Chapter 30: Elm Seed Cornmeal Buns

Chapter 30: Elm Seed Cornmeal Buns

After completing a patrol, Tan Junjie sent his team members back to the camp first, while he entered Plot No. 1 carrying a vegetable basket. A member of the Azure Dragon Squad, hidden in a tree, jumped down and saluted. "Instructor Tan."

The Azure Dragon Squad was a team raised by A-rank military students. Before the Cataclysm, Tan Junjie had been an instructor at this military academy, and the core members of the squad were all students he had taught or trained.

"Some vegetables." Following the rules of the Azure Dragon Squad, Tan Junjie handed the basket over for the team member to inspect thoroughly before he went to find his old comrade, Luo Pei.

Luo Pei had only been leading his team at Plot No. 1 for two days, yet the courtyard was already completely different from when the previous Lord was in charge. The clutter in the yard had been cleared away, and there wasn't even a blade of grass on the ground; it looked bright and spacious.

Luo Pei, who was sunbathing on a lounge chair with gauze over his eyes, heard footsteps and slowly sat up. "Finished your round so quickly?"

"There are only ten plots in total." Placing the basket beside Luo Pei, Tan Junjie sat on a chair brought out by a team member.

Tan Junjie and Luo Pei were classmates and comrades-in-arms. After the Great Biological Evolution of Blue Star, Tan Junjie had evolved a Level 4 speed ability, while Luo Pei had evolved a Level 10 vision ability. As the gap in their strength widened, the paths they walked diverged, but the camaraderie forged through shared struggles had remained unchanged for ten years.

Luo Pei was forcing himself to stay upright despite his injuries, but Tan Junjie didn't let his concern show. "This is the evolved perilla and Chinese toon sprouts that Xia Qing gave you from Plot No. 3. The toxin content in the evolved perilla is 1.3; the toon sprouts are probably even lower."

Luo Pei fumbled to open the lid of the basket. After smelling the toon sprouts, he sighed. "When they were clearing this forest, there's no way they would have missed edible plants with such low toxin levels. Did these just grow this year?"

Tan Junjie explained, "It wasn't from the area you cleared. They grew on the hillside further north of Plot No. 3. I traded a Green-Light wild piglet with Xia Qing for that hillside. Did Yang Jin not mention it to you?"

Luo Pei lay back down. "He's a silent workaholic; not a single word of gossip comes out of his mouth."

It seemed Yang Jin hadn't mentioned Xia Qing to Luo Pei. Tan Junjie didn't pry. He took out a high-grade detector to test the toon sprouts and was pleasantly surprised. "The toxin content in the toon sprouts is only 0.0025. Eat more of them; it'll be good for your body."

Luo Pei smiled. "Take them back for Qiqi to eat. I'll find Xia Qing to trade for more later. I remember that girl; she's a good one."

Tan Junjie's daughter, Tan Qi, currently only had a Level 3 speed evolution. She was young and had the potential for further evolution, so eating safe food would benefit her growth and development.

Tan Junjie put away the detector. "I will use supplies to trade with Xia Qing for Qiqi's portion. She hasn't used the toon sprouts to trade with other Lords, so don't mention this in the Lord private chat channel."

Luo Pei snorted. "You think I'm as big-mouthed as you? By the way, if there's something she wants that you don't have, just tell me."

Since Tan Junjie was trading with Xia Qing for her daughter, he certainly couldn't use military supplies. Although Luo Pei had left the safe zone, he was still a core member of the Azure Dragon Squad, making it easier for him to obtain supplies than for Tan Junjie.

Tan Junjie didn't stand on ceremony with Luo Pei. "If I don't tell you, who else should I tell? By the way, has there been any movement from the Tang family in Plot No. 2 to your east these past two days?"

"They haven't, and they wouldn't dare. Even though I'm nearly blind, I still have enough strength to crush a few ants."

His old comrade's voice was calm, but Tan Junjie could still detect his anger. "Yang Jin and Xie Yu are definitely looking for ways around this. You definitely won't go blind. Use your spare time to study the 'Territory Law.' The seven files in Plot No. 2 say they are ordinary people, but there are definitely experts in eavesdropping hiding in there. Be careful not to fall into their trap."

Luo Pei nodded. "Don't worry about me."

Wanting him to relax, Tan Junjie smiled. "You can interact more with Xia Qing. She raised a strength-evolved sheep called Boss Sheep. He has a bad temper and a lot of personality; he's quite interesting."

In front of his old team members, Tan Junjie was no less talkative than Su Ming.

Luo Pei laughed out loud. "'Boss Sheep' is a good name."

Luo Pei did not disturb Xia Qing, continuing to stay quietly in his own territory to recover from his injuries, while Xia Qing remained busy in hers.

Five days later, the temperature rose again, and the eyes of the evolved potatoes finally became prominent. Xia Qing cut the potatoes into chunks according to the eyes, rolled them in wood ash so the cut surfaces were covered, and let them air dry for half a day before planting them in the ground.

The soil requirements for potatoes were the same as sweet potatoes, so Xia Qing planted them next to the sweet potatoes.

After planting the potatoes, the elm seeds in Plot No. 6 were ready to eat. Xia Qing traded one pound of evolved perilla for three pounds of elm seeds, and testing confirmed they were indeed Yellow-Light food. She mixed the elm seeds with cornmeal and white flour to make a batch of misshapen elm seed cornmeal buns. The taste was so good she nearly swallowed her tongue; she even got into a fight with Boss Sheep to protect the buns and ended up smashing the newly built courtyard wall.

The buns were too delicious. Xia Qing stopped clearing the toxic weeds and tidying the yard, instead coaxing the huffing Boss Sheep to find elm trees.

There were still a few elm trees in her territory.

First, she went to the western hillside. Xia Qing snapped off a branch full of elm seeds and held it in front of Boss Sheep. "Boss, want to try this?"

Seeing Boss Sheep disdainfully turn his head away, Xia Qing didn't even need a detector to know the elm seeds on this tree were inedible.

Discarded. Next tree.

After wandering for over an hour, Xia Qing moved from the western hillside to the northern hillside, and then to the high slope of her new territory, snapping off over a dozen elm branches.

Every single elm tree in her territory was inedible. Boss Sheep's squinty eyes grew increasingly displeased.

Xia Qing wasn't particularly disappointed, because this was normal. If edible plants were that easy to find, so many people wouldn't be dying from food shortages.

Xia Qing picked some toon sprouts for Boss Sheep and let him eat under the tree, while she went to the vegetable garden in the abandoned courtyard on the high slope to check on the green onion seedlings.

Since this was already her territory, Xia Qing didn't risk moving the green onion seedlings. Instead, she cleared and fenced off the vegetable garden so they could continue growing in place.

Sure enough, many more needle-thin tender shoots had emerged from her two patches of Yellow-Light green onions. Xia Qing squatted happily in the garden, weeding and counting the seedlings at the same time.

As she counted, Xia Qing felt something was off.

Why did these green onion seedlings look exactly like the chive seedlings Qi Fu had traded to her?

Relying on her excellent visual evolution, Xia Qing carefully observed the "green onion seedlings" in the two garden patches. After picking some to taste, she finally confirmed that the two garden patches on the high slope weren't just green onions, but a mix of green onions and chives.

An unexpected joy, an unexpected joy. Xia Qing held a green onion leaf in her mouth, humming a little tune while watering the seedlings with spring water.

As she hummed, she heard footsteps approaching from the direction of the wild pig breeding center.

(End of Chapter)