Chapter 67: Brain-Evolved Animal Alliance
Xia Qing excitedly shared her experience of growing strawberries with Luo Pei. "At first, I planted them in the terraced fields, but the scent after they bloomed was too much of an insect magnet. So, I transplanted them into pots and brought them home to grow indoors. When the sun is good, I move them to the courtyard to soak it up."
"If you don't keep them indoors, such fragrant fruit will definitely be gnawed on by evolved insects," Luo Pei cautioned Xia Qing. "Keep your doors and windows sealed tight; be careful that evolved venomous insects aren't attracted by the strawberry scent and crawl into the house."
Xia Qing nodded. "I've always been careful. Yesterday, I just exchanged a bucket of deodorizer with the Lord of Plot Seven, and it worked incredibly well. The danger in this regard has decreased significantly."
Anything coming from Zhang San of Plot Seven was, of course, high quality. Luo Pei smiled gently. "That's good, then."
After a bit more small talk, Luo Pei returned to the main topic. "After the Great Biological Evolution, brain-evolved animals at the top of the food chain—such as elephants, wolves, lions, tigers, gorillas, and monkeys—will not only stop hunting herbivorous brain-evolved animals but may even form alliances with them in exchange for greater benefits. Since you and A-Jin are both certain that the wolf is a very intelligent brain-evolved being, the only possibility for it to coexist peacefully with your evolved sheep is if your sheep is also a brain-evolved being."
Brain-evolved animals play leadership roles within their species. If different species of brain-evolved animals form an alliance, it would be a union of various powerhouses, which would be a disaster for humanity. Natural disasters—just how much despair and collapse are they intended to drive humanity toward?
The sense of happiness brought by the strawberries vanished, replaced by a solemn expression. "Brother Luo, that's terrifying."
Luo Pei nodded. "That's why this matter hasn't been made public. Xia Qing, what is your relationship with your sheep like?"
Xia Qing understood the intent behind his question. Although she had only spent about two months with Boss Sheep, she trusted him deeply. "We share a territory and share the edible plants within it; we already consider each other companions. Of course, if the wolf comes looking and the sheep takes its side against me, then it will no longer be my companion."
Yang Jin, who had been keeping his head down eating cucumber slices, spoke up. "You allowed the evolved sheep to take food outside the territory to wait for the wolf because you wanted to test the relationship between them?"
"Yes." In front of the two heavyweights, Xia Qing did not hide her plan. "If my sheep is merely food being kept by that wolf, I can use it to lure the wolf out and eliminate the hidden threat. If my sheep and that wolf are companions, perhaps I can even reap some benefits."
Luo Pei was surprised. "You want to form a companionship with a wolf? Evolved wolves are extremely intelligent and possess formidable combat power. Humans have been trying to domesticate wolves or form alliances with them for years, but now we can't even manage to coexist peacefully with them. What you're doing is a bit risky."
Xia Qing shook her head. "That is the most ideal but least likely scenario. I'm thinking that if I can somehow connect with the wolf pack through Boss Sheep, perhaps I'll gain an extra channel for trading supplies. That alpha wolf is very smart, and since it lives in the Evolved Forest, it must have many good things."
After Xia Qing left, Luo Pei couldn't help but sigh. "She actually wants to trade supplies with a wolf. Truly... no wonder you like her. It's been ten years since the natural disaster began, and fewer and fewer people have light in their eyes."
Among modern humans, except for the children protected by great families, the vast majority lived in numbness, despair, indulgence, or madness. But in the unanchored Xia Qing, Luo Pei saw no trace of pessimism or indulgence; she was low-key, clear-headed, independent, principled, and full of hope for the future.
Seeing Xia Qing made Luo Pei feel that humanity still had a future.
Yang Jin continued munching on his cucumber without responding. He liked Xia Qing—there was no need to say it, and there was no way to say it.
Because Xia Qing had no intention of finding a boyfriend; she only wanted to live her own life well. Previously, she had focused entirely on learning various survival skills; now that she had mastered them and left the safety zone, she was focused entirely on farming to improve her life.
She had been alone all these years, and it was foreseeable that she would remain so for a long time to come.
Strictly speaking, she wasn't alone anymore; she had a companion—a silly sheep.
