Chapter 548: Xia Qing, No Way!

After waiting over ten seconds with no response from Xia Qing, her "boyfriend" Beard Feng shot back, "Xia Qing's busy, no time for you."

Xia Qing really was busy — she was carefully pollinating the Qiangwu flowers, following the *Qiangwu Grass Cultivation Guide* her idol had secretly given her.

When her idol Zhang San heard Xia Qing had Qiangwu grass, his face and voice turned so warm and fatherly they practically dripped. Within two days he had gotten his hands on the cultivation technique, and at the price of points per leaf, he pre-ordered six Qiangwu grass leaves.

The reason they weren't trading directly was that the Qiangwu grass was currently in its flowering period; cutting leaves now would affect pollination and seed quality.

The *Cultivation Guide* explained that Qiangwu grass is a wind-pollinated flower and doesn't normally need manual pollination, but Qiangwu grass grown in an enclosed artificial cultivation environment does.

Although Xia Qing wasn't growing her Qiangwu grass in an enclosed environment, the air inside the spring-water cave moved very slowly, so manual pollination was still needed.

Tang Huai ignored Beard Feng and continued sending party invitations to Xia Qing on the Territory channel.

"Xia Qing, how about we team up to hunt edible animals from the beast tide to the south? With your shooting and my hearing, we're sure to get green-light game. After we bring it back, I'll process it with my family's secret recipe into easy-to-store, easy-to-carry five-spice jerky — spices on me, jerky split seventy-thirty in your favor. This chance is too rare to pass up, right?"

Jerky, huh.

Xia Qing held her breath and carefully fanned the Qiangwu flowers. The little things were extremely delicate — monoecious with separate male and female flowers. During the pollination period, if the female flowers picked up too much impurity, pollination would fail and no seeds would form. This was one of the reasons wild Qiangwu grass was so rare.

To avoid picking up impurities, the cautious Xia Qing didn't use a wool brush to pollinate the Qiangwu flowers — she only used a fan to gently stir the air, letting the male flowers' pollen drift onto the female flowers' stigmas to complete pollination.

"Xia Qing, no way! Just because some lunatic says no, you don't dare speak up?" Tang Huai hollered on the Territory channel. "You're a high-level Evolver — what's there to be afraid of him for? Tell me what you even see in him. You don't have a fetish for ugly guys, do you?"

Everyone listening on their walkie-talkies was speechless. In Territory Four, Tan Qi pricked up her ears too.

Mid-lecture, Zhao's mother turned around, pulled back the curtain, and yelled at her son sitting by the stove listening to the walkie-talkie, "What time is it already and you're still dawdling at home? Get to the greenhouse and pull weeds!"

In Territory Three, Xia Qing — upper body already inside the spring-water cave — couldn't be bothered to respond to Tang Huai. She held her breath and carefully fanned the Qiangwu grass.

Beard Feng chuckled. "No matter what I look like, I've got a girlfriend, and you're an unwanted bachelor. Xia Qing's not afraid of me, of course. Even if she teams up, she wouldn't want a gimpy hearing-type Evolver."

"You're the gimpy one! Your whole family's gimpy!"

Zhang San came online lazily. "Tang Huai."

The cursing-and-bawling Tang Huai immediately changed his tone, asking respectfully, "Third Brother, I'm here. What can I do for you?"

Zhang San asked, "Your dad went back to the Safe Zone?"

Tang Huai's voice carried a smile. "Yeah, he left this morning. My dad said when he comes back he'll bring you fresh green-light abalone from Orchid City. What flavor do you like? I'll prepare it and bring it over."

Hearing no response from Zhang San, everyone understood: Zhang San's petty grudge was acting up again.

Tang Huai had traded a piece of spoiled meat to Territory Seven last year — Zhang San still remembered.

Tang Huai went offline; his younger brother Tang Heng came online and repeated the whole thing again.

Only then did Zhang San ask, "What cooking methods do you have?"

Tang Heng immediately rattled off the menu: "Sichuan-style fresh abalone, lemon-roasted abalone in a bright oven, roasted-pepper abalone, soybean-braised fresh abalone, and crab-roe-and-autumn-eggplant-braised fresh abalone. We can do them all."

