Chapter 649: Freeze-Drying and the Wolf Pack

"Right, Yu Dongming called me." Zhang San said lazily, "I was busy at the time and didn't pick up."

Die-hard superfan Xia Qing immediately nodded, "He really doesn't know how to pick a time."

"The time you picked isn't great either." Zhang San yawned, gesturing for Xia Qing to speak quickly and not delay his drinking of nutrient solution and afternoon nap.

Xia Qing immediately got to the point, "Third Brother, when Yu Dongming arrives, what do you plan to do about this matter?"

"What else can I do? Nothing!" Zhang San snorted, clearly in a foul mood. "Chonglian's machinery is currently irreplaceable and can't be blacklisted. He came under the pretext of visiting me—who knows what business he's actually here for."

The base's higher-ups were suppressing the investigation into the person who secretly filmed the territory video, presumably to negotiate terms with Chonglian. As the infringed party, the lord actually had the least say—even Zhang San was the same.

Because this infringement didn't cause any substantial harm.

Seeing that her idol didn't want to get involved in this matter, Xia Qing got straight to the point. "After the Territory No. 11 lottery results came out, someone questioned the fairness of the draw, so even after all these days, Lord Huo Lei still hasn't received the land use rights certificate for Territory No. 11. When the Territory Management Department and Chonglian's people arrive, could you bring this up?"

After the Huo family "luckily" won the lottery and became the new lord of Territory No. 11, the factions that didn't get the land weren't willing to give up, so Lord Huo Lei, who should have immediately moved into Territory No. 11 to farm, still hasn't been able to enter the territory.

Lord Huo Lei and his father were also very anxious, but they didn't ask Xia Qing for help again, because they also knew that at this point, Xia Qing couldn't help anymore. Xia Qing hadn't originally planned to get involved again, but now that such an opportunity had arisen, of course she wouldn't let it pass.

Zhang San frowned, "Do you know who's blocking it?"

Hui Three and Hui One have a delicate relationship now, so Watching Huo Zhun's boss's face doesn't carry much weight with Hui Three. If Zhang San hadn't reached out to Hui Three's management, the Huo family wouldn't have even made it onto the lottery list.

Zhang San's energy was focused on research and food, and Watching Huo Zhun hadn't mentioned it to him later, so he still didn't know this matter hadn't been settled.

Xia Qing replied, "The one who raised the objection is a minor leader at the Planting Center. Behind him is Cao Faxiang, the factory director of the Food Processing Plant, and Factory Director Cao Faxiang is Tang Zhengrong's man. The Territory Management Department didn't expect the Huo family to win the lottery, so they simply dragged their feet. Yu Dongming is coming under the guise of apologizing to you. As long as you mention this in front of him and the Territory Management Department, he'll definitely get it done for you as an apology gift."

Although he knew Xia Qing made sense, Zhang San, who disliked wasting time dealing with people, still found it annoying.

Xia Qing saw her idol's expression and knew what he was thinking. "Third Brother, you don't necessarily have to bring it up yourself. Just bring someone with you at the time and let them mention it—that works too."

Zhang San's brow immediately relaxed. Leaning back in his chair lazily, he asked, "You value the Huo father and son that much?"

Xia Qing nodded, "Lord Huo Lei's craftsmanship in making cold weapons and protective gear is among the best in our base. His family's iron shop didn't grow bigger and stronger because of his personality. Watching Huo Zhun has high combat power and has also gained the recognition of the northern wolf pack. In the future, I can bring him along to team up with the wolf pack for operations. With the two of them, our alliance's equipment and combat power will both get stronger."

If possible, Xia Qing wanted to keep Yan Long too, and let her become a lord as well, except she hadn't found a suitable opportunity yet, and Yan Long didn't seem to have shown any intention of staying.

Zhang San asked with interest, "Why would the wolf pack recognize Watching Huo Zhun?"

Xia Qing speculated, "I think part of the reason is that Watching Huo Zhun's combat power is relatively high. Third Brother, the wolf pack's magnetic sense shouldn't be low, right?"

Zhang San nodded, "Wild animals in the Evolution Forest live in dangerous environments long-term—one careless moment and they're dead, so their ability to sense danger is superior to humans. This ability isn't limited to magnetic sense alone."

Xia Qing continued, "So I think the reason the wolf pack recognized Watching Huo Zhun is that he didn't make them feel danger."

Xia Qing's words sparked a flash of inspiration in Zhang San's clever brain domain. After standing still for over ten seconds, he ran into the laboratory.

