Chapter 1638: The Giant Bear's Cameo

Xia Qing didn't ask what raptor had tried to grab the golden snub-nosed monkey, because the western side of Basin 67 was raptor territory, and a monkey hanging out in plain sight on one of the basin's big trees would be strange only if it didn't attract a raptor's attention. She only asked, "You didn't clash with the raptors, did you?"

"No, this monkey's got a strong fate. When the raptor swooped in, it dropped into the canopy. Just as the raptor was about to dive after it, a giant bear charged over and scared the raptor off. We only rappied down to retrieve the monkey after the bear left."

Hearing that a giant bear had even put in a cameo appearance, Xia Qing understood she was going to lose at least a bag of vegetables. She continued asking, "As long as there was no clash, is the golden snub-nosed monkey still alive?"

The leader of the helicopter patrol team replied, "Alive, but in pretty bad shape, urgently needs treatment. Sister Qing, should we bring the monkey to you now?"

Xia Qing responded, "Good. I'm at Mountain 50 right now and can't make it back in time. Take the monkey to Peak One of Mountain 49 and hand it over to Beard Feng. Keep it as quiet as possible, don't let anyone notice."

"Understood."

A group of ill-intentioned experts lived within the Northern Zone One territory. If they spotted the golden snub-nosed monkey, people from Hui Seven Research Institute would come running over to claim it in no time. Two days ago, Hui Seven had issued a notice saying their Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Research Center had been robbed, with three evolved golden snub-nosed monkeys stolen.

Robbed, my ass. These bastards have no shame when it comes to shirking responsibility!

After arranging the matter of the golden snub-nosed monkey, Xia Qing sent a message to the Broken-Waist Wolf telling it it could pull back, then drove back to haul sunflowers.

Soon, Yin Jie, the agent of Territory One, received a call from Hui Three Military Command. One of the military's helicopters patrolling the Northern Evolution Forest had malfunctioned and needed to make a temporary stop at the Mountain 49 helipad to replace parts.

After Yin Jie agreed, he contacted Beard Feng, who was in charge of the Mountain 49 training ground. Beard Feng, who was building a treehouse, knew the real purpose of this military helicopter's visit and immediately sent the speed evolvers Er Yong and Jing Kuan to pick up the monkey.

By the time Xia Qing hauled the second load of sunflowers back to the territory, Guan Tong, who had been watching the place for her, reported, "Sister Qing, the golden snub-nosed monkey has been delivered. Territory Seven sent a researcher we've never seen before to examine and treat it. Right now it's getting an IV drip inside the tree hollow."

Zhang Song, who was in charge of reception for the inspection team, had his hands full. That Zhang San had sent someone else to treat the golden snub-nosed monkey was within Xia Qing's expectations. She acknowledged, handed the bag of oil sunflower seeds to Guan Tong, then drove back to Mountain 50.

The golden snub-nosed monkey? It already had professionals looking after it, no need for her to worry. In farmer Xia Qing's eyes, the most important thing now was harvesting Green Lantern food.

At four in the afternoon, Xia Qing drove back to the territory with her allies and the last batch of harvested supplies.

The flower discs and sunflower stems and leaves brought back in the first two batches had all been laid out by Guan Tong to dry inside the greenhouse where no crops were planted.

Sheep Boss and Little Yellow Ox were munching on sunflower leaves inside the shed, while Wolf Lao Er and Guan Tong stayed outside, driving away birds attracted by the sunflower seeds. The freeloader family of three crouched behind a rock outside the shed, wagging their big tails and staring longingly at the feast inside.

Seeing Xia Qing return, the freeloader squirrel immediately rushed over to rub its paws and wag its tail at her. Little Feimao dove straight into her pocket, and Qiang Zai ran over and squatted on Xia Qing's shoulder, trying to hitch a ride into the shed for the big meal.

Xia Qing fished a few oil sunflower seeds from her pocket and fed them to Qiang Zai, greeted Wolf Lao Er and Guan Tong, and carried the last batch of the harvest into the shed.

Guan Tong asked, "Sister Qing, is that golden snub-nosed monkey just going to stay in the treehouse?"

