Chapter 937: Qiangwu Grass Leaves and the Bioweapon Soybeans

Hearing it was Fierce Fire's poison, killing intent flashed in Xia Qing's eyes. "Third Brother, can we smash that wretched lab this time?"

Zhang San was also irritated at the mention of Fierce Fire. "Hui One's waters run very deep — we can't get solid evidence. But I can confirm that the poison Luo Pei Zhong got last time and the poison Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo got this time came from the same group. Go pick the soybeans and see if the Wang Wu they produced this time has any direct evidence."

No need to ask — Wang Wu was the one who swapped out the soybeans and handed them to Li Si, who then delivered them to Zhang San. He or she should be Li Si's half-sibling with no shared parentage; the way they went up Fierce Fire Mountain was about the same, and the route they took down was also identical.

"Alright, Third Brother, get some rest. Our Territory Alliance and Hui Three Pharmaceutical Factory are getting stronger bit by bit — that itself is weakening Fierce Fire's advantage. We'll wipe them out sooner or later."

After ending the call, Xia Qing called Yang Jin again.

The Qiangwu Grass in the spring cave of Territory Three belonged to her and Yang Jin; the Qiangwu Grass under the wolf cave of Territory Fifty-Five was hers alone. Xia Qing's plan was to sell medicine only from the former, and keep the latter as strategic reserve material, to be used only by herself or the wolf pack. So she needed to learn from her idol as soon as possible how to compound the antidote for Qiangwu synthetic poison.

Now that her idol had already brought her into the core lab, she just needed to find a moment when her idol was in a good mood, and she could start learning drug-making.

"Sure." Yang Jin of course had no objection — the Qiangwu Grass in the spring cave of Territory Three had grown from two plants to five, and selling leaf cuttings for money was a good thing. By the way, Yang Jin told Xia Qing some news: "Fu Xiaodan called me this morning, wanting to sell me 300,000 in ore at a ten percent discount, and then borrow 1,000,000 points from me."

Borrow money from the Iron Rooster? The price was surely not going to be cheap.

Xia Qing asked, "Are they using their territory as collateral?"

Credit didn't carry much weight these days — without collateral, there was no way to borrow such a large sum of points.

Yang Jin answered, "Two territories and a two-bedroom apartment in the inner ring of the outer city. I checked the documents — the house really does belong to Fu Xiaodan, but right now it's Chen Deng's family living there. She Xian and Fu Xiaodan have completely broken with Chen Deng and left the team, planning to stay in the territory permanently."

Chen Deng's family actually living in a house that belongs to Fu Xiaodan? That's quite a tangled story. But Xia Qing wasn't interested in other people's business and didn't press further.

Yang Jin, however, asked with a smile, "Sister Qing, want to buy a place in the inner city? I can give you a five percent discount."

"No."

Xia Qing refused outright. A place in the inner city cost at least a million-plus points — that area was very safe for others, but not for Xia Qing. For her, the safest place was right here.

Xia Qing took off the protective mask hanging at her waist, put it on properly, and went to Shed 6 to pick the bioweapon — Fierce Fire's green-light edamame.

During the second Qiangwu Rain, after Xia Qing sensed that the soybeans had developed a Qiangwu-evolved aggressive plant magnetic field, she fenced off a terraced field and the half-acre of soybeans in Shed 6 with thorns, and strictly warned all her companions in the territory.

This stuff was a bioweapon — eating it would damage genes and the damage could be inherited!

She had just arrived at Shed 6 when she heard Zhang San's lazy voice on the lord channel asking, "Xia Qing, you there?"

Xia Qing immediately pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Here. Third Brother, are you done?"

Zhang San grunted an acknowledgment. "Bring me a young rooster."

Everyone immediately stopped their farm work by the water, fingers resting on the walkie-talkie buttons. Once Xia Qing finished her trade with the big shot, they would seize the chance to build up some goodwill and exchange some special-effect potions for backup.

