Chapter 190: Qi Fu's Evolution

Zhao Ze let out a long sigh. "I cut all the black bolls off and brought them home, and it turns out I picked more than half a basket. My heart aches to death."

Black bolls are also called dead bolls. They appear because of weather, soil fertility, and variety—it's unavoidable. After cotton bolls turn black, some rot directly, and some crack open after drying, but the cotton fluff inside isn't snowy white and soft; it's hard and yellowed.

Xia Qing also cut off the black bolls, but she didn't bring them home. Instead, she spread a rainproof tarp on the open ground of the cotton shed and used it to dry the black bolls.

Kuang Qingwei shared experience gained from talking with other lords. "The price of black-boll cotton can't even reach half that of white cotton. I heard that if you soak black bolls in ethephon diluted with water for an hour or two, then dry them in the sun, the cotton will come out as snowy white and soft as that from green bolls."

Hmm? Xia Qing, who had just taken a bite of her steamed bun, paused her chopsticks and listened carefully.

Shi Zhong asked, "What is ethephon? Can it still be used after the Catastrophe?"

Many chemical agents from before the Catastrophe, when used after it, cause violent surges of Qiang elements inside microorganisms, animals, or plants, triggering Qiang Evolution and bringing danger to humans.

Kuang Qingwei replied, "I don't know either. Let's wait until they've used it without trouble, then we'll try. Is Assistant Liu there? Do you have any ethephon?"

The lords waited a while, but no one responded.

Zhang San wasn't in the territory, and people from Territory Nine were rarely online either. Zhao Ze sighed and began his daily two questions: "Where did Third Brother go, and when can he come back?"

The people from Territory Seven stayed silent; the others couldn't answer the question.

"I'd advise everyone not to use ethephon." In the lord channel, Qi Fu's voice suddenly rang out. From his voice alone, one could tell the injuries he'd taken in the hailstorm were mostly healed. "Ethephon is a plant growth stimulant used for farming before the Catastrophe. It can dwarf plants and hasten fruit ripening. Setting aside whether soaking black bolls in ethephon even works—say you have some—what do you do with the ethephon water after the black bolls have soaked in it? It'll definitely pollute the water source."

Once they heard ethephon would pollute the water source, everyone dropped the idea and began asking about Qi Fu's health.

Kuang Qingwei immediately asked, "Brother Qi, are you better? You haven't come on these past few days, and we've lost our backbone. When something comes up, we don't even know who to ask."

Qi Fu replied, "The gash on my head has finally healed over. I snatched my life back."

Hearing that Qi Fu was fine, congratulations rose one after another in the channel. Besides the lords who usually chatted about farming, Territories One and Two also sent their blessings.

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button as well and offered her congratulations.

Unexpectedly, not long after Xia Qing sent her congratulations, Qi Fu's phone call came through. His booming voice was a world apart from the slightly feeble one in the lord channel just now, and his tone carried an irrepressible joy.

"Xia Qing, thanks to you and Doctor Chang, I really did escape death only to find good fortune waiting. I've got more strength now than three strapping men put together, hahaha."

Strength greater than three strong men—at least a Tier-3 Strength Evolution. Strength Evolution might not be useful in other fields, but in farming it's enormously useful.

Xia Qing was happy for Qi Fu too. "Congratulations, Brother Qi. Out of the depths of misfortune comes fortune."

"The process really was quite dangerous; thinking back on it now still scares me. These ten days my body kept going back and forth, and I'd already told your sister-in-law where to bury me. I never thought that after being unconscious for a day and a night, I'd wake up evolved." Now that the danger had passed, Qi Fu was brimming with confidence. "Xia Qing, can I now team up with the people from Territory One to run missions in the Evolution Forest?"

No wonder the people from Territory Five had rarely come online these past half a month—Qi Fu had been undergoing Ability Evolution this whole time. The older a person is when a human Body Evolution occurs, the more dangerous it is. For Qi Fu to have pulled through was no small feat.

Xia Qing guessed this might be related to how, during the half year he'd spent farming outside the Safe Zone, his mood had been good, his food had been good, and his physical condition had improved.

"Back in the Safe Zone, the minimum requirement the Azure Dragon Squad publicly set for recruiting external logistics Ability Evolution team members was Tier 4. I don't know Territory One's current conditions either. Brother Qi can ask Captain Hu. If you can join, Brother Qi, you absolutely must kit yourself out fully before going."

Going in without a full kit isn't running a mission—it's delivering human fertilizer to the flora and fauna of the Evolution Forest.

Qi Fu hurriedly asked, "That's actually why I called you today. Tell me—what gear do I need to run the Evolution Forest?"

After carefully going through the equipment a Strength Evolution team member would need, Xia Qing reminded Qi Fu, "Don't tell anyone outside that the Evolution Fungus triggered your evolution. It'll be trouble if the Research Institute notices you."

As far as Xia Qing knew, the Research Institute had been studying how to trigger evolution in ordinary people. If the way Qi Fu evolved got out, the Institute would definitely drag him off for repeated study.

Once you went to the Research Institute, whether you'd come back alive was anyone's guess.

Qi Fu's voice turned solemn and serious too. "Besides your sister-in-law, you're the only other person I'm telling the truth. I don't trust anyone else. I plan to find a chance to tell everyone I'm a Tier-2 Strength Evolver. I'm only thirty-four this year, still within an evolvable age bracket. A few years ago I was already a 1.9-times Strength Evolver, and after eating so many good things, it's perfectly reasonable that I'd be triggered into Tier-2 Strength Evolution."

Thirty-four?! Xia Qing had assumed Qi Fu was over forty; she hadn't expected him to be only thirty-four.

People struggling to survive through the Catastrophe all looked much older than their actual age. Twenty-five-year-old Xia Qing might well look thirty-something in other people's eyes.

Xia Qing replied to Qi Fu, "Tier-2 Strength Evolution indeed won't draw attention."

In the Safe Zone, even Tier-2 Strength Evolvers weren't treated as Evolvers. Xia Qing asked Qi Fu about his plans for this winter. "Brother Qi, are you spending this winter in the territory, or going back to the Safe Zone?"

Hui-3 Base's winter weather was harsh; quite a few lords would probably choose to return to the Safe Zone for the winter and come back to their territories the following spring.

No matter what others planned, Xia Qing definitely wouldn't leave the territory. If Qi Fu and his wife could stay too, she could consider teaming up with Qi Fu to explore the surrounding Evolution Forest in winter.

In winter, on days without Qiang rain or Qiang snow, the Evolution Forest was at its lowest danger level of the four seasons. The territories outside Hui-3 Base's Safe Zone had been cleared out last autumn and winter.

Qi Fu immediately understood what Xia Qing meant. "There's less work in the territory in winter, and the people we hired have all gone back to find jobs. Your sister-in-law and I aren't going back. We're planning to build a greenhouse to grow vegetables—whatever we harvest, we eat ourselves if it's little, sell to Territory One if it's a lot. When the weather's good, we'll wander around the Evolution Forest. What about you?"

Xia Qing took the initiative to extend an invitation. "I'm not going back either. Brother Qi, can I tag along and learn when you build your greenhouse? I want one too. This winter let's team up to explore the Evolution Forest, look for food or usable resources—how about it?"