Xia Qing waited a few minutes and didn't see her idol come out, so she knew that if she wanted to trade for supplies today, she'd have to find Ji Li.

She quietly left the laboratory and made a trade request to Ji Li, "Ji-ge, I want to trade for a bottle of the external dewormer Third Brother made for cats and dogs. Do you still have any?"

Based on her understanding of the wolf pack, Xia Qing felt the alpha wolf would soon come into the territory to drip insecticide, so she had to prepare in advance. If the alpha wolf brought a pack of wolves, that small half-bottle in her territory definitely wouldn't be enough.

Ji Li didn't ask Xia Qing why she didn't trade directly with the lord. He went back to the dorm to get a bottle of dewormer and handed it to Xia Qing, then proposed a trade, "I'm going back to Hui One in a few days, returning in half a month. Do you need me to bring you any supplies?"

Like Yan Long, Ji Li also had vacations while on missions in Territory No. 7.

Hui One was the largest base in Hui City—not only did it have more people, its supplies were also more abundant. Xia Qing immediately stated the equipment she wanted, "I want the special backpack for advanced strength evolvers newly developed by the Hui One military. Can you get one, Ji-ge?"

The backpack Xia Qing was currently using was still the one she brought out from the safe zone, made for beginner strength evolvers. The shoulder straps were worn and nearly unusable.

A few days ago, she was browsing news on her phone and learned that the Hui One military research institute had newly developed a backpack for advanced strength evolvers. After reading the feature introduction, Xia Qing was immediately tempted.

Coincidentally, Watching Huo Zhun also asked him to bring one. Ji Li nodded, "Sure, I'll bring one back for you."

Xia Qing was very happy, "Thanks so much, Ji-ge. What supplies do you want?"

Trading the Territory No. 7 animal insecticide went through official accounts. Xia Qing asking Ji Li to help bring a backpack was a trade between the two of them, so it had to be made clear in advance.

Ji Li actually showed a slightly embarrassed expression, "Can I trade for 8 jin of green-light wild boar meat? I want to make some freeze-dried food for Princess."

After Xia Qing got a green-light large wild boar, she of course told her idol the good news and traded him part of the meat. Ji Li went to pick it up, so Ji Li knew Xia Qing had wild boar meat.

After Xia Qing agreed, Ji Li very enthusiastically escorted her back to the territory and picked up the meat along the way.

So the workers constructing on the North Isolation Belt heard two advanced evolvers chatting about jerky as they walked, making them drool with envy.

"Ji-ge, is the freeze-dryer in Territory No. 7 newly bought?" Xia Qing knew freeze-drying preserved nutrients better than oven-drying and had a longer shelf life, but correspondingly, freeze-dryers were also more expensive than dehydrators. However, Xia Qing wasn't short on points now, and if the price was right, she wanted to get one too.

She wanted to make more freeze-dried food to send to Wolf Lao Er, so that when it couldn't catch prey on Mountain No. 60, it wouldn't have to gnaw on the rotten meat left by other wolves.

"One unit costs 70,000 points, and that's the hitching-a-ride price. You don't need to buy another one—just bring whatever you want freeze-dried over here."

70,000 points was indeed too expensive. Xia Qing immediately gave up on buying one, went home and took out 20 jin of pork directly, asking Ji Li to help make 12 jin of freeze-dried food.

This pig was a gift from Wolf Lao Er to Xia Qing, so using the meat to make freeze-dried food didn't pain her at all. "Ji-ge, how do you want to calculate the processing fee?"

Ji Li didn't offer free processing either, and spoke frankly, "The machine hasn't been delivered yet. After processing, I'll check the energy consumption before I know how much the processing fee is."

Hasn't been delivered yet?

Xia Qing blinked. Could the "hitching-a-ride" Ji Li mentioned for the freeze-dryer be the helicopter ridden by Chonglian's chairman Yu Dongming?

Xia Qing felt she had guessed right.

In the afternoon, two Chonglian helicopters landed inside Territory No. 8. By evening, Ji Li came to deliver the freeze-dried food. The wild boar meat Xia Qing sent over was very solid—12 jin of pork yielded 4 jin of freeze-dried food, and the processing fee was 2 points per jin.

This price was extremely, extremely cheap.

Before bed, Xia Qing was still wondering when she could send the freeze-dried food to Wolf Lao Er, when she didn't expect a call from Hu Zifeng past three in the morning, "Xia Qing, the alpha wolf has entered Zone 6 of Mountain No. 49 with six wolves. Looks like it's heading toward your territory. Do you need to intercept?"