Chapter 202: The Red Squirrel in the Cage

Tan Junjie led his team to the signpost of Territory Three, and handed Xia Qing a cage covered with cloth.

Squirrels are timid and shy of strangers — Lord of Territory Eight really is thoughtful.

Xia Qing lifted the cloth, confirmed that the little thief red squirrel was indeed leaping about inside the iron cage, then handed the food over to Tan Junjie. "Thanks for your trouble, Captain Tan."

Tan Junjie nodded and led his team away. Su Ming lagged two steps behind, and quietly told Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, this red squirrel really is quite pretty. Once it's trained, let it find pine nuts for you to eat."

Xia Qing smiled. "That's exactly what I had in mind."

Hu Zi sent Xia Qing an invitation. "On Mountain Fifty there are two Green Lantern pine trees, and they've grown quite a lot of pine cones. How about we go harvest them together around the middle of next month? This year's pine nuts are ripening earlier than last year's — I went to check a couple of days ago, and the pine nuts are nearly mature, almost ready to pick."

Yuan Rui knew why Hu Zi was inviting Xia Qing, and chimed in to persuade her. "Let's all go together — with more people, safety is guaranteed."

Territory Three has four Green Lantern pine trees bearing pine cones, but Xia Qing couldn't possibly refuse harvesting more Green Lantern food. "Sure, let me know once you've set a date. I'm strong — no matter how much we pick, I can carry it all out."

"Great." Having successfully invited Xia Qing to go pick pine cones together, Hu Zi was so happy he nearly jumped for joy.

Xia Qing returned home, turned on the light inside the sheep pen, shut the door, and lifted the cloth covering the cage.

The red squirrel inside the cage was so frightened it scrambled wildly about, knocking the cage so that it rocked all over.

"Don't be afraid, I won't kill you." Xia Qing soothed it gently, then shoved the cube-shaped cage into a corner, pressed a heavy wooden board down on top of the cage to hold it in place, and covered the cage with a straw mat.

Once the cage was secured this way, it also formed a relatively hidden space.

Xia Qing lifted the cage cloth again. The red squirrel hiding inside had indeed stopped thrashing — it pressed itself into the corner farthest from Xia Qing, staring at her. Its fluffy big tail was puffed out, its shiny black little eyes were wide and round, its slender whiskers kept trembling, and the fur on its snow-white belly rose and fell with its rapid breathing.

Honestly, it really was rather cute like this. Xia Qing asked with a smile, "Weren't you supposed to be a speedster? How did the humans from Territory Eight manage to catch you?"

"You like tobacco that much? How about I trade you ten jin of tobacco for the location of the chestnut tree?"

Based on the red squirrel's reactions, Xia Qing judged that even if it hadn't undergone brain-domain evolution, it was still a not-dumb evolved animal. She went to the storeroom and took out the remaining tobacco, placed a large bundle on top of the cage, then fixed a small jar to one corner inside the cage, poured in a jar of pollution-free spring water, and went to the greenhouse to pick a Yellow Lantern cucumber and stuff it into the cage — so the little fellow wouldn't starve or die of thirst.

Then Xia Qing turned off the light in the sheep pen, returned to her room, and contacted Luo Pei.

"Brother Luo, do you guys have any small or micro-sized instruments that can be attached to an animal to monitor its location in real time?"

Luo Pei didn't ask what Xia Qing wanted the tracker for, only asked what model she needed. "How far do you need to track? And how big is the animal it'll be attached to?"

How large was the activity range of a speed-evolved squirrel? Xia Qing thought for a moment, then answered, "Within twenty kilometers would be enough."

Luo Pei explained, "We haven't built ground-based satellite navigation positioning reference stations here, nor any mobile signal base stations. Add to that the complex terrain and the influence of Qiang elements, radiation, and so on — the tracking distance of a micro-positioner is at most five kilometers."

"Five kilometers is fine too." Xia Qing asked, "Brother Luo, how many points each?"

Luo Pei laughed. "Talk price with A-Jin — he happens to have something to discuss with you."

Xia Qing hung up the phone, exercised for a short while, and then received a message from Yang Jin: "What time are you free tomorrow morning? Let's meet in person."

