Chapter 306: Oil Press

At nine in the morning, the sun rose higher and the humidity inside the Evolution Forest began to drop. Xia Qing reunited with the people from Territory Seven, and together they headed for the Evolution Forest.

Territory Seven had sent two people: Ji Li and the female doctor Zhang He. Zhang He was the assistant when Zhang San performed surgery on the broken-waist wolf, and also the lead surgeon who did the eye operation on the sick wolf.

Because several of the research technicians in Territory Seven were surnamed Zhang, and calling them by surname alone couldn't tell them apart, Xia Qing called Zhang He "He-jie."

Capable figures in this territory, regardless of age, were uniformly addressed as "Brother" or "Sister."

Seeing that Zhang He was wearing the highest-safety-grade airtight protective suit, Xia Qing knew she wasn't a combat-type Evolver, and deliberately slowed their pace. The three-person team reached the top of the green-light Chinese Torreya slope only an hour later.

Ji Li went down first, gripping the Dengshan rope to scout the situation and clear the path. Xia Qing had cleared this route only yesterday, so there was only one danger.

Standing at the slope top protecting Zhang He, Xia Qing warned Ji Li, "Brother Ji, the vine with pale purple leaves two meters to your left is an aggressive plant. Don't touch it, or you'll get tangled and dragged down."

"Got it." Ji Li replied, and slid down the rope at speed.

Zhang He, who was preparing the reagents and containers for capturing the Evolution Ants, looked up and asked, "Young Lady Xia, may I collect a purple-leaf vine?"

Xia Qing nodded. "You can, but we don't know where that vine's roots are, nor how long the vines are. It's best to wait until you've finished collecting the Evolution Ants before digging up the purple-leaf vine."

Once Ji Li had finished scouting the path, Zhang He shouldered the Evolution Ant-catching gear and followed Ji Li down the slope, while Xia Qing was responsible for securing the rope and sniping aerial threats to Xia Qing.

Yesterday Xia Qing had just wiped out a flock of birds, so today when the three of them came, no Evolution bird flocks came to attack—though a few little squirrels stood on distant branches watching their way.

Xia Qing searched carefully and found that the red squirrels had not followed.

"Xia Qing, watch the birds' movements. We're starting to use the lure to draw the Evolution Ants out of their nest." Ji Li reported the progress of capturing the Evolution Ants through his earpiece-type communicator.

"Copy that. If Brother Ji sees a red squirrel, please don't hurt it." Xia Qing chambered a round and gripped her gun, watching the sky.

Xia Qing wasn't an olfactory Evolver, and she was wearing an ordinary protective mask, so she couldn't smell the lure. But she quickly spotted with her eyes Evolution birds taking off from every direction in the Evolution Forest, flying toward the camphor tree to gather. The trees on the slope were also trembling. Small animals in the forest were gathering at the camphor tree too, which showed how strong the scent was and how attractive it was to animals.

"Bang!"

The first shot was a blank; Xia Qing used the gunfire first to scatter the flock. About a third of the birds slowed or changed direction and flew away after hearing the shot, while the rest kept charging forward.

The thirty-plus birds that kept charging were picked off one by one by Xia Qing. Gunshots also rang out on the valley slope—Ji Li was shooting other animals approaching through the forest.

About ten minutes later, Zhang He's voice came through Xia Qing's earpiece: "Capture complete. Odor-neutralizing agent has been sprayed."

Five minutes after the odor-neutralizing agent was sprayed, the birds and animals began to withdraw. After Ji Li protected Zhang He up the slope with the Dengshan rope, he went back down to dig up the purple-leaf vine.

A single purple-leaf vine with only tangling ability was no match for Ji Li, but a whole patch of purple-leaf vines was a force not to be underestimated.

But Ji Li, a Level Seven speed Evolver, cleanly and decisively cut through the vines attacking him, quickly found the root system, dug one up, and returned to the slope top. He moved at speed across the steep, slippery slope without needing the rope for support—his center of gravity was extremely steady, his hand and leg techniques were precise, and not a single movement was wasted.

Xia Qing had only seen such skill on Luo Pei.

With the collection mission complete, the three-person team began to withdraw.

On the way there, Xia Qing led at the front and Ji Li brought up the rear. On the return trip, Ji Li led at the front and Xia Qing brought up the rear, with the non-combatant Zhang He still in the protected middle position.

There wasn't much danger in this area, so Xia Qing chatted quietly with Zhang He. "He-jie, will the lure you just used leave a scent on me? I keep a sheep and a few chickens, and I'm afraid it'll make them uneasy."

Besides the sheep and chickens, Xia Qing also had a wolf and a flock of swallows, but there was no need to mention that.

Zhang He explained, "That one is used to attract carnivorous animals. Sheep are herbivores, so it won't affect them."

Xia Qing asked softly, "Would it work on wolves?"

"Wolves are large carnivorous predators with a high degree of evolution and high intelligence, so their resistance to this kind of reagent is higher than small animals'." Thinking of Xia Qing's close relationship with the Evolution wolf, Zhang He added, "Reagents that can lure large predators aren't easy to formulate—ordinary people can't even get access to the raw materials."

Ordinary people can't get access, but non-ordinary people can. Xia Qing asked quietly, "If—and I mean if—a predator wears a fully enclosed protective mask that isolates outside scents, it wouldn't be affected by the reagent, right?"

Zhang He nodded. "Right. In this year's third Calamity Rain, there was a troop of monkeys wearing protective masks and carrying firearms that attacked the fruit-growing area of Hui-6 Base."

Ah, huh?

Xia Qing was stunned. The monkeys of Hui-6 Base had already been famous before the Catastrophe; after the Catastrophe, had they actually become spirits? Fortunately, there weren't many monkeys near their territory.

Zhang He, walking in the middle, sighed, her face worried. "Monkeys and apes have adapted to Blue Star's post-evolution ecosystem faster than humans. Their populations are multiplying rapidly."

Meanwhile, the human population was being cut down by Calamity after Calamity. Moreover, the low-Calamity-element food in the Evolution Forest that humans can eat was growing scarcer. Without enough food, the population would decline even faster—which was why the state was vigorously pushing the territory policy.

Xia Qing scraped the thick mud off her soles on a nearby rock. "Even if monkeys evolve, their average IQ is still way below humans. You do your research well, we do our farming well. With grain and medicine, humanity won't go extinct."

Zhang He in front also shook the heavy mud from her feet. "Right. If humans fight less among themselves and each does their part, we won't head toward extinction."

Each doing their part was right, but Ji Li felt Xia Qing could rise to a position more important than farming. "Xia Qing, you're improving fast. With professional training, you'd definitely become a top-tier sniper."

Xia Qing's self-positioning was crystal clear. "Brother Ji, these past six months I've been training with Brother Luo and Hu Zifeng. Brother Luo is our base's top sniper. It's because my teacher's great and my starting point was low that I've improved fast. I don't dare dream of being a top-tier sniper—if I can shoot dead the animals that sneak into the territory to steal grain, I'm already content."

Zhang He laughed, and Ji Li didn't bring the topic up again. When they parted at the North Isolation Belt, Ji Li and Xia Qing finalized the payment for this mission, and Ji Li escorted Zhang He back to Territory Seven.

This time Xia Qing wasn't just the guide—she'd also been responsible for sniping the birds in the air during the Evolution Ant capture, so the bullet costs should be covered by Territory Seven, which had proposed the team-up. On top of that, the collection site was inside the Evolution Forest Xia Qing had leased. With multiple factors stacked together, Xia Qing's payment for this mission was quite generous:

A small oil press.