Chapter 44: Entering the Evolved Forest to Dig Bamboo Shoots

Qi Fu introduced the key points for planting seedlings next through the walkie-talkie, "Don't water every day. Let it dry out, then water it thoroughly. Spray the evolved camphor tree sap frequently to prevent gnawing insects. If you see a seedling whose leaves look fine and haven't been bitten, but it's turning yellow and wilting, then eight or nine times out of ten the problem is in the soil."

Crouching at the edge of the field, Xia Qing carefully recorded Qi Fu's words in her phone's notepad. Zhao Ze asked, "Brother Qi, what kind of problem exactly? Tell us in detail."

"We're all breaking new ground for the first crop, and we used insecticidal and bactericidal powder, so there can't be many pathogens in the soil. The most likely culprits are still those two evolved pests—evolved grubs and evolved soil silkworms." Qi Fu's voice sounded like he was grinding his teeth.

The viciousness of these two insects, every lord has already witnessed in the wheat, cotton, and mung bean fields. After discovering a bitten seedling, even if you dig open the soil to kill the bug with extreme care and don't damage the main root, once you refill the soil the seedling will still weaken.

The most hateful thing is digging open the soil, finding the root bitten but the bug already gone—the fragile seedling bitten by the bug and then having its roots dug up by a person, becomes even weaker.

Every night, there are lords hopping mad because of this.

Xia Qing is an auditory evolver. Every day, relying on her excellent hearing, she clears the vegetable garden, farmland, and fruit trees along with the surrounding ten-plus-meter area. Not only has she never gotten angry over this, she has also established friendly neighborly relations with the four evolved magpies and two evolved egrets within her territory.

The two egrets moved in a few days ago and built nests in a small grove of dawn redwoods on the north side of the reservoir. Xia Qing, who hadn't eaten eggs in many years, was now eyeing the neighbors eagerly, waiting for them to lay eggs so she could steal some to eat.

After turning off the walkie-talkie, Xia Qing looked up and confirmed the Chinese toon buds had grown to twelve to fifteen centimeters and were ready to harvest. This was the second cutting of Chinese toon buds. Xia Qing clipped everything she could and traded it to Tan Junjie for thirty-five liters of diesel.

Although she had no other evolved Chinese toon trees for comparison, Xia Qing was quite satisfied with the output of this big Chinese toon tree. Carrying two fuel cans, Xia Qing briefed Tan Junjie on tomorrow's schedule, "I'm leaving the territory for half a day tomorrow. I traded supplies for someone from Plot One to help guard my territory."

The territory had many things planted, and the important supplies at home were growing more numerous, so it couldn't be left unattended. This was why Xia Qing activated her security team for the first time. Giving Tan Junjie a heads-up in advance was to prevent him from patrolling tomorrow and discovering people from Plot One appearing in or around Plot Three, causing a misunderstanding.

Tan Junjie nodded and left. He didn't ask what Xia Qing had used to trade with Plot One, nor did he ask why she was leaving the territory. Of course, Xia Qing also didn't pry into how Tan Junjie would handle the Chinese toon buds.

Curiosity kills humans—it was true before the catastrophe, and even more so after. Cats don't get killed by it, because most cats became extremely powerful after evolving, capable of supporting their own curiosity.

After arranging tomorrow's schedule with Hu Zifeng, Xia Qing began discussing the trip with Ram Boss, "I'm going to dig bamboo shoots tomorrow. Want to come? That bamboo grove where we used to chop bamboo—you've been there too."

After the Chinese fevervine incident, Xia Qing felt Ram Boss was smarter than she had assumed, so she started talking more in front of him, hoping that one day Ram Boss would truly understand what she meant.

Ram Boss didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to lie on the tatami mat and chew his cud.

The grass mat laid on the tatami was newly woven by Xia Qing when she was bored guarding the vegetable seedlings. On the grass mat was also a comfortable large grass cushion, specially designed and made by Xia Qing according to her understanding of ovine ergonomics, to thank Ram Boss for his care.

Judging by Ram Boss's expression, he should be very satisfied.

Seeing his punchable expression now, Xia Qing's craving for fresh mutton dropped quite a bit. She smiled, "Ram Boss, good night."

