Chapter 1966

Hui Three Base Commander Qi Qi Zhongye, wearing a set of semi-old protective gear, walked off the helicopter with steady steps and was escorted by Zhang Zhang Jingwu and Xia Qing into Zhang San's office.

Seeing the fresh diced dragon fruit on the table, Qi Qi Zhongye's gaze swept over the dragon fruit juice on Xia Qing's right thumb that hadn't been completely washed off. A gentle smile appeared on his usually serious face, "Many thanks, Brother San, for the disturbance so late at night. Living is truly full of surprises. When we last met, I really couldn't imagine that one day I would be able to eat fresh and delicious green-light fruit here."

Zhang San also responded with a gentle expression, "My conditions at that time were much worse than they are now, so I could only treat you to a cup of distilled water."

Seeing the stance of both sides, Xia Qing understood that the two big shots wanted to ease the atmosphere before starting to talk about business. Her idol wasn't good at this, so Xia Qing naturally pulled out a chair for the Base Commander and took over the conversation, "Base Commander, when was the last time you and Brother San met? Was it before Brother San became the lord of our territory?"

Qi Qi Zhongye sat down and reminisced about the past, "It was mid-June of the ninth year of the Great Disaster. I went to Hui One Base to attend a headquarters meeting and took the opportunity to visit Brother San."

During that meeting, Qi Qi Zhongye invited Zhang San to work at the Hui Three Base Research Institute, promising to offer his team salary and conditions superior to those of the Hui One Base Research Institute.

Unexpectedly, Zhang San agreed to come to Hui Three, but he didn't want to serve as the director of the Hui Three Research Institute; instead, he wanted to apply for a piece of territory on the edge of the Shencao Shelf evolution forest area and become a lord of Hui Three Base.

Hui Three Base's reclamation of the Northern District 1 territory, far from the safe zone, also had a direct connection to Zhang San.

The national territory policy was promulgated at the end of June in the ninth year of the Great Disaster. Experts at her idol's level must have known about it before the policy was promulgated. Xia Qing showed an expression of surprise, "So Brother San was the first lord designated by our base!"

Qi Qi Zhongye nodded gently.

Zhang San took over the conversation, "The green-light chickens you exchanged from me on July 18th of the tenth year of the Great Disaster were the descendants of the hens hatched from the eggs the Base Commander brought me that time."

Xia Qing looked slightly surprised, "Base Commander, is the quality of the green-light chickens in our base's breeding center that high?"

Qi Qi Zhongye's smile was gentle, "At that time, besides the green-light eggs and green-light tomatoes I sent to Brother San, our base also had high-quality strawberry seedlings introduced from Hui Six Base. Unfortunately, the strawberries hadn't matured when I went to Hui One, so I couldn't send them to Brother San."

Zhang San leaned back in his soft chair with a relaxed demeanor and snorted, "The following spring, Yang Jin exchanged the successfully localized strawberry seedlings with Xia Qing."

Xia Qing...

Qi Qi Zhongye's smile became more obvious, "Then last winter, under your guidance, Xia Qing overcame the difficulty of strawberry seed breeding. By this time next year, besides X-spinach, there will be one more type of high-quality plant that every household in our base can grow on their windowsills."

Xia Qing...

Zhang San, who felt uncomfortable all over when others praised him, responded lazily, "I didn't guide her. She learned some basics of breeding from Zhang Tao and just stumbled upon it by luck."

The "lucky cat" Xia Qing was silent. Idol, aren't you being a bit too humble?

Qi Qi Zhongye laughed out loud and moved on to the main topic, "Xia Qing, this child, has always had good luck. Was the X-spinach also something she stumbled upon like that?"

Xia Qing waited for two seconds, and finding that her idol had no intention of speaking, she naturally took over the conversation, "I was able to discover X-spinach not because of good luck, but because you have been persistently sending helicopters to scatter high-quality crop seeds over the evolution forest all these years. The scattered, cultivable, optimized seeds landed in soil suitable for spinach growth and naturally evolved into X-spinach."

Hearing this, the look in Qi Qi Zhongye's eyes when he looked at Xia Qing could be described as kind, "I did this after listening to the public initiative published by Professor Zhang Tao in the third year of the Great Disaster. Our base scattered seeds for six years, and finally, a few seeds encountered high-quality soil and water sources, seeing a return."

The Base Commander pushed the credit back to the researcher in Territory 7, Zhang Tao, which meant he wanted Xia Qing to say for herself that there was pollution-free spring water in her territory.

