Chapter 829: Beer Duck

Following Xia Qing's way of getting along with evolved animals, Seeing Xin Yu gradually loosened her control over the three domesticated birds. Now that Molly has left Territory Eight, she no longer needs to wear a camera, only an ankle ring with a positioning function.

Just like with the squirrels and weasels in Territory Three and the cats in Territories One and Seven, Seeing Xin Yu also issued a public notice: if her domesticated birds cause any damage to a territory, she will compensate threefold; if any territory dares to kill or capture her domesticated birds, she will drop a bomb on them directly.

The Heavy Alliance built iron-net walls around the northern District One territories for free, and the lords of these territories are all grateful to Seeing Xin Yu, so they won't make trouble with her over three birds. Moreover, the domesticated birds from Territory Eight never land in other territories.

Seeing Xin Yu's good neighbor — Tang Huai of Territory Two — tried to lure them over with an entire tray of mealworms, but failed.

The brain-domain evolved crow Molly used to only fly to Territory Three every few days to peck at Chinese toon buds. This was the first time Xia Qing had seen it go foraging out in the wild — this precious scene had to be recorded.

Xia Qing recorded a few minutes of video and sent it to her good friend Seeing Xin Yu, with a message:

Guagua is so impressive.

Seeing Xin Yu saw the video and immediately called back on a video call. A ground base station had been installed in the territory, so video calls were now possible.

Xia Qing knew her good friend very well, so she pointed the camera at the food fight by the pond.

Seeing Xin Yu couldn't identify Molly from a blurry screen with two streaks across it; she could only make out the honey badger with white fur on its back and asked, "Is this the honey badger that often fights with the boss?"

Thanks to the wolves' unremitting efforts, the number of honey badgers in the northern evolved forest kept growing. Even on Mount Forty-Nine, occupied by the Green Dragon Squad, four honey badgers had moved in.

Honey badgers also have a strong sense of territory. Besides fighting with Ram Boss and Xia Qing, Little Flat Top now also fights with other honey badgers over territory. But it's young and weak, so it only managed to snatch the unappealing Section Three of Mount Forty-Nine — close to the human iron-net walls with scarce prey.

"Yes, I'm afraid it'll run around and be spotted by Blaze's people, so I keep it in the Wild Boar Valley. You don't need to prepare food for Guagua anymore — it can feed itself."

"Alright, I'll only feed it some vitamins and nutritional supplements from now on." Her domesticated bird had been praised, and Seeing Xin Yu smiled so happily that Xia Qing wanted to reach out and pinch her cheek.

Seeing Xin Yu asked, "Deng Yufeng didn't make things difficult for you, did she?"

Although Tang Huai was howling excitedly in the lord channel as if Xia Qing had beaten up Deng Yufeng, Seeing Xin Yu knew Xia Qing wouldn't be that impulsive.

Xia Qing carefully recounted her conversation with the Fire Phoenix, wanting to hear her good friend's opinion.

Before the catastrophe, Deng Yufeng was a salesperson at a downstream company of the Heavy Alliance; she was very capable and became a top sales rep within three years. After the catastrophe struck and before she was captured and taken to the underground lab, Deng Yufeng still made money by trading Heavy Alliance supplies. After coming out of the underground lab and founding Blaze, she continued to cooperate with the Heavy Alliance frequently.

Therefore, Seeing Xin Yu knew Deng Yufeng fairly well.

After listening, Seeing Xin Yu gave her judgment: "She's humbling herself this much because she wants to win you over, get you to join the Blaze Squad or become her secret agent. The tricks she used on you today, she's used on many people, including Li Si."

"First, she uses her tragic experiences and her many injuries and illnesses to resonate with you and close the distance between you. Then, through some of her 'unknown' good deeds, she makes you feel that even if she's not necessarily a good person, she has principles and a bottom line — she won't bully the weak or hurt women. Using these tactics, she gained very high popularity at Huiyi Base."

Xia Qing leaned against Wolf Lao Er. She knew about the Fire Phoenix's good deeds. She would use people in Huiyi's outer city who couldn't afford medical treatment as drug testers, and she would hire some desperate people to work in Blaze's shops or recommend jobs for them. Xia Qing had heard from Beard Feng's squad that many who had received Blaze's favors willingly became Blaze's drug testers and informants.

The well-fed brain-domain evolved crow Molly flew over and landed on a tree branch behind Xia Qing. It must have heard Seeing Xin Yu's voice and flown over.

It spread one wing and preened its feathers, which appeared blue-purple in the sunlight. A raven's pitch-black feathers show blue-purple or blue-green in sunlight due to scattering — this coloration is called "structural color."

This bit of knowledge isn't only known by Xia Qing; the Waist-Snapped Wolf, who often watches videos, knows it too.

Xia Qing turned the camera around to show Seeing Xin Yu her precious bird.

This time the distance was closer, and Seeing Xin Yu clearly saw her domesticated bird. She immediately offered praise: "Guagua can snatch meat to eat — amazing, so impressive, Guagua's feathers are so beautiful…"

Xia Qing…

Why does Seeing Xin Yu's words and tone sound so familiar?

After praising her bird companion, Seeing Xin Yu continued talking to Xia Qing about Blaze: "Oh right, did you recognize those two bodyguards of Blaze's today?"

"They were Huo Lei and Huo Ting from the Huiyi combat power rankings." Although she wasn't interested in making the rankings, Xia Qing still kept an eye on the combat power rankings of each base.

"Right. I noticed their protective suits have been upgraded. I want to ask Uncle Huo to analyze the material of their suits and see what functions they have. Your new phone has already entered Red Two's warehouse — it'll be delivered the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Xia Qing's phone was too poor; the picture was too blurry, affecting Seeing Xin Yu's appreciation of Guagua's heroic bearing.

Only after the brain-domain evolved crow flew away did Xia Qing hang up. She lay on the warm big stone dappled with spots of sunlight, sleeping next to Wolf Lao Er.

She hadn't slept enough from last night's medicinal bath, and having to keep her spirits up to deal with the Fire Phoenix this morning was, for Xia Qing, more exhausting than tilling ten mu of land. She needed rest too.

The shade of this tree slowly slid across Xia Qing and the wolf-dog Lao Er; the glaring sunlight fell on the face of one person and one wolf. Lao Er raised a big paw to cover its eyes, and Xia Qing turned over.

When the shade of another, larger tree slowly crept over and covered the person and the wolf, the phone in Xia Qing's pocket rang.

Her idol had called, asking her to come over.

Xia Qing first carried Little Flat Top, who was stubbornly holding a wild boar bone in its mouth, out of the valley, then sent Lao Er back to Territory Three, before entering Territory Seven through the north gate and arriving at her idol's research room.

Seeing that her idol looked unwell, Xia Qing immediately asked, "What did Third Brother have for lunch? Did the duck I sent over taste alright?"

Three evolved wolves had brought three green-light wild ducks over the night before last. Xia Qing roasted one for the Queen, sent one to her idol, and kept one for herself.

Mentioning delicious food improved Zhang San's expression a bit: "It was pretty good made into beer duck."

Nani?

There's actually green-light beer in my idol's territory?! That's…

Of course! My idol works so hard — having a drink to relax is only right!

Xia Qing immediately replied, "I'll ask the wolves tonight where they caught the ducks and bring you back a few more."

Zhang San's expression improved further. He took a blood collection needle out of the drawer, tore open the packaging, and said, "Hold out your arm."