Chapter 709: Forming the Team

After the concrete floor and ring beams of the newly built house in Territory Fifteen had been left to cure for two days, Xia Qing, Zhao Ze, and Tang Huai went over together to inspect it.

Why bring Tang Huai along when he doesn't know anything? Of course it's because he had just joined the Territory Alliance and was so excited he wanted to stick his nose into everything.

Seeing that the already-poured parts of the house hadn't deformed and the quality met standard, Xia Qing began leading the crew in mixing concrete, continuing to pour the walls, then the first-floor ceiling, the second-floor walls, and the second-floor ceiling.

Building a house is a big project, but with sufficient materials and manpower, it really doesn't take long once you actually get going. Fifteen days later, the main structures of the two houses were complete, and the doors and windows welded by Lord Huo Lei from the steel Tan Junjie had collected were installed, with glass fitted in.

Tan Qi and Jiang Ying couldn't wait for the walls to dry completely and be painted before moving into the bare-shell houses.

No one would laugh at the two young women, because after eleven years of natural disasters, humans who lacked a sense of security all longed to move into a house of their own that was safe and sturdy.

So what if it's a bare-shell house without painted walls?

A house with no stench of corpses, no cracks for snakes, bugs, rats, or ants to slip through, and not even super-evolved disease-curing or lethal microorganisms—that's the house of their dreams.

Not to mention Tan Qi and Jiang Ying—even Xia Qing's heart was moved, and she wanted to build a new house too.

Xia Qing gave each of the two young women a double bed made of hardwood as a housewarming gift. Xia Qing couldn't, and didn't have time to, carve decorations, but the two beds were sturdy and spacious, and the two young women were so delighted they couldn't close their mouths, beaming at Xia Qing like blooming flowers.

The farm tools, cookware, green-light vegetable seedlings, and other gifts from the other alliance members were also urgently needed and practical.

The Tang brothers' gifts were the most unusual: ten green-light mealworms each.

Tang Huai, who had come to deliver the worms, was very generous. "If you two succeed in raising them and can't eat them all and plan to sell some, I can buy them back at market price."

Seeing his grand gesture, the alliance members were stunned for a few seconds, then immediately crowded around proposing trades. Tang Huai said cheerfully, "Green-light worms are 40 points each, trade as many as you want. But these worms aren't very stable—if you don't have plenty of green-light fodder and a breeding room that can block harmful elements with suitable temperature and humidity, they'll downgrade to yellow-light after one generation, and to red-light after three."

Hearing this, Tan Qi and Jiang Ying, who were holding the worms, had already started worrying, but the alliance members' enthusiasm didn't diminish at all.

Green-light plants? They have those in the greenhouse!

A breeding room with suitable temperature and humidity? The Hidden Valley!

Block harmful elements? They could rent Yishi stones during the Harmful Rain Period!

So they could raise the worms within the territory, and when the Harmful Rain came, just move them to the Hidden Valley for protection.

After trading away over two hundred mealworms, everyone left Territory Fifteen and went their separate ways home.

Watching Huo Zhun returned to Territory Eleven through Territory Fifteen's south gate; everyone else went through the north gate.

"Gotta have money~~~ I gotta have money~~~" Tang Huai hummed a little tune, his mood couldn't have been better.

Hearing Zhu Li caught what he was humming and asked curiously, "Brother Huai is short on money?"

That shouldn't be the case—his family ran such a big business, and they'd taken back the assets that Tang Zhengsu and his brother had seized. They shouldn't be short on anything, least of all money.

Tang Huai said cheerfully, "Short? Very short. Territory Two has to turn a profit this year, or I'll be stripped of my agent qualifications."

Zhao Ze's eyes went wide. "Tang Lu said that? Brother Huai, aren't you the plenipotentiary agent of Territory Two? She'd dare fire you?!"

Before Tang Zhengrong and Sufeng fell from power, Tang Lu strutted around the Safe Zone every day, bullying lots of people. Her reputation was terrible, and no one had a good impression of her.

