Chapter 703: Jiang Ying

When Chen Zheng came over to help Xia Qing guard the territory, he found Sheep Boss pedaling a water-drawing bicycle by the reservoir. The water drawn up splashed noisily into the irrigation ditch, flowing toward the only empty greenhouse inside Territory Three.

Chen Zheng avoided the sideways glance from Sheep Boss, followed the ditch into the greenhouse, and asked, "Sister Qing, are we planting cotton and sunflowers?"

Xia Qing, holding an iron shovel, nodded. "I've already spread the fertilizer. Once the water fills up, you block off the ditch. I'll come back later to collect the water bicycle."

"Got it." The water-drawing bicycle belonged to Sheep Boss, and it didn't allow anyone other than Xia Qing to touch it.

Sheep Boss loved pedaling the bicycle — he wouldn't stop until he'd had his fill. Once the fields were irrigated, the water Sheep Boss drew next would flow into the already-dug fish pond inside Territory Three, and once the fish pond was full, it would overflow through the channel back into the reservoir.

Compared to other territories using manual labor or water pumps to irrigate their fields, Territory Three's irrigation method was truly effortless. So every time Chen Zheng saw Sheep Boss doing useless work, he wanted to till a few more mu of land.

But more land meant more farm work, and Xia Qing alone couldn't handle it all — yet Territory Three couldn't increase its permanent population.

Xia Qing didn't want to add people, and the evolved wolves and evolved sheep within the territory were also very exclusive of outsiders.

A territory with only one power-evolved human and one power-evolved sheep that loved drawing water, farming over 12 mu of crops, was already plenty busy. So every time Beard Feng's squad came over to guard the territory, they'd casually help out with the field work.

After praising Sheep Boss for a while, Xia Qing had just walked not far past the north gate of Territory Three when her phone went "beep" — Zhang Song had sent a very long message:

No residual chemical components of the Slaying Serpent venom were found in the honey badger's body, indicating it definitely hadn't preyed on any Slaying Serpents in the past half month, so we can't determine whether it can resist Slaying Serpent toxin. Third Brother's opinion is: no human interference, just observe from a distance.

The Slaying Serpent suddenly appearing and swimming toward Mountain Fifty-Five happened 11 days ago, which means the Flathead didn't prey on any Slaying Serpents during that period. So by what standard did the Broken-Waist Wolf select this honey badger?

Xia Qing asked: Song Ge, what quality is this honey badger?

Zhang Song replied: Slaying element content 4.3‰, Yi element 7.1?, very excellent. Third Brother won't let us publish these numbers to the outside — just keep it to yourself. If Third Brother hadn't forbidden it, I'd really want to capture this honey badger and raise it.

Seeing these two numbers, Xia Qing was stunned.

Damn — judging purely from the Slaying and Yi element content, the Flathead's two indicators weren't just better than hers, Sheep Boss's, and Broken-Waist Wolf's — the Yi element indicator was even 0.1? higher than the Head Wolf's!

Green-light animal blood with Yi element content exceeding 5? can be used to make premium nutrient solution. Not to mention Zhang Song — even Xia Qing was a little tempted.

Honey badger meat tastes bad? Nonsense!

With the boost of Gao Yi element content, honey badger meat instantly becomes Tang Monk flesh — absolutely delicious.

"Sister Qing!"

Zhu Li, wearing a Level-2 field protective suit, stood on the isolation belt outside Territory Six, cheerfully waving to greet Xia Qing. After confirming with her husband last night that her hearing had exceeded normal levels, Zhu Li had been in an excited state. She got up early today to train within the territory, boosting her combat ability.

Xia Qing stopped to chat with her briefly, then continued walking forward. Qi Fu and Zhao Ze both used the south gate, so this road had only Xia Qing on it.

After Xia Qing walked far away, Zhu Li ran back to the territory, rushed to her husband who was weeding, and said breathlessly, "Sister Qing took the north isolation belt — she just passed."

Now that his wife had an evolved ability, Kuang Qingwei was also excited, but he was after all 22 years older than her, had seen more of the world, and had more to consider. He reminded his wife, "Take a break. The more crucial the moment, the more you need to stay calm."

