Chapter 470: The Third Condition

Zhang San snorted, "Liehuo uses a synthetic poison made from over a dozen toxins. It rapidly lowers the Yi element content in the blood and raises the Qiang element content. After you were poisoned, you used a stimulant to burn the Yi element in your body. If you weren't a high-level Evolver with Yi element content higher than normal, you'd already be showing symptoms of Qiang Evolution."

Xia Qing had anticipated that using the Yi element stimulant would lower the Yi element content in her body, but she hadn't expected the Qiang element content to rise so much. She felt a mix of lingering fear and confusion. If she hadn't been wearing a Yi stone on her, she'd probably already be showing symptoms of Qiang Evolution by now.

"Third Brother, Liehuo captures beasts rather than kills them. Why would they use such an overbearing synthetic poison? Could it be that the animals still have value to them after going berserk?"

"For high-intelligence high-level evolved animals, the only way to make them easy to capture is to drive them into Qiang Evolution so they lose their rationality and only know how to attack wildly. After capture, an antidote is injected. As for the physical damage the animals have already sustained from the poison and excess Qiang element..."

Zhang San shook a tube of colorless, transparent liquid, his voice cold. "Shan Ying's goal is to use the captured wolves to breed pups, then tame the pups. So as long as the poison doesn't damage the evolved wolves' wombs, damage to other parts isn't even within her scope of consideration."

Xia Qing's fury surged up, completely overriding the pain in her body. "So that's why their poison raises the Qiang element content in animals—no wonder so many animals on Mountain 50 lost control and died. Third Brother, I recorded the entire battle with the beast-catching squad, including the footage of them firing poison gas shells and the animals running. Can this be used as evidence to get Liehuo sanctioned?"

Zhang San's brow eased slightly. "Where is the video?"

"In my territory."

"I'll have Yan Long escort you back, and bring back the video and the blood samples from the sick wolves along the way."

"Alright, thank you, Third Brother." Xia Qing carefully broached a condition. "Third Brother, could you only submit the parts where the beast-catching squad provoked and attacked me first, used poison gas shells against the wolf pack, and triggered the beast tide? Oh, and Shan Ying's biological brother Shan Xiang is also in the beast-catching squad."

Zhang San gave Xia Qing a look of disdain, as if annoyed at her for being slow-witted. "You think I'm dumber than you? That I couldn't even think of that?"

Exactly!

Something even she could think of—how could her idol not?!

Xia Qing immediately apologized, then carefully proposed a material exchange. "I spoke out of turn. Third Brother, what do you think I should do about the excess Qiang element in my body? There are also three poisoned wolves lying in my territory. Their condition is probably worse than mine, especially the one that was infected with parasites..."

Xia Qing paused for a few seconds, then boldly proposed the supplies she wanted to trade. "How about I trade high-level evolved python meat for eight doses of Qiang-Reducing Agent, and pay you back for the four doses of antidote you gave me?"

One dose of Qiang-Reducing Agent could lower the Qiang element content by ten parts per thousand. If Xia Qing wanted to bring her Qiang element content down to nine parts per thousand of its original level, she'd need two doses. The three wolves were in worse shape than her, each needing at least two doses as well.

High-level evolved Green Light python meat was the most precious and valuable resource in Xia Qing's hands. If Third Brother refused, Xia Qing would have no choice but to reveal her trump card.

Zhang San looked up at Xia Qing. Xia Qing also understood she was asking for a tiny bit too much, and could only brazenly put on a silly grin.

The two elements Qiang and Yi are highly unstable new elements. If an excessively high Qiang element content counts as a kind of illness, it's comparable to the chronic diseases of pre-catastrophe years—coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes—ailments that can only be managed by taking medication to prevent the Qiang element content from rising and worsening.

If one wants to lower the Qiang element content, the only way is to consume large quantities of Green Light food. The length of this process is hard to control; those with strong body resistance might bring it down within a year or so, while those with poor resistance might need several years or even over a decade.

High-level Evolvers have stronger physiques than ordinary people and regular Evolvers, but they still need at least half a year. During this process, a high-level Evolver's Yi element content is insufficient, and their combat power drops sharply.

Xia Qing wasn't short on Green Light food, but she didn't have time for a slow treatment—she had to bring her Qiang element level down as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if anything went wrong in her territory, she might undergo Qiang Evolution. One pressing example: Qiang Xue.

As Xia Qing waited in extreme anxiety, her idol slowly spoke. "Xia Qing."

"Here."

