Chapter 245: Picking Chestnuts

After Xia Qing closed the walkie-talkie, she contacted the second strength evolver. "Brother Qi, are you free tomorrow? I found some edible chestnuts—want to come with me?"

Hearing Xia Qing's words, Qi Fu got so excited he almost jumped up, but then worried that going would only be useless and cause her trouble instead. "I'm free, sure, but I'm not even level four and I've got no experience—going wouldn't just be a hassle for you, would it?"

Xia Qing gave him a little reassurance. "No, it won't. Tomorrow we'll have plenty of people, so you just handle clipping the chestnuts, picking them up, and hauling them—as long as you've got the strength, that's enough. Wear the protective suit you had on during the third Rain of Calamity, and bring the long-handled pruner, a big pouch, and a six-meter rope."

During the third Rain of Calamity, when Xia Qing went to Territory Five to clear the Amur cork trees, she noticed Qi Fu and his wife were wearing level-two field protective suits—one grade higher than what you could buy in the Safe Zone—more than enough for entering the Evolution Forest.

After getting hold of Qi Fu, Xia Qing immediately contacted Territory Seven. She had clearly dialed Ji Li's number, but the one who answered was Zhang San.

Zhang San asked in a weary voice, "Want to trade for that kind of potion from yesterday?"

Xia Qing grinned broadly. "Yes. Brother San, trade me fifteen more bottles of potion, and counting the one from last time, I'll give you thirty-two jin of green-light chestnuts."

Thirty-two jin was no small amount, and Zhang San found his energy again. "You really have green-light chestnut trees? What variety? How do they taste?"

Having already tested the chestnut's Yi-element content and confirmed it was at normal levels, Xia Qing gave a very tactful answer. "I can't tell the variety, haven't tasted them yet, and don't know how they are. How about I send some over to you first, and you help me test the quality?"

Zhang San was very pleased with Xia Qing's answer. "Good. I'll have Ji Li go pick them up and bring the medicine to you on the way."

"Thanks, Brother San." Xia Qing hung up, immediately packed a few green-light chestnuts into a sealed bag, added five jin of yellow-light chestnuts, and handed them to Ji Li, who was waiting at the North Isolation Belt.

Ji Li saw that Xia Qing's protective suit was battered and torn, almost turning into a ghillie suit, and knew these chestnuts hadn't come easy. But Xia Qing didn't mention how she'd gathered them, and Ji Li didn't ask.

At six the next morning, the picking team assembled on time at the North Isolation Belt of Territory Three. Besides Xia Qing, the team had five members: level-five strength evolver Guan Tong, level-four strength evolver Shi Du, level-three strength evolver Qi Fu, level-five visual evolver Beard Feng, and Peng Jian.

After Xia Qing explained the picking mission, everyone except the already-informed Beard Feng widened their eyes and dropped their jaws, unable to believe their ears.

Xia Qing, in her ghillie suit, went on. "I've already scouted the way in and out. We just need to watch out for evolved insects that might leap out along the path. Pay starts at three jin of yellow-light chestnuts per person, with extra reward for heavier workloads. The sap on the chestnut trees is sticky, but it's not corrosive—once it dries on the suit, it washes right off."

After the Calamity, humanity was short on food, and nuts were especially scarce. Yellow-light chestnuts traded at 80 points per jin in the Safe Zone, and green-light chestnuts went as high as 250 points per jin—at those prices, getting your hands on any still took luck.

In other words, Xia Qing's team reward came to 240 points per person. For a low-risk picking mission, if that price were posted on the Safe Zone mission hall's bulletin board, the line of people wanting in would stretch long enough for Xia Qing to take her pick. Everyone was in high spirits.

Protective suits getting leaves and dirt stuck to them? Getting dirty doesn't affect the suit's quality—in the eyes of a humanity starved for food after the Calamity, that wasn't even a thing!

Beard Feng discussed it with Xia Qing. "You've been there once, so how about you lead and command this time?"

Xia Qing quickly arranged the formation and set off up the slope toward the chestnut grove. Qi Fu, entering the Evolution Forest for the first time, was placed right behind Xia Qing and in front of Peng Jian.

Xia Qing instructed him. "Brother Qi, just follow me—wherever I go, you go. Don't fall out of line. Straying off the route will bring you into aggressive plants. Any evolved animals that dart out of the grass, Peng Jian and I will handle."

