After some haggling, Xia Qing paid a deposit for the cat and two types of household machinery with thirty spinach leaves, successfully "exchanging" them for a farming machine and diesel fuel.
Xia Qing offered the spinach for two reasons: first, she wanted to use the green-light spinach seeds to trade for supplies from other territories; second, with a pistol and a powerful security team, the safety of her territory had increased significantly, and she wasn't worried about anyone eyeing her spinach.
If anyone dared to steal her vegetables, she could make an example of them.
After Xia Qing's successful transaction, the group chat erupted in a fierce battle for Zhang San's supplies and the yet-to-be-evolved kitten. Xia Qing listened to the commotion from her bed.
More than an hour later, Hu Zifeng, who had secured a kitten, turned off his pager, still savoring the moment. "I never thought farming could be so interesting," he said.
His teammate whispered, "Brother Feng, Zhang San from plot number seven is definitely not simple."
In a year of famine when most people couldn't even get enough to eat, someone willing to feed a cat with fish and meat was certainly no ordinary person. Hu Zifeng knew who Zhang San was, but he couldn't reveal it. He only instructed his team members, "No matter which side he's on, as long as he doesn't get along with the Tang family, he won't be our enemy."
"Yes, sir." The team member saluted with a grin. "Brother Feng, what if Zhang San's cat only has one kitten?"
Hu Zifeng glared. "Then you give birth to one for me!"
In Territory Two, Tang Heng analyzed the information he'd gathered that night. "Luo Pei was sent out by Yang Jin for detoxification. He'll survive, but his abilities are definitely ruined. Staying in the Azure Dragon Team will make him a target for ostracism. Hu Zifeng is Luo Pei's confidant; it's reasonable for him to come out and protect Luo Pei's escape route. Territory Three only has Xia Qing, a woman, and an evolved sheep; it's also reasonable for her to want to switch to a tractor. It's just that the discovery of green perilla and spinach in the newly added buffer forest in Territory Three is really enviable."
Tang Huai yawned. "You think there haven't been any new discoveries in the other territories? Just wait and see; the first place to run into trouble will definitely be Territory Three, which's been showing off everywhere." Tang Heng felt things weren't so simple. "No one who's survived this long is a fool. I suspect Xia Qing is trying to use two green-light vegetables as a bargaining chip to get Zhang San's protection."
Tang Huai stopped yawning halfway through. "If her spinach also suits that person's taste, he might actually send someone to protect her."
"If that's the case, we'd better not touch Xia Qing's red-light evolved sheep. Offending Zhang San won't do us any good; we need to find a way to appease him as soon as possible." Thinking of the three ounces of mutton they'd sent, Tang Heng's suspicions grew stronger. "The inspection team must have spoiled the mutton!"
Tang Huai slumped in his chair. "Even if they did, what can we do? The Tang family's causing trouble everywhere. They can't retaliate against their superiors, so they take it out on small fry like us. Let's sleep."
After lying down, Tang Heng whispered, "Brother, let's check the territory tomorrow. Once we have the green-light plants, I don't believe Zhang San won't trade. He has all sorts of good stuff..."
Tang Huai wasn't interested. "I have a mission. You take your men." Early the next morning, Su Ming pulled up in his bright red rotary tiller under the sign for plot number three, excitedly shouting, "Sister Qing, plot number one asked us to deliver this! Two more parts boxes are coming soon!"
The multi-functional rotary tiller was essentially a small tracked tractor unit. Although only 1.6 meters tall, its bright red body, black tracks, and two imposing headlights gave it a very cool appearance.
Xia Qing immediately recognized it as the machine operated and maintained by dedicated staff in the greenhouses of the safe zone's planting center.
When she worked at the planting center, she could only see these machines from afar; she never had the chance to touch them. Now, she owned one herself!
After Hu Zi and Cao Xianyun carried over two enormous parts boxes and assembled them according to the instructions, Xia Qing was amazed again.
Because the "multi-functionality" of the mini-tiller goes far beyond what Yang Jin mentioned: a tiller, furrow cutter, rotary tiller, ridger, backfiller, weeding wheel, and pneumatic sprayer. It also includes a bulldozer blade for leveling roads, a digging blade for digging holes, a harvester for harvesting potatoes, and a planter!
Eleven functions—more than the one she'd seen at the planting center. As long as there's enough diesel, this machine is equivalent to ten strong laborers. Xia Qing's eyes lit up; she couldn't wait to test drive it.
Not only Xia Qing's eyes were shining, but Su Ming and the other two were too. Su Ming grinned and suggested to Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, how about we have Hu Zi install the accessories, and we try them out one by one?"
"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Xia Qing only knew how to drive a car, and even then, she was unlicensed and reckless. Although the mini-tiller had an instruction manual, she didn't think she could master its operation just by reading it.
"It's not hard work at all," Su Ming said eagerly, grabbing the driver's seat. "Tiger, get on the excavator!"
Operating an excavator is almost everyone's childhood dream.
"Since we've already installed the bulldozer blade and rotary tiller blades, let's try those first," Cao Xianyun reminded Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, your sheep is charging over."
Xia Qing had already heard the commotion, but the sheep's location and the sound it was making were beyond the hearing range of an average person, so she pretended not to notice. After being reminded by Cao Xianyun, Xia Qing turned and rushed towards the sheep. Then, the two of them engaged in a friendly and cordial exchange regarding the extra machine and the three intruders in their territory.
Seeing that the hot-tempered Sheep Boss hadn't actually fought with Xia Qing before turning away arrogantly, Su Ming was quite surprised. "Old Cao, what did Sister Qing say? That stubborn sheep is actually so obedient?"
Cao Xianyun couldn't bring himself to say what Xia Qing had said, so he simply urged Su Ming coldly, "What are you dawdling for? If you can't drive, get out, I'll do it."
"Have you forgotten who drove it here? I could drive it better than you even with my eyes closed." Su Ming, no longer bothered to watch the odd couple Xia Qing and Sheep Boss act, immediately turned the key and started the mini-tiller.
After the chugging of a mini-tiller echoed through Territory Three, Zhou Xun, the five-times vision evolver who was monitoring Territory Two, whispered to Tang Huai beside him, "The reconnaissance team brought the mini-tiller and two large boxes into Territory Three. I can't see inside through the grass wall."
A straight, ten-meter-wide east-west dirt road separated Territory Two and Territory Three. Dense grass walls, over a meter high and three meters wide, lined both sides of the road to the south, serving as barriers to prevent outside surveillance.
Therefore, Xia Qing, with her geographical advantage, could observe Territory Two from the buffer forest slope to the north, but Tang Huai and the others, positioned at a lower elevation, could not see into Territory Three through the grass walls.
Reconnaissance relies on more than just sight.
Tang Huai, a five-fold hearing evolver, heard the entire conversation within Territory Three, including how Xia Qing coaxed the sheep leader. "No abnormalities, call it a day."
Hu Zifeng, a visual evolver hiding in a large tree in the buffer forest of Territory One, watching Tang Huai and Zhou Xun, took out his phone to message Wei Chengdong.
Wei Chengdong put away his phone. "Brother Luo, Tang Huai and the others left the territory and headed east. They're probably going hunting in the eastern evolutionary forest."
Lying on the operating table, Luo Pei calmly ordered, "Begin."
Within Territory Three, the generator in the basement of the second floor of the deserted village in the southwest started running, but the noise was completely drowned out by the chugging of the mini-tiller; the four people circling the mini-tiller couldn't hear it at all.
Once the operating room lighting reached the standard intensity, the team doctor began the crucial step in Luo Pei's synthetic poison treatment—organ synthetic poison removal surgery.