"The beast-catching squad using poison gas shells was also beyond my expectations, so those four doses of antidote count as compensation from me—no charge. The Qiang-Reducing Agent is a new potion I only recently developed; I only have ten doses left. I can give you eight, but I have three conditions for the exchange."

Xia Qing immediately nodded vigorously, even though nodding made her neck hurt so badly it felt like it was about to snap—she didn't care.

What was pain? The most important thing now was to make her idol believe in her sincerity. "Go ahead, Third Brother. If I can do it, I'll do it right away. If I can't, I'll find a way to do it. I'll absolutely satisfy you."

"First, half of the Green Light black-skin peanuts you harvest next year go to me."

Xia Qing nodded. "Agreed."

"Second, raise fifty more chickens next year to meet my demand for chicken meat and eggs."

Xia Qing nodded again. "Of course. Are fifty enough? If not, I'll raise a few more."

"Third, if one day in the future, the wolves you've been closely associated with stand on the opposite side of human interests, you must be responsible for wiping them all out. Not one left."

Xia Qing suppressed her smile and solemnly made her promise. "I've already said this to the wolf pack. Don't worry, Third Brother. If that day truly comes, I won't hesitate."

Zhang San looked at Xia Qing with an indifferent expression. Just as Xia Qing began racking her brains trying to figure out how to make her idol believe her, Zhang San lazily leaned back in his chair and spoke the longest and most profound passage Xia Qing had heard from her idol in the year they'd known each other.

"You are one of the few people in the country who have earned the recognition of a brain-domain evolved beast leader. The powerful strength you now possess, in terms of combat power alone, is already no less than that of the first- and second-ranked combat squads of Hui-Three Base."

"You endured hardship and struggled to survive through the ten years before the catastrophe. Now that you've suddenly gained powerful strength, once you taste the thrill it brings, it's easy to become intoxicated and lose yourself. Over time, your mindset will change. You'll want everyone around you whose strength is inferior to yours to act according to the rules you set. If anyone disobeys, you'll crush them with force, killing people as easily as killing evolved insects. After killing them, you won't think you've done wrong—you'll think they were the ones in the wrong, so they deserved to be erased."

"To put it bluntly, once you possess powerful strength, you no longer see yourself as a person. You think you've risen above humanity, or at least above ordinary humans, becoming the maker of survival rules—becoming a god. Among the people you know, Deng Yufeng, Shan Ying, and Tang Zhengsu—to varying degrees, all harbor this kind of mentality."

"Don't tell me you're different from them. When you led the evolved wolves and decided to completely wipe out the ten members of Liehuo's beast-catching squad, you had already begun to inflate because of the power you possessed. Your mindset had already changed."

Xia Qing was stunned. She wanted to argue back but had no way to, because she knew her idol was right.

"This is the year of catastrophe. The law has lost its binding force on humanity. The desires of the strong are infinitely magnified, and they naturally think that since they hold power, their desires should be satisfied. The only things that can resist the temptation of power are three factors: the mutual checks and balances of power, one's own weakness, and... moral conscience—which already sounds laughable in the year of catastrophe."

"Regarding the first factor, the powerful forces in Hua Nation that can stand against you are too numerous to count. But you don't want to expose your strength right now. With the help of the people around you, including me, outside forces still find it hard to detect your existence. This gives you room to grow further within this territory, making your strength increasingly powerful."

"Regarding the second factor, you have no family and not even any friends you truly care about. In your eyes, there isn't even a single person more important than that strength-evolved sheep in your territory. So there isn't any human who can become your weakness."

"The supplies you've gotten from me are the most of any lord in this territory. It's not just because you have Green Light food that I find you pleasing—it's also because after losing your family, you held onto your morality and chose the hardest path of survival, and stuck with it until now."

"After obtaining plant seeds with Gao Yi element content and high stability, you also stuck to your principles, voluntarily bringing the seeds out and promoting their cultivation. So I believe you are a person who still has a conscience and a moral bottom line."

Xia Qing looked seriously at the man before her—pale-faced, thin almost to the point of being skin and bones—and listened seriously as he spoke of conscience and morality. These two words had already become pejoratives and objects of mockery in the year of catastrophe.

"But relying solely on morality and conscience to restrain a person's behavior is not enough." Zhang San's tone shifted, his voice turning stern. "That's why I'm putting forward this condition and asking you for a promise. I hate people who don't keep their word the most. If you can't fulfill what you've promised me, don't even think about getting any more supplies or any form of help from me, and I won't keep any of your secrets for you either."