Falling out of line in the Evolution Forest meant mortal danger at any moment. Qi Fu nodded quickly. "Understood."

The distance was nearly three thousand meters, and the path had already been cleared, so the team moved at a decent pace, reaching the edge of the chestnut grove in forty minutes.

Seeing such a vast chestnut grove, even the well-traveled Beard Feng's squad found their breathing growing heavier with excitement.

Shi Du couldn't hold back his excitement and whispered, "Sister Qing, you're rich!"

Shi Du knew Xia Qing had rented a patch of Evolution Forest from the Azure Dragon Squad, just not how large. But since Xia Qing was organizing the team today, it meant this chestnut grove was within her contracted area.

If that wasn't striking it rich, what was?

Xia Qing said with a smile, "Rich or not depends on whether we can get the chestnuts back smoothly today. When I came yesterday, the burrs hadn't split open this much yet."

Qi Fu spoke quietly to Xia Qing through the earpiece-style walkie-talkie inside his protective mask. "Once that spiky outer husk splits, the chestnuts drop fast. Lucky you spotted it early."

"Sister Qing, your red squirrel is hiding in the cedar tree ten meters south of the chestnut tree." The moment Peng Jian finished the warning, he saw a palm-sized evolved insect get stuck on a chestnut tree's leaf and start struggling desperately.

The split burrs on the branches swayed a few times, and the two chestnuts inside dropped to the ground.

Several squirrels moved at once, scrambling for the chestnuts on the ground, then quickly darting off. The red squirrel that grabbed one didn't head back—it stuffed the big chestnut into its cheeks, struck a sprint-ready pose on the cedar branch, its round eyes fixed on the chestnut grove, all set for the next raid.

When you give it everything you've got, even a little squirrel can look this cool.

"We'll split into three groups: Captain Hu and Shi Du as one, Peng Jian and Guan Tong as one, and Brother Qi and me as one. One person in each group handles the high-level evolved hornets, the other climbs up to clip the chestnuts. The chestnut leaves and burrs are both sticky, so dodge them as best you can—go for the green-light ones first." Xia Qing handed each person a bottle of potion. "Spray half a bottle at a time; it lasts three hours. We need to finish picking all the chestnuts and pull out within six hours."

When Xia Qing sprayed Qi Fu with the potion, she gave him careful instructions. "Once the potion's on, Brother Qi, you climb up and clip the chestnuts. I'll deal with the high-level evolved hornets."

"Got it—clipping fruit is my specialty." Facing evolved hornets longer than a finger at close range on his first time in the Evolution Forest, Qi Fu was scared, no question, but he didn't let it show. He quickly finished spraying Xia Qing with the potion and followed her toward the tree.

"Buzz—"

When the six-person team was still five meters from the chestnut grove, the evolved hornets came swooping in cursing, led by a swarm of over twenty.

Looking at hornets bigger than a palm, Qi Fu knew these were the high-level evolved hornets Xia Qing had mentioned—his heart leapt into his throat.

But in just one breath's time, the high-level evolved hornets were taken down by Xia Qing, Beard Feng, and Peng Jian. Seeing how capable they were, Qi Fu's heart finally settled back into his stomach.

The picking team, surrounded by hornets, charged into the chestnut grove and first searched out the four green-light chestnut trees to get to work. Of course, the first wave had to go for the best.

Seeing the humans clip the chestnut burs down, the red squirrel, poised and ready, immediately dashed forward, snatched a few chestnuts in the chaos, and ran off clutching them.

Xia Qing spotted the red squirrel wearing the locator, but she didn't mind it fishing in troubled waters—after all, it was this little fellow who had led her to these chestnuts in the first place.

Qi Fu noticed that Xia Qing, splitting her attention, was clipping chestnuts one-handed at a speed no slower than his own two-handed pace. He started to panic, pulled the long-handled pruner back, and quickly stripped the rotting leaves stuck to the pole and blades.

But in his rush, he made a mistake—yanking the pruner's telescoping pole and bending it. He hurriedly bent it back straight, but misjudged the force and snapped it clean off.

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Starting today, this book's update times will be adjusted to 6 AM and 8 PM. The reason is that spacing the two daily chapters twelve hours apart may lead to better recommendations.

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