Chapter 276: Companions

The next day, after returning from patrolling her territory, Xia Qing found that the evolved ice grass planted in the pot was wilting a little from the sun, but Xia Qing, no longer a novice farmer, wasn't worried at all.

The evolved ice grass has vigorous vitality; she had used the best potting soil and watered it with unpolluted spring water, so it would definitely survive until its seeds matured.

Today Xia Qing wouldn't leave her territory; her task was pest control.

After two days of frenzied growth, the first batch of evolved thorn bugs that had burrowed out and weren't killed by the pesticide had already grown to nearly two centimeters long; if they chewed leaves for one more day, they'd burrow into the soil to pupate.

The surviving evolved thorn bugs had pesticide resistance. If they successfully pupated into thorn moths, this time next year the territory would face an even worse insect plague.

Xia Qing's territory was huge, so she definitely couldn't manage alone. Beard Feng's squad arrived early. In the afternoon, after finishing pest-catching in their own territories, Territory No. 5 and Territory No. 4 both sent people to help Xia Qing catch bugs. Xia Qing paid the two lords three points per worker as wages.

The going rate for hiring ordinary people to farm in a territory was four points a day. Since Zhao Ze and Qi Fu had sent people to help, of course Xia Qing couldn't let them pay the workers' wages for her.

Four points doesn't sound like much, but when Xia Qing was a deputy squad leader on a construction crew in the Safe Zone, she could only earn five points after a hard day's work. Many jobs ordinary people could do paid only one or two points a day.

One point could buy a compressed ration. If the standard was not starving to death during disaster years, one compressed ration boiled with water into porridge was enough to feed an ordinary adult for a day.

So, although farming in a territory was more dangerous than working in the Safe Zone, some people were still willing to risk it for the higher wages.

At dusk, after Xia Qing saw the two lords out of her territory, Tang Huai, standing under the Territory No. 2 signpost, greeted her warmly. "Xia Qing, all the bugs caught? Lots of people really helps—it went fast."

"Mm."

Having traded her protective suit for the yi stone, Xia Qing was in an excellent mood, and even found Tang Huai, who had provided the suit, pleasant to look at.

Unexpectedly receiving a response from Xia Qing, Tang Huai excitedly stepped forward two paces. "How about I help you catch bugs tomorrow? I can work from dawn to dusk, no points needed, no meals required. You know, when it comes to catching bugs, no one in this patch of territory is more professional than me."

"No need." Xia Qing turned and walked back inside.

"That ugly woman—I'll kill her sooner or later!" Zhou Xun walked over and cursed in a low voice, then asked for instructions. "Boss, it's almost dark, shall we head back?"

"Head back, my ass! Who told you we stop working when it gets dark? Did you figure out why there was such a big commotion in Territory No. 1 today? Get over there and keep watch!"

After taking out his anger on Zhou Xun, Tang Huai once again gazed longingly toward Territory No. 3.

The wild grass wall of Territory No. 3 had its leaves chewed ragged by evolved bugs and could no longer fully block the view. Tang Huai peeked through the faint gaps.

Even if he couldn't see wolves, seeing crazy sheep would do. Failing that, seeing a chicken would be fine too. He was just far too curious about Territory No. 3.

If Xia Qing would hire him to work in her territory, he'd immediately leave the Sufeng Squad and join Territory No. 3. He'd work even without pay, as long as he got to walk the evolved wolves.

Water the wild grass wall and it'd grow back fast. Xia Qing didn't bother with the masochistic Tang Huai any longer, went to the buffer forest to fetch a bucket of unpolluted spring water, then went home to discuss important matters with Sick Wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf.

Although the pesticide mixed with advanced evolved black gardenia grass had killed 95% of the evolved thorn moth larvae, because the base number of this batch of bugs was large, the remaining 5% was still no small amount.

The bugs in mountain zones forty-nine and fifty could let insect-eating animals like birds, snakes, frogs, and lizards eat their fill, so hardly any would come to the human-gathered territories to kill bugs. Therefore, wiping out these evolved bugs still had to rely on the forces within the territory.