After Xia Qing fell asleep, Ram Boss, his big head with spiral horns resting on the raised side of the grass cushion, slowly closed his eyes too.

Early the next morning, after Xia Qing finished her patrol for insects, she invited the Hu Zifeng squad in. The Hu Zifeng squad had ten members, all male evolvers. Today they only left one member to guard Plot One; the rest all came. Of these nine, four would stay to guard Xia Qing's territory, and five would go with her into the evolved forest to dig bamboo shoots.

Xia Qing wasn't worried that the members staying behind would rummage around her territory. The squad Yang Jin selected couldn't possibly trash his own reputation.

Besides, this wasn't Xia Qing's first meeting with this squad. Because the Hu Zifeng squad often cooperated with the Luo Pei squad on missions. Although Hu Zifeng looked fierce and had a booming voice, when danger came he charged at the very front, and the squad's mission points were distributed according to each member's contribution. So this squad was very united and had never had any backstabbing among brothers—it was trustworthy.

Wearing a split-type camouflage protective suit and a holstered handgun, Xia Qing walked out through the western buffer forest, turned back again, and loudly asked Ram Boss, who hadn't followed, "Boss, I'm going to dig bamboo shoots in that evolved forest over there. Are you coming?"

Ram Boss squinted at the group of people standing inside the isolation belt. The Hu Zifeng crew also curiously sized up Xia Qing's boss. The two sides fell silent.

Seeing Ram Boss wasn't moving, Xia Qing waved at him, "Then I'm going by myself. Boss, stay and watch the house."

"Maa—"

Xia Qing had just crossed the isolation belt and was about to enter the evolved forest when Ram Boss suddenly called out. Xia Qing, already familiar with Ram Boss's calls, heard a warning in this one. Ram Boss felt there was danger over there, so he was warning her not to go?

Delicious food was right before her eyes; Xia Qing couldn't turn back. "I'm fully equipped and I have a combat team. Nothing will happen. Boss, wait for me to bring back something good to eat."

After saying that, Xia Qing asked the members staying behind not to let Ram Boss enter other territories, "Although he's a red-light animal and can't be eaten, disturbing people in other territories isn't good either."

Hearing this, Tang Huai, who was hiding in Plot Two eavesdropping, sighed silently. If this sheep weren't red-light, he would have long since been eating grilled lamb chops.

After the Hu Zifeng squad walked far away, Zhou Xun, a visual evolver, lowered his voice and reported to Tang Huai, "Boss, Hu Zifeng took his people and went with Xia Qing into the evolved forest to dig bamboo shoots. Do we follow?"

"Follow my ass!" Tang Huai stood up, pinched dead a few insects crawling into his protective suit, and went back to continue guarding the vegetable garden. After listening to Qi Fu and the others drone on about growing vegetables for several days straight, Tang Huai's interest in growing vegetables hadn't been piqued, but he had grown fond of locating insects by sound to dig them up.

Today, the micro-tillers from Plot One and Plot Three had finally stopped buzzing for once. He wanted to use this rare opportunity to dig insects to his heart's content. This was far more interesting than the eavesdropping mission.

"Young Lady Xia, stay behind me. The whole squad on alert, mind the formation." Although Hu Zifeng didn't know that the spring water was provided by Xia Qing, he knew Luo Pei had been treated for injuries in Xia Qing's territory, so he was especially grateful and respectful toward Xia Qing, and spoke very politely.

Xia Qing thanked him and used the earpiece-style walkie-talkie built into her protective mask to remind Hu Zifeng, "Right now the bamboo shoots are at their most delicious. Everyone watch out for dangerous animals that might be in the bamboo forest. My sheep is very sensitive to danger—if he doesn't come, it means there's a danger here he doesn't want to face."

Based on Xia Qing's experience, when delicious plants ripen, evolved animals that like those plants gather nearby. An evolved animal that likes eating bamboo—could it be an evolved giant panda?!

Xia Qing's eyes lit up. She activated her hearing and vision to the fullest, trying to catch a black-and-white figure.

Come to think of it, giant pandas should still be black and white after evolving, right?