In her eyes, he was, at most, a rather good-looking trading partner.
To be worth less than a silly sheep in Xia Qing's eyes—how could the ever-proud Yang Jin bring himself to say it?
Seeing Yang Jin's silence, Luo Pei said with a smile, "Don't tell me you don't like her. If Territory Three didn't belong to Xia Qing, you would have taken it over long ago."
Yang Jin finished the cucumbers from Luo Pei's fruit plate before leaning back against his chair and asking, "Brother Luo, how much of your strength have you recovered?"
Neither answering nor denying—it seemed he truly liked Xia Qing. When had he started liking her? Luo Pei knew that if this guy didn't want to talk about something, even knocking his teeth out wouldn't get an answer. Not wasting any more effort, he answered directly, "About seventy percent. I should be back to ninety percent in a month. What's your plan?"
"Once you reach ninety percent, I'm going to track that wolf." Yang Jin's mental gears were turning rapidly. "That wolf likely knows whether there is unpolluted water in Territory Three, but since it hasn't firmly occupied Territory Three, there's only one possibility: there is another source of unpolluted water within its core territory."
Luo Pei's eyes brightened as well. "Bring more supplies that wolves might be interested in. Xia Qing makes a lot of sense; if you can trade with wolves, don't fight them."
Trade? He would like to. Yang Jin lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said slowly, "If we weren't evenly matched, one of us would definitely have died yesterday."
Luo Pei inquired, "At that level, it should be a wolf king. Is it a male or a female?"
Among evolved wolves, males have a stronger sense of territory than females; if they discover someone intruding into their core territory, they will attack immediately.
Yang Jin responded, "Female. She should be the new alpha of the Northern Wolf Pack. We are only a few dozen miles away from the Northern Wolf Pack's core territory."
Luo Pei's expression turned serious. "The Safety Zone will definitely cause trouble for us because of the evolved wolf injuring the wild boars. Can Xie Yu handle it alone?"
A stingy man like Yang Jin, when trading with others, would never leave such a loophole. "No need to handle it. I signed a written document. After I buy the mountain, I will send people to guard it starting from the third month. Until then, any dangerous evolved creatures coming down the mountain have nothing to do with us."
Luo Pei was impressed. "It's such a pity that your brilliant brain didn't evolve; otherwise, you would have taken over the entire Blue Star."
***
Xia Qing went home and ate three warm scallion pancakes for lunch, then took a short nap before putting on a large straw hat, shouldering her water bicycle, and taking Boss Sheep to work in the fields.
After being fed for over a month with fodder and evolved insects, the largest fish fry in the pond had already grown to three centimeters long; they could be scooped up and fried for food.
As long as she fed them well, the fry would definitely grow to the size of a palm by the end of July. She had already prepared the dried fish; how far away could her cat be? The more Xia Qing thought about it, the happier she became. After giving Boss Sheep a frantic round of praise that sent him pedaling the water wheel like crazy, she went to inspect the fields.
Xia Qing first went to the planting area on the low slope north of the reservoir. She carefully plucked a spinach leaf, and after confirming the spinach seeds were not yet ripe, she continued upward. The beans, eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers had all bloomed and fruited; in another half month, her dining table would be even more abundant.
As Xia Qing passed by each vegetable seedling and the cucumber and bean trellises, she would vibrate the plants or bamboo frames to achieve the purpose of artificial pollination. In reality, if the wind was strong, there was no need for manual shaking, but for peace of mind, Xia Qing shook every vegetable plant inside the insect-proof netting.
Passing the cucumber vines, Xia Qing plucked blooming male flowers and pressed them onto the female flowers to pollinate them. Then, she casually plucked the excess male flowers and tucked them into her straw hat. By the time she walked out of the planting area under the spring eye, her hat was already adorned with over a dozen fresh cucumber flowers.
She put on her hat and continued upward.
Any insects attracted by the fragrance of the cucumber flowers were all killed by Xia Qing and stuffed into a small basket. Passing the spring eye, Xia Qing washed a spinach leaf, popped it into her mouth, and continued upward.
Zhang San was a picky eater, and his favorite was spinach leaves. Although Xia Qing didn't think spinach leaves were particularly delicious, she wouldn't waste a single piece of green vegetable.