Chapter 86: The New Lord of Territory Nine, Li Si

Turn off the micro-tiller? I'm using farm machinery on my own territory — what's it to you?

Xia Qing's rattling went on until noon before she stopped, then went into the hillside planting zone and picked some green-light alfalfa and yellow-light Jerusalem artichoke leaves she'd traded from Zhao Ze, as well as green-light and yellow-light chives traded from Kuang Qingwei and Qi Fu.

Back home, Xia Qing froze. On the glass of her second-floor balcony where she dried things, there were actually several smears of bird droppings…

Damn it, which rotten thing did this?! Don't let me catch you, or I'll steal your eggs!

Muttering curses, Xia Qing rinsed the bird droppings off with water before opening her Yi-element detector to test the Yi-element content of these plants. As she'd expected, Zhao Ze's green-light alfalfa had the highest Yi-element content, reaching three ten-thousandths.

When Zhang San trades with lords, he only accepts food, and he prefers food with high Yi-element content.

Zhao Ze's territory can yield six jin of green-light alfalfa per cutting — it must be a sizable patch.

Does Territory Four also have a spring? The buffer-forest hillside inside Territory Four is also under Mountain Forty-Nine, so the possibility of a spring isn't zero, but it's not high either.

Would damaging the mountain structure of the buffer forest under Mountain Forty-Nine affect the spring inside her territory? Xia Qing couldn't help herself and sent Luo Pei a message to ask.

Luo Pei replied quickly, "Based on past detection experience, only when the mountain is damaged to a depth of over thirty meters is there a chance of disrupting the mountain structure. The Azure Dragon Squad has already brought Territories Four, Five, Six, and Seven into the scope of cooperation — we'll be reaching out to the four lords soon."

So they'd already thought of this, and she'd only just thought of it now — she felt a little ashamed. Xia Qing put down her phone, feeling much more at ease.

It took Xia Qing six days to clear the harmful grass from her cultivated land and the three villages.

Xia Qing asked Hu Zifeng for pictures of the di-pao-zi plant. The di-pao-zi plant looked utterly ordinary — without the pictures, Xia Qing would have cut it down as harmful grass. These past few days, Xia Qing had been clearing harmful grass while searching for di-pao-zi at the same time.

After several days, she really did find three yellow-light and three green-light edible ones among the large number of red-light plants. Zhang San had already traded di-pao-zi with Qi Fu, so using these six to trade for chicks was out of the question, but she could keep them for herself to eat.

Xia Qing set up little pest-proof net sheds over them, specially protecting them.

With the cultivated land cleared, it was time to tackle the hillside. When Xia Qing was clearing the dawn-redwood grove, she was jointly attacked by egrets and night herons.

The four birds were full of hostility toward Xia Qing. They probably knew they couldn't beat her, so whenever she wasn't home, they'd go smear bird droppings on her windows. Xia Qing — who'd taken three of their eggs and only got to eat one — had already spent four days cleaning up bird droppings.

The bird-dropping smearing she could tolerate, but the four evolved birds not letting her clear the dawn-redwood grove — that she could not. Xia Qing used a slingshot and mud pellets to teach the four birds who was the true master of Territory Three, then cleared the harmful grass from the dawn-redwood grove and continued pushing upward.

Clearing the harmful evolved creatures inside the buffer forest is also a lord's duty. If it's not done in time and the damage spreads to neighboring territories, one has to compensate them for their losses.

Xia Qing had already received the two solar panels compensated by Territory Two, and other territories had received their corresponding compensation. As for Xia Qing's demand that Territory Two compensate her for bullets and points, it did not receive support from the territory management department.

Tang Huai gave Xia Qing an extra solar panel as compensation in order to get on good terms with her, making it easier to trade green-light food in the future. Xia Qing accepted the solar panel calmly — whether they'd trade or not could be decided later.

The territory hit worst by the rodent plague from Territory Two was Territory Nine, which bordered it on the east. All the crops inside were destroyed, and of four people, three died. According to Su Ming, the one survivor was so scared out of his wits he'd decided to take the compensation and abandon his territory to return to the safe zone.

In the second harmful rain, most territories suffered heavy losses. But unless the crops in one's territory were severely damaged, or there were major casualties, who could bear to give up green beans that could be harvested in just one more month, or wheat that could be harvested in two months?

