Chapter 287: Pine-Nut Corn

Xia Qing felt this matter was very important and had to be figured out as soon as possible. Since she couldn't figure it out herself, she'd ask someone who could, so she sent Ji Li a message:

"Ji, I got some green-light pine cones before the insect plague and shelled pine nuts today—they taste pretty good. Want me to send some over to Third Brother?"

Ji Li replied quickly: I'll come pick them up in fifteen minutes.

Xia Qing finished weeding under the green-light prickly ash and passionfruit trees before retrieving the two jin of green-light pine nuts she'd prepared for the inspection team to deliver to Territory Eight, and waited by the isolation belt.

It was almost dark, and with an undisciplined squad like Jiang Xiong's around, the inspection team had to keep constant watch and definitely wouldn't have time to deliver supplies for her today. So Xia Qing sent Xin Yu a message, explaining the reason and suggesting she deliver the supplies the next day instead.

Xia Qing had originally planned to send some to Zhang San after bringing back the green-light pine cones, and the timing today was just right.

Ji Li arrived right on time at the north isolation belt of Territory Three. Xia Qing handed him the two jin of green-light pine nuts, then humbly asked how the evolved dogs had managed to detect her.

Ji Li cleared up her confusion: "Scent is released by volatile compounds produced by living things, food, or chemicals. Odor neutralizer only stops the sprayed area from releasing volatile compounds for a period, but it can't stop scents from unsprayed areas from drifting in. You're carrying smells that don't belong in this buffer forest, and scent-hound evolvers will pick up on them."

Xia Qing understood: although the sprayed area didn't release volatile compounds, other areas still did. Her protective suit had picked up new smells, and wherever she passed or lingered, she still left a scent behind—just a different one from before.

Xia Qing had sprayed the odor neutralizer after returning from Territory Eight, but she hadn't sprayed Big Sheep, and she'd stayed with Big Sheep the whole time afterward, even collecting pine nuts. So the evolved dogs had smelled sheep and pine nuts?

No wonder they'd been so worked up...

After Ji Li left, when Xia Qing picked some green-light vegetables from the terraced fields to head home and cook, she heard Zhao Ze shouting into Territory Three through a loudspeaker.

"Xia Qing, turn on your walkie-talkie! Shi Du is looking for you—"

The lords who owned loudspeakers had unlocked yet another way to communicate.

Xia Qing turned on her walkie-talkie. "Zhao, I heard you, thanks. Shi Du, you're looking for me?"

Shi Du responded immediately. "Sister Qing, the quilts are fluffed. Want me to bring them over now?"

When Xia Qing arrived at the signpost, she noticed Tang Huai wasn't standing at the signpost on the other side of the passage, and to her surprise, it felt a little odd.

Seeing Xia Qing come out, Shi Du ran up to her with a big bundle on his back, flashing a wide grin. "Sister Qing, the cotton you gave me fluffed out to twenty-seven jin of cotton wool. I made two winter quilts weighing five jin each, two spring/autumn quilts weighing three jin each, and packed the remaining eleven jin of cotton wool into this blue bag, fluffed to one meter wide."

"Thanks." Xia Qing took the cotton wool and asked quietly, "You've delivered to Territory Two?"

"Not yet." Shi Du lowered his voice. "Tang Huai was in a bad mood just now and told me to deliver another day. When I was delivering quilts to Zhao, I saw Kou Fanming lead his team into Territory Two. Sister Qing, be careful these next couple days."

Kou Fanming was an elastic evolver, wearing a protective suit covered in blades, with extremely brutal combat methods—a figure who made people in Hui-3 Base turn pale at the mention of his name. Only then did Xia Qing realize Shi Du's real purpose in calling her over to pick up the quilts was to pass along information.

Tang Huai being in a bad mood was definitely because Kou Fanming had given him a hard time.

