Chapter 272: Twenty Percent Kill Rate

Xia Qing handed over the cloth bag holding the evolved eagle and said loudly, "I fed it anesthetic and used hemostatic medicine, both traded from Territory Seven. I guarantee it won't worsen the eagle's injuries. This eagle is Yellow Lantern, weighs twenty-five jin."

She had to speak loudly—the roar of the aircraft was too deafening; in a quiet voice no one would hear.

Live Yellow Lantern animals fetch a purchase price of sixty points per jin in the Safe Zone, so this eagle's meat alone is worth fifteen hundred points—which is also the low trade price Xia Qing offered.

"Thanks." Xin Yu stepped forward, took the bag and examined it, then began to bargain. "This is an evolved raptor. Even with one wing broken, it's worth more than its meat. I'll give you two thousand points. Does that work for you?"

Xia Qing often ran missions and naturally knew the price. "Deal."

Hearing Xia Qing agree so readily, Xin Yu visibly breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you want points or supplies?"

Xia Qing asked, "I'd like to trade for Yellow Lantern garlic and two rooted Yellow Lantern mint plants. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Yellow Lantern garlic counts as plantable seed—one clove is a hundred points, mint is also a hundred points. Two thousand points equals two mint plants plus three heads of Yellow Lantern garlic. I'll give you the garlic first; the mint will be delivered by Captain Tan after the insect plague ends." Saying this, Xin Yu pulled three heads of garlic straight from her protective suit pocket and handed them to Xia Qing.

"Alright, thanks." Seeing Xin Yu carry the garlic on her person, Xia Qing realized Xin Yu had anticipated she would trade for garlic and thanked her sincerely. One head of garlic has more than six cloves, but the inner cloves are small, and the garlic sprouts they grow into are weak—exposed to Harmful Rain, the Harmful Element content might rise and turn Yellow Lantern or Red Lantern, so Xin Yu had calculated it as six cloves per head. Strictly speaking, Xin Yu had given extra.

Xin Yu said nothing more, nodded, turned, and carried the eagle back to her own territory.

The onlooking Tang Huai spoke up at once. "Xin Yu, what do you want an evolved eagle for? Even with a broken wing, it's still an eagle—real hard to train. If you've got nothing better to do, why not raise a few rabbits?"

Xin Yu ignored Tang Huai and kept walking. Tang Huai's pride took a hit, so he raised his voice and called out, "Hey, don't take it too far! Stop, I've got real business to discuss with you!"

To Xia Qing's surprise, Xin Yu actually stopped.

She turned back, her opaque brown protective mask facing Tang Huai. Because the mask was opaque, Xia Qing couldn't see her expression, but her voice was cold enough.

"Your personal business doesn't interest me. If it's territory business, have Tang Lu talk to me. If it's your family's business, have your dad or Tang Ning talk to me. You don't rank."

Hearing those four words "you don't rank," Xia Qing's assessment of Xin Yu shot up another huge notch. Impressive—this woman is seriously impressive!

Tang Huai was hopping mad but didn't dare curse. He watched Xin Yu walk away, then turned and found Xia Qing had also vanished. Only then did he mutter, "Every last one of them is fucking out of their mind…"

Xia Qing raised an eyebrow. "Every last one" referred to her and Xin Yu. Could the third one be the reason Tang Huai had been making a fuss in the lord channel today?

Xia Qing tucked the Yellow Lantern garlic into her protective suit pocket and continued patrolling the territory. There weren't many insects in the greenhouse—everything looked normal. The half-opened cotton had been sprayed wet with insecticide; once the sun came out tomorrow, it would dry. The Yellow Lantern Chinese Toon tree on the slope had already been sprayed once by Xia Qing and was in much better shape than the others, with hardly any insects on it.

The helicopter wouldn't be able to spray the buffer forest for at least another ten hours. Seeing that the insecticide she'd already applied was having some effect, Xia Qing immediately shouldered the sprayer and began spraying the trees beyond the open ground on both sides of the terrace.

"The test results are out. The improved insecticide has an eighty percent effectiveness rate against leafminer larvae, but its effect on the evolved slug moth larvae isn't ideal." Zhang San's voice was listless.

"This slug moth larva is a newly evolved species with strong pesticide resistance—the improved insecticide only has a twenty percent kill rate. I have a high-grade evolved herb that, when added, can boost the kill rate against evolved slug moths to ninety-five percent. Tan Junjie, talk to the Territory Management Department and see if they'll buy it. Two hundred points per plant; spraying this territory only needs two hundred plants."

"Copy that." Tan Junjie responded immediately.

Hearing the insect kill rate could reach ninety-five percent, the lords grabbing insects grew excited and burst into chattering discussion.

Amid the jubilation, only Li Si's voice was ice-cold. "Third Brother wouldn't be talking about the high-grade evolved Black Gardenia that he dug away from my place, would he?"

"Not just that." Zhang San replied, clearly in a great mood. "There's also what I grew myself."

What you grew yourself—where did the seeds come from? Weren't they from the high-grade evolved Black Gardenia she dug over from her place! Li Si gritted her teeth. "Does Third Brother have any idea how precious high-grade evolved herbs are?!"

Zhang San's voice was flat—he was clearly being petty again. "I'm willing to."

Exactly—a千金 can't buy the idol's happiness! Xia Qing was about to offer her own boundless admiration, but Zhao Ze beat her to it. "Third Brother, righteousness!"

Qi Fu also got worked up. "If it can be boosted to ninety-five percent, we can safely get through this insect plague."

Zhu Li asked, "The remaining live insects can be cleaned up by birds, frogs, and snakes. Third Brother, this medicine won't affect birds, frogs, or snakes, right?"

Zhang San replied, "There's a little effect, but not big, not fatal."

Everyone's excitement was quickly dampened by Tan Junjie's words. "Because this is a small-scale insect outbreak within our territory, the Territory Management Department has a limited budget and can't purchase herbs from Territory Seven. Please lords work it out among yourselves."

Before Zhao Ze could complain, Xia Qing replied calmly, "When the insect plague broke out, Captain Tan reported to the Territory Management Department right away, and the department immediately applied to dispatch an aircraft to spray. They've already fulfilled their duty. The Lord Law states it clearly: problems lords can solve on their own should be solved by the lords themselves."

"I was hoping to save where I could, but looks like there's no saving this time." Reseller Kuang Qingwei started crunching numbers at top speed. "Third Brother, you just said our territory needs two hundred plants of the herb. You and Territory Nine don't need to use any, so averaged out it's one plant of two-hundred-point herb per 308 mu. How about this—anyone who wants the high-grade Black Gardenia agent just trades directly with you?"

Since Zhang San had proposed the high-grade evolved herb, he intended to let them use it. "Fine."

"Thanks, Third Brother!" After thanking him, Kuang Qingwei immediately began arranging. "Everyone sign up. I'll buy, spray the whole territory, trade with Yellow Lantern plants or points."

After Xia Qing, Qi Fu, Zhao Ze, Hu Zifeng and others reported their needs, Xin Yu also spoke up. "Territory Eight needs the high-grade Black Gardenia agent, full-territory spray, trade with Yellow Lantern plants or points."