Chapter 12: A Huge Profit
Tan Junjie stared at Xia Qing as if looking at one of his disobedient soldiers. "Any evolved creature that appears outside of a territory is not protected by the 'Territory Law'."
Even one wearing a collar is no exception.
"Yes," Xia Qing replied loudly, then asked in a lower voice, "Captain Tan, if I clear out that hillside, can it be counted as part of my territory?"
After the natural disasters, China was vast and sparsely populated; no one wanted land infested with evolved creatures.
Tan Junjie stared at Xia Qing in silence for a few seconds. "What is on the hillside?"
Xia Qing answered truthfully, "There is an edible Chinese toon tree. My sheep likes to eat it very much."
Tan Junjie understood. He pressed his brow and asked in return, "How many wild boars did you catch in total?"
This...
Xia Qing hesitated for a moment. Knowing she couldn't hide it for long, she simply answered truthfully, "Three. There is still one left in the territory."
"Alive and edible?"
"...Yes."
Tan Junjie was silent for a moment, then asked, "Male or female?"
This time, Xia Qing was embarrassed. "I didn't notice. I'll send you a text once I confirm."
Tan Junjie set his terms: "Use this little wild boar to trade for that hillside and 'your' sheep."
Xia Qing, who had planned to raise the little piglet to trade for a large sum of points, hesitated before proposing her own condition: "Can I clear the hillside myself?"
Does she really treat that toon tree like a treasure? Tan Junjie looked at Xia Qing’s dark, thin, and weathered face and promised, "It’s too dangerous for you alone. We will only clear out the harmful creatures; we won't touch anything on that hillside."
Xia Qing beamed immediately. "Deal! Thank you, Captain Tan!"
After Xia Qing left with the supplies, Tan Junjie took out his phone to report the situation and then requested, "I am applying to lead a team into the Evolved Forest immediately to catch the wild boars... Yes, I will ensure the mission is completed."
***
Inside Plot No. 3, Xia Qing guarded a large pile of rice and flour sealed in one-jin bags, her mouth watering. Back in the Safe Zone, she couldn't bear to eat staple foods even once a week, but now she had sixty jin all at once!
She wanted to treat herself to rice for dinner, but before dark, she had one more major task to attend to.
Xia Qing cut a piece of red cloth from an old garment, sewed a collar, and clumsily stitched the words "Plot No. 3 Xia Qing" onto it before heading back into the Evolved Forest.
Even if she couldn't lead the evolved sheep back to her territory today, she had to get the collar on it so she could feel more at ease.
This evolved sheep and that piece of land were things she had traded for with a pig worth over ten thousand points.
Xia Qing didn't know if this sheep was an edible animal; she didn't want to eat it anymore. She wanted to keep it as a laborer and also wanted to keep that tree that could provide a steady supply of toon buds.
When Xia Qing arrived at the hillside, she saw the evolved sheep lying under the tree, watching her with half-closed eyes.
The human and the sheep stared at each other for a while. Xia Qing took the initiative to pour half a canteen of water into the broken ceramic pot that the sheep had licked clean.
The evolved sheep squinted at her, not moving an inch.
Xia Qing stepped back three steps, took off her protective mask to take a sip of water, shook the canteen, and began to lure the sheep. "Come back with me, and you can drink as much water like this as you want. You can even bathe in spring water. Look at you, you're almost as dirty as a coal ball; you must be very itchy, right?"
The evolved sheep ignored her and stood up to drink the water.
Xia Qing crept closer by one step. The sheep didn't react, so she moved another step closer. Just as she took out the collar, the evolved sheep suddenly jumped up and tried to butt her. Xia Qing dodged quickly.
Human and sheep, one chasing and one running, circled the large toon tree over a dozen times.
By the time Xia Qing, dizzy from the running, climbed up the toon tree, the evolved sheep’s temper hadn't subsided; it kept slamming into the tree with a *thud, thud, thud*.
