Chapter 274: Broken-Back Wolf Goes Out

Xia Qing stopped and asked in an extremely gentle voice, "Plucker, did you need something from me?"

She had no choice but to be gentle. This little thing's courage was as small as a red squirrel's—a startled red squirrel would run away, but a startled one would release toxic gas.

The evolved weasel heard Xia Qing speak and immediately shrank behind the rock in fright. After a while, its round little ears cautiously poked out. The plucked-weasel fixed its beady black eyes on Xia Qing for two seconds, confirmed she was watching it, quickly placed two small prey on the stone, and scurried away.

Was this… coming to bring her a thank-you gift?

Xia Qing went over and picked up the two palm-sized, plump frogs. The scan showed they were actually green-light.

Was this a coincidence, or could the plucked weasel really tell the Harmful Element content of animals?

If it was the latter, then the ten-plus jin evolved rabbit the weasel had insisted on catching yesterday, even while pretending to be crazy, was probably green-light too.

Of these two plump frogs, Xia Qing planned to keep one for herself to make frog porridge, and trade the other one away.

The trade target was, of course, her idol who ate nothing but green-light food, to repay part of the points she'd exchanged today for the high-grade evolved Black Gardenia. Speaking of which, the idol had accepted the green-light chestnuts several days ago, yet still hadn't sent over the medicine for treating her physical injuries.

It seemed this medicine really wasn't easy to compound.

Xia Qing contacted Ji Li directly. "Brother Ji, I caught two green-light frogs, they're not very big, only a little over a jin… alright, I'll wait by the isolation belt."

The weasel's thank-you gift happened to cover part of the points she'd exchanged today for the high-grade evolved herbs. The remaining points could be settled with green-light vegetables or green-light jerky.

Back inside with the doors and windows tightly shut, Xia Qing first rinsed off the insecticide clinging to her protective suit before removing her protective mask.

Even though the doors and windows were closed, and even though she wasn't a scent-type evolver, Xia Qing could still smell the sharp odor of the insecticide. The smell didn't bother her much; instead, it gave her a sense of security.

Because this insecticide could wipe out the insect plague within her territory.

Xia Qing removed the protective masks from the three inside. "Big One, Lao Er, Broken-Back, the spraying is done, we can eat and drink now."

After the one sheep and two wolves drank the pollution-free spring water, Broken-Back Wolf indicated to Xia Qing that it wanted to go out—not to relieve itself, but to leave the territory.

Xia Qing asked, "Hungry? Won't the broken-legged one bring you prey later?"

After a few seconds of calm eye contact with this clever wolf, Xia Qing agreed. Refusing wouldn't have helped anyway; the beast was determined to go out, and she couldn't stop it. "Go ahead, stay safe. There are plenty of bugs in the evolved forest right now."

Broken-Back Wolf walked over, circled Xia Qing once, then left at a leisurely pace. Xia Qing removed the protective suits from Sheep Big One and Sick Wolf before starting to cook. She didn't take off Broken-Back Wolf's protective suit—although there were fewer bugs in the evolved forest than in the territory, they were still quite dangerous for Broken-Back Wolf, which had a patch of fur missing on its back.

The meals for the remaining two were easy to sort out. She'd brought back Sheep Big One's fodder before the spraying, enough for two days, and Sick Wolf could share the frog porridge with Xia Qing.

Although she had a recipe, Xia Qing couldn't even gather half of the listed ingredients. She could only make sure the porridge was cooked; whether it tasted good was up to fate. In a year of natural disasters, with the insect plague just passed, having a safe place to settle and warm, safe food to eat was already enough for Xia Qing.

Listening to the Hui-3 Base news broadcast in the evening, Xia Qing learned that only territories No. 1 through No. 28 had suffered this stinging-caterpillar plague.

This situation was quite normal. Biological evolution on Blue Star had never stopped; no one knew how many kinds of evolved creatures lived on Blue Star. In fact, no one could even figure out how many evolution paths a single species had taken before evolving.

Because different natural environments and concentrations of the Harmful and Beneficial Elements would give rise to different directions of biological evolution. Xia Qing turned on the walkie-talkie, wanting to hear the professionals' assessment of this insect plague.

Not long after the walkie-talkie was turned on, Kuang Qingwei asked this very question.

Li Si gave a very professional answer. "Biological disasters always result from a combination of factors. First, this year's third Harmful Rain lasted too long, with an increase in red Harmful Rain, which has a major impact on insects in the egg stage. Second, the soil conditions in our territory are very suitable for evolved stinging caterpillars to breed."

Zhao Ze asked, "Fourth Sister, when did these stinging caterpillars lay their eggs? I've been in the territory for half a year and never saw large numbers of stinging caterpillars flying in to lay eggs."

Li Si speculated, "We caught some stinging caterpillars for study, but the time is too short to draw conclusions yet. Our preliminary guess is that the eggs were laid by stinging caterpillars that broke out of their cocoons last year."

Eggs laid last year? Only hatching this year?

Before Xia Qing could open her mouth, Tang Huai immediately launched an attack on Territory No. 1. "The ones who took the mission to clear this territory last autumn and winter were the Azure Dragon Squad. In other words, our losses this time were caused by the Azure Dragon Squad's incomplete clearing. The Azure Dragon Squad must compensate all the lords for their losses—double!"

Everyone…

Hu Zifeng immediately shot back, "We cleared according to the mission requirements and passed inspection. If you've got the guts, go ask the mission issuer for compensation."

After the two argued for a while, Tan Junjie called a halt. "The insect plague hasn't been completely eliminated. All lords need to wipe out the evolved insects in their territories as quickly as possible over the next few days, to prevent large flocks of migratory birds from landing in the territories and damaging the crops."

Assistant Xiao Liu started peddling Territory No. 9's special chemical agent that could drive away birds below Level 6, but no one in the lord channel made a sound.

Xia Qing suddenly felt that besides the main reason of Zhang San, Li Si coming to the territory had a side quest: earning points.

But in the few months they'd been here, they'd only earned a few points from compost bacterial powder and the mung bean cultivation guide.

Zhao Ze whined, "If only I'd known, I wouldn't have taken a territory with a buffer forest…"

It was no wonder Zhao Ze complained. The average territory area was around two thousand mu, but territories with buffer forests had a total area of over three thousand mu. The larger the territory, the greater the potential gains, but also the greater the responsibility and workload.

For example, to eliminate the insect plague this time by adding high-grade Black Gardenia, Territory No. 8, which had no buffer forest and an area of only eighteen hundred mu, only needed to buy six plants; Territory No. 7, with a buffer forest and a total area of over thirty-seven hundred mu, needed to buy twelve. Xia Qing, whose territory was the largest, needed to buy twenty-three.

If it weren't for the pollution-free spring in Territory No. 3, Xia Qing, who planned to live alone, would never have chosen this territory.

Xia Qing turned off the walkie-talkie. After training until eleven at night and preparing to rest, Broken-Back Wolf returned. Its protective suit was covered in grass leaves, mud, and small insects, but it wasn't injured, and both its eyes were bright.

Broken-Back Wolf walked up to Xia Qing, raised its neck, and gestured for Xia Qing to take something out of its protective suit's pocket.