Chapter 40: A Micro-Tiller with Eleven Functions

Chapter 40: The Eleven-Function Micro-Tiller

After a round of bargaining, Xia Qing paid the deposit for the cat and two pieces of household machinery with thirty spinach leaves, successfully and legitimately "exchanging" for the farming machine and diesel.

Xia Qing brought out the spinach for two reasons: first, she wanted to use the Green-Light spinach seeds to exchange for supplies from other territories; second, with her handgun and powerful security team, her territory's safety had jumped up two levels, so she no longer feared people eyeing her few spinach plants.

If anyone dared to come and steal her crops, it would be the perfect opportunity to "kill the chicken to warn the monkey."

After Xia Qing's successful transaction, the Lord Channel was in a frenzy of competition over Zhang San's supplies and the non-existent evolved kitten. Xia Qing lay on her bed, listening to the chaos to pass the time.

Over an hour later, Hu Zifeng, who had successfully secured a kitten, turned off his walkie-talkie, still feeling a sense of lingering excitement. "I didn't expect that coming out to farm could be quite interesting."

The team member beside him whispered, "Brother Feng, that Zhang San from Plot Seven is definitely not simple."

In these years of disaster where most people couldn't even afford to eat their fill, someone willing to use fish meat to raise a cat was obviously extraordinary. Hu Zifeng knew who Zhang San was, but he couldn't reveal it. He only instructed his team, "Regardless of which faction he belongs to, as long as he is at odds with the Tang family, he won't be our enemy."

"Yes." The team member gave a grinning salute. "Brother Feng, what if Zhang San's cat only has one kitten?"

Hu Zifeng glared at him. "Then you can breed one for me!"

Inside Territory No. 2, Tang Heng analyzed the information gathered tonight. "Luo Pei was sent out by Yang Jin to detoxify. He'll survive, but his abilities will definitely be ruined, and he'll face ostracization if he stays in the Azure Dragon Squad. Hu Zifeng is Luo Pei's confidant; it makes sense that he came out to secure a retreat for him. As for Plot Three, it's just Xia Qing, one woman, and an evolved sheep; her wanting to exchange for a tiller is also perfectly reasonable. It's just that the discovery of Green-Light Perilla and spinach in the newly added buffer forest in Plot Three is truly making people envious."

Tang Huai let out a yawn. "You think there aren't new discoveries in other plots? Just wait and see. The first one to run into trouble will definitely be Plot Three, with all that showing off."

Tang Heng felt things weren't that simple. "No one who has survived this long is a fool. I suspect Xia Qing wants to use those two types of Green-Light vegetables as bargaining chips to obtain Zhang San's protection."

Tang Huai's yawn stopped halfway. "If her spinach happens to suit 'that person's' palate, that person might actually send someone to protect her."

"If that's the case, we'd better not touch Xia Qing's Red-Light evolved sheep. There is zero benefit in offending Zhang San; we need to find a way to appease him as soon as possible." Thinking of the two pounds of mutton they had sent over, Tang Heng's suspicion grew. "It must have been the inspection team that let the mutton go bad!"

Tang Huai slumped in his chair. "Even if it was, what can we do? The Tang family looks for trouble everywhere. Since they can't retaliate against the higher-ups, they just take it out on small fry like us. Go to sleep."

After lying down, Tang Heng whispered, "Brother, let's check the territory tomorrow. Once we have Green-Light plants, I don't believe Zhang San won't trade. He has nothing but good stuff..."

Tang Huai showed no interest. "I have a mission to execute. Take your men yourself."

Early the next morning, Su Ming arrived under the signpost of Plot Three, driving a bright red rotary tiller with a loud *put-put-put* sound, shouting excitedly, "Sister Qing! This was sent over by Plot One. Two more accessory boxes will arrive shortly."

The main body of the multi-functional micro-tiller was a small, tracked tractor head. Although it was only 1.6 meters high, its bright red body paired with black tracks and two imposing headlights gave it a very cool appearance.

Xia Qing recognized it instantly; this was the type of machine used by specialized personnel for maintenance and operation in the greenhouses of the Safe Zone Planting Center.

She had only been able to glimpse such machines from a distance when she worked at the Planting Center; she never even had the chance to touch one. Now, she owned one herself!