People from every territory were drooling. Xia Qing, who was fanning the Qiangwu flowers, suddenly thought that if she could eat roasted-pepper abalone, teaming up with Tang Huai just once might not be out of the question.

Zhang San ordered enthusiastically, "Since it's fresh abalone, let's do the soybean-braised one. When the abalone arrives, give me a shout — I'll have Ji Li send over some green-light soybeans. Whatever supplies you want to trade the abalone for, just tell Ji Li directly."

Tang Heng happily agreed, "Got it, Third Brother. Thanks a lot, Third Brother."

Precious green-light soybeans — used by Zhang San to stew abalone?! In Territory Seventeen, Wen Nengjie once again refreshed his understanding of Territory Seven.

"I wonder how many soybeans Third Brother has. Could we trade for a dozen or so to use as seeds?" In Territory Ten, Shi Du, who was pounding kudzu root, was very tempted.

His father was tempted too, but, "Let's ask Xia Qing first before saying anything on the Territory channel, so we don't ruin Third Brother's mood."

Ruining Third Brother's mood and getting on his bad side would be trouble.

After Zhang San went offline, with his dad gone from the territory and no one to rein him in, Tang Huai continued to run wild on the Territory channel.

"Xia Qing, what are you doing?"

"Xia Qing, is your walkie-talkie broken?"

"..."

"Baa!"

That sound was unbearably sheep-like. Sheep Boss, who had been chewing cud, bleated unhappily.

Tang Huai could be ignored, but Sheep Boss's feelings Xia Qing couldn't afford to overlook. If Sheep Boss got worked up, it might very well leap over and start a fight with her.

Xia Qing wasn't afraid of a fight — she was afraid of damaging a single leaf of Qiangwu grass worth tens of thousands.

She backed out of the cave, pressed the walkie-talkie button, and replied coldly, "Feng-ge is right."

Beard Feng, heh-heh.

Tang Huai wasn't discouraged in the slightest and kept at it eagerly. "Xia Qing, do you mean you don't want to team up at all, or you just don't want to team up with me?"

Before Xia Qing could answer, Tan Junjie posted an announcement on the Territory channel: "Attention all territories, attention all territories. The base just sent a notice: because a beast tide made up of large fierce beasts has appeared in the Evolution Forest west of the base, for safety reasons, from now until the beast tide recedes, no squad or individual may leave the Safe Zone or their territory without approval to enter the Evolution Forest. All territories, please acknowledge receipt."

"Territory One, received."

"Territory Two, received."

Xia Qing, who had been about to duck back into the spring-water cave, pressed the button again. "Territory Three, received."

After all territories had responded, Tan Junjie posted another call-up announcement: "According to notices from the base office and the Territory Management Department, we are now publicly recruiting Evolvers from all territories to participate in the defense mission for Territories 1–26, assisting the patrol team in guarding the northern district-one territories."

"After the mission is completed, the Territory Management Department will award rewards based on each Evolver's contribution. Those who wish to sign up may do so on the Territory channel, or report to the patrol team when it passes through your territory."

Half a minute after Tan Junjie posted the announcement, the first to sign up was unexpectedly Territory Two.

Zhou Xun called out enthusiastically, "Captain Tan, all twenty-five Evolvers from Territory Two are signing up. I'll hand you the detailed personnel list and ability profiles when your patrol passes by."

"Received." Tan Junjie's voice remained stern.

Zhou Xun of Territory Two started calling names. "The beast tide is coming — Territory One, Territory Three, you guys aren't going to turtle up in your territories and not come help, are you?"

Everyone... felt like Zhou Xun had been possessed by Tang Huai.

Hearing Zhou Xun's punchable shouting, Tang Huai in Territory Twelve frowned. "Zhou Xun must have received orders from above to talk like that. Tang Zhengsu isn't trying to use the beast tide as cover to cause trouble in the territories, is he? Which donkey kicked his head this time?"

Tang Heng looked up. "Bro, we need to mention this to our dad."

Tang Huai nodded. "Just mention it, don't make it sound too serious — let our dad have a peaceful New Year in the Safe Zone. Go call the people in charge of each area over for a quick meeting. We have to increase the number and frequency of territory patrols. If Territory Two's people take the chance to make trouble, our greenhouses and polytunnels will definitely be their first targets."