Chapter 49: Re-Teaming Up

Although she hadn't tested the elemental content of the exchanged saplings and strawberry seedlings, Xia Qing remained optimistic. First, because Luo Pei was still in her territory, recovering from injuries with her spring water, so the saplings gifted by the Green Dragon Squad were surely not shoddy; second, because she had chosen an excellent location to plant these seedlings.

The two small Chinese toon saplings Xia Qing had transplanted from beneath the big Chinese toon tree to the edge of the spring had both survived and were still green-light plants, so the soil conditions in this area were very suitable for planting.

The five Chinese toon saplings she had transplanted to the edge of the courtyard? Sorry, they were snapped by the wall that collapsed when she fought with Ram Boss, and not a single one survived.

Taking advantage of fetching spring water, Xia Qing toured the vegetable garden and discovered that most of the transplanted vegetable seedlings were thriving, so she couldn't help but begin fantasizing about a scene of melons and fruits filling the garden.

After screwing the bucket lid tight and stuffing it into her backpack, Xia Qing crossed the flagstone bridge with its gurgling water to water the sweet potato and potato seedlings.

After a month of growth, the sweet potato vines were already over half a meter long and had branched into several forks, growing pleasingly well, and every single one was a green-light plant. The potatoes had grown to palm height, but the seedlings were green tinged with red, making Xia Qing suspect whether what she had received was really potatoes—the potato seedlings from the Planting Center didn't grow like this.

Through communication on the Lord Channel, Xia Qing learned that other lords' potato seedlings also grew this way, and guessed it was because the base issued yellow-light potatoes to lords while the Planting Center had green-light ones, hence the color difference.

Although she was dissatisfied with the potato seedlings' color and their growth speed, Xia Qing still carefully watered every single potato seedling.

If other lords learned of her mindset, they would surely curse her for being "humble-bragging." Because other lords' potato seedlings were a head shorter than Xia Qing's, only finger-height tall.

After finishing watering the potatoes and sweet potatoes, Xia Qing went to check the wheat seedlings, mung beans, and cotton, and found they all needed watering too.

Because Luo Pei used a great deal of water, Xia Qing couldn't save up any spring water for irrigating the fields, so whether it was the field with filtered-water-soaked seeds or the one with spring-water-soaked seeds, both had to be irrigated with water from the reservoir.

Just as Xia Qing was thinking of going back to haul the water bicycle out of the tool shed, she received a call from Beard Feng.

Zhang San had invited Beard Feng's squad to join a squad he had found to dig bamboo shoots in the Evolution Forest. Beard Feng called to ask if Xia Qing wanted to team up with them. "Zhang San found an eight-person squad. I'll leave two people here to protect Territory Three and one person to protect Territory One, so with you joining that makes exactly eight. This haul will definitely be bigger than last time. If you join, we'll still distribute supplies according to the contribution value of the logistics members."

Xia Qing was certainly going, but, "This time I'm only an auxiliary logistics member, Captain Hu doesn't need to give me any special treatment."

"Understood." Beard Feng added another reminder, "Besides your personal essential supplies, everything else will be prepared by our squad."

Since she was going into the mountains to dig bamboo shoots again, Xia Qing postponed the watering and went home to do some odd jobs.

The dehydrator was still running normally. Xia Qing carried out a large bundle of thick bamboo poles from the tool room and split bamboo poles in the courtyard to make the frame for a rain shelter.

Ram Boss lay beside her, dozing in the sun with half-closed eyes. Xia Qing turned on the walkie-talkie to listen to other lords chatting.

Zhang San wasn't online at this time of day, so Zhao Ze took the opportunity to continue asking Qi Fu for advice on composting methods.

Qi Fu was still scheming about the wild boar breeding center. "Pigs can eat, poop, and root around—they're especially good at making manure. I heard there are over a dozen pigs in there, and they don't farm…"

Kuang Qingwei thought the odds weren't great. "The breeding center falls under the base's safe zone jurisdiction. Do you think of good ideas that the safe zone people can't think of? The pig manure from the breeding center will definitely go to the Planting Center. Let's think of another way."

Xia Qing agreed with Kuang Qingwei's view, pressed the button, and said, "Brother Qi, besides animal manure, can we use fallen leaves and grass for composting? I've seen this method mentioned in books."