Zhu Li shook her head. "I'm not tired. I want to boost my combat ability as fast as possible, so I can join the gathering squad next time."

This couple needed this income desperately.

"You're a hearing-evolved one — you must always stay calm to use your ears to catch the subtle sounds around you and maximize your value. Why do you think Xia Qing never takes Tang Huai on missions? Because he's not calm enough — he can't bring out the full value of a hearing-evolved one." Kuang Qingwei pointed at a water cup hanging on the greenhouse frame in the distance. "Drink some water and rest a bit. Look, this corn seedling is wilting…"

Zhu Li didn't even have time to drink water — she immediately pulled off her protective mask and crouched down. "There must be bugs in the soil — let me listen!"

Kuang Qingwei kept weeding while figuring out how to earn another batch of points to buy his wife a protective mask suited for hearing-evolved ones.

A little past ten in the morning, Yuan Rui brought a thin girl, about 1.6 meters tall, into Territory Fifteen, introduced her to everyone at the building site, then introduced her to the lords who had come to help. "This is Jiang Ying, Hu Zi's younger sister. She'll be staying in the territory from now on to keep Tan Qi company. Yingzi, this is Xia Qing from Territory Three, Zhao Ze from Territory Four, Qi Fu from Territory Five, Shi Du from Territory Ten, and Uncle Huo from Territory Fifteen."

"Sister Qing, Brother Zhao, Brother Qi, Brother Shi, Uncle Huo." Jiang Ying called out to each one in turn. From the way she addressed them, it was clear she'd already learned the basic situation of this area before coming — that's why she called Xia Qing "Sister Qing" instead of "Sister Xia."

Everyone exchanged greetings. Yuan Rui went back to his patrol, while Jiang Ying worked alongside Tan Qi as an assistant, carefully sizing up these lords.

The one she paid most attention to was Territory Three's lord, Xia Qing — a power-evolved one just like her brother.

Xia Qing's appearance greatly surprised Jiang Ying.

When Tan Qi's grandmother had come by to chat, she'd mentioned several times that Xia Qing led a team digging bamboo shoots for a whole day and earned tens of thousands of points. Tan Qi's grandmother always exaggerated — when she said "tens of thousands," it probably meant around ten thousand.

Over ten thousand was still quite impressive. Yet Xia Qing, who could earn that many points in a single day, wore a protective suit covered in patches — clearly worn for many years. Her protective boots looked fairly new but were also patched in several places, like secondhand purchases.

She wore old clothes while skillfully cutting rebar, showing no sign at all of being the lord with the largest territory in Hui-Three, or a high-level ability user who could earn over ten thousand points on a single mission.

No wonder her brother, while alive, had told her — when she complained that the safe-zone work was exhausting — to come to the territory and see how the women here worked hard to live.

Jiang Ying nervously tugged at her own brand-new Level-2 field protective suit, walked over, and picked up the rebar Xia Qing had cut. "Sister Qing, I'll carry the rebar."

"Alright." Xia Qing responded, pressed down on the iron handle, and easily snipped through a finger-thick rebar.

Jiang Ying grabbed an armful of rebar and carried it over to the power-evolved lord who was using those cut pieces to make stirrups. Tan Qi was young, so she carried a small handful each time; Jiang Ying carried a big armful.

Qi Fu reminded Jiang Ying to be careful. "Rebar is heavy — carry fewer pieces per trip, don't drop them on your feet."

"Mm." Jiang Ying had never done this kind of work and didn't know rebar was this heavy, so on her second trip she carried fewer pieces. By the time the midday break came, her arms and hands were nearly numb, yet everyone else was still working at full speed. Especially Xia Qing — after two hours of cutting rebar, her movements were still just as fast.

"Shi Du, these hook bends didn't reach 135°." After pausing her work, Xia Qing noticed the stirrups Shi Du had tied were substandard and told him to redo them immediately.

Noticing Jiang Ying watching her with those eyes that looked so much like Hu Zi's, Xia Qing softened her tone and asked, "How is it? Tired?"

Not expecting Xia Qing to take the initiative to speak to her, Jiang Ying's heart surged with emotion. She immediately shook her head. "Sister Qing, that machine you use to cut rebar — is it modified from a hydraulic jack?"