These are all food.

She also didn't know whether, after Territory Nine was abandoned, anyone would claim it — did the Azure Dragon Squad have such a plan?

Besides Territory Nine, she had no idea what the situation was with the nearby Territory Eight and Territory Ten either.

Just as Xia Qing was clearing harmful grass while letting her thoughts wander, she suddenly heard the roar of a helicopter approaching from afar. Xia Qing walked out of the trees to an open spot and saw a small helicopter flying in from the west, landing inside Territory One.

The lord of Territory One, Luo Pei, had "come back."

Xia Qing turned on the walkie-talkie and immediately heard Tang Huai's shout, "Hu Zifeng! Hu Zifeng! What are you people doing?"

Hu Zifeng was naturally not online.

Kuang Qingwei guessed, "Didn't the Azure Dragon Squad buy Mountain Forty-Nine as a training base? They're probably sending team members over for in-mountain training, right?"

Tang Huai scoffed, "Bullshit! The Azure Dragon Squad is only second-rate — how could they possibly have a helicopter? It can't be Luo Pei coming back, can it?"

Kuang Qingwei wasn't Hu Zifeng and didn't dare argue with Tang Huai, so he replied meekly, "I don't know if Captain Luo's eye injury has gotten any better — it's been ages since we've heard from him."

The channel went quiet.

An hour later, Luo Pei's warm, steady voice came over the channel, "Hello everyone, I'm Luo Pei from Territory One. I'm back."

The channel immediately erupted with greetings coming one after another, with Tang Huai's probing remarks peppered in between — it was terribly lively. It wasn't until Zhang San spoke up with a question that the channel finally quieted down.

No one dared provoke Zhang San — first, because he had lots of supplies, and second, because he was petty.

Luo Pei replied warmly, "Thanks for the concern, Third Brother and everyone — my injury is pretty much healed."

No way! Tang Huai continued probing, "Captain Luo, are you coming back this time to keep farming?"

Luo Pei answered calmly, "Once you've claimed land, naturally you have to farm it. Besides farming, I'll also be leading people to set up the training base on Mountain Forty-Nine as quickly as possible. There may be some noise that disturbs you all — let me apologize to you in advance."

Zhang San said lazily, "Just a verbal apology?"

Luo Pei replied, "The Azure Dragon Squad will compensate the lords of Territories Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven — two jin of yellow-light corn seed each."

In June, it was corn-planting time.

Zhao Ze spoke up immediately, "By rights, my territory is separated from Mountain Forty-Nine by the wild boar breeding center, so Brother Luo leading people to build the training base shouldn't affect me. But since Brother Luo has spoken, it wouldn't be right for me to refuse Brother Luo face. I'll accept the corn. Tomorrow I'll send you some of the fruits and melons grown in my territory — it's not much, but it's a token of my regard. Please don't take it amiss, Brother Luo."

Kuang Qingwei and Qi Fu also sensibly said they'd send some vegetables over. Xia Qing followed suit, "Brother Luo, I'm Xia Qing from Territory Three. The cucumbers in my territory are ready to eat — I'll bring you a few tomorrow. When the Azure Dragon Squad clears Mountain Forty-Nine, can I apply to join? I want to look for green-light food to trade with Third Brother for chicks."

Luo Pei laughed warmly, "Thank you all. Xia Qing, when we clear the evolved forest on the mountain, I'll send someone to notify you."

Zhang San followed up, "Luo Pei, if you find green-light food in the mountain and want to trade, give a shout on the channel."

"Will do."

After Luo Pei agreed, Tang Huai immediately followed, "Captain Luo, can I team up with you to go into the mountain?"

To Tang Huai's request, Luo Pei responded calmly, "The evolved forest after the harmful rain is extremely dangerous — ordinary people can't enter the woods. Even if you have evolved people in your territory, it's still no, because I don't trust the Tang family."

Not only Tang Huai, but the three ordinary-person lords of Territories Four, Five, and Six who wanted to go up the mountain were also shut down by Luo Pei.

A strange woman's voice suddenly came over the channel, "Hello everyone, I'm the new lord of Territory Nine, Li Si."