Chapter 886: Holy Stone

Looking at Xia Qing's expression, one could tell her exchange demands weren't high, but Yang Jin was confident, because the plants he'd brought were of excellent quality.

"Everything I found are high-quality green-light plants from Hui-6. Jin Yinhua has a qiang element content of 3.3‰, wild bazhi has 2.8‰, and the evolved needle grass that can bloom year-round has 3.1‰."

Hmm? Blooms in all four seasons? That's a great find — it can provide a stable nectar source for the bees!

Though she was thrilled inside, Xia Qing kept her facial expression under control, not letting her emotions show.

Seeing that Xia Qing remained so composed even after he'd stated his selling points, the corner of Yang Jin's mouth lifted slightly.

He pushed his phone in front of Xia Qing and proposed his exchange terms. "I'll give you six honeysuckle plants, four wild bazhi, and 2000 seeds of evolved needle grass, in exchange for one piece of ore."

Ore?

Xia Qing leaned forward slightly, lowered her head, and looked at the image displayed on the screen of a new phone identical in model and color to her own.

It was a kind of stone mottled with ink-black and deep pink or deep red. Unlike yi stone, whose black and white were evenly distributed, this ore's two colors were distributed with no pattern. It was Xia Qing's first time seeing this kind of stone. She looked up and asked, "What is this?"

"This ore is called rhodochrosite, commonly known as red-striped stone. The icy-type red-striped stone in the picture is a very rare gemstone raw material. I got intel that Mountain 65 might have icy-type red-striped stone. I want a piece the size of a duck egg or larger, with the deep pink portion distributed in chunks."

A rare icy-type ore is definitely not cheap — Yang Jin's calculating was so loud it could be heard all the way at Mountain 55! Xia Qing asked calmly, "What is this ore used for?"

"They say this ore can relieve stress and improve mood. Several cults worship it as a holy stone." Yang Jin reached out and swiped across his phone screen, switching to another image to show Xia Qing ornaments carved from icy-type red-striped stone. "I want to use this ore to make a deal with the Doom Cult at Hui-8 Base."

Hui-8 is south of Hui-1; the two bases' evolved forests share a border. Liehuo is in the evolved forest over fifty li south of Hui-1's safe zone, more than seven hundred li from Hui-8 Base's safe zone where the Doom Cult is located.

After clashing with Liehuo, Xia Qing studied the map and discovered that Hui-8's squad held the geographical advantage for raiding Liehuo's mountain, so she had been gathering intel on Hui-8's squad during this period.

Out of sight, out of mind — but once you look, what wonders unfold.

Xia Qing discovered that the usually low-profile Hui-8 was something of an oddball among Hui City's ten bases. The base wasn't large, but it had plenty of cults; the majority of civilians in the safe zone were fanatical believers of various cults.

The Doom Cult is one of Hui-8's three major cults. The Doom Squad, made up of that cult's evolvers, currently holds first place on Hui-8's combat power ranking.

Hearing that Yang Jin wanted to deal with this cult, Xia Qing guessed, "You want the Doom Cult to deal with Liehuo?"

Yang Jin nodded. "One of Fire Phoenix's enemies is at the Hui-8 Research Institute. He hired Doom Squad members as bodyguards. This past March, Liehuo Squad used poison to kill a ten-person main combat team from Doom, so the two sides have a grudge. If you can find the holy stone, I have a way to get the Doom Cult to attack Liehuo. Then the two squads from Hui-5 and I can move in secret and blow half of Liehuo Mountain apart."

The reason Blue Dragon has it out for Liehuo is because of Xue Yuan.

During the second qiang rain, Blue Dragon member Xue Yuan — who was on guard duty for Mountain 50 — betrayed them. He set up an ambush in the parking lot below Peak Three and sniped at Xia Qing, ultimately detonating the bomb on his own body and dying.

Veterans of Blue Dragon Squad like Xue Yuan, Xie Yu, and Hu Zifeng were mostly classmates of Yang Jin's from the same military academy. Their families had all perished or gone missing in the catastrophe, so this group of homeless classmates formed a squad to huddle together for warmth during the disaster years.

After Xue Yuan died, Yang Jin investigated and found out why Xue Yuan had been forced to obey Liehuo — it was because his younger brother Xue Shao, whom he'd thought long dead, was actually in Fire Phoenix's hands.

Liehuo used such dirty tactics to force Blue Dragon members to betray them — how could Yang Jin let it go?