Xia Qing nodded and reminded Guan Tong, "It's a brain-domain evolved animal raised by humans, it understands human speech. Just treat it like a person, but stay on guard."

Guan Tong nodded solemnly and pointed out the flock of birds on the tree to Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, I think those few birds up there with blue feathers on their heads and wings seem pretty smart. You should keep an eye out."

As human territories were reclaimed and the area under cultivation grew, more and more omnivorous birds were attracted when high-quality crops ripened.

From last autumn to now, Hui Three had already reported multiple catastrophic incidents of birds using their beaks or stones to break through greenhouse insect nets and peck at grain crops.

The reason Northern Zone One of Hui Three hadn't seen such disasters was that Seeing Xin Yu's three tame birds often patrolled the skies above this territory. Any bird with a bit of sense knew this was their turf and didn't dare come looking for trouble. Birds with lower intelligence didn't have the skill to break through the insect nets, so everyone got along fine.

Xia Qing took a photo of the four pretty birds on the tree that looked quite clever and sent it to Seeing Xin Yu, then she and Guan Tong put down the greenhouse's rainproof cloth to keep the birds from bursting through the insect net.

Guan Tong had just left when Xia Qing got a call from her good friend. "At the territory?"

Xia Qing replied, "Yeah, just brought the oil sunflowers in."

"Good, I'll be at the south gate right away."

"I'll go open the gate for you."

After Seeing Xin Yu drove in, Xia Qing locked the south gate again and got into Seeing Xin Yu's car. "Greenhouse 12."

Seeing Xin Yu smiled as she drove north. "It's still kind of weird not seeing Tang Huai at your territory gate."

Territory Two had already been enclosed by a brick-and-stone wall over three meters high, becoming part of the Ninth Center. The Territory Two road sign had been taken down too, so Tang Huai could no longer squat in the wild-grass wall digging for bugs while eavesdropping on Xia Qing, and open the gate for her.

Xia Qing laughed too. "Did you take your medicine today?"

Seeing Xin Yu, who was still learning chemistry from Zhang Xu of Territory Seven, nodded. "The number of brain-domain evolvers in Territory Seven has more than doubled. Without the meds I can't handle it."

Being around dozens of brain-domain evolvers with intense magnetic field fluctuations was pure torment for a Class C magnetic-sense evolver.

Seeing Xin Yu parked beside Greenhouse 12 and saw that the two trees over five meters tall next to it actually had over a hundred birds on them. Her eyes filled with envy. Her territory had two eagles, so even when she scattered grain outside the yard, these little birds didn't dare come eat it.

Xia Qing pointed them out to her good friend. "The four on the right-side branch of the tree on the left. Blue heads, blue tails, blue wings, with black stripes on the wings and tails."

Seeing Xin Yu replied, "Those are blue jays, also called Steller's jays. Like ravens, they're a very intelligent species. They're native to the Northern Continent of the Ruins. The nearest flock of blue jays lives on Mountain 86. They must have followed Bai Yan the raven over, then been drawn to the greenhouse by the smell of the oil sunflower seeds."

Hearing they'd been brought by Bai Yan the raven, Xia Qing was immediately reassured. "If they're still here tomorrow, I'll ask if they want to trade gems for oil sunflower seeds."

Smart birds are all potential customers!

Seeing Xin Yu laughed out loud. "Out of all humanity, you must be the only one who wants to do business with every species."

Like Xia Qing, Seeing Xin Yu usually kept a cold face, putting on a don't-come-close look. But when she was happy, two dimples would appear on her cheeks, making her look very cute.

After Yu Dongming's death, Seeing Xin Yu had relaxed considerably, and the number of times she laughed had visibly increased.

"You know birds, you could try doing business with them too." Xia Qing asked with a smile, "That tame golden snub-nosed monkey from Hui Seven has diarrhea and was sent back by helicopter. It's at Zone Five of Mountain 49 right now. Want to go take a look together?"

Seeing Xin Yu nodded immediately. "Sure."

Golden snub-nosed monkeys were much prettier than white-faced langurs, and Seeing Xin Yu was quite fond of them.