Chapter 246: A Bountiful Harvest

"Bang."

Xia Qing shot dead an advanced evolved hornet that was flying toward the back of Qi Fu's head with a single shot, then handed her pole pruner to him. "Brother Qi, use this. I have another one. You take the high and far branches, I'll take the close ones."

"Got it." Qi Fu didn't waste a single word. He took Xia Qing's pruner and kept working. The moment he started, he realized her pruner was heavier than his and far sharper, and his speed picked up too.

Xia Qing pulled out the second pruner from her backpack and kept cutting.

More people, faster work.

Soon, the chestnuts on the four green-light trees were all cut down. Xia Qing arranged the next step: "Brother Qi and I will bag the chestnuts. You all go collect the yellow-light ones."

The green-light chestnuts cut from the four trees—burs and branches included—filled six full sacks, each weighing at least a hundred and fifty jin. Xia Qing gave the order: "Guan Tong and I will haul a load back. Brother Qi, team up with Peng Jian and keep collecting."

Peng Jian asked, "Should I escort you two back?"

"No need. The insect-repellent on us is still effective." Xia Qing and Guan Tong quickly tied three big sacks of chestnuts each with rope, slung them on their backs, and started up the slope.

When Qi Fu and Peng Jian went to cut the yellow-light chestnut burs, Qi Fu glanced up and saw Xia Qing and Guan Tong each carrying over four hundred jin of supplies and still running that fast. He was deeply impressed.

Xia Qing and Guan Tong hauled the chestnuts back to Territory Three and handed them over to Dajiang and Liangzi, who were guarding the territory. Seeing so many green-light chestnuts, Dajiang and Liangzi nearly dropped their jaws.

Time was tight. Xia Qing and Guan Tong dropped the supplies and immediately headed back.

When they returned to the chestnut grove, the team had already filled seven sacks. This time, the ones hauling chestnuts back were Xia Qing and Shi Du.

Qi Fu was startled to see that this time Xia Qing was carrying not three sacks, but four!

Xia Qing hauled supplies back and forth for two reasons: first, she was the strongest of the team's four strength-evolvers; second, the noise made by the evolved hornets in the chestnut grove interfered with her greatly, so she couldn't stay in the grove too long. Hauling chestnuts was the perfect chance to get away from the hornets' sonic attacks.

After Xia Qing and Shi Du returned to the chestnut grove, Beard Feng reminded her, "Xia Qing, you've made two trips. Take a break—there's still time. Shi Du, come over and pair up with me and the other guy."

"Alright, I'll rest a bit." After running two trips in a row, Xia Qing really was a little tired. She didn't climb any more trees, but grabbed a sack and picked up chestnut burs and chestnuts off the ground.

Seeing that Xia Qing said she'd rest but was still working, Qi Fu gained a whole new understanding of how grueling field missions were. He had worked on a construction crew for nearly ten years and had always thought his endurance and strength were pretty good, but compared with Xia Qing today, he realized he was still far behind.

When he got back, he'd ask Xia Qing how she trained. He had to train too. Otherwise, what right did he have to team up with her?

Once all the chestnuts were bagged, the whole group headed back together. Beard Feng and Peng Jian handled security; the four strength-evolvers handled hauling.

While climbing the slope, Peng Jian cheerfully reminded Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, that evolved squirrel of yours is throwing a fit in the tree over there."

Xia Qing, carrying over five hundred jin of supplies, looked back and saw the red squirrel with its fur all puffed up, leaping and chattering on a fir tree beside the chestnut grove—probably cursing up a storm.

"We've been fighting hornets for however long, and that squirrel's been scavenging the whole time. Its haul today is more than what it gathered in the past half month combined." Xia Qing hoisted her huge backpack higher. "Let's go, back home to crack open the chestnuts!"

After hauling nearly four hundred jin of sacks back to Territory Three, Qi Fu sat on the ground panting for quite a while before he caught his breath. Seeing so many chestnut burs waiting to be peeled, Qi Fu wanted to ask his wife to come help, but worried Xia Qing might think he was angling for extra pay, so he kept quiet.

He didn't speak up, but Xia Qing brought it up herself. "Brother Qi, there are too many chestnuts. If sis-in-law's free, ask her to come help peel for a while?"

Qi Fu jumped right up. "She's free. Nothing urgent on my end. I'll go call her over right now and bring all the pliers from my place too."

Chestnut shells are sticky—can't be peeled by stepping on them; pliers are needed. Xia Qing didn't have enough pliers on hand.

Shi Du didn't know Territory Three and Territory Five had already formed an alliance. Seeing Xia Qing needed help, he discussed it with her: "Let my mom come too. She's really quick at this."

The family of three from Territory Ten were all good people. Xia Qing didn't refuse. "You'll drive the tiller over?"

Shi Du's mother had injured her leg in the third Killing Rain and still hadn't fully recovered.

"No need. I'll just carry my mom over on my back." Territory Ten was south of Territory Five, not far from Xia Qing's territory. Shi Du was a strength-evolver; carrying a person that short distance was a breeze.

Soon, Yuan Yan and Shi Du's mother arrived.

In ten years of natural disasters, when had anyone seen this much food? Everyone was grinning ear to ear, chatting about all the delicious things chestnuts could be made into while swiftly peeling them.

Xia Qing noticed Shi Du's mother really was quick at work—her movements showed she was plenty strong too. No wonder the family of three dared to leave their territory to farm.

The group finally finished peeling all the chestnuts before dark. From the task squad, Beard Feng, Peng Jian, and Qi Fu each got three jin of yellow-light chestnuts; Guan Tong and Shi Du, who had hauled a load with Xia Qing, got four jin each. Of course, the bullets Beard Feng's squad used during this mission were also paid for with chestnuts.

Liangzi, Dajiang, Shi Du's mother, and Yuan Yan, who had only helped peel chestnuts, each got one jin too. They all felt they'd gotten a huge bargain. After asking Xia Qing whether she needed help moving the chestnuts home, the group took their leave one after another.

Shi Du carried his mother on his back; his mother carried a heavy backpack. Mother and son walked happily out of Territory Three, only to see Tang Huai leaning against the signpost of Territory Two, greeting them proactively. "Quite a haul, huh."

"Yeah." Shi Du replied cheerfully, "Brother Huai, eating dinner and taking a walk this early?"

Tang Huai......

Like hell he was eating!

Inside Territory Three, once only Qi Fu and his wife remained, Qi Fu finally discussed with Xia Qing, "Sister, I want to buy five green-light chestnuts from you, see if I can grow them."

Although this kind of evolved chestnut tree attracted hornets, their territory had over a thousand mu of buffer forest. Planting a few chestnut trees in some corner wouldn't interfere with farming at all.

Xia Qing asked, "Does Brother Qi's territory have any green-light or yellow-light saplings? I'll trade you green-light chestnut saplings from the forest for them. That valley on Mountain Forty-Nine is close to my territory, so after discussing it with Brother Luo, I rented that plot out—those trees are all mine."

If Mountain Forty-Nine, Zone Three weren't hers, she would definitely have dug up every sapling she could. In the past, when the combat squad went out foraging, whenever they came across edible plants or fruits, it was mostly destructive harvesting. Because the evolved forest wasn't privately owned—anyone could go in—whenever they found valuable resources, of course they'd take everything they could.

Only then did Qi Fu and his wife understand why it was Xia Qing, not Beard Feng, who organized the trip to Mountain Forty-Nine to gather supplies. Yuan Yan was happy for Xia Qing. "I was just thinking I should remind you to pick out a few small green-light chestnut trees and dig them up. This saves the trouble!"