Mountain 65 is hot and humid, with extremely dense vegetation and a wide variety of evolved animals. That place is Xiong Qun's territory — a no-go zone for humans.

Xia Qing also wanted to blow up Liehuo Mountain, but, "Wolf Pack has already retaken Mountain 55, and none of the main members are sick or injured. Sending them into Xiong Qun's territory to look for ore would be very difficult and too dangerous."

In Xia Qing's view, revenge had to be predicated on ensuring one's own strength and safety; otherwise, the revenge would be a bad bargain.

She wouldn't sweet-talk Wolf Pack into venturing deep into Xiong Qun's territory just for revenge.

Yang Jin smiled and raised his hand to point out the window. "It is indeed very difficult for Wolf Pack to find ore, but it can do it."

Xia Qing turned her head and saw, in the distance, Does Daigua the monkey — wearing pink overalls — crawling toward the cabin at a sloth's pace.

Sheep Boss lay in the shade, squinting at the cabin window with a sour look; Wolf Lao Er stayed by Does Daigua's side to protect its safety — this was the task Xia Qing had assigned to Wolf Lao Er.

She hadn't expected Yang Jin to take a liking to Does Daigua. Xia Qing explained, "This monkey still needs another month of medicine. After the course is done, even Third Brother can't guarantee how much it'll recover."

Yang Jin smiled. "Since this monkey was chosen as a companion by a brain-domain evolved bear, it must have something unique about it. I think it can make a full recovery, so I want to gamble on it with these three kinds of green-light plants."

"No need to gamble — Liehuo is my enemy too. If Does Daigua can recover enough to communicate, I'll send it to look for this ore." Xia Qing asked the price again. "Captain Yang, I want all three kinds of green-light plants. Name your price."

The smile at the corner of Yang Jin's mouth grew more obvious. "The 400 seeds of this current batch of spinach growing in your Number Two shed's terraced field."

Xia Qing raised her eyes to look at Yang Jin across from her — he really did dare to name his price.

When this batch of spinach is harvested, the yi element content will definitely exceed 8.3‰!

"After the catastrophe, plant evolution has shown clear regional characteristics. High-quality plants that grow well in their native region can't be guaranteed to maintain quality when planted elsewhere. How these three green-light plants from Hui-6 will grow around here is still an unknown."

After pointing out the problem with the supplies in Yang Jin's hands, Xia Qing named the price she could accept. "150 seeds."

Yang Jin smiled. "180 seeds. The extra 30 count as my labor fee. To trade for this batch of supplies with Hui-6, I spent a lot of effort and time."

"Deal." Xia Qing didn't haggle with him and agreed directly — she wanted to see Yang Jin off as soon as possible.

If he observed Does Daigua up close and reached the same conclusion Tang Huai had, Xia Qing was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop herself from joining Sheep Boss to scratch his face up.

"Thanks, Sister Qing." Yang Jin read from Xia Qing's movements and expression that she wanted to see him off, and tactfully stood up to take his leave.

Seeing Yang Jin come out, Wolf Lao Er blocked Does Daigua and bared its fangs; the also-punchable-faced Sheep Boss stood up and started pawing the ground.

Yang Jin, feeling sour, asked, "Were these two like this when Hu Zifeng and the others came over?"

Xia Qing answered honestly, "Wolf Lao Er's attitude is about the same. If Captain Hu and the others were here, Sheep Boss would have already charged."

The reason Sheep Boss only struck a pose and didn't charge was that Yang Jin's combat power was too high — it couldn't beat him.

With the comparison, Yang Jin felt much better. "Did you make this little monkey's clothes?"

Shaving a little monkey and dressing it up is really… um… adorable.

"No."

She was busy as a bee — the clothes were made by Seeing Xin Yu. Seeing Xin Yu treats Does Daigua like a figurine and has made several outfits for it.

These past two days, Does Daigua has started crawling, and Xia Qing was afraid its belly would be bitten by venomous insects, so she put it in the onesie Seeing Xin Yu had made.

After seeing Yang Jin off, Xia Qing noticed Does Daigua had crawled another three-plus meters toward the meeting room. The only thing here that could attract it was the honey Yang Jin had just delivered.

Xia Qing picked Does Daigua up and dusted the dirt off it. "Want some honey?"

No matter what you say to it, Does Daigua just gives you a big blank white face — it's genuinely infuriating to look at.

Xia Qing flicked its forehead and called to her companions to follow. "Sheep Boss, Wolf Lao Er, let's go — we're heading home for honey water!"