Chapter 396: The Worm Digger's Secret

Xia Qing...

Tang Huai had one very impressive skill: no matter how you felt before meeting him, the moment he opened his mouth, you'd want to punch him.

"Thirty green-light chicken eggs. Count them."

"Alright." Tang Huai immediately took them carefully, confirmed none were broken, and kept rambling, "Originally my family had green-light chickens too, but during the third Calamity Rain, the breeding staff made an operational mistake that lowered the chickens' quality, so I came to you to trade for premium eggs..."

Xia Qing asked, "What kind of mistake?"

Tang Huai paused, huffing, "Forgot to close the rain shield, let the chickens get soaked in red Calamity Rain. My sister blamed herself terribly over it."

That "operational mistake" was hard to call anything but deliberate. Xia Qing didn't press about the Tang family's affairs and asked about the main reason he'd sought her out today. "Are your chickens pen-raised, cage-raised, or free-range? What feed do you use?"

Now that Xia Qing had a high-grade evolved green-light chicken, she was especially invested in how to raise chickens to improve their quality. The way Territory Seven raised green-light chickens wasn't something she could use, so she needed to learn how others did it.

Tang Huai answered, "Pen-raising or free-range doesn't give you good control over what the chickens eat. My family uses cages. We feed them edible vegetables, bran, insects, or insect meal. What do you feed yours? How do you raise your chickens?"

Me? I feed them pollution-free spring water and edible vegetables, pen-raise them, and they eat whatever bugs they dig up from the soil.

Xia Qing certainly couldn't tell the truth, so she answered vaguely, "Pretty much the same as you. Where do you buy the insects and insect meal you feed your chickens?"

Tang Huai suddenly understood why Xia Qing had come to him. "Before, we bought edible insect meal from the Safe Zone Breeding Center—the same kind used to make Ration One."

One of the main reasons Ration One costs more than the others is that it has edible insect meal added in, giving it higher nutritional value than rations made from grass, vegetables, or grain.

Raising chickens requires feeding them some insects or insect meal. This not only makes the meat tastier and more nutritious, it also boosts disease resistance. Post-calamity high-quality chickens need to be fed high-quality green-light bugs, otherwise the Calamity Element content in their bodies rises and their quality drops.

The reason Xia Qing's pen-raised chickens could dig up and eat bugs of unknown grade from the soil without any drop in meat or egg quality was that she fed them pollution-free spring water and used Yi Stones to protect the flock during Calamity Rain periods.

Winter was coming, and bugs in the shallow soil layer would become scarce, so she'd need to feed the chickens insect meal or insects. The first trading partner Xia Qing thought of was Territory Seven, but Zhang San told her that Territory Seven's chickens ate byproducts from the lab and those couldn't be traded away.

Tang Huai, who'd been digging bugs for half a year, was the second trading partner Xia Qing thought of.

Seeing Xia Qing looking at him, Tang Huai's expression turned complicated. He continued his explanation: "Now, my family's chickens eat the green-light or yellow-light bugs I dig up in the territory. Where'd you hear I have premium green-light yellow mealworms? Third Brother told you? I never said anything about it in the Territory Lord channel myself. The Azure Dragon Squad and Tang Zhengsu don't know either."

Third Brother actually knew Tang Huai had green-light bugs? Looks like Tang Huai's relationship with Territory Seven was closer than she'd guessed. Third Brother was researching why Tang Huai could eat mushrooms without getting poisoned—had there been progress?

In a flash, Xia Qing suddenly thought of the potion Zhang San had just developed—one that uses high-Yi-element green-light vegetables to cultivate cordyceps fungus and lower the Calamity Element levels in the human body.

Could the creation of that potion be related to Tang Huai?

"Cat got your tongue? No way, Third Brother really told you?!" It was nearly full dark, and Tang Huai couldn't hear Xia Qing answer. Thinking she was feeling guilty, he stepped closer to see what expression she had.

Xia Qing stepped back and countered, "No. You dig bugs every day. It'd be weird if you didn't have premium ones."

After explaining why she'd asked him, she proposed the trade. "Yellow mealworms—are those the ones called breadworms? How many do you have? Can we trade?"

Having had green-light bugs for over half a year and finally finding a chance to show off, Tang Huai immediately got cocky. "Right. The old breadworms, but a stable Yi-evolved variety."

"You guys spray insecticide and exterminate bugs to grow crops every day, but you don't actually earn as much as I do digging bugs. Before the second Calamity Rain, I was doing archaeology in the territory ruins and found several nests of green-light yellow mealworms in two cellars."

Tang Huai proudly held up two fingers. "Over five hundred of them, and most are green-light. I raised them all up, and they've already bred to the third generation now. Next year, my family's restaurant can add a signature dish—stir-fried green-light bugs. Guess how many points a plate can sell for?"

Without waiting for Xia Qing to answer, Tang Huai smugly kept going. "A plate this small can sell for at least 1000 points!"

"That is pretty profitable." Xia Qing echoed, then pulled the conversation back on track. "Are they easy to raise? Will you trade?"

Tang Huai explained, "Not easy. Keeping the bugs' quality up isn't simple. You have to build a breeding room with no or low Calamity Element content and suitable temperature and humidity, feed them green-light plants, and regularly clean out their droppings..."

By the time Tang Huai finished his endless rambling about how hard it was to raise bugs, it was fully dark and he'd finally satisfied the urge to talk that had been building up. He summed up: "Now you know why a plate of bugs costs a thousand points? Because the cost of raising them is high."

"The yellow mealworms raised at our Hui San Breeding Center have been bred for dozens of generations, and most of the stock has started degenerating—not only are they small, they get sick easily. So the nest of premium green-light yellow mealworms I found in the territory this year is really valuable..."

"Baa!"

Sheep Boss, who'd come out with Xia Qing, grew impatient listening to Tang Huai's endless chatter and called out once, urging Xia Qing to wrap it up and head home.

It was dark. Xia Qing was wearing night-vision goggles, but she hadn't given any to Sheep Boss. Its night vision was poor, and being outside made it feel insecure.

Tang Huai immediately stopped, excitedly peering behind Xia Qing. "Was that Sheep Boss just now? Where is it? What did it say?"

Xia Qing explained, "It's dark, it wants to go home. How do you want to trade the yellow mealworms—points or green-light supplies?"

Tang Huai's eyes rolled, and he came up with a better idea. "Neither points nor green-light supplies. Let me get a close-up look at Sheep Boss and the wolves in your territory, and I'll give you a whole tray of live bugs for free. Deal?"

Xia Qing, who'd already been mentally sorting through her green-light supplies for a while, was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Will your family agree to it?"

You're spending like that—aren't you afraid your dad will beat you?

Tang Huai said smugly, "The bugs are mine. Of course I decide how to trade them. How about this deal? Let me tell you, you're getting a huge bargain. Third Brother buys my bugs for 20 points each."

How about it?

Well, of course... that's great!