Chapter 11: 11. Chapter 11: Grain

Chapter 11: Food

Xia Qing first threw a small pebble into the pond. She noticed the sow only lifted its head to glance at the water before lowering it again to continue rooting in the mud; the chasing and playing of the piglets remained uninterrupted.

What did this mean? It meant there were no natural predators for wild boars in this valley, which was why their vigilance was so low.

The natural predator had arrived.

Xia Qing reached out and pinched an evolved snake that had flown down from a tree trunk to bite her, neatly stuffed it into a leather bag, and continued to approach the wild boars from downwind.

After her hearing evolved, the stealth of Xia Qing’s movements increased exponentially. She crawled to within five meters of the wild boars without being detected.

This distance was close enough to act. Xia Qing pulled out a rope and a wooden stick to make three simple snare traps, then quietly circled to the upwind side. She grabbed a stone weighing over fifty pounds and smashed it hard toward a piglet.

The piglet’s shrill scream rang out. The sow ran over with a huffing sound to investigate, and the piglets ran in panic. Three of them were caught in the snare traps, squealing wildly. The sow ran over to check on the trapped piglets. Since the three piglets were trapped in different directions, the sow could only attend to one at a time.

Xia Qing took this opportunity to rush over, throw the piglet killed by the stone into her basket, cut the snare ropes, and grab two other piglets. She bolted back along the original path, running in one breath until she reached her territory, confirming that the sow hadn't followed. Three wild boars! Her luck today was truly heaven-defying!

Xia Qing giggled as she scanned the three piglets, discovering that two were red-light and one was green-light. One of the living ones was green!

The base had always wanted to expand the breeding of green-light livestock, especially fast-breeding, meat-heavy domestic or wild pigs. The value of this edible piglet was incomparable to ordinary edible animals.

This was a golden pig.

No, gold wasn't worth much anymore; this was a point-pig!

Xia Qing pinched the mouths of the two piglets with extreme affection to keep them from squealing, brought them home, and put them in a room in the west courtyard that still had four walls. The two melon-skinned piglets were terrified, huddling in a corner and whimpering.

Xia Qing gave the pigs grass and water, then immediately contacted Zhong Tao to process the dead red-light wild boar and the evolved snake in her bag.

Humming a little tune, she took out her phone and sent a message to Zhong Tao: "Brother Tao, do you have a precision biological scanner? I have two red-light wild boars totaling 130 pounds, one dead and one alive."

Xia Qing’s scanner could only distinguish between edible and inedible organisms; high-level scanners could distinguish between safe food, optional food, and inedible food. Back in the safe zone, Xia Qing hadn't been willing to spend 800 points to exchange for a high-level one, but now she could.

To her surprise, only five minutes later, Xia Qing received a reply from Zhong Tao

"I do. I'll be there in an hour."

One hour—it seemed Zhong Tao wasn't far from here. Xia Qing sent him another message: "Also, exchange some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar."

The broadcast last night said that for the convenience of the lords, patrol vehicles would carry daily supplies, which lords could exchange for using points or materials. At the same time, to ensure the safety of the lords, information about the supplies exchanged by lords would not be made public.

Xia Qing’s luck was off the charts today; she could finally make her life a little better.

Soon, a light truck kicked up a trail of dust and stopped under the No. 3 land sign.

Seeing that Tan Junjie from the screening team had actually come along with Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui, Xia Qing felt her scalp tighten as she carried her basket.

Zhong Tao stared at Xia Qing with glowing eyes. "Little sister, you’re too amazing! Where are the wild boars? Brother Kui and I will weigh them for you."

"Captain Tan, Brother Kui, they’re here." Xia Qing greeted Tan Junjie first, then pulled the tightly bound piglets out of the basket. "There are also a few snakes."

As soon as Zhong Tao got his hands on them, his eyes brightened even more. "There’s definitely seventy pounds here! Kuizi, get the scale!"