The boss of the Azure Dragon Squad — that free? Xia Qing replied: 9:45, see you at the little house in Territory Three.

Why such a precise, odd time? Because Xia Qing felt that a precise, odd time would make the other person think she was very busy, and was squeezing out time to deal with this matter.

The little house again?

Yang Jin was silent for a few seconds, then replied with a single word: "Okay."

Early the next morning, after dealing with the wild rabbits the lead wolf had delivered, Xia Qing went to the sheep pen to check — and laughed.

The little fellow had used the tobacco and the straw mat to build itself a big nest, and was hiding inside it thoroughly. If the grass leaves hadn't been trembling, Xia Qing would have suspected the little fellow had escaped.

She crept forward quietly to check, and saw that although the red squirrel hadn't eaten the cucumber, it had drunk quite a lot of the spring water. Reassured, she said, "Wait a little longer — once I've traded for a positioner and fitted it on you, I'll let you go."

At 9:45 sharp, Xia Qing, Lord of Territory Three, and Yang Jin, captain of the Azure Dragon Squad, met on time at the little house by the farmland of Territory Three to discuss the trade.

"Captain Yang, try these Green Lantern tomatoes I just picked." Lord Xia Qing set out bright-red Green Lantern tomatoes and tea brewed with pollution-free spring water to entertain her honored guest.

"Thanks." Yang Jin glanced at the scar on the back of Xia Qing's right hand at Hukou, picked up a sliced tomato to taste, then asked, "Have you tested the other elemental content of the vegetables in your territory?"

The Yi-element detector can not only detect Yi-element content, but also trace elements.

Xia Qing answered, "I have. The Qiang and Yi dual-element and trace-element content of the Yellow Lantern tomatoes and cucumbers from my fields is very close to that of Territories Four, Five, and Six. Compared with the Green Lantern vegetables from my fields and from other territories, the radioactive element content of the Green Lantern vegetables from the terraced fields is a bit lower."

The lower the radioactive elements, the less harm to the body. Yang Jin speculated, "This might be related to the pollution-free spring water beneath the terraced fields. Xie Yu looked up the records — before the Catastrophe, the village here invited an agricultural research team to test the soil, and they found it was selenium-rich soil. The village hadn't even gotten the good news reported up the chain before the Catastrophe began."

Selenium-rich soil can grow selenium-rich agricultural products. Xia Qing beamed. "Third Brother came here to farm — turns out there was a reason after all."

She really was clever — she could grasp the key point right away. It was also the first time she had smiled so happily in front of him. Yang Jin picked up another slice of tomato — this one was much sweeter than the last.

After finishing the tomatoes and another cup of tea, Yang Jin finally took out a round disc the size of a fingernail and handed it to Xia Qing.

"Brother Luo told me your requirements. This Blue Flash smart positioner best fits your needs — its maximum monitoring range is four kilometers. Install an app on your phone, and you can check the positioner's location anytime through the app."

Four kilometers? Xia Qing frowned slightly.

Yang Jin smiled. "That speed-evolved squirrel runs pretty fast?"

Yang Jin's wild crew cut made his smile feel warm and disarming to Xia Qing. She took a sip of tea before answering, "Very fast — I can't even hit it with a gun now."

Yang Jin took out a pouch of potion and pushed it toward Xia Qing. "You're tracking the squirrel to find nut-type food in the Evolution Forest, right? A device with a longer tracking range wouldn't be cost-effective for you. This positioner, plus a bottle of scent-tracking potion and a Level Four or above smell-evolver, combined with your visual-evolution ability — absolutely won't lose it."

Going into the Evolution Forest to look for edible plants would definitely require a team.

Within this territory, Xia Qing knew four smell-evolvers: the squad medic of Territory One, Chang Li, a Level Nine smell-evolver; the "bodyguard" of Territory Seven, Yan Long, a Level Nine smell-evolver; and Chen Zheng and Chen Cheng of Beard Feng's squad, Level Five smell-evolvers.

Thinking it over, it really was feasible. Xia Qing asked, "Captain Yang, how many points for this?"