Chapter 311: Operation Cancelled

Horse-ear vegetable's scientific name is purslane; when fresh and tender, whether served cold or stir-fried, it makes a fine dish. On sunny summer days, you can pick edible horse-ear vegetable, snip off the roots and wash it clean, then blanch it in boiling water and sun-dry it for airtight storage. Xia Qing's territory also has edible horse-ear vegetable, and she dried quite a lot of it in summer.

In a year of natural disasters, nothing shows sincerity better than gifting food — especially green-light food.

Xia Qing accepted the horse-ear vegetable Zhao's Mother brought over and discussed with her, "Auntie, a few days ago invaders entered my territory through this valley. If Captain Tan hadn't discovered it early, the grain I worked so hard to grow would have been lost. I think the valley between our two territories is a huge gap — a major safety hazard. We should block it before the autumn harvest."

The two territories are divided by the valley's river channel, so to block the valley path leading from the northern isolation belt into the territory, Xia Qing had to negotiate with Territory Four and reach an agreement before taking action.

Zhao's Mother stared with wide eyes in surprise, "When did this happen?"

Xia Qing briefly explained what had happened. The case of Jiang Xiong's squad entering Territory Three hadn't been concluded yet, and no announcement had been issued, so nearby lords were still in the dark.

Zhao's Mother immediately agreed to Xia Qing's proposal, "Right, our grain is about to ripen. The sooner we block this gap, the sooner we can rest easy. Once it's blocked, it won't just keep people out — it'll keep wild beasts out too. Last time, if you hadn't shot all the water rats that swam over, who knows what our territory would have been wrecked into."

After expressing her agreement, Zhao's Mother immediately produced a plan, "I have two big evolved Aralia trees here, with hard, long thorns. Tomorrow I'll have Zhao Ze lead people to saw them down."

Discussing things with a straightforward person is straightforward. Xia Qing's usually expressionless face also showed a smile, "We're on the same page. I have Aralia trees in my territory too — I'll cut down two big ones and bring them over."

Aralia is also called thorny tender shoots. If the qiang element content is low, the tender shoots growing on the tree are edible. But unfortunately, the few trees in Xia Qing's territory are all red-light. The thorns on evolved Aralia trees are over twenty centimeters long, sharp and sturdy — excellent material for fencing.

After reaching agreement with Zhao's Mother, action-oriented pioneer Xia Qing went home and immediately opened the garage door, attached a digging shovel to the micro-tiller, and set off to dig up the trees. Because those two Aralia trees were also near the qiang-evolved cotton plants, they needed to be cleared out as soon as possible.

Seeing Xia Qing drive out the micro-tiller, Sheep Boss immediately jumped onto his dedicated seat. Sick Wolf followed along and squatted to the side, gazing at Xia Qing with eager eyes.

"You want a ride too? Wait a moment."

Xia Qing briskly removed the micro-tiller's rain cover, installed a seat on the left track's guard plate, and beckoned to Sick Wolf, "Lao Er, get up here and sit. We're going to dig up trees."

Sick Wolf immediately sat on the seat with a happy huff, nuzzled Xia Qing's arm with his head in delight. Sheep Boss was also pleased and bleated at Xia Qing once, praising her for having good sense.

Sitting in the driver's seat, with a wolf on her left and a sheep on her right, Xia Qing was brimming with happiness as she started the micro-tiller and headed for the Aralia trees.

Tang Huai, who was digging worms in Territory Two, heard the familiar noise and started cursing again, "Zhou Xun, go see what that stinking woman is doing. So damn noisy."

Xia Qing quickly felled the two Aralia trees, each over six meters tall, sawed them into sections, loaded them onto the sheep cart, and had Sheep Boss haul them to the edge of the valley. Hauling logs didn't strictly require the fuel-burning micro-tiller, but using Sheep Boss was more cost-effective.

The key was, Sheep Boss also really enjoyed this kind of farm work that could be completed with just physical effort.

Because freshly dug-up tree roots still have vitality, they can't be dug into pits and buried as fence posts right away. Otherwise, during the next qiang rain, the red-light Aralia trees — whose bodily balance has already been disrupted — would very likely undergo qiang evolution. These things are covered in thorns; if they underwent aggressive qiang evolution, their killing power would be absolutely terrifying.

