Chapter 282: The Hen Lays an Egg!

After Tan Junjie left, Xia Qing returned to her territory and carefully examined the two Green Lantern mint plants she had just obtained.

Mint is a common herb with many uses, and it's a gathering task posted year-round on the mission bulletin board—one Xia Qing looks for every time she enters the Evolution Forest.

These two mint plants weren't just Green Lantern grade; they were an evolved variety with a strong green fragrance. Not only were they lush and leafy, they also had three clusters of pale purple flowers, and the wilted blooms beneath the flower umbels had already produced quite a few tiny seeds.

Many insects dislike the pungent scent of evolved mint, so planting them around the house provides a certain insect-repelling effect. If she raised these two plants well, next year she could divide and sow them to have a whole plant protection belt.

Xin Yu really lives up to being someone who occupies a three-story villa, raises roses, and keeps birds—truly generous. She can be listed as a resource-trading partner.

Clutching the two mint plants with their flowers and seeds, Xia Qing walked with great care, afraid of jarring the tiny seeds off the plants.

Sheep Boss, lying in the shade of a tree, saw Xia Qing returning with a pot of plants, sniffed with his nose, immediately stood up to greet her, and opened his mouth to bite.

Xia Qing held the pot high with one hand and plucked off just one leaf to give him. Sheep Boss munched it down in a few bites, blinked his big eyes, and wanted more.

Xia Qing refused Sheep Boss's cute act and very seriously reasoned with him, "This is evolved Green Lantern mint—very precious. See the flowers on top? They're full of seeds. You can't eat it now. We need to let it produce lots of seeds so we can plant a whole patch next year."

Speaking of which, with Green Lantern perilla, Green Lantern alfalfa, Green Lantern ice grass, and Green Lantern mint, next year not only her meals but Sheep Boss's meals would improve a lot. Xia Qing hugged the pot and walked back, grinning happily.

Seeing Xia Qing wouldn't give him any, Sheep Boss lay back down and continued chewing his cud.

Xia Qing placed the Green Lantern mint on the second-floor balcony to grow. When her gaze shifted to the Green Lantern flat-spike ice grass beside it, she sighed.

She had originally planned to wait until the migratory bird season ended, then trade supplies with the Broken-Waist Wolf and have it take her to gather Green Lantern ice grass seeds—but that plan was probably going to fall through.

"Chirp chirp, cheep cheep."

Hearing the bird calls, Xia Qing looked out the window and saw four swallows perched on a nearby house ruin, cheerfully preening their feathers.

After her vision evolved, Xia Qing noticed the swallows weren't pitch-black but a blue-black that shimmered with a metallic sheen in the sunlight—very beautiful. Thinking that this flock of small migratory birds would fly away from her territory tomorrow and she wouldn't see them again until next March, Xia Qing watched them for a few extra moments.

She didn't expect that the next day, when Xia Qing and Sheep Boss were carrying water tanks to irrigate the terraced fields, she'd find the swallows still darting around her territory, catching mosquitoes and flies. Xia Qing's eyes lit up. She pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Brother Qi, you there?"

Qi Fu responded quickly, "I'm here."

Xia Qing asked, "Brother Qi, do you know how many insects a swallow can catch in a day?"

Qi Fu answered, "I really don't know that, but evolved swallows are bigger now—they definitely eat more than before."

Li Si gave a professional answer, "If you measure by larvae, an ordinary evolved swallow eats 90 to 120 moth larvae about two centimeters long per day."

"Thanks, Sister Si." One swallow eats a hundred, so over twenty swallows eat a thousand a day! Two non-professional insect-killing evolved wolves left, but a flock of professional insect-killing swallows arrived—could this count as "losing at the eastern fence, gaining at the mulberry tree"?

Li Si asked, "The flock of swallows chased by the sparrowhawk yesterday is still here? That's too few swallows. If they confirm your territory is safe, they should stay a few days, wait for the next batch of migrating birds to arrive, then team up with them to migrate together."

Zhao Ze picked up the thread, "The main migratory flock has already passed. If they can't find other swallow flocks, will they stay in our territory for the winter?"

Kuang Qingwei answered, "Probably not. Our winters here are nearly ten degrees colder than before the catastrophe. Swallows never wintered here before, so it's even less likely now."

Li Si gave a professional answer, "The main reasons swallows migrate are food and climate. Evolved swallows are still used to catching flying insects in the air, so in principle they won't stay through winter in areas without enough food. If you want them to stay, you need to prepare insect-meal feed for them."

Before Assistant Xiao Liu from Territory Nine could come online to discuss the price of Territory Nine's "exclusively patented" insect-meal feed, Xia Qing pressed the button and said, "Our winters really aren't suitable for swallows. I'll be plenty happy if they stay in my territory for a few days."

One extra day means a thousand more insects, flies, or mosquitoes destroyed—way better combat power than omnivorous crows and magpies.

Xia Qing cheerfully hoisted a water tank filled to over three hundred jin and walked up the slope in one go, with Sheep Boss behind her carrying two water tanks of over two hundred jin each.

Then Sheep Boss munched on a cucumber and watched over the terraced fields while Xia Qing wandered through the crops catching insects.

Little red and green chili peppers crowded the branches—even eating only Green Lantern grade, Xia Qing alone couldn't finish them all. The sweet potatoes in the ground were starting to grow, pushing up clods of soil. The white and green radishes were swelling too, already thicker than Xia Qing's arm. The sunflower heads drooped as their neatly arranged seeds grew larger. More pumpkins had grown—they needed to be picked and stored in the cellar…

Moving to the lower-slope terraces, Xia Qing moved the large stone blocking the pollution-free spring's opening, lifted out the full twenty-liter water tank, screwed the cap tight, packed it into her backpack, and carried it up the slope to irrigate the high-Yi-element Green Lantern spinach field.

The Green Lantern spinach was starting to bolt and would flower soon. Based on the seed yield of the first crop, this patch of evolved spinach should produce thirty thousand seeds. These are spinach seeds with a Yi element content of six ten-thousandths—one seed worth a hundred points. Subtracting the 2,600 seeds traded with Yang Jin for weapons and diesel, and setting aside what she needs to sow next year, the rest could still be sold for 2.5 million points!

And that's just the seeds—the spinach plants that can be made into premium nutrient fluid haven't even been counted. If someday she can't hold out anymore, these points would be enough for Xia Qing to build walls and string electric fences around her territory!

The more Xia Qing thought about it, the more motivated she became. She ran like the wind carrying several hundred jin of water tank, which fired up Sheep Boss's competitive spirit—he galloped after her with his water buckets.

After watering over twenty terraces, the two strength-evolved lords still had energy to spare. Sheep Boss pawed the ground, challenging Xia Qing to a fight.

Without a word, Xia Qing rolled up her sleeves and charged. But before she even reached Sheep Boss, she heard "cluck-cluck," "cluck-cluck"—chicken calls coming from the village.

That was the sound a hen makes after laying an egg. Xia Qing's face lit up at once. "Boss, our hen laid an egg! We're having eggs today!!! Boss!"

"Maa—"

Sheep Boss, who doesn't eat eggs, was annoyed by Xia Qing's fussing and butted her flying with one horn.