Tan Junjie stared at Xia Qing as if he were looking at a disobedient soldier. "Any evolved creature appearing outside the territory is not protected by the Territory Law."
Even those wearing collars are excluded.
"Yes, sir," Xia Qing replied loudly, then asked in a low voice, "Captain Tan, if I clear that hillside, can it be considered part of my territory?"
After the natural disaster, China was vast and sparsely populated; no one wanted land teeming with evolved creatures.
Tan Junjie stared at Xia Qing for a few seconds in silence. "What's on the hillside?"
Xia Qing answered truthfully, "There's an edible Chinese toon tree; my sheep love to eat it."
Tan Junjie understood, frowned, and asked, "How many wild boars did you catch in total?"
This…
Xia Qing hesitated, knowing she couldn't hide it for long, and simply answered truthfully, "Three, and one more in my territory."
"Live, and edible?"
"...Yes."
Tan Junjie paused, then asked, "Male or female?"
This time, Xia Qing was embarrassed. "I didn't notice. I'll text you once I confirm."
Tan Junjie offered his terms, "Trade that little wild boar for that hillside and 'your' sheep."
Xia Qing, who planned to raise the little wild boar for a lot of points, hesitated, then stated her condition, "Can I clear the hillside myself?"
Did she really treasure that Chinese toon tree? Looking at Xia Qing's dark, thin face, Tan Junjie promised, "It's too dangerous for you to go alone. We'll only clear out the harmful organisms; we won't touch anything on that hillside."
Xia Qing immediately beamed, "Deal! Thank you, Captain Tan!"
After Xia Qing left with the food, Tan Junjie took out his phone to report the situation to his superiors, then requested instructions, "I request permission to immediately lead a team into the Evolution Forest to catch wild boars… Yes, ensure the mission is completed."
***
Inside Plot Three, Xia Qing sat guarding a large pile of rice and flour sealed in small one-pound bags, her mouth watering. In the safe zone, she wouldn't eat staple food even once a week; now she had sixty pounds!
She planned to treat herself to rice that evening, but before dark, she had an important matter to attend to.
Xia Qing cut a piece of red cloth from an old garment, sewed a collar, and crookedly sewed the words "Plot Three, Xia Qing" onto it before entering the Evolution Forest.
Even if she couldn't lead the evolved goat back to its territory today, she had to put a collar on it; that way, she'd feel more at ease.
This evolved goat and that piece of land were things she'd traded for a pig worth tens of thousands of points.
Xia Qing didn't know if the goat was edible. She didn't want to eat it anymore; she wanted to keep it as labor and also keep the tree that continuously provided the toon sprouts.
Xia Qing rushed to the hillside and, sure enough, saw the evolved goat lying under the tree, half-closing its eyes at her.
After a moment of staring at each other, Xia Qing poured half a pot of water into the broken earthenware pot that the goat had licked clean.
The evolved goat squinted at her, remaining motionless.
Xia Qing took three steps back, removed her protective mask, took a sip of water, shook the pot, and began to "fish" for the goat. "Come back with me. You can drink as much water as you want. You can even bathe in the spring water. Look how dirty you are, you must be itchy, right?"
The evolved goat ignored her and got up to drink.
Xia Qing stealthily took a step closer, but the evolved sheep didn't react. She took another step closer. Just as she took out her collar, the evolved sheep suddenly jumped up to butt her, and Xia Qing quickly dodged.
The two of them, one chasing the other, circled the large toon tree more than ten times.
Almost dizzy from the circling, Xia Qing climbed the toon tree, but the evolved sheep's temper hadn't subsided, and it rammed the tree repeatedly.
Xia Qing didn't know if its large, spiraling horns hurt, but she herself was almost nauseous from the shaking.
Not only did the sheep have a temper, but Xia Qing did too! She pulled out a machete, chopped off a branch with two sharp snaps, and threw it down. The evolved sheep immediately stopped ramming the tree and turned to eat the toon buds on the branch tips.
Xia Qing jumped down from the tree, kicked over the evolved sheep's water jug, picked up the branch, and ran. Unable to put the collar on, she took the sheep back.
The evolved sheep had indeed fallen for the trick and chased after Xia Qing, wanting to eat the toon buds.
A person and a sheep, one running and the other chasing and nibbling, ran out of the Evolution Forest, then the sheep stopped.
To prevent evolved creatures from entering the buffer forest, a fifty-meter-wide isolation zone was sprayed with a large amount of powder that evolved creatures disliked, and the evolved sheep naturally disliked the smell as well.
However, this sheep was probably just going to its territory to drink from the spring, and with the double temptation of spring water and ailanthus buds, she didn't believe the sheep could resist.
Xia Qing, carrying a tree branch, crossed the isolation zone and entered the buffer forest. Sure enough, the evolved sheep leaped and bounded across the barrier, giving chase.
Su Ming, a visual evolved human who had just entered the northern isolation zone of Area Four, rubbed his eyes incredulously. "Team Leader Tan, Brother Yang, I just saw Sister Xia Qing carrying a tree branch and leading a sheep out of the Evolution Forest and into Buffer Forest Three."
Tan Junjie turned his head and looked meaningfully at Yang Jin, who was wearing camouflage protective clothing beside him.
Yang Jin, with his dark, ink-black eyes, turned and stared at Su Ming for two seconds before putting on his protective mask. "Let's go."
"Yes, sir." The twenty-odd members of the Azure Dragon team simultaneously donned their masks and followed Yang Jin into the Evolution Forest.
Su Ming was somewhat bewildered. He grabbed his teammate Cao Xianyun, "Did you see the way Brother Yang looked at me just now? I felt like he was weighing my flesh for points?"
"You're right for once." Cao Xianyun, a quadruple-hearing evolved human, put on his protective mask. "When did you get a sister?"
"Hmm. Huh?"
Su Ming was even more confused. "No! It's Xia Qing, from Plot Three. We just met yesterday..."
Tan Junjie turned and glared at him. "Check equipment, maintain formation, let's go."
"Yes, sir!" Su Ming immediately stood up straight, shouted, and put on his protective mask.
Su Ming's shout carried far into the buffer forest of Plot Three. Xia Qing, who was picking toon sprouts to feed the sheep, turned her head and looked north.
"Bang!"
Seeing Xia Qing stop moving, the evolved sheep turned and walked to the edge of the cave. It pawed at the rock blocking the entrance, drank some water, and then returned to lie down by a tree branch, ruminating with its eyes half-closed.
It acted as if this entire forest was its territory.
Maybe. Perhaps this hillside really was its territory before it was cleared. Xia Qing removed his mask and smiled. "Now a whole bunch of people stronger than me have entered the Evolution Forest to catch wild boars. If you don't want to die, stay here and don't wander off."
The evolved sheep ignored Xia Qing, its eyes half-closed, and continued ruminating.
Xia Qing abandoned his plan to put a collar on it. He casually plucked a cluster of toon sprouts and tested them with his newly acquired advanced testing device. He was shocked.
A deep green color containing less than one-thousandth of harmful elements—a superior safe plant!
No wonder that sheep was guarding that Chinese toon tree. Even Xia Qing now wished she could move under it, exchanging a green-light wild boar for over a thousand acres of hillside, a superior safe plant, and an evolved sheep. Although land isn't valuable now, superior trees that continuously produce leaves are!
Even without the evolved sheep as a bonus, she'd still made a killing!
The evolved sheep, chewing its half-digested food again, saw Xia Qing grinning like an idiot, its eyes narrowed to slits.