Chapter 1690: Announcement from the Experimental Area Manager

"Captain Tan, you there?"

Hearing that Xia Qing had finished special training and returned to her territory, every ally on the 1-10 lord channel stopped what they were doing and listened closely.

"Here."

The danger-investigation captain Tan Junjie, who had called Xia Qing right after the first tiger roar of the day to discuss the situation, came online. His voice was as serious and calm as ever. "The investigation team has finished calibrating the 36 loudspeakers on the 12 signal towers within Northern Zone One's territories. We can begin broadcasting."

"Copy that, thanks. Please connect the loudspeakers, Captain Tan."

"Alright, switching on in three seconds." After responding, Tan Junjie turned on the loudspeakers and pressed the record button at the same time.

"Bzzz—hum~~~"

The lords, whose nerves had been rattled by the tiger's roar, heard the familiar static crackle from the loudspeakers and all looked up at once.

"Lords of Northern Zone One, I am Xia Qing, manager of Experimental Area Fifty on Mountain Fifty in Territory Seven. I am now briefing you all on the situation regarding the treatment of Evolved Tiger 31-1 on Mountain Fifty."

Xia Qing's calm, forceful voice echoed over the skies of Northern Zone One. Apart from Zhang San inside the experiment room, which had top-tier soundproofing, every territory member in Northern Zone One, every Ninth Center employee, the Territory Seven experts, and the evolved-bodyguards and dogs in the tents outside the territories all listened closely.

"The afternoon before last, a task squad hunting intruders in the Western Evolution Forest unexpectedly discovered Evolved Tiger 31-1, which had been poisoned with the synthetic toxin Shang-18. In accordance with the relevant regulations, Base Commander Hui San immediately ordered the emergency disaster-elimination procedure to be activated, and appointed Territory Seven's Zhang San as disaster-elimination commander. After weighing multiple factors, the commander ordered 31-1 transferred from deep in the Evolution Forest to the Fourth Peak of Mountain Fifty—over five kilometers from Northern Zone One's territories—to receive treatment.

"Because this was a sudden incident, the emergency barrier erected on Mountain Fifty could only prevent 31-1 from escaping; it could not effectively reduce the decibels of the tiger's roar. As a result, the roar carried into Northern Zone One's territories, disturbing you lords and causing varying degrees of loss to the territories raising livestock. We deeply apologize."

After briefly stating what had happened, Xia Qing first apologized, then addressed the lords' concerns one by one. "To compensate for the losses and hidden dangers brought to each territory by 31-1's stay in the experimental area, we are taking the following remedial measures. First, we will complete the upgrade and renovation of the tiger-keeping site as quickly as possible, to reduce the decibels of the tiger's roar, and take effective measures to eliminate the hidden danger of a beast tide triggered by 31-1 during this year's first Shang Rain."

Hearing Xia Qing promise to "eliminate" rather than "reduce" the hidden danger of a beast tide, the lords were immediately reassured.

What they feared most was the western tiger pack hearing 31-1's howl and launching a beast tide during next month's Shang Rain period, flattening Northern Zone One's territories and wiping out two years of hard work planting and building.

"Second, we have already implemented strict isolation measures to ensure the Shang-18 toxin inside 31-1's body will not spread beyond the tiger-keeping area and threaten territorial security."

"Third, between 9 and 12 o'clock this morning, we will commission the investigation team to verify the losses caused by the tiger's roar in each territory, and will provide full compensation before 6 o'clock this afternoon."

"Fourth, as an apology, each territory may exchange, at half price, one male and one female Green Light chick hatched by our research institute. Lords who wish to exchange, please sign up when the investigation team verifies your losses. We will determine the number of chicks to hatch based on the tally, and the exchange time will be announced separately. End of announcement."

After Xia Qing declared the announcement over, the various territories, the lords' walkie-talkie groups, and the territory alliance phone groups all erupted at once. But Xia Qing, the Territory Three lord who had caused the sensation, had already turned off her walkie-talkie and phone notification sounds ahead of time, tied on an apron, and gone to the kitchen to slice cucumbers.