Because Xia Qing and her animal companions were diligent enough, the snakes, frogs, and lizards in the territory were nearly caught out.

Birds? Ever since Xia Qing stole the egret eggs back, those two egrets had moved away, and within Xia Qing's several-thousand-mu territory, there were no longer any resident birds—she couldn't count on them.

Since wild ones couldn't be relied on, Xia Qing used domesticated ones.

Xia Qing had Sheep Boss lead the insect-eating chicken flock to kill bugs in the village. After being taught a lesson a few times, the black-feathered rooster no longer dared provoke Sheep Boss, and went wherever Sheep Boss told it to.

Today, while Xia Qing was busy outside catching bugs, Sheep Boss drove the chicken flock and caught all the bugs in the village.

Every creature has its predator. Even the fiercest evolved thorn bug was only a little over two centimeters long—in the eyes of an evolved chicken, it was a vegetable. Even some fast-moving bugs that had already burrowed into the soil intending to pupate were dug out and eaten by the chickens.

But this was only in the village. Within Xia Qing's seven-thousand-mu territory, plenty of evolved bugs had escaped human notice and were feeding day and night.

Kill one bug now, and there'll be one fewer moth next year. A single female moth can lay at least five hundred eggs. So right now, the more bugs you can kill, the more you should kill.

Humans couldn't keep working at night, but the wolves, who'd rested at home all day, could.

Sick Wolf was very obedient. After drinking the meat porridge Xia Qing served it and watching Xia Qing's hands-on demonstration to understand how to kill bugs, it set out wearing its protective suit. But Broken-Waist Wolf just lay on the tatami and didn't move.

Sheep Boss would work after a compliment; Sick Wolf would work for food. But this remaining brain-evolved wolf wasn't so easy to boss around.

Xia Qing's eyes rolled, and she went upstairs to fetch a few strings of polished, lustrous pearl necklaces. "Broken-Waist, look—these are pearl necklaces. Pretty?"

Broken-Waist Wolf couldn't speak, but wherever Xia Qing's hand holding the necklace moved, its eyes followed.

Xia Qing quickly figured out which necklace it liked best, held it out in front of it, and negotiated terms. "Go kill bugs, and tomorrow morning this necklace is yours."

Broken-Waist Wolf stared silently at the necklace without moving. Xia Qing understood, and simply hung the pearl necklace around its neck. "Alright, I'll pay you first—go kill bugs."

Watching Broken-Waist Wolf finally stand up, stretch, and push the door open to leave, Xia Qing couldn't help but complain.

Evolved Blue Star animals were truly beyond crazy—there was no limit. Who would have thought a brain-evolved male wolf would be this vain, liking necklaces strung from pink and white pearls?

Put a protective suit on it?

No need! This morning, just as Xia Qing had just gotten up, it had already asked her to put one on it, and had been showing off all day.

Xia Qing put on a necklace with a single black pearl. Of all the pearls, Xia Qing liked this black one best.

There weren't many black pearls in the bag Yang Jin had given her—not enough to string a whole necklace. Xia Qing had tried trading with Chang Li and the others in Territory No. 1; although they all had pearls of various colors, none matched the size of Xia Qing's black pearls. So Xia Qing simply made a single-pearl necklace.

This thing was quite comfortable and nice to wear, but she could only wear it indoors. When heading into the evolved forest on a mission, anything without practical use was dead weight.

Xia Qing brushed Sheep Boss's coat for a while to reward its hard day, then put on her night-vision goggles and went up to the loft, where she quickly spotted two wolves patrolling the territory and killing bugs.

After the parasites were removed, Sick Wolf's body recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye. It was now quite spirited, and its paw—clad in a shoe—smacking bugs was sharp and agile.

Broken-Waist Wolf remained unhurried, searching everywhere for the two kinds of evolved bugs in Xia Qing's pictures, then swatting them dead with one paw—its movements were actually a bit dashing.

With two evolved wolves guarding the territory at night, Xia Qing felt completely at ease. She yawned and pulled down the curtain.