Zheng Kui, who was smoking a cigarette, held up a steelyard scale to weigh them. "The live piglet is 73 pounds, the dead one is 72 pounds, and the snakes total 30 pounds."

Zhong Tao clicked away on his calculator, shocked. "That’s a total of 3,865 points! Good heavens, that’s more than you’d make in a year in the safe zone, little sister. How much oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar do you want?"

Although she had gained a large sum of points, Xia Qing didn't want to appear too flashy. "Four bags of salt, and one bottle of each of the others. I want the best quality."

Even though Xia Qing had restrained her purchase, it still made Zhong Tao’s mouth water with envy. "Alright. These seasonings are high-quality goods just taken from the processing plant. Including the high-level scanner, it’s 3,790 points total. You have 75 points left; should I transfer them to your card or do you want more supplies?"

Hearing that Zhong Tao had brought the best goods, Xia Qing asked, "Brother Tao, what else did you bring?"

Zhong Tao quoted the prices. "Compressed rations are 20 points per pound, soothing capsules are 100 per box, and there are some common medicines. Also, there is staple food from the military available for exchange: wheat flour is 20 points per pound, corn flour is 13, and rice is 37."

Evolved soldiers in the military were treated very well, and those without family would exchange their surplus supplies; these were usually consumed internally. Xia Qing hadn't expected to run into this. She quickly asked, "Brother Tao, the exchange of food won't be recorded, right?"

Zhong Tao knew what Xia Qing was worried about and explained cheerfully, "No records. This is a private transaction. We aren't using the card reader from the safe zone's mission hall, so don't worry, little sister."

With food available, Xia Qing couldn't care about keeping a low profile. She immediately took out her point card. "I’ll take 20 pounds of each. Is that enough?"

So much?

Zhong Tao secretly looked at Tan Junjie. Seeing that he didn't say anything, he nodded. "That’s fine. It will cost you another 1,325 points."

Xia Qing, who had less than 2,000 points left on her card, pretended to feel the pinch as she handed it over. "I only have 1,500-something points; this is going to bottom me out."

Zhong Tao used a public handheld card reader to transfer the 75 points to Xia Qing’s card first, then took out his own card reader. After deducting 1,400 points, he called out to Zheng Kui, "Kuizi, move the stuff!"

After Xia Qing took the two heavy bags, Tan Junjie, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "Where did you catch the wild boars?"

Tan Junjie’s aura was on par with Xia Qing’s middle school homeroom teacher; she felt pressured just looking at him.

She had brought out the piglets hoping the screening team would clear out the big wild boar, otherwise, if it broke into her territory and caused destruction, it would be a headache. So, Xia Qing answered honestly, "There’s a valley after you go straight north from Land No. 4 and cross a hill. There’s a pond in the valley where I caught them. At the time, there was a big wild boar with a group of piglets. The big one should be a normal evolution."

There was still a big wild boar? Even if it was red-light meat, it could be eaten after purification! Not to mention the always-outgoing Zhong Tao, even the quiet Zheng Kui couldn't help but be tempted. "Captain Tan, the wild boars are so close. If they rush through the isolation belt and hurt people or ruin crops, it’ll be trouble."

Tan Junjie didn't take the bait, only warning Xia Qing sternly, "Trespassing into the evolved forest might anger large animals or trigger insect swarms to attack your territory. If it were only your own territory being attacked, that would be one thing, but if you implicate other lords, it’s not something you can afford to bear."

Xia Qing stood up straight immediately. "Please rest assured, Captain Tan. I often go in and out of the evolved forest with teams to hunt. I know my limits and will never provoke evolved creatures I cannot handle."

After Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui drove away, Xia Qing was left alone to face the stern Tan Junjie.

After waiting a few seconds and hearing no response from Tan Junjie, Xia Qing spoke first about the evolved sheep. "Captain Tan, I have a power-evolved sheep wearing a collar that moves around my territory and the hillside to the north. If you encounter it when you go to catch the wild boars, could you please spare it? It’s a herbivorous evolved creature; as long as people don't provoke it, it won't hurt anyone."