Chapter 921: Daigua Monkey Returns to the Territory

"Little Feimao, time to get to work!"

Xia Qing took Employee No. 001 of Territory No. 3, Little Feimao, out of her pocket and placed it among the 200 Green Lantern oil sunflower seeds Kuang Qingwei had sent, letting it pick out the finest ones from the batch.

Landing in the pile of seeds, Little Feimao happily wagged its fluffy little tail, quickly dug out one sunflower seed and stuffed it in its mouth, then a second, then a third. Once its tiny cheeks were stuffed full, it burrowed back into Xia Qing's pocket to store the premium seeds.

After it finished the job, Xia Qing rewarded it with one of the oil sunflower seeds it had picked out and a Green Lantern chestnut.

Then Xia Qing soaked the premium oil sunflower seeds on their own, before taking her tools to harvest the Yellow Lantern potatoes from the two terraced fields in Greenhouse No. 1. After harvesting the potatoes, she planned to fertilize and till the soil again and plant oil sunflowers.

Because she had stayed up all night gathering mistletoe, Xia Qing had originally planned to do some light work today and harvest the potatoes tomorrow.

But after contacting Yang Jin, Xia Qing decided to harvest the potatoes this morning. The spring in the Sea of Death where Wolf Five died had not yet been corroded by the snow-white super evolution bacteria, but Yang Jin told her that the battles between the sea overlord and the aerial raptors near Guicheng were growing more and more intense, and could very likely trigger a bird tide.

Xia Qing still remembered vividly the destruction the bird tide had brought to the territory last August. So how could she spare any thought for rest? She immediately called out in the Lord Alliance group chat, telling everyone to get ready, and she herself began harvesting potatoes right away.

This spring, Xia Qing used the Yellow Lantern potatoes she had saved from last year—low in harmful element content—and the Yellow Lantern potatoes she had traded for as seed potatoes. After filling the two terraced fields, she also planted 600 potato chunks in Greenhouse No. 6.

Potatoes are planted differently from other crops: you cut them into chunks according to the eyes, coat them with some plant ash, and let them air-dry for about two days. Once the cut surfaces have dried a bit, you plant them in the soil. Each potato chunk has one or two sprouting eyes, and 95% of planted chunks will grow into potato plants.

So it can be said that potatoes have the highest germination rate of any crop Xia Qing grows. But this still can't change the fact that potatoes are the lowest-quality crop in her territory.

Xia Qing planted 400 potato chunks in the two terraced fields and 600 in Greenhouse No. 6, for a total of 943 potato plants that sprouted.

Because Greenhouse No. 6 wasn't protected by Yishi during the second harmful rain, the general harmful-evolution rate of the Yellow Lantern potato plants was 14.7%, and the aggressive harmful-evolution rate—that is, the probability of dancing potato plants appearing—was around 5%. Another 9% of the plants didn't undergo harmful evolution, but during growth their harmful element content slowly rose above 15‰, turning them into Red Lantern crops that can't be eaten directly. Adding in other losses, of the 564 potato plants that sprouted in Greenhouse No. 6, only 385 survived to now.

The potatoes in the terraced fields were protected by Yishi during the harmful rain, and the soil and water conditions were better than in the cultivated plots, so 360 potato plants remained.

By the odds, this year's potatoes should have produced six or seven cultivable optimized seeds. But among these 749 potato plants, not a single one was a Green Lantern cultivable optimized seed!

When planted in spring, the potato chunks in Greenhouse No. 6 had a harmful element content of 9-10‰, but now most of the plants' quality has dropped to 13‰, close to Red Lantern.

The potato chunks planted in the terraced fields were better quality, with harmful element content around 8‰. After nearly four months of careful tending by Xia Qing, only 22 plants had a harmful element content of 5.6-6.5‰—general optimized seeds. The remaining potato plants all had quality between 6.5-8.5‰.

That's why Xia Qing says potatoes are the lowest-quality crop in her territory.

But potatoes are a crop that can be used both as a vegetable and a staple, and spicy sour shredded potatoes is a dish that doesn't require any cooking skill and can be made in a minute or two. So Xia Qing has no intention of giving up on potatoes.

Next spring, she plans to cut up the general optimized seeds she cultivated this year and plant them in the soil, continuing to breed premium potatoes.

Although this potato isn't high in quality, it has one advantage that makes it impossible to give up: it's the highest-yielding crop of all the ones Xia Qing grows.

Xia Qing first loosened the soil around the potato roots with a shovel, then pulled up the potato plant and, like opening a blind box, began counting the potatoes.

Five were a bit bigger than a fist, six were medium-sized, and there were a few the size of pigeon eggs or smaller.

Xia Qing's eyes lit up. She turned to show her companions her harvest. "Boss, Lao Er, look! Our potatoes grew so well this year!"

Her efforts had paid off—the yield of this potato crop was higher than last spring's.

"Baa~~~"

Sheep Boss opened its big, gorgeous eyes and replied to Xia Qing in a pinched little voice that didn't match its burly frame at all.

"Awo~"

Wolf Dog Lao Er, who used to dislike making sounds, had been led astray by Boss and replied to Xia Qing in a coquettish voice.

"Good, eat up!" Xia Qing plucked off the potatoes and carefully placed them in a basket, then handed the potato plant to Boss. "It's all thanks to Boss working hard tilling the soil and hauling water to irrigate the fields that our potatoes grew so well. Boss has worked hard. Boss can now enjoy the victorious potato plant. Don't eat too much, this stuff has trace toxins."

Compared to the forage in its own dedicated forage shed, the potato plant wasn't high quality, but Sheep Boss just wanted something fresh, so it lowered its head and dug in.

Xia Qing rubbed Lao Er's head, then took a packet of freeze-dried treats from her pocket and handed it over. "Because Lao Er patrols every day, our insect netting didn't get chewed through by bugs, and the potatoes had a bumper harvest. Lao Er has worked hard too. Lao Er gets freeze-dried treats."

Lao Er wagged its tail once, swallowed the freeze-dried treats in one bite, and Xia Qing handed it an air-dried beef chew stick before continuing to harvest potatoes.

"Baa~~~" After Sheep Boss finished nibbling the tender leaves on the first potato plant, it asked Xia Qing for a second one.

After finishing the beef chew, Lao Er walked into the field, wanting to help Xia Qing harvest by carrying potatoes in its mouth. Xia Qing rubbed its head and handed it a potato plant. "The potatoes are all covered in dirt, way too dirty. Lao Er, help me carry the potato plants out, okay?"

Lao Er immediately took the potato plant from Xia Qing's hand, carried it out, and placed it in front of Boss for it to eat.

From the 22 general optimized seeds, Xia Qing harvested a total of 230 potatoes, large and small. Once she brought these potatoes home and dried them for two days under the shade shed she'd already set up, they could be stored in the underground cellar, saved as seed potatoes.

Then Xia Qing began harvesting the ordinary-quality potatoes from the terraced fields.

Because she had to both dig and pick the potatoes, Xia Qing wasn't moving very fast.

Lao Er, standing nearby waiting to carry potato plants, watched the busy Xia Qing for a while, then turned and left the territory. Before long, Xia Qing heard a notification sound from the phone in her pocket—Lao Er had left the territory.

Xia Qing never restricted her companions' freedom; Lao Er had the right to come and go from the territory as it pleased. Xia Qing put her phone away and kept working.

She didn't expect that before long, Lao Er would scan its face to re-enter the territory and come to Greenhouse No. 1 on the high slope. When it left, it was alone; when it returned, there was a filthy Does Daigua monkey on its back.