It was almost dark, and the evolved forest was dangerous at night. Jiang Xiong's two squads had split off from Sufeng Squad, clearly not planning to spend the night in Territory Two. So their lodging destination was probably the Azure Dragon Squad's Territory One.

Xia Qing didn't head straight home. Carrying the cotton wool, she ambled over to the west buffer forest and, sure enough, found more than ten of Jiang Xiong's people standing at the entrance to Mountain 49, negotiating with the Azure Dragon Squad to pitch tents on the mountain for the night.

Xia Qing heard Tang Zhou repeatedly bring up the rules and difficulties of entering the mountain without giving a clear refusal, and knew Tang Zhou was planning to set Jiang Xiong up. As for how, or whose idea it was, Xia Qing wasn't interested. She carried the cotton wool home to cook.

She wasn't worried about Jiang Xiong's squad causing trouble at night, because Tan Junjie would definitely send people to keep an eye on them. Honestly, Xia Qing felt that with Tan Junjie's abilities, being responsible only for patrolling ten territories and running danger checks was a waste of his talents.

Back home, she saw a row of swallows perched on the bamboo pole under her eaves—looked like they wouldn't be continuing their migration tonight. These swallows knew how to pick a spot. The area around her house was kept very clean, so staying here was safer than anywhere else in the territory.

Going inside and turning on the light, Xia Qing showed Big Sheep the corn she'd broken off. "This is the biggest one from our shed. Tonight we're making pine-nut corn."

She'd been looking forward to this dish for a long time.

Xia Qing took two frozen steamed buns out of the fridge and set them on the steamer, then peeled back the husk to reveal the dark-red kernels inside. The color didn't surprise her at all—she'd already seen it earlier.

This ear of corn was from the plot grown from the two jin of corn seeds Luo Pei had given her. Because that plot's corn had been planted twenty days earlier than the corn from the seeds distributed in the Safe Zone, its tasseling, flowering, and ear formation were all ahead of the other plot. In another ten-plus days, it would be ready to harvest.

Before breaking it off, Xia Qing had peeled back a bit of the husk to confirm the kernels had grown plump and tender enough to burst with juice at a pinch—only then did she break the ear off.

As for why yellow corn kernels had been planted but dark-red corn had grown, Xia Qing had no idea. After the Great Evolution of life on Blue Star, plants had become all manner of strange things. As long as the qiang element content was below fifteen parts per thousand and it didn't contain excessive radiation or toxins, anything edible was a good plant.

Pine-nut corn made with dark-red kernels and dark-yellow pine nuts—honestly, the color wasn't pretty, but the ingredients were fresh enough that the taste was decent.

Xia Qing asked Big Sheep, who was gnawing corn husks and stalks at the opposite table, "What do you think, boss? Pretty good corn, right?"

Big Sheep really did seem to like it, and actually looked up to reply, "Baa."

Xia Qing picked up a bowl of grain porridge made from instant rations and took a sip. She hadn't eaten rations much lately, but today she suddenly found herself missing the taste and rough texture. "You like it? Easy then—once we harvest all the corn, every single stalk is yours."

Big Sheep didn't say another word, just buried its head in the food.

"Now interrupting with an urgent weather forecast: according to predictions, between 8:30 and 9 tonight, Hui-3 Base will experience a thunderstorm accompanied by short-period strong winds, with localized gusts reaching Force 7. Lords, please prepare for high winds as soon as possible."

After the Great Evolution of life on Blue Star, cloud formations changed too quickly, making weather forecasting far more difficult. In the early years, sudden catastrophic weather could only be predicted ten or so minutes in advance. In the past two years, forecasting capability had improved, allowing predictions over an hour ahead.

But small-scale, sudden catastrophic weather was still very hard to predict—like the hailstorm that hit Xia Qing's territory back in July.

This terminal news broadcast on Hui-3 Base had interrupted regular programming for a weather forecast, which meant the thunderstorm's reach was no small matter. It was nearly 7:30 now, and in one hour the storm would arrive!