Unexpectedly, before Xia Qing could speak, Zhang San took over the conversation, "The high-quality water source is in my territory, and the X-spinach was also cultivated by me."

Huh?!

Xia Qing was shocked inside, but remained calm on the surface.

After Qi Qi Zhongye and Zhang San looked at each other for a few seconds, he asked about his preliminary preparations, "Brother San, won't doing this cause you trouble?"

Zhang San was still indifferent, but what he said was very certain, "It's just an increase in quantity; it won't trigger a qualitative change. I made the preliminary preparations in the first half of last year. I just talked to Ji Li from Hui One, and in a few days, I'll get Jiang Cheng's team from Red One over. There will be no problem fooling people until the end of the year."

After speaking, Zhang San looked at Xia Qing, who clearly wanted to oppose this proposal, and added, "Xia Qing's territory is undertaking a research project more important than pollution-free spring water. Exposing the fact that there is a spring in her territory before achieving phased results will seriously delay the project's progress."

Hearing her idol say this, Xia Qing understood the intention behind his actions.

Various evolved animals lived in her territory, and evolved wolves appeared every day. It was an important place for promoting the harmonious coexistence of humans and evolved animals. The significance and value of this project were indeed higher than pollution-free spring water.

Qi Qi Zhongye hadn't expected things to go in this direction, but he had no objections to Zhang San's arrangement and only asked what he could do for this camouflage plan, "Should I upgrade the security defense here by another level?"

Zhang San made a request, "I'll let Wu Wu Chengyu help me upgrade the hardware. Can you get the Jiaolong Special Forces over to take on the guard duties for Territory 7?"

Hearing her idol's request, Xia Qing's eyes lit up instantly.

Qi Qi Zhongye thought for five seconds and nodded, "If you can make some compromises here and cooperate with Hui One Base on one or two more projects, I have a 70% chance."

After speaking, Qi Qi Zhongye looked at Xia Qing, "Deng Yan is currently still taking orders from Hui One Base because she is supporting dozens of wounded veterans and their families. This expenditure is not a small amount. Only by transferring all these people to the Northern District 1 can we ensure that the entire Jiaolong Special Forces will listen completely to Brother San. Xia Qing, get ready to receive these people."

"Yes." Xia Qing replied calmly.

The Jiaolong Special Forces were the ace combat power of Hui City. To get this special forces unit from the Hui City headquarters, the price paid by Hui Three Base certainly wouldn't just be Brother San cooperating with Hui One on one or two projects.

Xia Qing didn't say anything more because, besides settling the wounded soldiers and their families, she couldn't help with anything else. Otherwise, the Base Commander would have directly ordered her to do it.

After the conditions were agreed upon, Qi Qi Zhongye asked about the second purpose of this trip, "Brother San, how much spring water can you supply here every month? I need to determine the expansion area of the cordyceps hydroponic room based on the amount of spring water."

Zhang San gave an accurate figure, "Pollution-free spring water cannot be collected 100%. 35% of the water output must be left to allow it to naturally seep into the ground to maintain the balance of this huge natural water quality filter. The spring in Xia Qing's territory is in a dry season from mid-January to mid-February each year. In other months, the daily water output is about 300 liters. The spring water I divert from her territory is about 130 liters per day. Excluding the usage for my laboratory, the maximum daily external water supply is 78 liters."

Qi Qi Zhongye was very satisfied with this supply volume, "If all 78 liters of spring water are used to cultivate cordyceps, our base's monthly production of anti-Qi agents will increase by 624 doses, which is enough. I will purchase the spring water at a price of 200 points per liter. Do you think that's okay?"

Zhang San raised his chin, which was so thin it was just skin and bone, and looked at Xia Qing.

The Base Commander's proposal to purchase rather than requisition was an acknowledgment that the lord had full rights to dispose of and profit from the spring water within the territory.

Territory 3 Lord Xia Qing beamed, her words airtight, "The quality of my spring water is not only better than the quality of the spring eye in the Sea of Death occupied by the Green Dragon Team and the Wild Sand Team, but also better than the quality of the spring that was previously at Blazing Volcano. If it were a private purchase, anything less than 240 points wouldn't work. If our base is purchasing it to cultivate cordyceps, 190 points will do."

This was the first time Qi Qi Zhongye had seen Xia Qing, who liked to keep a straight face, show such a vivid expression.