So, what Xia Qing and Zhao's Mother agreed on was each contributing two Aralia trees, first piling the branches and trunks in the valley to block the passage from the valley into both territories, and once the trees dried, turning them into a sturdy thorny fence wall.

After moving the two Aralia trees into the valley, a fifteen-meter-wide isolation belt was cleared next to the qiang-evolved cotton plants.

Safety Hazard #1 — the cotton plants that release flammable gas. An isolation belt has now been cleared around them, so even if the cotton plants catch fire, it won't trigger a wildfire.

Safety Hazard #2 — the valley that allowed covert entry into Territory Three has been blocked.

Actually, directly uprooting the qiang-evolved plants would be a once-and-for-all solution. But Xia Qing wanted to keep this patch of cotton around to see what tricks Territory Two's people were up to. She could also seize this opportunity to squeeze another hefty sum out of the Sufeng Squad.

In Territory Two, Tang Huai regretfully told Qian Lin, "Xia Qing cleared the area around the qiang-evolved cotton plants."

"Why would she clear it today? That's too much of a coincidence." Qian Lin, who had already prepared to act tonight, looked Tang Huai up and down with suspicious eyes.

Tang Huai rolled his eyes dramatically, "I only got auditory evolution. She wasn't muttering to herself about why she was doing this while she worked — how the hell would I know!"

A Sufeng team member inside the room asked quietly, "Brother Lin, are we still moving this year?"

"Let me ask for instructions." Qian Lin subtly shot Tang Huai a couple of looks, gave his subordinate a signal with his eyes, then took his phone and walked far away — clearly intending to report on Tang Huai's situation as well.

Qian Lin's squad members stood beside Tang Huai and talked loudly, making it obvious they didn't want him to eavesdrop on Qian Lin's side.

Tang Huai rolled his eyes, crossed his legs, and hummed a little tune, showing he didn't care at all what Qian Lin was doing.

Before long, Qian Lin returned with a dark expression, "Operation cancelled."

After Qian Lin led his team away, Zhou Xun sidled up to Tang Huai, "Boss, that Qian guy is only a Level Four strength evolver — his abilities are way worse than yours. He's stepping on you like this — aren't you angry?"

Tang Huai swung his crossed leg and lazily asked, imitating Zhang San's tone, "Angry? What do you want to do about it?"

Zhou Xun clenched his fist, "Kill him."

"Great, you go ahead."

Zhou Xun……

Tang Huai shot him a look, "If you don't have the guts to do it yourself, then stop goddamn nagging in my ear. Get lost and carry out your mission."

It was already dark, and no one was watching — what mission was there to carry out? He wasn't stupid. Zhou Xun snickered, "Boss, what do you think Vice Captain Xu actually wants to do?"

"You want to know?"

"Yes."

"If you want to know, go ask Xu Pin yourself."

Zhou Xun……

After everyone had left, Tang Huai finally stood up, stretched, hummed a little tune, and strolled over to the northern wasteland grass wall to eavesdrop on Territory Three's movements.

The leaves bitten off by thorn insects on the wasteland grass wall had grown back, so Tang Huai couldn't see what was happening inside Territory Three. But he seemed to hear Xia Qing call out "Lao Er."

Tang Huai knew Xia Qing's evolved sheep was called Boss, so most likely this "Lao Er" was the evolved wolf. Tang Huai was dying to tear open the wasteland grass wall and burrow into Territory Three to take a look.

After dinner, after watching the news broadcast and the farming knowledge broadcast, Xia Qing checked the five cameras in her territory, then discussed with Sick Wolf, "Lao Er, shall we patrol the territory? I've got this uneasy feeling."

Full and satisfied, Sick Wolf stood up from the tatami, showing with action that he was willing to go. Sheep Boss squinted and lay still, also showing with action that he had zero interest.

Xia Qing hadn't planned to bring him along anyway — Sheep Boss's white coat was like a glowing beacon at night, far too conspicuous.

That night passed without incident. The next evening, Xia Qing patrolled as usual. By ten at night, after instructing Sick Wolf, who slept at the very center of the territory, to report any situation promptly, she returned home and had just lain down on the bed when her phone rang.

Xia Qing picked up her phone, glanced at it, and immediately sat up.