Tang Huai shot Zhao Ze a look. "She's my sister."

Everyone:...

Xia Qing wasn't at all surprised by this answer. Tang Zhengpo had already delegated authority and was training the next generation. The Tang family's eldest daughter, Tang Ning, oversaw the big picture, while Tang Huai and Tang Heng each managed one territory.

Although Tang Huai's intelligence and personality seemed like Tang Zhengpo had dug him out of a trash can and taken him home as an adopted son, with his skill at catching and raising worms, turning Territory Two from deficit to profit wouldn't be hard.

The houses in Territory Fifteen were built, Zhang Hongda's poison was cured, the pharmaceutical factory was being rushed to completion, the Territory Alliance had gained two more members and a very capable partner enterprise, the crops in the territory were growing normally, and there were no sudden gale-storm weather or beast tides...

"Boss, our start this year is pretty good—everything's progressing smoothly. Before the second Harmful Rain comes..." Xia Qing chatted with her companions, her finger pausing on a to-do item. "We need to make a trip to the Evolution Forest!"

Time to form a team again, but this time the teammates are completely different from before. Xia Qing called Seeing Xin Yu and invited her over for lunch.

Actually, Xia Qing could have gone to Xin Yu's place to eat, but when Zhou Zhaoping came by last time, he hoped Xia Qing would invite Xin Yu over to visit more often.

If she didn't invite her, Xin Yu might not leave Territory Eight even once a year, nor speak a single word to anyone besides Zhou Zhaoping.

Humans are social animals—they can like and enjoy solitude, but they can't completely cut themselves off from society, or their personality will develop problems sooner or later.

Half an hour after receiving the invitation, Xin Yu arrived at Territory Three's north gate with a jet-black bird perched on her shoulder. The reason she used the north gate was simple: going through the south gate would definitely mean running into Tang Huai, and Xin Yu found him annoying.

The two good friends hadn't even had time to greet each other when the brain-domain evolved raven squatting on Xin Yu's shoulder spread its right wing and greeted warmly, "Hi, Shrimp."

Xia Qing laughed. "Hi, Gagua."

After spending more time with Xin Yu, Xia Qing learned that the raven she kept also had a nickname.

When she first heard this news, Xia Qing was so shocked she nearly dropped her bowl. How high does a bird's IQ have to be to understand that it has both a formal name and a nickname?!

After greeting Xia Qing, the raven flapped its wings and took off, entering Xia Qing's territory first.

Xin Yu watched tensely, and only relaxed once Molly landed in the buffer forest of Territory Three.

After learning how Xia Qing got along with evolved animals, Xin Yu gave it serious thought and decided to give her tamed birds greater freedom, allowing them to fly freely when there was no threat.

Every time they flew off, Xin Yu got nervous.

She was afraid the birds would be hurt or killed by hunters, and also afraid they wouldn't come back after flying away.

Xia Qing watched the raven fly off and asked, "How come Gagua is missing a tail feather?"

Xin Yu explained, "Five days ago, when it went out to play, it got into a conflict with a raven on Mountain Fifty-Two and got pecked."

Xia Qing grew interested. "That raven was an evolved one?"

Xin Yu nodded. "It was a speed-type evolved one. It tried to kill Molly, so I blew it up."

Very Xin Yu. "Did you go along, or did Molly carry the explosives?"

"Molly carried the explosives and a camera."

Xia Qing nodded. "Good thing it was well-equipped."

This raven was the highest-IQ among Xin Yu's tamed beasts; if anything happened to it, Xin Yu would be heartbroken.

Xin Yu walked forward while looking for Molly. "After the conflict, Molly doesn't dare go to Mountain Fifty-Two anymore—it only dares to wander around Mountains Forty-Nine and Fifty."

I see...

Xia Qing hesitated. Molly had been frightened and was losing feathers—could it still join the team for the mission?