Xia Qing answered immediately, "Sure, Third Brother. Want some green-light sweet potatoes? I was just turning over the sweet potato vines and noticed the spring-planted sweet potato roots are bulging — I can dig up a few and make some candied sweet potatoes."

Zhang San remained lazy. "Too greasy."

Everyone: Strike green-light sweet potatoes off the list — the big shot wants something light again today!

Xia Qing asked again, "Third Brother, want some boiled edamame? The green-light soybeans in my territory have grown quite a bit."

Everyone: Can't compete…

Zhang San's mood improved a little. "Bring two jin. Tell Zheng Chen what you want to trade for."

"Got it, Third Brother, thanks Third Brother, I'll go pick them right now!"

The moment Xia Qing finished speaking, Hearing Zhu Li's voice came on. "Third Brother, a green-light raspberry was found in the buffer forest inside Territory Six — sweet and sour. Want some for dessert?"

Zhang San responded, "Sure. Raspberry is a good medicinal ingredient. Next spring, you all should propagate a few more by cuttings."

"Got it, Third Brother, thanks Third Brother!" Hearing Zhu Li happily went off to pick raspberries.

Lord Huo Lei grabbed third place. "Third Brother, are you having braised young rooster for lunch? The green-light peppers in my territory — I don't know if they've evolved, but the spiciness has dropped and the sweetness gone up. Perfect for braised dishes. Want a few to try?"

Zhang San was very interested. "Bring four."

"You got it!" Lord Huo Lei put down the walkie-talkie and immediately directed his useless dim-witted son. "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and go to the pepper tree tied with the red silk — pick four that are well-shaped and big, and snip them off!"

Xia Qing, who was fully geared up picking edamame, was also very interested in the new pepper variety that had appeared in Territory Eleven, and decided to trade for some seeds in a few days.

After picking two jin of edamame, Xia Qing carried the bag into Shed 2 on the low slope, ducked under the grape trellis, moved aside the stone blocking the spring cave, and crawled in to cut Qiangwu Grass leaves.

Even though she still had sixteen Qiangwu Grass plants in the cave under Mountain Fifty-Five, every time she cut a leaf, Xia Qing still felt the pain.

Because after growing them for nearly a year, she had confirmed that what the materials Zhang San gave her said was true: each Qiangwu Grass plant only freaking grows 20 leaves!

After the big leaves at the bottom were cut, the small leaves at the top would slowly grow bigger, but the bud heart would not produce new leaves. In other words, once 20 leaves were cut, that Qiangwu Grass plant was done for.

In mid-October last year, Yang Jin brought back two Qiangwu Grass seedlings from Bai Qi's base, reached a cooperation agreement with Xia Qing, and planted them in the spring cave of Territory Three. At the time, both Qiangwu Grass plants were intact.

Over the past half year or so, Xia Qing had already cut 5 leaves to save that unlucky little bear, 2 leaves to save the head wolf, 5 leaves to save Wang Xin at the safe-zone hospital, and 4 leaves to save a Bai Chi that Zhang San mentioned. Cutting 4 more today, and the leaves on the two Qiangwu Grass plants would be exactly half gone.

The Qiangwu Grass seeds she planted in spring hadn't sprouted yet. The three small Qiangwu Grass plants propagated by division had survived, but their growth was very slow — to cut leaves, she'd have to wait until this time next year at the earliest.

In other words, the growth rate of the Qiangwu Grass in her cave simply couldn't keep up with the speed at which those Fierce Fire lunatics were poisoning people!

Xia Qing sealed each Qiangwu Grass leaf separately in a small transparent packaging bag and mixed them into the edamame. The Qiangwu Grass leaves were about the size of a thumb, colorless and transparent — mixed into the black bag holding the two-plus jin of edamame, they could easily slip past unnoticed.

But when Xia Qing walked up the north high slope and heard the footsteps of the person coming to pick up the goods, she stopped. Because it wasn't Zheng Chen that Zhang San had mentioned — it was another agent from Territory Seven, Ji Li.