Third Brother, I'll bring you a jin next time I go over."

Zhang San asked frostily, "You carry composting bacterial powder on you?"

Not long after the helicopter landed, this new human had already arrived at his territory, so Zhang San inferred she hadn't gone back to Territory Three to ferment the feces first before coming to him.

Xia Qing nodded. "Sister Tao said that using fresh feces mixed directly with bacterial powder for fermentation is the only correct path to making organic fertilizer efficiently, with good nutrient retention, and harmlessly."

Zhang San's voice grew colder. "That's what Zhang Tao said?"

It… is… right…? Being questioned by her idol like this, Xia Qing began to doubt herself and instinctively bared her teeth in a grin.

Zhang San raised a hand to press his forehead and corrected her frostily: "When making organic fertilizer from animal feces, compared to dry feces, using fresh or 'moist' feces mixed directly with bacterial powder for fermentation is the correct path to making organic fertilizer efficiently, with good nutrient retention, and harmlessly!"

Xia Qing stood up with a sheepish grin, nimbly collecting the dragon fruit peel. "Thir—"

Under the gaze of her idol, scalpel in hand, that clearly said "Try walking away and see what happens," Xia Qing very sensibly sat back down and explained earnestly, "Third Brother, the feces I collect in the Evolution Forest is always put separately in thickened packaging bags, not in my backpack."

Zhang San took a deep breath, not wanting to discuss the topic of feces with this new human any longer, and tossed her a name list. "This is the list of people entering Northern Zone One's territory for a visit and inspection on the 18th. You need to be especially careful of the twelve whose names are bolded, and especially the two in bold italics."

"Yes!" Xia Qing took the list with both hands — a table very much in her idol's style, clearly laying out photo, name, gender, age, position, and Evolution Ability at a glance — and her attention went first to the two in bold italics.

One look and Xia Qing was stunned. "Third Brother, what type is Resonant Evolution? Is it newly discovered?"