Chapter 570: Would You Like to Join?

Good lord, holy good lord!

Xin Yu is a magnetic-sense Evolver who can perceive the emotional fluctuations of people and animals, while she herself is a magnetic-sense Evolver who can perceive changes in plant magnetic fields.

Such complementary abilities, if not forged into an alliance, would simply be a crime against nature.

Through Xin Yu's words, Xia Qing understood the reason she sought her out as an ally: first, she had never harbored ill will toward her; second, she possessed a pack of evolution wolves with formidable combat power.

Evolution wolves and evolution birds fighting together — the effect was very likely heaven-defying.

However, Xia Qing needed to explain her ability and her relationship with the wolf pack to Xin Yu in advance. "Before we form an alliance, I need to make things clear to you. First: I am also a magnetic-sense Evolver, but I can only sense magnetic-field anomalies in plants that are about to undergo mal-evolution or have already undergone mal-evolution. Apart from myself, you are the only person who knows about this evolution ability."

Regardless of whether Xin Yu had only this one evolution ability, since she chose to trust her and revealed her self-protective ability, Xia Qing also had to show her sincerity. She had many secrets; at present, only this one was suitable to reveal to Xin Yu.

After hearing this, Xin Yu's eyes went wide. This was the first time Xia Qing had seen such a vivid expression on her face.

"Second: the wolf pack is not mine. Because I helped the wolf pack last year, I established a relationship of mutual trust and cooperative alliance with a few wolves in the pack. If the wolf pack is unwilling to cooperate, I have no power to force them to act according to my intentions."

Not only was Xin Yu not disappointed after hearing this, she became even more determined in her resolve to ally with Xia Qing. "I also won't force my evolution birds to do things they don't want to do or that are harmful to them. You, me, the wolf pack — we all have our own territory, and we also share a common goal."

"Good." Xia Qing stood up and raised her right hand. "Let's form an alliance: mutual benefit, mutual non-harm — living together on this territory."

"Good." Xin Yu also stood up, her face solemn, and high-fived Xia Qing. "When you're not busy, let's team up to explore the Evolution Forest!"

After the high-five, the two looked at each other and smiled. This time, they truly became friends.

Both were very interested in each other's magnetic-sense abilities and asked each other about the differences in what they felt.

Xia Qing explained, "It's a kind of danger feeling that I can't quite describe. If I had to put it into words, it's as if that anomalous plant threw a shower of fine needles at me, stabbing right here."

Xia Qing raised her hand and pointed at the spot between her brows.

Xin Yu grew excited. "Me too! When I sense malice or other strong negative emotions, the spot between my brows gets very uncomfortable. That's why I'm unwilling to have too much contact with people."

One very important reason Xin Yu chose to ally with Xia Qing was that, apart from that one time she accidentally wandered into Territory Three, when she felt intense killing intent from Xia Qing, in all their subsequent contacts she had never sensed any uncomfortable emotions from Xia Qing.

This showed that Xia Qing was a person whose emotions were extremely stable, and who would not feel jealousy, greed, or killing intent just because she saw others possessing more supplies than her.

Xia Qing asked curiously, "When did your ability evolve?"

Xin Yu's magnetic sense had appeared very early. "My sixth sense was already fairly sharp before the Catastrophe. In crowded places I often felt uncomfortable, so I didn't like going out and stayed home a lot. After the Great Evolution of Blue Star began, my sense became even sharper. My parents, for my safety, told me not to tell anyone about this ability. What about you?"

Xin Yu's situation fit perfectly with what the idol had said — that whichever aspect of one's ability was more prominent, if the body underwent evolution, one would easily gain an evolution ability in that area. Xia Qing's situation was different from hers. "I only started evolving after I came out to farm, just before the third Mal-rain last year…"

Wait — that's not right! Xia Qing suddenly remembered something. "In the sixth year of the Catastrophe, when I was following a combat squad hunting in the Evolution Forest, we encountered a mal-evolved great tree that could emit hallucinogenic fumes. That smell couldn't be filtered out by protective-mask filters. That time, I inexplicably felt danger ahead, so I deliberately walked at the back of the group. While the teammates in front were slaughtering each other under the hallucinations, I hadn't yet entered the tree's scent-covered zone, and I narrowly escaped."

It was that time that Xia Qing, at the risk of using a rope to lasso Xu Juan — who was being beaten by others — dragged her out of the tree's domain and saved her life.

Xia Qing felt that her situation was probably because, in the previous few years, she had not obtained enough nutrients from her food. After eating natural food in the territory for a few months, her magnetic-sense ability had slowly manifested.

Xin Yu analyzed, "That great tree must have been extremely powerful, which is why you were able to sense it."

Xia Qing nodded. "More than twenty Evolvers died that time. You like birds — is it because animals like birds have fewer negative emotions?"

Xin Yu shook her head. "Not really. I've liked birds since I was little. My mom says that when I was just a few months old, I'd giggle whenever I saw pretty birds, so my family specially built a bird room in the yard and raised a lot of pretty little birds."

Xia Qing felt depressed. "My mom says that when I was little, I'd also giggle whenever I saw kittens."

Xin Yu was curious. "Since you like cats, how come Third Brother would say you have no fate with cats?"

"Don't even mention it…" Xia Qing told Xin Yu the whole story of her failed attempt to choose a cat. "After that, I went to Territory Seven and never once saw the Cat Princess."

Xin Yu laughed until she collapsed onto the table. "Doesn't Beard Feng have a kitten? Doesn't that kitten like you either?"

Don't even talk about that one. Xia Qing said gloomily, "Beard Feng is afraid his cat will smell the wolf scent on him and dislike him, so every time he comes back from my place, he has to clean himself up thoroughly before going to pet his cat."

This time, Xin Yu laughed until tears came out.

After finishing the discussion about abilities, Xia Qing extended an invitation to Xin Yu. "I've formed a territory alliance with Territories Four, Five, Six, Seven, Ten, and Fifteen. The alliance was built for mutual benefit and division of labor — to farm well together and work hard to survive. Are you interested in joining?"

Third Brother had already joined, which showed this organization was extremely valuable. However, Xin Yu had concerns unique to her. Wiping her tears, she asked, "So you go to Territory Five often — is it for alliance meetings? If I join, do I have to go over for meetings too?"

Xia Qing…

Having a bird-keeper as a neighbor really leaves you with no secrets at all…

Xin Yu explained with a smile, "I wasn't specifically spying on you. These past few days haven't been safe, so following Captain Tan's request, I sent scout birds to patrol around the territory and happened to see it."

Xia Qing also smiled. "Right, we held an alliance meeting today about raising rice seedlings. If the content of an alliance meeting has nothing to do with your territory, you don't have to attend. If it does, you can go over, or you can send a representative. If neither of you goes, I'll communicate the agenda with you in advance and ask for your opinion."