Busy from two in the morning until now, Xia Qing was starving. She wanted rice porridge, big steamed buns, boiled eggs, and hot-and-sour cucumber slices!

"Baa~~~"

Seeing Xia Qing start slicing cucumbers, Sheep Leader, standing at the kitchen door, spoke up, indicating that Xia Qing could let it have a taste of the sliced cucumbers.

Xia Qing gave cucumber slices to Leader, Wolf Lao Er, and Little Feimao in her pocket before turning on the heat to stir-fry.

She carried breakfast for herself and her companions to the table, had just picked up her chopsticks, when she heard Zhao Ze of Territory Four calling her over the loudspeaker. "Sister Qing—Sister Qing—in twenty minutes, Captain Tan and the others will come over to tally Territory Three's losses. Sister Qing, please open the south gate—"

Xia Qing turned on her walkie-talkie and replied, "Zhao Ze, I heard you."

"Sister Qing!!!" Before Zhao Ze could respond, Tang Huai was already hoarsely hollering. "Sister Qing, Alliance Leader, that tone you used for 'end of announcement' was absolutely perfect! Get online and look— you've gone viral again…"

Xia Qing turned off the walkie-talkie straightaway, finished a quiet breakfast with her companions, washed the dishes, then opened the south gate right on time. There stood Tan Junjie outside, along with Su Ming, who was beaming and giving her a thumbs-up, and Yuan Rui in the patrol car, raising a hand to greet her.

Tan Junjie was as serious as ever. "Xia Qing, did Territory Three suffer any losses from the tiger's roar?"

Xia Qing nodded. "The 20 hens I raise laid three fewer Green Light breeding eggs this morning than usual."

"Good." Tan Junjie asked, "Do you have evidence to prove this?"

"Yes." Xia Qing pulled the egg-production records for Territory Three's flock from her pocket and handed them to Tan Junjie. After looking them over, Tan Junjie handed them to the stunned Su Ming. "Photograph it, make a record."

"Oh… alright." Su Ming came back to himself, took the notebook, photographed it, and handed it back to Xia Qing. He said with genuine admiration, "Sister Qing really is a graduate student personally trained by Third Brother. These records are crystal clear."

Xia Qing had not only recorded how many eggs Territory Three's chickens laid in a day, she had also numbered each chicken, recording clearly which hen laid on which day.

Xia Qing explained, "I didn't keep records before. I only started this spring because I needed to hatch chicks." And most of the records had been filled in by members of Hu Zifeng's squad based on footage from the breeding greenhouse.

After confirming Territory Three had no other losses, Tan Junjie gave the quote. "The current price for a Green Light breeding egg is 450 points. Territory Three's three breeding eggs total 1,350 points. Please sign here."

For chicks to maintain Green Light quality from hatching through laying, they have to survive at least two Shang Rains, several microbial infections, be fed large amounts of premium feed and clean filtered water. The cost of raising them is very high. So the price of Green Light chicken meat, eggs, and especially breeding eggs has remained steep—unfertilized Green Light eggs are 150 points each, fertilized eggs 450 points each.

Fertilized eggs cost three times as much because, in the standardized greenhouses, the chickens are kept in multi-tier cages. The advantage of cage-rearing is high stocking density and high egg production; the disadvantage is that the eggs are unfertilized and can only be eaten.

Only by keeping roosters and hens together can you get fertilized eggs. This method not only has a lower stocking density, but the chickens' injury and death rates are also higher than cage-rearing, because evolved chickens are very combative.

Territory Three's flock didn't fight because the combative ones had all been properly disciplined by Sheep Leader and the wolfhound Wolf Lao Er.

After Xia Qing signed, Tan Junjie asked, "Does Territory Seven need to be tallied?"

If she didn't tally it, how would she get compensation from Lao Si? Xia Qing nodded expressionlessly. "Yes, these losses also have research value."