Xia Qing didn't know if its spiral horns hurt, but she was about to be shaken into vomiting.
It wasn't just the sheep that had a temper; Xia Qing did too! She pulled out her machete, chopped off a branch with two *clacks*, and threw it down. The evolved sheep immediately gave up on ramming the tree and turned to eat the toon buds on the tip of the branch.
Xia Qing jumped down, kicked over the sheep's water pot, and ran off carrying the branch. If she couldn't put the collar on, she would just lead the sheep back.
The evolved sheep fell for it, chasing Xia Qing to nibble on the toon buds.
Human and sheep, one running and one chasing to eat, ran out of the Evolved Forest, and the sheep stopped.
To prevent evolved creatures from entering the buffer forest, the fifty-meter-wide isolation belt was sprayed with a large amount of powder that evolved creatures hated. Naturally, the evolved sheep didn't like the smell either.
However, this sheep was likely the one that drank spring water in her territory. With the double temptation of spring water and toon buds, she didn't believe the sheep could resist.
After Xia Qing carried the branch across the isolation belt and entered the buffer forest, the evolved sheep indeed leaped and bounded across the isolation belt to follow her.
Su Ming, a visual evolutionist who had just entered the northern isolation belt of Plot No. 4, rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Captain Tan, Brother Jin, I just saw Sister Xia Qing carrying a branch, leading a sheep out of the Evolved Forest and into the No. 3 buffer forest."
Tan Junjie turned his head and looked at Yang Jin, who was wearing camouflage protective gear, with an unreadable expression.
Yang Jin smiled at Tan Junjie, put on his protective mask, and ordered, "Move out."
"Yes." The twenty-plus members of the Azure Dragon Team put on their masks simultaneously and followed Yang Jin into the Evolved Forest.
Su Ming was a bit confused and grabbed his teammate, Cao Xianyun. "Did you see the look Brother Yang gave me just now? Why did it feel like he was weighing how many points my meat is worth?"
It’s rare for you to be right for once. Cao Xianyun, a Level 4 auditory evolutionist, put on his protective mask. "Since when did you get an older sister?"
"Huh? Huh?"
Su Ming was even more bewildered. "No! It's just Xia Qing, from Plot No. 3. Didn't we just see her yesterday..."
Tan Junjie turned back and glared. "Check your gear, maintain formation, move out."
"Yes!" Su Ming immediately stood at attention, shouted, and put on his protective mask.
Su Ming's shout traveled far into the No. 3 buffer forest. Xia Qing, who was breaking off toon buds to feed the sheep, tilted her head and looked toward the north.
"Bang!"
Seeing that Xia Qing had stopped moving, the evolved sheep turned and walked to the side of the cave, used a hoof to dig away the stone blocking the entrance to drink some water, then walked back to lie down by the branch, squinting its eyes to ruminate.
The way it carried itself, it was as if this forest was its own territory.
Maybe it was. Perhaps before this hillside was cleared, it really was this sheep's territory. Xia Qing took off her mask and smiled. "Now a large group of people much stronger than me have entered the Evolved Forest to catch wild boars. If you don't want to die, stay here and don't run around."
The evolved sheep squinted its eyes, ignoring Xia Qing, and continued to ruminate.
Xia Qing gave up on the idea of putting the collar on it. She casually plucked a cluster of toon buds and tested them with the high-level detector she had just acquired, and was shocked.
A deep green color with less than one-thousandth of the harmful element—a superior-grade safe plant!
No wonder this sheep guarded that toon tree. Now, even Xia Qing wanted to move under the tree to live. Trading a green-light little wild boar for over a thousand acres of hillside, a superior-grade safe plant, and an evolved sheep—even though land wasn't worth much right now, superior-grade trees that could continuously grow leaves were valuable!
Even without counting the evolved sheep as a bonus, she had made a huge profit!
The evolved sheep, which was chewing on its partially digested food again, saw Xia Qing smiling like a fool, its eyes squinting until they were just a thin line.