When Hu Zi and Cao Xianyun carried over the two massive accessory boxes and assembled them one by one according to the manual, Xia Qing was shocked once again.

Because the "multi-functional" aspect of the micro-tiller went far beyond what Yang Jin had mentioned—plow, furrower, rotary tiller, ridger, backfiller, weeding wheel, and wind-blown sprayer. It also included a bulldozer blade for leveling roads, an excavation shovel for digging holes, a harvester for tubers, and a seeder!

Eleven functions—it had even more than the machine she had seen at the Planting Center. As long as there was enough diesel, this machine was worth ten strong laborers. Xia Qing's eyes gleamed; she wanted to test drive it immediately.

It wasn't just Xia Qing whose eyes were shining; Su Ming and the others were the same. Su Ming grinned and consulted Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, how about we let Hu Zi install the accessories and we test them one by one?"

"Alright, I'll leave that to you then." Xia Qing only knew how to drive cars, and even then, it was unlicensed, reckless driving. Although the micro-tiller came with a manual, she didn't believe she could master the driving essentials just by reading it.

"It's no trouble at all, not at all!" Su Ming scrambled into the driver's seat, calling out impatiently, "Hu Zi, get the excavation shovel on!"

Operating an excavator was almost a childhood dream for everyone.

"Since the bulldozer blade and rotary blades are already installed, let's test those first," Cao Xianyun reminded Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, your sheep is charging over."

Xia Qing had already heard the commotion, but since the location and the sound produced by the Alpha Sheep were beyond the hearing range of ordinary people, she had pretended not to notice. Upon receiving Cao Xianyun's reminder, Xia Qing turned and rushed toward the Alpha Sheep. Then, the person and the sheep engaged in a "friendly and cordial" exchange with the new machinery and the three intruders.

Seeing that the hot-tempered Alpha Sheep actually didn't fight with Xia Qing, Su Ming turned to leave with a swagger, looking extremely surprised. "Old Cao, what did Sister Qing say? That stubborn sheep is actually being so obedient?"

Cao Xianyun couldn't even bring himself to repeat Xia Qing's words. He simply urged Su Ming with a cold face, "Stop dawdling. If you can't drive it, get down and let me do it."

"Have you forgotten who drove it here? I could do better than you with my eyes closed." Su Ming didn't bother watching the bizarre duo of Xia Qing and the Alpha Sheep anymore and immediately turned the key to start the micro-tiller.

As the *put-put-put* of the micro-tiller echoed within Plot Three, Zhou Xun, a Level 5 visual evolver who was lurking in Plot Two to monitor them, whispered a report to Tang Huai beside him, "The inspection team has delivered the micro-tiller and the two large boxes into Plot Three. I can't see the situation inside through the grass wall."

A straight, ten-meter-wide east-west dirt road separated Plot Two and Plot Three. On both the north and south sides of the road, there were dense grass walls, over a person tall and three meters wide, used to prevent prying eyes from the outside.

Therefore, Xia Qing, who held the geographical advantage, could look down from the slope of the northern buffer forest to observe the situation in Plot Two, but Tang Huai and the others, situated at a lower elevation, could not see into Plot Three through the grass wall.

Reconnaissance relied on more than just vision.

Tang Huai, a Level 5 auditory evolver, heard the conversation in Plot Three clearly, including how Xia Qing coaxed the Alpha Sheep. "No abnormalities. Pack up."

Hu Zifeng, a visual evolver hiding in a tree within the Plot One buffer forest while watching Tang Huai and Zhou Xun, pulled out his phone to send a message to Wei Chengdong.

Wei Chengdong put away his phone. "Brother Luo, Tang Huai and his group have left the territory and are heading east. They are likely going to the eastern evolved forests to hunt."

Lying on the surgical bed, Luo Pei gave a calm command, "Begin."

Inside Plot Three, the generator in the second basement level of the abandoned village on the southwest side began to run. However, the noise of the generator was completely drowned out by the *put-put-put* of the micro-tiller, so the four people circling the machine heard nothing.

Once the operating room lighting reached the standard intensity, the team doctor began the critical stage of Luo Pei's synthetic toxin treatment—the organ synthetic toxin stripping surgery.

(End of Chapter)