Chapter 348: Pretty Lucky

The moment Xia Qing saw Huo Zhun, a very famous saying came to mind: dragons breed dragons, phoenixes breed phoenixes, and a mouse's son knows how to burrow.

Genes are just too powerful. Apart from having fewer wrinkles on his face than his old man, Huo Zhun looks like him everywhere — the same square face, puffy eyes, and broad, stocky build.

So the moment Huo Zhun took off his protective mask, Xia Qing didn't need a password — she took hers off too and greeted him. "Brother Huo, I'm Xia Qing. Sorry to trouble you making this trip."

"No trouble at all." It was Xia Qing's first time meeting Huo Zhun, but Huo Zhun had already seen her several times on the monitors of Territory Seven. Every time he saw the black blade Xia Qing wore, Huo Zhun would mutter a string of complaints about his old man, who always let his elbow point outward.

Watching Huo Zhun smilingly take the bag of pecans and python skin and carry it effortlessly in one hand, Xia Qing realized she had been wrong about one thing, and had also overlooked one thing:

Huo Zhun was different from his dad in one way — he was a man who liked to smile, and the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes were even deeper than his old man's.

Huo Zhun was also like his old man in one way — he was a strength evolver too, and his grip on the bag was the same as Xia Qing's.

Uncle Huo wanted two sets of python-skin protective gear, and one of them should be for Huo Zhun.

Huo Zhun exchanged phone numbers with Xia Qing, then instructed her, "I'll send you a form later. Measure the data precisely according to the form's requirements and send it to my dad, so he can prepare the fittings to your size first. Be sure to measure accurately, or the protective gear won't give you the best protection."

After receiving the form, Xia Qing found that some of the data required someone else to help measure. So she turned and hurried to Territory Five to ask her ally Yuan Yan for help.

She also took the chance to ask whether the strength evolvers Qi Fu and Yuan Yan wanted to trade for protective gear.

The moment Yuan Yan heard it was about taking measurements, she agreed readily at once.

After going inside, Xia Qing took off her protective suit, wearing only quick-dry shirt and pants, and asked Yuan Yan to help measure her body's data when exerting force.

When Xia Qing clenched her fist and flexed her biceps, Yuan Yan's eyes were full of admiration. After measuring in turn the specific data of Xia Qing's shoulders, fists, forearms, waist, and the waist and leg circumferences of her thighs and calves when exerting force, Yuan Yan's face was already full of admiration.

Strength and muscle size don't necessarily go hand in hand. Although Xia Qing was a high-level strength evolver, when her body was relaxed, she didn't have exaggerated bulging muscles, and even when exerting force, her muscles didn't bulge as much as Qi Fu's. But they were tight and well-defined, looking full of explosive power and strength — truly beautiful and reassuring. No wonder she could run through the Evolution Forest carrying four or five hundred jin of supplies.

Yuan Yan envied Xia Qing's muscles all over. If she weren't still not that close with Xia Qing, she would have loved to reach out and touch them.

Another thing was that Xia Qing often went in and out of the Evolution Forest on missions, yet she had no obvious scars on her body.

What does that say? It says Xia Qing is extremely strong!

Yuan Yan quietly encouraged herself — she would work hard too, and become as strong as Xia Qing.

After the measurements were done, Xia Qing immediately thanked her and put her protective suit back on.

Over the years, Xia Qing had grown used to keeping a safe distance from others. Just now she had been really too close to Yuan Yan. Although she knew Yuan Yan wouldn't hurt her, Xia Qing was still a bit tense.

It wasn't just Xia Qing — now the vast majority of humanity was the same.

Disasters, the lack of survival supplies, and the breakdown of order had driven mutual trust to its lowest point in history, widening the distance between people.

Keeping oneself outside others' attack range at all times had become most people's instinct.

After putting her protective suit back on, Xia Qing asked, "Sister-in-law, I've gotten some hardness-evolved python skin. Do you and Brother Qi want two sets of protective gear? You don't have to pay me the points now — we can settle up after next summer's harvest."

Protective gear made specifically for strength evolvers can protect the muscles and bones at key points when exerting force, reducing the bodily damage caused by overexertion. Who could refuse such a good thing?

Yuan Yan agreed at once and solemnly thanked Xia Qing.

Xia Qing sent the form to Qi Fu, asking them to measure each other's data and send it back to her. She would then send it all to Uncle Huo and ask him to make the gear to size.

Uncle Huo seemed to be holding his phone waiting for news. The moment Xia Qing sent the measurements, she got a reply: what do you want to make with the leftover python skin?

Xia Qing replied: make it all into gloves and shoulder armor according to the Size 1 measurements.

In Xia Qing's experience, those two pieces of gear wore out the fastest.

After handling the matter of the protective gear, Xia Qing went back to making the protective covers for the green-light spinach.

The green-light spinach seeds were about to mature, and she had to cover them with tin protective covers. Otherwise, when the spinach seeds matured and exploded, they wouldn't just destroy the greenhouse frames and rainproof cloth — the seeds would also blast everywhere, and collecting them would take a huge amount of time.

These were no ordinary green-light vegetable seeds — they were spinach seeds containing the Gao Yi element, each one worth 100 points. Every single one had to end up in the bag.

Before she had even finished one cover, Xia Qing got a call from Zhang San.

Zhang San's voice was lazy, but Xia Qing could tell he was in a good mood. "Xia Qing, I can prepare a potion to soak the python skin you sent over, to improve its toughness, corrosion resistance, and breathability, so the gear will feel more comfortable when you wear it."

Her idol didn't call just to hand out benefits. Xia Qing, who knew how things worked, asked, "Thank you, Brother San. How many pecans do you want in exchange for the potion?"

Zhang San cheerfully gave the number: "Twenty jin."

Anything Zhang San produced was bound to be top quality — and the price was equally dazzling. Xia Qing, who had over seven hundred jin of pecans, agreed: "Okay."

After trading for the delicious pecans, foodie Zhang San began sharing tips with Xia Qing. "The pecans you gathered have thin shells and thick flesh, and the taste isn't bad, but there's still some astringency. For pecans you don't plan to save for seed, you can soak and rinse them in clean water or light salt water to remove the astringency, change the water once a day, and after three days scoop them out and air-dry them — the astringency will be gone."

Xia Qing noted it down at once. "Brother San, can these pecans be pressed for oil? I see they have a pretty high oil content."

"You can. But eating them directly has the highest nutritional value. Nuts like walnuts have the function of strengthening the brain, but don't eat more than four a day." After answering Xia Qing's question, Zhang San asked, "The green-light evolved pecan trees discovered before all had very strong aggression. What kind of attack type does the one you found have?"

Getting no response from Xia Qing, Zhang San assumed she didn't know how to answer, and asked more specifically, "Is it physical attack, poisonous gas attack, or has it formed a symbiotic relationship with some kind of animal or plant? If it's the latter two, I'd like to collect samples for research."

Xia Qing told the truth. "Brother San, I don't know which one. Because when I found it, the main trunk of the pecan tree had been knocked over, and the crown had separated from the trunk and fallen to the ground. That place was a battlefield where wolves, bears, and snakes had fought. There were quite a few corpses of Category Three animals. I didn't find any insects symbiotic with the pecan tree, and the air didn't contain any poisonous gas. But I'm not sure whether the gas had dissipated or whether it just doesn't release any."

I see…

Zhang San lazily yawned. "You're pretty lucky."

Xia Qing replied very sincerely, "Brother San, everyone who's still alive in the tenth year of the catastrophe has escaped death many times to get here."

The unlucky ones died long ago.