Chapter 696: Building a House

"It's really small, not even as big as my fist. And it doesn't have fur yet, very weak—forget attack power, it doesn't even have any ability to protect itself. It doesn't look like a big rabbit at all."

The next afternoon, when Tan Qi arrived at Territory Three for underwater training, she excitedly discussed the three little rabbits in Territory Four with Xia Qing.

Every morning she studied language and math with Zhao's mother, and she saw that Territory Four now had two more big rabbits and three little rabbits.

Children born before the Calamity would see small animals and think they were "cute" or "like" them; children born after the Calamity, upon seeing an animal, would first judge the small creature's combat ability.

Xia Qing asked, "How many little rabbits are left? The wounds on them haven't gotten inflamed or festered, have they?"

To ease the burden on Zhao's mother, after receiving the photos of the little rabbits she had sent yesterday afternoon, Xia Qing told her not to send pictures or videos, so she didn't know how many little rabbits were still alive.

"Three. The wounds have already scabbed over. Teacher Wang said the wounds on the little rabbits were bitten by the mother rabbit." Tan Qi took a deep breath and dove into the water, struggling to dive down. After more than two minutes she surfaced and accurately tossed a water leech over a meter long into the bucket.

Although the lightning that struck the reservoir last year cleared out the aquatic creatures in Territory Three, some small animals like water snakes, leeches, fish, shrimp, and frogs had still squeezed through the holes in the underwater iron-net wall and entered the waters of Territory Three.

However, these small animals posed no threat whatsoever to Tan Qi, who was wearing a diving suit. That was why Tan Junjie and Yan Long felt at ease letting her come to Territory Three alone to train, rather than going down with her when their own swimming skills weren't great either.

Ji Li was still on leave and hadn't returned; Yan Long had missions to carry out and couldn't follow Tan Qi over every time.

Seeing Xin Yu, who disliked contact with people, ultimately didn't take part in this training camp either, so the ones who often trained in the reservoir were only Xia Qing and Tan Qi.

An hour later, the two finished today's training and went to the small hut by the farmland to change clothes.

After changing, Tan Qi asked, "Sister Qing, are you still going to keep that other rabbit?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "Not anymore. I'll trade it away when Zhong Tao and the others come."

That red-light rabbit had eaten the degradation agent. After two months of careful feeding, the degradation-element content in its body had only dropped three points, still as high as 22‰, a long way from the edible standard. Xia Qing didn't plan to waste any more food and spring water on it—she'd deal with it directly.

Tan Qi felt Xia Qing's decision was very wise. "Mm, the fodder saved can be made into lots of compressed rations. Sister Qing, can I go see your chicks? My dad traded me five chicks, and in a few more days I can bring them back to the territory."

Apart from Xia Qing, the chicks other lords had traded for last year had all died from being affected when the ultrasonic waves drove away raptors.

At the last lords' meeting, after learning they could trade with Territory Seven for up to five chicks, all of them—including Lord Huo Lei of Territory Eleven, who had newly joined the alliance—decided to make the trade.

Each territory's finances differed, and the quality of the chickens traded also differed. After Yue Haiying told Tan Junjie, Tan Junjie decided to trade his daughter two green-light and three yellow-light chicks.

Tan Qi was full of anticipation for the first breedable animal she was about to get. The house she lived in hadn't even been built yet, but she was already planning what kind of chicken coop to build.

Xia Qing brought Tan Qi into the breeding greenhouse, taught her how to prepare feed for the chicks, and at the same time reminded her, "Chicks have weak resistance—feed them filtered water."

Both Tan Qi and Tan Junjie drank filtered warm spring water. Tan Qi was young and might not have noticed, but Tan Junjie must have understood the meaning behind Yue Haiying sending him water. Yet he kept it tacit, pretending not to know.

When Tan Junjie came patrolling past Territory Three to pick up his daughter, he asked Xia Qing if she was free tomorrow. "The weather's been good these past few days. I'm planning to build the house. Are you free tomorrow?"

Xia Qing nodded. "I'll come over at seven tomorrow morning."

Tan Qi's face beamed with joy, and she crisply thanked her. "Thank you so much, Sister Qing."

Xia Qing smiled. "No need to thank me. Your dad paid the points."

"Sister is the best house-builder in our whole territory. Only because Sister was willing to come help could I get to live in the best house." Tan Qi had gone on missions with Xia Qing and knew how capable she was; she also understood that the 30 points a day her dad offered meant nothing to her.

Seeing his daughter being so sensible, Tan Junjie rarely showed a smile.

"Baa."

Xia Qing returned to the territory, heard Ram Boss's call, turned and went to the big Chinese toon tree, sat down beside it, and checked the saplings growing around it.

Once these saplings grew a bit more, they would be transplanted to Territory Seven, becoming the small trees that the idol studied the Yi-synthesis gas on.

Leaning against Ram Boss and chatting with it, Xia Qing said, "Last year Tan Qi's dad proposed trading me two kinds of saplings—Chinese toon saplings and green-light chestnut saplings—but neither trade went through this year. Someone with a smaller heart would think I was deliberately targeting him."

"Hmph!" Ram Boss didn't bleat, but forcefully blew out through its nose, as if its nostril were blocked.

Xia Qing turned to look at its nostrils, found nothing wrong, and asked, "I'm going to Area Three to clean out pig manure for composting. Boss, do you want to come with me, or stay in the territory?"

Because food was plentiful inside the territory, Ram Boss wasn't very interested in the areas outside the wall, but it sometimes went with Xia Qing to Area Three to stretch its legs. However, this fellow was a tyrant at home—unless Xia Qing brought it along, it never stepped out of the territory on its own, because no matter how much it evolved, it was still a herbivore.

Today it also wanted to stretch its legs, and stood up to follow Xia Qing.

"Alright, let's go together." Xia Qing took her tools, put the snake-skin protective suit on Ram Boss, and led it to scan through the north gate of Territory Three, then scanned through the north gate of Northern Area One, entering Area Three of Mountain Forty-Nine.

The north gate of Northern Area One belonged exclusively to Xia Qing. She had entered the data of her companions and business partners—the core members of the wolf pack—into the access system, so they could come and go freely.

After entering Area Three, Ram Boss wandered around looking for grass to eat, while Xia Qing headed straight for where the wild boars lived and shoveled the pig manure into baskets.

She had been doing this work for several months now and was quite skilled at it. After clearing three big baskets of pig manure, Xia Qing called over Ram Boss, which was eating grass, had it carry two baskets while she carried one, and was crossing the isolation belt about to head back to the territory when she heard huffing and puffing sounds from the east.

Turning her head, she saw that little honey badger with its cocky running posture, and Xia Qing couldn't help laughing. This thing had come from the northern isolation belt—surely it hadn't tracked her here by following the scent she left along the way?

So persistent?

Xia Qing set down the manure basket, felt the snake she had just caught in her bag, and wondered whether to give it one, so it would stop thinking about her.

"Moo!"

Before Xia Qing could pull the snake out, Ram Boss had already bent its legs to set the two bamboo baskets hanging on its back on the ground, let out a furious roar, and charged forward.