Zhao Ze immediately jumped in, "You can do that? Sister Xia Qing really knows a lot."

Ever since the Zhao Chong spying incident, Zhao Ze had been trying to curry favor with Xia Qing more or less deliberately, but Xia Qing pretended not to notice.

Kuang Qingwei took the opportunity to inquire, "The green-light food Third Brother ate yesterday—you traded it to him, right? I knew it. In our area, besides you, no one has that ability."

Xia Qing picked up the thread, "Besides the four of us, there are over a dozen other lords in this area. They have plenty of good stuff too."

Kuang Qingwei was extremely surprised, "Sister Xia Qing can even contact other lords? How did you get in touch? Which ones?"

Xia Qing gave a vague answer, "I just overheard people mention it in passing."

Zhao Ze immediately jumped in, "Sister Xia Qing is so impressive."

"Crack!" The impressive Xia Qing split open a bamboo pole several meters long and didn't pick up the thread.

Qi Fu spoke up, "We used to be able to compost with fallen leaves, but now we can't. I heard people from the Planting Center say that after the Great Biological Evolution, there are many microorganisms and insect eggs on dead leaves that normal fermentation temperatures can't kill. So we can only use manure that animals eat and excrete as organic fertilizer. However, Sister Xia Qing's mention just now gave me an idea."

Zhao Ze immediately asked, "What idea?"

Qi Fu answered, "Earthworm castings. Let earthworms eat the dead leaves and grass—they'll definitely destroy the microorganisms and insect eggs. But I don't know how to process earthworm castings. Little Xia, wasn't Sun Zhe's dad from your old squad working at an organic fertilizer factory before the catastrophe? Have you met Old Sun?"

Xia Qing put down the split bamboo pole, pressed the button, and said, "I've heard of him, but never met him."

Sun Zhe was one year younger than Xia Qing. The three members of his family were all ordinary Evolved. But luckily, his family had lived in the city where Hui-Three Base's safe zone was located even before the catastrophe, so the Sun family never experienced the world-ending desperate flight or partings of life and death—they were among the luckiest people in the first year of the catastrophe.

After the safe zone was established, the Sun family continued living in their own house. It wasn't until supplies and food grew increasingly scarce that his father joined a team to leave the safe zone on missions to earn points.

Once, while out on a mission, the squad encountered an attack by evolved venomous insects. While fleeing, his father fell and was bitten by a venomous insect. Although he fought desperately to make it back to the safe zone, he lost his left lower leg and left arm, becoming unable to do physical labor. From then on, Sun Zhe, who had been doing odd jobs on a construction crew, became the family's main laborer.

Qi Fu sighed, "When are we ever going to get signal here?"

If they had signal, they could call Sun Zhe and ask how to process earthworm castings.

Xia Qing didn't say anything more. Kuang Qingwei from Territory Six excitedly shared news, "I just heard a car sound and thought it was the patrol team coming, so I ran out to look. Guess what? Someone came to Third Brother's territory—a whole carload, every one of them wearing camouflage protective suits and carrying guns. What a sight!"

"Third Brother is definitely no ordinary person," Zhao Ze immediately chimed in.

Xia Qing put down her machete and understood why Zhang San hadn't sent people into the Evolution Forest to dig bamboo shoots today. Because he was short-handed and had to bring people over from the safe zone.

After finishing splitting the bamboo, Xia Qing began tying the bamboo frame. Vegetables grow at most one person's height, so a two-meter-tall rain shelter was tall enough; any taller and it would easily be flipped by wind. After tying the bamboo frame, Xia Qing heard the dehydrator signal that drying was complete. She went inside, put the dried bamboo shoot slices into sealed bags for airtight storage, and then casually tossed Ram Boss a fresh bamboo shoot.

Fearing the dehydrator might malfunction from running nonstop, Xia Qing decided to let it rest for a few hours and continue working at night. She shouldered the bamboo frame and headed straight for the back hillside. The bamboo frame wasn't heavy, but its bulk made it hard to carry. Since the road was already repaired, she should get a tractor bucket and hitch it to the tiller to haul things.

If this trip into the Evolution Forest yielded a big haul, she would trade with Zhong Tao for a few key components needed to make a tractor bucket.